Braeside Primary School students celebrate NAIDOC heritage

After weeks of practice, Braeside Primary School students celebrated NAIDOC Week with a special assembly on Monday.

NAIDOC Week is traditionally held on the first week of July, but national commemorations were pushed back until November this year because of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Despite the change, Braeside students took the opportunity to celebrate Aboriginal culture and history to close out term two.

Male students took to the stage, performing a traditional Aboriginal dance under the guidance of Baldjamaar Foundation chief executive Damien Yarran.

The group were followed by students reading a Dreamtime story penned by a Katanning elder and all students joining together in a traditional Noongar song.

Braeside principal Teresa Wigg said the students loved learning about Katanning’s Aboriginal heritage in preparation for the event.

“We just want to acknowledge the process and make sure it doesn’t go unnoticed, because NAIDOC Week is actually in school holidays,” she said.

“We made sure that we brought it forward and took the opportunity to acknowledge it as a school and provide that message — that we are a connected community.”