HUMANITY, HEROISM, COACHING IS MOLLY’S HEARTACHE AND HOPE LOVE GAME PAGE 17 PAGE 20
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PHOTO: DUBBO PHOTO NEWS/ DARKEYE PHOTOGRAPHY
CLASS OF
2021
By YVETTE AUBUSSON-FOLEY T last seven days have been a roller THE ccoaster of emotion and exhaustion ffor Dubbo’s outgoing Year 12 students. The excitement of preparing for ttheir last school formal, attending their final graduation ceremonies plus their last hurrah as a cohort, letting their hair down in the ‘scav’ night tradition is a time of their lives not soon forgotten. The graduation ceremony for 253
Dubbo College Senior Campus Year 12 students was held at Apex Oval on Saturday night, December 4. Seventy-one of them are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) students who represent the largest number of Indigenous students completing their HSC at one school, in NSW. In front of the grandstand packed to the rafters with proud parents, the students paraded onto the field wearing graduation caps and gowns. There were more than a few tears
shed on and off the stage while reminiscing the bonds built, friendships forged and gratitude for mentorship from teachers who have left an indelible mark. Former Senior Campus student and guest speaker, Pilot Officer C Bennet, gave an inspiring talk to students encouraging them to chase their dreams citing his story of getting an HSC mark well below his hopes, drifting through university, but always hanging on to the idea of being a fighter pilot.
So, after university, he redid Year 12 subjects needed for the defence force, with the help of former teachers, chased his dream to his current position of being one of a handful of elite pilots trained to fly the F-35 fighter. After all students received special awards and their personal portfolios, they cast their grad caps to the sky. Under bursts of falling confetti, they filed out of the oval with the rest of their lives ahead of them.
TEACHERS SAY: WE NEED MORE THAN THANKS 600-strong turnout for strike
By JOHN RYAN IF numbers count for anything, Tuesday’s 600-strong teacher turnout for a strike during a day of industrial action has sent a strong message to the Dubbo community that things are tough when it comes to the education of local kids. It was the first 24-hour stoppage in 10 years and Dubbo West Public School teacher
Georgia Meredith said she, like so many of her colleagues, felt that enough was enough and she had to draw a line in the sand to let the NSW government knows the sector was at breaking point. “We are struggling at the moment with our workload, we are struggling with our working conditions and teachers at the very heart of it are trying to educate young people and set them up for success and that is at the
core of everything we do,” she said. “We feel like we are failing to achieve that because we are not being provided conditions that are sustainable.” She said that, despite government claims to the contrary, there’s a huge shortage of teachers in NSW at the moment and educators are seeing the impact of that on the ground in schools. Continued page 4
NSW Teachers Federation Country Organiser Tim Danaher at this week’s meeting. PHOTO: DUBBO PHOTO NEWS
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