Cultural Awareness at ENPS

Easter Celebrations

Easter in Australia is a blend of Christian traditions and multicultural influences, reflecting the rich diversity of our community.

At Essendon North Primary School, we value opportunities like this to recognise and celebrate different cultural traditions, helping to build inclusivity, respect, and international mindedness among our students and community.

Many Easter traditions have Christian origins, including church services, processions, and the sharing of special foods. Across different cultures, families may enjoy large gatherings, decorate eggs, and take part in meaningful rituals that have been passed down through generations.

In Australia, Easter is also celebrated in more familiar ways, such as sharing chocolate eggs, enjoying hot cross buns on Good Friday, and spending time together over the long weekend.

Within our local community in Melbourne, we are fortunate to have a strong Greek Australian presence, one of the largest outside Greece. Many families celebrate Greek Orthodox Easter, which can fall on a different date and includes traditions such as midnight church services with candles, cracking, red-dyed eggs (tsougrisma), and sharing a feast after a period of fasting.

At Essendon North Primary School, we are proud to celebrate a variety of cultural events throughout the year. These experiences help our students develop an appreciation for different traditions and perspectives, fostering a strong sense of belonging and respect for all.

A big shout-out to our wonderful Year Two students Martina (2SB), Inaaya (2MT), Tanishq (2NV), Lucas (2NV), Mitchell (2FO) and Niji (2FO), who showed great excitement and bravery in sharing their as they shared their perspectives, cultural significance and Easter traditions at our assembly today!

We wish all our families a very Happy Easter and a safe and relaxing holiday break.

Take care, 

Sharon McWhinney

Intercultural Coordinator

ENPS Cultural Inclusion Calendar

Following on from our wonderful celebrations for Cultural Diversity Week, and with Easter just around the corner, we take this opportunity to again share our school's Cultural Inclusion Calendar. Providing opportunities for connection, belonging and inclusion are incredibly important to us at ENPS, for all members of our community. Our Cultural Inclusion Calendar has been developed with our rich community diversity in mind and is a way for us to acknowledge, learn about and respect our diversity, along with celebrations, traditions and customs.

Acknowledging these dates can look like many different things across our school. For many, recognising, asking questions and sharing an appreciation of an event is what is important. Some we will acknowledge in class, across the whole school, in our assemblies, through specific learning experiences, commercial exposure and/or sharing through our newsletters.

As a school with over forty-two different languages spoken in our homes our diversity is a strength. By learning about each other's cultural backgrounds, we are actively promoting our school values of safe, kind and respectful.

Please let us know if we have missed a special date/event for your family so we can include as well.

Warm regards,

The ENPS Community Engagement and Cultural Inclusion Team