Focus Area Four Community Relationships

WHAT WE WILL DO: Progress towards being culturally aware and responsive

What Occurred in 2022:

Our 2022 journey to cultural responsiveness began with all staff completing the Narragunnawali Reflection Survey where their data was collected and examined, identifying our areas of strength and celebration, while helping to plan for our areas of need. The CR committee then mapped our whole school events and Reconciliation Action Plan goals – outlining 14 non-negotiable actions we will take as a school community to become more culturally responsive.

Our first event was the Sorry Day Walk, where EPS students and their families showed their support for reconciliation by walking 1800m, the same distance as the 2000 Sydney Bridge Walk, finished with forming the word ‘sorry’ on the oval. This was also the beginning of our Reconciliation Week activities.

NAIDOC day was an enormous celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture with groups from Tjaljtraak, Clontarf, Stars and Follow The Dream running football clinics, bracelet making, face painting and more, with warm damper to keep our bellies full.

Our Aboriginal students attended the Wongutha NAIDOC day where they helped make bush medicine, tried their hand at spear throwing, were enthralled in a dreamtime story and experienced bush tucker delicacies.

In 2022, our staff invested in a NAIDOC polo shirt with an illustration representing the Elders, Teachers and Mentors working with schools and educational facilities to help close the gap. They can be seen around the school proudly wearing this shirt as a symbol of reconciliation.

Our final announcement to EPS community was our change of faction names: The Red Yongka (kangaroo), the Blue Waitj (emu), the Yellow Warlitj (eagle) and the Green Norn (snake). These new names have been created by our Aboriginal Advisory student group in consultation with our friends at Mudjar.

EPS representatives have, and will continue to, attend the Esperance Regional Schools Network RAP meetings, collaborating with other school leaders to complete a Reconciliation Action Plan on a regional scale.

Recommendations for 2023

• In 2023 we will continue to work on establishing relationships with our community and families and contribute to the ongoing work of implementing our Reconciliation Action Plan. Our first goal is to bring our faction totems to life. Local artist, Atheleen Thomas, will be working with our Aboriginal students and their families to create a design that we will use for each new faction totem.

• Staff will continue to access shared resources on the EPS One Drive, Narragunnawali and Reconciliation WA website as well as language resources purchased from Dabungool, to support their ability, and confidence, to authentically embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, language and culture into their programming.

• The Cultural Responsiveness committee will use our EPS document that aligns the 14 non-negotiable RAP actions and the Aboriginal Cultural Standards Framework to complete a self-audit, which will drive our investigation into areas of need.

• Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC day will again be two large scale, whole school events which the committee have already began preparations for.