The principal of a tiny Palm Island Aboriginal school says an accelerated literacy program introduced at the beginning of this year has produced some extremely gratifying results.
The teaching method bans "dumbed-down baby books" and sets the bar high for primary school children at St Michael's Catholic school, challenging them to read age-appropriate Australian literature.
The principal says every class has shown a marked improvement.
Most of St Michael's 150 students are Indigenous and, for many, English is their second language.
Senior Indigenous education officer at Townsville's Catholic Education office, Jennifer Wills says the program has seized on the Indigenous culture's love of a good yarn, with the young students seeing themselves as readers and writers for the first time.
