Catholic schools across the Archdiocese have shown tremendous generosity, empathy and kindness with messages of support and fundraising efforts for drought affected communities.

St Monica’s Evatt held a Farmer Day to support 'Hay and Hampers for Hope', an initiative promoted by the Australian Primary Principals' Association, and Rural Aid’s ‘Buy a Bale’ campaign.

Principal Carmel Maguire said that these valuable programs provide support to farmers in need by delivering hay for cattle feed, as well as other essential items like food for families in drought-affected farming communities.

“These funds will enable more counsellors to support farmers and their families impacted by mental health issues as a result of the drought,” she said.

St Bede’s Braidwood have raised $823 through ‘Fiver for a Farmer’ with a uniform free day in support of their local farmers and graziers who are suffering from the severe drought. Year 6 students said that they would celebrate like it was Christmas if it rained!

St Patrick’s Parish School in Cooma passed around the hat for the Vinnies Drought Appeal and filled it up with over $2000 on the day – enough to provide farmers with 88 bales of hay, 81,000 litres of water of 33 food hampers for families. The school is presenting a cheque to St Vincent de Paul’s next month, as the grand total continues to rise.

St Joseph’s Adelong Principal Kirsty Beavan said, “Most of our families are on the land and also doing it tough so the students' prayers are very heart felt!”. Read the students’ prayers here.

As part of their Religious Education program, Ss Peter and Paul’s Primary School in Goulburn chose to fundraise for farmers as a social justice initiative, drawing on scripture to realise their greatest commandment is to love one another.

To accompany the school’s ‘Dress as a Farmer’ day, 5/6B ran activities for each class in the school, teaching students about the drought and running farm based activity competitions.  

Students made paper cranes as a sign of hope, and the older students informed the younger classes how buying local and Australian made products creates a sustainable economy for our famers and nation.

Year 5/6 student Zara said that there are many ways to help our farmers, but her class chose ‘Buy a Bale’ because it shows where your money goes. The school of 232 students raised $669 on the day.  

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to supporting those who are sadly affected by the drought. We continue to pray for rain.

Merici College Principal Loretta Wholley has been elected unanimously as President of Catholic Secondary Principals Australia (CaSPA), commencing a two year term in 2019.   

CaSPA is a federation of the principals’ associations, representing Catholic secondary school principals in all Australian States and Territories with the overarching goal of advancing Catholic education particularly in secondary schools.

As President, Loretta will act as Chairperson for meetings, undertake the role of spokesperson as the official representative for the Association and oversee the operation and performance of CaSPA Directors.  

“I’m very honoured and excited to be elected to this vital role,” said Loretta.

“I look forward to representing the voices of Catholic school principals with enthusiasm, passion, integrity and clarity.”

Loretta has been a Director for the national peak body since 2016, a representative for ACT Secondary Catholic School Principals and an active participant of the ACT Principals Executive and wider Catholic Education community.

Over 130 Teachers, Principals and Catholic Education representatives from around Australia came together at the St Christopher’s Pastoral Centre in Canberra this month for the Catholic Leaders Formation Symposium.

Attendees heard from keynote speakers Archbishop Christopher Prowse and Br. David Hall (ACU La Selle Academy) and participated in five practical seminars by a range of presenters that explored current leadership practice, teacher formation and engagement with the broader Church.

The Catholic Leaders Formation Network is a professional network for leaders in Catholic schools, parishes, dioceses and other ecclesial organisations engaged in evangelisation.

Special thanks to Elisabeth Doherty from St Francis Xavier College who led Morning Prayer on the piano.

St Bede’s Braidwood was the school of choice to perform a drama presentation at the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) 2018 Book of the Year Awards in front of authors and illustrators at the National Library of Canberra.

St Bede’s teacher Emma Hillsdon coordinated the professional production titled 'Find Your Treasure', the theme for Book Week 2018, with fifteen students portraying elements from the shortlisted titles.

The school’s Assistant Principal and talented illustrator, Julian Laffan, was fortunate to be on the Picture Book Panel for 2017 and 2018 and has helped greatly in promoting the CBCA to Catholic schools.

The CBCA has been celebrating children's literature since 1945 and these awards are intended to share some of the great talent and the scope and diversity of Australian publishing.

Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School Principal Brad Gaynor has been announced Australian Primary School Principal of the Year (Non-Government) at the 2018 Australian Education Awards held in Sydney.

Brad has received national recognition for his exemplary leadership, hard work, innovation and dedication as a primary school principal and as President of the Australian Catholic Primary Principals Association. 

He has been an integral part of Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn for over 28 years, working across multiple schools, starting his teaching career at St Francis of Assisi in Calwell before his first  appointment as Principal at Sacred Heart Pearce in 2006. 

Brad said that the nomination came as a surprise, that the win was very humbling and that he does not see it as recognition for himself, but for all hardworking principals.

“I feel very blessed to work in Catholic Education,” he said.

“It’s a privilege to work in an environment of collegiality and support.”

Director of Catholic Education Ross Fox said that the award is well deserved recognition of Brad's leadership and service as a teacher and school leader in ACT Catholic schools.

“Brad is well known by students, parents and colleagues in Catholic schools in the ACT and across Australia as an accomplished educational leader,” he said.

“Parents and students particularly appreciate his dedication to the learning and wellbeing needs of each child.”

Brad is inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of his students, finds joy in their love for learning and insists that being able to have a laugh with students, parents and staff is fundamental.

“I love when students come to visit or I visit a classroom and the kids are excited to share their learning,” he said.

“It still gives me the same buzz every day and reminds me of why I entered the teaching profession in the first place.”

“I look forward to continuing my association with Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn.”

Catholic schools ‘found their treasure’ during Book Week 2018, revelling in their joy for reading as they brought their favourite book characters to life! Here are some highlights from St Gregory’s Queanbeyan’s Book Week Parade:

St Anne's Central School 'sleeps among the stories'

At St Anne’s Central school, you could have forgiven for thinking that this year’s Book Week theme had something to do with bees because there was a great buzz and a lot of excitement from Stage 2 students. To celebrate Book Week, Stage 2 students were invited to a sleep over in the school’s library.

In keeping with the theme, “Find Your Treasure”, Captain Kite, along with her crew: Shipmate Barrett, Peg Leg Hughes and Swashbuckler Jodie, lead the Stage 2 land lubbers aboard their galleon (the school’s library), for a night of trivia, searching for treasure, feastings, torchlight reading and sleeping before a pajama day at school the following day.

While there was no scrubbing of the decks aboard the library galleon, the Stage 2 land lubbers were commanded to scrub their filthy selves before arriving. They were warned that if they brought hooks, skulls, cross bones, pet parrots or any pirate attire that they would walk the plank. Pyjamas were the dress code for the night and long johns were to be traded in for clean underwear. As hammocks were limited, students slept in swags along the decks.

ARRRR! It was a fun filled night spent sleeping among the stories in the library with our Stage 2 scallywags. Well, for those matey’s who actually slept…Yo-Ho-Ho!!!

St Gregory's Book Week Parade Photos

St Mary's Primary and Hennessy Catholic College combined in Young recently celebrated mass in honour of Nano Nagle's 300th birthday and the presentation sisters who she inspired. The Presentation sisters where instrumental to the start of catholic education in Young and district. 

The schools also took the opportunity to thank and farewell Sr Phil, whom is the last residing presentation sister of their parish whom is heading to Wagga in September.  Sr Phil taught in the parish for many years, is still a very familiar face on our school grounds and will be greatly missed. 

Over 450 year 9 and 10 students from across the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn gathered at Marist College on the 30^th of July to experience the CSYMA Youth Ministry’s Shine Gathering.

Project Officer for Catholic Schools and the New Evangelisation Nathan Galea said that it was great to have so many young people gather to celebrate their faith.

“We’ve got nearly 500 kids who are stepping out to look at what this whole thing is about Jesus, and what the gift is of our faith,” he said.

“It’s a pretty exciting time in our Archdiocese and I feel like there’s a real Grace that something’s at work here.”

The Shine Gathering provided a unique opportunity for students to break the ice with students from other schools, participate in workshops, share life stories, testimonies and proclamations and ultimately have a positive experience of young faith.  

Written by Mother Teresa teacher Christopher Beerworth

What do Harry Potter, Prosthetic Limbs, Banana Controllers, the search for your personal Genius and Rogaining Robots have in common? Not a lot, but they sure are inspiring. These stimulating lines of inquiries recently made up a day of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) learning for 140 Year 6 students from St Vincent’s Aranda and Mother Teresa School students. Throw in a challenging and inspiring presentation on Girls in STEM and we had an amazing day of tinkering and collaboration.

With a focus on provocations that would allow for a variety of solutions and multiple access points, each inquiry gave students a chance to share their personal skills and work collaboratively with each other to design, prototype, test and reflect.

Throughout the day students were invited to prototype and build prosthetic limbs using cardboard and MakeDo equipment. Some chose to work on one finger at a time, others the hand, still others built exoskeletons and one group decided that a full iron man suit was achievable.

Another rotation made use of Little Bits and the student interest in Harry Potter to create an artefact that would be used in the Wizarding world. Bananas, apples and other materials were used to create game controllers in conjunction with Makey Makey kits and the coding program Scratch.

During a robotics inquiry students had a chance to plan a route for the M-Bots and designed a game using the new Scratch version 3.0. We were very fortunate to have a parent from the Mother Teresa community who ran a workshop for students that guided them towards finding their own personal ‘genius’. Students really valued this time to reflect on what they love to do and what they are good at.

Both schools are now looking forward to seeing how the students will incorporate some of these ways of thinking into the learning they are doing in their schools. Using Google Classroom during the day and after the event was a way to facilitate sharing, reflection and further learning.

The Tinker Maker day could not have taken place without the support of colleagues from both Mother Teresa School and St Vincent’s Aranda and of course parents, Assistant Professor Dr Kim Simoncini of the University of Canberra and small business owner April Mack who volunteered their amazing skills and knowledge to support the students.

The valued advice of Lora Bance (Innovation Officer, Catholic Education) and Toni Falusi (CSER Project Officer for the ACT) was also utilised to further develop the STEM practices involved in the day.

Thank you to our forty-one schools who together successfully raised a whopping $80,000 for Project Compassion this year! This is a magnificent fundraising effort supporting long-term development programs in impoverished communities around the world as we strive for social justice.

Photo credit: Caritas Australia

From the 11th - 19th of August schools celebrated National Science Week with the 2018 theme of 'Game Changers and Change Makers'.

We caught up with the St Francis Xavier students who flew to Montreal, Canada to compete at RoboCup International. The school's Semi-Autonomous Rescue Team won the Open Source and Innovation Award in the Rapidly Manufactured Rescue League.

After success at the Australian National RoboCup Junior Competition, the SFX 'Soccer Team' of artificially intelligent light-weight soccer robots qualified for RoboCup International. The team started off strong, winning their first game in Montreal. 

Soccer Team representative Marc Cooke-Russell said that competing at RoboCup has allowed him to apply his computer science skills to a real world situation.

"Having this opportunity to do robotics has been really good to see what I might want to do in my career."

Assistant Principal of Holy Family Primary School, Leah Taylor, has a deep understanding and appreciation for the world of science. Leah's passion stems from her father, who is the scientific genius behind Australian ice-cream topping 'Ice Magic'.

Leah was exposed to the iterative process of scientific inquiry and investigation at a young age as she watched her father perfect Ice Magic in the lab.

“He was constantly having to try it, to improve on it, and to use that knowledge he continued to learn right through his working life to create a product that I think is loved by a Nation,” she said.

Leah has shared this life experience with many classes to help introduce a deeper understanding of chemistry, physics and biology and encouraging students to inquire. 

Teachers at Holy Family are learning alongside students in a vertical peer support program from Kindergarten to Year 6 where the school leaders run STEM problem solving sessions with their peers under teacher supervision. 

“As much as I love science, and as much as I’ve been involved in it for a very long time, I’m still learning, and I love that I get the opportunity to learn from my students,” said Mrs Taylor. 

“If you want children to be passionate learners, you have to have passionate teachers who love learning and it has to go all the way from the Principal.”

Leah instils in students an appreciation for investigating the world around them, to build on awe and wonder rather than fear. 

 “Teachers have to have a deep understanding of knowing when to introduce content and how they’re going to do that within a framework of student interest,” she said.

For Science Week Holy Family Primary School participated in the Sony Science Teachers Association of Tokyo (SSTA) program, providing students with the opportunity to be taught a science lesson from a Japanese teacher who then also observed a lesson.

Leah said that Japan is moving towards an inquiry based framework in the same way we are in Australia, where we let students identify and investigate questions.

“They’re one of the big innovator countries that we can learn from. It was nice to share their ideas,” she said.

“We work with students and build that knowledge and deep understanding through passing on these skills while still maintaining student interest and giving students a little bit of autonomy in what they learn.”

“Teaching science is absolutely critical – students need to be scientifically literate.”

As part of the program students learnt about local history over a two term period, drawing on inspiration from excursions to the Hall museum to design and create clay tiles depicting life during the early settlement of Canberra.

The tiles are featured on a new plinth at ‘The Link’ in Ginninderry that was unveiled on the 28^th of July. The tiles are now a piece of history for visitors to admire.

St Mary Mackillop College’s Musical, Mary Poppins Jr, received rave reviews this month with four public shows and a matinee performance for primary school students. The cast and crew had a busy week, bringing to an end months of hard work.

The musical featured catchy songs, theatrical choreography, intricate costumes, beautiful acting, and interesting characters. The talent that students brought to the acting, singing, and dancing made for a truly entertaining experience. Feedback was extremely positive and word of mouth after the opening night led to a packed crowd on Wednesday and a full house on both Thursday and Friday nights.

During the presentation of gifts at the end of the final show, Padua Campus Head, Mr Paul O’Callaghan, said: “Every year I think, ‘there isn’t any way we can put on a better performance’ – and yet every year we somehow manage to do it. I don’t know if it’s possible next year. I might need to retire!”

Congratulations to the entire cast, backstage team, sound and lighting crew, production team, choreographers, stage designers, costume and prop creators, hair and makeup team, front of house, and all students, parents, and staff who made the production possible.

Catholic schools across the Archdiocese have jumped on board with the ACT Government’s Fresh Tastes initiative that encourages healthy eating habits and provides valuable resources and learning opportunities surrounding health and nutrition.

Mother Teresa School in Harrison is the first Catholic school to graduate from the three-year program that teaches students positive food habits through fun, hands-on learning.  

On the 7^th of August 18 schools graduated alongside Mother Teresa School at an event hosted by the school that celebrated the newly certified ‘Little Experts’.

Deputy Director of Catholic Education Angus Tulley put his healthy food knowledge to the test in a game show against the students and Suzanne Orr MLA, Member for Yerrabi presented Mother Teresa School with a graduating gift – a vertical garden.

Students were entertained by the Nutrition Magician, and attendees were spoiled with healthy food options served by the students of Mother Teresa School.

Mother Teresa’s garden features worm farms, chickens and an orchard of fruit trees that the school’s appointed ‘Green Rangers’ tend to. The produce from each harvest is then turned into delicious healthy dishes for the school canteen that is then sold to raise more money for seedlings.

As part of the program all staff participated in a nutrition training session with a dietician from Nutrition Australia.

Fresh Tastes has provided the school with refillable water stations, reusable water bottles and discounts for families to purchase fruit and vegetables from partnering businesses. All staff participated in a nutrition training session with a dietician from Nutrition Australia.

Mother Teresa REC and Fresh Tastes Coordinator Anne Leet said there have been many highlights over the years with implementing Fresh Tastes.

“Hopefully this is not a one off program,” she said.

“The staff, parents and mostly the students are enthusiastic about what we have done and we are dreaming of what we can do.”

We congratulate Mother Teresa School and look forward to more of our Catholic schools graduating from the wonderfully beneficial Fresh Tastes Program.

St John Paul II College staged its very first musical production:  The Greatest Show: A Vaudeville over three nights this month with an original script devised by teachers and students who developed the production together.

Over sixty students involved in the cast and crew performed to combined audiences of 1000 after inviting feeder schools to a preview matinee performance. 

A skeleton narrative was given to the cast and they were guided through devising and improvising explorations to create their characters. Students accepted the challenge, rose to Production Crew’s high expectations and excelled. It is from the students amazing dedication and commitment that they brought the vision to life, ensuring in this show that each character was genuinely unique and shone with personality. 

The process gave students the opportunity to explore how theatre has the power to change people's hearts and minds, the chance to work as a true team with students from all year levels to create and explore a brand-new performance, and to demonstrate talents and skills publicly in front of a live audience.

This musical provided an opportunity to build resilience, social skills, empathy, confidence and creative skills. Students were able to express themselves onstage, while building friendships with an array of creative souls.  The cast created – even to their own surprise – genuinely touching moments of theatre.

The audience roared with laughter, felt goosebumps and sang-a-long. The show was an interactive experience which didn’t stop – not even during intermission where circus themed food was available.

Following the trends of popular culture, this vaudeville styled piece of theatre was a blend of classic Music Hall entertainment and contemporary costumes.  After seeing an amazing circus show, a group of five lonely misfits decide to run away and join the circus. With encouragement from an all-knowing train conductor, Mila, they arrive at the circus in attempt to find their place in the world. Ruby, the Ringleader, welcomes them despite the disgruntled reaction from her skilled Circus Troupe leaders. 

Bosley, Coco, Trixie, Demi and Layla meet the rainbow coloured performers of the circus. This circus journey has a soundtrack of music that is a dazzling, lively mixture of rock, jazz and pop transforming the show into a mix of classic and contemporary ideas for this vaudeville narrative. Much like the music, the characters are a fresh mix of old and new from clowns to comedians, animals to acrobats, dancers and singers - this circus had the potential to be a home if the Runaways are able to impress.

The Greatest Show: A Vaudeville was the first, but certainly not the last, St John Paul II College musical production. Of course, something of this scale has only possible with a creative dedicated team and the support of the College community.

St John Paul II College gives credit to the students, musicians and the skilled backstage crew who set the standard and paved the way for the future JPC musicals. They displayed a professional and inclusive attitude and all worked so hard to achieve.

“We have all followed the dream, and ran away to the circus with lasting memories,” said Director Sarah Keane.

Merici College has announced that they have been accepted as a candidate school for the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) and will begin trialling implementation of the MYP in Years 7 and 8, January 2019 as they continue to pursue authorisation as an IB World School.

IB World Schools share a common philosophy- a commitment to high-quality, challenging, international education- that that school believes is important for their students. This compliments the school’s candidacy for the IB Diploma Programme which began in March this year. 

The MYP aims to develop active learners and internationally minded young people who can empathise with others and pursue lives of purpose and meaning. The programme empowers students to inquire into a wide range of issues and ideas of significance locally, nationally and globally. The result is young people who are creative, critical and reflective thinkers (IB, 2018).

The work already undertaken in the school’s integrated English/Humanities and integrated Math/Science courses in Year 7 will be complimented by the MYP, providing the stimulus to explore other cross disciplinary links across multiple year groups. The MYP integrates well with the Australian Curriculum topics, allowing the school to meet national requirements while promoting a globally recognised standard of education through the IB.

This semester, students in Years 7 to 10 have engaged with the IB Learner Profile Attributes in their Flex lessons, recognising the overlap between what is already done at Merici College and the IB philosophy.

Teachers will be involved with whole school MYP training provided by the IB to be well-prepared to deliver the new curriculum which is an exciting opportunity to engage with staff from the IB and create new learning opportunities for our students.

Merici College looks forward to sharing more about the school’s IB journey as they move forward in this process. 

St Thomas the Apostle Kambah braved the cold on the 17th of August with two neighbouring schools for Winter Walk to School Day! They were joined by elite ACT race-walker and Olympian Rachel Tallent, Joy Birch MLA, Brumby Jack and the University of Canberra Capitals Cappie the Giraffe!

Written by Iain Robertson, Coach

St John Paul II College defied the odds by reaching the National Quarter Finals -15 Years and under Boys - of the Bill Turner Cup, qualifying as one of the top eight national boys soccer teams.  They had shown brilliance and determination in their first foray into this competition, and were narrowly defeated only in extra time in their quarter-final game against a well-known Sydney Sports Academy School.

The Bill Turner Cup is a popular and prestigious annual school football (soccer) competition with around 500 school teams from NSW, Qld, ACT and Victoria participating each year. Bill Turner, a former NSW teacher, worked tirelessly in school and youth soccer for many years with a vision to develop young footballers and regional elite academy programs. He valued fitness, fun and fair play and this competition pays tribute to these values. 2018 marked the 40th year anniversary of the Bill Turner cup, a year that would see the introduction of St John Paul II College Canberra to the contest for the first time. The talented boys’ team, made up of players who are 15 years and under, started their exciting journey early in Term 1.

JPC opened the competition at Radford College where they were victorious winning by 9 -2. This followed with a game against the renowned sporting school Lyneham who run a specialist sport program called SEAL (Sporting Excellence at Lyneham). JPC were again dominant winning by 2 – 0. In the next fixture JPC were required to travel to Goulburn for a game against Trinity where they were eventual winners defeating the opposition by 5 -1. This meant JPC had made it to the regional final (Southern NSW/ACT) of the competition. Another away fixture ensued, this time against Yass High School. The talent of the JPC team prevailed, a strong performance resulted in another triumphant display with the score ending 11 – 1.  

The next stage of the competition, the final 32 teams in Australia, required an overnight trip to Albury early in term 2 where JPC would be up against the regional champions of Riverina, Marian College, Griffith. The nerve-wracking contest ended in a 4 – 3 victory to JPC with a last-minute goal helping Canberra’s newest Catholic school reach the final 16. The following day, JPC were up against Rowville Sports Academy (Regional Champions of Melbourne); an internationally recognised school for offering ‘talented’ and ‘elite’ student athlete development programs in football. A 2 – 1 victory to St John Paul II College in what were atrocious weather conditions left the team and visiting support in pandemonium; JPC had reached the quarter finals.

It was St John Paul II College’s inaugural appearance in the competition and they had raised eyebrows across the nation with some scintillating displays of footballing brilliance. The quarter final stage would take place in the nation’s capital at the Hawker Football Centre on Wednesday 22nd August. Cheered on by families, staff and the JPC principal Mrs Catherine Rey, it was a memorable occasion for all involved. JPC were up against Bossley Park High School Sydney, another school with national recognition for its Talented Football Enrichment program. The game ended 1 – 1 meaning extra-time followed. It was there that the exciting journey would end for St John Paul II College; they were cruelly knocked out with a golden goal in extra time.

The boys played with incredible heart, tenacity, pride and selflessness. They showed everything that’s right in sport and certainly did the entire College proud. Thanks to the St John Paull II College Bill Turner Football team and to all those involved for an unbelievable ride. Well done!

On Friday the 3^rd of August St Michael’s Primary Kaleen began the day with a non-uniform day in exchange for winter woollies donations for St Vincent de Paul. The enormous pile of clothing/blankets and various warm woollies was truly staggering and challenged the capacity of the van that came to do pick up.

St Michael's Principal Patick Ellis said that the school had an amazing turn out at their first Mini Vinnies 'Stay Out'.

"It was a great experience; from the Night Patrol Van, to learning about the serious issue of homelessness, to hot soup and a mini ‘Sleep Out’ experience," he said.

"Everyone participated with enthusiasm and the night was a huge success with the school community raising a massive monetary donation for St Vincent de Paul."

During NAIDOC Week St Clare’s hosted ‘Being an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander for the Day’ for ATSI students and their friends from schools in the Archdiocese.

St Clare’s joined students from St Edmund’s College, John Paul College, St Thomas the Apostle, St Matthew’s Primary School, Holy Spirit Primary School, St Vincent’s Primary School, Sacred Heart Primary School, St Francis of Assisi Primary and St Anthony’s Primary School.

Developed by Cultural Infusion, the program was led by Alan an elder from the Noonga tribe, near the Margaret River. The students participated in three cultural activities: dance, art and a historical/cultural session. In the cultural dance activity the boys learnt the emu dance while the girls learnt the eagle dance. During this session students were exposed to ATSI words and their meanings, as well as the significance of dance moves in ATSI culture. In the traditional art session students learnt to draw ATSI tracks and symbols and a picture of their own journey or story.

The highlight of the day was the historical/cultural session. In this session Alan discussed the difference between Indigenous (inhabited this land for 65,000 years) and non-Indigenous Australians (inhabited for 230 years), but more importantly with the understanding that all of us belong to Australia.  The students did renditions of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie Oi, Oi, Oi” to celebrate this unity. He explained the 324 tribal groups among ATSI today, each tribe having their own unique culture, language, dress, laws, customs and food.

Alan is an elder and custodian for his tribe. Each year he makes a journey with other elders to talk about the history of the tribe and he records every school and contact teacher as wall art. He discussed the importance of ancestors. Alan then related his own story, as part of the Stolen Generations, he was a foster child and later came to the realization that education has been the key to his success. He gave a very heartfelt message to the audience that healing is ongoing. Each student has to realise that they can change the world, to not waste your schooling, more importantly that they are the future. Alan thoroughly engaged the students throughout his discussion. They responded to his questions and affirmations. His message was a powerful reminder to the students about doing their best at school and taking advantage of all that they have. The session concluded with students performing the dances they had learnt and a recap of ATSI History and Culture.

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday all students across the College were invited to watch the movie, The Sapphires in the Flexible Learning Centre. This wonderful movie based in 1968 is a true story. It celebrates four young, extremely talented Australian Aboriginal girls as they learn about love, friendship and war when they combine to form the all-girls group the Sapphires and travel to Vietnam to entertain the US troops. This movie provides a positive affirmation of the talent of these four girls and they are a great role model for all females and our students.

On Friday all students were provided with the opportunity to sample wattle seed scones which were made by our talented hospitality students. This sensational sampler is an example of ATSI foods, the richness of their culture and a reminder of the diversity and harmony they experienced over the many generations that they lived over this land.

NAIDOC Week was a wonderful opportunity for all of our students to reflect on the importance of the culture and traditions for the of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.