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

Collage is such a wonderfully meditative and accessible art form … it can be beautiful, or clever, or funny! or complex, or simple,or edgy, or a mixture of all of the above.

And it all starts with cutting and pasting and combining images.

Kristian Glynn who is running our new collage group which we are calling CLAG (because it made us laugh) is a fabulous creative artist.

He often works with collage and mixed media and was telling me that he is part of a long term collaboration with an artist friend in Queensland - they send and resend collaged postcards, building the images up over time. That sounds pretty great hey?

He’s lovely and is sure to inspire you if collage is something you are interested in finding out more about, or something you are already into.

To join CLAG, running on Tuesday nights in the shed from 7-8.30pm just click here. We’re offering it at a great community price - only $100 for 6 weeks.

Garbage Bouquet - Kristian Glynn

Five Moons Of Our Sun - Kristian Glynn

And here are some of my efforts … including ‘Reef and Beef(cake) Sandwich’. Collage is fun for everyone!

The latest Grow Local Cook Local workshop was called ‘Chive Talking’ and was all about using winter herbs that are easy to grow at home … and cooking dumplings.

Shu Yun came along to teach us. She is a dumpling expert. In fact she told us that for a couple of years she worked in a dumpling factory in Melbourne where she made 2100 dumplings a day - amazing!

Anyway, here’s a little video we made about what we did in the workshop and what we learnt. If you want to make dumplings yourself you can follow along.

Ingredients

• gyoza wraps

• minced pork

• ginger (pickled or fresh)

• spring onions

• baby spinach leaves

• cabbage

• Chinese rice wine

• sesame oil

• salt and pepper

• sugar

• vegetable oil

Thanks Melbourne Farmers Market for organising this workshop - it was terrific. Thanks City of Yarra for funding this fabulous series.

Book in to upcoming workshops, find recipes and see more photos here.

Cat’s school holiday Lego program is all about wind and water this time and it’s full of friendship, building, learning and fun. Here are some great pictures that Cat took from the first session this week.

Keen to join in? She’s got another session on Tuesday 6 July. So it’s not to late to be part of the fun! You can book in here.

And … did you know Cat also runs a great weekly after school program here at ACC on Monday nights.

STREAT is a food-system social enterprise that offers work readiness and employment programs for disengaged young people who want to work.

Thay are based in Cromwell Street in Collingwood. Programs coming up include:
 
Taste of STREAT - a two hour interactive workshop for young people (and accompanying workers) who are interested in STREAT’s Ready to Work program and keen to learn a little bit more to help them decide if it's right for them. 
Date: Friday 25th June 10:30am - 12:30pm
RSVP by: 18th June
 
Intro to Work - an eight week individual program for people wanting to access hospitality
or horticulture focused work experience with weekly individual support. This is a roll-in/roll-out program that runs throughout the year.
Accepting referrals now!
 
Ready to Work - a 20 week fully supported group program for young people seeking work in hospitality. It includes on-the-job training, accredited training (Cert II in Hospitality), work readiness workshops, creative and social engagement, individual case support and referral. Plus guaranteed employment opportunities for graduates through the Paid to Work program!
Commencing: Tuesday 27th July 2021
Accepting referrals now!
 
Paid to Work - a six-month program offering Ready to Work graduates an opportunity to transition into 20-25 hours a week of paid employment facilitated through one of our partner employers.

Job Club - a weekly drop-in session for young people wanting individual assistance with looking for work (eg. help with resumes, cover letters, job search sites). No booking necessary – just drop in! Every Friday 1pm - 3pm.

If you are interested in finding out more you can visit their website here.