Yubup Primary school prepares for Wakakirri story dance festival

Yubup Primary School students, who are part of the play called 'Wakakirri' (Damjan Janevski) 413804_01

Students of Yubup Primary school in Mickleham will participate in the nationwide Wakakirri story dance festival on August 2.

Wakakirri is a nationwide festival for Australian schools that provides a platform for students to express their thoughts, ideas and aspirations through storytelling and dance.

Inspired by the belief that great stories can inspire change, Wakakirri is designed to promote student engagement and well-being in schools by creating and performing captivating story dances.

Thirty-seven students from grades 4 to 6 will perform a story dance inspired by Trudy Ludwig’s book The Invisible Boy.

Art teacher Christie Silva said, “As a brand new school with students from a range of previous schools, this opportunity has allowed us to form great connections with our peers and teachers and we have had so much fun in the process.

“We wanted to share the importance of inclusion, which is one of our school values, and the importance of everyone feeling like they belong. We are a brand new school that only opened this year, and we have students from a range of backgrounds and cultures, many of whom are learning English as an additional language.

“We believe this makes our school a very special place to learn. We wanted to portray our message that ‘a simple act of kindness can make a big difference to someone’s day.’ We never want anyone to feel ‘invisible’ at Yubup PS.”

Hume council has granted creativity activity grants of $2100 to support the event, and Bunnings Craigieburn generously provided all the props for the performance.

The event will be held on Friday, August 2, at the Clocktower Centre in Moonee Ponds.

Anne Parisianne