​These last few weeks are a very special part of our year at Kindy, bringing a feeling of completion and rounding off to our year together, as the children begin their transition to Class 1.
 
Sand play, mud play and water play are becoming favourite activities at outside play time. The children continue to stretch the capabilities of their limbs, trying new things on the monkey bars, playing skipping games and building elaborate constructions taller than they are!
 
This week we went for a walk to “the Big School” and a visit to their Class 1 classroom. The children enjoyed sitting on the bigger chairs and having a play in their soon-to-be playground.
 
We have spent a whole term finger-knitting, weaving, feeding and sewing our beautiful Green Sheeny Turtles - a wonderful long-term ‘will’ project. Filled with pride at the completion of all their busy work (and rightly so!), the children have discovered the pleasure and satisfaction of making something beautiful which requires perseverance and thoroughness. The turtles have been swimming all around our Kindy, playing games with the children, getting cuddles in rest time and swings in the hammock, too.
 
Last week we began a woodwork project — making paddle boats, with lots of sanding, painting and hammering, as well as tie-dyeing the sail, tying knots to secure the anchor and, finally, launching, at the end of term, when the children will be well and truly ready to launch themselves on the next step of their own exciting journey into Primary School!

Kara Mallory
Hummingbee Kindergarten

In Class 3, we began this semester with a farming Main Lesson, looking at the seasons, the soil, ploughing, planting, harvesting and adapting to the environment. Home learning followed and many children worked in their gardens at home or started their own garden with their parent’s support. In addition, they worked on our whole Primary School home projects, The Joy of Being Me and Count Me In. It was wonderful to come back together after this time at home.

Since then we have continued with lots of literacy and numeracy practice, which has included a regular spelling and maths quiz, Mathletics and measuring. We have made metre measuring sticks and have begun to measure our world.

Grow Garden Grow, our farming/gardening Lesson with Nadia, has enabled us to engage in many practical tasks. We have harvested turmeric, washed it, sliced it, dried it, ground it, put it in jars, labelled it, and then replanted more turmeric for next year’s Class 3. We built a compost pile, all working together to place down the layers, resulting in a compostella lasagna. We have harvested the wheat we had planted, threshed it and winnowed it. We have also ground our wheat to make flour and baked crunchy buns, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We put aside some of our wheat to present to the new Class 3 at our autumn festival next year.

Working together, both Class 3 groups made a no-dig potato patch and we have enjoyed watching the seed potatoes grow, tucking compost and then straw around them as needed, as well as watching with wonder the many ladybird beetles that have come to visit the patch.

While Chris has been with the class for the past three weeks, he has been reading the children a Laura Ingalls Wilder story, Farmer Boy, allowing the children to experience the many daily practical activities on a farm, and connecting their soul life to the world and to what it means to be a human being.

From the farm to the world—in our recent Main Lesson, we have been looking at different cultures and the types of dwellings people build in different parts of the world. We looked at how people adapt to the climate, the location and the resources available to them, to build their homes. The children have been working on a project at home, making dwellings using their chosen materials such as clay, wood, straw, paper or felt. In the last week of term, they will present their project to the class, explaining how they built the dwelling, where it can be found and something about the people and the land upon which they dwell.

Chris has also been leading the children through the Bible stories of the Hebrew people, including The Tower of Babel;  the story of Abraham, Joseph and his brothers; the Exodus from Egypt; Moses and the Burning Bush; The Ten Plagues; Crossing the Red Sea; Manna from Heaven and The Ten Commandments. There have been so many other stories as the children followed the journey of the Hebrew people to the promised land. Overcoming obstacles, learning to choose right from wrong and following the way of truth and goodness are some of the images brought before the children.

Throughout the semester, the children have engaged in other practical activities. In the woodworking workshop, guided by Nick, we have learnt how to use and care for tools, how to keep everyone safe, and how to shape, saw, rasp and sand wood to make stilts. Lots of will, effort, determination and enthusiasm was needed for such an uplifting result. Crafts have included sewing, clay work and beeswax modelling. Each activity has given the children opportunities to learn and grow. As we learn to work together so much can be achieved!

Class Three have had weekly strings lessons and ensemble. Each child is progressing according to their individual capacity and the effort they put in, thanks to the wonderful guidance of the strings teachers. Again, we are learning to listen and work together to play beautiful music. 

Swimming lessons in the rain have been an adventure and a wonderful opportunity to practise moving our growing bodies with grace and rhythm.

Now settling into their new classroom, the children will begin to inwardly prepare for the next part of their journey together after the summer holidays.  
 
Jenny Lott
Class 3 Teacher
         

Hello from Preschool! What a delight these last weeks have been. The children come with smiles and laughter, and play and work all through the day. They have a wonderful sense of confidence and resilience despite all the changes that are happening around them – a picture of Preschool as a safe and predictable place to be.

We have painted, drawn, listened to stories about a secret nest of Mrs. Honeyeaters, played finger and feet games, dug holes and found worms!

Thank you to our parents for supplying extra morning tea and supporting the changes. Although the children are still enjoying their crunchy buns on Fridays!

We welcomed a new assistant to our group, Kristy, and the children embraced her soft and kind ways at once. These final weeks of the year will fly by before we know it. Hopefully we will have a fine day next week for a picnic by the creek.

Margaret King
Preschool 

The Shearwater Certificate is a pathway offered to Year 12 students at Shearwater that provides an alternative to the HSC, allowing students the freedom to create a unique learning experience for themselves, following their passion and creating a project of personal interest. Do not let the word freedom fool you. The Shearwater Certificate is a rollercoaster ride.

This year there were five students who undertook the journey, Tula Tansley-Beckerman, Judah Tsadik, Gemma Susanna-Davies, Aurora Bodhivajra and Charli Gaiter-Thompson.

The learning that comes out of undertaking a year-long project is invaluable, and the skills these students have developed will serve them well in the future. They have learnt things no textbook can teach, and no exam can assess. They have learnt to believe in themselves, to communicate clearly, to think critically, to problem solve, to ask for help when it’s needed, to get up and keep going when things are hard, to support others and work together.

The Shearwater Certificate can be done as a 120 or 240 hour program, in conjunction with three or four HSC subjects. Year 12 is challenging at the best of times but I think we would all agree that this year has been particularly difficult. It has presented these students with new challenges, unique to these times. When they presented their proposals a year ago none of us knew what this year would be like, that we would have an extended lockdown and limited access to external facilities among many other things.

The students presented their work, comprising displays and speeches, last week, and although we couldn’t invites their families and community to the event, due to COVID restrictions, it was still a beautiful conclusion to the process. These students deserve to be congratulated and celebrated. They have demonstrated resilience and determination and I am so incredibly proud of them, and very grateful to have been part of their journey as their supervisor.

Anna Delzoppo
Shearwater Certificate Supervisor

Congratulations to Year 11 Textiles student Gypsy Hunter who was recently awarded third place in the Senior Category of the international Wool4School student design competition. Entrants were asked to design an outfit, made primarily from wool, which was versatile, protective, dynamic and functional, to aid in commuting and traveling, under the theme ‘Wool on the Go’.

The SRC have been up and running through Semester 2 and despite lockdowns, we have been able to do some leadership workshops, establish what we love about the school and also work out what we want to see improved and how we might help make that happen. Many ideas have been discussed such as dress code, student events, classroom comfort, better signage and wellbeing services. Small actions have been taken to help make sure students' voices are heard and supported. One issue we discussed was the number of students coming to school without breakfast. The solution — Breakfast Club! 

We canvassed teachers that had experienced breakfast clubs at other schools to find out what worked and what didn’t. The SRC developed a survey which was filled in by over 70 students. The results surprised everyone. On that particular day, we found that just under half of our students were coming to school without breakfast. The reasons ranged from having to leave too early for the bus, to making them feel sick on the winding road to school, through to being in too much of a hurry, forgetting or just not feeling like it first thing. Some were getting something at school if they had time but many buses arrived too late to go to the canteen and some students didn’t have money with them. That very afternoon, after tallying up the surveys, we heard that due to staff shortages, the canteen would not be opening the next day. Breakfast Club (and now Lunch Club) were going to have to happen very quickly!

We purchased supplies that afternoon and had some basics ready to go at 8.30am the next day. Toast, tea, cereal and fruit were all on the menu. At lunchtime, the cooking elective baked some sausage rolls and pasties we were able to give out to those who were hungry or hadn’t brought lunch. We managed to do this for each of the three days the canteen was not able to open. Over 100 students accessed the service each day and overall it seemed a great success.  

The SRC would like to thank James and all the teachers and students who supported them to make this idea a reality in such a short timeframe. The canteen will be open every day between now and the end of term and the SRC will take on board all that was learnt from the trial and see if it’s something they will propose in some form  next year. In the meantime, it’s a good reminder to make sure students are coming to school with food in their bellies ready to learn, and with enough food to last them for the day. We are lucky to have such a wonderful canteen and thank Steve and the crew for the wholesome and affordable options they provide every day.  

Sarah Ndiaye and the SRC

​Our Class 7 students had the opportunity to experience the illustrious silk paintings and picture books of local author and illustrator, and former teacher, Kim Toft, this term.

Kim guided the class through the process of story-boarding, providing inspiration for the classes' Indonesian assessment task, in which they are creating an advanced pictorial based on the life of a family member of their grandparents' generation. 

Emily Joy
LOTE Indonesian Teacher

 
Term 4 always brings a flurry of activity, and this year is no exception.  Our current clay project in 6P has seen the class creating Roman aqueducts using wooden moulds which we made in woodwork earlier in the year.  The plan is to add to the aqueduct that currently lives in the Class 6 play area – a structure created by the current Year 9 students. 
 
Not only have the class handmade the individual clay aqueducts—mould and all. But they have also used their time throughout the year to immerse themselves in the art of mosaics, creating the decoration for the base of the ancient Roman structure. 
 
As a class, we look forward to the culmination of their clay, woodwork and craft lessons and leaving a further legacy in the playground for future classes to admire.
 
With our Primary School experience coming to a conclusion, 6P has been reminiscing on their learning journey both as a class and as individuals. With a majority of the class taking the journey from Class 1 and even Kindergarten before that, we have had occasions where songs and verse have spontaneously risen during our class discussions and gatherings.
 
In Class 1, every 6P family received a reminder of the goal of the Primary School journey.  I share this as a reminder to all of the expectations and wonders of the journey, and the blessings that we, as teachers, strive for each and every school day:

​Throughout the Kindy year, we offer the children a variety of tasks which have been carefully planned to meet them where they are in their development. Early tasks are short and sweet, designed to be completed easily by the children, giving them a boost in confidence as they see their finished crafts displayed around the room. Later in the year, the tasks become longer, more challenging and have more steps involved.

Late in Term 3, each Kindy child finger-knitted balls of wool in all the rainbow colours. Some children thought they would never be able to finish one ball, let alone all the colours, but one-by-one they all got the hang of it and by the beginning of Term 4, were beaming and proud and ready for the next step.

This term, we began to weave our rainbow finger-knitting onto a round weaving board. Again, many children thought they would not be able to finish all their colours, but the whole class kept trying, and encouraging each other until now, almost all our weaving has been finished, and the children are, rightly, very proud of themselves.

There were many guesses about what our weaving might be... a pillow, a new rug for Kindy, a nest, or a shell for a turtle. This week at last, the children were each given a green turtle to begin to feed with fluffy wool. When the turtles are full and strong, their shell will be sewn onto the body and they will have a beautiful turtle, that they have made themselves, a reminder of what can be achieved when they put their mind to something.

We choose longer-term, multi-step projects at this time of year for this very reason—to allow the children to carry this inner feeling of confidence with them into Class 1 and beyond.

It’s a wrap! Another wild ride on the WAVE magical carpet. Somehow at this supremely unpredictable time on our planet, we managed to pull off another incredible Wearable Arts performance event last week.
 
Although it was disappointing not to have our sponsors, families and other members of our community here to see the show in person, the footage is in the editing suite as we speak, and we hope to be able to release the video of the event by the end of term. Stay tuned!
 
In the meantime, we hope you will join us in applauding our wonderful winners. We had so many students get involved in this year’s costume comp and the judges professed their job was not an easy one!
 
The winners of WAVE 2021: My Message to You are:
 
 
Overall Grand Winner
Gold Sponsor James Hardware Mitre 10, Mullumbimby
Mixed Messages by Susan Germann
 
Directors Prize
Silver Sponsor Chincogan Real Estate, Mullumbimby 
Help by Jimmy & Milika (Year 10 Shearwater) 
 
Section 1 (My Message to You) Winner 
Silver Sponsor Crystal Castle
Alien Princess to Earth by   India Giannoni  (Year 12 Shearwater)

Section 2 (Silhouette Creations) Highly Commended  
Sponsored by Mullum Co-op  
The Bitch by Ruby, Aneeka, Marley, Gemma, Marco & Scarlett (Year 9  Shearwater)
 
Section 3 (How I Feel) Winner
Silver Sponsor Crystal Castle
High Priestess by Tiehj Kerry
 
Section 4 (Horns, Helmets and Masks) Winner
Bronze Sponsor Westpac
Horndusa by Eloise Gallea 

Section 5 (Flora Fabulous) Winner
Bronze Sponsor Tinker, Tailor, Dancer, Trader/Archer The Store
Gondwana Reverie by Rosie Hamilton
 
Emerging Artist
Sponsored by Mullumbimby Chamber of Commerce
Shining Knight in the Mist by Marshall Peach
Warrior by Junah Robins (Year 8 Shearwater)
 
Creative Use of Materials
Bronze Sponsor Baxter & Jacobson Architects
COVID Waste by Maya Chaffer (Year 8 Shearwater)
 
Student Encouragement Award
Bronze Sponsors Westpac & Tinker, Tailor, Dancer, Trader/Archer The Store
Encrusted by Olive Morris (Year 9 student)
Message from Water by Hannah McIntyre (Year 7 Shearwater)
Exhaustion by India, Zoe, Anouk & Zemmer (Year 9 Shearwater)
Fighting Flames by Anouk, Darcie, Lekha, Amani, Grace, Scout & Natasha (Year 8 Shearwater)

During visual art lessons this year students in Year 8 have explored the landscape genre, looking at different ways of representing the landscape. Getting outside and documenting the landscape using a variety of different mediums and techniques was a highlight of the at-home learning program during lockdown.

In Year 8 we have also been focusing on developing an attitude of gratitude, taking the time to stop and appreciate the small things. During lockdown these things often centred around appreciation for nature and the beautiful place we live. I decided to run a photography competition for a bit of fun. Students were asked to take a photograph that captured the beauty of nature through their eyes.

Local artist Rebecca O’Connell generously gave her time to judge the entries which was not an easy task. Students rose to the occasion and submitted some stunning images, using their knowledge of the elements and principles of art, such as colour, tone, texture, size, shape and contrast, to share the beauty they see in the world we live.

Congratulations go to Darcie Miller-Sharp, who won the Polaroid camera for her entry. Here’s what Rebecca had to say about it.

I have chosen this work as it really stood out to me for various reasons. Firstly, it’s a unique take on the beauty of nature and the artist has thought ‘outside the box’ in regard to looking for beauty in the landscape setting. While the sunset/sunrise images many other artists have submitted are truly beautiful, it is the detailed look into the subject matter that makes this photo really stand out from the rest.

Good use of cropping and crisp focus to really get a feel for the textures and landscape of the surface. I want to feel what the photo is taken of. More of my senses are being engaged! Landscape can mean many different things and being playful with this makes for interesting artworks. This image would read completely differently if it was cropped in a different way - it’s balanced without being symmetrical and the composition is thoughtful in its construction. The mainly muted colours make the orange and green/yellow really pop, and creates eye catching details that helps the viewer's eye travel around the image. I would be happy to hang this image on my wall!

Congratulations Darcie!

Full of joy at seeing each other again, Class 2H bounced back into school, words and laughter tumbling from the children's lips as they shared their many holiday adventures.

We began the term with a day at the Farm and our beloved Crystal Creek. With great enthusiasm, we skipped towards the Farm, where we sat quietly under the shade of the trees, listening to the rustling leaves and birdsong, before Nadia and Renata, our wonderful gardening teachers, shared our task ‑ to plant thousands of sunflower seeds along the bank. Reverently each child held out their hands to receive the seeds, which were held close to our hearts as we thought of family, friends, colleagues and our beautiful School, and then scattered onto Mother Earth. ​

Then it was time to roll up our sleeves and manoeuvre the giant round hay bale into position. This was no easy task. It took a lot of strength, energy and collaboration to get it just right, before the hay was rolled out over our tiny seeds.  With the seeds now safe and snug under a bed of hay, it was time to offer a song to Mother Earth, that our seeds may grow from the loving work of our hands and all passing by may, in time, enjoy their beauty.
 
Our task now done, it was time to have some hay bale fun! We lined up and, one by one, each child ran with gusto to leap over the huge bale.  Some could barely get lift off, others clambered up the bale, some leapt straight onto it and some even flew straight over it. But all cheered with encouragement, supporting their peers.
 
Then we raced to Crystal Creek, where half of the class wove beautiful mats and created baskets for their treasures, whilst others built strong cubbies. It was a productive morning and, as we gathered together to head back to class, smiling, muddy faces beamed with joy.  “Ah, what a grub nut you are!” I said to one child who responded with tinkling laughter… and so the story of the Grub Nut Children evolved, forming the basis for our mathematics lesson on Place Value.
 
The children are loving hearing their daily escapades turned into Grub Nut Children stories and I am loving seeing their enthusiasm for all the mathematical games and activities created to engage their wills as a mathematical community of learners.

Heather Peri
Class 2 Teacher

This term, we have begun welcoming our students into the gunyah, Shearwater's special space, as part of a dawn ceremony, where we pay respects to the elements that make it possible for all life to exist.
 
The gunyah is where we can learn how to conduct ourselves in a ceremonial space and be reminded of our connection to the life-giving forces that unite us all.
 
In the timeline of humanity, these ways of paying respect have been integral. More recently we have not been doing this as well as we can. We value the exploration of where we originate from and honour our connection to nature and spirit. We strive for the children to feel connection to this place and to be strengthened by it.

The children have returned to Preschool this term with enthusiasm and confidence. Joyfully connecting with friends and engaging in our Preschool activities — baking, cleaning, telling stories and playing with friends. Building whole towns of fantastic towers, searching for mulberries or enjoying a quiet  picnic with a friend.

And on one magical sunny day Whisper Wings and Flutterby Butterfly visited the Preschool garden, fluttering their pretty wings from flower to flower.

Gabe O'Neill
Little Shearwater

​Last term, our Year 12 Modern History class took a trip down to Coffs Harbour for an HSC study day. After learning so much rich content over the course of this year, it was important for us to go and cement our knowledge and see it all from different perspectives.

We woke up very early and began our drive as the sun rose. As a small class of four students, this was a great opportunity to create lasting interpersonal bonds; which were only strengthened on the six hours we spent on the road.

While attending the various seminars, we were able to interact with other Modern History students and discuss our opinions on the impending HSC exams (and share our nerves!). We attended several lectures on the units we had previously studied with Nikki;  including Japan, Germany, the Atomic Age, and the Conflict in the Pacific. The lecturers were eccentric, to say the least, however they provided many helpful tips on study habits and marking criteria, along with a range of key points about our units of study.

After the lectures, we took a brief detour to visit the heart of tourism in Coffs Harbour — The Big Banana! This was a little element of fun intertwined into a generally serious and studious day. Despite being a long day, this excursion was educational and useful to us as Modern History students. It was an opportunity to bond with Nikki and each other, and to revise material that may have been less prominent in our minds over the course of this information-dense year.

Anji Conroy
Year 12

​Poem of the River

The water trickles over the slippery rocks and flows down the stream.
The river is glistening in the light of the sun, the ripples from the small waterfall descend down the river.
The bright sun bursts through the cover of the trees like a lamp turning on in a pitch black room.
The depths of the river are murky and dark, the grass around the river is luscious and green, it's soft and smooth under my feet.

— Gabrial Liddell (Class 4)



Frangipani

Up in the branches 
Of the frangipani tree 
I was at the top of the world 
How high can I climb today? 
The smell of sweet flowers on the nose 
Swaying with the wind in the tallest branches 
Singing with the magpies 
Songs of joy 
The sun in my skin 
The wind in my hair 
Wonder in my heart 
What are the swallows building? 
How do trees feel? 
Can I hang from here? 
A constant stream of wonder 
On
And on…

— Sumari Geitz (Year 10)

In Kindy, we connect closely with nature and the cyclical rhythm of the year. Our stories, songs and actions encourage reverence for Mother Earth as we observe the seasonal changes.
 
In autumn time, the children painted flower pots in autumn colours reflecting the golden leaves falling, bright autumn rainbows, rosy red apples and orange pumpkins.

In winter, the children planted their bulb babies in their pots, tucking them into Mother Earth’s warm blanket.

Last term, the children watered their bulb babies diligently as they eagerly waited for them to grow.

This term, the children were greeted with green shoots growing tall towards the sun, a sign to show that spring was on its way.

Now that the children are learning from home, their pot plants have travelled home with them, just in time for their Dafodilly Dancers to blossom and dance in the springtime breezes.
 
Yellow, yellow daffodils
You’re dancing in the sun.
Yellow, yellow daffodils
You tell me spring has come.
 
At Shearwater, we celebrate the seasonal festivals that are connected to cosmic events such as the autumn and spring equinox and the winter and summer solstices. When the children participate in the festivals, they are able to experience the deeper mysteries of life, through simply observing and connecting with the rhythms of nature.

The spring equinox  on September 23 is a time to celebrate the energies of rebirth, and renewal.  It is a season of wonder as new life begins; baby animals are born and flowers bloom. There is much to celebrate, even in these uncertain times!
 
At Kindy we would normally be celebrating our Spring Festival in our last week of Term 3 before the holidays start. Here are some ideas for creating your own family festival at home. It is important to note that with young children, the preparation for the celebration is as important as the celebration itself.

• Find a good spot to make a seasonal table with your children, and keep adding new treasures found in the garden or during daily walks in nature. Your child may like to add special springtime drawings or paintings to their nature display too.
• Let your children help prepare a special meal with fruits and vegetables that are in season, like these Fruit Floaty Boats.
• Decorate the family dining table with a special cloth, candle, flowers in season.
• Light a candle and say a verse or sing a song before sharing your special family meal.
• Share seasonal stories, sing, dance, make music or play some games together as a family.
• Go on a springtime treasure hunt and make a family mandala out of the collection, or spend the afternoon getting creative and making things out of your treasures e.g. make flower crowns for the whole family out of jasmine vine and colourful flowers, create ‘wonder sticks’ out of nature finds, bright wool and beads.
• Go for a walk and look for signs of spring, then recreate them out of colourful beeswax, play dough or clay.

 
The Kindy children have been busy bees in their own homes, creating their own nature tables, nature weavings, wonder sticks, springtime beeswax crafts, practicing their Mother Bird and blanket stitch, making flower crowns, and much more! It has been heart-warming to see so many photos of the children doing their Kindy work, and hearing stories of the wonderful family activities that are taking place. Perhaps there are some craft ideas here that your child may like to do at home too?
 
Kara Mallory
Hummingbee Kindergarten Teacher
​

We were contacted by Byron Shire Council recently and offered the opportunity to feature the artworks of our some of our amazingly talented High School students as part of a street art project. The theme was people and places of the Shire. The current COVID lockdown has prevented the opening celebration from going ahead. But the artwork is up and it looks great. So next time you're in town, stop and have a look. You will see these masterpieces, created by students from Years 7, 8 and 9. Congratulations to Zen Giannoni, Maya Chaffer, Sol Bailey, Macushla Bere, Aimee Green, Zoe Newell, Ella Bowen Piercy, Zemmer Arbiv and the Year 8 collective, and thank you for sharing your creative work!

Why can’t children vote?
Why does the government have so much power over us?
Why do people without jobs get paid when that’s not the case in other countries?
Why does the government allow people to cut down so many trees?
Why don’t refugees have the right to get citizenship and vote in Australia?
Why is Adani allowed to destroy the Great Barrier Reef?
Why can’t everyone have the right to citizenship?
Why can’t teenagers vote if it is their future? Shouldn’t they decide for themselves?
Do you trillionaires feel responsibility or the need to do something good for the world with all that money?
Who was the King of England?
What happens in Parliament?
Can the government make laws whenever they want?
What would happen if we didn’t have a government?
Why are some Australians so foolish to vote for a bad prime minister?
Why can’t kids drive cars?
Who was the first Governor General?
When was the first law made in Australia and who made it?
What is it about the Democratic Party and the Republican Party in the US?
Who was the first Queen of England?
How much power does the government have?
How does the voting system work to elect the Prime Minister?
Who made school days?
Why do Prime Ministers always seem to be so rich?
Who invented the idea of a government?
Why are there so few women in government?

These are the questions that occupy our young people's minds in Class 6. Their desire to connect the dots from what they overhear adults talking about, and to deepen the quest, is a wonderful step beyond the small world of interest in clothes, screen time and peer groups for the 12-year-old child. We emerged from this Main Lesson with sense of belonging to Australia and its living democracy, along with a profound understanding of privilege, especially when applied to the Australian Citizenship test — I am happy to report that everyone "passed" it!

To bring the topic to a close, the students were asked to design a new flag for Australia based on similar endeavours in New Zealand not so long ago. Their designs represent a deep reflection about the symbolism contained in national flags, which is in our case arises out of the children's desire to be inclusive, to show a sense of place and belonging. I imagine they would like to wave their own flags at the next Olympics!

Anja Grapentin
Class 6 Teacher