"Culture Connects us All"

Arzoe & Aydin Year 1

What does Harmony mean?

Getting along with each other.

What is culture? How does it connect EVPS?

The children's families come from different countries and places and we all live happily together. At our school, we respect and celebrate together.

What is diversity?

My family celebrates 'Diwali' and it is so much fun. I also celebrate my birthday.

Nimervir, Nooriya, Samaira - Year 2

Nimervir

How does culture connect us at EVPS?

By playing with different students from different countries
Celebrating different cultures
Respecting other people and their culture
By dressing up in different cultured clothes

Nooriya

How can we celebrate differences in our community?
By learning about what people celebrate in their culture
Learning about what other people wear and why they wear it
Having dress up days to celebrate culture

Samaira

What are some ways that people can be different from one another?

Eating different foods
Wearing different clothes
Celebrating different things
Speaking different languages
How we look

What makes us the same?

We are all humans
We can all smile
We can greet people nicely
We can say nice things

Aanvi and Aathira 4AP

In Year 4 we believe harmony means including others and being together no matter our differences. So far this year we have all shared about our cultures and backgrounds. At the start of the year we all wrote down all the different celebrations we have in our cultures. We added this to a class calendar so we know what everyone might be celebrating. In Year 4 we believe it is important to feel like we belong because everyone’s cultures matter and we want everyone to feel safe to celebrate them.

Asees & Eliza - Year 6

Asees: Harmony means people getting along. Harmony day is an opportunity for everyone to freely express and celebrate our respective cultures without being ashamed or discouraged.

Eliza: This year's Harmony week theme is “Everyone belongs” and at EVPS everyone is free to show their background, religions and celebrations. EVPS can show that everyone belongs by including others during playtime or respecting different cultures and traditions. Respecting everyone and letting them express themselves is a huge part of the values and expectations at EVPS no matter where they are from or what they celebrate.

Asees: It is important to feel like you belong because you feel valued and appreciated. Feeling like you belong boosts your self esteem and confidence within the classroom or community. To help someone feel like they belong you could recognise the value in their diverse backgrounds. Diversity is a wide range of differences that make us who we are, which includes race, culture and beliefs.

Eliza: Diversity is a wide range of differences and values that make us who we are. People can be different from each other because of beliefs and traditions we celebrate but that isn’t supposed to make us feel embarrassed or worthless.

Inclusion Leaders

Tredan: Good morning. Today is Harmony Day, and we are celebrating the strength of being in such a diverse community. As Inclusion Leaders, it's great to see everyone expressing their culture and background in so many different ways.

Anh: This year, the theme for Harmony Day is "Culture Connects Us All". We have an assembly so that we can all come together and see and celebrate the different cultures within our School community. It is also about calling out any racism and knowing that it is never okay to be racist.

Luffy: About 60% of the families in this school speak more than one language. We have families from countries all over the world and many of our families celebrated Eid this weekend.

Tejas: It's about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. We want everyone to feel proud of themselves including the food they eat, the clothes they wear and their beliefs and values. Thank you for listening this morning.

Student Leadership