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Ways to celebrate

Schools, TAFE institutes and departmental offices are encouraged to hold NAIDOC Week activities or, as NAIDOC Week falls during term break, to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures at another time.

Events and activities should focus on celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and involve Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

The theme for NAIDOC Week 2010 is 'Unsung Heroes - Closing the Gap by Leading Their Way', so your activities could reflect this theme by involving community Elders and young people.

You could:

Hold a special celebration (possibly jointly with other educational institutions in your area) with Indigenous Elders or other Indigenous guest speaker.
Include an acknowledgement of NAIDOC Week in your regular events, newsletter.
Even though it is school holidays, encourage students and staff to attend local NAIDOC activities and promote them in advance in your communications to the school/institute community.
Feature a piece by a local or well-known Indigenous person in your newsletter and website, telling their story.
Discuss the Prime Minister's Apology to the Stolen Generations made in February 2008 and what has happened since then.
Encourage your school/institute student leaders to develop a Reconciliation Action Plan for their school or TAFE.
Display Indigenous posters throughout the school/institute.
Stage a NAIDOC Week display in the library and make sure you have Indigenous authors and stories available for students to read or borrow.
Learn to play Indigenous traditional games as part of your PE activities.
Listen to Indigenous music or radio stations, watch Indigenous television programs from ABC, SBS or NITV or film and visit Indigenous websites.
Make a field trip to khuril dargan at the State Library or your local Indigenous Knowledge Centre.
Study a famous Indigenous Australian.
Research the traditional people from your area and make a map of local Indigenous sites of significance and visit them.
Learn the meanings of local Aboriginal place names, especially for your school/institute.
Invite a local Indigenous artist to work with the students on art, music or dance.
Invite local Elders to work with your school or institute on an ongoing basis.
Make a banner for NAIDOC Week and put it out the front of the school.
Put a NAIDOC Week reminder on your school bulletin board/sign.
Encourage your teachers to incorporate NAIDOC themes into the students' work.

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This page was last reviewed on 21 Jun 2011