The NSW Department of Education and many schools across the State have been celebrating NAIDOC Week ahead of the school holidays.

NAIDOC Week 2022 with the theme Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! falls in the first week of the school holidays from July 3 until July 10.

Aboriginal Outcomes and Partnerships executive director Karen Jones said NAIDOC Week was an opportunity to celebrate the wonderful and diverse achievements of our Aboriginal students, families and staff with our communities.

“The purpose of this NAIDOC Week theme is to reflect on the ways we individually and collectively can Get Up, Stand Up and Show Up ... but it is also about challenging each other in respectful but informative ways to find more ways we can work together to make necessary and urgent change,” she said.

The week’s events started with a message stick video that included 12 schools from across the State and a Q&A involving students asking departmental senior executives questions around the NAIDOC theme.

Students across the State asked questions of education senior executives and AECG president Catherine Trindall about how they would reflect and respond to the theme, Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!

Deputy Secretary School Performance Leanne Nixon said 30 years after the Mabo decision and 50 years since the Tent embassy was opened in Canberra she was impatient for Aboriginal children and Aboriginal communities.

Ms Nixon said she had recently participated in Connecting to Country.

“It reminds me that we could all take the opportunity in this NAIDOC Week to reflect on what we can act upon, what we can do differently as we work to act together,” Ms Nixon said.

“Please reflect on the type of country we want to live in and what are the actions you can take coming out of NW to make our history together something to be proud of.”

Throughout the week the Department has hosted a range of events including an official launch, and a look at the First Steps program that is ensuring all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in NSW can access quality early childhood education and care.

Tomorrow you can watch an exploration of the the inspiring 1965 Freedom Ride led by Uncle Charles Perkins, less than six decades ago.

The week’s events will culminate on Friday with a singalong involving four schools and 73 students with Thursday Island hip hop artist Mau Power and featuring Archie Roach.