Dear Parents and Carers,
You would be aware that, as a School, we have committed to becoming more culturally aware regarding indigenous culture and history and are being quite strategic over the coming months as to how we address this in our 2022 – 2024 Strategic Plan. As Sharon Davis, an aboriginal woman from both Bardi and Kija peoples of the Kimberley, comments:
“With many of today’s youth growing up to be tomorrow’s health workers, politicians, law makers, educators and policy architects, a racially literate and culturally responsive education is crucial for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous children”.
As part of this, we put a special focus on our NAIDOC Week celebrations and activities last week and enjoyed many events and learning opportunities which were communicated to each other in our assembly on Friday. Commencing with a P – 12 ‘Welcome to Country’ delivered by Maitland Hill, an aboriginal elder with whom the School has developed a partnership with, over the next four days the students at the various year levels learnt about such things as:
- The 6 Noongar seasons
- Constitutional Recognition
- Indigenous symbols
- Understanding native plant life
- Contemporary aboriginal art
- Stories from the Dreamtime
- Cooking with native herbs
- Famous sports people like Lionel Rose, Cathy Freeman and the Ella brothers
Thank you to all staff for their enthusiasm and commitment to the week and the plans for the future.
God bless
Brett Roberts
Head of Campus – Carramar
YEAR 11 & 12 THRIFT BALL
On Friday night, Year 11’s and 12’s attended the ‘Thrift Ball’. Students were tasked with coming in clothes purchased from the Salvos/Vinnies and to keep the spend to a minimum. It was a great night and included playing lots of retro games. Money from the event was raised for our Kimberley Service Learning partners.
Mark Batten
SENIOR GIRLS NETBALL
Our Senior girls netball team played off in the round of 16 final of the ACC competition today against Sacred Heart. The girls put in a fantastic effort but Sacred Heart were just a but too strong for us today. The future looks very bright for St Stephen’s Carramar as all but 3 of our players were in year 10!!!! Watch this space, there are very good things to come.
Adam Dwyer
DRAMA WORK EXPERIENCE INTENSIVE WITH BLACK SWAN
Five students from Year 11/12 Senior Drama (along with 20 students from other schools) attended a Drama Work Experience Intensive with Black Swan Theatre that ran over two days in the holidays.
Activities included; A tour of His Majesty’s Theatre, hearing Artistic Director Clare Watson share her journey as Artistic Director and Co-Director of York, Zoë Atkinson shared her process and design for York together with an informative history of design, Literary Director – Polly Low guided students through the process of writing for stage with “stories of place”, which was explored further with devisor Andrew Sutherland on the following day.
The highlight of the two days was attending a matinee performance of York. Set in and around an abandoned hospital in the township of York, on Ballardong Nyoongar country, this epic piece of truth-telling blends humour and horror to uncover the buried histories we have built over.
The students had a fantastic time and feel they learnt a great deal from spending two days with people who are currently working in the Performing Arts Industry.
Ruth Doyle
P.A.R.T.Y PROGRAM
The Prevent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth (P.A.R.T.Y) Program is an injury prevention initiative run at Royal Perth Hospital.
The P.A.R.T.Y Program provides useful, relevant information to young people to help them recognise potential injury-causing situations and make informed prevention-oriented choices about activities. It is also designed to help them adopt behaviours and actions that minimise risk.
On Wednesday 28th July we took a group of Year 10 and 11 students to attend the P.A.R.T.Y Program. In order to completely involve the students in the experience of injury and recovery, the group was taken through the common course of injury and treatment of someone involved in a trauma, often due to risk-taking behaviours.
A variety of teaching techniques was used, including interactive lectures, videos, role-play, as well as tours of Intensive Care Unit and a trauma ward. The students also had the chance to meet some injury survivors and see first-hand what it would be like to be injured. Some of the aspects of the day was quite confronting and the students handled this with maturity & respect.
The students were very enthusiastic and involved themselves well in the days activities and we hope the program had a positive impact on them.
Katie Farmer – Nurse
PLANTING FOR THE FUTURE
Year 7 students in Science have been studying Australian plants and how Aboriginal people have utilised many native plants for food or medicine. The Australian bush-tucker project began with Mrs Corrigan’s, Mrs Smoker’s and Mr Hayward’s Year 7 students tasting and sampling a variety of bush tucker plants such as lemon myrtle, wattle seed, lilly-pilly, quandong and saltbush, to name just a few. Students had an excursion to King’s Park where they identified many of these plants growing in the park.
In celebration of NAIDOC Week, Year 7 students teamed up with the Kindy class to plant a bush-tucker garden full of Australian native plants. A great time was had by both the Year 7’s and Kindy students as they got their hands into the soil and planted out the little plants.
With all the good rain, a bit of tender loving care and the survival adaptations of these hardy plants, we hope to see this garden thrive for years to come.
Elizabeth Kirby
