The notion of building a school from the ground up has probably crossed many educators’ minds, however the realities of endless red tape and immense monetary hurdles are usually enough to keep those grand plans from ever coming to fruition.
Not so for Andrew Plastow (BEd(UP/LS) ’91), whose spark of an idea to create an independent, not-for-profit, socially-just college was strong enough to gain momentum and backing from the community.
Ngutu College on Kaurna Country in Woodville North, South Australia works from a Reggio Emilia principle that the environment is the third educator. Currently a Reception to Year 11 school with plans to offer Year 12 in 2026, young people are valued and supported to fulfil their creative potential and given every opportunity to explore their individual interests. What’s more, rather than being affiliated with a religion, Ngutu College integrates and privileges Aboriginal knowledges within the formal curriculum.
“Schools generally operate from the notion of preparing young people to get jobs, whereas we focus on the child and valuing childhood, being in the moment of today,” says Andrew.
“I’ve previously heard teachers say things like, ‘so and so owes me a page of writing’, whereas our kids aren’t writing for us, they’re writing for themselves. Immediately, that changes your experience of what schooling is for.
“We don’t call them school students because they don’t belong to us, we’re a place that’s here for them to come for a range of life experiences.”
AN EARLY EPIPHANY
Andrew had made his mind up that teaching was the path for him at an early age.
“I moved a lot as a child – my 10th birthday was in my 10th house! I think part of that led to schooling experiences that weren’t ideal,” explains Andrew.
He got the marks needed to begin his teaching qualification and credits Flinders for helping him reach that first goal of graduating.
“I had the misfortune of my younger brother dying when I was studying. Through that experience, I found that the support offered to me from lecturers was amazing. It may not have been possible to finish at the time without it,” Andrew says.
“I actually didn’t know I was Aboriginal until after graduating, but I still started my teaching career with a really clear understanding of Aboriginal issues and culture, thanks to Flinders, and subconciously it felt right to follow this path of helping Aboriginal kids.”
After graduating, Andrew taught in the country, finding it very similar to his own schooling – dull. After a term, he took an opportunity in Whyalla to work part time in a withdrawal unit for children who had been kicked out of school. Although it was less pay and further away, he thrived and it set him off on an alternative career path.
“I could see these kids, although not allowed to be in school, were actually great little human beings that mainstream school clearly wasn’t catering for.” Andrew says.
A PLAN TO DO MORE
As Principal of Alberton Primary, Andrew had found success. He transformed a previously struggling cohort into a centre of excellence, receiving praise. However, he felt there was still more that could be done to help troubled youth achieve their best.
“We were finding we would have these amazingly talented Year 7 Aboriginal kids graduating, then hear that halfway through Year 9 they had dropped out of school,” Andrew says.
“I wanted to expand Alberton to a high school, but the idea was knocked on the head pretty quickly. Then, a uniform approach to primary school teaching was introduced that made my role difficult, as I feel we needed to represent the community not fit a mould, so I made the decision to resign in 2019.”
After presenting at a school retreat, the idea of starting a school was bandied around fellow educators. Andrew questioned if this was even possible. Turns out, there are three things you need for a school.
“One is money, another is a a site, and the other is registration,” explains Andrew.
“To get a site you need money. To get money, you really need to be registered for people to be willing to help. To get registration, you must demonstrate that you’re financially viable. It was a bit of a catch 22!”
On 1 February 2021, Ngutu College had 90 children and their families on site, just based on expressions of interest, ready to start their educational journey. Andrew had reached an agreement with the school site’s landlord and social impact investors who were willing to lend the money.
“We weren’t allowed to let them into the classrooms until we had registration, so we took them down to the park,” says Andrew.
“We came back, had our formal opening, and in the middle of the opening I got the phone call from the registrar to say we were approved. The rest is history!”
FINDING THEIR LANGUAGE
“Any medium to express yourself, that’s what we call a language,” says Andrew.
“I don’t just mean Kaurna language or English, which is still part of what we do, but the language of dance, or the language of saxophone, or the language of binary digits, and so on.”
Children at Ngutu College are given the opportunity to base their schooling on the foundation of their preferred language.
“Having a range of experiences means it is more likely that a young person is going to find their language,” says Andrew.
“One of our current Year 10s came to us in Year 7 having never played music before. She got the opportunity to access her preferred language here and she proficiently plays about six instruments now!”
By 2027, the hope is that every one of Ngutu’s graduates will have a staff member allocated for ongoing support once they graduate.
“We talk about hope a lot. I want children to leave here optimistic and resilient, and for them to feel that they have found their pathway which they can confidently continue on,” he says.