NSW's first bilingual school to feature an Aboriginal language, the Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School, has been given the go-ahead to open next year.
GGFS will be run by the Bularri Muurlay Nyanggan Aboriginal Corporation and has been granted a permit by the NSW Education Standards Authority to teach about 15 students from kindergarten to Year 2.
Corporation CEO Clark Webb told SBS News he was excited the school had finally been given the green light.
“A lot of happiness, a lot of elation, but also a lot of relief, we have been speaking about opening the school for a number of years,” he said.
“It is good to now get on with it and actually implement the school and make sure that our children are achieving the highest quality learning they can.”
The school will be based in a building at the Coffs Harbour NSW TAFE campus and aims to create a culturally safe place for students to thrive in the formative early years of schooling.
Gumbaynggirr language will be intertwined throughout all subject material, apart from English.
Teachers will also take students out of the school gates to learn on Country at the nearby Coffs Creek (Buluunggal) and the old camp, where some Elders lived until the 1950s.
“It’s our goal to create an environment that the children really want to be at school, it’s not a chore and parents aren’t pulling out their hair to get their children to school on a daily basis,” Mr Webb said.
Clark Webb at Coffs Creek, which is known as Buluunggal in the Gumbaynggirr language. Source: Lucy Murray
“It is really important for our kids to attend a school that really values their culture, so then they feel safe to be who they are.”
“For our children to express who they are as Goori people and be really proud of that is important to their self-esteem and also their educational outcomes.”
There will also be benefits for adults, with the school to employ a qualified principal and a classroom teacher as well as two language teachers, who are not yet university qualified.
As the school expands it will assist the language teachers in obtaining their university degrees in education.
“That will be key to their professional development and the successful growth of the school.”
“It is a really well-resourced school ... the students will also have Elders and tutors making sure they are achieving all the western educational outcomes that are required as well. ”
The school’s operators will need to apply for a long-term permit next year, as initial approval is just for 12 months.
The Northern Territory already has several bilingual Indigenous schools, where students learn in English for the first four hours of the day and in language during the afternoon.
