Junior School Magazine - Edition 6 (NOV 2018)

Y ear 5 PYP E xhibition - A rt Central Idea - Children worldwide encounter a range of challenges and opportunities.

Students responded to this idea through an investigation into the significant challenges to food quality and access faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities living in remote and regional areas of Australia. Due to infrequent deliveries, fresh foods come with a substantial price tag, and their high cost is exacerbated by low income rates. Leaving many to rely on highly refined, highly processed, cheaper alternatives as staples. Diet has been linked to the chronic disease epidemic facing Aboriginal communities. The terrible irony is that Australia’s First Peoples lived for tens of thousands of years in good health before European settlement, supported by highly sophisticated and sustainable systems of food production, agriculture, estate management and trade. (Simpson, S. 2016). With the generous support of the local Somerset community, Year 5 students collected the thousands of plastic bottle caps needed to start the project. The collection consisted of bottle caps collected from healthy beverage options (water, milk) and unhealthy options (soft drinks, flavored milk, etc). After learning about some of the challenges faced by children around the world, along with the impact that a lack of recycling can have on the global community, the Year 5 students learnt the skills that are required in order to produce a panel from recycled plastic bottle caps. The processes involved with this unit not only encourage reflection on the challenges of others, the opportunities we have to help but also on team work and collaboration.

JSM Edition 6

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