What a busy year!

26th May Friday – Sorry Day; 27th May - 3rd June Reconciliation Week

The theme for Reconciliation Week was Be Brave. Make Change. Sorry Day activities and Reconciliation activities were completed in each class. There was a colouring competition with 2 book prizes for each section of school. Book prizes were presented at a special Assembly. Students were also given A5 pieces of material for each student to express their understanding of Reconciliation. The flags have been sewn together and will be put up outside at the beginning of next year. Friday 26th was a casual day with a gold coin donation going to the Aboriginal Literacy Foundation. Students were requested to wear a red, black or yellow t-shirt/jumper. A photo was taken of the whole school. The same day the students had an opportunity to taste both kangaroo and emu sausages. It was a blind tasting and they voted if they like the sausage, thought it was okay or didn’t like it. Sausage 1 was kangaroo with 78% of students liking it. Sausage 2 was emu with only 47% liking it.

NAIDOC Week - 3rd - 10th July

The theme – Get up! Stand up! Show up! – encouraged all of us to champion institutional, structural, collaborative, and cooperative change while celebrating those who have already driven and led change in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities over generations.

Whole school incursion - Monday 4th July Dion Drummond.

Dion shared tales and artefacts from his cultures, teaching students about the different traditions of both Torres Strait Island and Aboriginal storytelling, song and dance. Students participated in learning a little of the language, including some songs, as well as looking at the skills of Indigenous dances. Students and teachers joined in the dances, with small groups out the front with Dion.

Tucker Trail Project - Visit by Uncle Tamaru Student Workshop.

On Friday 9th September, Uncle Tamaru, a Kaurna elder, visited and worked with 2 groups of students from Year 1-6, both ATSI and non-ATSI students. He brought food and drinks for us to try from indigenous plants in the area. He taught us some Kaurna language and we watched a video that taught us all the importance of respect. The workshop was part of an ongoing project to research and plan a Tucker trail and indigenous plant area around the oval.

We received exciting news a few weeks ago that we were successful in a grant towards creating the Tucker Trail from Green Adelaide. More news about this will be announced next year.

Nunga Tag at South Adelaide Football Club - 21 September 2022

The annual Nunga Tag Carnival is the biggest Aboriginal community event in Southern Adelaide. The event has been running for the last 9 years and celebrated its 10th year this year. It continues to grow with the strong support of the community. It is a rugby tag carnival for ATSI students in Years 5 and 6. This year we had a full team of 9 students. The students were excellent representatives of the school and volunteered to take turns helping out our opponent teams out who were short of players. They showed the values of the school and had a great time.

Due to it being the 10th year of competition, the students received special t-shirts at the end of the day and a photo was taken of all the participants. It was a fantastic day.

Kids on Country - 26 October 2022

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students were invited to attend Kids on Country in the Adelaide Parklands on Wednesday 26 October 2022. Kids on Country is an interactive educational event for students to learn about Kaurna Culture and caring for Country. It is an opportunity for students to walk on Country and participate in cultural activities. Fourteen Year 3-6 students attended with Sue Dunn and Nick Allen. Students participated in Ochre Play, Weaving, Animals Anonymous display, Boomerang throwing and learning a Welcome to Country Dance.

All the students learned about the importance of the Welcome to Country Dance and participated in the dance. The group was congratulated by the dancers for their behaviour, listening and participation.

HEPS 50th Birthday

Hackham East Primary School is turning 50 in 2023