Indigenous Newsletter Term 2, 2019

Term 2, 2019

National Reconciliation Week

The school acknowledged this very important week in the Indigenous calendar. The school intranet banner had the Theme for this year: Grounded in Truth: Walk with Courage. The Electronic board was a visual reminder of our special Assembly which was held on Wed 22nd May this year. This was hosted by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in partnership reflecting the spirit of reconciliation and was live streamed.

The School RAP ( Reconciliation Action PLan) was announced as in progress and was presented by one of the Working committee members, Ben Absolon. The RAP committee has created and written the first version of a Reconciliation Action Plan, which we will now start implementing throughout the school with a yearly review. If you wish to be a part of the committee or get progress updates about the RAP please see this through our newsletter, notices, and college websites or speak directly to the members.

Students spoke about Amazing 5 Facts of Indigenous people.

These facts are:

· Oldest Living Culture in the world

· More than 250 Australian Indigenous language exist

· Australian English borrows more than 400 words from the Aboriginal Languages

· Avoidance Practices

· Dream Time; Aboriginal Culture and Spirituality

The choir did a fabulous job of learning and performing the Kanyini chant and we also played a short film by Uncle Bob Randall explaining Kanyini. We would like to give special thanks to the students and staff that helped to enrich this assembly.

Burara Mentoring Program Students in Years 10, 11 & 12

Mental Health Workshop: Wed 12th June
Guest Speaker Raylene Dean from The Townsville Health Unit gave us some great tips and insight on building resilience. We did a group activity workshop and a reflection and ended with some refreshments. Our Guidance Counsellor supported the planning of this event and was on hand on the day.
12 students and 3 mentors attended

School Musical - Pirates of Penzance

Our School musical this year was the renowned musical where Pirates are in a comic operetta set in the 1800’s that follows the story of Frederick, a young pirate. Frederick accidentally re-joins civilisation on his 21st birthday. Frederick would meet Mabel and fall in love. Unfortunately Frederick would learn she is the daughter of a Major General along with her 9 sisters.

In this play we had a few of our Indigenous students join the cast this year, with two students having leading roles.

Vincent Archie ( Yr 12) landed the leading role as Frederick and really stepped up to it. His courage, confidence and singing ability is to be highly commended.

Caitlyn Russo ( Yr 12) was one of the young ladies. Her poise and performance was amazing to watch.

Shene O'brien ( Yr 11), Anushka Tanna ( Yr 10), Emma Monks ( Yr 8) and Georgia Doll ( Yr 7) were also a part of the show's ensembles.

We CONGRATULATE these students on their efforts and confidence of participating in the show and we would also like to acknowledge Kodi Goltl and Samuel Hanson for their special combined Acknowledgement of Country on opening night.

Yarning Circle

We have had our first Yarning Circle for the year due to the flood damages and then changes of the staff and other school activities in this time.

Students were able to introduce themselves to the new staff and vice versa and staff were also able to explain their roles. We also yarned about Reconciliation week theme and talked about plans for NAIDOC celebrations.

Students had the opportunity to try some delicious, traditional chicken vermicelli cooked by one of our Indigenous student’s grandmother.

The students enjoyed the food and yarn; students will be updated when we hold another in Term 3.

North Queensland Constitutional Convention

Four of our Year 10 and 11 Indigenous students participated in Queensland’s Program of School Constitutional Conventions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students on Friday 14th June, 2019.

These annual conventions are designed to:

- Educate senior secondary students about the Australian Constitution and how it guides our democracy.

- Provide a mechanism to elect Queensland’s team of delegates to the National Convention to be held in Canberra.

Lani Mitchell (second from right), was our speaker on behalf of the team that responded to the question: Would dedicated seats increase the interest of Indigenous people in standing for elections and make government and the parliament more relevant to them?

She placed third and will be representing NQ in Canberra in March 2020.

A big thank you to our teacher Carmen Franks-Weier for guiding and supporting the team.

Junior Campus

PLPs (Personalised Learning Plans) were run on two Mondays in June for students in Prep - 4 which have been a great experience for parents, teachers, teacher aides and students.
Copies of the plans should go out in week 1 of a Term 3

New Staff Members

Narissa Murray
Hi, I am Narissa Murray and have commenced work here at Ryan First Day of Term 2 as an Indigenous Support Officer and now have moved on to the Emerging Leaders Administration role. As an Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander woman that is a mum of 3, education means a great deal to me for my children to be able to get the best chance in life through education to be successful when they journey to the adult world of employment or further studies. I want this chance for our Indigenous students here at Ryan and in the wider community that our Indigenous children can have the best start in life with education first. I look forward to seeing our Indigenous students grow and aspire to who they want to be.

Bacho Salam
Hi, I'm Bacho Salam and I am a player at the Townsville Blackhawks. I am currently living in Townsville but originally from Mossman, Far North Queensland. I am a proud Aborginal & Torrest Strait Islander. My mob are the Kuku Yalinji people and we are the rainforest people. I'm the Indigenous Teacher Aide at Ryan Catholic College to help support the students in their school work & in everyday life. I am humbled for the opportunity I have been given and I'm really looking forward to getting to know the students better in Term 3.

Michelle Rowlands
Hi, I'm Michelle Rowlands and I've recently completed my Certificate III in Education Support. I did my work placement at Ryan Catholic College from March to May this year before accepting a position of School Officer in Indigenous Support. I'm looking forward to getting to know the students better in Term 3!

We have had a change of Guard with Jessica Hallen resigning from the position and leaving the college.
Narissa Murray has stepped into this role and will be the Administrative support person for this programme. She will look after all PLA ( Personal Leadership Agreements) documents once they are completed, reimbursements and acquittal processing.
With the gap in staffing we have had 2 group sessions and several one on one meetings with all our participants and we are about to finish off those requirements so parents/carers can be assured the fee subsidy will be allocated if you have signed that agreement. It has been great to see varied incentive goals from Bikes, Sports gear and the most popular being laptops.
We will see a new role of a teacher being allocated to support this program in Term 3 and will look forward to introducing her to you.

Days to wear your Indigenous Shirts in
Term 3 2019
Monday - Friday 22nd - 26th July - NAIDOC Week
Monday 5th August - National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day
Friday 9th August - International Day of the World's Indigenous People

Coming up next term...

NAIDOC WEEK

This year the NAIDOC theme is VOICE, TREATY, TRUTH.

For the first time this year you are all invited to join us to walk together as a community for the Townsville NAIDOC march.

WHEN: Friday 12th of July: NAIDOC march will assemble at 9.30am
WHERE: Roundabout of Hinchinbrook Drive & Thuringowa Drive to commence at 10am to march to Riverway where we can enjoy the FREE Deadly Day Out.

As a school we will hold our NAIDOC week in the second week of Term 3 where students will engage in activities such as listening to stories in the Hub, painting and big Assembly with dancers etc and Kup Murri on Wed 24th July at 11 am ( invitations are in the mail). Please also see invitation from Bishop Tim for a special NAIDOC gathering.

Have a Safe and Deadly Holiday!