"This week is a chance to honour the strength of my ancestors and to build a future based on respect and healing."Sarah Mannall, Year 2 teacher and proud Kamilaroi Woman
Reconciliation Week holds a special place in the Burgmann Anglican School calendar. It is a time for reflection, truth-telling and shared learning, but also for celebrating the people within our community who carry the spirit of reconciliation throughout the year. One of those people is Sarah Mannall, a passionate Year 2 teacher at our Valley Campus and a proud Kamilaroi woman.
For Sarah, Reconciliation Week is both deeply personal and powerfully symbolic. It is a time to honour the resilience of her ancestors and to reflect on the courage of her grandmother, who walked across bridges and stood at Parliament House in pursuit of justice and recognition.
“My grandma carried a lot of shame about our heritage, but she was also incredibly brave,” Sarah shares. “If she were here now, I know she would be proud to see how far we have come.”
This year’s recognition of 50 years of NAIDOC is especially meaningful to Sarah. It represents a long journey of advocacy and cultural pride, one that she is now passing on to her students.
Reconciliation is not a one-week focus in Sarah’s classroom. It is part of the everyday learning experience. From the very beginning of the year, she introduces herself as Kamilaroi and helps her students explore the First Nations map of Australia. They learn the names of different countries, understand where they are located, and begin to connect those places with stories and identity.
“It’s really cool when they can use those names with pride,” Sarah says. “They start to see that Aboriginal culture is not just history. It is present, living and relevant.”
Learning is grounded in curiosity and connection. Whether students are reading stories by First Nations authors or studying the stars as part of a science unit, Sarah brings Indigenous perspectives into focus. In a recent space topic, the class explored how Aboriginal peoples have used the night sky for navigation, seasonal tracking and cultural storytelling for thousands of years.
Sometimes these moments are planned, but often they arise naturally throughout the school day. “There are times when I realise we have spent part of the day learning through culture without even labelling it that way,” Sarah reflects.
She also helps her students challenge narrow views about what it means to be Aboriginal. “Some children think Aboriginal people only live in remote areas or belong to the past,” she explains. “I like to gently break that idea. I tell them, I am right here with you.”
At Burgmann, we are proud to be a place where voices like Sarah’s are encouraged and heard. Her heritage, her teaching, and her generosity in sharing her story enrich the life of our school.
As we mark Reconciliation Week and acknowledge 50 years of NAIDOC, we celebrate Sarah’s leadership and the culture of belonging she helps create every day.