Video transcript
Public Education Week 2024 – Celebrating belonging in our primary schools

Zoe

That's our secret handshake.

George

Not so secret anymore.

Zoe

Ha! No. You've just seen some great handshakes from schools around the state to kick off Public Education Week 2024. I'm Zoe Tu from Marie Bashir Public School.

George

And I'm George Dartle from Marie Bashir Public School.

Zoe

And we're excited to take you on a journey around the state to see all the amazing things happening in our schools.

George

This year's theme is Proud to belong and we hope these stories will make you feel proud to be part of public education.

Zoe

Did you know that we're part of one of the biggest education systems in the world? With more than 800,000 students in NSW Public Schools, it's pretty cool to be connected to so many kids all over the state.

George

Next up, we have students from The Meadows Public School speaking with the Secretary of the NSW Department of Education, Murat Dizdar and the Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car about how they feel proud to belong.

Cyrus

Hello and welcome to The Meadows Public School in Seven Hills. My name is Cyrus.

Jahnira

Hello, my name is Jahnira. We are here with Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning, Prue Car.

Lahtarnah

Warami mittigar. My name is Lahtarnah. We are also here with Secretary of Education, Murat Dizdar.

Before we start our conversation, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of our lands the school is on, the Warmuli and the Toogagal clans of the Dharug nation.

Jahnira

We pay respects to Elders past and present and to all Aboriginal people on all the lands, wherever you are meeting in our schools. We acknowledge the ongoing custodianship of all the beautiful lands across the state.

Cyrus

Deputy Premier, thanks for visiting our school for Public Education Week. This year, we added the word ‘Public’ to Education Week. Why did we do that?

Prue Car

Well, our public schools are great places for absolutely everyone and we wanted to show the pride that we have for being public schools and all the things that our system achieves for students like yourself.

Jahnira

This year’s Public Education Week theme is Proud to belong. Can you tell us of a time you’ve felt proud to be part of Public Education?

Murat Dizdar

Yeah, really love the theme. This is my 41st year in education, when I started in kindergarten 41 years ago. I've had the great privilege of being part of public schools and now getting to work to support public schools.

What I love about being proud to belong is that our system, our schools, regardless of your postcode, race, colour, religion, background, just embrace everyone. And I felt that as a student, and I feel that in every school in the system.

Lahtarnah

Minister, I have an interesting question. Does the school belong to us, the students, or do we belong to the school?

Prue Car

I think that we all belong to each other. Schools are not just about the gates and the buildings and the classrooms and the playgrounds. They're about places that communities come together for teaching and learning and all the wonderful things that you experience every day in your school.

Now, my question is to all of you now, what makes you proud of your school?

Student 1

The Meadows is our family, the staff team really cares about us and we can trust all of them.

Student 2

We have a caring community, we are proud of our school, we are so multicultural.

Student 3

We have so many fun and memorable occasions.

Student 4

Our school is really clean.

Murat Dizdar

What about your bedroom?

Student 4

Not that much.

Student 5

Everyone is accepted. The Meadows is very inclusive.

Jahnira

Our teachers give an abundance of opportunities. Every person gets a chance at everything.

Cyrus

We have awesome facilities and amazing technology.

Murat Dizdar

Well, let me ask a question. What makes your school a place where you feel like you belong?

Student 5

We are always made to feel welcome and treated the same. Everyone is accepted.

Student 6

Our teachers have our backs. They never stop helping us when we need it.

Student 4

Our teachers, staff and Principal make us feel safe and we respect each other.

Student 1

We can trust anyone to share our problems. There's so many trusted adults and always someone to turn to.

Jahnira

The Aboriginal yarning circle, bush tucker garden, murals and Aboriginal culture group make me feel like I belong.

Cyrus

When we represent our school, we’re part of a great team.

Student 5 and student 6

We’d love for you to join our team!

Prue Car

Yay! Thank you!

Murat Dizdar

Oh no, we’re Tigers supporters!

We want Tigers colours!

Prue Car

Thank you so much guys, for having us. It's such a joy for us to be in Public Education Week with you here at The Meadows.

All students

Thank you.

Murat Dizdar

Even though you've got your school colours in the Parramatta colours and we're Wests Tigers supporters, we're delighted to be able to join you to kick off Education Week.

Make sure you enjoy Public Education Week.

Zoe

In our schools there are so many opportunities to try new things and connect with students from across the state. In the next video, we'll hear from some regional stars who are making new friends through music and dance in the Pulse Far West program. Let's see what they had to say.

Peter Hayward

Pulse Alive is a large scale performance event that is held in Sydney each year. It’s for thousands of students from public schools around New South Wales and it's about giving every student in every school who wants to be involved, the opportunity to participate in the performing arts.

Student

It's been really great working with the students here in Moree. And I had an experience the other day with a little kid who said to me that it's the best thing he's ever been a part of.

Sophie

Hi, I'm Sophie Vesely, and I'm from Killara High School. And this week I was working with the K-2 workshops. So we did a round trip of about 400km per day going to 3 different primary schools.

I was involved in a little performance for the kids, but also we were kind of the leaders of every dance item. It was really sweet, we got lots of high fives and they all were trying to get us to teach them how to do different things.

Student

I live in Mungindi and I go to a school where there's not a lot of kids. So my classroom is like from 3-6. I'm a little bit nervous about performing tonight.

Student

I'm really excited for the concert tonight. I decorated my own t-shirt and I got all my friends' names on it.

Student

My favourite move at Pulse Moree would probably be the supernova.

George

I wish I could go out West and join in. That looked like fun!

Next we'll learn about boccia, a fun and inclusive sport that provides an opportunity for people with a disability to play a team sport.

Peter Cardy

We believe our boccia competition is the biggest boccia competition in the world! With over 500 schools involved, we know of no other educational department doing a competition this big, for students with disability.

Today, here at Marrickville, we have 30 schools involved taking part in our boccia event, competing against one another to find a spot in the state finals.

James Boyer

It's a very inclusive sport. Anyone can play, regardless of their ability.

Darren Lang

It's a game of skill and strategy.

Brenton Sweet

A wonderful game for these students today. They're having a great time. Students lining up at the end and they all have two boccia each and they're trying to get towards the jack, as close as they can.

Peter Cardy

Boccia is a disability sport, designed specifically for people with cerebral palsy or similar disabilities and it's played from a wheelchair.

We've expanded our competition to include other disabilities and make them sit in chairs to play the game.

Brenton Sweet

My students have had so much positivity coming to this event. They've been so excited.

Michaela Davies

All of the schools here are having a good time just getting to know each other. Coming together, being a part of a community who are interested in the sport.

Peter Cardy

It's an excellent opportunity for these students to represent their school and compete, and we'd love to see future growth and expansion of this across the state.

Zoe

Something that makes me feel proud to belong in my school is how much we value multiculturalism and all the interesting ways we learn about and celebrate other cultures.

In the next video, we'll hear from students who participated in the Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition and find out what belonging means to them.

Student 1

The past will always affect the future.

Tony Davey

It's a public speaking comp for kids in Years 3 to 6. About 2,000 of them each year write speeches about multiculturalism on a bunch of topics we set them, as well as writing their own impromptu speech with only five minutes.

Judy Burns

I love adjudicating these events because you hear children, right from the age of 8 today through to 12, about something that's happening in their world and differences that they'd like to make. So it gives kids a voice.

Student 2

Every day, we all must remember that we are all unique representations representing our own beautiful cultures and religions.

Tony Davey

In terms of belonging, what it does is it makes kids think about what it takes to belong somewhere. And they take those learnings away, and that's how they think about their schools now, places where it's their responsibility to help their friends or new people who come to the school belong.

Student 3

Well at my school, I reckon everyone belongs here because I can say that there has to be at least 20 different cultures here.

Student 4

I feel like I belong at my school because everyone is inclusive at my school, and being inclusive can bring communities together.

Student 5

I feel like I belong when I have my friends with me.

Student 6

Teachers help me feel like I belong.

Student 7

I feel like I belong when everybody is including me.

Student 8

My school makes me feel like I belong when they help me, when they support me, and when we all have a fun time together.

Zoe

When you feel proud to belong, you feel supported to express yourself and be creative.

In this video, we'll hear about the Multicultural Playwrights Program, which welcomes students from migrant and refugee backgrounds to explore the theme of belonging in a live performance for their families. The show is even livestreamed so family members anywhere in the world can watch.

Student 1

Belonging to me means, being accepted and a place where you're comfortable and respected.

We’ve been planning a play with different schools and our play’s about friendship.

Students together

My friend is the best!

Gabby Pasztor

I think Public Education is really important for everyone to have the same opportunities, to do something creative and exciting like this program. Primarily in our area, we have students from China, Korea, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam. Students from all over the world.

Student 2

I think if the teacher chooses us to do this program, I think in the teacher’s hearts, we are very important.

Gabby Pasztor

Well, I think when you move to a new country, it's very isolating. And it doesn't matter your age or it doesn't matter where you work or where you study. It can be a really scary experience.

I think it's really nice to go from feeling isolated to feeling like, oh, actually, there's a lot of people in the same situation as me.

Student 3

And the 3 drama teachers let us be confident, let us be very happy. And I think they are very kind and I'll be very happy here.

Student 1

It showed me how to accept everything that’s coming up. Like to accept what I had before and what I have now and how I belong here.

Gabby Pasztor

I came to Australia when I was six, so I'm an immigrant myself, and it's through programs like this that really helps them to belong and helps them to enjoy where they are and what they're doing.

Students together

Friends, friends new and old. Make me braver, make me bold. Surprise!

George

It's so great to see some of the amazing things happening in our schools. There really are so many reasons to feel proud to belong in public education.

Zoe

Thanks for tuning in and we hope you have an awesome Public Education Week. And here are some amazing highlights. See ya!