Insight

COMMUNITY

NAIDOC Week Jesus is our Peace

By Miss Clare Warren, Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning

The College Community celebrated NAIDOC Week guided by our 2024 NAIDOC theme: Jesus is our Peace based on Galatians 3:26-29 (NIV): “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

The acronym: NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee and was acknowledged nationally from 7 to 14 July 2024. As these dates fell during the Term 2 holidays, the College celebrated NAIDOC Week from 5 to 9 August 2024. The week’s celebrations commenced with College parent, Mrs Alicia Smith, gathering with our staff to share an Acknowledgement of Country with staff and students as they engaged in this week of celebration. Our students were able to engage in curriculum based activities led by their teachers in their classrooms such as reading The Emu Who Ran Through the Sky , by Helen Milroy, for the Years 3 to 6 students. Each morning across the College, students reflected on a devotional series created by a staff member which encouraged us to think about and pray for First Nations people. Thursday saw the students continue the celebration by wearing the colours of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags (red, yellow, black, blue, green, white). Students across the College were also able to enter in a colouring and writing competition to demonstrate how they were impacted by the College’s NAIDOC theme across the week. The Library created a book display to engage students and showcase books written by First Nations authors that focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. Staff also received the latest annotated bibliography of the resources available in the Library.

Classrooms display a map of Indigenous Australia and students engage in curriculum-based activities relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, led by their teachers in their classrooms, throughout the year. NAIDOC Week was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the rich heritage of First Nations people that exist throughout our community and across the country. The College is proud to continue to recognise this important part of our nation’s identity throughout the year.

As a College, we proudly fly the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags on our College grounds.

The College Library depicting the NAIDOC Week theme, Jesus is our Peace.

Insight

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