News Story
Football program kicking goals for NT teenagers
2 May 2008
The Top End Football Academy is ‘kicking goals’ for about 65 boys at Sanderson Middle School by channelling their passion for Aussie Rules into their education.
Chief Minister Paul Henderson recently visited the Football Academy at Sanderson Middle School, where he kicked the footy with several students and chatted to them about their schooling.
Almost 230 teenage boys from Sanderson, Katherine High School and Palmerston High are enrolled in the Academy, which now operates in eight schools across the Territory.
An important element of the program is the role of the students’ mentors - former footballers who work closely with the students during training and football games and throughout the school day as positive role models.
Students participating in the program must show real commitment towards their education, and must have good attendance.
The roll out of the Top End Football Academy builds on the success of the program in Central Australia, where all of the Year 9 students enrolled in the program at Alice Springs High and Anzac Hill High have gone on to senior school this year.
The NT Government has committed $1.6 million over three years to delivering the Clontarf program in the Top End, with further funding provided by the Australian Government and the private sector.
To view the Ministerial Media release you will be leaving the Department of Employment, Education and Training's website.