A voice for generations – the theme of this year’s National Reconciliation Week.
With new generations of voices throughout our centre, we want to ensure that our whole service is aware of reconciliation and utilising strategic methods of building and encouraging meaningful relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous peoples within our service and local community.
At our next staff meeting we will be discussing Reconciliation week and what it is all about, ensuring educators have a good understanding and can ask any questions. Last year we had Uncle Colin and Uncle Charlie do bi-monthly visits to the centre to share their culture with our children, we look forward to this beginning again soon, however at this current time they are unable to attend.
As part of our Reconciliation Action Plan we embed First Nations perspectives, language and culture into our program. During National Reconciliation Week we will be creating additional learning experiences for the children including Indigenous music, watching videos of dancing, naming animals, symbol drawing in sand, nature play, and baking and cooking with indigenous ingredients referring to the First Nations Food Companion by Damien Coulthard and Rebecca Sullivan.
We also want to encourage everyone to wear yellow as the centre raises awareness for the ‘Wear it Yellow’ campaign by Children’s Ground, a First Nations not-for-profit organisation who create innovative learning and wellbeing work for First Nations communities in the Northern Territory and Central Australia. Led by First Nations Elders and educators, this educational approach privileges First Nations culture while incorporating the best of Western teaching. To learn more about the Childrens Ground approach, visit www.childrensground.org.au
