St Pius X offers a wide variety of opportunities for our Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students. As a whole school, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and knowledge are embedded throughout the curriculum across all subjects.
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students are offered a range of scholarships and academic opportunities such as the STEM ASSETS program and Wingara Mura – Bunga Barrabugu Summer School Program at the University of Sydney. St Pius X has a gifted program for all students with culturally appropriate means of gifted identification. Within the school environment, there are a range of leadership opportunities for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students including Cultural leadership positions as part of the Student Representative Council, opportunities to collaborate and present at school assemblies, and culturally significant events including NAIDOC and Reconciliation weeks.
Students are able to participate in our Cultural enrichment program. This program focuses on the relationship between culture, curriculum, and well-being. As a part of this program, students requiring additional academic support are able to access small group lessons, where specific student literacy and numeracy goals are targeted. Students are also able to access additional support in class for targeted literacy and numeracy goals as identified in the individual student Personal Learning Plan (PLP).
St Pius X offers students a connection to country and cultural immersion through the Yula-Punaal Education and Healing Centre. Students are taken off-site to learn about traditional culture and caring for country, whilst gaining a Certificate II in Conservation and Land Management (CaLM). Additionally, there is a Landcare program at St Pius X enabling students to gain traditional sustainable environmental practices through caring and regenerating the St Pius X grounds. So far, Landcare has regenerated the Kitchen Garden and created a Bush Tucker Food Forest with over 40 different species of bush tucker plants.
St Pius X is committed to closing the gap and creating high expectations for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island students by working through the What Works Program to identify goals and strategies that ensure the best educational outcomes.
