O’Connor Primary School students celebrate NAIDOC Week

O’Connor Primary School students celebrated NAIDOC Week with spear throwing, dances with the Ngadju Dancers, and watching artworks being painted by Valma Schultz.

Year 4 and 5 teacher and Reconciliation Action Plan committee chair Hamish Arnols said all students had a chance to participate in the daily activities.

“We’ve had face painting, run by our student RAP group . . . we’ve got damper making happening. We’ve had some people come in and talk about honey ants . . . (and) we’re painting some boomerangs that were provided to us by the prison,” he said.

Mr Arnold said each student in the school was provided with a boomerang they could decorate using painting techniques they had learnt during the week.

“NAIDOC Week, I like to think of it as the tip of the iceberg sort of thing. A lot of other work is done throughout the term and throughout the year.”

He said students also listened to Dreamtime stories, and were learning about the importance of inclusion and understanding.

Mr Arnold said students had also helped create artworks to represent Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander culture and aspects, which were displayed throughout the school.

“It’s a whole sort of year-long program and this is just a highlight for everyone and we’re building and growing every year as well. So it’s going well so far, and I hope it keeps continuing,” he said.