How do i answer this

[whufc]

I asked my boys about this (13&14) and both said their schools didn't have such rooms to their knowledge.

The school my niece will soon attend down in the Seaford area has such facilities, the building is in an enclosed yard that the non-indigenous children are asked not to enter into.

Is the yard only for Indiginous children or is it for all children with behaviour problems

I know the school my work has attached to it has an area for children with behavioural issues but the general thought from unknowing people around that school is that it is only for Indiginous children when that's not accurate

I'm not saying your wrong I've just seen previously where perception from outside people has got in the way of reality

[whufc]

I feel abit naive to these situations

I went to a combination of Fremont and Craigmore high and it's fair to say I found my fair share of trouble with teachers etc

At no point did I ever feel like I was punished more or less than any of the Indiginous children at the school

I'm not sure if there is any data to back this up but I feel like we had a higher percentage of Indiginous students than most other high schools but without sound corny we never had any racial tension between students. In fact I don't recall any racist issues between students and we all just mixed as really good mates which most of us still are to this day.

[HH3]

I feel abit naive to these situations

I went to a combination of Fremont and Craigmore high and it's fair to say I found my fair share of trouble with teachers etc

At no point did I ever feel like I was punished more or less than any of the Indiginous children at the school

I'm not sure if there is any data to back this up but I feel like we had a higher percentage of Indiginous students than most other high schools but without sound corny we never had any racial tension between students. In fact I don't recall any racist issues between students and we all just mixed as really good mates which most of us still are to this day.

Same here. We had a good mix, and I can't recall any tensions or conflicts.

We had a room called the Abstudy room, which would have been similar to what Stampys talking about. Ours was always manned by a counselor or teachers aid that could help the guys and girls if needed. If any indigenous kids were acting out, they could go there to cool down.

The school also had the LSC (Learning Support Centre) which was a mix of detention and study room, that was always manned by a teacher. All kids were sent here first regardless of race, but the indigenous kids could bypass that for the Abstudy room.

We also had an off campus study centre, which was where the kids with the most dysfunctional school lives went.

I graduated in 2005, so special rooms for kids with special reasons isn't a new thing.

[Pag]

I'm a teacher at a primary school in the northern suburbs (Playford Council area). My two cents:

*There are various programs/rooms for all types of children in a school, not just Indigenous

- Ab Ed (which is what is being referred to in this discussion). Our Ab Ed teacher and ACEO (Aboriginal Community Education Officer) work in this room. Our Ab Ed Teacher works with the Indigenous children in each class (of which I have five) for a lesson or two a week, around learning. This will be in the area of Literac or Numeracy, depending on the students and input from the classroom teacher. The Ab Ed teacher also runs two cross-age lessons per week, taking a mix of R-7 students and looking at the cultural aspect of their lives, in which the older students are able to mentor younger students. Works extremely well. The ACEO is responsible for all non-curriculum aspects, including dealing with families eg chasing up low attendees etc. Our ACEO is an Indigenous woman and has a great rapport with our students. For our Indigenous kids, this room is a home-away-from-home at school and they do feel comfortable in there. At times, the room can be used to re-engage students who have lost their way for whatever reason. Sitting them in an office or empty room writing lesson has no effect whatsoever on helping them re-enter the classroom. We, as classroom teachers, will send the work over to the room and the ACEO may sit with the student for 10-15 minutes to re-engage them in the task before sending them back to the classroom to continue their day.

- We also have an EALD (English as an Additional Language/Dialect) Room, with EALD teacher, in a similar set-up. The EALD teacher will take the EALD students from my room (of which I have 7) for a lesson a week of intense Literacy, and again, two cross-age lessons per week looking at culture with students with backgrounds from the same part of the world. Lots of parents of our EALD students have no-very little English-speaking ability themselves, hence the need for the support. We also have BSSOs (Bi-Lingual School Services Officers) who will come into the school and support students with whom they share they the second language (eg Swahili, Afghani etc). This service is there again, because the support is needed.

- Our school also has a Centre for Hearing Impairment, catering for kids in R-7 with varying levels of deafness, a Regional Special Class for students with sever intellectual disabilities, and has plenty of students who receive support in mainstream classes who have also identified as having a learning disability. We also have Student Social Workers from UniSA who work with students with social/emotional issues, Speech Pathology students from Flinders Uni who work with Junior Primary students with communication issues, and a Garden Mentoring program for students (mostly boys) who need a break from the classroom and prefer kinaesthetic activities (hands-on eg planting, digging, composting etc) to engage with. We also have a new program each term run by NACYS (Northern Adelaide Community Youth Services), with a different focus each term. Last term was around Cyber Bullying, the students with issues in that area received that support. This term it's called 'Girls Club' with a focus on they way girls talk to/interact with each other, and again, the female students who the school deemed to need support in this area received that support.

In short, the answer at our school would be 'Each person at our school gets the help he/she needs for their situation'. If a child at our school is involved in none of these programs, and deals with none of this disadvantage in their day-to-day lives, then they are in the luckiest 30% of our school population and should be informed accordingly.

[am Bays]

No such problem at Darwin High!!

if you wanted to be racist you had about four or five different groups to deal with......

Best to just all get along

[Pseudo]

No such problem at Darwin High!!

if you wanted to be racist you had about four or five different groups to deal with......

Best to just all get along

As a white male of anglo-saxon descent attending a school in the NT, did you have your own special minority room?

[The Bedge]

As a white male of anglo-saxon descent attending a school in the NT, did you have your own special minority room?

It was called "detention"

[therisingblues]

I think many people do not actually understand the concept of having your culture taken away. Europeans made so many cock ups in their dealings with the indigenous peoples of this land. If their story was getting the air time it deserved, people would find it hard to look, listen or feel it. One of the problems is people think they know, but what they learn is just the tip of the ice berg, then they quickly switch off because the story is too disturbing, they don't want to know, it wasn't their fault, they don't want to feel bad about it. But there's still that common misconception that the indigenous members of our society are getting preferential treatment.
It's a very hard situation to make clear. But I think Zartan has done an excellent job of providing his point of view on this thread.

[bennymacca]

I'm a teacher at a primary school in the northern suburbs (Playford Council area). My two cents:

*There are various programs/rooms for all types of children in a school, not just Indigenous

- Ab Ed (which is what is being referred to in this discussion). Our Ab Ed teacher and ACEO (Aboriginal Community Education Officer) work in this room. Our Ab Ed Teacher works with the Indigenous children in each class (of which I have five) for a lesson or two a week, around learning. This will be in the area of Literac or Numeracy, depending on the students and input from the classroom teacher. The Ab Ed teacher also runs two cross-age lessons per week, taking a mix of R-7 students and looking at the cultural aspect of their lives, in which the older students are able to mentor younger students. Works extremely well. The ACEO is responsible for all non-curriculum aspects, including dealing with families eg chasing up low attendees etc. Our ACEO is an Indigenous woman and has a great rapport with our students. For our Indigenous kids, this room is a home-away-from-home at school and they do feel comfortable in there. At times, the room can be used to re-engage students who have lost their way for whatever reason. Sitting them in an office or empty room writing lesson has no effect whatsoever on helping them re-enter the classroom. We, as classroom teachers, will send the work over to the room and the ACEO may sit with the student for 10-15 minutes to re-engage them in the task before sending them back to the classroom to continue their day.

- We also have an EALD (English as an Additional Language/Dialect) Room, with EALD teacher, in a similar set-up. The EALD teacher will take the EALD students from my room (of which I have 7) for a lesson a week of intense Literacy, and again, two cross-age lessons per week looking at culture with students with backgrounds from the same part of the world. Lots of parents of our EALD students have no-very little English-speaking ability themselves, hence the need for the support. We also have BSSOs (Bi-Lingual School Services Officers) who will come into the school and support students with whom they share they the second language (eg Swahili, Afghani etc). This service is there again, because the support is needed.

- Our school also has a Centre for Hearing Impairment, catering for kids in R-7 with varying levels of deafness, a Regional Special Class for students with sever intellectual disabilities, and has plenty of students who receive support in mainstream classes who have also identified as having a learning disability. We also have Student Social Workers from UniSA who work with students with social/emotional issues, Speech Pathology students from Flinders Uni who work with Junior Primary students with communication issues, and a Garden Mentoring program for students (mostly boys) who need a break from the classroom and prefer kinaesthetic activities (hands-on eg planting, digging, composting etc) to engage with. We also have a new program each term run by NACYS (Northern Adelaide Community Youth Services), with a different focus each term. Last term was around Cyber Bullying, the students with issues in that area received that support. This term it's called 'Girls Club' with a focus on they way girls talk to/interact with each other, and again, the female students who the school deemed to need support in this area received that support.

In short, the answer at our school would be 'Each person at our school gets the help he/she needs for their situation'. If a child at our school is involved in none of these programs, and deals with none of this disadvantage in their day-to-day lives, then they are in the luckiest 30% of our school population and should be informed accordingly.

Some excellent info here @stampy.

Wondering if this room fits into one of these categories, and if it does what your thoughts are?