Like any principal, Dyonne Anderson loves her school.

Cabbage Tree Island Public School, on the Richmond River in northern NSW, is situated in a “beautiful, scenic location”. The school, which caters to an all-Aboriginal student population, is full of “really great kids with big hearts”.

“We have committed teachers who work with the intention of improving student outcomes so that they have choices later in life,” Ms Anderson says. “There’s a great deal of pride associated with the school.”

But that hasn’t always been the case.

When Ms Anderson came to Cabbage Tree Island Public at the end of 2004 she described the school as “a challenging place” to be, with no rules and low academic performance.

“We needed to have discipline in the school … so students knew school was actually a place for learning,” she says.

The school also focused on developing a strong preschool transition program, with interagency support, to help turn around community attitudes to learning and ensure students were ready for Kindergarten.

The program runs five days a week throughout the school year for children aged between three-and-a-half and five years.

An early childhood playgroup caters for parents and children aged up to three-and-a-half.

Children in the transition program develop pre-writing, pre-reading and socialisation skills, and have their sight and hearing regularly tested by local area health service nurses as part of an agreement between the school and NSW Health.

“If they’re not well, not hearing, how can we expect them to learn,” Ms Anderson says.

“The early intervention means we are able to provide support for them and families are also aware of the support on offer for their children.”

Parents are given information on healthy eating and strategies to support their child’s learning at home.

Ms Anderson says the program, part of a suite of initiatives introduced at the school, has contributed to “significant improvement in student achievement” and enhanced home/school partnerships.

“Community relationships have really been strengthened,” Ms Anderson says.

“Families feel much more comfortable coming into the school. The consistent message is that the school is an important part of the community.”