• Footscray, Yarraville, Braybrook Star

By Charlene Gatt

9th March 2010 11:05:39 AM

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Pilot program … From left: Farhrya Sharif Mohamed, Aisha 18 months, Suhma, 8, Gini Khalif, Luqman, 2, Hanan, 4 and Fartun, 11, are actively involved at Dinjerra Primary School. 43646Picture: SARAH MATRAY

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A NEW pilot program will help migrant parents become more involved in their child’s education at two primary schools in the West.

The North West Migrant Resource Centre will work with Braybrook’s Dinjerra Primary School and St Albans Heights Primary School over the next two years to encourage newly-arrived migrant families to actively participate in the school community.

Erin Hughes from the MRC said the Involved, Informed, Included program would rope in parents in school activities, afford them contact with teachers and show them how the Victorian school system worked.

Principal Leanne Sheardown said 85 per cent of Dinjerra’s students came from non-English speaking backgrounds, creating a very low level of parent participation at the school.

Ms Sheardown said the school had been actively trying to improve communication between migrant parents and students by employing a migrant aide to interpret and set up meetings, having interpreters at parent/teacher interviews, and introducing a playgroup.

“The partnership will be an important contribution in the settlement journey for refugee families in Braybrook,” she said.

Mums Farhryo Sharif Mohamed and Gini Khalif remember all too well what it was like when they moved to Australia, 11 and five years ago respectively.

The pair, who are now involved with the school council, canteen duty and playgroup, found it hard to communicate with teachers because of the language barrier.

“I do my best to find out what is new at the school and with the children. I like to be on top of that,” Ms Khalif said.

The pair have praised the new program and said it would help parents connect with others and receive information they wouldn’t otherwise get.

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