History of Local Area and Indigenous Community
Townsville has been home to the Indigenous Tribes of the Wulgurukaba and Bindal people.
The land on which The Willows State School is built, was traditionally inhabited by the Wulgurukaba people. When the school holds events, the traditional owners of the land are recognized and whenever an elder of the Wulgurukaba people can attend, they are invited to deliver “The Welcome to Country.” This tribe was traditionally located on Palm Island and Magnetic Island, on Ross Island and east nearly to Cape Cleveland, west for about 30 kilometres beyond Townsville (Wulguru which means ‘man’.)
Two Indigenous teacher aides provide in school tuition for students to enhance their learning access and positive outcomes.
Many Indigenous students of The Willows State School have achieved success in a variety of areas.
Indigenous Staff
Welcoming new Indigenous community members to the school through personal approaches by members of the school community has had a significant and positive impact on partnerships with our Indigenous families. This personal approach has resulted in two Indigenous women working as volunteers and earning positions as teacher aides.
Indigenous teacher aides and volunteers have undertaken training and development in areas such as computer skilling, Literacy and Numaracy Support and Student Behaviour Management. Indigenous students and their families take an active role in the celebration of their culture and learning. Activities are planned collaboratively and are widely supported across the school community.
Conversations & Consultations
The Willows State School community works to make links with various support groups across the wider community.
The Learning and Engagement Centre (LEC) is one of these and we have established strong ties with staff there in a variety of ways and for a variety of purposes. The name and structure has now altered and is called Indigenous School Support Unit (ISSU) however the ties are still close and staff there still offer support and advice to our school and our students participate in initiatives organised by them including the Junior Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Aspiration Program (ATSIAP).
Students of The Willows SS have attended ATSIAP since it began and each year proudly return to school with numerous awards and trophies in recognition of their efforts to compete against and with their cultural peers.
Links with the organisation, Dare to Lead are maintained along with the What Works Program, and over the years staff have visited our school and supported us with activities to identify needs within our school community and to plan for future projects for our indigenous community. This resulted in the development of an Indigenous Community webpage to link to TWSS Website and all families were invited to contribute.
In 2011, a new partnership was established with Professor Cadet-James from James Cook University and she has already assisted our students with their preparation for ATSIAP.
All of these partnerships support the achievement of our Closing The Gap targets.
Helping Your Indigenous Child Start School Well
Sing songs about your culture
Share stories of your tribe with your child and their class
Share artifacts with the class
Show some traditional dancing and dress
Demonstrate weaving and beading
Join in school cultural activities
Let children use dough to roll out different lengths and talk about short, long, shorter, longer
Trace around your child’s hand or foot in the sand and compare to brother, sister, mother, father
Count the number of plates at the table, spoons, forks, cups
Count the number of pegs used to hang up the washing
Collect and sort shells, rocks, seeds
Sing number songs like Five Little Ducks, One Two Buckle My Shoe
Sounds are in all the words we say – play games to help your child like “I spy something beginning with a”
Help your child write their name and say the letters in it
Help your child say the sounds they can see/hear in their name
Show your child you value reading and writing and show them how much fun it can be
Let them help write cards and letters, shopping notes
Leave some paper, pencils, textas around so they can have a go at writing at home
Use the names of colours when you ask your child to get things
Sort veggies into colours when shopping or cooking
Talk about things around home that are different shapes
Draw shapes in sand, in paint, and ask your child to tell you what shape it is
Indigenous Resources & Web Links
http://www.whatworks.edu.au/
Professional action materials for improving outcomes for Indigenous students.
Aboriginal Games: Luka-pul pul; Gorri; Beejan Eejar; Juluhya; Tambil Tambil; Birray
Torres Strait Islander Games: Parno; Kai; Koolchee
Black Ink Press is a community-based Indigenous writing, illustrating and publishing project based in North Queensland. This trains and mentors emerging writers and artists in order to create contemporary illustrated books especially for young Indigenous readers.