Cornerstone College

 

Every year Cornerstone College marks the start of National Reconciliation Week with a symbolic wrapping of our native trees on campus with all students taking part in a devotion and then going out with the ribbons.

Our vision for reconciliation is to build positive relationships and understanding between all members of our community so they can continue to be ambassadors beyond their college life.

This year we were not able to have visitors on site so we missed out on guest speakers, but we had several events during the week.

Students publicly presented an artwork from their experience in Hermannsburg and Areyonga communities in 2019 to our principal. Our chapels were focussed on reconciliation with the presentation of the song and story behind Gurindji Blues which was performed by staff and students. We also had students focussing on Indigenous natural flavours in food skills classes which were shown to the whole community.

This is a whole college focus and well supported by all.

 

Immanuel Primary School

 

At Immanuel Primary School, we seek to continue to build respectful relationships by celebrating, recognising and valuing the cultures, stories and languages of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. National Reconciliation Week is a special celebration in our school community. Throughout the week students participated in a range of activities to build their cultural awareness and understandings of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

This year our highlights included:

• Creating an Art Gallery in our courtyard with artworks and reflections about our role in reconciliation
• A QR trail which took students on journey listening to Dreamtime stories and learning more about why we celebrate National Reconciliation Week
• Kaurna singalongs
• A virtual assembly item where our Year 6 Cultural Leaders highlighted what we had done and shared some student and staff reflections about National Reconciliation Week
• Participating in devotions with the theme of reconciliation
• Our Year 6 Aboriginal students sharing their family story during our virtual worship or assembly
• An Aboriginal Culture Celebration Day where students and staff dressed in red, yellow and black, or significant Indigenous guernseys

It was touching to see our students passionate about this important celebration.

 

Navigator College

 

Our on campus ‘bush block’ has played an important role this week for National Reconciliation Week. Our Year 9 students, Ashrah, Shauna and Angus shared the meaning of National Reconciliation Week and why it is a week of celebration and importance. They spoke about the theme for this year ‘In This Together’ and what it means, and then concluded the session with sharing why fire and the campfire is significant in Aboriginal and Torres Strait cultures.
Photos: Students gathering around the Navigator College Bush Block fire.

 

Prince Alfred College

 

Despite assembly restrictions, the students and staff were able to reflect on the reconciliation message ‘In This Together’ that hopefully will continue to work meaning into our hearts, minds, feet and hands as we continue to move forward.

Highlights included:

• The Aboriginal students at our school giving us a ‘thumbs up’ for this focus and our willingness to learn
• Staff and overall student enthusiasm and feedback – with a special kudos to the Prep School for exceptional joy and drive
• Delicious Indigenous-themed food catered by Simon Muir and team for Friday staff morning tea
• Marlon Motlop, a wise Aboriginal leader doing insightful PD with tutor group teachers
• National Sorry Day ceremony (May 26) with Uncle Ivan and PAC grandmother (Zac Bishop’s) Bev Ewen (Stolen Generation member) sharing stories, and the Headmaster responding with genuine care and love on behalf of the College as well as Rev Mark Dickens’ grace and leadership
• Uncle Moogy coming in and spending time teaching us, yet again, with wisdom and humility and having Year 12 student Isaiah Dudley do a voice over with teacher Gary Jenkinson
• Year 12 prefect Patrick Eteuati requesting guidance to create more personalised Acknowledgement to Country statements for those who are asked to do this important task
• Passionate teacher Mike Steer provoking thoughtful discussions in Middle and Senior School classes with his reconciliation units of learning
• Head of Boarding demonstrating keen interest to add more Aboriginal cultural content to the Boarding House program, including artwork and learning, with Teacher Mark Bailey committed to leading in this space
• Students emailing their RAP feedback regarding their learning with astute observations
• PAC social media management sending out positive messages via Facebook and Instagram with many likes!
• Senior and Prep School libraries ensuring that reconciliation and wonderful cultural learning continues to flow
• The big Aboriginal flag being painted in the middle of the front oval of PAC by a member of staff

On June 3, I was greeted with a cheery ‘Happy Mabo Day’ from teacher Chris McGuire. And with those words, we came to the end of National Reconciliation Week 2020 at Prince Alfred College.

We hope that our reconciliation actions evidence our sincerity and care, and that we can and will make a genuine positive difference. This journey cannot be tokenistic.

#In This Together
Monica Magann and the PAC RAP Team

 

Seymour College

Click image to play video

Click image to play video – How does Seymour respectfully acknowledge Aboriginal cultures?

At Seymour College this year, we worked on a number of projects and initiatives to celebrate and acknowledge National Reconciliation Week. Commencing on National Sorry Day (26 May) and concluding at the end of National Reconciliation Week, a series of videos were posted on our College intranet. These were created by Year 9 students, as they investigated different aspects of Aboriginal cultures. One group of Year 9 students also became the ‘Reconciliation Board’. As a part of this, they interviewed different people and investigated the progress of our reconciliation journey in the College. Their ideas and suggestions will contribute to a new reconciliation plan. On Wednesday 27th May, the first day of National Reconciliation Week, Seymour participated in Reconciliation Australia’s initiative of a nation-wide Acknowledgement of Country. Our video featured a number of staff and students Acknowledging Kaurna Land and it was shared on our Facebook page. Students in Year 6 explored the 1967 Referendum and the current fight to be recognised in the constitution, the Year 7s researched why we have National Reconciliation Week and the Year 8s investigated prominent Aboriginal women and how they have contributed to National Reconciliation. In the Senior School, the Year 10 cohort have explored Aboriginal cultural awareness.

On the Thursday, we held a ‘virtual’ assembly. For this, each student from Years 6 to 12 viewed a series of informative videos and links to celebrate this week, from their Home Group classrooms. Finally, Seymour was lucky enough to obtain a special license for staff and students to view ‘In My Blood it Runs’ for free. Members of the Seymour community were encouraged to view the film, as a part of National Reconciliation Week. We may not have been able to celebrate the week in our usual way, but we ensured this significant week was embraced and celebrated across the college.

 

Southern Vales Christian College Early Learning Centre

 

A highlight from 2020 National Reconciliation Week Southern Vales Christian College ELC.

As part of National Reconciliation Week 2020, we discussed how stories can be told not just with words, but with pictures. We talked about Australian Aboriginal peoples and how they have been doing this for many years and we looked at some common Australian Aboriginal peoples’ symbols and discussed their meanings. We also enjoyed reading stories that were illustrated by Aboriginal artists and we talked about how they might have created them.

Each child then had the opportunity to select some rocks we had made with some special Aboriginal symbols on them. The symbols represented things that make up a family. Children had the option to choose symbols for Mum, Dad, Grandparents, family, and love just to name a few. Once they had selected their relevant rocks, they shared their story about their family.

This experience full of creativity, imagination and cultural awareness allowed the children to see that marks have meanings and literature can take on different forms. It also encouraged pattern matching as children had to find the matching rock to the picture they had chosen on the meanings key.

EYLF – OUTCOME 5: CHILDREN ARE EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATORS

Children engage with a range of texts and gain meaning from these texts
Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media
Children begin to understand how symbols and pattern systems work

 

St Peter’s Girls’ School

 

This year’s National Reconciliation Week theme was evident throughout our school community. Our celebrations commenced with a special Assembly streamed across the whole school which opened with Aunty Rosemary Wanganeen, our school’s Aunty, offering us a Welcome to Country. The audience saw our littlest friends from the ELC sharing their special Acknowledgement which was followed by the RAP Ambassadors presenting a timeline of the historical events that mark Australia’s journey to reconciliation. New RAP Ambassadors were presented with their official badges by Aunty and then went on to promote the activities they had planned for the week. The presentation concluded with the ELC friends sharing their knowledge of how reconciliation is part of daily practice in the ELC.

On 26 May, National Sorry Day, the friends of ELC were joined by Uncle Tamaru and our RAP Ambassadors. This day involved the youngest members of our community sharing their Kaurna songs, participating in a Smoking Ceremony, helping create a Wodli and learning how to make red, yellow and black friendship bands. Sorry Day in the ELC was filled with special activities with an Indigenous focus.

Throughout the week, classes from Reception to Year 12 engaged in special activities to mark this special annual event. For those students in Year 6 to 12, this meant taking part in a Reconciliation Walk in the Library to commemorate the 2000 Sydney Harbour Bridge Walk where over 250 thousand people marched as a unified group in support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights and freedoms.

The message from Reconciliation Australia stated the theme ‘In This Together,’ “reinforces that we all have a role to play when it comes to reconciliation, and in playing our part we collectively build relationships and communities that value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories and cultures… When we come together to build mutual respect and understanding, we shape a better future for all Australians.” At Saints Girls we are growing these traits and finding, as a Year 7 student commented, “the need for humanity in our world.”

 

Tatachilla Lutheran College

 

National Reconciliation Week is celebrated from 27 May to 3 June and marks 20 years of Australia’s journey towards a more just, equitable and reconciled nation. It is also the twentieth anniversary of the reconciliation walks of 2000. This year’s theme is ‘In This Together’, reminding us whether in a crisis or in reconciliation, we are connected and united as Australians.

This year our students participated in a Reconciliation Breakfast (remote!); Week 6 Chapel and Home Class discussions and a R-12 chalk experience to express the meaning of reconciliation and our ongoing commitment to this important aspect of Australian citizenship at Tatachilla Lutheran College.

 

Walford Anglican School for Girls

 

When Walford’s Reconciliation Action Committee first embarked on creating a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), the decision was that a Narragunnwali RAP be developed. A Narragunnwali RAP is focused on implementing longer-term strategies and working towards measurable targets and goals that can become embedded in the culture and language, and most importantly, the narrative of our school.

Since its founding, our RAP committee has undergone a number of changes as students graduate and new students join the group. What has remained unchanged has been the commitment of the students and staff to bravely interrogate their values and understanding around reconciliation and to teach and inspire others in a shared journey to learn more as we proactively contribute towards a reconciled Australia.

National Reconciliation Week, with the theme ‘In This Together’ took place between 27 May and 3 June 2020. The RAP committee led the Walford community through a range of activities in recognition of this theme by firstly responding to Reconciliation Australia’s call to take to social media by acknowledging country from wherever we are. Walford’s RAP committee recorded a continuous Acknowledgement of Country which was uploaded simultaneously nationwide at 12.00 pm on 27 May.

Whilst the Reconciliation SA Breakfast at the convention centre was cancelled this year due to Covid-19 restrictions, the RAP committee held a breakfast of their own at school, bringing their own food and recognising together the importance of National Reconciliation Week. It was then that the girls decided to acknowledge the twentieth anniversary of the reconciliation walks of 2000 when people came together to walk roads and bridges in their local areas in support of a reconciled Australia. Who can ever forget the footage of more than two hundred and fifty thousand Australians walking the Sydney Harbor Bridge in just over six hours on that momentous day? In symbolic recognition that was shared at our Reconciliation Assembly, the committee filmed Walford girls crossing the Junior School bridge in the Secret Garden as we recognised our commitment to bridging our own divides. Not far from this place, a whole school chalk mural graced the exterior of the Sports Centre, featuring images and words from girls across Reception to Year 12 in a public display of commitment and action towards reconciliation.

This year’s National Reconciliation Week culminated in a whole school assembly that was carefully planned by the RAP committee. Following a Welcome to Country given by Uncle Tamaru, the Committee selected to play Yothu Yindi’s ‘Treaty’ in direct response to learning of the destruction of sacred sites dating back forty-six thousand years in Western Australia’s Pilbara region only days before. By sharing their reflections, their despair, their learning and their commitment, the RAP leaders inspired hope that through courageous conversations and action, Walford will help contribute to a more reconciled Australia.

National NAIDOC Week 2020 celebrations will be held from the 8-15 November.

The November dates follow the decision by the National NAIDOC Committee (NNC) to postpone NAIDOC Week from the original July dates due to the impacts and uncertainty from the escalating Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic across our communities and cities.

The postponement was aimed at protecting elders and those in our communities with chronic health issues from the impacts of COVID19.

The NNC understands that the original July dates for NAIDOC Week may still be acknowledged by communities and organisations. NNC strongly encourages that those events be staged in a COVID safe way to continue to protect the most susceptible in our communities.

Further announcements regarding the National NAIDOC Awards and a new NAIDOC Local Grants Round for 2020 will be made within coming weeks.

The NNC are continuing to work with partners and key stakeholders to make NAIDOC Week 2020 a suitable and fitting celebration of #AlwaysWasAlwaysWillBe

2020 NAIDOC Poster Award Winner

Tyrown Waigana, a Perth based artist and designer, has been named as this year’s winner of the prestigious National NAIDOC Poster Competition.

His winning entry – Shape of Land – was judged by the National NAIDOC Committee to have best illustrated the 2020 NAIDOC theme: Always Was Always Will Be.

50 Words ProjectPeople from around Australia have shared some words from their Indigenous language as part of the 50 Words Project. The 50 Words map is a resource that allows people to hear some words from the language or languages of the land where they live, work, and go to school. It also shows the diversity of Indigenous languages spoken around Australia. The 50 Words Project has developed a resource to support students learn more about First Languages of Australia.

First Languages Australia have a range of additional resources complied to support teachers in teaching about Indigenous Languages.

AISSA Stretch RAP 2019-2022

The Association of Independent Schools of South Australia is built on the belief that autonomy, respect and integrity infuse all aspects of our relationships with one another and the communities we support. Strengthening relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and learning more about their cultures, lands and histories are important to the AISSA and to our member schools. It is our aim to increase cultural understanding, appreciation and respect for the history and traditions of Australia’s First Peoples. The AISSA’s commitment to reconciliation is embedded in our organisational culture. Our Reconciliation Action Plan 2019 – 2022 documents our vision for reconciliation and the actions we are taking to promote reconciliation.

 

AISSA supports NRW 2020

The AISSA has proudly joined 50 of Australia’s leading organisations to mark 2020 National Reconciliation Week. Whether in crisis or in reconciliation, we are all in this together. #NRW2020 #InThisTogether2020 @ReconciliationAustralia

 

Staff reflections on our reconciliation journey May 2018

In May 2018 the team at the Association of Independent Schools of SA reflected on our reconciliation journey. This story began in 2014 with the drafting of our first Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and the launch of our RAP in May 2015. Our RAP journey has been both personal and professional and each one of us brings a unique perspective.

From 2015 until the end of 2020, the AISSA will work with SA Independent schools to affirm and support Indigenous secondary students through providing a student mentoring program. The Indigenous Secondary Student Mentor Program strives to provide Indigenous students with relevant and engaging mentoring support, allowing them to grow and develop as they continue their education. The program aims to encourage social and emotional well-being, identity development and contribute towards positive educational outcomes and post-secondary school learning opportunities.

The mentoring is provided at no cost to students and parents. The program will take place during each school term and will comprise 1-1 mentoring, small group peer mentoring and e-mentoring, as well as opportunities for geographical cluster student meetings. Upon enrolment, students can be involved in the mentoring program up to the end of 2020. The program will be flexible and contextual in its approach to best accommodate the needs of the students and will work in collaboration with school staff, families and students using a strengths-based approach.

Each year we survey the students regarding the impact, strengths and goals of the program. Please find the 2019 results below (click to enlarge).

The AISSA Mentor is Justin Wilkey (wilkeyj@ais.sa.edu.au or 08 8179 1437), a proud Aboriginal man with family connections to the Ngarrindjeri peoples of the Lower Murray River. Justin’s professional background has involved many roles in working with young people; a teacher, disability support case manager and youth worker. He also has a communication background and has spent time working at the ABC as a multi-media journalist.

Science – new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Science Teacher Background notes Foundation – Year 10

ACARA has released the new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Science Elaborations Teacher Background notes for Foundation – Year 6 Science curriculum and Year 7 – 10 Science curriculum. The 95 new Science elaborations show how our First Nations peoples have thought scientifically and that they continue to inform scientific thinking.

NEO Learning language Years 3 – 6

The NEO Learning language resource is suitable for Year 3-6 students and it is co-created by young people from Ieramugadu (Roebourne) within the Pilbara region of Western Australia. NEO-Learning was created to support students across Australia build solid skills in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, digital literacies and visual arts, with literacy and numeracy incorporated throughout.

Dark Emu Digibook – Bruce Pascoe

ABC Education has created 14 short digibook chapters based on the Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe. Bruce Pascoe demonstrates in the Dark Emu that the early explorers found evidence of a complex civilisation that was using sophisticated technologies to live, farm and manage the land. This resource can be used in primary and secondary contexts.

The Australian Dream

The ABC Education Indigenous resources includes the Australian Dream and accompanying teacher support materials (Years 6-10) that are based on excerpts from the film. The support materials explore five themes; (1) Introducing Adam Goodes (2) Cultural identity (3) History and truths (4) Racism (5) Resilience and reconciliation.

Narragunnawali Resources

The Reconciliation Australia’s Narragunnwali website has a wide range of resources that are aligned to the Australian curriculum and can be filtered by year level and learning area.

Reconciliation is about building better relationships between the wider Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for the benefit of all Australians. Through reconciliation, we will be part of creating an Australian culture that acknowledges and deeply respects Australia’s First Peoples as a fundamental part of our identity as a nation.

Narragunnawali: Reconciliation in Schools and Early Learning is designed to support early learning centres, primary and secondary schools in Australia ‘to develop environments that foster a higher level of knowledge and pride in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and contributions.’ The Narragunnawali website gives you access to curriculum resources, professional learning resources and guidance to develop a Reconciliation Action Plan.

A Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) is a declaration of commitment and action to promote reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the wider Australian community. Narragunnawali RAPs are created through an online platform designed to guide teachers and educators through the development of a Reconciliation Action Plan specifically designed for your school or early learning centre.

The documentation of the RAP can be completed online in one day and after the approval of the Principal be automatically sent to the Narragunnawali Team for review. Once reviewed, the school and a summary of RAP commitments appears on the national ‘Who has a RAP?’ map.

An AISSA Educational Consultant can support school leaders and key teachers through the process of creating a school based RAP and provide insights that facilitate best practice in:

• implementing the RAP and
• maintaining the momentum required to make a RAP meaningful and sustainable.

Contact Monica Williams by email or telephone 08 8179 1417.

When people come together, they greet each other as a sign of acknowledgement and respect. The Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country play important roles in acknowledging and respecting Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

They are integral parts of recognising that our First People’s histories and cultures have been in existence for more than 55,000 years and that they are alive and of significance today. After rapid continent wide colonisation by Aboriginal Australians nearly 50,000 years ago, this is recent evidence in the DNA of discrete language groups that these groups have been continuously present in specific geographical areas dating back to 50,000 years ago. This recent research by Adelaide University adds another layer to understanding the deep Aboriginal Australian cultural attachment to their country.

While they may all no longer necessarily be the title-holders to land, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are still connected to the Country of their ancestors and most consider themselves the custodians or caretakers of their land.

A Welcome to Country is a ceremony performed by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander custodians or traditional owners of that country, to welcome visitors to the land of their language group. It can take many different forms depending on the culture of the traditional owners. It is usually delivered by an Elder, but can be delivered by another person. It may include singing, dancing, smoking ceremonies or a speech in the traditional language or English.

Every time a formal Welcome to Country is given it continues a long tradition that has been an important part of Australian culture – with the exception of a recent lapse of about 200 years. It was always given by way of welcome when permission was granted to visit the Country of a different language group.

An Acknowledgement of Countryis a way of showing awareness of and respect for the traditional Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander owners of the land on which a meeting or event is being held. It recognises the continuing connection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to their Country.

Acknowledgement of Country can be made by either an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander who is not a custodian of the land, or a non Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person. Acknowledgement of Country contains the following key concepts:

• Acknowledgement of traditional custodians
• Traditional lands
• Paying of respect to Elders past and present

For educators wishing to learn more, Reconciliation SA provides additional information and resources about the Welcome to Country and the Acknowledgement of Country.

Contact Monica Williams by email, or telephone 08 8179 1417.

Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the birth of agriculture

Author: Bruce Pascoe 2014

This book provides primary sources such as early explorers’ journals to challenge beliefs that the Aboriginal peoples of Australia were hunter gatherers. The quotes below will provide a sense of how the author and different readers understand this evidence.

‘If we look at the evidence presented to us by the explorers and explain to our children that Aboriginal people did build houses, did build dams, did sow, irrigate and till the land, did alter the course of rivers, did sew their clothes, and did construct a system of pan-continental government that generated peace and prosperity, then it is likely we will admire and love our land all the more.’

– Bruce Pascoe

‘Dark Emu is a profound challenge to conventional thinking about Aboriginal life on this continent. He details the Aboriginal economy and analyses the historical data showing that our societies were not simple hunter-gatherer economies but sophisticated, with farming and irrigation practices. This is the most important book on Australia and should be read by every Australian.’

– Marcia Langdon, The Australian

‘He has done a great service by bringing this material to students and general readers, and in such a lively and engaging fashion.’

– Richard Broome, Agora Magazine

 

Young Dark Emu

The ‘Young Dark Emu’ was released May 2019. It is an adaption of the original book designed for a primary school audience. It is made up of surprising,  previously omitted accounts written by famous European explorers and photos and illustrations by Europeans that demonstrate how Aboriginal peoples built houses and farmed the land and practiced aquaculture and land management. The Dark Emu has also been made an ABC Digibook– a series of 14 videos that illustrate the key findings of the book.

 

Phenomenom

Phenomenom have a variety of engaging and fun free teaching resources related to food literacy. Some of these resources listed below focus on Aboriginal histories and cultures.

Wardandi Bibbulmun Elder Aunty Dale Tilbrook, tasting native tubers youlk and warrine, and learning about traditional farming techniques.

Refer to the Primary Years Teaching resources linked to the Australian Curriculum.

Wardandi Bibbulmun Elder Aunty Dale Tilbrook is welcomed to Wurundjeri country by Senior Wurundjeri Elder Aunty Di Kerr, and they discuss the significance of the Welcome, Indigenous farming principles, and why certain plants grow in different parts of Australia.

Refer to the Primary Years Teaching resources linked to the Australian Curriculum.

 

Kaurna Language

These videos will support teachers in the Early Years to introduce the Kaurna language to students

Kaurna Language Learning Series – Lesson 1, Traditional Kaurna Greetings
Kaurna Language Learning Series – Lesson 2, Contemporary Kaurna Greetings
Kaurna Language Learning Series – Kaurna for Kids, Animals
ICTV – Kaurna for Kids
ICTV – Pirltawardli Episode 5, Birth Order Names
ICTV – Pirltawardli Episode 15, The Storm