From the Head of Junior School

‘Many Languages, Many Cultures, One World’, a simple yet beautiful statement for this years Languages Week theme.

There is great value in recognising, appreciating and celebrating language and culture at any age and stage of life, but for young children there are two immediate benefits I feel:

developing a sense of self, cultural identity and belonging
appreciating the value diverse cultural backgrounds and their many contributions bring to our lives

I have been fortunate to have worked with children from largely diverse cultural backgrounds and also toured with school groups overseas. Both experiences for children; working with a diverse range of cultures locally and experiencing other cultures and language directly in another country are deeply rewarding for everyone involved with lasting impressions developed.

In 2018 I travelled with a group of Year Four to Seven students for two and half weeks to Japan. The cultural immersion for students with food, activities, dress and some language learning was a special experience. Watching how quickly these young people were able to learn and engage with cultural routines and practices was truly impressive. Our guide ensured we were experiencing a sense of traditional Japanese culture each day, for example, meal times were largely Japanese cuisine inclusive of the dining experience with table settings and dressing in yukatas. This was vastly different from their usual meal time experiences for students, but to their credit everyone embraced the opportunity to try new foods and enjoyed the theatre of ‘dressing up’ and learning the cultural routines of meal times. On returning to Australia I can recall my own sense of appreciation for meal times changing because of this experience, and other families had noted that in their children as well. We all slowed down a bit, and enjoyed the experience of dining together a little more. There were many other lived experiences that we learned from our cultural immersion in Japan, but that specific one related to a common experience all cultures share of meal times and was a good example for students to see how something so familiar, yet different, could add value to our own understanding and practice.

I am grateful for the opportunity we have to learn languages at school, and promote the value of language and culture through Languages Week, as we have enjoyed this week. Our students have engaged with Japanese craft activities and sampled a Japanese meal. In classes we have celebrated the cultural backgrounds of our students and learned a little from everyone about their cultural background. It has certainly been a rewarding week to listen and engage in these stories together. My sincere thanks to Atsuko Kagi and Shuko Doyle for promoting this Languages Week, and sharing their Japanese culture with us.

Father's Day Morning

On Thursday we also recognised, appreciated and celebrated our fathers and father figures, ahead of Father’s Day this coming Sunday. Students in the Early Childhood Centre invited their dads or special friends into their classrooms, and shared activities together that celebrated the special role they have in our lives. Students adore the opportunity to share with their family and convey the things that matter most to them which, understandably, is our time, attention and love. This weekend I do wish everyone a wonderful Father’s Day, be that together in-person with family, or connecting remotely online. Engaging in some form is the important thing and sharing that time together.

Walk to School

Finally, next Thursday 9 September we are holding another Walk to School event. This is an open invitation to everyone in the community to join us for a morning walk beginning at Coraki Park at 7.45am, and finishing outside the Library with a coffee and a muffin, at approximately 8.30am. A shuttle bus will be offered to ferry parents back to Coraki Park after the walk is complete. Our previous walk, held earlier in the year, was magnificent, and we hope the weather will be kind again on this occasion. Hope to see you there.

With warmest regards,

Mr Ken Raven | Head of Junior School

You Can Do It!

For the past fortnight we have focused on the Social-Emotional Key of Getting Along. Essentially these are the qualities required to successfully interact with our peers. Success with this creates positive interactions and friendships which in turn creates happiness.

Well done to our Getting Along Heroes:

Louie Sutton, Max Newman, Banjo John, Blake Ravenhill, Samantha Cooper, Ellie Murnane, Harrison Baldwin, Harry Newman, Harry Berryman, Grace Gors, Thomas Rochester, Jack Rowe, Menari Deegan, Amelia McDonald, Maggie Stephens, Lachlan Pages.

Our ECC Stars of the Week are:

Kindy – Alexander Standish

Pre-Primary – Poppy John

Year One - Bronte Pages

Year Two – Samantha Cooper

Green Team Update

Our Green Team has been monitoring our waste in our lunch boxes by the initiatives of 'Waste Free Wednesday' and 'Take Home Tuesday'. This, alongside the collection of containers for change, has significantly decreased the amount of rubbish the Junior School is contributing to landfill. The Green Team is looking forward to clearer skies to get into the rehabilitation of Johnston Creek which runs through the Manley Land and establishing a compost pit for our crunch and sip scraps.

Well done to Year One who has had the highest percentage of waste free lunch boxes this term so far. House points earnt for the last assembly’s totals from Waste Free Wednesday are as follows:

Mokare: 28

Baudin: 21

Camfield: 16

Wilson:11

Most importantly, that’s 76 lunch boxes not contributing to landfill!

Mrs Leah Field | Assistant Head of Junior School

Community News

Academic Task Force