Melbourne Indigenous Transition School puts children first in relocating to Darwin amid pandemic
A MAMMOTH effort to relocate an important school from Melbourne to Darwin has kept dozens of students in school
Northern Territory
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THE prospect of dozens of Indigenous students missing out on a unique and important education opportunity has resulted in an entire school relocating to Darwin.
In order to keep their students safe, the Melbourne Indigenous Transition School, based out of Tiger Land at Punt Road Oval, relocated 21 Year 7 students and 27 of their alumni, now attending Years 8-12 at other schools in Melbourne, to the coronavirus-free Northern Territory.
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The group, including three Victorian students, have made the journey to the NT for a Top End experience through the school.
Executive director Ed Tudor said that once coronavirus hit, staff had to work quickly — very quickly — to ensure the students could continue their studies from abroad.
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“Once we had made the decision, we just said we’ve got to make this work,” he said.
“When we made the decision to come up and MITS board approved, we didn’t yet have a venue, a location for the school … but knew we had to take some risks because every day that was passing was another day the kids were potentially not back in face-to-face education.
“We needed to take a few leaps of faith.
“Within the space of a very few days we talked about it as an idea, we tested the viability of it with our families, we went to our staff and said, ‘Would you be prepared to move to the NT for maybe a term, maybe longer?’. And, remarkably, the parents had trust in us, the staff were prepared to do it, and within five days of having the first conversation we were starting to fly staff up to Darwin.”
The entire school has moved to the Michael Long Centre for Learning and Leadership — another coincidental connection to Aussie rules — with enough boarding rooms, classrooms and activities to keep the school running.
The school provides a platform for students across the Territory’s remote communities who have the drive and determination to want a greater education at some of Melbourne’s best independent, government and Catholic schools.
But after spending term two at their home communities, the Year 7 cohort from Beswick to Ramingining and everywhere in between is continuing class together, with not much changing from their life in Melbourne.
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“At home it was a bit harder to be doing work, but now we are with the teachers it’s a bit easier and it’s better,” student Hazel Armstrong said.
“I was excited to move back to Darwin, it’s not far away from home (in Batchelor).”
Following in her brother’s and cousins’ footsteps to the transition school has been an eye-opener for Hazel, who is looking forward to eventually returning to Melbourne and continuing her studies.
“The best thing about the school is I want to get a good education and MITS has done that for me,” she said.
“I do hope to continue my school in Melbourne, I want to be a lawyer. I miss the weather too, it’s too hot up here.”
But it’s not just the education.
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Learning with like-minded people has made the school experience what it is, and made moving to a new boarding house and classroom in Darwin all the easier.
“To me it was quick, but I was just going with the flow,” Hazel said.
“I was really happy to see my friends again. I hugged them and was really happy to see them again.”
But the school is in foreign territory and in need of help from local organisations, which have the power to enrich the students’ learning experience.
“When we’re in Melbourne we were really reliant on partnerships who would provide great programs for our kids,” Mr Tudor said.
“We rely on partners to provide all these things to our kids. There are fantastic organisations out there in the community that can enrich the education of our students, so we’re excited for that opportunity.”
Relocating the school has also meant a number of alumni — students now facing Years 8-12 at other Melbourne schools — have relocated to Darwin to continue studies.
Calvin Cook and Cecil Puruntatameri, both 15 and both in Year 9 at Brighton Grammar School, are from Tiwi Island communities and are relishing the move.
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“It was hard coming down to Melbourne and pretty nervous in that first year,” Calvin said. “But when you get used to it, you know it’s going to be all right.
“Up here, you’ve got heaps of family, which is important. Down there you’ve got heaps of friends, heaps of school mates to support that.”
While having the support networks is an imperative element, both for the students’ wellbeing and as a requirement for the school, consistent learning levels are equally important.
“We’re doing school through Zoom, it’s easy up here,” Cecil said.
“We still feel a part of the class. Our classmates are on Zoom back home, too, so we aren’t left out by being up here.
“It’s hard to get help … sometimes it’s harder to explain things (via Zoom).
“In class your teacher can tell you what to do and write on the board.”
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It’s been a huge operation, with many risks involved.
But for now it has paid off, and kept about 48 students in their education at MITS and at its partner schools in Melbourne.
The doting staff would not have let it happen any other way.
“We exist for our kids, so we had to make this decision about putting them first,” Mr Tudor said. “It was very clear for us the best outcome for the kids would be if we moved ourselves to the Northern Territory so they could return to in-person learning.
“We always want to demonstrate our commitment to our students.
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“Ordinarily, that’s in Melbourne, because that’s where they want to get an education, but if we can’t be in Melbourne right now we want our students and their families to know we are committed to them in Darwin as much as we are in Melbourne.”
Originally published as Melbourne Indigenous Transition School puts children first in relocating to Darwin amid pandemic