NSW school told kids they would be separated from their parents
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- Category: Stolen Generations
- Created: Thursday, 29 June 2017 13:14
- Written by Alecomm2
NSW school told kids they would be separated from their parents
St Justin's Catholic Primary School in Oran Park.
Young students at a Sydney school went more than five hours thinking they would be taken away from their parents in a bizarre lesson on the Stolen Generation.
A nun walked into a Year 4 class at St Justin's Catholic Primary School in Oran Park at 9.30am on Tuesday, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The nun told the pupils their parents weren't taking care of them and they would be taken away on orders of the prime minister.
It wasn't until 2.50pm that children were told they had been tricked as part of a lesson on the Stolen Generation.
Students were then asked to write down how they felt about the hoax.
The exercise left many children deeply upset, with one parent describing the hoax as "emotional abuse".
"He came home and he said, 'Mum, I got really scared at school today'. This should never happen to another child," Natalie Wykes said of her son Kynan.
"This was intended to give students experience of a scenario that was part of our nation's history," diocese spokesperson Tim Gilmour said.
"It was done without incident last year and quite a lot of parents said the activity was a good one.
"If it's deemed it's no longer appropriate, we'll look at whether it needs to be changed significantly or just amended to include more context."
nine.com.au has approached the school for comment.
Official estimates state between 10 and 30 percent of indigenous children were taken from their families between 1910 and 1970.
Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/national/2017/06/29/07/59/st-justins-stolen-generation-sydney-school-hoax#RWAvAw8uKCZzLa1X.99
