Day of cultural respect

Embracing culture and respect were lessons at the top of the list for Bertram Primary School students last Thursday.

The school was alive with colour as students and teachers came together to celebrate Harmony Day.

Harmony Day is managed by the Department of Immigration and is defined as “a day of cultural respect” celebrated across schools, childcare centres, community groups, churches and businesses. The theme of this year’s celebration was Many Stories — One Australia.

To take part in the theme students dressed up in their country’s traditional dress and took part in culturally diverse learning activities.

English as an additional language and dialect teacher Joy Cheong, who was part of the organising committee for the day, said the whole school had the opportunity to learn something new about the world.

“I think it is important to integrate Harmony Day into lesson plans because Australia is becoming so multicultural and kids need to know about the rest of the world,” she said.

Students learnt about the New Zealand haka, the indigenous Dreamtime story, henna art and traditional games from across the globe, including the Chinese version of hacky sack, jian zi.

Miss Cheong said the main goal of the day was to teach students that "no matter what cultural background they might have, essentially we were all the same".