School’s award for inclusion

THE incredible achievements of Swan Hill Specialist School in their inclusion of Indigenous culture have earned them statewide recognition.

At an award ceremony in Melbourne last week, the school was announced as this year’s Victorian Education Excellence Awards recipient in the Outstanding Koorie Education category.

Principal Jodi Walters told The Guardian it was “very exciting” to take home the award.

“When you hear what other people are doing you think, ‘oh that’s amazing, that’s way better than us’,” she said.

“And I think because ours is something that has gradually grown over time that we don’t see it as anything special – we’re all about inclusion, so this is just another part of that, to be culturally inclusive.

“So it was very exciting to get that reward for doing your job and what we see as just doing your core business.”

Over recent years, Swan Hill Specialist School has embarked on a significant journey to acknowledge and represent local Wemba Wemba culture at the school.

This included seeking opportunities to learn from Koorie leaders, creating visual representations of Koorie culture, and empowering Koorie students to succeed in their learning journeys and to celebrate their culture and identity.

“We have 20 percent of our students that are Indigenous,” Ms Walters said.

“For me, it was about our student’s understanding that every culture is perfect for everyone, and to live and celebrate and be proud to be Indigenous is exactly what we want for every indigenous student.”

Ms Walters said as not only a specialist school, but also a regionally-based school, it was great to be able to win the award.

“As a specialist school, we love to win a mainstream award – we want for everybody to know that we match alongside everyone else,” she said.

“I think it is another message to the world that we are a school, plain and simple – a school with ability to talents to work with students who need additional support.”