Yanchep Rise PS holds Anzac dawn service

YANCHEP Rise Primary School held its annual Anzac dawn service, emceed by its two head girls, on Friday, April 11.

Principal Helen Demiris said the flags were respectfully raised by students and the school choir gave a beautiful performance of You Raise Me Up that set the tone.

“To begin the service, two of our students delivered a thoughtful Acknowledgement of Country in both language and English, paying respect to the traditional custodians of the land,’’ she said.

“A special feature of our service was the involvement of our Māori community.

“A cultural group Kapa Huka, meet weekly at our school.

“This term the focus for Kapa Huka has been not only on learning to perform the Haka, but also on understanding its deep cultural significance.’’

The group, which includes students, staff and even the principal, proudly shared their learning with the wider school community.

“Local residents were invited to join us and it was wonderful to see so many from the community come along.

“A big thank you to our P&C for providing a breakfast afterwards – it gave everyone a chance to come together, reflect and connect.

“It was a special morning that showed the strength of our community and the importance of remembering together.’’

After the commemorative service Yanchep News Online asked Yanchep Two Rocks RSL president Bill Jones what message he had tried to get across to the students and parents in relation to Anzac Day.

Mr Jones said his speech had to be suitable for young children.

“I sort of have to structure things because a lot of the kids are really young, but to let them know basically how many people died in the service of the country that we owe a debt of gratitude to,’’ he said.

“But at the same time pointing out that war isn’t anything good, so hopefully we learn to do more talking and less fighting.

“At the same time (I stay) away from horrible bits like World War I in the trench warfare, where 72,000 were dead by lunchtime and things like that, because you can’t really pass that on to kids.

“It’s okay for adults and maybe secondary college age, they can understand things like that, and they’ve probably heard a lot of it anyway, because it is all in the history books.

“But the average person doesn’t spend much time looking that kind of stuff up.’’

He said it was always a big thing for the RSL to go to the schools and do all the school services.

“We’ve got another one coming up now at the secondary college – I think we’re doing seven altogether this year.

“And of course, the big thing is the school kids are the ones that are going to carry on our legacy.

“Hopefully we won’t have too many wars to be on TV and things like that, but we can’t forget what’s happened in the past.”

Anzac Day on April 25 is Australia’s national day commemorating all Australians who have served in times of peace and war.

This year it will also mark the 110th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings.