Yipirinya School welcomes preschoolers back after seven-year absence

Yipirinya School is gearing up to welcome back preschool children for the first time in seven years later this month, helping to keep language and culture connected by offering fun and engaging play-based learning the Yipirinya way.

From 19 June, the preschool program will run four days a week at the campus in Araluen, giving parents the option of attending on the day which suits them best.

Principal Gavin Morris told the National Indigenous Times that the local community is looking forward to the return of preschoolers to the all-Indigenous school environment.  

“The reopening of our preschool has very much excited our Yipirinya School community,” Mr Morris said.

“Not only does the reopening of our preschool offer early childhood education at Yipirinya School for the first time since 2016, it also offers significant employment opportunities for the community.”

Welcoming preschoolers again, he continued, is “another important piece of the puzzle” in terms of creating a birth to Year 12 pathway for children in the community. 

Yipirinya’s model of education is significant, with the school being the only one of its kind in Australia to teach four Aboriginal languages (Central Arrernte, Warlpiri, Luritja, Western Aranda) as well as English. 

The preschool program will be led by an early childhood teacher, and supported by the school’s existing bus timetable, with the same pick-up and drop-off services available as those offered to school-aged children, with children also provided food throughout the day.

The preschool aims to transition young children into Yipirinya’s Junior School once they reach five years of age, with Yipirinya School offering education from kindergarten to year 10.

Yipirinya School is currently accepting enrolments for the preschool program for children aged between three and five years old.

For more information about Yipirinya School, see here. The original coverage of this story can be found here.

Image sourced from The Batchelor Institute.