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Merredin
Senior High School, Western Australia
The
context
Merredin is a regional centre on the Great
Eastern Highway, about 300 kilometres east of Perth and about
half way between Perth and Kalgoorlie. It is central to the
Western Australian wheatbelt but has a population of fewer
than 3000, a number that has fallen in recent years due to
drought and the loss of a number of government agencies from
the town.
| Merredin
Senior High School has over 300 students and about 7%
are Aboriginal. Students come from a variety of smaller
towns in the district and there is also a residential
hostel for those from further afield.
David Mattin is a Deputy Principal
at the school. He taught at Hollywood SHS in Perth before
moving to Merredin as Head of Learning Technology and
Enterprise five years ago. In the last year, he became
a Deputy Principal.
 Merredin
is heavily focused as a whole school on a change of
pedagogy towards a teaching and learning style that
is relevant, hands-on and integrated. We've got a
target Year 9 group, for instance, and often at that
age they're lost to school if it’s all chalk
and talk. So we try to make sure that when they have
to write a report it’s of a real, hands-on experience
they’ve had. And we find this is particularly
relevant to Aboriginal students. If, for instance,
they’ve been on an information-gathering walk
with an Elder then that’s an appropriate subject
to write a report about.
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David
Mattin |
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Developing
the idea
Aboriginal mentor, Mick Hayden, with Year 8 students |
David continues:
There
was an old Grow Tunnel at the school but it wasn’t
covered and wasn’t really being used. I was
Head of Technology and Enterprise and we thought we
could see a way to get it up and running. Within a
term we did that, drawing in the expertise of Landcare
Centres, Merredin Action Group, the Department of
Agriculture and Aboriginal leaders from the town.
We put up a proposal to the Department of Education
and Training and the Avon Catchment Council and we
were successful. The Grow Tunnel opened in March 2004.
It's been very exciting. I suppose I didn't expect
it to take off in this way, but it has, because of
the variety of people who’ve come on board.
That includes the Society and Environment and English
teachers putting their hands up. We’ve also
involved our students at educational risk and those
doing the Year 11 and 12 bridging course, as well
as primary school students, so it’s promoted
the transition link.
But the keys have been the involvement
of Aboriginal adults, the fact that it’s tied
in to our Aboriginal Education Operational Plan and
the support of our Principal, Alison Woodman.
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Principal, Alison Woodman |
In recent years, the school has successfully
worked in partnership with the local Aboriginal community
in planning.
Read
about the partnership...
Look
at the current Aboriginal Education Operational Plan...
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The
nature of the project The project
aims to grow a variety of local trees, shrubs and native food
and medicines for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in
Merredin. The aspirational goal is to grow 50% native foods
and 50% local plant species. All activities are educational
in nature, with an emphasis on retention of local knowledge
and culture related to the local flora.
Long term aims include developing
training opportunities, promoting the retention of Aboriginal
students through the secondary years and promoting culturally
inclusive programs.
More
details...
At the school level, students
use the Grow Tunnel to identify with the process of collecting
and growing plants, ultimately to enhance their understanding
of how to preserve native habitats and arrest the extinction
of presently-surviving native species and cultural pursuits.
The Grow Tunnel makes a practical contribution to their environmental
responsibility, while helping the wider community.
A knowledge base of local flora and related
cultural heritage is being developed with the assistance of
Aboriginal Education Officers and the local Aboriginal community.
Field trips have been held to educate students and collect
seed varieties. These involve Aboriginal community members
working in collaboration with students.
Initially, a number of local food sources
have been targeted and ways found to grow these in the Grow
Tunnel. All products can be used for local revegetation or
for other enterprise activities, and can potentially be sold
to local farmers and landholders. |
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Teachers
talk about the project Julie Tiller
is Head of Humanities at Merredin SHS.
We
wanted to incorporate something from the Humanities learning
area that involved primarily English, so we decided to teach
research and reporting skills through bush tucker. The Year
8 and 9 kids were interested in what plants are found in
the area and their uses for bush foods and medicine.
There are a lot of kids at that age
who are likely to say ‘oh, do we have to?’
when you mention reading and research, so the thinking
was that if we could incorporate something that was
right here in their own environment, perhaps we could
reach them in other ways. So they would have to actually
have a look at the plants in situ rather than just
in books.
After we went on our walk down to the
Merredin Reserve with Aubrey Nelson, looking at the
plants that were actually available, we asked the
kids to write reports. They were able to use the Internet
and some library sources and some of them got really
enthusiastic and did a lot of their own reading as
well.
We also tried to broaden their knowledge
base by taking them to a nursery where they have a
little section on bush foods. And that helped them
find attractive shrubs that can be propagated in the
Grow Tunnel.
My interest as an English teacher
was to teach research and presentation but this was
a relevant and immediate way to do it.
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Julie Tiller |
Leanne Meldrum is Students
at Educational Risk Coordinator. She has taught in a variety
of locations, both secondary and primary, since 1979 but came
to her current position six years ago. She is also running
a bridging course for post-compulsory students at educational
risk, that can lead to further education or employment. A
number of Aboriginal students take part in that course.
Part
of my role is to profile students, identifying kids at risk
of not achieving to their potential. They may be at risk
for a short time because a grandparent has died, for instance,
and they've had a lot of absences. Or they may be at risk
because they had a lot of absences through their primary
schooling and they've come into high school without the
literacy levels expected. Sometimes Aboriginal students
might have hearing problems and we need to be aware of all
those sorts of things.
So I keep a database of all students and
try to assist other staff to accommodate the ones at risk.
When any program is created, we try to take account of the
needs of these students. And our Aboriginal mentor, Mick
Hayden, and Elaine Hayden [AIEO] are also there to make
sure Aboriginal students feel comfortable and get support
in class.
One of the issues is that in the past
a lot of Aboriginal students saw Year 10 as the end
of their education. We’re trying to help them
see Years 11 and 12 as viable options. One way is
to bring them in to work with the current Year 11
Bridging Course students.
Some of the ‘at risk’ students
have been able to go down to the Grow Tunnel and help
with planting out at odd times. And I have a Year
11 Aboriginal boy who’s really just hanging
in at school, but it’s been great for him to
get interested in the Grow Tunnel
One of the non-Aboriginal Year 9 boys
asked why he was doing bush tucker and Aboriginal
stuff in English. So I asked him what he thought English
was all about. And he said ‘oh, that's reading
and writing’, and some of the other kids said
‘but when we're reading things in English it's
got to be about something’. So they came to
an agreement that it was relevant to what they were
doing. And in the end they responded really, really
well.
Some of them were a bit sceptical
to start with but they got into it after the walk
with Aubrey. He told them about the different cultural
things and some of the sceptics were the ones who
were then pursuing him asking him to tell them more.
‘What else happens down here at the rock in
terms of Aboriginal significance?’ They were
hanging on his every word.
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Leanne Meldrum |
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| Kelly McCormack teaches
Society and Environment at Years 8, 9 and 10 and Geography
at Years 11 and 12. She is in her second year of teaching. |
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Through
the Society and Environment course we've been able
to include aspects of Aboriginal history and culture
into our all of our programs. We try to include an
Aboriginal perspective in everything.
With the Grow Tunnel, Year 8 and 9 students had already
done some research in English, so in Society and Environment
we wanted to engage them further and start bringing
in more of the Aboriginal aspects. One thing was to
design a garden, which they eventually planted. So
we wanted to extend them so that they were gaining
knowledge but also putting it into practice. Part
of that is learning what time of year seeds germinate
and when to plant.
Some kids don’t see how it all links up at
first, but when they have the experiences it all starts
to fit, and that’s when they get enthusiastic.
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Kelly McCormack |
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