March 2012 Newsletter - Seaview High School

Harmony Day 2012Yōkoso, Huānyíng, BienvenueHarmony Day is celebrated around Australia on 21 March each year.Orange is the colour used to represent racial tolerance, cultural diversity and on Harmony Day, the ribbon students received in care group onWednesday morning to wear represents the message of the day, that Everyone Belongs.Harmony Day is a time to recognise the traditional owners of this land who have been here for more than 40,000 years, and to recognise thatthe rest of us have come to Australia from somewhere else, maybe it was five, six or seven or more generations before, maybe it was asconvicts, free settlers, skilled migrants or refugees, but originally, the majority of us have come to live here from somewhere else in the world.Today one in four people in Australia were born overseas. And our population of about 20 million is one of the most culturally andlinguistically diverse populations in the world, speaking over 200 languages collectively.Harmony Day is time to acknowledge the range of cultures that make up our country and to celebrate how this diversity has contributed toour lives; the foods that we eat, the houses we live in, the laws that govern us, the art, films and television we see, the music we listen to, thelanguages we speak, and the sports and games that we play, have all been heavily influenced by the different cultural groups that makeAustralia a great place to live.At Seaview we are proud of our international focus, our language programs and our international programs. We have 33 differentnationalities represented amongst our student body - we have students who were born in, or whose family come from, Africa, Croatia,Cambodia, Chile, China, England, Fiji, Germany, Hong Kong, Iran, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea Lebanon, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria,Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Zimbabwe…. and that’s just some of them.Having the opportunity to learn about each other and learn from each other helps us develop empathy and tolerance through improvedcommunication and increased inter-cultural understandings.The theme for Harmony Day in 2012 was Sport. Playing sport is a great way for people regardless of their backgrounds, to get together andwork towards a common goal. Being part of a team helps us develop a sense of belonging and acceptance of others and help to buildunderstanding and respect.At the Harmony Day Soccer game all students participated in the soccer tournament as either players or spectators because HARMONY IS AGAME WE CAN ALL PLAY.Penny TranterPRINCIPAL