are there any interesting traditions at school in Australia?
i'm a student at Russian University and need this information to arrange something interesting at school during my teaching practice. i mean some traditional holidays at school or something like that .. could you tell im more details about carnivals or school fairs?
Other - Australia - 8 Answers
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1 :
Well i dont exactly know what you mean by interesting traditions. Um ill give you the basics. Our summer holidays are in december and january. we have three other sets of holidays over easter - 2 weeks - in june - 2/3 weeks depending on where you live - and in late september - 2 weeks. School day goes from 9 to between 3 and 4. most have 2 breaks. first a small one about 15 mins long. perhaps at about 11 oclock. another for 45 mins at 1 oclock. um... i dunno... what else do you want? like i said i dont know what you mean exactly by interesting traditions.
2 :
We have a thing called schoolies = lots of alcohol, drugs (in some cases; not me) and a big party. This happens for all school leavers at the end of their last year (year 12 - not insulting intelligence, I just know that some places have 6th form instead). The traditions would probably be similar to the UK. We have the traditional Easter and x-mas assemblies. We have a mock assembly each year performed by the year 12s. Our school had walk of honour for year 3s (going from infants to primary school), year 6s (going from primary to middle school), year 9s (going from middle to senior school) and year 12s who are finishing school. We'd have school camps, house sports carnivals, musical, showcase (showcases music, drama and dance), art shows, we used to have a school fair, walkathon (to raise money), music assemblies, colours assemblies, awards nights etc. I guess we don't have many interesting ones apart from schoolies, but technically that's not for school.
3 :
I can't really think of an answer to your question except for singing the national anthem every now and then.. Actually every assembly starts with a mentioning of the traditional owners of the land (the name of the aboriginal community who use to live on that particular land) Other that that.. nothing huge.. Hope that helps
4 :
We always celebrated 'Carnevale', I went to a catholic school so there were a few Italians. We made a week of it, including a multicultural food festival. Of course we had the patron saint day. School socials, and then the usual formals, graduations, schoolies! In primary school we had a lot of fete's, but that would take way to much organising. As an idea, why don't you ask your students to bring in things from their background, like costumes, food, games, etc.. Though I'm sure Russia is not as multicultural as Australia, so it may not work too well. Being Russia, you should just have a Vodka drinking contest.
5 :
Anzac Day April 25th is a traditional holiday if it falls on a week day. Anzac stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and the holiday is set aside to honor Australians who have died in wars. It is probably considered the most important national occasion. Veterans celebrate by marching through the streets of cities in the morning and share drinks and memories in the afternoon. This day is very special to Australians and commemorative services begin at dawn. These ceremonies are held at war memorials around the country of Australia. During the day, the ceremonies always include an introduction, a hymn, a prayer, and address, laying of wreaths, recitation, a period of silence, and the National Anthem Australia Day 26th january This holiday commemorates the anniversary of the day in 1788 when the English declared Australia a new colony. It is celebrated with parties, picnics, and fireworks and coincides with the last days of summer vacation. This is considered a family holiday The Queens birthday celebrated on June 8th is another public holiday Infants, primary and high schools have sports carnivals. A concert put on by the students is held at the end of the school year. School uniforms are worn to indicate the school of the student. School camps are available and are supervised by teachers and sometimes parents. Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world, students are encouraged to wear sunblock, it's compulsory to wear hats in the playground in Infants and primary schools.
6 :
Anzac day is a traditional holiday for Australia and New Zealand. Usually they sing the national anthem every assembly. We used to have an Anzac day service, so the cadets would march, read out names of people that died in the wars, blow trumpets and bagpipes etc etc. Most schools don't do this, its just what we did. Allot of schools do different things. So there is very little that you can say is universal amongst all Australian schools. One of the answers said that every assembly started with "we would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land" I have never heard that before. So I can't say that it is universal in Australia. Again, with the carnival thing. That would probably be a school with a larger Italian or Greek population, not all schools do this. I went to an Anglican school so we used to sing hymns in Chapel. Though it isn't really unique to Australia. Though I believe most schools sing the national Anthem at assembly and usually have an Australian flag on a flagpole somewhere. Again not really unique.
7 :
Australia doesn't have traditional holidays. Any public holidays certainly aren't spent stuck at school. Some schools might have the odd fair but generally only to celebrate a milestone ie. school centenary.
8 :
The only tradition we had at my school was Muck Up Day, whereby the students finishing Year 12 on their last day would create chaos for the whole school.
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