Indigenous Education

INDIGENOUS EDUCATION

Throughout 2020, the College continued to learn about, share and celebrate Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and culture through many activities in the classroom and beyond. Whilst restrictions due to COVID-19 meant many of our tours, trips and excursions were cancelled, the year still brought with it many things to celebrate.

Culture Club

Our Indigenous students had the option of attending Culture Club at the PCYC in Waitara every fortnight. This is a chance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students living in the North Shore area to get together, form connections and learn from local uncles and aunties. Restrictions around school groups meeting together limited our sessions this year, however Culture Club continued to be a highly popular program.

Online Learning

With most of our Indigenous scholars being Boarders, online learning provided a unique opportunity for our students’ family members to see firsthand the learning happening in Pymble classrooms. The girls from Queensland and the Northern Territory were working around the added complication of time differences. All students are to be congratulated on their efforts with online learning.

Reconciliation Week

Each year, National Reconciliation Week is celebrated between 27 May and 3 June. It is a time for all Australians to learn and explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. This year’s theme was ‘In this together’. Celebrations were held across the College. In the Secondary School, a diverse group of Year 12 students, with the support of the College’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) group, ran an assembly outlining their hopes for the future of Australia, along with ideas for how all of our students could help. The students in Years 7 to 12 then made pledges that were put together to make a display in the Library.

Back Row: Olivia Anderson, Year 12, Georgia Stuart, Year 9, Aspen Moore, Year 8, Imogen Hawkins, Year 8 Front Row: Mika Tyson, Year 9, Elise Djerrkura, Year 9 Mikayla Zahirovic, Niley Woodhouse and Tiarna Williams, Year 12

NAIDOC Week

This year’s NAIDOC theme ‘Always was, always will be’ recognised that First Nations Peoples have occupied and cared for this continent for more than 60,000 years. Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students made videos sharing their stories and the ideas behind the theme, which were shown in the Preparatory, Junior and Secondary Schools. Our dance troupe performed several times across the week and our students also ran art and craft activities to increase understanding of the importance of weaving and artefacts such as the boomerang. We had 23 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at the College in 2020. They once again had a busy year balancing their studies and extensive contributions to co-curricular activities. Some additional highlights include: • Aspen Moore, Year 8, had a starring role in the Sky News documentary Changing our Nation.

• Niley Woodhouse, Year 12, fulfilled her role as a College

Prefect during 2020 and Tiarn Wilesmith, Year 11, was voted in as a Prefect for 2021.

• Olivia Anderson, Year 12, created a Visual Arts Major Work depicting her journey of discovering her cultural heritage as a young Aboriginal woman. • Dezi Magann-Jones, Year 7, was elected as a Middle

School Leader for 2021.

• Mikayla Zahirovic, Year 12, won the Australian Olympic

Change-Maker award at the Pymble Sportwomen’s Award

Dinner. This award recognises and rewards students who demonstrate the Olympic spirit through leadership and drive positive change in their communities. • Teegan Wattam (2017) continued to work as a cultural mentor to our Indigenous students. Her firsthand knowledge and understanding of the experiences of our girls, along with her warm and welcoming personality, allowed for Teegan to be a wonderful support across both the Day School and Boarding. We would like to thank our Indigenous students, staff and families for their contributions to the College as well as the open way they have shared their stories and culture with our community. Miss Kate Howie, Indigenous Student Co-ordinator