Bega schoolkids share a yarn on what they find special about NAIDOC

BVPS kicked off its week-long NAIDOC celebrations on Monday, June 27,with a special flag raising ceremony and morning tea with staff and parents.

At the flag raising ceremony, the flags were at half-mast and Marcus Mundy gave a brief reflection of Aunty Colleen Dixon's contribution to the school over the years.

Kindergarten student Samuel Woolacott said one of the NAIDOC Week activities he had really enjoyed was the Budjaan (bird) activity.

"Our students from the Bega Valley cultural group have been teaching us words from the local language and we learned the word Budjaan meaning bird," he said.

"After reading how the bird got its colours we created these collages."

Samuel said he and his classmates also wrote sentences about their artworks which they read aloud, recorded and then uploaded to a QR code for others to listen to.

"I think the importance of this week and around Aboriginal education is ensuring that our children who are our future leaders, have an understanding and sense of pride in Aboriginal culture," assistant principal learning and support Michell Scott said.

Ms Scott said she had also been excited to see Aboriginal education being "taken to the next level", as the kids engaged with technology to showcase what they'd learnt.

"Seeing the kids using technology to showcase our Aboriginal language, Dreaming stories and culture is something I'm finding really exciting at the moment," she said.

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Students from Years 5 and 6 said they enjoyed creating digital recreations of a Dreaming story, using a coding system online, as part of their NAIDOC week activities.

Year 5 student Talerah Thomas said she enjoyed the digital Dreaming activity, which taught her how to animate a story she had been told about by her older sister.

"I learned the story when I was in Year 3, my sister told me that every time the Milky Way comes up, you'd see an emu in the sky," she said.

Talerah said Dreaming stories were important because "it can show us what life's about".

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Three students from the Year 3 and 4 class at the BVPS also shared their thoughts on what NAIDOC week and Aboriginal education overall meant to them.

Year 4 student Aysha Nowlan said what she enjoyed most about Aboriginal education was the yarning circle where she was able to connect with other Indigenous kids.

Blaze Townsend, also from Year 4, said he was very thankful for learning about Aboriginal culture.

"They shared their very detailed and sacred culture with us and we're lucky enough to be able to learn from it and listen to it," he said.

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Year 3 student Chloe Hodder said she also enjoyed learning about the Indigenous culture and "how they take care of the lands we live on right now".

"It's special because the Aboriginals took care of this land, they helped this land and they were kind to it, treating it like it was a living thing which it is."

BVPS principal Melissa Fay said with 20 per cent of their students being Aboriginal, she and her staff were dedicated to delivering Aboriginal education throughout the year.

"NAIDOC Week is a chance for us to celebrate and acknowledge their history and culture but embedding it into everything we do at our school is something I'm incredibly proud of," Ms Fay said.

Ms Fay said in her role as principal she has felt "privileged" to learn from the kids and staff about First Nations history, language and culture.

"For us, it's about acknowledging our Indigenous students and empowering them to share their knowledge with us, so that we can all be proud of their achievements and their culture," she said.

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Ms Fay said she was proud of her staff and students for having engaged with and organised such a "beautiful week of NAIDOC celebrations".

"It's just about having a really lovely range of experiences for our students to share, from recognising our local Indigenous community to celebrating together which I think is a really important part of us closing the gap," she said.

This year's national NAIDOC week theme was Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!, which encouraged communities to keep fighting for change and acknowledge the past. To find out more about this year's theme visit the NAIDOC website.

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