HUMANITIES
Lilydale High School
Quiz Time
On Friday 24 May, the Humanities Captains, Nicholas Rowe and Daniel Sultana ran a Humanities Super Quiz competition at lunchtime to celebrate Education Week.
Over 30 students participated and tested their knowledge on questions covering History, Geography, Economics, Philosophy and Legal Studies.
Congratulations to the Year 12 boys who took out FIRST PLACE and well done to everyone who participated!
Reconciliation Week
National Reconciliation Week runs from May 27 to June 3 every year. The 2019 NRW theme is 'Grounded in Truth Walk Together with Courage'.
This year, on Monday morning, we held our first Flag Raising Ceremony with several our Koori students and Student Leaders in attendance.
Our Principal, Wendy Powson made a statement to outline the school’s commitment to reconciliation and our mission to ingrain the values of reconciliation in our school community.
'I stand before you today as a representative of Lilydale High School to make a commitment towards reconciliation.
Over the past 100 years of Lilydale High’s existence, progress has been made in Australian society to bridge the divide between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. Yet, the gap still exists. We believe it is an educational entity’s responsibility to instil the values in our students and community that are required to close that gap. Therefore, we pledge to develop a formal commitment to reconciliation, focusing on delivering culturally inclusive curriculum, acknowledging significant dates on the indigenous calendar and fostering a learning environment that embraces indigenous cultures and traditions and builds the strength and identity of our indigenous students.
We invite staff, students, parents and community members to participate in this process.
In the next 100 years of Lilydale High School’s life, we hope to contribute to an Australia where racism is extinguished, where relationships between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians are strong and where the outcomes for our indigenous students are equal to that of our non-indigenous students.
Wendy Powson
Principal
Bonnie Rowland (Year 12) also gave a passionate speech about the importance of RECONCILIATION. Birra Whyman-Coombes (Year 7) raised the Aboriginal flag and Storm Storen (Year 7) raised the Torres Strait Islander flag.
On Thursday afternoon, we were privileged to have Aunty Aurore Fahey (Djadjawurrung) and her daughter, Felicity, join us at school to teach the art of traditional basket weaving. The 32 students who participated thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to learn about traditional culture and were persistent in their efforts to master the art. Thank you to Aunty Aurore and Felicity for spending this time with us.
During Friday’s lunchtime, Mr Beale led a band of teacher musicians (Miss Cumming, Mr Carr and Mr Lyons) to perform his original 'Reconciliation Sorry Song'. They also played Paul Kelly’s 'From Little Things Big Things Grow', with several other teachers and students joining the band to sing along. The atmosphere in front of the PAC was true to the spirit of reconciliation, as students sung along to the music and queued up to get their faces painted by some of our indigenous students (Bonnie Rowland, Year 12, Phoebe Taylor, Year 7, Josh Oultram, Year 9). It was a fantastic way to end the week!
Thank you to all those who participated and made this week a success.
There is still time to enter the Reconciliation Week Essay Writing Competition and win great prizes like; a Samsung phone and a Macbook Pro! Details are on Compass and entries should be submitted to Miss Shields in Staffroom 1.
Leah Shields
RECONCILIATION SONG - Sorry Song
I’m not responsible, for the price of bread
Or what some politician said.
And as for taking kids away,
I never said that that’s OK
And what my parents did,
It’s really not my fault
But I’m living in this society
I’m a part of it, with all its history
And sometimes I’ve gotta say, I’m sorry
When I look into another’s eyes,
I see the hurt and I realise.
When I listen to the words they say,
I know I can’t take that pain away.
So little I can do,
But say some simple words
Cause I’m living in this society
I’m a part of it, with all its history
And sometimes I’ve gotta say, I’m sorry
Sorry for the times I didn’t listen,
Sorry for the times I didn’t see
Sorry for the times I just said nothing,
Sorry for the things that should have been
Sorry for the things that could have been.
And open my eyes to see,
What really is and what ought to be
So open my ears to hear,
Words of warning, words of fear
And open my mouth to say,
We can’t go on this way
Cause I’m living in this society
I’m a part of it, with all its history
And sometimes I’ve gotta say, I’m sorry
(Tim Beale, 2005)
Worawa Aboriginal College Reconciliation Cup - Netball Tournament
On Tuesday May 21, a team of Year 10 EIS Netball girls and Year 9 /10 EIS Football girls went to the Worawa Aboriginal College Reconciliation Sports Carnival to compete against other schools and learn more about indigenous cultures.
We got our faces painted, participated in a traditional aboriginal smoking ceremony and had heaps of fun playing netball with other schools.
Even though we didn’t win the trophies at the end of the day, we had a great time and we feel so lucky to have had the chance to participate in such a special day of reconciliation.
Jessica Carden
Year 10