The Learning circles is an Indigenous Education unit that aims to promote and build partnerships with families and the community to develop strategies for effective outcomes to see Indigenous students succeed across the curriculum. We strive on keeping our children’s attendance regular and also assist in engaging the children so they want to be at school.
Throughout the year we organise events for our students to participate in, such as eye testing, sight testing and NAIDOC day both in the community as well as the celebration we have at school.
NAIDOC activities
Once again this year we celebrated NAIDOC day with a full day of rotational activities. Students were able to view traditional Kup Murri style cooking in the Kitchen Garden and then sample the different foods they took part in dot painting on bark, experienced Dreamtime story-telling and enjoyed performances by a local dance troupe. This day involved a few groups in our local community and quite a few volunteers from families in the school and was a huge success.
Lunch break
Occasionally students come into a class room during lunch to just touch base and have what we call turtle time. Not all children like to be out on the ovals and they enjoy being able to come into a room and relax and just sit and play with the three pet turtles it can be very rewarding for them. A lot of children tend to use this time to talk to the Indigenous workers about things that are on their minds and we get to help them learn to use new strategies on how to deal with everyday things like conflict with other children.
Helping classes
Part of our role is to assist children in classes if they need extra support or can’t stay on task. We work with classes and provide support so that students have someone they can relate to when they are unsure about things.