Hillarys PS Rebranding Process 2022 – 2024
2022 marked the commencement of change that is taking place in Hillarys PS and that will continue for the coming years. The school has since its inception always promoted and embraced its links to the coastal suburb of Hillarys with the present logo and even the colour of the school building reflecting our links to the ocean and coastline.
As the façade of the school is changing so will our focus on the land and environment on which we are situated. The rebuild marks a time of renewal for Hillarys PS and this leads us to look at our links not only to the coastline and ocean but to the land and sky and our surrounding natural areas.
On opening as, a primary school in 1973 in the new suburb of Hillarys we identified closely with the ocean and coastline by using the names of early captains and their ships to celebrate the early settlement and exploration of the Western Australian coastline in the naming of teaching blocks and student teams.
These identities have served us well however now we have a wonderful opportunity to address our changing demographics and expectations to celebrate, recognise and show respect to country, our environment and the First Nations people who were the original custodians of the land that Hillarys is situated on.
Though we will retain our three dolphins as a reflection of the previous story of Hillarys PS and the ocean we are looking to widen our vision to include all facets of the country on which are living – the land, sky, water as well as local fauna and flora and their links to the First Nations People.
The school has over the years promoted the inclusion of the language and stories of our First Nations people in our teaching. Students are now engaged in learning the Noongar language, to identify their stories, while also acknowledging their culture through art, song and dance.
Our engagement with the traditional owners of our land has been ongoing over the past ten years with incursions led by First Nations people, and the paintings of murals, including a reconciliation wall and more recently a scene reflecting the land, water and animals of the local environment taking a prominent place in the school.
As these murals will disappear as existing rooms are demolished, they will be recognised in our new build through using colours from the land, sky and sea in paint and floor coverings in buildings, artworks and with the renaming of the factions to Moort (families) with names of animals from our murals and the use of Noongar colours in our clothing. Our blocks will be renamed using the six Seasons demonstrating the growth of our students in tune with our seasons from the earliest beginnings Kindergarten (Makuru) through each of the six seasons to moving into adulthood Year 6 (Djeran). Using Moorts (families) as our house(factions) underpins the strong pastoral care and wellbeing focus and vision of our school with our values of caring, inclusion, responsibility, respect and motivation highlighted as being the values we aspire to in the school, our own families and in the wider community.
