Thanks to the many families at Unley Primary School who have shared with us important cultural celebrations that their families hold throughout the year. We hope to share with you some of the celebrations that our UPS families value – every month is busy! We always welcome family members at school to share information and pictures of these events so we can celebrate the diversity of our UPS community.

We’d also love to celebrate families’ Mother Languages and would especially like to hear children’s stories in your families’ languages. If you would like to be involved, we invite you to speak with your child’s class teacher, or Sally Van Leuven, the English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) teacher sally.vanleuven217@schools.sa.edu.au. Unley Primary School values its cultural diversity and we would love to help celebrate all the cultural events that are important to our families. If you have one coming up that isn’t mentioned, please get in contact with your child’s class teacher or me, Sally Van Leuven.

February

It’s been a busy start to the year, with many Asian cultures celebrating Lunar New Year and the year of the dragon. Penny, Grace’s mum, in Room 14 talked to the class about Chinese New Year last week.

Ann’s Mum, Vy, talked about Tet, Vietnamese Lunar New Year and the class made red lanterns to decorate the classroom.

The beginning of Lent is February 14^th (Ash Wednesday), often meaning Catholic people give up something until Easter. The 21^st Of February is UN International Mother Language Day: it recognises that multilingual and multicultural societies thrive through the preservation of their languages, which serve as conduits for traditional knowledge and cultural heritage.