Students run hairdressers and cafe at remote Indigenous school
There is more than meets the eye when you look inside the collection of green buildings nestled at the rear of the Wadja Wadja High School.
The front donga has been kitted out as a cafe, with a counter space for taking orders, a coffee machine and a dining area.
Just next door is a hair salon, complete with mirrors, wash basins and styling tools.
Across the corridor, fishing rods hang on the wall, with tables arranged into a study room.
Student Lataya Skeen taking coffee orders in the training cafe. (ABC Capricornia: Vanessa Jarrett)
The services might be commonplace in other communities, but for the 1,000 people who call Woorabinda home, these spaces are a rarity.
"We looked at the community and what we needed in community," school principal Cherie Blinco said.
Filling a gap in local services
The Aboriginal community, 170 kilometres south-west of Rockhampton, only has a handful of shops, with the nearest place to order a coffee about 40 kilometres away.
The new facilities allow the senior students at the school to study vocational certificates that also go towards their year 12 graduation.
"These spaces are about much more than training; they are about creating opportunities for our young people here in Woorabinda, building confidence and employment skills," Ms Blinco said.
Wadja Wadja High School principal Cherie Blinco with former teacher Hector Costello. (ABC Capricornia: Vanessa Jarrett)
The idea to offer vocational education and training (VET) subjects at the school was the brainchild of retired principal Hector Costello, who did advisory work at the school in 2019.
"What I discovered was the standard curriculum they were delivering just wasn't working for the kids here," he said.
"In VET you can achieve much more tangible things and it's got much greater real-life applicability for students here.
"A lot of schools are doing it but for this community it has worked perfectly. "
Enrolments at the Wadja Wadja High School have grown over the past 12 months to now 110 students. (ABC Capricornia: Vanessa Jarrett)
Attendance rates at the school have "skyrocketed" over the last few months since the VET programs were introduced, principal Cherie Blinco said.
"It gives them a purpose to come to school … learning something that they can use within their community and it means that they don't have to leave to get that education," she said.
Future hair salon students Juu'garr Bamboo, Jahlaila Beckett, Virginia Finlay and Carol Oakley. (ABC Capricornia: Vanessa Jarrett)
Kuku Yalanji woman and year 10 student Jahlaila Beckett plans to study a certificate in salon services next year.
"I was pretty excited … The commitment we want to put into doing hairs and stuff. I think it's a big opportunity to go out there and explore more," Jahlaila said.
Wadja Wadja woman and year 11 student Juu'garr Bamboo is also enrolled next year and said she had already learnt some things that might help her to become a hairdresser in the future.
"We've just been practising hairstyles and how to start a conversation with some of the locals here in Woorabinda," Juu'garr said.
Kulgoodah Dancers, led by Terrence Adams Snr, performing at the grand opening ceremony for the new VET training spaces at the Wadja Wadja High School. (ABC Capricornia: Vanessa Jarrett)
An official grand opening of the space was held this week.
Students opened the cafe for trial runs over term three, before an official grand opening of the space this week, which welcome community members.
Community members of Woorabinda supporting the new cafe. (ABC Capricornia: Vanessa Jarrett)
"Now that we've got it in Woorabinda, it's going to be so great," local Woorabinda resident Renee Hill said.
"It's so wonderful seeing the kids having a go at everything.
"We don't put the kids down, we encourage them so it's really good to come and pop in and have a coffee and just see their smiling faces."
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