School happens on model for indigenous learning

Gawura, a small, indigenous primary school within a school at St Andrew's Cathedral School, has had stunning success in its first six months, with two students scoring 100 per cent in their end of year maths examinations and results for all students improving by at least 30 per cent, the headmaster, Philip Heath, says.

The foundation class of seven has ballooned to 21, with a full class of 25 enrolled for next year.

Gawura students study a tailor-made syllabus in a dedicated room on the ninth floor of the Anglican school in the centre of the city, joining mainstream students for afternoon classes, breaks, sport, chapel and other activities.

They learn Aboriginal languages and culture and do intensive maths and English lessons to counter worrying statistics that put numeracy rates among indigenous children in year 7 at 30 per cent below the NSW average, and reading rates at 17 per cent below the average.

Parents pay $250 a term and the remainder of the five-figure fee is sponsored on a deductible gift recipient basis by private and corporate donors such as the Fairfax Foundation, which recently tipped in $300,000 over three years.

Mr Heath had the idea for a World Vision-style school in the Redfern-Waterloo area, but was forced to set it up on the main campus after unsuccessfully exploring a dozen sites and facing opposition from community groups, which objected to the separation of Aboriginal students, the selective nature of admissions and the religious component of the syllabus.

Yesterday he said it had worked out for the best.

"We didn't expect it to work this fast. To be candid, I was tentative about the whole thing because of the difficult circumstances of the birth.

"But we have stumbled, by accident, upon a very powerful model. The school within a school really works … the kids are highly engaged, they feel buoyant and their morale is good, so they don't miss school. And the size has a lot to do with it."

Two other leading private schools were looking at replicating the model and a second campus would be opened if St Andrew's could raise the funds, he said.

The journalist George Negus, who has a son in year 12 at St Andrew's, said Gawura had taught the mainstream students about indigenous Australia and vice versa.

Photo: Success … a ceremony outside St Andrew's Cathedral School celebrates the opening of Gawura, the school's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school within a school.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/school-model-strikes-gold/2007/11/22/1195321948964.html