Milingimbi School achieves 50 years of bilingual education
Milingimbi School celebrated its 50th birthday and honoured Gwen Warmbirrirr’s retirement after more than 41 years of teaching, with a day of events showcasing their positive bilingual work.
The school’s principal Adam Dicks said the school was first established in the 1920s but transitioned to a bilingual school in 1973, becoming one of 5 government schools to first teach language and an English bilingual program in the Northern Territory.
“Bilingual schools foster strong community involvement, close relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal staff and enhance educational goals for the students.
The community is proud of the school that provides a welcoming, engaging and rich bilingual leaning environment for the children of Milingimbi.
This is a celebration for the whole community to enjoy and an important time for them to look at building on this successful program as we plan for the future of ‘two-world learning’,” Mr Dicks said.
Now and since it first started, the school has had a long history of strong community involvement, with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teaching staff working closely together to support students’ learning in Djambarrpuyŋu, English, maths and other curriculum areas, underlined by Gaṯtjirrk culture.
“The values curriculum developed over a decade ago between the school and the community and continues to grow, and is a guiding force for students and staff alike,” Mr Dicks said.
The day’s celebrations included class language lesson demonstrations (Djambarrpuyŋu and English), a retirement recognition of service, sharing of stories about growing up and teaching in a bilingual school, sunset band, traditional dancing and cooking, as well as slideshows featuring the school’s history.
Part of this history is Ms Warmbirrirr who started as an assistant teacher, followed by an early childhood, upper primary and secondary teacher; art teacher; history teacher; acting teacher linguist; special education teacher; and first language specialist teacher and cultural and literacy development advisor.
“Throughout her career she was known as a kind-hearted, softly spoken teacher with firm ideas about the direction the school should take honouring the Yolngu dreams and aspirations as the core focus of the school,” Mr Dicks said.
