Scarborough Public School celebrated NAIDOC Week today with a special music composition.
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Principal Chris Hopkins said the live performance of the school's 'Five Islands' composition, developed over the past year in collaboration with composer Owen Elsley, was fantastic.
But he was quick to point out that more importantly the showcase demonstrated the school's strong focus on integrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history across all key learning areas.
And Mr Hopkins credited the strong relationship with the Northern Illawarra Aboriginal Educational Consultative Group in helping the school develop a meaningful approach to learning around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture.
"This one-off event to showcase NAIDOC Week (July 7-14) is important," he said.
"But we deliberately work all year with the local community to make sure that we are really embedding Aboriginal culture across everything, from astronomy, human rights and women's rights, from the perspective of Aboriginal people."
Today's event came after the school received a grant in 2018 to fund a composition workshop.
The composition tells of a local Dreaming story of the Five Islands which was shared with the students by local Aboriginal woman and native Dharawal speaker, Jodi Edwards.
Throughout several workshops with Ms Edwards, Aboriginal artist Lani Balzan and Mr Elsley, the students explored the Dreaming story and developed musical phrases, visual scores and rhythms.
The school's choir performed the composition on Wednesday with a second performance at the Wollongong Schools' Choral Festival at Wollongong Town Hall slated for August 1.
The showcase also featured student artwork, public speaking and a 'Connecting to Country' poetry slam, with poems performed by Year 5 and 6 students exploring the concept of 'home' and the relationship to the local area.
"This was the first time the students performed the piece they've actively been involved in writing. It was really special," Mr Hopkins said.
"We've tied in this grant project with the fact that our school plan for the next three years has really focused on integration of Aboriginal history and culture within what we do."