This week I was contacted by Amanda, an Alphington Primary School (APS) mum, asking if her children could put a lizard up on our fence. As part of a school project. And of course I said yes.

And then I got to thinking about what the lizard was for and why they were putting it up … and I rang her back and asked if her children would like to write a little post and tell us all about the project.

And here it is. Thanks so much Abigail and Joshua.

And, on a broader note, aren’t we just SO fortunate to have such caring and excellent local teachers and schools that so creatively give our children a framework, language and strategies to discuss and action positive mental health in these times.

When life contracts to the neighbourhood, community connections really do rock! And now, thanks to Abigail and Joshua, we can all look out for the APS lizards on our walks and know that we’re surrounded by kids and families thinking about our whole community, and that we’re not alone.

Here’s what they wrote …

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Alphington Primary School is a great place to learn and play. It is full of people who work very hard to make it an awesome environment for everyone.

Because of lockdown, we haven’t been able to come together like we usually would. Even though we catch up every day through Google Classroom, it has been a bit lonely sometimes. To show that we are still strongly connected, our wellbeing team came up with an idea.  The idea was to colour in some lizards (the school animal logo),  and put them in places that are visible in the community. This is to show that our community is united, even though we are not all at school. When we see an APS lizard out and about, it makes us feel happy to know that we are still there for each other, and that we are not alone. After lockdown is over, our lizard friends will help us to remember that we got through another lockdown together.

Thank you to Alphington Community Centre for allowing us to display one of our lizards. It’s a place that many families from our school pass by. We hope that they feel connected to us and others in our school community when they see it. 

 By Abigail and Joshua

Alphington Primary School Students

With lockdown extended we think a little community arts cheer is in order … so Lee and I have started work on two new community projects to see us all through the next couple of weeks.

Painted timber blocks … step one!

The first is an interactive neighbourhood project that we’ll need some creative help with …instructions and materials should be out the front of ACC over the weekend for you to collect. Look out for our community art bins … and join in!

We’re also planning to do a little ‘marker of the times’ installation onsite. We are certainly living in a unique era … we think it could be cool to acknowledge it. More to come on this soon.

The Melbourne International Film Festival is back streaming online. Find out more and book your front row tickets today.

Last year we made a little rhyming series of animated pictures (GIFS) with some funding from the Community Bank on Queens Parade … and then put them together with a voice over … and turned them into a poster that loads of locals collected from ACC on their daily neighbourhood walk.

It seems timely to pull them out again.

Here are the GIFS.

Here is the poster (we trust it is still gracing many a fridge or toilet door around the neighbourhood).

And here is the animation with voice overs if you’d like to watch it (it is pretty cute!).

Kalimna popped in to visit our line dancers last week whilst they were holding their Biggest Morning Tea event - as you probably already know this is a morning tea to raise money for the Cancer Council, to support those impacted by cancer.

Around 20-30 lovely locals come together each week on a Wednesday morning from 10am down at the Alphington Scout Hall to line dance and then share a cuppa and a chat. It is a real community in and of itself. We drop in and see them every now and then, and also support Shirley behind the scenes (the dynamo behind it all) as she seamlessly organises the whole shebang.

She’s a star.

And anyway … lucky Kalimna went along. Because not only were the dancers happy to give her a demo, they were ALSO happy to do so in fancy dress. How fun - I think it should be a lifegoal for everyone to be part of a group that gets together in fancy dress for special occasions! Why not right?

Thanks Shirley, Thanks Kalimna. Thanks enthusiastic line dancing locals.