Early Years

Transition - Year Two

Our school supports our students to learn and grow their knowledge, understanding and skills in their first language, Murrinhpatha, while also learning English as an Additional Language. Our bilingual framework allows students to learn to read and write in their first language first, before transferring these skills to the English language.

From Transition to Year Two, students spend approximately 60% of their time learning in Murrinhpatha and 40% of their time learning in English. Our strong Early Years program has been developed in line with the Northern Territory Indigenous Languages and Cultures Curriculum (Band 1) and the Australian Curriculum (V9).

Our dynamic teaching teams are made up of Murrinhpatha teachers, non-local English teachers and local Murrinhpatha speaking Assistant Teachers. Age-appropriate pedagogies are used which engage children in meaningful and culturally relevant ways.

Murrinhpatha lessons focus on our students’ strength of speaking and listening in Murrinhpatha and the development of sounds/phonemic and phonological awareness to enhance early reading and writing skills. Murrinhpatha lessons are based around student identity, family, totems, country, animals, plants and being ‘on country’ with family.

English literacy in the first three years focuses predominantly on oral English through reading stories, singing songs, storytelling, role playing and modelling. Students are also introduced to English phonics and letter formation.