Yarrabah is an Aboriginal community of approximately 1200 people. The community, although close to Cairns, is isolated by a 3000 ft mountain range. The people identify more with the community than with individual tribes. A few crafts remain; Aboriginal languages are known but are not now spoken. So, in comparison with the communities further north, it is fairly westernized. The Grade 8 class is attached to the primary school. It is considered as a transition year from primary to secondary.

Before the first week of school was over it was evident there were vast differences in ability and attainment levels in the class of eleven boys and twenty-three girls. Through a variety of testing procedures, students’ performance levels in the basic skills of numeracy and literacy were tabulated to give a composite picture of the class.