Ntaria School Visit

What a special afternoon we had when we welcomed 20 students from Ntaria School in the Northern Territory, to our school. Ntaria, also known as Hermannsburg, is a remote community located around 125 kilometres west of Alice Springs, on the traditional lands of the Western Arrernte people.

There was a real sense of excitement as our School Captains welcomed our visitors and students quickly got to know one another through a range of fun activities. With more than 50 students involved, the afternoon was full of laughter, conversation, creativity and plenty of friendly competition!

Students worked together to create beautiful fingerprint trees, with each child and staff member adding their own fingerprint to the artwork. One tree will now hang in their school and the other matching tree will hang here at Menzies Creek Primary School, a lovely reminder of the connection between our two schools and the students who shared this special afternoon together.

There was plenty of energy on the Green Space as students tackled skipping challenges, while others enjoyed a game of down ball, tested their skills in Round the World basketball, or explored our Play Space as they worked together to create a photo collage. It was wonderful to see students from both schools connect so quickly and encourage one another and have fun together.

Our visitors also brought a very special gallery of photographs and artwork from Ntaria School to share with our students. This gave our children a wonderful opportunity to see what life is like in the Northern Territory, learn more about their community and school, and discover some of the similarities and differences between our two communities.

In return, our students were very excited to share some of the dances from our upcoming school production, 'We Speak for the Trees'. It was lovely to see students from both schools enjoying the experience of sharing something of their own school and learning from one another.

But perhaps the most special part of the afternoon was watching new friendships begin. Although our schools are 1000's of kilometres apart and our communities are very different, the students quickly found plenty in common through play, creativity and simply spending time together.

We feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to welcome our friends from Ntaria School to Menzies Creek. We are so grateful for this partnership and the opportunity it gives our students to connect, learn from one another and build friendships beyond our own community. We look forward to continuing to strengthen this special connection between Menzies Creek Primary School and Ntaria School.

And big thank you to Alison, who organised the visit and all the activities the students undertook.