Learning Communities Catalyst

1. Title: What is/was the initiative?

Fields of Poppies

2. Where is/was it?

Shire of Yarra Ranges - Victoria

3. When was it?

Term 3 of 2004 culminating in the final presentation on Remembrance Day 2004

4. What is/was it about?

Year nine students from Pembroke Secondary College spent time talking to local veterans, grandfathers, grandmother and parents, collecting their stories. Collecting the stories was the first part of the project the next step was translating them into a fusion of art forms - poetry, prose, visual arts, photography and finally a performance where students staged a production in the College theatre on Remembrance Day.

5. What type of initiative is/was it?

This was a Project of approximately one school term in duration. However veteran history has now become part of the school's curriculum.

6. Who is/was the 'driver' of the initiative?

Morrison House

7. Which stakeholders are/were involved?

• Department of Veterans Affairs
• Pembroke Secondary College
• Mount Evelyn RSL

8. How is/was the initiative resourced?

A Grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs - "Saluting their Service"

9. What did the initiative seek to achieve?

• Collaboration between learning providers
• Heighten community and in particular students' awareness of local veteran activity, thus contributing to increased community engagement with this part of our heritage.
• To offer students a wide variety of learning methods and scenarios.
• To create respect and appreciation for local veterans.

10. How is/was it carried out?

Year nine students from Pembroke Secondary College spent time in and out the classroom talking to local Veterans about their personal war experiences.

Students were supported and resourced by Morrison House staff, who worked in partnership with College teachers.

The students were free to use a range of mediums to interpret stories and produced a variety of finished results with several of them presenting poetry and stories at the final Remembrance Day performance and exhibition of memorabilia all managed by the students. Local actress Maggie King worked with the students, giving generous support and her own expertise to the production - a further learning partnership bringing the resources of the community together. The Remembrance Day finale brought together, school community, local veterans, government representatives, Morrison House representatives and interested community members.

11. What did it achieve? What could be done differently?

This project more than achieved its initial vision. Students were engaged and oversaw all facets of the final production. They built up an appreciation of the sacrifices our local veterans made to the war effort and have developed a notion of why it is important to acknowledge this contribution and a readiness to participate in Remembrance Day commemorative activities. Unlikely leaders emerged and a number of students re-engaged with learning as a result of this project.

Gaining the final tick of approval from the Department of Veteran Affairs for this project to go ahead was quite frustrating and time consuming and almost made it a "no go"

12. What information supports this experience?

http://www.metic.org.au/ (this is just a mention from the College Principal)