Tenterfield High School Year 10 student Ella McIntosh will sit in the chair of early learning and primary education director Jason Miezis as part of the Secretary for a Day program, a core component of Education Week 2016.
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Ella is one of two New England students and only 21 from across the state who will become senior executives in the NSW Department of Education as part of the 2016 Secretary for a Day program. Maxwell Dolby, who is in Year 11 at Inverell’s Macintyre High, will be shadowing learning and wellbeing executive director Brian Smyth King.
Ella and Maxwell will take part in meetings, forums and workshops in the Department of Education’s Sydney offices on Monday and Tuesday, August 1 and 2. They were chosen based on both their written applications (outlining leadership experience, personal qualities, areas of interest and what they hoped to learn if selected) and their principal’s endorsement.
It will be the first time on a plane for Ella when she flies down on Sunday, and once there her group will be part of opening celebrations for Education Week. She will also take part in a forum where the selected students will discuss options for improving school life.
Ella already has leadership experience under her belt including being part of the junior Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, and she hopes to go on to become a primary school teacher when she graduates.
“I’m very interested in Aboriginal education at the primary school level,” she said.
As one of only a few indigenous students selected for the Education Week trip, one of the issues Ella intends to raise at the forum is having students feel comfortable having an Aboriginal teacher.
THS principal Peter Willis said he was happy to endorse Ella’s application for the opportunity, and considers her a great candidate.
“It will be a stepping stone to other leadership roles,” he said.
“Good on her for having the courage to put her nomination forward, and I know her parents are very excited.
“This shows that students at a small school in a rural and remote area can still achieve what they want to achieve and be recognised at a state level, against much larger schools.”
The program will provide the students with first-hand experience of what’s involved working as a senior manager in the Education Department, the challenges and how educational policy relates to what happens in public schools.
