IT WAS quite a spectacle. The Prime Minister, with a large contingent of public servants, security and media, marching around the streets of Yirrkala with a group of truancy officers yelling through loudspeakers for kids to get to school.

With such a juggernaut on the prowl, the chances of rounding up a stray kid were zero this morning.

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Yet what Mr Abbott was seeing was not staged just for his benefit.

Every school day, a group of 13 or so school attendance officers in yellow shirts really do hit the streets of this Arnhem Land community yelling out into front yards for parents to get their kids to school.

They are called Mel’gnu, which means spies. They are accompanied by a mongrel Chihuahua mascot called Time, who also wears a yellow shirt.

The concept was devised by Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion and seems to have popular acceptance in the community.

It has also produced some positive results in the north, where bush school attendances have long been dismal and a source of deep frustration for governments.

The Yirrkala School should have 200 students on any day. Yesterday, 131 rolled up, partly for Mr Abbott’s benefit. He said he was told it was close to a record.

He addressed the school assembly saying that the first years of schooling were an important time to develop friendships and skills.

“I want to say to the young people here that your school days are precious and important. I hope you enjoy them very much indeed,” he said.

“It’s so important that every child goes to school every day.”

The Clontarf Foundation, which teaches Australian Rules skills and takes kids on footy tours in exchange for regular attendance, is embedded in the school.

Former Geelong player Hamish Simpson fell into the job of teaching boys after he headed to Arnhem Land for the fishing.

He said football was only part of Clontarf’s role.

“It’s definitely not about talent identification for the AFL,” he said, as a group of kids handballed and stab-passed balls in the school.

“It’s about attendance, life skills, self-esteem, behaviour and employment opportunity.”

Mr Abbott and Education Minister Christopher Pyne were given a none-too-subtle message on the importance of indigenous languages by Yalmay Yunupingu, the widow of Yothu Yindi lead singer Dr Yunupingu.

The Yirrkala school strongly believes in teaching children their own Yolngu language and has battled governments over the years to maintain its bilingual education program.

Mrs Yunupingu, a strong advocate for indigenous literacy, led a group of young children while holding a song sheet, the words all written large in Yolngu Matha language.