A group of lightening talks (10 mins each) of ways that School Archivists engage with our communities through social media, a digital archive, year-long anniversary celebration and a lifetime of stories. Please join us for these short insights into how archivists at schools make a splash in their communities.

Archivists have a captive and ever-changing audience to whom we can share our history. These stories increase engagement and help to foster a strong sense of belonging, for both those new to the school and those who have longer connections. Julie has been a school archivist since 2001, and the archivist at Newington College for the past three years.

Elizabeth uses her Wenona Digital Archive to enhance the education of different year groups with the history of the School, connecting student experiences today with those from past decades. Elizabeth has been the Wenona Archivist for the past three years topping off her career in museums, libraries and archives.

Imogen Kennard-King peppered archival information and images throughout the 150th celebrations at Monte. She highlights the benefits of working within the library and contributing to traditions old and new. Imogen has been the archivist at Monte for just over a year.

Archivists working in Schools are uniquely placed to share stories with everyone in their community from Kindergarteners to older Alumni. They successfully employ a wide range of creative storytelling and story sharing techniques, using both technology and face to face engagement. Marguerite Gillezeau has been the Archivist at both Ascham and Redlands Schools for the past 16 years.

Working in a school archive is very similar to being part of a swim team. Each of us swim a race alone or within a very small team at our individual schools, but are part of a larger group that supports, cheers us on and gives amazing advice. We navigate the same type of race where resources are thin, time is short, and competing needs make the race never-ending. The professional standards of our team are top notch, there are many of us who have been swimming for decades and are still going strong. They mentor those new to the water and help create a pool wherein every question is answerable. This interactive presentation will include seasoned and newish swimmers from NSW Schools and welcome other archivist professionals to join in our lively discussion. Dominique, Gareth and Elizabeth will discuss how we as individuals and collectively within our profession can leverage our personality traits and professional backgrounds for maximum benefit. While Marquerite, Kate and Julie will consider external relations to and effectively telling archival stories through collaboration, resilience and connection.

Dominique Novak d'Hennin, Cranbrook School Archives Officer - Importance of the SIG as a professional body fostering continual professional development and connections

Gareth Dyer, Hills Grammar Archivist - Our collaborative SIG made up of individual personalities yielding professional benefits



Elizabeth Hartnell, Wenona Archivist - Variety of professional backgrounds and the strengths that each of us bring to our archive

Marguerite Gillezeau, -Ascham Archivist and Redlands Archivist - Effective ways to tell stories across a wide variety of age groups, from children to retired adults



Kate Murray, College Archivist at Pymble Ladies' College - Advocating for the archives...raising the archives flag through collaboration

Julie Daly, Newington College Archivist - Resilience through court cases, one heritage archivist's experience and challenge