Harmony day is a celebration of cultural diversity and is held on the 21st of March every year. The message for harmony day is ‘everybody belongs’ and aims to promote respect for cultural and religious diversity throughout Australia. Our School celebrated this important occasion through varied experiences that highlighted the rich diversity that exists in our community and the wonderful perspectives and learning that this brings. Students were invited to design a Harmony Day poster to express their understanding. Over five thousand entries were received and I am thrilled to announce that Noah Bottele’s (Year 6) entry was awarded the Southern Regional winner. Noah and his family are invited to attend an award ceremony at Parliament House in Sydney later in the term. We congratulate Noah on this outstanding achievement.
Reconciliation week marks the opportunity to stop and consider how we can bring awareness and understanding about the issues impacting our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The message invites us, as a school community, to bring awareness and knowledge to inspire insight and action from our students. We ask our students to be action-focused in our UOIs, with a particular emphasis on international-mindedness. It is essential that we build our students’ knowledge of our own people, communities and culture.
Emily Clark, Year 4 and Liam Clark, Year 2 have been busy raising funds to support the local homeless community. On 17th June, at the Wollongong Innovation Campus, Emily, Liam and their parents Lauren and Matthew will spend the night sleeping out on the coldest night of the year. During the school day, we are inviting students to wear a beanie and donate a gold coin to support this worthy cause. Your donation will directly assist people experiencing homelessness and people at risk of homelessness by funding new initiatives and ensuring existing homeless services like food vans and emergency support can continue.
“If we can educate the children on why it is important to raise funds and the great work that Vinnies does, and how us raising money for Vinnies can help the homeless then that is a great way to not only educate our children but to encourage others to fundraise and start having conversations with their children.”