A holistic approach for enhancing education experience: Callaghan College Waratah Campus

Schools play a key role in supporting students from refugee backgrounds, particularly during the first few years of their settlement in Australia. Callaghan College Waratah Campus, a Hunter based high school in NSW, shares their holistic approach to refugee education.

“Our students from refugee backgrounds are a diverse cohort,” says Georgie Gallagher, Head Teacher of the school’s English as an Additional Language or Dialect Faculty.

“They have come to Australia from Syria, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, China, Iran, Pakistan, Jordan and speak a diverse range of languages including Arabic, Kurdish, Farsi, Dari, Kirundi, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Mandarin and French. Many have had highly disrupted or limited access to formal schooling.”

The school runs an Intensive English Centre aimed at developing students’ English language and numeracy skills so that they are able to participate in learning with their peers in mainstream classes. Staff in the centre include teachers, a Community Liaison Officer and Bilingual Student Learning Support Officers. They are specialists in EALD and working with students from diverse communities and have a strong commitment to reflective practice and continuous learning. They regularly participate in professional development in refugee student wellbeing through the NSW Service For The Treatment And Rehabilitation Of Torture And Trauma Survivors (STARTTS) and the Department of Education.

“We really value collaboration and regularly partner with local & state-wide organisations to deliver programs, consultations, opportunities and training for students.”

Georgie Gallagher

Examples of these partnerships include:

• the STARTTS who provide specialist in-school counselling support and facilitate a number of wellbeing programs, including the Capoeira Project Bantu, a dance, fitness and music program and the Settling In / Teens in Cultural Transition programs.
• Northern Settlement Services provide a Weekly Homework & Study Centre at the school and Youth Cultural Exchange Program.
• The Hunter Multicultural Communities Centre partner with the school to offer students work placement opportunities in aged care support, horticulture and carpentry; 
• MYAN NSW have run youth advocacy consultations and leadership training for students and the school has just introduced a new pilot mentor program for girls, run through NSW Police and PCYC.

The school also has a deeply embedded Positive Behaviour for Learning philosophy which centres arounds the values of Excellence, Respect and Responsibility. From their first day at the school students are supported by their teachers to understand how these values translate into everyday attitudes and behaviours both inside and outside the classroom. Staff recognise and reward students who demonstrate these positive learning behaviours through day-to-day acknowledgement, points for their ‘House ‘and positive phone calls home to engage with parents and carers.

In addition, as one of the most culturally diverse schools in the Hunter, the school regularly celebrates the richness and diversity of their community.

“Our Harmony Day celebrations are a much-anticipated whole school event each year”

Dale Garbutt, Community Liaison Officer

“Our students share live music, performances and cultural foods and community guests come onsite to share skills , stories & culture with the school community. Due to COVID-19 the event was cancelled this year, but we still produced and shared our Taste of Harmony Recipe book, featuring staff and students’ recipes from around the globe as well as short stories about the significance of the dishes to their families and communities. Many of the recipes and stories were provided by our IEC students.”

The school’s Refugee Week celebrations also went virtual this year. They produced a whole College video piece across 3 campuses featuring students and staff sharing their thoughts on the theme of “welcome”.  A small team of students from the Intensive English Class assisted the videographer in the development and production of the project.

“We also had the pleasure of hosting a zoom discussion with young author and poet Hani Abdile, who shared some of her experiences, answered students’ questions and  performed some live slam poetry for us.”

By embedding cultural practices and respect within the very fabric of the school community, Callaghan College Waratah Campus is ensuring a sustainable, long term approach that will have significant social impact for the wider community for years to come.