Prioritising First Nations at Lara Primary

At Lara Primary School our First Nations students receive small group intervention 2-3 times per week. In these small groups the teacher identifies student learning goals and uses explicit instruction and multiple exposures to help students achieve their goals. School funding allows for early intervention and the building of foundational literacy and numeracy skills.  

All students at Lara Primary School recognise annual days of significance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. These include Harmony Day, Sorry Day, Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC week. Our First Nations students dive deeper into the history and significance of these days and share with others in class and at Assembly.

During NAIDOC week all students celebrated the achievements, culture and history of First Nations people and participated in music, art and cultural activities. Students across Years 3-6 researched inspiring indigenous people and had a design task of recreating the Australian flag to include elements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander flags too. First Nations students made damper, which historically Aboriginal people created using crushed up seeds and water. 

The highlight for our First Nations students was working with Billy-Jay O’Toole, a Wadawurrung artist, to create an amazing mural for our school. Students had an education session and worked collaboratively to design the mural and include symbols that were important to our school and students. This beautiful mural is located near the basketball court and features Bunjil the eagle, sacred creator spirit, footprints to symbolise coming and returning to school, leaves, water and tracks. The students loved working alongside Billy-Jay and look forward to helping him create a second mural in the coming weeks.