Aboriginal Education

Shellharbour City Council Reconciliation School Flag Walk

On Monday, our students participated in the Shellharbour City Council Reconciliation School Flag Walk. Students from local schools came together to walk for reconciliation along Lake Illawarra. This was followed by a formal ceremony at Reddall Reserve. There, they joined Elders and community members to share the meaning of reconciliation and create art and music together. Our students had a wonderful experience. Thank you to Mrs Urszulak and Mrs Plenderleith who attended the excursion.

Reconciliation Week

At its heart, reconciliation is about strengthening relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of all Australians. This week, at Oak Flats Public School students from Preschool to Year 6 have been participating in learning activities about the importance of reconciliation and the meaningful ways that we can be a voice for reconciliation in our everyday lives - where we live, learn and play.

Yesterday it was fantastic to see our community unite and walk together, yarn together and officially celebrate Reconciliation Week together.

At 1pm students and staff, parents and families walked for reconciliation around the boundary of the school. The atmosphere was uplifting and it was an inspiring moment of togetherness and hope. This was followed by a picnic lunch and barbeque that our wonderful P&C volunteers cooked.

Our Aboriginal student leadership team then led a whole school Reconciliation Assembly. This was the team’s first ever public event, and we are so impressed by the manner in which they conducted themselves, their pride and confidence. A meaningful moment of the assembly was when our students shared what reconciliation means to them, a sentiment that was echoed around the school in the pictures and writing students added to their reconciliation speech bubbles, which they proudly waved as they walked together. The choir and vocal group’s rendition of Papaguneray (Turtle Song) by Emily Wurramara, led by Mrs O’Hara and Ms Higgins and sung in Anindilyakwa, was stunning. Thank you to Mrs O’Hara, Mr Herzog and Mrs Spaleta for their organisation of the assembly.

At the end of the day parents joined the homework group for afternoon tea and to unveil our new name. The group will now be known as the Dhanj Group. Dhanj is fish in the Dhawaral language, and the name was decided upon with our families to reflect that we are all swimming together in the same school.

Afterwards, we met with our Aboriginal Education Parent Committee to reflect on what we have achieved over the past term and to discuss upcoming programs and initiatives. We would like to thank the families who attended, and the families who wanted to be there but were unable to attend. We would also like to thank Julie Street-Smith, who is the Aboriginal Community Liaison Officer from Warilla Education Office and Jason Wilkins, who is an Oak Flats Public School parent and Curriculum Reform Advisor, Aboriginal Education for the NSW Department of Education, who both attended and shared their great knowledge. It was a wonderful opportunity to yarn together and we are excited about our future endeavours. Our strong partnership is helping the staff at Oak Flats Public School to ensure we are implementing meaningful teaching and learning experiences for all students.

To our students, staff, parents, carers and families, thank you for helping us to "be a voice for generations" this Reconciliation Week and every week. We are so lucky to be part of this special community.

NAIDOC Week Parent Meeting

We warmly invite parents, carers and families to attend our NAIDOC Week Meeting on Wednesday, 7 June at 4.15pm in the Mudjingaal room. All are welcome to attend. We are looking forward to collaborating together for this very special week of learning, activities and celebration which will be held at Oak Flats Public School in Week 1 of Term 3, 2023.

Emily Chatterton

On behalf of the Aboriginal Education Committee