Clontarf: Clontarf Academy

The Clontarf Foundation exists to improve the education, discipline, self esteem, life skills and employment prospects of young Aboriginal men and by doing so, equip them to participate more meaningfully in society.

These outcomes are achieved through the medium of football. Academies are formed in association with selected schools and colleges and each Academy’s football program attracts young Aboriginal men to school and helps to retain them.

We use the existing passion that Indigenous boys have for football to attract them to attend an Academy. Members are not selected on football ability; though obviously most of them have some aptitude for the game.

To remain in the Academy, members must consistently endeavour to:

• Attend school regularly
• Apply themselves to the study of appropriate courses
• Embrace the Academy’s requirements for behaviour and self-discipline

As well as coordinating the football program, Academy staff mentor and counsel students on a range of behavioural and lifestyle issues while the school caters for their specific educational needs.

LATEST NEWSLETTER: CLONTARF QUARTERLY JULY 2010 (CLICK HERE)

Where are we?

Since opening its first Academy for 25 boys on the campus of the Clontarf Aboriginal College in Perth, Western Australia in 2000, the Foundation has grown rapidly and has been consistently successful.

We now cater for over 2,200 boys in 36 schools across Western Australia, Northern Territory and Victoria.

Benefits

There are broad social benefits resulting from the programs, with statistical and anecdotal evidence of improved educational attendance and outcomes.

In particular, students involved in our programs achieve the following outcomes

• Attendance at school greater than 80%
• Re-enter education after prolonged absences
• Year on year retention at school – not less than 90% (well above state averages)
• Enhanced self-esteem and self awareness
• Knowledge and experience gained to make healthy lifestyle decisions
• Set goals and persevere to achieve them
• Reduced cases of criminal re-offending
• Improved academic results (basic literacy and numeracy through to high school graduation)
• A greater understanding of, and access to, the employment opportunities available to them
• More than 75% of Clontarf graduates engaged in employment