GEKA Bentleigh

National Reconciliation Week

Karen Chisholm, Early Childhood Educator

Every day we come together as a group to sing a ‘Hello’ song in the home languages of our friends and their families, and share an Acknowledgement of Country. What I love about this routine is that everyday we are showing respect for our cultural differences, that we are thankful to share our country, and that everyday we make a commitment to look after the land, the animals and each other. 

At the start of the year our teacher Amelie, used toys as props to demonstrate the impact of white settlers on our Indigenous peoples. This beautifully explained why it is so important to acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders as our first peoples.

We have many great books and resources available to share ideas, and gain a deeper understanding of Indigenous culture and history. 

During National Reconciliation Week we watched a YouTube reading of the book ‘Say Yes’.  Find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWnd7lxjp6I 

It is the story of two little girls who were best friends. They did everything together, but as they got older, they weren't allowed to do the same things anymore. Because they looked different. Because of the law. The story continues, to explain the landmark 1967 Referendum, the two women who came together to change the law and how the Australian people said YES. I loved this story and it made quite an impact on our children. Was it fair that two friends couldn’t go to the same school, swim at the local pool, go to the cinema or catch a train together?

After watching we discussed the ideas and feelings we had about fairness. Overwhelmingly the children recognised that it wasn’t fair that the children were not treated equally. “I would be sad if I couldn’t go to the pool with my best friend.” said M. 

I asked the children to draw what they like to do with their friend, and encouraged them to write the word ‘Yes’ as the heading. Writing ‘Yes’ caused the children to think more deeply about what it would be like if the opposite were true. 

I was very impressed with the children’s drawings and the thinking that went into the reflection of this story.