00:00A sizzling start to the year at Ludmilla as the holiday memories fade.
00:09My friends have been having play dates with me.
00:12On the weekend I went fishing.
00:15Some more enthusiastic than others about the change of routines.
00:19I just had to mention it this morning and he bolted out of bed.
00:22So I don't know if it will be like that when he gets to 10, 11 and 12 but we'll see how that goes.
00:27There's something different about the back to school journey this year.
00:30It's the first where the Territory's public school classrooms are set to benefit
00:35from a $1 billion funding boost under a deal struck with the Federal Government.
00:40The Territory still has the nation's lowest school attendance rates.
00:45The latest figures from Term 3 last year showing only 71% of Territory students turned up
00:52and for First Nations students that figure just over 50%.
00:56Under the new deal, schools will receive funding for every student enrolled,
01:01not just those who attend every day.
01:04And the expectation is that those schools use that funds to actually engage young people back in school.
01:10Under contentious new powers introduced late last year,
01:13school attendance officers have issued 476 compliance notices
01:18to parents whose children haven't showed up to class.
01:22There has also been a considerable amount of families that have complied with the notice
01:27and had their children back at school last year.
01:30But the Department says they've revoked just a third of those notices
01:34for parents who've got their kids back to school,
01:37with attendance officers still working with the remaining families.
01:41And in 36 cases, parents have been hit with a $370 fine.
01:46But for these eager students, the return to school can't come soon enough.
01:51Back in school!
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