General News
5 November, 2025
Mornington Island State School recognised for reading program
The remote school was recognised with a Showcase award by the Education Minister last week.
Mornington Island State School has been recognised among Queensland’s most outstanding schools, winning a Showcase award in the Bevan Brennan ‘Every Child Needs a Champion’ category – a testament to years of dedicated effort by teachers, community members and students to improve literacy outcomes in one of the state’s most remote communities.
Principal Luke Bowering, who has led the school for the past five years, said the award was a shared triumph that reflected persistence, teamwork and community spirit.
“It’s just a really lovely recognition of the effort of many people over several years,” he said.
“It’s nice recognition for teachers, teacher aides, leaders, parents and students – we need everyone moving in the same direction to make that sort of change.
"Although we were up there to shake the (Education) Minister’s hand, it’s really an award for everyone.”
The recognition came as part of the Department of Education’s 2025 Showcase Awards, which highlight excellence in state schools across Queensland.
Mornington Island’s entry stood out for its whole-school reading initiative, a project that has transformed how students learn to read and how families engage with the school.
The initiative began as a small Kindy-to-Year 2 program and expanded across the school, embedding explicit teaching practices, regular data analysis, and close collaboration among teachers.
A working group of teachers met weekly to co-design lessons, ensuring strategies were culturally inclusive and tailored to the unique language and learning needs of Mornington Island’s children.
Leaders modelled effective reading instruction and built teacher capability so that every classroom shared the same evidence-based approach.
“Making change in a school like this can be hard,” Mr Bowering told North West Weekly.
“Sometimes you measure your gains in very small increments. It’s been a hard slog, but this validates that the effort everyone has put in actually gets results.”
Those results have been striking.
Since 2023, the proportion of students in the early years achieving a C grade or higher in English has risen by 51 per cent.
Teachers now meet in five-week cycles to analyse reading data, and the school has introduced two popular community programs – Read and Feed and Read with an Adult – to encourage families to share in their children’s learning.
On Read and Feed days, the school fires up the barbecue for breakfast burgers and invites parents, grandparents and community members to sit and read alongside students.
“It’s a celebration of reading with family and with food,” Mr Bowering said.
“We bring family in to read with their students, build their capacity to teach reading, and make learning something that’s fun and rewarding.”
Prizes, games and friendly competition have helped turn reading into something children look forward to rather than dread.
“We sort of gamify it,” he said.
“We give away little prizes if they read a certain number of books and things like that – it just makes it fun.”
Behind the scenes, deputy principal Teneil Smale has been a key driver of the literacy program, helping to build consistency and enthusiasm among staff.
The school’s new partnership facilitator, local rugby league coach Anton Saltmere, has also brought energy to the community side of the initiative, running after-school activities and mentoring students.
For the principal, the success is about more than awards – it’s about changing lives through literacy.
“Reading is sort of everything – it doesn’t matter where you are,” Mr Bowering said.
“Being able to read opens up their access to the rest of life. It sets them up to be successful and to have a life of choice rather than one of being trapped.
"Not being able to read is such a disadvantage. Even if they stay on the island, being able to read what comes through the door or what they need for work or the shop – it’s just such a key.”
After five years on Mornington Island, Mr Bowering will finish his tenure at the end of the year, taking a break before deciding on his next move.
But he leaves knowing the school is on the right path and that his team’s work has made a tangible difference.
“There are some really talented educators working in remote schools up in the Gulf,” he said.
“You learn a lot by achieving up here. It’s hard-fought and hard-earned, but that’s what makes it so rewarding.”