From the Assistant Principal 7-9

Reconciliation Week

Last week was National Reconciliation Week, and AHS students and staff took the opportunity to celebrate the rich culture and history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Reconciliation Week is an ideal time for everyone to join the reconciliation conversation and to think about how we can help turn around the disadvantage experienced by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but it is a conversation that needs to be had as part of our regular community discourse.

As part of the week’s events, the Allyship at Auburn team led a thought-provoking ceremony to unveil our Acknowledgement of Country plaque at our new senior school building. We were delighted to welcome the Always Was Always Will Be team from Auburn South Primary School, along with Grade ⅚ teacher Emily Hui and Principal Marcus Wicher, to join us as special guests. The team also encouraged our community to take a moment to practice gratitude and generosity by donating pre-loved items of formal wear to the Stylin’ Up drive organised by The Long Walk. As our own Year 12 students prepare for their upcoming Formal later this month, it was a timely opportunity to take a small and practical action such as this to show our support. Items can still be donated at the main reception until Tuesday afternoon and they’ll be taken to The Long Walk this weekend.

I met with interested students to brainstorm indigenous landscaping design options for the oval side of the new building and was blown away by their knowledge and passion for this work. Currently, we have a draft design including a yarning circle with endemic planting and indigenous flag, an indigenous flower garden featuring edible plants, an expanse of lawn and recycled plastic seating for passive recreation, and an active section with basketball keys and outdoor table tennis/ chess.

We were honoured to be invited to attend the Reconciliation Week assembly at Auburn South Primary School, where local elders conducted a smoking ceremony and student leaders led the gathering in a time of reflection. 

Well done to Year 12 student and Allyship at Auburn founding member, Sasha Folley, on her speech and to School Captain, Sophie Newman, on introducing the proceedings:

Wominjeka everyone! A special thank you to Sophie for that French acknowledgement, and Emily and the Always Was Always Will Be team from Auburn South Primary for joining us today.

We’d like to begin by acknowledging the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, the Traditional owners and Custodians of the Country on which we gather today and on which this new building has been constructed. We pay our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People and their history, culture, knowledge, connection, their ancestors and their Elders past, present and emerging, and to the communities who have always looked after this Country, and still face the ongoing impacts of colonisation on their sacred and sovereign land.

We commit to healing. Not only specifically with this building through consulting Aunties during its creation, saving rock we have excavated to honour the land, and commencing work on our yarning circle and native plant garden. But also, broadly through acknowledging our history. It’s reconciliation week this week and yesterday was National Sorry day. May 26th is the Anniversary of the Uluru Statement from the heart of 2017. It details the importance of authentic recognition of First Nations people, the need for substantive constitutional reform, and creating a Makarrata Commission that would manage treaty opportunities and truth-telling. I encourage you all to read it.

Sorry day, as well as this week, is a time for all of us to educate ourselves about our shared histories and cultures. It’s also a time to discover how all of us can both individually and communally contribute to achieving reconciliation. So, I hope that throughout this week and the years to come, we all strive to learn. About our history, about what First Nations people need, about the traditional owners of the land we live on, about what action we can take, so that we can actively participate in reconciliation.

To kick things off we have a plaque for our new building to recognise the Wurundjeri people who own the land on which we go to school every day. This is only the beginning though, so I hope when we all see this plaque each morning we are reminded to do our part.

Sasha Folley

Student voice and Year Level Communities

We have been actively gathering student voice data to support us in proactively continuing to improve the experience of our students at school. Our Pivot Cycle 2 is now open and teachers have protected time in class for students to complete this by the end of next week. There are 3 Pivot cycles each year in which every student provides detailed feedback to each of their teachers in each of their subjects about their teaching and learning experiences. These regular check points allow us to track our progress and collectively, we use this feedback to shape our Semester 2 teaching and learning.

All students were asked to complete the Student Attitude to School Survey (SASS) over the past two weeks. An impressive 97% of students completed the survey this year, which is an excellent achievement and will help us identify further improvement strategies for Semester 2 and beyond.

Our staff Year Level Teams are meeting regularly to track our progress against our Year Level Community goals, as well as enabling us to pause and reflect on the small actions our students make each day that make such a positive contribution to our school culture. Teachers acknowledge these micro-actions through green DARE posts. We encourage parents and caregivers to review the Compass Chronicle and celebrate these successes with their young people.

The Addams Family

Rehearsals are in full swing for the AHS production of The Addams Family! I was lucky enough to visit a recent rehearsal and was so impressed by the energy, enthusiasm and talents of our students. Huge thanks to Drama teacher and Director extraordinaire, Sally Edwards and her able assistant, Media teacher Caroline Hardy and Instrumental Music instructor Kylie Wagenvort on their dedication and boundless energy in bringing the production to life! The show hits the stage in August. Stay tuned for ticket sales a bit closer to the time. 

Kristie Satilmis