Smelling, touching, feeling, observing and interacting with elements of our natural environment are a very important part of our educative program at St Anne’s.

NAIDOC Week 2018

St Anne’s celebration

Our day celebrating NAIDOC week included a gathering on the grass area as a whole St Anne’s community. We said as Acknowledgement of Country, and spoke of the amazing role Aboriginal women have taken in supporting, embedding and embracing their culture and community.

“Because of her, we can.”

On the grass we had tables of Bush Tucker including damper with honey and fruits from local roadside stalls such as mandarins

and cumquats.

We also made face paint from clay, children’s faces were decorated in symbols and patterns (stripes, circles, dots, swirls) with indigenous meanings.

We had music and instruments – tapping sticks.

It was a wonderful celebration as a whole community, recognising the significance of our Australian First Peoples culture, now and in the future for continued Reconciliation.

St Anne’s will again engage in the Henny Penny Hatching Program. The incubator, chicks and pen will be delivered and set up in the Centre’s foyer on Monday 28 August 2017!

On Wednesday 26 July 2017 we will celebrate the Feast Day of St Anne.  We invite all parents to join us at 11am for morning tea and the cutting of a cake to honour this celebration.

St Anne was the mother of the Blessed Mother of Jesus, Mary. The Catholic Church assigns each canonised Saint a “feast day” to especially remember them. Our Children’s Centre was named after St Anne.

In January 2015 Adam Sullivan (Assistant Principal of Holy Family Catholic Primary School) gifted us with two unique statues that he had crafted from timber—St Anne and her daughter Mary (the mother of Jesus). The statues were blessed by Fr Michael Nilon, the Parish Priest of Ballina’s St Francis Xavier Parish, on Friday 24 July 2015. They stand humbly together in our Centre’s foyer

Australia’s three flags now stand proudly together in the St Anne’s foyer. Do you know about the flags and what the colours and symbols represent? Please read Newsletter 5 to find out.

Monday 3 July – NAIDOC Week Ballina Walk – Two of our St Anne’s teachers, Fiona and Narelle,  joined in Ballina’s Annual Celebration Walk along with other members of the Ballina community to celebrate NAIDOC Week and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island culture, history, and achievements. When communities come together as one as they did for this walk, the purpose (for the walk and the celebration) is strengthened.

Reconciliation Week, 27 May to 3 June, Let’s Take the Next Steps” was acknowledged and celebrated at St Anne’s in a way that was meaningful to young children with educators talking to children about friendship, acceptance, getting along, respect, celebrating difference and understanding.

The older children worked together on collaborative artworks, read Dreamtime stories then represented them through artwork. The Preschoolers also experienced a “Sharing Culture” performance by Gwenda Stanley, a member of the Young Australian Workshop Aboriginal Education Group, who shared with them dance, story, artifacts and language.

On Monday 21 September, Gareth Jones from Sound Synergy, visited St Anne’s with his collection of beautiful Djembe drums and percussion instruments, to facilitate an interactive workshop of rhythm and beat, with the Centre’s Shells Room children (2-3 year olds), Rockpools Room children (3-4 year olds) and Seabirds children (4-5 year olds). Each child, as part of a group, is able to work with Gareth with their very own Djembe drum ensuring a community experience and an amazing sound. This is the second year we have engaged Gareth to work with our children – we now look forward to next year!