Lesley Shanks, reporting from the Aukarun community

Arrokoon has the lowest school attendance in the state, with some students being far behind in their education. To address this, a media program led by David Vadivello was introduced, aiming to engage students and teach them new literacies. The program encourages students to tell their own stories and explore their identities through mediums like hip-hop music. The community has a history of trauma, but the program has created positive engagement and confident learning outcomes. The program emphasizes the importance of language and culture in achieving positive results. According to Andrew Shaw, Vice-Principal of Coorgan Arrokoon Community School, Arrokoon has the lowest school attendance in the state. We have some students five or six years behind what is considered the appropriate level. He says that's due to poor attendance. We were left behind in the old literacy, which is the written literacies, and we are determined not to be left behind in the new literacies, which is the ICTs. Because of this shocking statistic, the school and community introduced a six-week media program run by David Vadivello and his amazing team of multimedia trainers. The idea is to introduce a unique learning model into the classroom. The students will be creating four unique films to showcase at the National Croc Festival. The community profits training model David and his team use has always been successful. However, with the complex and ongoing barriers felt by the students of Arrokoon, even David was being cautious with his approach. David argues there are a lot of initiatives to get kids through the school gate and a lot of focus on mainstream outcomes. How do we teach students to be mainstream, particularly in Indigenous communities? And quite frankly, it's failed generation after generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. We need to think about a different way of engaging children in the learning process. The different and unique learning process David and his team created include encouraging children to tell their own personal stories, the types of stories that come from within, the kinds of stories that give children their unique voice back. Children from the Arrokoon community come from difficult family situations and are often suffering from trauma. The program not only teaches the practical side of making films, but also to expose the children to mediums such as hip-hop music in order to engage students. This type of music is unique to Indigenous communities, helps them to find and explore their own identities, identities that have been lost and buried underneath the history of Arrokoon. Arrokoon was established as a mission by Reverend Mackenzie and his wife, patrons of the Pest Presbyterian Church in the early 1900s. Five different tribes were brought to the mission and it was run with a firm hand. However, further traumatic times were to follow with the wages decision that caused so many stockmen to lose their jobs, the introduction of alcohol and bootlegging, the weak native title decision that created new land ownership issues and the damaging repercussions of closing down the mission. Some of the more senior members of Arrokoon remembers, it was the last period of stability even though they were in the dormitories as children. Phyllis Yunkaporta, one of the community leaders and teachers in training in the Arrokoon community explains, their children are raised and born by the first tongue, they speak and they need to have confidence and self-esteem and they need to identify themselves by who they are and themselves by who they are and language and culture needs to come in, Western ideas and our own culture in order to have outcomes and results. In David Vadivalu's media program, language and culture, respecting First Nation language and storytelling from within the unique souls of the community has created a buzz amongst the young people and created positive engagement with positive and confident learning outcomes. In the wise words of David Vadivalu, each step, each decision to take control is another step towards a future you can have power over. A strong message towards the youth of the... Good evening, I am reporting from the remote community Arrokoon and I am speaking with the vice-principal of the Kulkan Community School in Arrokoon. According to Andrew Shaw, Arrokoon has the lowest school attendance in the state. We have some students five or six years behind what is considered the appropriate level. That's due to poor attendance. We were left behind in the old literacy, which is the written literacies and we are determined new literacies, the ICTs. Because of this shocking statistic, the school and community introduced a six-week media program run by David Vadivalu and his amazing team of multimedia trainers. The idea is to introduce a unique learning model into the classroom. The students will be creating four unique films to showcase at the National Crock Festival. The community profits training model David and his team use has always been successful. However, with the complex and ongoing barriers felt by the students of Arrokoon, even David was being cautious with his approach. David argues, there are a lot of initiatives to get kids through the school gate and a lot of focus on mainstream outcomes. How do we teach kids to be mainstream, particularly in the indigenous community? And quite frankly, it's failed generation after generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. We need to think about a different way of engaging children in the learning process. The different and unique learning process David and his team created include encouraging children to tell their own personal stories, the types of stories that come from within, the kinds of stories that give children their unique voice back. Children from the Arrokoon community come from difficult family situations and are often suffering from trauma. The program not only teaches the practical side of making films, but also exposes the children to mediums such as hip hop music, which is unique to the indigenous communities. This in order to engage students and help them to find and explore their own identities. Identities have been lost and buried underneath the history of Arrokoon. Arrokoon was established in a mission by Reverend Mackenzie and his wife, both patrons of the Presbyterian Church in the early 1900s. Five different tribes were brought to the mission and it was run with a firm hand for many years. However, further traumatic times were to follow. The wages decision that caused so many stockmen to lose their jobs, the introduction of alcohol and bootlegging, the weak native title decision that created new ownership issues, and the damaging repercussions of closing down the mission. Some of the most senior members of the Arrokoon community, those that as children slept in the dormitories, told us it was the last period of stability we can remember. Phyllis Young-Capota, one of the community leaders and teachers in training in the Arrokoon community, explains, their children are raised and born with the first tongue they speak and they need to have confidence and self-esteem and they need to identify themselves by who they are. And language and culture needs to come in. In order to have outcomes and results. In David Vadivalu's media program, language and culture, respecting First Nation language and storytelling from within the unique souls of this community has created a buzz amongst the young people and created positive engagement with positive and confident learning outcomes. In the wise words of David Vadivalu, each step, each decision to take control is another step towards a future you have power over. Wise words to encourage and support the youth of the Arrokoon community. Leslie Shanks, Curtin News.