Hello everyone let me introduce myself, my name is Karenne Williams. I have lived in Bowen for the past 43 years. I married into a local Aboriginal family and my children attended Bowen State School.

I identify as Aboriginal with my ancestral ties to Wiradjuri or Winda Winda people from New South Wales. Recently we have discovered that we also have Waanyi heritage from up the Gulf, this has made the strong attachment that I felt growing up in Mt Isa, Cloncurry, Lawn Hill and Doomadgee.

During my life I have always felt that having a sense of Identity is a vital foundation to our mob. My family was impacted by the Stolen Generation and I have seen firsthand the impact this has had on us all.

I studied Aboriginal Social work at Curtin in Western Australia and have worked in many Statutory and Not For Profit Organisations, the more I learnt the more it was impressed upon me that to make sustainable change we need to start with our most valuable assets – our children.

So with great excitement I believe that I have come full circle but I bring a wealth of learnings from my Elders that will support my role of working with our ATSI children to best support them to come to school, remain in school and succeed.

In the role of CEC I have the capacity to work alongside parents and kinship or extended family. My greatest passion is to see our children succeed. 20 years ago I working as a teachers aide at this school and have been in awe of the changes to how our children are taught encouraged and supported to remain in school. I have the capacity to visit parents at home or at school and my door is always open should anyone need to just come ad have a yarn or two.

I have initiated Damper Day which takes place after parade on Fridays in A Block Kitchen. I would love to meet each and every parent carer or extended family member. Please accept this as a personal invite to attend after parade on Fridays, upstairs in A Block Kitchen. Our first Damper Day was successful and it was just great to be able to talk with the parents/grandparents and extended families. I have even got some tips on how to make different dampers so you will all be able to give me feedback on Fridays when you attend.

My role is extensive with Leadership Programs, Cultural Awareness, Playgroup (Indigenous Parenting Programs) and supporting our children with opportunities not just to succeed but to excel. I have meet most of our children and I am blown away by our amazing students. I would like to stress that I am privileged to be called upon to support you all in any way that will make it easier for your children to come to school regularly.

Before I take too much of your time, I would just like to say a big thank you to all you parents. I look forward with much anticipation to a productive and successful year for all our children. The Theme for this Years NAIDOC is Always Was Always Will Be, This will be the school and my focus this year making sure that our History that has been here for thousands of years, and our culture will always be the foundation of all our students learning, knowing and being.

Thanks for a great start to the year looking forward to working with and for our children.

Much Respect