Our feature school this month is Templestowe College, their journey started with a commitment from staff to give it a go, agreeing there will be failures and successes along their journey to embed truth-telling and reconciliation across the Templestowe College community.

Our Reconciliation in Education Series is an opportunity to promote best practice by sharing journeys and how reconciliation in education has been embedded in an education setting.  

Templestowe Secondary Community Intergrated Learning Week
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As part of TC’s Community Integrated learning week in term three, our focus was on Our Place on Country. We had many activities running throughout the week such as bush food experiences, a guest First Nations wildlife presenter, traditional indigenous games at our athletics carnival, a welcome to country with Wurundjeri artist Mandy Nicholson, and so much more. Our Connect TV episode also focused on this topic with our Connect TV crew heading out to Willum Warrain on Bunurong Country to talk with some Traditional Owners about how First Nations people lived.

We were also lucky enough to conduct a Q&A with Aunty Sammy and Youth Officer Kyah. This episode also featured our crew visiting significant sites such as Finn’s Reserve near Birrarung (aquaculture) and Witton’s Reserve which is a significant Wurundjeri site and the birthplace of William Barak.

Overall, our school had so much funand education through our Community Integrated learning weeks and Our place on Country was a wonderful and insightful topic to cover and get a look into First Nations and Indigenous history and ways of living.

Written by Kate Dickenson 

‍Term 3 Our Place on Country Program

‍Next week marks term 3's Community Integrated Learning week(CIL)! This term's theme is 'Our Place on Country'.

While developing this term's CIL week, TC Staff participated in professional development with Deakin University-based Dja Dja Wurrung academic Dr Al Fricker to learn about 8 WaysIndigenous pedagogy as well as embarking on guided walks of local sites with renowned local historian Jim Poulter (Reconciliation Manningham).

With this knowledge, specific events and activities have been designed to connect the TC community with the significance of our local area and Wurundjeri people.
By visiting, mapping, and learning about these places CIL week developer Ryan, "hopes to deepen our understanding of the importance of Country there by reflecting on our own connection to place, the environment, its myriad species, and the stories within the landscape. We are excited to share our learnings with the students and community". 

Throughout the week, there will be a series of subject-specific activities, events and special incursions including a Welcome to Country and a whole school Indigenous Games Day to "celebrate, play, and experience an immersive introduction into Traditional First Nations games".  

‍Whole school events

‍TUESDAY:
Indigenous Games Day and Athletics Carnival with Wanyara Deadly DJ Mowson
Traditional games
Painting and story-telling

‍THURSDAY:
‍Start of the day P1 Welcome to Country with Wurundjeri artist Mandy Nicholson and Djirri Djirri (All classes welcome)
P1 Entry Q&A with Mandy Nicholson 

‍FRIDAY:
‍Connect Wurundjeri Country & Language mini-lessons 
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‍Connect TV ‘Our Place on Country’ feature episode
Week 9
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‍Subject-based activities:
‍All Food electives

‍Bush food experience
‍The Bush Food Experience will be a live streamed/recorded talk on the Rain Garden at William Angliss TAFE. Students will also be cookingWattle seed Damper in the TC pizza oven and Lemon Myrtle Anzac biscuits! The food experience will involve cooking with indigenous ingredients and learning about how they grow and what they taste like.

‍Animals
‍A guest First Nations wildlife presenter will be bringing several important native animals to the animals students and talking about their significance to local Indigenous people.

‍Science/Photography
‍The annual science photography competition is back and with awesome prizes! The winner will receive a $100 Camera House voucher and a double movie pass. The runner-up will also score a $50 Camera House voucher.Check out the community teams page for criteria! 

‍Science
‍Exploring Force - a learning map of Birrarung The 'Exploring Force' was a learning journey about ourSolutions course this term. It follows the path of Birrarung (Yarra River) and is modelled on the Aboriginal 8 Ways of Learning. 

‍Tim’s Connect
‍Working with stakeholders to explore the naming of TC Wings after significant local Aboriginal Change Makers. Tim Sproule's connect class came up with the idea of renaming the different parts of the school with names more relevant to country."

We spoke to Jim Poulter (a local historian who emailed us some ideas about where to start). We then started thinking about significant first nations people who we could name parts of the school after... we will be asking for input from the wider student body before putting our proposal to the SchoolLeadership team". 

‍Anna's Connect
‍Mapping the Rapids - A collective map of Birrarung 

‍Music
‍Outing to Finn’s Reserve to compose songs inspired by Birrarung.
"Finn's Reserve is a significant Wurundjeri place not only because of the presence of the river but also due to extensive archeological evidence of shell middens, mud ovens, permaculture and aqua culture. Many important trees suggest Songlines and cultural stories. As aspiring musicians, the Stage and Beyond students will discover how other songwriters have used the natural world as a source of inspiration for songs, and then ask how a sense of place is communicated through music". 

‍English
‍The Babbling Brook - Poetry Project Prep English - 'Dust Echoes' short storiesTC Street Podcast ‘Our Place on Country’ episode Ruffy Lake Poetry Immersion Excursion Aligned with the Entry English poetry unit this term, students will be going down to Finn's Reserve to check out the old aqua culture area. While learning more about the Reserve, students will be encouraged to"write poetry whilst thinking about their connection to country or anything they have learnt about the Indigenous experience". 

‍VCAL Senior
‍Local walk and discussion about what the land was before colonisation - First Nations spotlight writing piece 

‍VCAL Intermediate
‍BBQ fundraiser at Indigenous Games Day

 Maths
‍8 ways in action: Sharing culture through symbols Throughout the FLE math classes, next week students will explore one way of indigenous learning. By using symbols and images, students will explore indigenous artwork and identify the symbols used, share the symbols and images that they use as adolescents (emojis, memes) and then share collective knowledge about all the maths symbols and images they are familiar with.  

‍Media Elective
‍Students’ connection to placeInspired by a viewing of Bob Randall, a Yankunytjatjara Elder and Traditional Owner of Uluru, telling his story of place on country, media students have explored indigenous stories of place on country and reflected on their own stories, brainstormed ideas, storyboarded visuals, filmed, drawn and photographed their interpretations and edited together a narrative for a presentation next week! 

‍Art
‍My Story through Pottery - Creating pottery adorned with personal symbology inspired  the Hermannsburg Potters  

‍Crime and Punishment
‍Looking at methods of communal law enforcement prior to colonisation 

‍VCE History Units 1&2
‍Watching videos of atomic testing at Maralinga (Indigenous sites) and discussing ongoing effects 

‍Staff PD
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Jim Poulter Reconciliation Manningham – Learning about our local area, aquaculture, significant sites, and land use. Local history. Guided walk of Finn’s Reserve.
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Dr Al Fricker (Deakin Uni)  - 8 Ways Pedagogy. How to incorporate 8Ways learning into existing and new unit plans. Introducing learning maps and story-telling into learning across the curriculum.  Get ready for an exciting and educational week!  

Learn more about 8 ways of Learning here.

By Bonnie-Mai Smith TC Journalist