Marking a significant step forward in our Reconciliation Plan and strengthening our commitment to educating future generations about the importance of Caring for Country.
Language builds connection and community. At Calista, classrooms are named after local animals that have been found at this site. Over the year, our School community has been working with Noongar Elders Aunty Marie, her daughter Chelsey, and Aunty Lynne to develop classroom names for the Junior School at Wellard based on the plants that have called this place home for thousands of years. This is an important step forward in our Reconciliation Action Plan and brings us closer to helping our next generation of learners understand that Caring for Country is an investment in knowledge, culture, language and ecosystems by preserving species diversity.
With a deep respect of Caring for Country and how the reciprocal relationship develops over time, we understand that the land provides language, life and connection. We continued our journey by yarning with our Elders about the properties and uses of the plants we see in our environment every day. Species that are endemic to this area and support life in this place. Using a combination of healing, bush and life giving plants we selected fifteen names. Working in collaboration with our Visual Art classes, Junior School students at Wellard were involved in drawing the flora over a series of weeks. They have captured the aspects of the plants that share species diversity while maintaining the integrity of the representation of the plant.
Placement was an essential element when positioning names. We listened to the Elders as they spoke of being guided by the boodja (land), connection and world (sky) in the Junior School environment. Plants with strong roots or that grow in close proximity to the earth have been allocated to the ground floor. Plants with animals that live, or flowers and fruits that bloom, in the canopy are on the first floor. As the classrooms rise in height so too does the flora that matches them.
By continuing to bring language and culture into the Junior School we maintain the commitments to the partnership that has transformed what Reconciliation looks like at Peter Carnley.
Lauren Balen
Director of Early Learning