Werrington leads the way New leadership position gives a voice to First Nations students at local school

position that gave those students something to aspire for in leadership.

Werrington County Public School prides itself on being a safe space for its First Nations students. Now, with the addition of a Custodian Captain to the leadership team, their voices will well and truly be heard.

The role of the Custodian Captain is one which goes to a Year 6 First Nations student who is elected by the student body to have a voice for the school’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

The role became effective this year, with Werrington County Public School the first in the area to implement a position of this kind.

According to Principal Belinda Clarke, working with the school’s local Aboriginal Education Consultative Group representatives to establish the position was a clear choice.

“We have a large population of First Nations students – we’ve got just over 300 students in our school, and more than 50 of them come from an Indigenous background,” she said.

“We felt that it was really important with such a significant number of students identifying as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander that we wanted to create a

“They’ve always been welcome to apply for our traditional Captain roles, but we wanted to create something more specific that one of our Year 6 students could take on and also be a role model for the younger Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.”

Levi Gardener was selected as the school’s first Custodian Captain, and has been working alongside Captains Mariah Matakaiongo and Oliver Millar to create positive change in the school now and into the future.

For Levi, being chosen felt “pretty amazing”, and has resulted in him taking on some very exciting responsibilities, including saying the school’s personalised Acknowledgement of Country at each assembly, choosing designs for Aboriginal artwork and paintings around the school, and advocating for a new Aboriginal flag.

Unfortunately, the school was unable to attend the recent Primary School Leaders Civic Reception held by Penrith City Council with three Captains instead of two.

However, Penrith Mayor Tricia Hitchen paid the school a visit on Wednesday afternoon to acknowledge the three captains in their equal positions.

A chance to celebrate those who give back to Penrith

As large as Penrith is, the community within it is tight knit, and relies on the work of countless volunteers to function.

This week, during National Volunteer Week, local organisations have been shouting from the rooftops in celebration of the change makers who go above and beyond.

Nepean Food Services has been offering meal delivery, social support, and local community activities for local residents since 1992.

To recognise their volunteers, the organisation held a high tea on Monday at The Bunker in Mulgoa, attended by Lindsay MP Melissa McIntosh, Member for Penrith Karen McKeown, Penrith Mayor Tricia Hitchen and Councillor Robin Cook.

Local volunteer Alan Greenfield attended the event and was awarded a certificate of appreciation, saying that his last five-and-a -half years with Nepean Food Services have been some of the most rewarding in his life.

“It means everything to me, being a volunteer,” he said.

“It gets me out of the house, I feel like I’m doing something and contributing to the area. It’s an all-round good feeling.”

Greenfield’s responsibilities primarily involve delivering meals to the elderly.

“I’ve got one beautiful lady, she’s 92. She’s got a little bit of Alzheimer’s, and when I first called on her, her front door and her screen door were unlocked, which is not nice for a 92-year-old lady,” he said.

“I rang our people, who rang her carers, and we got a lock put on her door.”

His work with the organisation saw him awarded Volunteer of the Year in 2021, with Greenfield saying it always feels good to be recognised.

“In five years, these people thought that highly of me that I was a quiet achiever, and that really blew me away,” he said.

Other local organisations have also been backing the work of their volunteers this week.

Alex Donaldson has been involved with the Rotary Club of Penrith Valley since 1981, as well as volunteering with the NSW Fencing and Australian Fencing Federations. With the Rotary Club, Donaldson describes himself as the ‘logistics person’ – purchasing and coordinating items to run their barbeques and events. For him, volunteering is about giving back.

“I just love helping others and giving back to the community,” he said.

Despite having over 40 years of volunteering under his belt, Donaldson said that some of his proudest work has come along more recently with Road Safety Education Australia, running driver awareness programs at the Regatta Centre among other locations.

“If it ends up saving the life of one child somewhere who learns to take more care when they drive by being in that program, that’s all I could ever want,” he said. Each of these organisations are always in need of more volunteers, with Donaldson encouraging everyone to get on board and help out.

“I would absolutely recommend others get into volunteering,” he said.