The Palm Island Early Childhood Language and Literacy Program A collaboration between: Palm Island community Catherine

1. The Palm Island Early Childhood Language and Literacy Program A collaboration between: Palm Island communityCatherine Freeman Foundation, Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation September 13, 2010

2. Vision Mission The Catherine Freeman Foundation was established in 2007 to create a brighter future for Indigenous children The Catherine Freeman Foundation is a not for profit organisation with the aim of creating pathways to a brighter future for indigenous children. The Catherine Freeman Foundation works in collaboration with community organizations, businesses, schools and other philanthropists in facilitating educational opportunities to empower children and parents to achieve long- term positive outcomes. CFF looks to a day when young Indigenous Australians enjoy the same well being, strong sense of self-belief, and educational opportunities as their peers CFF’s mission is to create, with our partners, a range of pathways to success for young Indigenous Australians, by focussing on wellbeing, self-esteem, and education. Our initial efforts will be on Palm Island, where we will support targeted, high-impact, sustainable programmes to inspire and support school children to realise their potential

3. Palm Island is widely recognised as a disadvantaged community • The Australian Bureau of Statistics ranks Palm Island as the fourth most disadvantaged community in the whole of Australia(1). • In hearing tests carried out in schools on Palm Island, 80 per cent of children have permanent mild to moderate hearing damage due to otitis media making it a challenge to learn to read and write. • Less than 10 per cent of Year 7 students on Palm Island meet minimum NAPLAN (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) standards for reading and writing(2). • Unemployment rates in Palm Island are widely acknowledged as 90 per cent due to lack of infrastructure and opportunity. • There are just 350 housing structures for the estimated 3,500 residents on the island resulting in overcrowded living conditions. Source: (1)Census of Population and Housing: Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), Australia 2006 (2) NAPLAN National Report: Achievement in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions and Numeracy 2009

4. Palm Island is a tropical paradise but faces many challenges Source: Queensland Closing the Gap Report 07/08; Bwgcolman Community School 2008 Annual Report;

5. CFF is uniquely placed to work with the Palm Island community • Catherine’s family ties to Palm Island and the work we’ve done to date has enabled us to develop strong relationships with the Palm Island community • CFF has established a consultation group that meets quarterly to discuss community related issues and solutions. CFF then work within the community to address issues as appropriate • CFF communicate regularly with the Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council and all three schools on the Island • CFF are the only not for profit on Palm with continuous operations since 2007. The residents consider us to be part of the community rather than another external organisation trying to help.

6. CFF started with four key programs on Palm which helped build strong relationships Non-truancy Program An incentive based program that acknowledges children who participate in school and exhibit positive attitudes toward the school environment, learning and their peers. Both schools on Palm endorse this program and have indicated it has had a direct impact on improving attendance. Scholarship Program CFF provide scholarships for Palm Island girls to attend secondary school. We supported our first 5 eligible girls in 2009 and have expanded the program to include 8 girls and two additional partner schools in 2010. This program is in partnership with the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation Education/Aspiration Tours In collaboration with Cottage By The Sea, CFF fund children from Palm Island to attend enrichment camps designed to empower the children and open their minds to new possibilities. After school Activities CFF established an after school women’s netball league on Palm Island with nearly 40% of school aged girls participating in the first season. This program is funded by a grant from the ICC in Townsville. Our next priority is literacy

7. Mission The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation is dedicated to raising language, literacy and numeracy standards in Austalia ALNF's programs span from early years learning through to adolescent and adult learning needs and address the needs of a diverse range of individuals and communities, including Indigenous, refugee and migrant communities.   ALNF also provides multi-lingual literacy instruction, in both English and Indigenous First Languages, as research shows English literacy learning is stimulated and emotional and cultural enrichment is nurtured through First Language literacy. To promote awareness of the chronic debilitation wrought by poor literacy to individuals, their families, communities and the nation. To principally engage in the direct provision of speech, numeracy and literacy services to individuals in poverty, sickness, self-distress, misfortune, disability, destitution and helplessness.

8. CFF and ALNF have collaborated to empower the community to teach their children to read ALNF CFF • Provide literacy program • Programs based on proven teaching techniques • Evidence based programs that have been piloted in Indigenous communities such as the Kempsey region (NSW). • Demonstrated results based on PIPA and PLS-4 assessment frameworks • Designed to work with social factors that put indigenous children at a learning disadvantage For example, documented high percentages of hearing damage in Indigenous children. 80% of Palm Island children have mild to moderate permanent hearing loss • Designed to work in support of other literacy programs. • Supported by the Governor of NSW, Her Excellency, professor Marie Bashir AC CVO and Ms Therese Rein. • Work with local residents so that skills are retained by the community for longer term impact. • Facilitate relationship with Palm Island community • Catherine’s personal ties to the community • Demonstrated results with non-truancy program has led to deepening of relationships • CFF consultation group provides input and feedback to ensure programs continue to meet the community needs • CFF best placed to identify and recruit Community Liaison Officer • CFF to galvanise participants • Provide funds to enable ALNF early childhood literacy program • Raise funds from various sources including CFF friends and supporters. • Leverage Catherine’s profile to appeal for public funding

10. ALNF’s programs are underpinned by the same core IP and approach which is flexible with individual and community learning needs • Engaged and Community-Centred Learning Environment • Assisting and supporting educators, community leaders and parents • Teaching resources specifically developed for learning context • Facilitating safe and positive community learning environments • ALNF’s programs are inclusive of physical health, mental health and community factors • The elements of ALNF’s literacy model: • Unique combination of speech pathology and education • Multi-sensory • Indigenous First Language instruction • Breaking down learning tasks into small learning objectives • Specifically developed learning context to accompany ALNF teaching resources

11. A Steering Committee has been formed to oversee activities and keep the project on track Co-chair: Catherine Freeman Mary-Ruth Mendel Palm TBC CFF Carol Ross Svea Pitman DEEWR Jodie Luck Barbara Prien ALNF Kim Kelly Gabrielle Kemeny Palm Island Community Consultation Group

12. The Early Childhood Language and Literacy Program provides explicit pre-literacy instruction to: • Parents and community members • Preschool teachers • Early years teachers • Special needs teachers • Teacher’s aides The program addresses the importance and effectiveness of parents, community members, carers and preschool teachers working together to provide early years skill building which effectively prepares and supports children for successful literacy learning in the early schooling years

13. The project has a multi-faceted approach to building literacy skills and engaging the community • Five day English workshop attended by teachers, teacher aides, parents, carers and general community members • Variety of three day English workshops attended by parents, carers and general community members • First language workshops and literacy resource production in Warrungu Language First Language Workshops English Workshops Mentor Tutoring • Ongoing mentoring and tutoring support for participants

14. ALNF has developed a pre-literacy learning profile divided into two sections Multisensory Teaching Styles Developmental Learning Subsets • Auditory perceptual stimulation • Visual perceptual stimulation • Tactile-kinaesthetic stimulation • Memory and recall stimulation • Self talk for learning management stimulation • Questioning technique stimulation • Focussed modelled, shared and independent learning scaffolds • Pre-phonics • Pre-writing • Pre-reading • Phonemic awareness • Receptive and expressive linguistic skills (including an adquate vocabulary size and an appreciation of sentence complexities) Specifically designed resources, scaffolds, games and activities that reach and teach every child are provided

15. ALNF’s program is designed to supplement existing education practices • Incorporates a blend of speech pathology and early education best practice • Specifically designed pedagogy to assist learning, particularly when children are suffering from middle ear listening difficulties • Sharing of activities between home and community with the children’s early learning setting eg play group, preschool, school • Easily dovetailed with other literacy programs It is NOT ‘mini school’ nor diluted school tasks made more simple

16. ALNF conducted a pilot program at three preschools in the Kempsey region • “…I can’t recommend the training highly enough to all the other services because I really do think that not only will it close that literacy gap for Indigenous kids to Non-Indigenous kids, it will just bring them all (along) – because it’s not a competition – we want all kids to do well…” Preschool teacher, 2009 • “ALNF is great because (they) used Koori ways to teach it. The most important part is the incorporation of culture” Preschool Director, 2009 A DVD can be viewed on the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation’s website – www.alnf.org.