By Ant Wingard @AntWingard
The Gold Coast SUNS are committed to engaging with the next generation this Queensland Multicultural Month through their Multicultural Schools Program.
The Multicultural Schools Program encourages social cohesion through the themes of leadership, teamwork, encouragement and cultures in the classroom.
Three schools within the Gold Coast region have been identified as having the highest percentage of multicultural students from the fifth grade and up.
Benowa State School, the Australian International Islamic College and AB Patterson College, who boast over 500 students from diverse backgrounds collectively, have been selected to participate in this year’s Multicultural Schools Program.
Across the four weeks in which the program runs, students will develop a better understanding of multicultural communities that exist on the Gold Coast, learn and develop the skills of Australian Rules Football, and enhancing their leadership and teamwork capabilities.
Students will also learn about the importance of maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle throughout the program, which concludes with a modified Australian Rules Football game during the final week.
Week one of the program centres around the theme of the active lifestyle and cultures in the class room. Here, students will learn about diversity on the Gold Coast and the important of leadership.
During week two, which centres solely around maintaining an active lifestyle, students will be taught football skills in preparation for the modified game.
Encouragement is the centre focus of the third week and here, students will take part in several fun physical testings including the vertical jump and body awareness tests.
The fourth and final week of the Multicultural Schools Program is themed around teamwork.
AFL Queensland State Indigenous and Multicultural Engagement Manager, Darren Allie, said the SUNS’ initiative is the perfect introduction to multicultural activities for children on the Gold Coast.
“It’s great to see the SUNS get on board and provide educational multicultural initiatives to school children in their community,” Allie told aflq.com.au.
“The Multicultural Schools Program delivers a number of beneficial experiences to the participating schools and we look forward to seeing the results at the end of the four weeks.”
Multicultural Month is celebrated throughout August in Queensland every year.
Photo: AFL Media/Lachlan Cunningham
