Despite the miserable weather, all 14 boys enrolled in the Ngurang-gu Yalbilinya program are present.

It's one of the many key differences between this classroom and the traditional one - boys with low attendance records tend to actually show up here.

Facilitated by Canobolas Rural Technology High School teachers Tim Bennett and Scott Sullivan and Student Support Officer Mark Polley, the program was instigated by Orange Aboriginal Lands Council and the Orange Aboriginal Medical Services to provide a more "holistic" approach to education.

It's only six months since the Ngurang-gu Yalbilinya program for local Indigenous boys came into existence and already the innovative model is churning out success stories involving kids who have re-engaged with learning.

One such student is 16-year-old Wiradjuri teen, Brandon Barrt. On the morning of the boys' second day back after school holidays, he raises his hand again and again to answer Mr Bennett's questions.

It's a dramatic difference to how he was when he first came to Ngurang-gu Yalbilinya in Term One. That has a lot to do with the program's bush setting as well as its teacher-student ratio.

"In the [normal] classroom, you've got 30 students with one teacher, [so] it's a lot harder. Whereas here, we've got a lot more individual focus on students and it's a lot easier. If we need help we can get it," he says.

While Brandon had previously struggled at school and hated it, since starting at Ngurang-gu Yalbilinya, he says he now likes waking up in the morning to go to the classroom that overlooks Lake Canobolas.

Student Support Officer Mark Polley explains that, on average, attendance at Ngurang-gu Yalbilinya is ninety-three percent. Previously, the same boys' attendance rate at Canobolas Rural Technology High School was as low as zero.

"We're able to give the kids more one-on-one time [and] more one-on-one focus," he explained.

"So far, the results speak for themselves and the boys are really kicking goals.

"Last term in term two, I think one of the kids' reading age went up three and half years."

Another key component to the program's success appears to be the incorporation of Wiradjuri subjects, including language and dance, helping the boys reconnect to their culture.

"The kids are coming here, obviously because they're disengaged, [but] they disengage usually because they're so low in their literacy and numeracy... so they come in here and we identify what spelling level they're at, what maths level they're at and what literacy level they're at.... We start their education from where they're at and then we build them up from there," Mr Polley said.

"It's really working. The boys are engaging and they're getting into it. They're really enjoying themselves out here... [and] building relationships and hopefully becoming the young leaders for the future for the community."

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