Aboriginal Education has been at the forefront of professional development for staff members at East Maitland Public School. Our school has grown in confidence to respectfully embed Aboriginal education in teaching and programming. We have many initiatives to promote Indigenous education in our school from staff visiting local Wonnarua sites for a staff development day, building community partnerships with Mindaribba Land council and Maitland AECG, and attending workshops to build teacher capacity.
You will often hear teachers marking the roll using the word “Anikanya” which means hello in Wonnarua language. Aboriginal language in schools allow Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students to learn together. Learning an Aboriginal language strengthens Aboriginal students’ identity and pride, and the stronger a student’s cultural identity, the better able they are to engage in learning. For non-Aboriginal students, learning a local Aboriginal language provides an insight into and better understanding of the world’s oldest living cultures.
