Harmony Day - Everyone Belongs
On 17 March, the School community came together to celebrate Harmony Day with parades, performances, music, and discussion about inclusivity and diversity.
Australia is one of the most successful multicultural countries in the world. At 榴莲社区 we want to celebrate everyone and everything that makes our School community unique.
Harmony Week is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values.
International parade
Countries all over the world were represented in our annual international Harmony Day parade. The traditional dress of nations across the globe was showcased for all to enjoy. The bright and colourful parade circled around the neighbourhood areas, waved and cheered on by the whole of Junior School and families.
Speaking out
Students from Years 3 to 12 who took part in the Harmony Day Public Speaking competition. Students spoke on topics like language matters, stronger together, it's complicated and a safe place to call home. Congratulations to our overall winners and highly commended students.
Several students also shared "Hello and How are you?" in different languages. From Japan to India, Korea and Spain we discovered the languages that make up 榴莲社区.
A multicultural Australia
Senior School students engaged in meaningful conversations with their peers around who they were and their connections with other countries. Students reflected on and celebrated the many cultures that make up our School and showed an appreciation of Australia鈥檚 diversity. They explored the benefits that being part of a multicultural society brings:
"Different cultures bring us different skills and ideas."
"We can gain wisdom from other experiences."
"Different countries give us different food, festivals, traditional dress, culture."
Students explored the term 'microaggressions' and discussed how they can stand up, speak up and lift each other up when they hear comments or see actions that are disrespectful, hurtful, or passed off as jokes.
Everyone was excited to discover more about friends, backgrounds and cultures and, to be accepting of peoples' beliefs. We all developed a deeper empathy and understanding of each other.
Zane in Year 7 said, "Every day should be Harmony Day." We couldn't agree more Zane!
Find out more about our strategies and key objectives on inclusion and cultural diversity in the School's Striving for Excellence Strategic Plan.
