The Queer Youth Voice Photo Collage project provides LGBTQI students with a safe space

The Queer Youth Voice Photo Collage at Academy Ballarat showcases student photos of what makes them feel proud, included, affirmed or speaks to them as an LGBTQIA+ young person attending a regional or rural government school.

The project was coordinated by Y Ballarat who worked with Pride groups from Woodmans Hill Secondary College, Phoenix P-12 College and Mount Rowan Secondary College.

Speech from Ruth and Ash, students from Woodman’s Hill Secondary College at the Collage launch

‘At our school, Woodmans Hill Secondary College, Ash and I had a goal to have a progress or LGBTQIA+ flag raised at our school, to signal a safe space and display the acceptance within our school as a community. 

Ash and I, with help, organised a casual clothes day to begin raising funds for a flagpole. Although we didn’t make nearly enough, our Principal, assistant principal at the time, took initiative to apply for Raising Rainbows, who were providing flags and flagpoles for schools. 

Together we had a nice flag raising ceremony, and it couldn’t have been done without collaborating and listening to queer voices, or excellent organisation within the school, mostly due to the effort our Principal put in. 

This is a great example of how you can help facilitate encouraging safety, solidarity and visibility from queer communities within an educational body. Ash and I have also been passionate about maintaining our Pride Group, which has passed a few hands over the years with supervising, but in joining forces, we have stayed steady and provided a warm, welcoming place for all students to hang out with their friends, providing community bonds within our school, enabling us to partake in projects like the photo collage.

Our achievement can make all students feel more comfortable to be themselves, because the flag is there all the time, even if visible queer students and staff aren’t. 

It is a staple of the commitment the school has made to maintaining the wellbeing of the LGBTQIA+ community in a sense of support. The diverse community can be further represented within the school, bringing in that sense of mutuality and belonging the Youth like us deserve to have wherever they can find it.’

Ruth – student at Woodmans Hill Secondary College

Background

In 2023 Academy Ballarat established a Culturally Safe and Inclusive Space Advisory Group. 

A key piece of work that resulted for us as a staff, was to review our approach to signaling safety and inclusion. That is, to all Academy staff and presenters, and teachers and school leaders who participate in Academy programs or other professional learning in our centre, particularly to those who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

The Academy Ballarat staff has worked with the Y Ballarat Diversity and Inclusion Project to create a dedicated artwork, installed in our building at 36 Camp Street, actively involving students and signaling safety and pride to LGBTQIA+ people.

The Diversity and Inclusion Project provides dedicated programming into pride groups in secondary colleges in Ballarat and is the only community-based initiative that works to support young LGBTQIA+ community members at school. 

Approach

Y Ballarat provides co-ordination support for this collective art project as part of its Diversity and Inclusion Project work, including:

• inviting schools to participate by providing digital photos of their pride activities, or demonstrations of pride, safety or inclusion at their school
• collating the photographs to create a series of options for young people to consider in terms of the final installation
• the development of one large digital collage for printing and installation on the wall space at Academy Ballarat.

Student Brief

• during a pride group meet, take photos of anything around the school that makes you feel proud, included, affirmed or something that speaks to you as an LGBTQIA+ young person attending a regional or rural government school
• choose your final photos, print them out and add your heartstopper style images to highlight what's in the photo. 

Our sincere thanks to:

Participating Schools

• Woodmans Hill Secondary College
• Phoenix P-12 Community College
• Mount Rowan Secondary College

Y Ballarat

• Asha Buckmaster
• AJ Barwell-Chung
• Matt Watts

About Academy Ballarat – welcome, safe and included

At Academy Ballarat, our vision is to create a space of learning excellence for all. This is underpinned by our belief that an essential pre-condition for effective learning is that learners must feel welcome, safe and included.

To this end, we have focussed on three key areas in our inclusion work:

• Cultural Safety and Inclusion;
• Supporting staff, visitors and program participants who are members of the LGBTQAI+ community;  
• Supporting staff, visitors and program participants who have suffered (or are suffering) gender-based abuse and/or violence. 

In order that our actions in this space were informed, appropriate and accurate, we created an advisory group which included representatives from various organisations: Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Incorporated (VAEAI), Central Highlands Department of Education Area Office, South Western Victoria Region  (SWVR) Respectful Relationships team, local primary and secondary schools.