Pirates invade Kalumburu School

Nine hundred kilometres northeast of Broome in Western Australia, Kalumburu School had faced low attendance for some years before becoming part of the Australian Government’s Remote School Attendance Strategy (RSAS), aimed at making sure children and young people go to school every day.

With service provider Community Focus National working closely with the community to get children ready for school, attendance was increasing and the RSAS team started to look for ways to reward students with excellent attendance.

The Pirate themed event was the first reward created for students who achieved eighty per cent or more attendance each fortnight. This gives students’ short term attendance goals, and encourages those with lower attendance to strive for better results.

The students made pirate hats and eye patches, played pirate games and even joined forces for a treasure hunt, with it all ending in water bomb fight.

Those who attended school all day, every day were given tokens that can be used at the events to swap for food, books, clothing, and so on depending on the theme of the day.

School Engagement Supervisor Joy Davey, who found herself the target of many water bombs, believes that organising events like Pirate Day helps students realise that there are short and long term rewards for going to school.

“We’re trying to help families get their kids to school, so we’re hoping this will allow the students to become more aware of their actions and how they affect their own future,” Joy said.

“Today the kids are seeing the reward for their hard work at school and what they could achieve if they just start making those small, simple steps of going to school all day, every day.”

Future theme days will see Kalumburu School invaded by superheroes, mummies, the circus and Olympic athletes, as students make their next steps towards a better future for themselves and their community.