Handbook

CONTACT:
School Phone: 08 8978 2455
Mobile: 0447 395 828
Satellite Phone: TBC
Email: Eric.Barrows@education.nt.gov.au (Principal)
Mail: PMB (Private Mail Bag) 49 via Winnellie NT 0822
Physical: Lot 31 Peppimenarti Northern Territory 0822
ABN 88 225 224 900

Important phone numbers:

CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR STAFF:
It is cultural practice in Peppimenarti (like most other remote Indigenous communities), for women of child-bearing age to wear modest clothing that covers their thighs to the knee. Clothing that reveals a silhouette of the thighs is also considered inappropriate (this includes tight leggings, see-through skirts and tight shorts). For younger women, appropriate dress is flowing or loose skirts to the knee, or loose shorts also to the knee.
Peppimenarti Elders ask that all staff members respect this local practice and dress appropriately at school and around the community.
It is our responsibility as a staff to inform visitors of appropriate and culturally respectful dress standards for this community, prior to arrival.

It is expected practice when visiting to stand at the fence and call out, do not expect people to come to your door and do not go knocking on peoples doors unless it’s an emergency.

Sign language is alive an well in this and most indigenous communities.
A quick raising of the eyebrows is a sign of welcome and agreement, when asking for an answer be cognisant of signs you may be missing. It is also considered offensive to decline an offer or question, so nobody will tell you ‘no’. A rule of thumb is ‘Yes’=’No’, ‘Maybe’=’Absolutely not’.

CLASSES:

HOMELANDS:

Peppimenarti School services two permanent Homelands and seven seasonal ones.

From Papangala in the south to Naderri on the coast.
Our homelands teacher regularly visits all these stations road conditions permitting and provides the local teachers with materials, resources, and instruction.

Merrepen and Nemarluk are permanently occupied and we are trying to have the Merrepen school building rebuilt as it’s been out of action for over a decade. In the other Homelands we are putting in shaded benches for children to work from.

ALTERNATIVE PROGRAMS
We aim to provide a BIG PICTURE style of learning experience for our young adults. So that by engaging in a work like environment students can build a portfolio of skills that can take them into an independent future.  To start with we are using school staff to provide parra-work experiences but as soon as we can staff the position we intend to expand out to council, rangers, shops, and arts organisations.

SHOWING OF VIDEOS

Students are often unable to absorb a long lesson and quickly reach cognitive overload. Do not give in to temptation and provide video entertainment. Use brain breaks, change of activity, hands on activities or a quick PE session. Community members have asked that if you are showing videos there must be a clear educational outcome which your class can express to me and their parents.

SUPERVISION

Similar to the above if you are supervising a class due to staff absence, or to provide release you must have an educational objective. Allowing students unstructured time is ok as long as you are ensuring every child is engaged in an enriching activity. Allowing unsupervised activity outside of class is not an option due to duty of care responsibilities.

ICT

We are on a fibre connection to Darwin, so our internet is fast and reliable. We have a computer lab in the library and class sets of laptops, iPads and Android tablets. Like anywhere students will potentially misuse their it access if they are unsupervised, often seeking violent or adult content. If you are providing tablet or PC access children MUST be seated so that you can see their screens at all times. This also limits damage to our equipment.

NUTRITION

This year (2024) we have taken over the delivery of the school nutrition program, so instead of frozen meals that the principal had to pick up from the local shop we have a chef working with students in the school kitchen cooking meals for the whole community.

We invite everybody in for breakfast and lunch each day and have a slushie maker and ice cream machine as well as other gear to complement the healthy meals we serve.

We do not insist the children stay for school, they are free to eat and leave but, invariably most stay and parents hang around to see what we do.

If you are timetabled on for an eating period please remember that this is instructional time, you will need to assist with serving and clean-up both of which students are expected to assist with under your instruction. Focus on polite hygienic behaviours. Please leave the eating area clean and cleared before moving on to your break.

SPORTS
We are working to hire staff to run an after-hours sports program in conjunction with the local council.
At the moment we have regular visits from AFL NT, but we are hoping to build on this to create positive outlets for the local youth.

TIMETABLE:

CURRICLUM:
We have a four-year subject cycle please adhere to our planning requirements especially the seasonal Indigenous Language and Culture ILC, use our ACB behaviour program Lit literacy guidelines and out TLC Teaching and Learning Cycle.

Peppimenarti School operates differently to many Australian government schools in that it is an English is an Additional Language or Dialect (EALD) school. This means that students come from a different language background and cannot access mainstream curriculum.

English (ESL / EALD): English oracy is developed from the beginning of schooling but your literacy program should be guided by Literacy immersion toolkit (Lit) and Walking Talking Text (WTT) materials. The departments book Teaching Standard Australian English Speech Sounds to Student in the Northern Territory is your best guide to a SAE structured phonics program. Student progress is measured against the ESL (NTCF) band levels. Curriculum maps are available which show how all of these language components align.

Mathematics: Central to mathematics teaching is the Talking Namba resource which focuses on the key ideas in a bilingual context. Talking Namba is aligned to the Departments Essential Mathematics resources and also provides a rubric for assessment. See the Departments Numeracy Resources for ideas and assessment for the Measurement / Space and Probability / Statistics strands.

Other ACARA subjects: Other ACARA subjects are addressed at an appropriate age for grade level using a literacy focus. The WTT column planner used in conjunction with carefully selected factual texts is recommended for this.

SENIOR SECONDARY

The NT Certificate of Education and Training NTCET is mostly delivered via the South Australian curriculum. We offer the below units over three years so that students can succeed without leaving their homelands.

To complete their NTCET students must:

All subjects are progressed via student’s folio submission.

SCHOOL VALUES:

Safe, Learn, Respect.

CLASS ROLL:

Communications app

Teachers must enter student attendance into SAMS daily and follow up on all absent children attaching a note to the attendance register (digitally.)

Dysregulated, AWOL, and disruptive behaviours must be logged via our Student & Parent Communications app SPC

Communications with parents/carers and professional must also be logged in this SPC database.

SAMS CODES:

CodeClarification# of consecutive days
FStudent is attending a funeral3 days (then use N)
NSanctioned absence. Eg appointments, family holidays, accompanying family member out of community10 days
SStudent is sick3 days (no certificate) Unlimited (with cert.)
OtherAt Principals direction 

STUDENT RECORDS

Each student has a folder in our Student Records site for records of development Classroom Teachers are responsible for the maintenance of this data, including the PEPPIMENARTI LEARNER PROFILE.docx in each folder which is a summary of the information. We encourage staff to include work samples in this resource for future records.

Teachers are also required to keep a daybook log of curriculum taught and adjustments applied. This should be either on your desk or in the planning folder.

ASSESSMENT SCHEDULE

For student achievement tracking we mainly use FELA and Talking Namba both of which have been designed in the Territory for our kids.

Mandatory assessments for compliance and funding we also need data in the following;

Links to all these are available from the staff home page.

DUTY REQUIREMENTS

Medication Record

When on playground supervision duty, be prompt, be alert and keep moving. Students are well aware of where you are and if they are up to mischief they’ll be out of your sight. When the bell goes insist that students return all sporting equipment to the cage provided.

If medication is administered to a child please record the time and date here.

BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT

Apply the principals of Applied Classroom Behaviour and log all issues with the app, ☹ . Be firm calm and polite. If students do not respond call for assistance.

WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY

Report all issues to the Principal as soon as practicable.

STAFF ABSENCE

If you are unable to report for work please notify the principal as soon as possible.

STAFF HOUSING

SHOP AND SCHOOL ACCOUNT

PURCHASING PROCEDURES

COMMUNITY MAP

https://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/hpa-services/slapmaps?community_id=410

SCHOOL MAP

https://asnex.nt.gov.au/assetview/asset-details/asset/2696/details

FIRE AND EMERGENCY

ICT