Gerringong Public launches Burri Burri playgroup to deepen cultural connection

Gerringong Public School, on Dharawal Country in New South Wales, has started a weekly playgroup for Aboriginal toddlers and babies under the guidance of respected elder Aunty Gwenda Jarrett.

About two dozen of the school’s 389 students are Aboriginal.

Known as Burri Burri, the name of the playgroup comes from the word whale in local language, and honours the totem for the Wodi Wodi people of Dharawal Country.

Gerringong Public School, on Dharawal Country, has started a weekly playgroup for Aboriginal toddlers and babies under the guidance of respected elder Aunty Gwenda Jarrett.

Burri Burri participants will meet on Thursday mornings, with children birth to five years of age and their parents gathering to make new friends,promote and learn about culture, be creative and develop connections to the school. 

Aunty Gwenda, the school’s local Aboriginal Elder and Gerringong Housing Aboriginal Corporation chief executive began discussions about the playgroup with Principal Kristie Goldthorp earlier this year.

Ms Goldthorp, who is passionate about Aboriginal education and worked in Arnhem Land for 10 years, saw the playgroup concept as a way of building closer relationships with families that would assist the transition to primary school.

“It’s so important that families feel comfortable within the school gates, so by the time their children get to kindergarten they feel at home, there’s a nice smooth transition and they’re not scared about starting big school,” Ms Goldthorp said.

“This will be a place where we will support each other, share in the joys and challenges of early childhood, and work together to provide the best possible experience for our children.”

Aunty Gwenda volunteers at the playgroup to help children understand their cultural history and how to connect with Country, and sees her role as “connecting children with their family groups, teach them their totems, teach them their country, their tribes, connect them, make them proud of who they are, so when they grow up, they will know ‘I’m from Dharawal Country, the Wodi Wodi people is my tribe. Burri Burri, the whale in the water, is our totem’,” Aunty Gwenda said.

“We need to be walking together and teaching them to have respect, to be proud of their culture, so these little babies know who they are and where they’re from, which a lot of adults and people today still don’t know.”

“Part of teaching the kids is also teaching the parents and the grandparents or aunties or uncles or whoever brings them.”

As well as connecting children with Country and culture, she sees the playgroup as having an important role in extending the lifespan of her community, and Closing the Gap.

“Through screening and collecting evidential data the playgroup can identify the needs and plan for future funding to implement and deliver programs,” Aunty Gwenda said.

“This playgroup is going to help identify many elements to change an Aboriginal First Nations child’s upbringing.”

Aboriginal educators will lead the playgroup and provide cultural programs, including language, dance, culture and music, with the focus of the playgroup moving forward to be also be driven by the needs of parents.

“They might have specific questions and so the coordinator might say, ‘okay, let’s invite this guest speaker in to talk, for example, about hearing checks,” Ms Goldthorp said.

Funding for the playgroup will come, in part through the NSW Department of Education’s Start Strong Pathways program, with playgroup coordination provided by Noah’s Inclusion Services. 

The playgroup will operate from the school’s Gamarada Room, which has been painted by Aboriginal artist Holly Sanders and students. The room is used as an Aboriginal education space, which includes language and cultural lessons.

Gerringong Housing Aboriginal Corporation has also contributed to playgroup resources and a breakfast club, which is open to all students.

Learn more about the playgroup here. Image shows Aunty Gwenda Jarrett cutting the ribbon with Chance Boota, Maya Jarrett and Alayli Munns.