6 minute read
Indigenous Education
The Aboriginal Program at Trinity College is establishing itself as a successful and unique program.
We have had a fantastic year with many developments, spectacular events and success stories. I have thoroughly enjoyed my year in this program and I am pleased to be back at Trinity College having been seconded to the Catholic Education Office last year. Ms Karrene McLernon, an experienced English teacher, has assisted me with the program and together we make a fabulous team. We have an excellent rapport with the staff and students and the students are thriving in our community.
With a team from various Catholic schools, both rural and local, Ms Karrene McLernon and I went on a tour to New South Wales to learn about the implementation of Personalised Learning Plans (PLPs) for Indigenous students. This proved very enlightening as we had the privilege of visiting schools that have extensive experience with PLPs. The results were amazing. The high level of commitment by students, teachers and the community was definitely evident. We have started to implement PLPs for our Years 7, 8 and 9 and so far the process has been very positive. We look forward to revisiting, in early 2013, the goals that the boys have set for themselves.
We have introduced a new initiative for our Aboriginal students to enable them to recognise their achievements each term.
Nixon Hamlet (10.4) conducting a didge lesson at St Columba Primary school The initiative is called The Gold Club and promotes academic achievement, encouraging our students to work hard and achieve to the best of their ability. We have two certificates GOLD member and SILVER member. We tally the students’ results at the end of each term in the areas of Effort, Behaviour, Organisation, Academic Grade and Punctuality. The students are awarded a certificate and a morning tea with Headmaster Mr Banks. The students really enjoy this and as always we feel it’s great to acknowledge those students who are striving to achieve.
The Indigenous Youth Leadership Program (IYLP) proudly sponsors some of our students. These sponsorships are greatly appreciated and ensure that our Aboriginal students have every opportunity to realise their potential. We have been successful in acquiring another six scholarships for our students this year that will be accessible for 2013. This year six students benefited greatly from these scholarships as they were involved in the orientation program early in the year at UWA, providing them with the opportunity to run through literacy and goal setting programs as well as team building activities. Angela Murphy and Allan Beattie attended our NAIDOC assembly and were thoroughly impressed with our students and our Indigenous Program.
Trinity College Aboriginal Students Back Row: Joshua Loo, Jayden Gerrand, Isaiah Morich, Dakota Gear, Kieren Wheelock, Christopher Narkle Third Row: Clem Hansen, Allistar Yarran, Hedley Smith, David Cox, Nixon Hamlet, Lachlan Hansen, Lance Mongoo Second Row: Mr Gary Malarkey, Nicholas Vale, Bailey Wallam, Jordan Bagshaw, Nelson Waite, Isiaah Caton, Sheldon Edwards, Chilton (Jnr) Yarran, Ms Karrene McLernon Front Row: Jack Cox, Connor Brahim, Jesse Pigram, Jared Cole, Preston Derschow, Frank Mannel, Isaiah Walley-Stack, Tyrell Wallam Absent: Jake Cox, Ethan Hansen, Troy Jones, Brodie Hunter, Rhys Morich, Aiden Turvey
Trinity College is working closely with the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (AIEF), which is providing support to Kieren Wheelock (10.2). Kieran came to us from Newman, is boarding at Cooinda in Mt Lawley, and is thoroughly enjoying his time at Trinity. The AIEF is directing us to approach families in the Pilbara region to offer scholarships to prospective students for 2013. Representatives from AIEF, Renee Coffey, Margaret Gilroy and Birrillee Vale, attended our NAIDOC assembly and they too were suitably impressed by the talent and dedication of our students.
Our program is offering many opportunities for the boys to become actively involved in the cultural aspects of Trinity life. The Mooditj Dance Theatre and the didgeridoo group Didge Boys have been generating some fabulous performances. These groups performed brilliantly at St Columba and Embleton primary schools, and they were very well received by their peers at the NAIDOC assembly. Steve Richter, our didgeridoo instructor and Ruth Bott, our dance choreographer, took the boys to Steve’s recording studio in Fremantle and recorded the boys playing the didge, cajons and their voices. They used their music to coordinate the dance for their performance at the NAIDOC assembly. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ruth Bott for working tirelessly with our boys and for producing an empowering, cultural and professional dance routine. I would also like to thank Steve Richter for his genuine enthusiasm whilst working with our boys on the didgeridoos and the cajons. The feedback from staff, parents and the wider community has been extremely positive and the boys involved should be immensely proud of their efforts and energy for the practice involved and the performances.
Indigenous Education
We were fortunate to have Jack (Mark) Johnson (’71) attend our NAIDOC assembly as guest speaker. He was an excellent speaker and promoted the importance of education, irrespective of what age you are. He went back to university at the age of 48 to study law. His message was simple as he encouraged the boys to take one small step to help Aboriginal people.
Our students continue to be involved with SMYL and four of our current Year 10 students are doing their CERT I in leadership. Brodie Hunter (12.2) was awarded an opportunity to attend an induction for a Law program at the University of New South Wales and Frank Mannel (11.4) went to the Australian Defence Force Indigenous Study Tour in Canberra. Both students found these experiences very rewarding.
We continue to successfully run our homework classes and some of our boys have benefited greatly from the Sound Way Literacy Program and Quicksmart Maths that are run in the Mary Rice Centre. Our Weekly PCG enables us to catch up and consolidate our program and keep the boys on task and connected to one another. Most of our boys represented Trinity College in the PSA Athletics carnival and special mention goes to Nixon Hamlet (10.4) and Nelson Waite (9.7) who did exceptionally well. We congratulate all the boys for their efforts on the day.
I would like to thank Headmaster Mr Ivan Banks, for his continued support of our wonderful program, and Ms Sam Pekaar and Ms Karrene McLernon for their production of ‘Good Yarning’. To all the teachers who assist the boys in the Homework Program throughout the year; and to all of our sponsors AIEF, IYLP, AES, SMYL, Leightons and AFL SportsReady. Special thanks to the Aboriginal boys for their efforts this year and may they continue to make the most of their opportunities here at Trinity College. Ms Karrene McLernon and I have really enjoyed developing the program, which continues to grow in a positive direction each year. Next year we welcome five new students.
Mr Gary Malarkey (’70) Aboriginal Education Officer/Teacher
Frank Mannel (11.4) with an invitation to go to Duntroon
