Celebrating our rich diversity

Refugee Matters at Cecil

Refugee Week 2018: Sunday 17 June to Saturday 23 June “#WithRefugees” is a unique opportunity for us all to experience and celebrate the rich diversity of refugee communities. Cecil Hills High School caters for a diverse student population, with 83.4% of students from a wide range of non-English speaking backgrounds and the celebration of Refugee Week at the school created a better understanding between different communities and encouraged successful integration enabling refugees to live in safety and to continue making a valuable contribution to Australia.

Refugee Week provided an opportunity for the school to raise awareness about the immense courage and resilience of refugees who take unimaginable journeys to seek safety. The week began at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre for some of our refugee students who along with Year 9 English attended ‘Tree of Life’ a 90 minute performance by 20 young refugees who had experienced the horror of war, trauma and persecution. Each cast member a survivor mainly from countries such as Iraq and Syria performed their own story of escape, survival and eventual triumph through a powerful fusion of spoken word, movement and projected imagery. For our students, it was a powerful insight into the refugee experience as told by the refugees who experienced it.

2018 witnessed the creation of the new Connect program at Cecil which is delivered through roll call classes aimed to helping students to get organised, reflect on their wellbeing and to provide more pastoral care.  During Refugee Week 2018, the S.T.A.R.S Connect that provides a safe and inclusive learning environment to targeted refugees and new enrolments were greeted with a healthy breakfast which also provided an opportunity to enhance their social connectedness and wellbeing. The week continued with more engaging activities such as the story telling of ‘The Little Refugee’ by Anh and Suzanne Do. An uplifting and inspiring refugee story about one family’s survival against the odds, and the transforming power of hope.

To end the week a valuable teaching and learning resource “The Bilingual Dictionary for ESL Beginners” was distributed to some of the S.T.A.R.S students for individual student use at school and at home to support their English language acquisition.

Furthermore, the continuation of our successful Refugee after School Homework Support Program every Tuesday afternoon have staff from other faculties volunteering their time to provide individual coaching. Our senior refugee students are in the process of being provided information regarding scholarships and further studies. This has been beneficial in developing achievable career goals and future direction. Students continue to express their appreciation which is often reflected in improved outcomes across all KLA’s.

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 towards making our refugees from being surviving to thriving refugees.

Mrs Marilyn Rattos, Refugee Transition Coordinator / English EALD Teacher

Ms Adia Sahid,-REgee Transition Coordinator / SRC Coordinator / WHS Representative