Thousands of NT students and teachers back in the classroom as school returns for 2025

‘Very excited’: About 34,000 students and 3500 teachers returned to the NT’s 153 government schools, including more than 150 new teachers starting their teaching careers in the Territory.

Principal Carol Putica serves up an egg and bacon sanga. Students at Ludmilla Primary School celebrated their return for the new school year with a parents and kids breakfast. Picture: Fia Walsh.

Thousands of transition students have started big school and Territory kids are back in the classroom as the 2025 school year kicked off on Wednesday.

About 34,000 students and 3500 teachers returned to the NT’s 153 government schools, including more than 150 new teachers starting their teaching careers in the Territory.

Ludmilla Primary School welcomed back students with a parents and kids breakfast.

Darwin, NT, 29/1/25: Mum Belinda with Zakiyah (Year 1) and Malika (Year 3) on their first day at a mainstream school. Students at Ludmilla Primary School celebrated their return for the new school year with a parents and kids breakfast. Picture: Fia Walsh.

Among them were Zakiyah (Year 1) and Malika (Year 3), who were both nervous and “very excited” for their first day of mainstream school – having said goodbye to their remote school and moved into Darwin.

“It’s the first time they’ve had to wear proper school shoes and uniforms,” mum Belinda said.

The sisters were keen to meet their new teachers and to learn Indonesian.

Darwin, NT, 29/1/25: Marian and Zach, Year 2. Students at Ludmilla Primary School celebrated their return for the new school year with a parents and kids breakfast. Picture: Fia Walsh.

Year 2 student Zach was most looking forward to maths class, and said he was ready for the holidays to end.

So was his mum Marian: “I’m glad school’s back because it’s busy with all the kids at home – and Zach loves school so he’s really looking forward to it,” she said.

Darwin, NT, 29/1/25: Fannie Bay MLA Laurie Zio, Principal Carol Putica, Education Minister Jo Hersey, and Education Department CEO Susan Bowden. Students at Ludmilla Primary School celebrated their return for the new school year with a parents and kids breakfast. Picture: Fia Walsh.

This year marks the start of the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, a $1.1bn agreement that will see Territory schools fully funded for the first time.

Part of that includes a shift in funding from an attendance to an enrolment based model, meaning schools that struggle to get kids to school will no longer be penalised for low attendance rates.

“The expectation is that schools use those (extra) funds to engage young people back in school,” Education Department chief executive Susan Bowden said.

School attendance in the NT has been generally trending down in recent years, with more than one in four Territory kids regularly skipping school.

Education Minister Jo Hersey said the recently returned truancy officers (School Attendance Officers) would be out in force to ensure students were in class.

“It is against the law to withhold your child from an education,” she said.

“So it’s about making sure that these families know the importance of getting your child to school, because without getting to school, they can’t get the literacy and numeracy, and they won’t be able to get a job.”

Since attendance officers started work in Term 4 last year they have handed out 476 compliance notices and 38 fines.

Of those, 151 compliance notices and two fines were revoked after the parents or students complied with the directions given.

Originally published as Thousands of NT students and teachers back in the classroom as school returns for 2025