This year was the first time that Lower Campus moved away from the usual recipe for International Week. In the past, each class has learnt about one country and its history and culture for the duration of the week. This year, the theme was ‘Celebrating Diversity’ and we focused on sharing all of the different cultures on our campus. Each day of the week was about a different country or culture, culminating in a celebration on Friday.
On Monday, the theme of the day was ‘Teacher’s Choice’. We focused on where our teachers come from and where they have been.
On Tuesday, we celebrated where our students are from and invited parents to lead master classes in cooking, art and languages from their countries of origin.
Wednesday’s focus was ‘The Beautiful Country that We Live in’ (Russia). Most classes focused on creating Russian art. The pieces produced were a true celebration of the rich history of this unique country.
Some of the week’s activities continued into Thursday. One of the highlights of the week was making diversity quilts. Quilts are characterised by different shaped (most often squares) being sewn together to make one large piece and this interpretation was no different. Each class was given a set of felt squares to decorate, one square per student. These squares were then put together to make a class diversity quilt.
The quilts then served as a backdrop and decorations for the celebrations on Friday, when we had a ballet performance and the much anticipated International Breakfast. Our celebration assembly was a fitting climax to a truly exceptional week.
Written by Maree Spence, Year 3 Teacher
