Yipirinya students are learning two – ways, keeping languages sand culture strong.

Lola Forester catches up with Yipirinya School principal Gavin Morris. The thriving school provides quality education to the children of the Aboriginal families in Alice Springs and surrounds.

Yipirinya School is community led and strives to deliver “accessible, relevant, captivating, and inspiring education”. Sixty-Five percent of the school staff are Aboriginal people and with the school council back on board, this Indigenous-led centre of learning has a bright future.

Yipirinya School has been teaching two ways, in Alice Springs since 1978. The community-controlled school was founded by key town camps elders to teach two-ways in both Aboriginal and Western curriculums. For over 40 years Yipirinya School has been keeping Aboriginal language and culture alive.

It is the only school of its type in Australia, teaching five languages (Central Arrernte, Walpiri, Luritja, Western Arrernte and English). Culture is at the centre of all they do.

Khi-Lee Thorpe

Khi-Lee Thorpe