Programs and Schools for Aboriginal Students
The Swan Education District is located in Wadjuk Country and covers 1600 square kilometers with some overlap into Balardong Country. The District services schools from Tuart Hill in the west, to Wooroloo in the east, to Maylands in the south, and Bullsbrook in the north.
The Swan Education District has the second largest enrolment of Aboriginal students in the State. There are 103 schools with around 55 Aboriginal Islander Education Officers employed to assist and support the school community.
Programs for Aboriginal Students
Several schools are involved in specific programs for Aboriginal Students:
- Moorditj Noongar Community College opened in 2001 and has approximately 140 Indigenous students currently enrolled from K to 7. It is expected that the school will grow to include students up to year 12.
- Balga Swan Noongar Sports Education Program (SNSEP) is a scholarship education program that commenced in 2002 at Balga SHS. SNSEP uses football and netball to address the significant educational disadvantages experienced by indigenous students in the Swan District. The overall goal of the program is to improve these students' long-term opportunities.
- Swan View Senior High School Access Program commenced in 2003 and includes indigenous Students entering year 10, 11 or 12 who may be at risk of not completing their schooling. This program has won a number of achievement awards for its excellence in leadership in indigenous education.
'Follow the Dream' coordinators and programs operate out of:
- Swan View Senior High School
- Governor Stirling Senior High School
- Lockridge (includes students from Hampton and Morley Senior High Schools)
- Girrawheen Senior High School (includes students from Balga Senior High School)
Aboriginal Kindergartens
Three Aboriginal Kindergartens are located in the Swan Education District:
- Edale Kindergarten is at Westminster Junior Primary School
- Swanee Kindergarten is a part of Moorditj Community College
The Aboriginal Education Team co-ordinates professional learning programs as follows:
Our Story
This program promotes a knowledge and understanding of the history, culture, beliefs and experiences of Aboriginal proples of Western Australia. The program can be delivered on a Professional Development day; or one or two modules can be presented at staff meetings. The program is designed to include all staff at a school. The Cultural Awareness training is presented in seven modules:
- Self as worker in the workplace
- Past and present
- Identity and everyday ways of life
- Communicating
- Relating
- Working in my local school and community
- Working together
Aboriginal Perspectives across the curriculum (APAC)
This program is a culturally inclusive and collaborative program to enhance educational outcomes for Aboriginal students and to create a welcoming school environment. This program acknowledges and endorses Indigenous world views and promotes greater understanding and respect for Indigenous peoples, cultures, histories and languages. A wide range of localised lesson plans and resources are available on the APAC website to support teaching of Aboriginal Studies in school.
The Aboriginal Education Team can support the school in facilitating professional development in Aboriginal culture.
Do you hear what I hear?
Otitis media (middle ear infection) affects up to 80% of Aboriginal school students. Each of these students will suffer at least one episode by the time they are three.
- speech and learning delays,
- behavioural problems, and
- permanent hearing loss.
The Aboriginal Education Team can provide information and support to the school for otitis media regarding signs and symptoms of otitis media, intervention strategies to support children with conductive hearing loss, and the need for a community approach to reduce otitis media and its effects.
Deadly ways
Aboriginal English is a dialect of English and is an important marker of cultural and linguistic identity among Aboriginal pople across Australia, including those living in metropolitan and rural locations. The program includes: two-way teaching; and teaching about language. Talking deadly discusses language, culture, identity and power in the context of Aboriginal English.