“The children intently watched as she carefully painted small symbols. Aunty B explained the symbols on the Garrawan totem (Currawong) ‘This is the meeting place, here at School and all these circles and dots are the families and children coming together,” said Acting Deputy Head of School Early Learning Victoria Kirkwood.
Ashwin remembered adding his fingerprint to the Burraga (Koala) artwork. He said “All of us are around here. I think this is my fingerprint!”
“Aunty B explained that each child belongs to this totem group and they are all coming together to yarn in a circle,” Victoria said.
“The final fifth artwork is for the Ngurang spaces, the shared spaces on ground floor and level 1. The children mixed sand and paint to add to the canvas. Aunty B engraved concentric circles in the sandy base to create the meeting place symbol. Children practiced drawing these symbols in sand trays too.”
Bianca said the children were very involved in the whole process, from deciding on the designs to choosing the colours and details.
“It’s all very student led,” Bianca said.
