Girls Academy

Girls Academy is the leading provider of school-based engagement programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls in Australia.

Girls Academy is the flagship program of Role Models and Leaders Australia, founded in 2004 by Olympian and champion basketballer Ricky Grace (AM, MEdL, BPoLSc). The full-time program works within the school system to drive community-led solutions aimed at overcoming the obstacles that prevent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls from attending and achieving at school.

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Girls receive intensive one-on-one mentoring and support from our team of skilled field staff, 74 percent of whom are highly accomplished Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

Our program increases the skills, employability, mental health and well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls around Australia – providing them with better opportunities to contribute to the social and economic outcomes of the wider community.

Girls Academy equips girls with the tools they need to engage in their education, achieve their goals and change their communities. Academy girls are ready to make an economic contribution to our nation and to be part of the social change that is Closing the Gap.

Program activities are designed with emphasis on the ‘Big 4’ objectives to:

  1. Increase school attendance
  2. Advance academic and personal achievement
  3. Improve year 12 graduation rates, and
  4. Facilitate post-school transition planning

We want Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls to be empowered and motivated to achieve educational success, which in turn results in improved outcomes for their health, emotional well-being, employment opportunities and life expectancy.

We want this success to be passed down from generation to generation, ultimately closing the gap that exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian measures of well-being.