Media Release
Special celebration at Maningrida CEC to honour high achievers and award-winners
Tuesday 4 April 2006
The Maningrida school community will attend a special ceremony tomorrow to celebrate the success of the school’s 2005 Northern Territory Certificate of Education (NTCE) graduates - and the first-ever Maningrida graduates with Tertiary Entrance Ranks. The celebration will also honour the local winner of an Administrator’s Medal for Territory Junior Scholars, and recognise Maningrida’s recent success as the regional winner of The Commissioner’s Award for Equity and Diversity.
Chief Executive for the Department of Employment, Education and Training, Ms Margaret Banks said the ceremony will honour eight Indigenous students who received their NTCE last year. The students are Aidan Balirija, Briony James, Catriona Taylor, Jenny Bonson, Moses Watson, Alistair James, Narelle Williams and Zimreon Campion.
She praised Maningrida Community Education Centre’s success since the accreditation of its senior secondary program in 2003, noting that academic accomplishments have progressively grown.
"Maningrida’s NTCE achievements in 2005 build on the school’s groundbreaking effort the previous year, when four ‘home grown’ students attained their NTCE – the first Maningrida Year 12 students to reach such an academic milestone,” Ms Banks said.
"This is now the second year in a row that Maningrida Year 12 students have achieved NTCE certificates. Doubling our number of graduates to eight is certainly something worth celebrating – as is the fact that six of the students have achieved university rankings”.
"This is a tremendous outcome for senior secondary Indigenous education in remote communities, with all of the students having completed their entire education – from pre-school to Year 12 - in their own community".
Last year, for the first time, all five NT remote community education centres that are accredited to provide senior secondary studies produced graduates. The 25 remote graduates brought the total number of Indigenous Territorians to attain their NTCEs to a record 106.
Wednesday’s celebration in Maningrida will also recognise the achievement of an Indigenous primary school student – Kashima Small. Kashima was presented the Administrator’s Medal for outstanding citizenship and academic excellence by the Administrator, His Honour Ted Egan AO, at Parliament House in February this year.
The festivities are also an opportunity to celebrate the school’s recent success in winning the regional category of The Commissioner’s Awards for Equity and Diversity. The award will be presented by Ms Janis Shaw, on behalf of The Commissioner for Public Employment, Mr John Kirwan.
The celebrations will include musical items performed by the Bushfire Band (Year 11 and 12 boys), the Ocean Band (Year 12 girls); and Maningrida CEC’s award-winning Maningrida Brass Ensemble. Following the ceremony, the whole community is invited to attend a barbeque lunch.