Ngutu College provides new learning opportunities for South Australian kids

Kamilaroi educator, Andrew Plastow, has had a long career working as an educator for disempowered communities.

He has dedicated the last 15 years to being principal to a primary school with the highest Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student population in metropolitan South Australia.

But, he recognised a gap in standard education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and decided to develop an independent learning environment for all children.

So, in early 2021, Ngutu College was established on Kaurna Country in Adelaide’s north-west, for students from “Reception” (Foundation) to Year 7, with a goal of expanding to Year 12 by 2026.

Andrew has stepped into the role of the inaugural Head of College and is a founding Board Director. He stresses the college is open to all children, but 50% of the places are reserved for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

“All children should have the opportunity to experience the culture of our First Nations interwoven with their entitlements within the Australian Curriculum” he said.

The College’s vision is, “to redesign schooling to be genuinely equitable, culturally informed and authentically child-centred.”

Much of the college’s focus is on learning through culture, and cultivating a learning space which empowers children in their learning, with less of focus on specific content and more on developing skills and knowledge.

Ngutu College’s ethos is summed up in their statement. They have “Aboriginal Cultures as our Soul, Children as our Heart and the Arts as our Spine”.

The process of starting a school from scratch is a lengthy one, which required the development of a board, securing a site for the school as well as funding and support from the community, but Andrew says that there was an abundance of support from the community.

“There was a great deal of community interest in forming a new site that would support me and a team of exceptional educators to build something together from the ground up’ Andrew said.

‘What appears to be ambitious… is reflective of the values of kinship within families and within the college community.’

In the future, Andrew hopes Ngutu College will provide a foundation to support other independent schools to be set-up, to ensure more educational options are available to families in Adelaide and beyond.