NAIDOC Week is always a big event on our school calendar and last week students participated in a range of activities organised by our AEIO, Jansie Sonter.
On Thursday, activities kicked off with an assembly where Mitchella Hutchins shared the creation story of our Margaret River (Wooditjup Bilya) and Nan Vivien Brockman Webb welcomed all to country. This very special local dreaming story was later depicted in all the beauty of nature when students rotated through the outside Meeting Place throughout the day, recreating the story in a massive artwork using leaves, bark, sticks and flowers under the guidance of environmental artist Elaine Cloherty.
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Further creative activities included clay art and tree weaving, and traditional ochre face painting was a big hit, all being facilitated by Vivien Brockman Webb and family members: Fiona Thomas, Mitchella Hutchins and Maybenan and Horrie, who all worked at facilitating the activities and keeping students engaged.
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Our active students then turned their energies to sport, forming teams to compete in a series of matches in the NAIDOC 3 on 3 Basketball comp, played at lunchtimes over the week. Friendly rivalries led to fierce competition in some of the matches, further fuelled by Olympics fever.
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Our thanks go to Nathan James, Courtenay Gray and Chris Walker for their help in setting up and refereeing the basketball games, teachers and parent volunteers who assisted with the basketball and other activities, the Brockman Webb family members and Paul from BeachLife and Neil and Blanche from Ripcurl Margaret River for their donation of prizes for the winning Basketball teams
In summary, Mr Walker said,
“I would like to add a big thank you to Jansie for organising the NAIDOC celebrations. It was a tremendous success and another significant step in deepening our school community’s connection to country, Aboriginal language, culture, and history.”Written, photos and posted by Dawn Veary