A one-day AI program for students in Years 7 to 12. Students learn to use AI on purpose, question what it tells them and build something of their own.
Years 7 to 12. One full day, hands-on, with a team competition running from the first session to the last. Built around Torres Strait life.
Masig, Torres Strait. Emver Partners drone capture.
You're already using AI, in your phone, your apps and your feeds. This day is about going from passenger to driver, and that starts with knowing where the edges are.
Before anyone builds anything, students learn what to keep out of AI, how to protect their family and community, and how to tell when a tool is confidently wrong.
Full names, addresses, photos of friends, passwords and anything about someone else that isn't yours to share.
Stories, language and knowledge belong to the people who hold them. They don't go into a public AI tool without the right people saying yes.
The difference between a school account and a free app, and what happens to the things you put in.
AI sounds sure of itself even when it's wrong. Students practise second-checking before they trust it.
How images and voices get faked, how to spot it and why making or sharing them without consent causes real harm.
Using AI to study better without handing your thinking over to it, in line with your school's own rules.
Strait Minds ran its first full day with boarders at Torres Strait Kaziw Meta on Thursday Island. These are the ratings that cohort gave the day.
Survey results are available to schools, communities and funding bodies on request.
Most AI training is built for people in offices on the mainland. Strait Minds is built for Torres Strait students, with examples and challenges that make sense where you live.
Year 7 through to Year 12 covers a wide range of ability and ambition. This program treats students as capable, semi-intermediate users, not beginners, not experts. It meets you where you are and pushes you further.
Session times and content are indicative and may change to suit your group, location and needs.
Acknowledgement of Country, introductions and the ground rules. We kick off the day-long competition that runs right through to the final whistle.
A quick read on what students already use, then everyone signs in to the school version of Microsoft Copilot.
From lazy prompts to smart ones. Students test the same question side by side, see how one word changes the answer and pick up two instant hacks that make AI sound like them.
A simple four-step method for briefing an AI tool so the answer fits your place, your job and your rules. Taught, practised and locked in with a scored challenge.
Practical, ethical ways to use AI for study, then students put it to work building something real for a local community problem.
Protecting community knowledge, spotting AI that is confidently wrong and learning to second-check. A flexible slot we shape with each school.
An energiser to bring the group back, including a moment that shows students just how convincing AI has become.
The big one. Teams go head to head in fast, scored prompt challenges. This is where the day-long competition is won or lost.
The six things every student walks out with, a quick survey, then the winner and runner-up are announced.
The schedule shown is the recommended structure. Session 4 runs as a flexible slot and any session can be reshaped, reordered or tailored to suit your cohort and the educational facility's priorities. We work with each organisation in advance to build the day around what matters most.
Session times and content are indicative and may change to suit your group, location and needs.
The shift from passive user to intentional user. Through quick, scored challenges students learn why a lazy prompt gets a lazy answer, and how telling AI who, what and what good looks like changes everything.
RACE is a simple four-step method Northern Academy uses to teach people how to brief AI tools so the answers fit your place, your job and your rules. Students learn it in full on the day.
The practical session. Students leave with concrete ways to use AI that strengthen their study and learning, not shortcut around it. Then they build something real for a local community problem.
The honest stuff. AI can be used to protect community knowledge or to take it. Students leave with the awareness, instincts and practical tools to recognise the difference and to second-check when someone says they are helping.
This module addresses deepfakes, image-based harm and the legal and social realities of AI misuse. It is important content, but it requires careful, age-appropriate delivery and must be explicitly approved by the educational facility before inclusion.
Honest, direct and age-appropriate. No scare tactics, no sanitising.
This session covers what deepfakes are and how they're made, how to spot them and the real consequences, legal, social and personal, of creating or sharing AI-generated content without consent. It is grounded in Queensland law and the Australian Online Safety framework.
Approval process: This module is not included in the standard program. Facilities wishing to include it must confirm in writing prior to delivery that the content is appropriate for their cohort and that any required pastoral care supports are in place. Emver Partners reserves the right to decline inclusion if delivery conditions are not suitable. Note: Legal content in this session reflects Emver Partners' understanding of Queensland and Commonwealth legislation at the time of delivery and does not constitute legal advice.
The day builds to a head-to-head team finale. Students put everything they have learned to work in fast, scored rounds, with a major prize on the line for the winning team.
A points competition runs across every session of the day. Prompt Games is where teams go head to head applying the RACE framework under the clock. It is loud, it is fun and every student is in it.
Teams form and the scoreboard goes live
Each round drops a new prompt challenge
Teams craft their best prompt against the clock
Points awarded round by round
Winning team takes the major prize
For study, for planning, for solving problems, not theoretical.
Structured with AI and relevant to their world.
Built collaboratively with AI as the tool, not the answer.
How to spot problems, protect themselves and think independently.
For their studies, their community and their futures in the Strait.
No two schools are the same. In close collaboration with each educational facility, the day's syllabus can be shaped to reflect what matters most to your students and your community.
Lean further into business ideation, entrepreneurship and economic thinking. Ideal for schools running VET or commerce pathways.
Centre the program around sea country, reef health, climate and sustainable futures. Connects AI capability to caring for the Strait.
Deeper emphasis on research, writing, exam prep and using AI as a learning tool, directly applicable to schoolwork from day one.
Shape the program around community voice, youth leadership and using AI to advocate for issues that matter in the Torres Strait.
It's your call, let us know what fits. We'll work with you before the day to make sure the program lands where it needs to.
Completing Strait Minds means something. Every student receives a personalised digital completion certificate, theirs to keep, share and show. Something that acknowledges the effort they put in and the skills they've started building.
emver.com.au
Strait Minds is built to align with the frameworks Australian schools and educators work to.
The national framework agreed by Australia's Education Ministers, built on six core principles for the safe, ethical and responsible use of AI in schools. Strait Minds reflects these principles directly, teaching students to use AI with honesty, human oversight and care for privacy.
Strait Minds teaches AI as a learning tool that helps students get better, not a shortcut that does the work for them. The program draws a clear line between using AI to learn and using it to cheat.
The program builds the critical thinking, digital literacy and creative capability the curriculum sets out, with a strong focus on questioning, verifying and second-checking what AI produces.
Framework and curriculum references are provided for information. Strait Minds complements but does not replace your school's own policies and obligations.
Strait Minds is priced per person for groups of 6 to 10 participants. There is no ongoing or retainer component, this is a single-day program engagement.
Supervision: a teacher or suitably qualified staff member from the school must be present for every session. Our facilitators hold Queensland blue cards, but they work alongside your staff, not in place of them.
Prices are a starting point. Your final quote depends on whether a venue needs to be hired, catering, the number of people and the number of sessions. Discounts are available when you book more than one session.
Discounts are available for multi-cohort and whole-of-school bookings. Talk to us about rates.
The program is one day. The learning doesn't stop there. Every participant leaves with a 10-day challenge card, one task per day that builds on what they've learned and keeps the momentum going.
The 10-day challenge gives students direction after the program. But momentum is hard to maintain. For schools that want to go further, Emver Partners can return after the challenge period for a dedicated follow-up session to unpack what students experienced, tackle what they got stuck on and keep the learning alive.
A structured return visit from the Emver team, held after students have completed the 10-day challenge. Designed to celebrate what they've done, address what came up and set the next direction for the group.
Northern Academy is based on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait. We deliver regularly across Cairns and Cape York and mobilise anywhere in northern Australia where the program is needed. The same logistics and cultural awareness apply whether the school is remote, regional or in town.
If your school, community or organisation sits north of the tropic, we can be there. Travel beyond Thursday Island is quoted at cost plus a 10% management fee.
The questions we hear most often from schools, community organisations and government partners.
Strait Minds is a one-day, hands-on AI program for students in Years 7 to 12, run by Northern Academy (an Emver Partners division) from Thursday Island and Cairns. Students learn to use AI safely and deliberately, question what it gives back, protect cultural knowledge and build something of their own. It suits schools, boarding programs and youth organisations across the Torres Strait, Cape York and northern Australia, with bookings now open for 2027.
Strait Minds is run by Northern Academy, a training division of Emver Partners Pty Ltd, which has been based on Thursday Island for over a decade and also has an office in Cairns. The day is facilitated by John Palmer, Managing Director of Emver Partners. Emver Partners works with schools, councils and Traditional Owner organisations across the Torres Strait and Cape York.
Strait Minds, run by Northern Academy, is delivered face to face at your school, boarding house or community venue. The first cohort was boarders at Torres Strait Kaziw Meta on Thursday Island. Emver Partners has worked across the Torres Strait, including Badu, Mer, Erub, Saibai, Masig and Poruma, and in Cape York communities such as Bamaga, Weipa, Lockhart River and Cooktown, as well as Cairns.
Strait Minds is priced from $695 + GST per student, for groups of 6 to 10. The price includes facilitation, all materials, the scored Prompt Games, a personalised digital completion certificate and a 10-day challenge card for each student. Travel beyond Thursday Island is quoted separately at cost plus a 10% management fee. The final quote depends on whether a venue needs to be hired, catering, the number of people and the number of sessions, and discounts are available when you book more than one session.
Strait Minds, run by Northern Academy, starts with safety before students touch an AI tool. Students learn what never goes into AI, how to protect cultural knowledge and community information, who can see what they type, how to check AI answers and when not to use AI at all. Each school also leaves with a plain-language AI use guide it can adapt for its own students.
Yes. Emver Partners, which runs Northern Academy, requires a Queensland blue card (Working with Children Check) for anyone working independently with children, and facilitator John Palmer holds one. Ask about blue card arrangements for your school or boarding house when you book Strait Minds. A teacher or suitably qualified staff member from the school must be present for every session.
Strait Minds was built in the Torres Strait by Northern Academy, with island and community life at the centre of the design. A Cultural IP and Second-Check session helps students protect community knowledge and spot when AI is being used in ways that do not serve them. Emver Partners is a non-Indigenous firm, and the program does not replace Traditional Owner-led cultural education.
No. Northern Academy is not a Registered Training Organisation, and Strait Minds is not a nationally accredited course. Every student receives a personalised digital completion certificate recording the program and date. The program is designed to align with the Australian Framework for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Schools.
Often, yes. Suitable grants and funding programs open regularly through state and federal agencies, and Northern Academy can help you identify current options for Strait Minds. Use the Contact us button on this page with your location and group size to talk through what might fit your school or youth organisation.
Strait Minds is face to face only. Northern Academy's facilitator travels to your school or community and runs the full day in the room, from 9:00am to 2:45pm. Connectivity across much of the north makes online training unreliable, and students get more from hands-on work with a facilitator beside them.
No. Northern Academy is a training division of Emver Partners Pty Ltd, a non-Indigenous firm based on Thursday Island for over a decade. Emver Partners works alongside Traditional Owner organisations, schools and councils across the Torres Strait and Cape York, and its programs do not replace Traditional Owner-led cultural training.
RACE is a simple four-step method Northern Academy uses to teach people how to brief AI tools so the answers fit your place, your job and your rules. It is taught in full on the day in every Northern Academy program that works with AI.
Yes. Any Strait Minds session can be swapped, reordered or left out to suit your school's priorities, whether that is academic outcomes, culture and environment, leadership or enterprise. Northern Academy works with each school before the day to shape the program. An optional 2-hour Unpack Session can follow 11 to 14 days later, from $1,500 + GST.
Use the Contact us button on this page to send Northern Academy your school, location, year levels, approximate group size and preferred dates. Northern Academy usually replies within two business days with availability, a quote including any travel and suggestions for tailoring the day to your students.
One email starts the conversation. Tell us about your cohort, your location and your timing, we will come back with availability, a tailored quote and the next step.
Start the conversation Or email our team