Reynella East College

Ms COOK (Fisher) (15:31): This year is the 100^th anniversary of our brave ANZACs, but of course this battle, while monumental and one of the most tragic through its sense of helplessness and avoidable nature, was only a small part of World War I. The global war centred in Europe, but involved countries as allies from all over the globe, and it began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918.

I am part of the Reynella East College community, with my oldest son having attended and now my 14 year old in his first year there. They have the most inspiring whole-of-school approach to Remembrance Day. This service on Remembrance Day began in 2003 with their junior primary and primary school involved in what was a ceremony followed by a short open fair and market. Over the years, the ceremony has been held outdoors on the oval and on the asphalt, and now it is held each year in their new Byards gym.

When the junior primary and high schools amalgamated into Reynella East College, it enabled high school involvement through their choir, band and year 9 and 10 students supporting their primary classes. This year's ceremony was led by student presenters and involved all school choirs and the college band. The junior primary classes sang and a bugler played perfect renditions of the Last Post and reveille. The Ode has been read each year by various veterans, serving members and retired service personnel, with cadets and Army Reserves providing a catafalque party. The service is used as an opportunity for students to link their learnings through presentations of poetry, stories and plays around Remembrance Day themes.

The level of community engagement in the day is impressive and likely boosted by the very clever combination of a celebration of Grandparents Day also. Many students invite their extended family to this celebration. Remembrance Day was well attended this year, with over 300 visitors on the day. Open morning was held in all primary classrooms so students could share their work, especially around the meaning of Remembrance Day. I really enjoyed witnessing their craft activities and participating in them also. There was painting, and one of the pieces they made was a peace symbol, which they created out of various bits of equipment in their classroom.

The fair after the ceremony has been a highlight each year, with families visiting activities together and having a shared lunch also. Classroom learning is linked to the Australian Curriculum in areas like history, technology and design, the arts and English. To assist learning, powerful narrative is often delivered by veterans to class groups, and also military memorabilia displays have been set up. Students consolidate their learning by producing pieces of work or research. This is then shared with families at their open morning. Activities and games are designed and made by the older primary students, who then present these on the day. This involves critical thinking and problem solving as students use all curriculum areas to produce successful activities for the younger students.

This year, a new initiative was also introduced: a poppy trail. This is where classes provided a learning activity linked to Remembrance Day which students could participate in. They collected a memento at each poppy trail station and, at the end, received an Anzac biscuit cooked by parent volunteers. Parents were highly supportive of this new initiative which added a learning focus to the fair.

I thoroughly enjoyed attending this wonderful ceremony and its associated activities. The smiles and the looks of pride on the faces of the children, but especially on those of the community visitors, are really evidence enough that the day is enjoyed and appreciated by all. I did take the opportunity to ask a social media parent group just yesterday for their thoughts, and I got this piece of feedback from one parent, Barb Dolkens. She is the mother of three girls who attend Reynella East College. She says:

We have a Vietnam Veteran in our family (Grandpa). The kids are exceptionally proud that the school commemorates and educates them about Australia's war time efforts, especially in relation to their Grandpa. We have been involved in this special day at [Reynella East College] for [the past] 10 years. This year was the best year! The service was incredibly moving. The kids were amazingly respectful (you could hear a pin drop during the minute silence!). The subsequent Poppy Trail was an ingenious idea that had well-structured education value directly related to Remembrance Day, but still allowed for freedom of movement through the school with Parents and Grandparents being involved too. Thank you [Reynella East College] for making this day an important event in the school community calendar! May it never end.

Thank you, Reynella East College. It was a great day.