Indigenous Education
St Joseph's School
NAIDOC Week- For Our Elders
In the first week back of Term, we celebrated NAIDOC Week. The theme for NAIDOC week was 'For Our Elders'. Each class researched an important Indigenous Elder and created a bollard to showcase who their Elder was/is. The students have worked so hard on these and they will be displayed around school in the near future. We are currently in the process of making some of them weatherproof. We hope to showcase them at our school assembly this coming Monday.
At our assembly in Week 2 we had each class present a retell of an Indigenous Dreamtime story.
Foundation: 'How the birds got their colours'- In a world where “all the birds were black – all one colour” a dove becomes injured while feeding. Many of its bird friends try to help, and the parrot whose beak bursts the dove’s swollen foot releases splashes of colour all over the birds. This creates birds with all kinds of colours and patterns. Crow who doesn’t help gets “no colour at all!”
1/2:'How the kangaroo got its tail'- Two kangaroos lived near each other, the small kangaroo found some sugarbag and started to eat it, and the big kangaroo came along and wanted to have some sugarbag as well. The small kangaroo tricked the larger one by making him find spiders instead. So they had a fight and threw sticks at each other.
3/4: 'Dunbi the Owl'- This book is based on a story told by Daisy Utemorrah of the Worora tribe to Aboriginal children living in Derby, Western Australia. This story from the Dreamtime tells a creation myth in which the children tease and torment the first owl, and are punished by a flood caused by Wanalirri.
4/5:'Echidna and the shade tree'- Under the shade of a huge tree in the desert, Echidna spends his days minding the young of the other animals while they hunt for food. But, in spite of his assistance, the other animals will not share their food. In anger, Echidna uproots the tree, endangering their safety. Their efforts to stop him explain why today he has stubby feet and spikes.
6: 'Warnayarra: The Rainbow Snake'- Warnayarra the Rainbow Snake visits the Aboriginal community of Lajamanu in the Northern Territory. Warnayarra comes with a terrible storm, bringing destruction to the community. The people hide, and eventually, the Rainbow Snake passes.
Check out our retells of the story here
Opening the Doors Foundation Walk-a-thon
Next week we will be starting our walk-a-thon for the Opening the Doors Foundation.
Between the 1st to the 4th of August, students will be raising money for the Opening the Doors Foundation by walking or running our school cross-country track. Opening the Doors Foundation raise funds to support First Nations students to access the education of their choice. Every student will be participating in this event during Huff and Puff each morning.
All donations will be due by the 4th of August.
There is also a link to our donation page if you prefer to donate online: https://openingthedoorstogetherwewalk.raisely.com/t/st-josephs-primary-school-yarra-junction
Please donate only what you can, there is no pressure to delve into your pockets for a huge donation. If each student raised at least $2 or even $5 that would be amazing!
Woi-Wurrung language
Did you know that the land we are on is the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin nation? The Wurundjeri people use the Woi-Wurrung language. In classes teachers and students have been learning dome Wurundjeri words and the Foundations even learnt 'Head, shoulders, knees and toes using the language.