I love it because it is a time when we connect with so many of our teachers. We hear what they have been up to and how the school is doing with Aboriginal education. We get to celebrate the wins and help develop approaches to support schools looking to improve their approaches. Yep – I love a yarn! Not really that surprising, right?

Delivering Aboriginal perspectives is one of the many things that teachers need to consider. The what, when and how of including First Nations content are different for every class teacher. Getting it right can feel daunting but the most important thing is to start. Starting is the beginning of finding a groove that works for you and your students.

It’s the great debate we have every year – should we be celebrating our great country on the day that began the destruction of our First Nations cultures? Is a day of mourning really the right day for this celebration? Communities are still living with ongoing trauma resulting from invasion – from massacres, strategic attempts at genocide, abuse and bias.

This year the Wingaru team have worked with two amazing Aboriginal artists – Dunghutti artist Aunty Cynthia O’Brien-Younie, and Marlee Webb, an emerging Darug artist – to bring you some new Christmas crafts for you to share with your class.

I get emails from teachers at all times of the day and night – all year round. Which is why I am not at all surprised that despite the fact term 4 of 2021 is not over, teachers are already reaching out to get ready for 2022.

Last week I sat down for a yarn with the host of WinewithTeacher podcast, Ceri. It was a follow-up to the article about Wingaru and our philosophy that was included in issue 10 of Wine with Teacher magazine which focuses on elevating Aboriginal voices in the education space.

I can’t believe we’re in Week 10 of Term 3 already and at the end of our Heal Country Challenge. I’ll be honest in saying that this term certainly didn’t pan out the way I had planned it when I put my Challenge Planner together over the holiday break back in July.

I am sure I am not the only parent to mutter obscenities about remote learning this week. It is life and we need to get on with it, but there is no point in mincing words.

Lockdown in Sydney is certainly not the NAIDOC week I had planned but I am loving the celebrations of community and culture that I am seeing online and in the media. I hope you are getting to participate in some great events!

NAIDOC is just around the corner and for many Aboriginal people, myself included, it’s a favourite time of year. It’s a time when Aboriginal culture takes a front seat, when we get to see our culture and our people front and centre.

I know I say this every year – but I love this year’s NAIDOC theme!

The end of term 1 of course means Easter and the chocolate eggs and craft that come with it! While Easter is not an Aboriginal celebration, eggs were a big part of customary life and looking at how Aboriginal people used eggs is a great perspective for all age groups.

Aboriginal education is an area of teaching that can have an incredible impact on the world we live in. I was thrilled when I saw that the NSW Government had introduced priority areas of teacher PD that included Aboriginal education.

The importance of local perspectives is one of the key messages associated with Aboriginal education. Every teacher is familiar with the call for local perspectives and ultimately the challenges associated with finding appropriate content.

I often get questions from parents who are keen for their kids to learn more about Aboriginal people, history and culture. Many are concerned about the lack of First Nations content in their child’s education or the quality of Aboriginal education that is taught without true inclusion of an Aboriginal perspective.

This year I chose not to engage in the Change the Date debate. It is too exhausting. I cannot face the racism that floods media and social media on this day. It is too ignorant and too frustrating, too much.