Kids in Action

Friday 14th of May was the 2021 Kids in Action, Immersion day at Ewen Maddock Dam.  Twenty five schools attended with delegates ranging in ages from Year 4 from Good Shepherd, to Year 8 students from Immanuel. State schools and home schoolers were all a part of the amazing Sunshine Coast Council initiative, which is in its 9th year.

The day itself was stunning and our backdrop of the dam, glistening in the sunlight set the scene for our 2021 Future Dreaming Theme. The workshops were devised to sit under the banner of one of the four elements of Fire, Water, Earth and Air. Students were broken into smaller groups and were given indigenous names to identify with. We were Gung - Water and Buran - Earth.

The day began with a welcome to country and an acknowledgement of forefathers and ancestry.  Two of our delegates, Henry (5C) and Mani (5C), proudly stood and represented their tribe and welcomed all participants to country, before our day commenced.

Below are some comments and feedback from our students.

“My favourite part about Kids in Action Future Dreaming excursion on Friday, was all of the amazing people who made  everyone feel welcome and made no one excluded. It was amazing to make new friends with others from different schools and learn more and more about our land”, Amelie 5P.

“I really loved painting the rocks and bark with ochre and I loved to learn how to make a fire using fire sticks”, Fletcher 5P.

“I liked how the groups we were divided into the four elements: Water, Fire, Wind, Earth. The day was exciting with lots of cool activities”, Kiki 5P.

“I really liked the activity where we learnt about how to tell if water is clean or not”, Henry 5C.

“The journey on Friday was amazing, I love being a part of this program, it was a wonderful experience to engage with others, connect with indigenous people and their culture. I absolutely loved the yoga poses because we linked our spirit with the culture, it was amazing”, Heidi 5P.

Mrs Luanne Pollard, Teacher Year 5