Roebourne truancy fight gets Canberra cash

A Federal Government initiative to combat low school attendance rates at Roebourne District High School and Onslow Primary School was rolled out last week.

Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion visited Roebourne DHS last Tuesday to see the national $28.4 million Remote Schools Attendance Strategy implemented.

The Pilbara schools were among the 40 schools in Australia with the worst attendance rate.

Roebourne DHS had an average 53 per cent attendance rate from 2008 to 2012, while Onslow PS had an average 73 per cent attendance rate.

The strategy will utilise the Department of Employment's Remote Jobs and Communities Program to employ 21 jobseekers in the two communities as school engagement officers.

Mr Scullion said employing jobseekers from the community to tackle truancy would fix two problems.

The SEOs will work to support parents in getting their children to school, whether that be picking up children who aren't at school or working with families to resolve the underlying issues behind why a young person is not attending school.

The program is funded for two years in 40 schools across Australia, but Mr Scullion said he was hoping to expand it and that it would remain an ongoing program in future years.

"Why 40? Because that's all I could afford," he said.

"But we're looking around to try and get more schools on the list.

"This is an ongoing program - I can't imagine Labor changing this.

"Whatever happens, beyond any other issue in Australia, we need to provide our kids with an education."

Roebourne Police Senior Sergeant Les Andrews said truancy was an ongoing challenge in the community, with children as young as 11 not attending school.

"If they're not occupied they can get into a fair bit of mischief - committing offences or experimenting with drugs," he said.

"The safest place for them to be and the safest place for their future is school."

Sen. Sgt Andrews said the program needed to address the underlying issues preventing young people from staying in school.

"There are kids that haven't been going to school for such a long time, they are so far behind their peers, they feel inadequate," he said.

"They would rather not go to school then go to school and feel like an idiot."

Mr Scullion said the strategy was the result of three years of talks with communities.

Employing Roebourne and Onslow community members as SEOs was crucial to the strategy's success, he said.

"The people we've employed know better the challenges facing families here than anyone else," he said.

"They've got a degree in Roebourne - you can't buy that anywhere else.

SEO co-ordinator and Ngarluma woman Nikkita Togo used to live in Roebourne and has many family and friends in the community.

"At least parents know they are not talking to a complete stranger, but people from the community" she said.

Ms Togo said officers already had positive feedback from parents who wanted to get involved.

"We want to tell parents we are here to support them get kids to school," she said.

"It's got to come from the parents."

Roebourne DHS principal Erica Prosser said the SEOs would provide the school with more information about students' home life and what was happening in the community.

She said the school was working to boost attendance numbers through a variety of engaging education programs to not only get students to school, but to hold them there, such as horsemanship and arts programs.

Similar engagement programs are in place at Onslow PS such as a breakfast club, weekly attendance games and an annual camp and whole-school ball for students with good attendance records.

Onslow PS principal Jacqueline Barry said partnerships with local organisations assisted students and their families by providing uniforms, textbooks and paying school fees.