Young leaders Selwyn Kelly and Kolorah Newman stepped up and into the national spotlight when an ABC TV crew visited Dubbo College Senior Campus during NAIDOC week.

As Cultural Captains, the pair are excellent role models for their Year 12 classmates and younger cohorts, especially Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students.

It’s a big responsibility given, in 2024, the college welcomed its largest-ever Aboriginal Year 12 cohort, with a record number achieving their HSC. And it’s a responsibility that will hopefully grow for future captains.

The college’s achievement is a local success story within a statewide one: the campus had NSW's largest Aboriginal Year 12 cohort in 2024, while the state also celebrated its own records for Aboriginal Year 12 enrolment and HSC achievement.

College deputy principal and proud Gamilaroi woman, Jenadel Lane, is just one staff member around the state determined to help her charges carve a brighter future from a discriminatory past.

The NSW Department of Education is not shying away from the legacy of past policies and the challenges ahead and is committed to engaging in a Truth Telling process.

With equity being a key pillar of the NSW Plan for Public Education, much work remains to ensure all students can reach their full potential. To achieve this, the collective efforts of staff, students and communities around the state are geared towards building a greater sense of belonging for all students.

As ABC National Education and Parenting Reporter, Conor Duffy, showed, the effects of dispossession and trauma endure, but the department’s Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation (CESE) and collaborators are dedicated to providing evidence-based resources to help schools support change.

CESE Executive Director, Jennifer Buckingham, said the evidence was clear for all students.

“When students have a sense of belonging to their school, their attendance is better and they are more motivated to learn,” Dr Buckingham said.

“This leads to better academic outcomes and staying in school longer.”

CESE Chief Data Officer, Jacky Hodges, said numbers of Aboriginal students reaching Year 12 was increasing.

“Over the past decade, NSW government schools have experienced a steady increase in both the number of Aboriginal Year 12 students and their proportion within the overall Year 12 cohort,” she said.

CESE visited Dubbo College Senior Campus as part of the Strong Strides Together Illustration of Practice series.

The research showed the school created personalised learning experiences by listening, valuing and responding to student voices and offering the opportunity to shape their senior high school experience.

Other evaluative research undertaken with schools who are part of the department’s Connected Communities Strategy, showed cultural recognition, sensitivity, and connectedness to place and community, were central to Aboriginal students’ taking pride in their cultural identities and having a sense of belonging.

CESE has also co-authored six papers with the University of NSW on topics such as successful transitions from primary to high school, supporting low-SES students to flourish, growth goal setting, and everyday academic resilience.

CESE Director, Strategic Analysis and Research, Ian McCarthy said longitudinal Tell Them From Me data was used to build this “impressive” suite of resources, and the new NSW Public Schools Survey, introduced in Term 2, 2025, would further enhance research opportunities.

FURTHER READING:

Strong Strides Together

A culturally responsive evaluation of the expanded Connected Communities Strategy – CESE partnered with the University of Newcastle in progressing the expanded Connected Communities Strategy in 2024, drawing on insights from all 33 participating schools. Using a culturally responsive approach, the evaluation centred Aboriginal voices and community experiences.

Findings show the strategy is strengthening Aboriginal education, student belonging, and local community connections. Positive outcomes were reported across five key areas: education ecosystem, healing, relationships, place, and system supports.

Supporting Aboriginal students to attain the HSC - CESE’s research into Supporting Aboriginal students to attain the HSC identifies key factors that influence HSC completion using data from the Tell Them From Me survey. The findings show that student aspirations, engagement, and advocacy are strong drivers of HSC attainment.

Strategies that support HSC success include setting high expectations, encouraging student effort and motivation, promoting positive behaviour and attendance and creating a culturally safe and engaging learning environment. Teachers showing interest in students’ work and families actively encouraging learning also play a vital role.

The process and prediction of school completion: A six year longitudinal examination.

What helps students from rural, regional and remote (RRR) areas to complete school?

In-school factors that encourage students to complete Year 12.