Raymond Terrace Public School

Onward Always

Telephone02 4987 2083

Emailraymondter-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Aboriginal Education

Aboriginal Totem poles near play equipment

At Raymond Terrace Public School, we recognise the importance for all students to have authentic opportunities to learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their histories. For this reason, we teach Indigenous perspectives across all our key learning areas, all year long. We also acknowledge, recognise, and commemorate many special days that are important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Reconciliation Week: 27th May to 3rd June

During this week the entire school is reminded of both the meaning and the importance of reconciliation in Australia. Specifically, we recognise that reconciliation is an ongoing process that previous generations of Australians fought hard for, and we must continue to strive for if we want to foster the opportunity for respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, thus creating a strong, supportive country that everyone can be proud of.

For more information on Reconciliation Week please visit: https://www.reconciliation.org.au/national-reconciliation-week/ 

National Sorry Day: 26th May

National Sorry Day remembers and acknowledges the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities, which we now know as ‘The Stolen Generations’. On this day, we encourage students to reflect on the historical injustices faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and consider the intergenerational trauma on families and communities. We offer opportunities, both on this day and throughout the school year, for students to consider the impact of European settlement and the events that followed, on Indigenous culture.

For more information on Sorry Day please visit: https://www.reconciliation.org.au/national-sorry-day-2020/ 

 

NAIDOC Week: usually held in the first week (a Sunday to Sunday) of July that incorporates the second Friday.

NAIDOC Week is a way for all Australians to celebrate the history, culture, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. At Raymond Terrace Public School, we take this additional opportunity to learn, commemorate, and embrace Indigenous culture by organising themed activities such as sport and art.

Each year the NAIDOC Week theme changes. For example, the 2020 theme is: Always Was. Always will Be.

Always Was. Always will Be - recognises how long Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have had connections to this land. Specifically, stories talk about how their communities were here when time itself began, as part of the Dreaming – past, present, and future. Scientists, such as anthropologists and archaeologists, have dated historical Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island sites as being hundreds of thousands of years old.

For more information on NAIDOC Week please visit: https://www.naidoc.org.au/

8 ways of learning poster with symbols

At Raymond Terrace Public School, we have begun to implement the 8 Ways of Learning. In upcoming months, you will begin to see symbols around our school and in our classrooms, as we gradually introduce these processes into our teaching and learning opportunities, conversations, and experiences.

By including these practices, the entire school is creating a more inclusive environment that acknowledges indigenous ways of valuing, ways of being, ways of knowing, and ways of doing. These eight ways, as listed below, are not only culturally inclusive but also benefit every child in every classroom.

1.  Story Sharing: We connect through the stories we share.

2.  Learning Maps: We picture our pathways of knowledge.

3.  Non-Verbal: We see, think, act, make, and share without words.

4.  Symbols and Images: We keep and share knowledge with art and objects.

5.  Land Links: We work with lessons from land and nature.

6.  Non-Linear: We put different ideas together and create new knowledge.

7.  Deconstruct Reconstruct: We work from wholes to parts, watching, and then doing.

8.  Community Links: We bring new knowledge home to help our mob.

Kreative Koala project with students

Raymond Terrace Public School already has and is working to improve their many cultural spaces. For example, upon entering our school gates you may have noticed our Acknowledgement of Worimi Country.

Then, just past our school office and near Candyland, we also have our cultural poles and handprint art.

Down closer to our cultural room, an outdoor cultural space is being developed! Watch this space.

Further down, towards our back oval, we also have some x-ray animal art on our toilet block. Students and teachers have worked collaboratively designing and painting this space.

 Many of our indigenous students in years four to six have participated in the Kreative Koalas project. Last year's design looks amazing as you can see. Luckily, this year we will have the opportunity to keep our Koala. It will be an addition to our new outdoor cultural space.