Coinciding with National Closing the Gap Day on March 16, the Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) Working Group will hold a fundraiser to support the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation (ALNF).
One of the Closing the Gap targets is for First Nations students to achieve their full learning potential. As a school, we support the national target to increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people attaining Year 12 or equivalent to 96% by 2031.
In 2018, about one in four First Nations students in Years 5, 7 and 9 and one in five students in Year 3, remained below national minimum standards in reading. Further, between 17% – 19% of First Nations students were below the national minimum standards in numeracy.
The ALNF is a national charity seeking to assist people in Australia’s most marginalised communities to gain vital language, literacy and communication skills. Funds raised by Clarendon will be used to support the ALNF to provide specialised and proven programs to address the needs of individuals and communities, as well as providing quality learning resources. Funds will also assist training an Indigenous community member to enhance children’s literacy development and to provide the necessary support to allow children to start school ready to learn.
In holding this fundraiser, our aim is to educate our community, learn together and bring our school community together to raise awareness about the importance of closing the educational gap between First Nations and non-Indigenous peoples.
We look forward to sharing more with you and supporting the ALNF in their belief that literacy is a freedom, a basic human right, and a means that gives access to participate meaningfully in society.
“Language is my life. You have given me back my life. I am alive again.” – Warumungu elder, NT.
Written by Year 12 student and Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group member, Chanel On.