Support program

• Year 7 and 8 Orientation Camp: Students learn about boarding school life and what to expect from the scholarship. We introduce our Core Values of Compassion, Openness, Respect, Resilience, Inclusiveness and Excellence.
• Year 9 Central Australia Camps: Boys and girls travel to Central Australia on separate camps for a week to build skills in teamwork, relationship building and leadership as well as foster greater cultural connection.
• Year 10 Pay-It-Forward Program: A Yalari fundraising initiative encouraging students to think creatively and work together in order to collectively fund a scholarship for another Yalari student.
• Year 11 Pathways Camp – a weekend long camp hosted at Bond University designed to give Year 11 students a taste of university life and an insight into a variety of career options to inspire their post school ambitions. Students participate in workshops, presentations, and a career roundtable.
• Year 12 Workshops: Supported by Herbert Smith Freehills, this weekend brings the Year 12 students together to help them develop the skills they will need as they transition out of school, including resume and interview skills and applying for university and further studies.
• Year 12 Graduation: Celebrating the achievements of the graduates, a formal ceremony is held at Parliament House in Canberra, followed by a trip to the snow fields.

Attending a boarding school, living away from family, community and off Country is a challenging and daunting experience for our students. Living away from home, moving to a city, meeting new people, being in a new culture and keeping up with boarding school expectations can all influence the health and wellbeing of our current students. 

The Yalari Bullang Bujerum Wellbeing (Strong Spirit) program promotes and enriches the wellbeing of students on Yalari scholarships through developing positive, respectful, and culturally safe relationships with students, their families and communities, partner schools and community services.  

The program focuses on social and emotional wellbeing through culture, stories, healing, laughter and truth. Holistic wellbeing support for students considers the cultural, social, spiritual, family and individual factors that contribute to the welfare of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who are attending boarding school for up to 10 weeks at a time and returning to their home communities for school holidays or other business.  

Bullang Bujerum supports scholarship students though face to face interactions with Student Support Officers who work in all of our Partner Schools, along with the imbedding of wellbeing in our year level camps and activities. A Wellbeing Coordinator in the Yalari office works with key stakeholders to ensure our students are getting the mental health support they require.

Yalari supports our scholarship students to succeed academically at their partner schools. We know that for each student the support needed to thrive at school is different which is why we work closely with each student and our partner schools to ensure that students get the academic support they need to succeed.

A dedicated staff member in our student support team reviews each student's development to track progress against milestones for individuals and student cohorts. If a student is assessed to need more academic assistance, we work with schools, their families, and the partner school to make sure students can access additional support. Yalari will provide volunteer or paid tutoring to students who require it.