Nathan Towney

We’ve now been to all of the first 15 schools of the connected community schools, all those schools that have been on the strategy now for 10 years.

I’m feeling excited. I’m feeling proud of what these communities have been able to achieve. But I am also feeling very optimistic that there’s opportunities for learning. There are practices that we’re seeing in a lot of these communities that would benefit other communities. Everybody’s at such different places in their journey of connected communities. There are different leaders on different parts of their own leadership journey.

There are new leaders popping up in community. There’s this Aboriginal education ecosystem that exists within communities and schools and they’re all unique and different, which make them complex, but also means that there’s a variety of opportunities to, you know, to learn and grow. I’m feeling really optimistic that our report will have impact and that it will actually benefit the communities.

Aunty Marion Nelio

Me I’m 71 years old. I’ve never, ever had that opportunity to learn that language. And I’m so proud of my grandkids, and all the Murri kids in Moree. When I say that, I never had that opportunity, my mother could talk language. My mother could sing language, but because she lived on the mission, at that time, they weren’t allowed to talk that language.

Nadia Mills

Attendances don’t necessarily apply in complex places, and sometimes you need to pull from somewhere else. I think an understanding obviously of the complexities of Aboriginal communities and the intergenerational trauma and the experiences that have shaped their views of schools and education and principals. And it’s absolutely nothing personal.

Jason Brown

The focus of, of what we’re trying to achieve within the students life, they’re not a student to us, that’s a community member. They’re part of that community, part of their family. So when they’re at school, yes, they are a student, but we’re trying to get our people over the line to, you know, further succeed through in life.

Kelirra Armstrong

And also like being like us as like workers in the community, like being that bigger person for all of our younger ones like us, for them to look up to like, you know, it’s really good, and it makes us feel good about ourselves, like working within the community, like, and it’s really good.

This is my role model. She’s the worker in our family. I looked up to her. I follow her steps in the Education Department, so it’s just really good.

Dakota Armstrong

I kept going to be like a good person in the community, but I’m young still and just looking up to them, I reckon.

Lorinda Potter

And give it a bit of a chance to let it work. So all the data suggests that a minimum year is 5 years before anything has simple trajectory change.

Fiona Kelly

Usually I’ve got my door open all the time and so I get my work done in the day. But it’s good though, because staff can come in and then, you know, like kids will come in. I had 2 boys and you playing with Lego today., and that’s what I think it’s about.

Greg Bass

The stand out thing that I have learned is listening. It’s a consultation and listening and listening and listening. I’ve never listened so much and a lot like I've just had to slow everything down and actually go, okay, how? What does that mean to you? What does that mean for you? What does that mean to you? And then just bring it all together and guide. Hey, this is this is the direction we need to go now.

Aunty Paula Duncan

We all out firing things ag and everywhere. And kids attendance. Like one in a million this tiny, you know, that make you feel proud you know. But they’re getting there and we getting a mean, you know, a lot a lot of them struggle with reading and writing and failing. But now they’re all up there now, you know?

Adam Bailey

Certainly having a senior leader community engagement as part of the Connected Communities strategy is a goal. Genuinely cares about the kids, regardless of whether they’re Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Is heart firmly set in this school?

Jason Brown

Having that role is very important. It’s not quite an eye roll, but yet it's it's a voice that sits at a leadership and an executive leadership role that gives our people in that community opportunity to speak at that level so that the executive director or the executive principal has a good understanding of what’s going on in the community.

Kim Vo

I feel like I came out here wanting to help make a difference. I think being out here and just experiencing like life and country with the community, I felt like it’s changed and so it's less about me. Imparting things on this community is about me sort of living and breathing in the space and learning. And so I feel like this country has taught me more and I’m still learning more than the other way around.

Owen Whyman

I think the biggest thing, getting the kids out on country land and let them go out with town of the traditional values, the teachers are going to take a backward step and let the traditional owners land them, take them for a week.

Lucinda Sampson

It’s about just the culture that's at school, how we teach the culture back to the kids, what we learn from our community, and how they pick it up and learn it and talk it, speak it.

‘Uncle Bus’ Chris Roberts

You show them where they come from, you know, and as I said this is what I was getting back earlier , when you see the kids walk in the door with a smiling face every morning to where they see where they come from, you know , you’ve got to live that way to learn that way.

Dana Hogg

I think in Menindee that they’re able to, through the school really put their culture into everything that they do. They’re grown up to be strong, proud kids of their identity and culture.

Adam Bailey

You build the relationships with good relationships comes an element of trust. One of the greatest faults that new teachers make when they come to this town is they’ll come with a preconceived idea or like a closed mind about a little isolated outback community.

Kate Brennan

I suppose the sense that you are a part of a journey and a place and within that you’ve got responsibility.

I think that has been really, really integral into staff developing trust in each other as well as the school, as a whole, in parents and community.

Unknown

I think probably the closeness and the is a lot more out here than what it is in the mainstream public schools down there. But I also think because they can mix with teachers in and out of the school too, it’s a different experience for them with teachers.

Jasmine Weldon

Even though where, you know, we’re rural and remote out here in Boggabilla. Our kids that come here that live in our community, they are entitled. It is our duty as Aboriginal staff, as employees of the department to ensure that they are provided with the best education in the world and they leave school with the best education. We should be making sure that they want to be at school every day, rain, hail or shine.

Kayleigh Sampson

A good teacher is someone who, you know, after a little while and they can tell when you're upset or when they talk to someone. And it’s good when you can trust them or the teachers can trusted and they’re really kind, respectful and help them learn and to make their dreams come true.

Unknown

When I grow up, I want to be a teacher.

I want to learn them kids from my community and be someone for our children to look up to.

Peony Daniels

It’s a whole school approach, like a whole community approach to education. It’s almost like everyone is involved in making sure that the children get the best start at school and get the best opportunities. I think we’re very well supported through this initiative and the school has a lot more resources that could support the community.

Jason Brown

That’s sort of your accountability of as to making sure that the Connected community strategy is reaching its full potential within that school. That’s where I can confidently say that it's valued in the school, it’s valued in the community, and

Peony Daniels

It’s not just a teacher and a principal making a decision or staff and principal making a decision. The parents are involved, the wider community is involved. Organisations and the partnerships that we have. Everyone’s involved in how we could make a difference in the school to improve outcomes for children.

Stephanie Burrow

This environment is a very safe environment for all families to be a part of. It’s lovely when they can come and see their big brothers, big sisters, their cousins. There’s probably a relative working on staff as well. So to me that fosters a really safe environment where the parents can come and feel connected.

Jayne Johnson

Everybody knows this transition program that’s twice a week this semester. The difference in there’s children coming to school, they’re confident, they’re ready to learn. You know, the parents are comfortable. You know, they walk in here and they know their way around.

Jan Fennell

I think when I say we’re the best and you know we are, but it’s the achievements of the kids. Look, some kids do still totally struggle. So the school will then make adaptions for them kids in that. They’re working, they’re going away, they’re finishing working and things like that.

Samuel Adams

But I still think, you know, the definitions of what success should be or, you know, what the students education journey should look like and how that should be measured should be said locally, because it’s just going to be so different for each community, I guess.

Greg Bass

I guess the word resilience is used so much, but that would be the ability to bounce back. Something may not go well and that’s okay, that’s fine. That happens. But you got to be able to shake it off and go to the next lesson and reflect on yourself as a teacher and go that didn’t work.

Natalie Andrews

Just being out in the community, being a good community member, going to after school things or you know, if someone passes away going to the, you know, they fit in or even if you didn’t know them, just showing up for the kids.

Fiona Kelly

That’s the biggest thing we could say. Like, you know, it’s relationships and it’s high expectations, but we’ve got to invest in those relationships early on.