Celebrating Harmony Week at Fitzroy North Primary School

What a wonderful opportunity it has been during Harmony Week to reflect on the diversity in our community and celebrate the many different backgrounds of our students and staff.

Following our colourful parade this morning, I spent some time in the Grade 5 classrooms where I spoke to the students about their different cultural connections. We collected some data as a group and discovered that 54% of the students in Grade 5 were either born overseas or have a parent/carer who was born overseas (even more than the Australian average). When including grandparents, this number went up to 75%! This includes a large representation of families with a connection to England (12 students), Scotland (12), Ireland (8), New Zealand (7), Italy (5), China (4) and multiple students with connections to Somalia and Samoa - as well as representation from many other countries in the group.

I also chatted to some of the Grade 5 students about their own cultural heritage:

Giselle: My cultural background is Malaysian, Syrian and Lebanese. My dad was born in Malaysia. He speaks Malaysian and I’m trying to learn as well! I haven’t been there since I was two, but I remember I saw monkeys! I love to eat Malaysian food - one of my favourites is fried rice. My grandma is also from Malaysia, as well as my uncle. They all live in Australia now. On my mum’s side, my grandparents are from Syria and Lebanon. I can speak some Arabic.

Abubakar: I am Somali and Australian. My father has taught me a lot of things about my country. Without Somalia, the world wouldn’t be as great as it is now. We make lots of things including coffee, special kinds of hats and other important materials. I haven’t visited Somalia yet, but my father told me I would go there someday. You should try the food! It tastes really flavourful! I recommend you start with basto. It’s basically a spaghetti with chicken, vegetables, and some lemon. There’s many ways you can make it. Maybe you can try my mum’s one day!

Mimi: My mum was born in Scotland. In Scotland a unicorn is the national animal! I have been to Scotland once, when I was about two years old. I remember it was cold! I don’t eat Scottish food because it mostly has meat in it - like haggis - and I’m a vegetarian!

Henry: My mum is from Vietnam and my dad is from China. My dad’s side moved to Vietnam when he was about two, I think. We visited Vietnam a couple of years ago and I’ve been there a bunch of times when I was younger. I remember that it was humid and very hot. I speak Vietnamese at home with both my parents; I also go to Vietnamese school on Saturdays with some other people who go to our school. You should try the food! Like pho… There is a good spot called I Love Pho in Richmond. You should check it out!

Zac: My background is Samoan, Kiwi and Czech. My grandparents were born in Samoa, and my mum and Uncle were born in New Zealand. My family has taught me a lot about Samoa. I visited Samoa when I was two and again when I was six. It is very tropical and feels really open. We don’t have the same things there as we do in Australia. For example, where we stayed we didn’t have a bath or shower, we just went down to the river to bathe, which was really refreshing. We eat a lot of Samoan food when we visit my grandparents on the weekend. Once food we have kalo, which is like our bread. It’s made from taro. It’s fresh and you eat it hot with sauce. It’s really good.

Regional Swimming

A shout out to the twelve swimmers who represented FNPS on Thursday 21st March at Watermarc Aquatic Centre in Greensborough. Ben, who went along to support the students on the day, said the students did the school proud, enthusiastically supporting each other and putting in their best efforts in the pool. We had a few fourth place finishes and a bronze medal for our 11 year old boys freestyle relay team! Well done to all our swimmers and congratulations to Torin, Louis, Hughie and Hugo G for their podium finish.

Lost Property

This is my termly reminder about lost property! Once again, the lost property racks are overflowing. Any unlabelled clothes will be collected at the end of term and given to a local charity. So, if your child is missing any items of clothing, encourage them to have a look before the end of next week!

Drop-Off and Pick-Up Reminders

A reminder that yard supervision begins before school at 8.45am.

If your child arrives at school before this time (and isn’t in before-school care), they need to be actively supervised by a parent or carer. The reason for this is that there are no staff providing active supervision at this time. You can read more about this in our Yard Duty Supervision policy on the school website: https://www.fitzroynthps.vic.edu.au/policies.

If your child gets their own way to school, please ensure they are leaving home at a time that allows them to arrive after 8.45am.

Also, we understand that sometimes you will need to pick your child up early from school. Our office staff are more than happy to call students to the office once parents or carers arrive at the office for collection. Unfortunately, we can’t call students to the office before this time, as they are not actively supervised while waiting to be picked up.

Thanks for your support with this!

Important Upcoming Dates

Next Wednesday 27th March we have our end of term learning celebration. Family members are invited into classrooms between 3pm to 3.45pm to see some of the students’ work this term. We can’t wait to have visitors in the classrooms.

We’re almost at the end of Term One! A reminder that next Thursday 28th March is the last day of term. Students will be finishing at 2.30pm, with the final assembly for the term scheduled for 1.45pm.

Term Two will begin for students on Tuesday 16th April, as Monday 15th April is a student-free day. Their Care will be available on the Monday.

Enjoy the sunshine this weekend!

Best wishes

Toby

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