Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students
Centenary State High School supports the Department of Education's commitment, "in the spirit of reconciliation, to deliver aspirational educational, economic and social outcomes for Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples. As public servants, we have a responsibility to develop a genuine understanding of our history and its lasting impact on Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This document commits our entire workforce to deliver this commitment statement and to place Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples at the forefront of our decision making. Creating supportive environments where stakeholders feel empowered to act, allows our agency to move collectively in the same direction".
Activities designed to achieve these commitments and aspirations are embedded throughout the Department's action plans, including the Cultural Capability Action Plan, Reconciliation Action Plan, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Workforce Strategy and our Advancing Education Action Plan.
In 2021 at Centenary State High School, we developed a Reconciliation Action Plan approved by the Reconciliation Council of Australia. In 2021, the two key foci were: Cultural Competency and Cultural Safety. Our new Reconciliation Action Plan will be implemented in 2024.
Cultural Capability is the integration of knowledge about individuals and groups of people into specific standards, policies, practices and attitudes to produce better outcomes for Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples (DATSIP, 2018). Cultural safety is a way of working with someone of different cultural backgrounds that does not diminish, demean or disempower someone (Nursing Council of New Zealand, 2009).
Centenary SHS is committed to a Reconciliation Action Plan outlining key actions which will guide our work in cultural competency and cultural safety.
Centenary SHS has a multicultural school community with many students from Vietnamese heritage. A Centenary SHS stakeholders group has been formed to create a plan to support Centenary SHS teachers and leaders to better understand the needs of students of Vietnamese culture and heritage and their families.
Please refer to the Education Queensland policy.