#Refugee Week

 

Celebrating Refugee Week 2020  

Celebrating Refugee Week is a unique opportunity for us all to experience the rich diversity of Australia’s refugee communities, especially at Cecil Hills High School as we have a high population of students coming from a wide range of non-English speaking backgrounds. 

Working with our students

In celebration of Refugee Week, The Year of Welcome, the school during Connect viewed an inspirational video and powerpoint put together by our Student Representative Council that outlined the basics about the struggles refugees face and the courageous steps they take on their journey to a new country. Each refugee seeking safety in Australia brings their own story of their journey to Australia and through sharing these stories, we are able to remind students of the hardship’s refugees experience coming here. 

In our own STARS Connect lessons during the week, students were provided breakfast, a bilingual dictionary to support their language acquisition and read stories of the perilous journey of refugees showcasing their amazing resilience, creativity and ingenious of people of refugee background.

As Refugee Transition Coordinators, our aim is to work collaboratively with all staff to enrich the wellbeing of our refugee students and to support their progress towards meeting curriculum outcomes. We both truly enjoy the challenges of this enormously rewarding profession and will continue to work together to identify and implement strategies that improve the achievement, engagement and wellbeing outcomes for our students from refugee backgrounds.

Sharing their stories

I was born in Iraq in the year June 2007. I had to flee my country to Turkey because of the bombings and killings. It took me three and a half years to get to Australia. I love living in Australia as it is a safe place. I find the English language very difficult to learn but with time I am improving. (Year 7 refugee from Iraq) 

Due to the unrest in Syria we applied for a visa to come to Australia.  It took us three years to get to Australia. I was devastated to leave family and friends behind. However, now in Australia I am happy and most importantly, I feel very safe. THANK YOU Australia. 

(Year 9 Refugee from Syria)

 I lived in Iraq till the age of 10 but I had to flee from my country due to the many terrorists’ acts. We flew to Turkey and stayed there for four years. Life was extremely difficult and a struggle as we had to learn a new language and faced many incidents of racism.  Now living in Australia is like living in heaven. (Year 11 refugee from Iraq)

My journey to Australia was astronomical as it took us around THREE LONG CHALLENGING years to end up all the way here. It was killing us to wait this long to get approved to come through to enter the country. I am grateful for this gift to us to be able to live in Australia. (Year 7 refugee from Iraq)

Mrs Marilyn Rattos and Mrs Hong, Refugee Transition Coordinators