Top End Group School, NT Australia

NGANMARRIYANGA SCHOOL...

Welcome to our School!

Nganmarriyanga Community is on Palumpa Station (the old timers may remember Palumpa School), Palumpa is a working Aboriginal cattle station. The community has about 450 - 500 people and the school has a current enrollment of of 152 students with a daily attendance of between 70 and 100 students. We have two outstations attached to the school, Merepen and Nemarluk and we are currently investigating a third. There are eight (8) teachers (including the principal) at the school as well as six (6) assistant teachers (one unfilled position), three (3) ATAS tutors, a grounds man, a cleaner and one person in the office. We are also supported by out local community government council and through them have three (3) CDEP people who help in the school with the lunch program, classroom and with grounds maintenance. During the Wet we fly to the Outstations once a week or bring the Assistant Teachers in for training. During the Dry the Outstations Teacher visits four (4) days a week. There are about twenty six (26) students attend at the outstations. The language most commonly spoken is Murin Patha. Nganmarriyanga School is an ESL school and a Peace Builders school.

The community consists of a shop, clinic, workshop, council, abattoir/butcher, power station and the school. The local council and the station are the main employers with most of the work being done through CDEP.

The school has Pre-school up to Year 7 split into of Pre-school, Lower Primary, Middle Primary, Upper Primary, Secondary classes. (Teachers, Assistant Teachers and ancillary staff of Nganmarriyanga School.)

Nganmarriyanga is a good place with nice people. It is a dry community. Many people have said if you leave here you can only go down hill, some may argue that but most of us love it here and the social life that goes with it. It must be remembered, it's the people who make the community and we have some great people here.

Location
Nganmarriyanga School is 375km south west of Darwin. Cross the Daly River at Daly, hit the dirt and keep going for another 142km. The community is cut off during the wet from about late December to April/May. During this time travel is limited to air (two day s a week) and freight is either via air to Palumpa or barge into Port Keats (every fortnight), 45km away; at times the road to Keats is impassable. During the dry we have a truck once a week.
Click on the map below to see exactly where we are in the NT!

History
The school was officially opened in 1987 with about 21 students. Later an extension was added to the original building with a whole new wing being added and opening in 1992. A new Pre-school building was completed in 2003.