Acknowledgement of Country competition 2022 Winner

Sydney Early Education Centres - Tallowwood

As a new early childhood service, we began our inclusive journey before we even opened our doors in 2020. Part of this learning journey was to build our understanding of the local Indigenous community and with this, develop our Acknowledge of Country. The team were involved in professional development sessions to build our cultural competency and learn more about the local indigenous people (Terramerregal), their country (Darug), what an Acknowledgement of Country is and also the importance of it being embedded into our everyday practice.

Soon after welcoming our first children into the service, we started talking with our children about who the Terramerregal people are and why it is important to start our morning group learning experiences with an Acknowledgement of Country. This became part of our daily rituals with the children each morning in all our learning groups.

Our goal for this year is centred on extending the children’s understanding and appreciation of Indigenous history and culture. The children in our Tallowwood Preschool learning group, supported by their educators, designed and created a book to support the children in gaining a deeper understanding of our Acknowledgement of Country. Whist creating the book, the educators and children engaged in conversation about “the Terramerregal people”, “the land”, “the people” and “animals”. Our book supports learning through visuals and allows children to increase their interest in the subject matter and break down complex information.

Our current practice is to gather the Tallowwood children in a circle and read along with the book. At the beginning of the year, our educators would normally be leading the group. Meanwhile, we are noticing more and more children are gaining more understanding of the process and would offer to lead their peers. Our goal is to get all the Tallowwood children involved and progressively offer more opportunities for children that are comfortable to take the lead or even share this practice with their families.

Acknowledgement of Country competition 2022 **CLOSED**

An Acknowledgement of Country is one way early learning communities can show respect towards their local Aboriginal community. Our Acknowledgement of Country competition is a fun way that we can promote this practice and share the many innovative ways that this can be done 

Educators will have to submit their entry by 5pm AEDT 4th of February 2022. Submissions must include a photograph with a short-written description. 

Voting will close on the 11th of February 2022. 

The chosen winner will be announced on the 14th of February 2022. 

The winner will receive a $200 voucher for the Koori Curriculum store. 

 

What you need to do win: 

  1. Take a picture that shows what Acknowledging Country looks like at your place 
  2. Write a blurb how you have developed your Acknowledgement of Country  

 

How you win: 

Entries will be opened to friends and families to vote, the 10 entries with the highest number of votes will be shortlisted and reviewed by the Director of the Koori Curriculum, Jessica Staines who will select the winner. 

 

Important note: submissions are only open to early learning education centres and must be by an adult on behalf of the child or children participating. 

Submission Format: We can only accept image submissions as either JPEG or PNG. Any alternative file format/s will not be accepted and therefore considered ineligible for the competition. 

Voting: to vote enter your name and email address, you will be able to vote for one entry once per day and will be added to our weekly newsletter. 

Any issues with submission or votes please contact us at info@kooricurriculum.com 

 

How to vote in the competition: 

  1. Click on “open gallery” below 
  2. Click on the picture of the Educator you wish to vote for 
  3. Scroll down to the “Vote Now” button 
  4. Enter your name and email address and click the “I am not a robot” button 
  5. Click on the “Vote Now” button