Lorraine Tunbridge :

At Girrawheen Senior High School the Learning Centre is in a demountable that’s allocated for the use of the Aboriginal community. My office is there as well. It’s a low socio-economic area, with a number of different ethnic groups.

Transport is an issue in the area, because it’s quite a distance from the other schools to Girrawheen. For instance, from Mirrabooka to the Learning Centre would be ten to fifteen minutes, and that’s in a private car. I’ve found that where parents are part of it, like where a mum is committed to driving them across, then it works really well.

The Aboriginal kids respond well when there’s mutual respect. Otherwise, there are behavioural issues, and I think that’s one of the reasons not many kids from the area have completed secondary school in the past.

I try to promote the program and interact with teachers on a positive level but I find when teachers talk to me it’s often because kids haven’t handed in work or they’ve sworn or something like that. Some of them rely on me to help them, and that can be OK but it’s not what I’m there for.

            My Steering Committee is important. It keeps the community up to date and maintains support. A lot of times, though, important talk takes place away from the Committee, and it definitely doesn’t take a meeting for a parent to bring up an issue with me. If they don’t like something, they’ll ring me or text me straight away. Sometimes it’s hard for parents, because they might get a new job, and then they can’t come. I think my Steering Committee trusts me and that’s a huge responsibility to make sure you deliver for them. Sometimes Steering Committee meetings turn into interesting social events as well.