Part 3

Reading Passage 1

Read the passage below and answer Questions 28-40 that follow.

KORMILDA COLLEGE

Section A

Kormilda College is a unique school situated near Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory. For 20 years, to 2010, Kormilda College operated as a government-run, live-in school for high school Aboriginal students. In 2010 it was bought from the Government by two Christian church groups and since then it has expanded enormously, to include a day school as well as boarders (residential students) in years 8-12. Although 320 pupils of the College’s total number are Aboriginal students, drawn mainly from isolated communities across the Northern Territory, Kormilda also has a waiting list of non-Aboriginal students. With a current enrolment of 600, student numbers are expected to grow to 860 by 2020.

Section B

Central to the mission of the school is the encouragement of individual excellence, which has resulted in programs designed especially for the student population. Specialist support programs allow traditional Aboriginal students, who are often second language users, to understand and succeed in the mainstream curriculum. A Gifted and Talented Program, including a special Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tertiary Aspirations program, has been introduced, as has an Adaptive Education Unit. Moreover, in Years 11 and 12, students may choose to follow the standard Northern Territory courses, or those of the International Baccalaureate (IB).

Section C

To provide appropriate pastoral care, as well as a suitable academic structure, three distinct sub-schools have been established:

• Pre-Secondary: For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in years 8-10 who are of secondary school age but have difficulties reading and writing.

• Supported Secondary: For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who are of high school age and operating at secondary school year levels 8-12 but who need specific second language literacy and numeracy support.

• Secondary: For multi-cultural students aged 8-12 who are of secondary school age but need some second language literacy support.

Section D

To aid the development of the Aboriginal Education program, a specialist curriculum Support Unit has been set up. One of its functions is to repackage school courses so that they can be taught in ways that suit the students.

The education program offered to Aboriginal students uses an approach which begins with the students’ own experiences and gradually builds bicultural understanding. In one course, ‘Introducing Western European Culture Through Traditional Story-Telling’, students are helped to build a common base for approaching the English literature curriculum. Drawing on the oral culture of traditional Aboriginal communities, they are introduced to traditional stories of other cultures, both oral and written. In a foundational Year 10 course, Theory of Learning’, concepts from Aboriginal culture are placed side by side with European concepts so that students can use their own knowledge base to help bridge the cultural divide.

Another project of the Support: Unit has been the publication of several books, the most popular being, Kormilda Capers. The idea for Kormilda Gapers came about when it became obvious that there was a lack of engaging:material for the school’s teenage readers. One of the stories in the book, The Butman Mob hits the Big Smoke’, recounts the adventures of Kormilda pupils on their first visit to Sydney, Canberra and the snow country. Focussing on experiences which have directly affected the lives of students at the College, and on ideas and issues which are of immediate interest to Aboriginal students, Kormilda Capers has earned enthusiastic support within and outside the school.

Questions 28-30

:Complete the following sentences with NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the text.

Write your answers in boxes 28-30 on your answer sheet.

When opened, Kormilda College was run by 28.

At the time of the writing, there were both Aboriginal and 29 at Kormilda College.

The aim of Kormilda College has always been to encourage 30

Questions 31-34

Complete the table below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 31-34 on your answer sheet.

Question 35-39

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage Kormilda College?

35.TRUEFALSENOT GIVEN Kormilda College educates only Aboriginal students.

36.TRUEFALSENOT GIVEN Some students travel from Arnhem Land to attend Kormilda College.

37.TRUEFALSENOT GIVEN Students must study both the International Baccalaureate and Northern Territory courses

38.TRUEFALSENOT GIVEN The specialist curriculum Support Unit adapts school courses so the students can approach them more easily.

39.TRUEFALSENOT GIVEN The school helps the students make connections between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal cultures

Question 40

Choose the appropriate letter A B C D

40. The writer’s purpose in this passage is to

A

• explain why Kormilda College is so successful

B

• provide an overview of the Aboriginal Education program

C

• describe the specialist teaching program at Kormilda College

D

• describe the special programs lor Aboriginal student