Category: across barriers

Flags of Respect, Dream Huts & Laneways

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Dream team with inspired giggles .  Vicky & Chris have worked beyond their roles to connect St Kilda Primary School with stories of newly arrived and refugees this year. The ‘Across Barriers’ initiative got the Preps to visit Muhubo’s Dream Hut Installation; Yr1s & Yr5s crafted 85 ‘Flags for Respect’ that swayed at the Laneway Festival, and a City Of Port Phillip grant will raise the flags permanently with ‘welcome’ in the languages; Yr2’s dedicated their community Xmas tree and raised $277 for Space2b; Yr3’s wove a mattress and pillow from plastic bags that Carers of Africa Inc. handed out to the homeless. Their UpCycle Market raised $315 for the organisation’s altruistic work; Yr4’s captured Space2b in poetry, and winners will take the stage with Abe Nouk in Feb 2019; And we all remember the Yr5s got ‘Striped for Acceptance + Respect’ designing tote bags. 

‘What an incredible year it has been for learning and community connections. St Kilda Primary School’s new partnership with Space2b has florished over the course of the year. Together we have partnered up on a myriad of projects which have enabled our children to connect their learning in rich and meaningful ways. The ‘Across Barriers’ initiative, created opportunities for six of the year groups to engage more widely with the Space2b community of newly arrived migrants and refugees. We heard thier stories, shared our own and celebrated diversity, acceptance and respect’   St Kilda Primay School

Thank you to City of Port Phillip

 

 

The Art of Belonging

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Over 100 people joined us  for ‘The Art of Belonging’ a spoken word poetry night and launch of a fabulous new Laneway Mural by the much loved street artists Be Free & Suki.

The night was an exploration of home, settlement and connection, and how we find belonging in an unfamiliar place by 4 thought-provoking performances.
The night was beautifully complemented by the performances of emerging young poets from St. Kilda Primary.
We were lucky enough to have the wonderful and talented street artists Be Free and Suki create a colourful and joyful mural in our laneway.  Entitled ‘Forever Young’, this fun and quirky artwork brings the community  joy on a daily basis.
Thank you Befree and Suki for your amazing support!


Poetry Competition with year 4 students at St Kilda Primary

Note from Sue Higgins the Head teacher of St Kilda Primary
Last year the Grade 4 students collaborated on a project with Space2b where they were asked to capture the essence of Space2b and ‘making a new home’ from the perspective of a child. We had many eager students enter the competition and as a result, there were 3 winning entries: 1) Zamina 2)Ada, Harry, Ocean, Manol and Hridaya and 3)Celeste & Dylan. Winners have been invited to recite their poems on stage at The Art of Belonging – Spoken Word Poetry Evening. All entries will be permanently scribed in the laneway behind Space2b as part of the new mural by street artists Befree and Suki.
As part of this project, Clare Larman, a professional artist, has supported our children to rehearse and prepare for the evening. I had the great pleasure of being present when Clare worked with the children and she is truly inspirational.

 

Performances by St Kilda primary School poetry competition winners

Performance by Sermsah Bin Saad as night falls.

A huge THANK YOU to spoken word poets, from left to right, Melissa Pearson, Nelson, Sermsah Bin Saad, Clare larman, and  Tariro Mavondo.

 

 

THANK YOU
to the Palais Theatre &  Live nation for your kind funding

 

Across barriers – Food and story telling with new migrant families

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As part of the Across Barriers school partnership program, new migrant families from St Kilda Primary School had their first meeting with the Barriers Team at the space2b shop.
We met 4 new families from Ethiopia and shared coffee and tea.
Space2b trainee worker Darartu, also from Ethiopia ran the meetings to welcome families, and help with discussions.
Thanks to two volunteer parents from the school, this program is taking off.
Plans are to meet up fortnightly to share stories, give support in areas of interest such a sewing, computer skills and English lessons.
Three cheers to these schools.
We will also be inviting parents from the school to attend these sessions and connect with new families in a safe and caring environment, a great link between school and community.

Thanks to the South Melbourne Community Chest, for their support to make this possible.

 

This program was kindly supported by South Melbourne Community Chest

Across barriers – Dinner at CBC with new migrant families

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After a lot of planning and meeting the first event for Across barriers school program has started at Christian Brothers College, St Kilda,

Two events have taken place where parents, schools and communities have been able to meet together to share stories, experiences and just to meet up giving support to new families in our school communities.

Christian Brothers College, St Kilda had a lovely relaxed evening with new families from Sudan. With the assistance of the former school captain Anei Thou, Teachers and parents shared food and stories in a relaxed venue. Children played while parents developed ties, discussing various recipes and trying new flavours such as Okra. There was also a bit of dancing and music too. We are hoping to encourage more families over the year to meet up.

Good planning CBC and well done Anei for getting the ball rolling.

Across Barriers – Welcome program for new migrants in schools -update

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Hi this is jane Leroi, I’m coordinating the Space2b school program called “Across Barriers ” a collaboration between Space2b Social Design and three local schools. The program involves school kids developing a welcome program for new migrants into our school communities.   This program has been funded by the city of City Of Port Phillip

Our three schools are Christian Brothers College, St Kilda, CBC & Presentation College, Windsor, PCW and St Kilda Primary School, SKPS.  In the picture above is Genevieve and Vicly, who are working with me  on the St. Kilda Primary program and who both have kids at the school.

Ours first event was at PCW with Abe Nouk, from Creative Rebellion Youth  being our guest speaker. Through the voice of poetry Abe mesmerised the kids who were very impressed and inspired to know more about refugees and and how to live the dream with building upon oneself confidence and how to use self motivation to create a future path.

Here is one of the amazing poems from Abe Nouk To be  a poet 

 

Across Barriers follow up

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Following up on our Abe Nouk talk at PCW on 25/8/16


Id like to share some feedback from one of the girls and parents from PCW post event
Here is the piece that Mathilda Pithouse (a Year 12 student) wrote for The Lantern (school newsletter)

“Sudanese-born Abe Nouk landed on Australian soil in 2004 as a refugee, unable to read and write in his own native tongue, let alone the completely new one he was suddenly submerged in. Fast forward 12 years and he is standing infront of a room full of wide-eyed high-schoolers, sharing his story through spoken poetry. I’m sure I can speak for everyone in the audience when I say I wasn’t too sure what to expect from the slam poetry, and I’m also positive I speak for everyone when I say that I left that room speechless.

His profound poems delved deep into his war-torn childhood, the stigma of living as a refugee and the frustration he fought and perseverance he found through his illiteracy. He forced us to ponder our privilege – not to induce guilt, but rather appreciation, and emphasised our own role in creating our futures. Most importantly, he emphasised the importance of our self-forgiveness and acceptance, using his extraordinary life as an example.

I’d like to thank this incredible role model for taking his time out to speak to us. We are inspired and most of all, grateful. I hope many more people are lucky enough to hear these amazing stories from such an amazing person.”

_____________________

Clearly, she was blown away! The school also received the following email from a parent of a Year 12 girl just last night about Abe’s visit:

” the reason why I wanted to contact you is to say that Leah was very impressed, moved and encouraged by the recent visit of the young rapper/ slam poetry artist from Africa. Leah is very receptive to people who come from different cultural/ social backgrounds and who succeed against all the odds. She was in tears telling me about the young man.
Thank you for organizing this event.”
Fantastic
All three schools are embracing the “Across Barriers” program in some format which will be embedded into their school curriculum for 2017.
PCW and CBC are moving towards organising more events in term 4 , St kilda primary school will be looking into the program closely to see how possibly Y5 curriculum can be further enhanced in 2017.
We look forward to working with such great people and children in the near future, for “together we do make a difference.”

Across Barriers – letters from the students

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Following up on Abe’s visit, Id like to share some feedback from one of the girls and parents from PCW post event

Here is the piece that Mathilda Pithouse (a Year 12 student) wrote for The Lantern (school newsletter)

“Sudanese-born Abe Nouk landed on Australian soil in 2004 as a refugee, unable to read and write in his own native tongue, let alone the completely new one he was suddenly submerged in. Fast forward 12 years and he is standing in front of a room full of wide-eyed high-schoolers, sharing his story through spoken poetry. I’m sure I can speak for everyone in the audience when I say I wasn’t too sure what to expect from the slam poetry, and I’m also positive I speak for everyone when I say that I left that room speechless.

His profound poems delved deep into his war-torn childhood, the stigma of living as a refugee and the frustration he fought and perseverance he found through his illiteracy. He forced us to ponder our privilege – not to induce guilt, but rather appreciation, and emphasised our own role in creating our futures. Most importantly, he emphasised the importance of our self-forgiveness and acceptance, using his extraordinary life as an example.

I’d like to thank this incredible role model for taking his time out to speak to us. We are inspired and most of all, grateful. I hope many more people are lucky enough to hear these amazing stories from such an amazing person.”

_____________________

Clearly, she was blown away! The school also received the following email from a parent of a Year 12 girl just last night about Abe’s visit:

” the reason why I wanted to contact you is to say that Leah was very impressed, moved and encouraged by the recent visit of the young rapper/ slam poetry artist from Africa. Leah is very receptive to people who come from different cultural/social backgrounds and who succeed against all the odds. She was in tears telling me about the young man.
Thank you for organizing this event.”
Fantastic
All three schools are embracing the “Across Barriers” program in some format which will be embedded into their school curriculum for 2017.
We look forward to working with such great people and children in the near future, for “together we do make a difference.”

Across Barriers school program

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Hi my name is jane Leroi, I’m coordinating a new school program called “Across Barriers ” a collaboration between Space2b Social Design and three local schools. The program involves school kids developing a welcome program for new migrants into our school communities.This program has been funded by the city of City Of Port Phillip
Our three schools are Christian Brothers College, St Kilda, CBC &Presentation College, Windsor, PCW and St Kilda Primary School, SKPS. Last week Across Barriers had its first event at PCW with Abe Nouk being our guest speaker. Through the voice of poetry Abe mesmerised the kids who were very impressed and inspired to know more about refugees and and how to live the dream with building upon oneself confidence and how to use self motivation to create a future path. Space2b is looking forward to our partnerships with these schools and Abe Nouk from Creative Rebellion Youth to help develop this worthy program.

abe

This program has been funded by the city of City Of Port Phillip