Far North school attendance crisis revealed

Just one in three students are attending each day at some Far North schools as new data shows extent of the school attendance free-fall across the entire region.

School attendance rates have fallen at nearly every school across the region, with some schools having a 30% attendance rate Picture: iStock

Just one in three enrolled students are attending some remote schools in Far North Queensland, as new data shows attendance in some cases has dropped by more than half in six years.

Data from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority shows 29 per cent of enrolled students attend Aurukun State School, which runs classes from prep to year 12.

Just 1 per cent attend 90 per cent of the time.

It’s a far cry from five years ago when the attendance was 55 per cent with 17 per cent of students were attending 90 per cent of the time.

Indigenous elder Candace Kruger from the School of Education and Professional Studies at Griffith University said the problem of low indigenous attendance was a reason why Closing the Gap targets on high school education completion were not being met.

Dr Kruger said the problem started during Covid which disproportionately impacted indigenous communities but has resulted in increased anxiety for all students.

“Many students fell behind in their studies and this made this feel anxious so they avoided school, which made fall behind even more and so its been a real cycle,” she said.

The remote community of Aurukun. Picture: Supplied

The figures mark a troubling period for Aurukun with separate government figures showing the number of those with university degree in Aurukun declined between 2011 and 2021, while employment has also nosedived.

The number of students completing year 12 — a key Closing the Gap measure — in Aurukun has also dropped.

The latest Aurukun School Annual report shows just 18.2 per cent of students and just 54 per cent of staff members say they feel like the school is a safe place to work.

From 2010 to 2016 Aurukun State School was run by Noel Pearson’s Cape York Aboriginal Academy. In 2011 a year after he took over attendance reached a record high of 73 per cent, up from 46 per cent in 2008.

It is now a state government school.

At Doomadgee State School only 30 per cent of students attend school with 5 per cent attending 90 per cent of the time or more in semester 3, 2023.

Five years ago the school had a 61 per cent attendance rate.

generic image for catholic school story in NT News

Across Cairns, ACARA data shows Trinity Bay State High School attendance rate has slipped from 89 per cent to 81 per cent over the past five years, with just 43 per cent of students turning up 90 per cent of the time.

Woree dropped from 90 to 83 per cent in the last recorded term 3 — term 3 2023.

While Cairns West, Gordonvale, Atherton, Innisfail and Kuranda District all had drops of around 10 per cent in school attendance over the last several years.

The best performing schools for school attendance was Tully State School at 88 per cent, Innisfail East at 86 per cent and Cairns State High School at 88 per cent.

Australian Education Minister Jason Clare. PICTURE: Lukas Coch/ Pool/ NCA NewsWire

LNP Education spokesman Christian Rowan said school attendance had been declining for five years.

“The State Labor Government has done nothing new to address it because they are engulfed in their own chaos and crisis.” Mr Rowan said.

He added: “There needs to be Ministerial Accountability and clear KPIs should be set.”

A Queensland Education Department spokesperson said: “Through the Equity and Excellence strategy, improving outcomes for First Nations students will be the key focus from early years to further education and employment, and supported through strong partnerships and valuing of First Nations’ cultures.”

Originally published as Far North school attendance crisis revealed