Reconciliation action was strong in the Coromandel Valley Primary School community as we embraced the Reconciliation Week theme to Be Brave and Make Change. Here are some of the actions being taken around the school and community.

Reconciliation Leaders and Reconciliation Assembly 

Ms O’Driscoll is supporting Year 6 students to embrace a new student leadership group at Coro, the Reconciliation Action Group. Congratulations to Quincy, Marley, Elsie and Emily, who won these positions and are embracing their new roles. One of their biggest projects this year will be working alongside Ngarrindjeri and Ramindjeri elder Aunty Nellie Egan towards the development of an Environmental Learning Trail. The trail will be developed from student learning about First Nations knowledge and understanding of The Dreaming. Students across the school have been invited to contribute to the Trail by thinking about an outdoor space in our school and answering one of the following questions:

• Why is this place important to you?
• What is something special you do in this place?
• How was this place created?

5J and 2D led a special Reconciliation Assembly featuring student responses to the Reconciliation Leader’s invitation. Here are some of the ways they have responded.

Reception, Year 1 and Year 6

Reception students explored the environment with their Year 6 buddies. They interviewed each other and created videos about the special places where they like to play, meet friends and care for the land.

Year 2

In Year 2, students learned about the artwork of Marra artist Ginger Riley Munduwalawala. They viewed Marra country on the Aboriginal Australia map, compared it to where Kaurna country is located, and then looked at Marra Country photos and connected this to Ginger Riley Munduwalawala’s artwork. Students explored the school grounds and discussed special places with each other, then wrote information texts and created artworks inspired by the bright colours and bird-eye view used in Ginger Riley Munduwalawala’s artwork.

Year 3

In Year 3 students read the story ‘Say Yes’ by Jennifer Castles. This story described how the events surrounding the historic 1967 referendum played out in the everyday lives of two young girls. Students reflected on the importance of this event on all Australians and the impact the decision had on the lives of First Nations people. Students reflected on the special places they connected to within our school environment and created art pieces to represent these. Year 3 students also discussed the importance of Dreaming stories in First Nations culture and their significance in communicating messages. They listened to some stories and created art pieces to represent different parts of some of these.

Year 4

In Year 4, students explored and learned about the kumquat tree as a meeting place and a food source and created artworks featuring this special tree.  We also wrote stories about places around the school and with a focus on rules for taking care of people, places and animals.

Year 5

In 5B and 5J, students learned about the importance of Dreaming stories in First Nations culture and used their narrative writing skills to write stories about the environment at Coromandel Valley. Here are two examples of their amazing stories: 

As the magpie looked over at the children, he felt happy. The magpie had always loved seeing the children come out to play and respect the land. He had always watched over them and made sure that they were safe and respecting each other. The children had become part of Nature play and this land.

But today, he saw that the children were climbing the trees and damaging them. They were stripping the bark and removing the leaves and branches. The children laughed as they did these awful things. Then the children saw the magpie’s nest and began climbing towards it. Then to his surprise, they grabbed one of his eggs! So, he had to teach them a lesson. He opened his wings wide and dived down. He knocked the children out of the tree, and they ran away and never came back. The children learned that they should look after the land.

And that’s the story of how the magpies started swooping.

Nicholas, Oliver and Shravenn

Year 5

The Koala would observe the playful kids on the beautiful, fresh green oval as they played happily and respectfully. They would treat the environment with care and respect. When the animals come out at night, they would see their well looked after oval that the kids left behind.

As the kids grew older, the oval was as good as always, but one day the kids were no longer there, and the new kids arrived. The animals thought they would be no different to the other kids, but they were wrong. These kids did not treat the oval respectfully, they dug holes, littered, and they fought each other. Now when the animals come out at night, they would see a trashed, dirty environment, so every night the animals hoped the kids would change their ways.

Then one day the older kids came back to visit and saw the dirty, messy badly respected oval. So, the older kids came and told the younger children how special the land is. They told them stories of how beautiful it was when they were younger. They told them how they’d looked after it and how the land had looked after them. The younger children listened and asked questions to find out how to treat the environment respectfully.

So now the kids play happily, and the environment is no longer dirty and trashed.

Alina and Alice 

Year 5

Junior and Senior Choir

Mrs Stutterd led the Junior Choir as they sang We Are One in Kaurna, followed by the Senior Choir, who sang A River in the Sky by Dan Walker. Congratulations to both choirs on giving up their lunch times to practice, resulting in very moving performances. Ngaitalya to Mrs Stutterd for all her efforts to support our talented Junior and Senior Choirs. 

Film screening and Reconciliation Mural 

The Coro community commemorated National Sorry Day by attending a screening of Colebrook Reconciliation Park – A Place of Healing and Learning. The documentary tells how the site of Colebrook Home, which housed 350 First Nations children who were removed from their homes, has become a place of reconciliation and healing for all. 

The film results from two years of collaboration between First Nations cast members, Blackwood Reconciliation Group, Blackwood High and Scarlett Media. It features students from across the Mitcham Hills Partnership, including students from Coro. The documentary is now a valuable resource for embedding into the Australian Curriculum to teach the next generation the truth of the Stolen Generations and the importance of Reconciliation. 

Coro was privileged to host a joint film screening with Coromandel Valley Kindergarten and CVPS OSHC. Thank you to Coro Kindy staff, who organised beading for families to enjoy, as well as our Reconciliation Leaders, who set up activities from Colebrook Reconciliation Park for children, including hopscotch, kick the tin and marbles. Ngaitalya to Blackwood Reconciliation Group for loaning the activities to us for the afternoon. 

The screening was also an opportunity to officially launch the Reconciliation Mural recently installed on the Turner Unit. Coro students collaborated with Kaurna, Narungga, Ngarrindjeri artist Lawson Dodd to create this incredible mural representing our school’s commitment to Reconciliation. Ngaitalya to Lawson for this beautiful artwork and sharing a moving Welcome to Country at the screening. Thank you to Dr Marie Gould, Co-Chair of Blackwood Reconciliation Group and Di Grigg from the Blackwood Reconciliation Group Film Committee for attending.

Thank you to grounds person Keith Sharplin, for doing an amazing job of installing the mural. 

Thank you to families for their gold coin donations at the screening. We raised $105 for the Blackwood Reconciliation Group.

Thank you to Reconciliation SA for the 2021 Reconciliation Education Activities Grant, which funded the consultation, creation and printing of the mural.

The Great Book Swap 

Mrs O’Connell organised and ran the Great Book Swap, which saw the library filling with donations of good quality books in advance of the big day on Thursday, May 26. Eager students arrived bright and early before school to exchange their gold coins for a book to take home. They also shopped at recess, lunch, and after school - Mrs O’Connell was a very busy and happy stall holder that day! Students raised $390 for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation to buy resources for children from the Walmajarri language group. Ngaitalya to all the families who donated books and gave their gold coins for the Great Book Swap. Thank you to Mrs O’Connell for all her amazing efforts.

Reconciliation Garden and Native Food Stall 

The Healthy Living Leaders, Austin, Maddy, Emily and Aston, teamed up with the Reconciliation Leaders to plant the Reconciliation Garden and cook up some delicious treats highlighting native ingredients. They made wattle seed and white chocolate muffins, lemon myrtle semolina biscuits, green tomato and pig face chutney, saltbush and lemon myrtle sausage rolls. All these goodies were for sale at lunchtime in Reconciliation Week, and the profit raised has been donated to Blackwood Reconciliation Group. Thank you to Ms O’Driscoll and Jenny Tucker for supporting the planting and cooking. Thank you to our grounds person, Keith Sharplin, for creating the garden bed and purchasing plants. 

Blackwood Reconciliation Group Reconciliation Walk 

On Sunday, May 29^th, Coro families and staff joined the annual Blackwood Reconciliation Group from the Blackwood Roundabout to Colebrook Reconciliation Park. On arrival, they were welcomed to Country by the Co-Chair of Blackwood Reconciliation Group, Uncle Tamaru. He was then joined by his Co-Chair, Dr Marie Gould, and together they welcomed the community to this very special event. Many official dignitaries attended the official ceremony to demonstrate support the Reconciliation movement. Children were invited to join Mrs Gardner, Sarah Quihampton from Eden Hills Kindergarten and Rikki Skrodal from Jean Bonython Kindergarten to sing the Colebrook Song together. Thank you to all the families who joined the walk and explored Colebrook Reconciliation Park.

OSHC Update

OSHC staff and students have been working with Temaana Yundu Sanderson-Bromley, an Adnyamathanha, Narungga and Yarluyandi artist, who has created a logo that will be used on their uniforms. 

The design shows three circles:

• The first circle represents Family – where children start their learning. 
• The second (middle) circle represents Coromandel School OSHC – where children’s learning continues, where children are nurtured in a safe, welcoming environment. Teachers and children are represented around the outside of the circle.
• The third circle represents the children’s continued learning after leaving Coromandel Valley. 

The lines between the circles connect these three stages of learning and life and represent the children's journey and the preparation for the next stage.

The dots in the circles represent knowledge, both knowledge learnt, and knowledge passed on. 

The Kaurna landscape is represented with: 

• Blues that represent the valley and the Sturt River which runs just behind the school. 
• Green circles that represent the bushland and trees, especially gum trees that grow in the area. 
• Brown hills which represent the hills that surround Coromandel Valley. 

Reconciliation Grant

Finally, the Reconciliation Action Group are thrilled to announce that they recently won a second $2000 Reconciliation SA grant to fund the Environmental Dreaming Trail. We look forward to sharing more as the trail develops. 

Reconciliation Week may be over, but we will continue to work together to BE BRAVE AND MAKE CHANGE. 

Kylie Gardner

Co-Chair, CVPS Reconciliation Action Group