Aussie Bush Camp at Tea Gardens hosted a group of high achieving Indigenous students from the Hunter Region this week to provide them with life skills to further their excellence in their study and goals.

Galuwa is a Sydney area Aboriginal language word meaning “to climb”: now in its sixth year, Galuwa is a joint initiative of Glencore and the NSW Department of Education and communities

The initiative targets indigenous students identified through NAPLAN results as being High Achievers.

The program incorporates weekly tutoring, especially in key areas of literacy and numeracy, plus an annual Career Aspiration Hub which focuses on accelerating academic skills, leadership, career development and goal-setting.

Debby Elliott Galuwa Project Officer at the camp said, “The Hub [sessions] sets out to push the student’s limits and comfort zones in order to grow their self-confidence.”

“We want the students to build resilience so that they are not afraid to challenge themselves and to achieve things not previously considered by them,” Debby said.

Attending student Georgia (Bubbles) Anderson from Singleton said, “I am learning about our culture and having fun with the new experiences and making new friends.”

“The program has helped us with laptops and tutoring which we could not have had otherwise, it’s great and I’m interested in anything in the Medical field.”

Jesse Knight from Cessnock said, “It has helped me with my study, I’m meeting kids just like me and we are learning about our culture in a great environment, the hubs are excellent.”

“I now would like to follow my interests in sport (Hockey) and music,” Jesse added.

Two primary school teachers were also part of the camp.

Shannon Ping from Stanford Merthyr and Rodney Groves from Morisset who both agreed the students are flourishing.