Territory kids and teens are once again dusting off the textbooks and heading back to school. And while attendance rates continue to trail the rest of the country there's hope this school year will look a little different as a federal funding deal kick in.
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00:00A sizzling start to the year at Ludmilla as the holiday memories fade.
00:09My friends have been having play dates with me.
00:12On the weekend I went fishing.
00:15Some more enthusiastic than others about the change of routines.
00:19I just had to mention it this morning and he bolted out of bed.
00:22So I don't know if it will be like that when he gets to 10, 11 and 12 but we'll see how that goes.
00:27There's something different about the back to school journey this year.
00:30It's the first where the Territory's public school classrooms are set to benefit
00:35from a $1 billion funding boost under a deal struck with the Federal Government.
00:40The Territory still has the nation's lowest school attendance rates.
00:45The latest figures from Term 3 last year showing only 71% of Territory students turned up
00:52and for First Nations students that figure just over 50%.
00:56Under the new deal, schools will receive funding for every student enrolled,
01:01not just those who attend every day.
01:04And the expectation is that those schools use that funds to actually engage young people back in school.
01:10Under contentious new powers introduced late last year,
01:13school attendance officers have issued 476 compliance notices
01:18to parents whose children haven't showed up to class.
01:22There has also been a considerable amount of families that have complied with the notice
01:27and had their children back at school last year.
01:30But the Department says they've revoked just a third of those notices
01:34for parents who've got their kids back to school,
01:37with attendance officers still working with the remaining families.
01:41And in 36 cases, parents have been hit with a $370 fine.
01:46But for these eager students, the return to school can't come soon enough.
01:51Back in school!