Warrandyte Primary School - Alert

Principal  Message

We had a fantastic assembly on Monday to launch our Reconciliation Action Plan and celebrate our commitment to building a school community that respects and honours Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history.  For the first time in the history of the school we raised the 3 flags to fly on our grounds and I was so happy to be able to be a part of that experience.  You can watch the video below to listen to Arbup Peters, who is the Department of Education’s Koorie Education Co-ordinator for Inner East schools. He was able to perform an Welcome to Country and explain a bit about the significance and purpose of doing a Welcome to Country or Acknowledge of Country and what it means for him.   You can watch an edited video of this part of the assembly on the link below.

 

We were also incredibly pleased to have past student and School Captain, Zara attend our assembly to deliver a speech and talk about her contribution to our school as School Captain in 2020. Zara worked with the school and her mother, Dione Veal, to begin a RAP.   Dione also told us of the journey from the inception of the idea of a RAP to finally being able to submit our plan with the support of parent and school members working together and committing to work towards a range goals and actions. Below is the Vision of our RAP, which Dione spoke to in her speech. 

 

VISION FOR RECONCILIATION

Warrandyte Primary School – Our vision for reconciliation

We acknowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the Traditional Custodians of Australia, and that they have looked after and cared for Country through the vastness of time. As members of the oldest living cultures in the world, their knowledge, wisdom and stewardship of the lands, waters and skies is the foundation of Australia’s unique identity in the world, and a source of shared pride for us all. Our aim is to foster respect, admiration and understanding for all First Nation communities, particularly the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people on whose land Warrandyte Primary School is located.

Our vision for reconciliation is to establish an inclusive learning environment, that supports the Warrandyte Primary School community to deepen our knowledge and understanding about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences and cultures, past, present, and emerging and to recognise the strengths and value of diversity as a part of Australian culture.

You can also watch this part of the assembly by clicking the link below.

 

The final part of our assembly was very special, with two guests presenting to our school and providing us with context, valuable stories and knowledge of indigenous customs and ceremonies.

We then relocated as a school to the Bampi to listen to our special guest, Aunty Loraine Padgam Taungurung Elder. Aunty Loraine has been working to reintroduce or promote the Taungurung Language through children’s story books.  She spoke of the how her clan and other clan groups of the Taungurung people would travel each year to the high country.  She explained that in the hot weather they would make their way to the mountains where it was cooler and feast on the Bogong Moth. They would reconnect with sisters and relatives who had married into other clans and perform ceremonies together. Aunty Loraine shared how the Taungurung language was regarded as dead many years ago, but through the efforts of the Taurgurung community and many of the Elders they are building resources such as her picture story book to ‘awaken’ the language. Her book is called Biji Ba Wudhi Deberra – Bijil and Moths

Finally, we welcomed Ganga Giri from Didgeridoo Australia to our school.  We are so lucky to have Ganga as part of the Warrandyte community and he was so pleased to be able to perform for us and be a part of our ceremony. Ganga demonstrated how the didgeridoo connects him to the land as he performed the instrument to make the noises of many of the Australian animals.  The students learned how the traditional didgeridoo was made and joined in during the performance.  You can listen to Lorraine’s story and Ganga’s performance by clicking on the link below.

WPS Reconciliation Action Plan Launch - Welcome to Country and Raising of Three Flagshttps://youtu.be/eVceYDoUjkYWPS Reconciliation Action Plan Launch - Committee Speechhttps://youtu.be/l3fLtTyh4OUWPS Reconciliation Action Plan Launch - Learning about First Nation's Culturehttps://youtu.be/LILBkCThJ-A

 

After lunch our Koorie Education Officer from DET spoke to our junior school about the story of the Bunjil and children explored the different symbols aboriginals use for flora and fauna, seasons and food. 

 

 

 

 

 

Our grade 4-6’s had a very thought-provoking discussion in the music room after the assembly as they considered the references made by the old mural that is situated in the music room. Created many decades ago, local artist, Gus McClaren and students designed a large mural depicting the historically way of thinking at the time about the First Fleet.  As we have now moved forward in the spirit of reconciliation and have a much deeper understanding and respect for the devastating impact that colonisation had on the oldest civilization in the world, the students considered how the old thinking can now be adapted so that we can depict what we now know and believe about Australian history. DNA students have determined that Aboriginal Australians are the oldest civilisation in the world and Australia has one of the longest histories of continuous human occupation outside Africa.

Discussions with Arpub Peters, who came to see the mural centred around not simply taking down the historical mural, but perhaps adding to it in the way of a timeline that accurately depicts the cultural history of first nations people and to also consider adding the arrival of other cultures over time, taking into account the high levels immigration of different cultures during the goldrush and post war eras, contributing to our multicultural society. It was a fantastic discussion with the students, and I cannot be prouder of them and the way they embraced this discussion and the ideas that they put forward for consideration as a school.

 

What’s next for the RAP? 

We will begin by making some simple changes across our school and in our classrooms.  Vocabulary and visuals will begin to appear across classrooms as we consider ways to embrace language and cultural understanding of the land we learn on. Bigger changes will include the inception of yarning circles in the classroom and a cultural hub in the school that classes and students can use for learning and wellbeing activities. 

I would like to thank Greg Edwards, our grade 6 teacher for the work he put into the success of the assembly.  He spent a great deal of time getting the assembly ready, coordinating and mentoring our school leaders to run the assembly. He also went the extra mile to film the ceremony, help the student edit this an create the links that you can access for those who could not attend on the day.  I also thank the Junior School Council for their incredibly informative and passionate presentation about what reconciliation means to them and how we as a school can demonstrate our commitment to it.  Finally, thank-you to Hunter, our School Captain, and Asher, who stepped in at the last minute to support Hunter as they both ran a very significant assembly and did a fantastic job at it.

 

 

School Wide Positive Behaviour Support at Warrandyte Primary School – Behaviour 

Matrix to start in Term 3

School-wide positive behaviour support (SWPBS) is a framework that brings together school communities to develop positive, safe, supportive learning cultures.

SWPBS assists schools to improve social, emotional, behavioural and academic outcomes for children and young people.

When SWPBS is implemented well, teachers and students have more time to focus on relationships and classroom instruction. Students and staff benefit from:

  • increased respectful and positive behaviour
  • increased time focused on instruction
  • improved social-emotional wellbeing
  • positive and respectful relationships among students and staff
  • increased adoption of evidence-based instructional practices
  • a predictable learning environment with improved perceptions of safety and increased attendance.

During the past six months, our staff and students have collaborated to create a Matrix of Behaviour Expectations. Next term, you will see that there are lots of new posters in classrooms and around the school which let everyone know what our expectations are. Staff and students refer to the posters frequently to reinforce positive behaviours and challenge unacceptable behaviours. You can support us by having conversations with your children about these expectations. Our SWPBS team will continue to work on the implementation of our expected behaviours and will keep you updated through this newsletter. 

 

 

 

It has been a very up and down term with Flu and Covid having an impact on our school as many students and staff struggled through being unwell and/or having family members unwell.  We are very hopeful that Term 3 brings us all together as a community that can thrive, be healthy and engage with each other more frequently as we continue to push forward and live in a post Covid-19 environment. 

 

I hope you all have a happy and safe break away and time to rest and spend time with family.  We will see you in the new term. 

Take care,

Nieta