Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education News

NAIDOC WEEK Celebrations

Next week, schools across the Diocese will be celebrating NAIDOC WEEK. This is a perfect time to reflect on this year's theme: The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy.

We look forward to seeing our school communities celebrate next week or next term.

https://www.naidoc.org.au/posters/poster-gallery/2025-national-naidoc-week-poster

Visiting School Immersion - St. Ignatius College , Riverview

This week a group of year 10 St. Ignatius College, Riverview students had the opportunity to visit Myall Creek Memorial Site with Armidale Catholic School: Subject Matter Expert: Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Education K -12 : Karen Tighe.

The school embarks on this journey to the Moree community as part of their Immersion & Year 10 Country Placements.

The Myall Creek Memorial Site is an annual visit St. Ignatius College, Riverview students undertake as an opportunity to reflect on the ongoing challenges, struggles and importance of Reconciliation today. It's a place to acknowledge the significance of truth-telling and moving forward together as a country.

CSNSW Aboriginal & Torres Strait Educational Resource

Congratulations to our Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Conference Committee members who were vital to the success of the CSNSW Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Education Conference in Tamworth last year. The committee produced an inspiring Aboriginal Lords Prayer by working collaboratively across all Dioceses across the state in the local Aboriginal Languages. This prayer is now a CSNSW educational resource for all schools across NSW to access from the CSNSW Professional Learning platform. Congratulations to Harrison Boney, Sharon Pitt, James Russell and Judith Wark for this valuable resource which will be used across schools next week for Naidoc Week.

Wii Gaay

Yaama (hello) everyone!

Last week, students and staff from across the Diocese gathered in chilly Armidale for the first Wii Gaay Learning Hub of 2025. We were lucky enough to have Anaiwan man, Dave Widders, start the week by engaging our group in culture, history, language and vision based on this year’s NAIDOC theme, The Next Generation: Strength, Vision and Legacy. Dave introduced the students to their project for the year, where they will be interviewing an Elder in their local community to create a documentary. From there, students worked hard in their Literacy, Numeracy and IT Learning Hubs to bring the project alive. On Thursday, the students proudly presented a snapshot of their work as well as their plan for the rest of the year.

A huge gaba nginda (thank you) to our school staff who have been a part of the planning process from the very start, and in particular our subject facilitators, Kelly Walters (St Mary’s Armidale), Mary-Jane Guest (Holy Trinity, Inverell) and Helen Rowsell (St Nicholas’, Tamworth). We can’t wait to see the project come together in the school communities and at the next Learning Hub.