Lesley has a chat about how establishing strong links with the school community has made her school a much better place to be. (1:24) PLAY
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Introduction

The Principal can learn much about the local Indigenous community through the IEW. The IEW will often be a great source of knowledge regarding the local community however the Principal must also be aware that the IEW is part of that same community. This often puts them in sensitive and difficult situations that require care when working through solutions.

Activities

The following activities have been designed to assist with the improvement of your partnership. These activities have been developed in consultation with over 200 school Principals and IEWs from around Australia. We hope that you, like those 200, find them useful and worthwhile.

Looking For a Solution #2
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Engaging the community is often much more difficult than picking up the phone for a yarn or leaving your door open so that people feel welcome to come and visit. Developing positive and productive relationships with community can be difficult. This exercise will help to explore some of the difficulties with community engagement and also some potential opportunities.

Get in touch with Your Community
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There are many ways for a Principal and an IEW to find information about their community and their views on your school. This example can be used to involve your parent community in evaluating your school’s Indigenous Community involvement and programs. Before you do this however, you might like to discuss some issues that might arise in the consultation process.