We were fortunate to have Majeda Beatty performing on the Wednesday of Reconciliation Week. She shared Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island cultures through song, dance, stories and language, with a high level of student participation. Majeda presented and demonstrated various instruments, artifacts and costumes specific to each culture as well as the importance of ochre and the significance of the body paint designs in Aboriginal culture.

Comments about the performance:

Ms Sally - I thought it was fantastic, she was really engaging and it suited a wide range of year levels. Her cultural messages were sensitive and inclusive for all participants.

Ali - I thought she was wonderful, such a lovely, confident, friendly girl.

Danni - I thought Majeda was fabulous! Really engaging and so great with the kids.

Ms Martyne - It was really engaging and fun. As an adult I enjoyed learning the moves and the story behind the songs.

Year 2/3s

Sam: She was helping us to learn the dance and showing us.

Ava S. - I like the dancing.

Ava M. - I liked the stories about where she lived and her ancestors a long time ago.

Elijah - She let people join her dancing.

Sienna - Nice dance moves.

Maia-Rose – I liked when let all the kids dance with her.

Kalasha – I like how she taught us new words.

Daniella – I think it really nice to lean about other people’s cultures.

It was inspiring. We all really enjoyed it.

Year 4/5s

Tayla - I got to use the tapping sticks.

Lily - I liked she got all the kids up to dance.

Savannah - I liked when she put white ochre on my face.

Damian - I enjoyed participating in the dancing. It was lots of fun.

Jaxon - It was nice of her to come visit us.

Alex - Really good. I liked the perspectives of our First Nations people.

Clare - The instruments and different language were interesting to know.

Caleb - I liked the bamboo drum and that we learnt lots of different facts.

Year 6s

Great student participation/involvement. Great to have language included. Encouraged students to have- a go and be part of the dance. Great energy. Very enjoyable.

Tucker Trail Project

The Tucker Trail and Indigenous plant area was opened at the 50th Birthday Celebration on Saturday 3rd June. Destiny, Lilly and Kahlani helped Mrs Dunn share information about the progress of the project during the speeches. (See the speech below)

The Tucker Trail Project started in September 2022 to research and plan a Tucker Trail and indigenous plant area as an extension to the new Nature Playground. Uncle Tamaru, a Kaurna elder, worked with 42 students, ranging from year 1-6. He taught the students about plants that are indigenous to our area and how the Kaurna people might have used them. This was the start of an ongoing project to research and plan a Tucker Trail and indigenous plant area. In October, we received a grant from Green Adelaide, which enabled us to fast track the project and started the planting this term. Destiny, Lilly and Kalani have more information about the project.

Last year in term 4 a group of students were part of a focus group to research about native plants to grow in a Tucker Trail Garden next to the new nature playground. Some of the plants will be bush tucker and some plants were chosen to attract birds, butterflies and wildlife. Trent Hill, an indigenous plant expert from the Botanical Gardens, came to school to teach us about native plants and their uses.

The plants were chosen from our research. Ms Dowd, Ms Gossink and Ms Hazelwood’s R/1 classes, Mrs Jolly and Madame Mawson’s 3/ 4 class and Ms Wood’s year 4/ 5 class planted plants in week 2 this term and are caring for the plants.

Another part of the project is a survey. Students in Mrs Jolley and Madam Mawson’s class have been going to the Tucker Trail Garden each day to count the number of birds, butterflies, bees and other insects in the garden. Some of the plants were chosen to attract wildlife.

They will be surveying the garden for the rest of the year to see if there is more wildlife in the garden as the plants grow.

Check in future newsletters for more information about the Tucker Trail and Garden. Thank you to Green Adelaide for the grant. https://www.greenadelaide.sa.gov.au/

OSHC

Term 2