Sarah Upton

INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY 2021

Sarah Upton, Cultural Inclusion Educator 

Tell us about a joy you have had in leadership? 

The best thing I’ve learnt about leadership along my teaching journey is that you don’t have to necessary have a title to be a good leader. I believe everyone has the ability  to lead on a daily basis.  The joy I get from leadership/mentoring new teachers or staff is watching them grow in confidence and that empowering them to believe that its ok just to be themselves and that is good enough. Once that switch clicks then it’s just a beautiful progression to watch. 

What do you love about your job?

The aspect I love most about my job is being around like minded that being teachers, students, parents, ES staff and people in the boarder school community that share a common goal. That at our school our main focus is the whole student comes first – high on our priority list is the wellbeing and welfare of our students does come first above all other areas.  

Female role model and why? 

My female role model is my mum Karen Lovett who is a proud Aboriginal women and against all odds has survived lots of personal challenges and obstacles life had to throw at her. She turned her life around, rising four kids and later becoming an Aboriginal art teacher to educate the future generations about our culture and delivering cultural awareness training to large organisations help them learn about how to work with Aboriginal people within the community. 

Females who have influenced your life?  

My Nanna  Rita, my Mum Karen, my daughter Piper and finally my two sisters. Just being around strong independent women who have also been in my inner circle since day one has helped me keep grounded and achieve anything I set my mind to. 

What are your hopes for the future? 

My hopes for the future is for my people/culture(First Nations People) to have a voice and for indigenous and non- indigenous people to stand together as one proud nation, also for people to have those dark discussions about our history, learn from our mistakes and move forward together so that my daughter can hold her head high as a proud Aboriginal women and feel like she is strong enough to belong rather than being too ashamed to identify with being aboriginal. 

Anything else? 

That moving forward as educators we hold the power to do more than focus on academic levels and we really ensure we work at making our students better people who will later on in life go in to community and contribute to society on a positive level. That social, personal and emotional growth most times far out ways other aspects in education. I believe if we can teach our kids resilience, self-worth and kindness then they will go a long way in life.