Steph Insanally
Ngutu College, SA
Kaurna
Teaching Fellow
Steph Insanally is a transformative music educator whose work has redefined what arts education can achieve in one of South Australia’s most complex school communities.
As Head of Music at Ngutu College, an independent K-12 school in Woodville North serving a cohort where 51% of learners are Aboriginal and over 81% experience disability, trauma or additional learning needs, Steph has built a music program from the ground up, growing participation from just 17 students in 2021 to more than 210 today, across 15+ instruments and 10 ensembles.
Steph’s approach is culturally grounded and deeply collaborative, working alongside Elders-in-Residence Uncle Moogy Sumner and Uncle Phil Allen to embed practices like yidaki instruction, songwriting and community performance into everyday learning.
Her low-barrier, no-cost model ensures music is genuinely accessible to every student, while her mentoring of fellow educators has helped make music a whole-school tool for engagement, wellbeing and cultural pride.
Steph shares her expertise as Ensemble Manager with Moorambilla Voices and through ongoing professional learning in Kodály and neuroscience-informed teaching.
Her work shows how music can be a pathway to identity, belonging and academic success for young people too often overlooked by mainstream education.