‘Sounds, Words, Aboriginal Language and Yarning’ (SWAY) is a school-based oral language and early literacy programme based on Australian Aboriginal stories, knowledge and culture. It was developed by a multidisciplinary team in collaboration with Australian Aboriginal community members. SWAY aims to strengthen and support the communication skills of educators to facilitate language and literacy development of children in the early school years, particularly Australian Aboriginal children, within rural communities in New South Wales. Key features of SWAY include capacity building of educators and small group speech-language pathology intervention sessions, delivered remotely via telehealth. This study explored educator perceptions of SWAY training, mentoring and implementation, using a mixed methods approach. Findings revealed: use of culturally responsive strategies; positive educator perceptions of the SWAY programme, training and mentoring and positive changes to the confidence and behaviours of educators both supporting language and early literacy development, and embedding Australian Aboriginal perspectives in the classroom. Positive findings support and encourage the ongoing provision of SWAY. Findings also have implications for the future collaborative development and implementation of culturally responsive language and literacy programmes.

Aboriginal Education Workers (AEWs) are utilised by primary and secondary schools to improve components of success for Aboriginal students, liaise with their families and the Aboriginal community and contribute to developing and promoting an Aboriginal pedagogy. Despite the challenging role of decolonising the school environment, the important work undertaken by AEWs can be misunderstood and underappreciated by the Western school system. This paper aims to measure the influence of AEWs on Aboriginal culture within schools using quantitative data from Wave 7K Cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children. Results show that there is a positive impact on Aboriginal culture within schools through having an AEW present all or some of the time. For Aboriginal children to grow up strong, employment of an AEW is important to decolonise the school environment and provide a holistic education.

Healthy food subsidy programmes have not been widely implemented in high-income countries apart from the USA and the UK. There is, however, interest being expressed in the potential of healthy food subsidies to complement nutrition promotion initiatives and reduce the social disparities in healthy eating. Herein, we describe the impact of a fruit and vegetable (F&V) subsidy programme on the nutritional status of a cohort of disadvantaged Aboriginal children living in rural Australia. A before-and-after study was used to assess the nutritional impact in 174 children whose families received weekly boxes of subsidised F&V organised through three Aboriginal medical services. The nutritional impact was assessed by comparing 24 h dietary recalls and plasma carotenoid and vitamin C levels at baseline and after 12 months. A general linear model was used to assess the changes in biomarker levels and dietary intake, controlled for age, sex, community and baseline levels. Baseline assessment in 149 children showed low F&V consumption. Significant increases (P< 0·05) in β-cryptoxanthin (28·9 nmol/l, 18 %), vitamin C (10·1 μmol/l, 21 %) and lutein–zeaxanthin (39·3 nmol/l, 11 %) levels were observed at the 12-month follow-up in 115 children, although the self-reported F&V intake was unchanged. The improvements in the levels of biomarkers of F&V intake demonstrated in the present study are consistent with increased F&V intake. Such dietary improvements, if sustained, could reduce non-communicable disease rates. A controlled study of healthy food subsidies, together with an economic analysis, would facilitate a thorough assessment of the costs and benefits of subsidising healthy foods for disadvantaged Aboriginal Australians.