Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives sits at the very heart of the Early Years Learning Framework, and National Reconciliation Week gave us a natural moment to make that work visible. This year’s theme, 'All In', reminds us that reconciliation is not something to watch from the sidelines. It asks everyone to step in and take part. That is how we approached the week, not as experts, but as learners ourselves, researching alongside the girls and beginning, as we always do, with what they already knew and wondered.

What made the week so special was that our learning was guided from within our own community. Miss Siobhan, a relief co-educator who belongs to the Kamilaroi mob, generously shared her culture with the girls. To see a young woman from our own ELC family share who she is, where she comes from and what she carries was a gift. The girls listened, and so did we.

Across the week, the Mamie House girls gathered around Somebody’s Land, written by Adam Goodes. In the Annie House, Miss Danielle and Miss Siobhan shared their favourite Dreaming stories, while Miss Siobhan introduced the girls to clapping sticks and to Inanay, a traditional lullaby in the version recorded by Torres Strait Islander singer Christine Anu. There was art too, with handprints bright with the colours of the Aboriginal flag, and a collaborative painting inspired by the bold colours and free-flowing lines of Anmatyerre artist Minnie Pwerle. The girls’ work always found its way back to the land. Even our group times made room for Kaurna words, in our Acknowledgement of Country and in the singing of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

This was a beginning, not an ending. Reconciliation is not a single week or a single story; it is something we keep learning and choosing every day. This week, our girls did just what 'All In' asks of all of us. They stepped in with curious minds, and we were right there beside them, learning too.