Since 2016, Westside has supported education and training for indigenous young people, through its partnership with the Clontarf and Stars Foundations.

It provides a combination of financial and in-kind support. Through site and office visits, contributing to employment training forums, supporting sporting events and sponsoring students to go on the Young Endeavour voyage, Westside, and its parent company Landbridge, has provided inspiration and opportunities for these young people to build a brighter future.

Former Stars student, Taleisha, who now studies Social Sciences at Charles Sturt University, explains the impacts Stars had on her life.

“I joined Stars in Year 12 and it’s hard to explain the sense of relief that I had. My Stars mentors understood the issues in my life and I felt like I could talk to them. I was the first person in my family to complete Year 12 and I can see around me that the hands-on support Stars provides is helping more and more local Aboriginal girls finish Year 12.”

Taleisha is one of many students to enjoy this kind of success. In the past five years, Clontarf report an average 85% of its year 12 leavers in the Northern Territory remaining engaged in employment or in further training or study, 12 months after leaving school. Stars also report an average of 90% of its graduates remaining in employment or further study.

Both Clontarf and Stars each run seventeen academies across the Northern Territory, collectively supporting over two thousand indigenous young people. Clontarf has also recently commenced a primary school programme in two locations which aims to work with 90 boys by the end of the year.

Mike Hughes, MD and CEO of Westside and MD of Landbridge, Australia, says that he is proud to have forged such a strong and fruitful partnership with the Clontarf and Stars Foundations.

“Representatives of the company are privileged to be regularly involved in the Clontarf and Stars Foundations’ activities and engaging with these young people from across the Northern Territory. The students confidently share their stories and aspirations of finishing school, finding a job and their place within the community to build a bright future.  We are so pleased to be a part of that.”

Westside will continue to support the important work of both the Clontarf and Stars Foundations.