Sister Speak and Bro Speak students graduated from the ten week programs on Wednesday.

Run by the Karayuna Learning Centre the programs aim to encourage Aboriginal students in primary school to go on to tertiary education and remain engaged in high school.

Sister speak teacher Jusinta Collins said the idea is to help the girls forge a clear career path.

“A large part of the program is talking about identity, where they’re from, their totems, their dreaming stories but then also identifying their career paths,” she said.

“We noticed that when Aboriginal kids transitioned to high school kids’ engagement was falling off so a student that was doing really well in Year 6 would get to Year 7 and by term two or three would start to disengage.”

The students have been visited by lawyers, police officers and have spent a day at North Hill Veterinary Clinic.

Ms Collins said it was important to foster self-esteem and self-confidence in the students.

“So far the feedback we’ve got from parents is that the girls’ self-esteem has picked up, they’re more proud of their identity and they’re transitioning to high school,” she said.

“They have a knowledge of who they’re connected to and where they’re from, so they carry that with pride.”