The Finocchiaro CLP Government is continuing to deliver in its year of action, certainty and security, with the latest school attendance data showing the CLP has halted Labor's 8-year decline in school attendance.
When Labor came to Government in 2016, the school attendance rate was 80.8%, when they were voted out, attendance had fallen to 71.7%.
So far in 2025, the School Attendance Officers have issued 1,111 compliance notices and 215 infringement notices.
Of those, 531 compliance notices and 21 infringement notices were revoked, meaning parents are listening and returning their children to school.
In conjunction with School Attendance Officers and the CLP Government's plan to refer parents of chronically disengaged students for income management, the government has rolled out a range of measures to support schools getting kids back to school.
These include:
Getting schools back to basics focusing on literacy and numeracyRolling out explicit teaching in NT Government schoolsMoving more teachers from short-term contracts onto permanent contracts Phasing out Middle Schools and opening a new Industry, Trade and Technical College, a new Higher-Education-Focused College in Darwin's Northern Suburbs, as well as a new Regional Industry, Trade and Flexible Education College in Alice SpringsA new Secondary Special Education School in PalmerstonSwimming in Schools - free swimming lessons for every Primary School student in years 1-6, and,School Counsellors and Aboriginal Liaison Officers in Schools
Minister for Education and Training Jo Hersey said: "The data shows the initiatives our CLP Government's school attendance team is doing to get chronically disengaged children back in the classroom is working, with 328 less students on the intensive support roll compared to this time last year."
Mataranka School in the Big Rivers Region has increased their school attendance by 13.5 % points, from 54.2% in term 3 2024 to 67.7% in term 3 2025 due to strong partnerships with families and the community.
Staff at the school provide regular positive communication to families, run additional bus routes to bring children to school and collaborate with the local Aboriginal Police Officer to support daily attendance.
The Police support the school with additional pickups for students or speaking to families if a child is refusing to go to school.
The school also rewards students for attendance above 80% per term and tracks their attendance on a visual term chart.
The Principal of Mataranka School, Telka Zotz Wilson said: "At Mataranka School we work together with families, community and students to make every school day count - celebrating effort, connection and success in attendance."
For the first time, the Intensive Support roll data will be publicly reported, broken down into the number of students on the roll per region, and reported per term along with school enrolment and attendance data.
This follows Labor's 8 years of hiding this list from the public and using it to hide kids and make their attendance statistics look better than they were!
The term 3 2025 school enrolment, attendance and intensive support roll data can be found here here.
