PREMIUM
Community

Students celebrate with an end-of-year concert

Special bond: Senior Malayalam girls after peforming at the end of year concert. Photo by Contributed

Shepparton’s status as a rich and culturally diverse city was on full display on Saturday, November 18, as students at the Victorian School of Languages celebrated another successful school year with an end-of-year concert.

With more than 250 students enrolled at VSL, performances on the day saw traditional song, dance and spoken pieces performed by each Arabic, Albanian, Punjabi, Sinhala, Dari/Persian, Urdu, Malayalam and Mandarin class groups.

Audience members enjoyed performances by students of all age groups, from Prep to Year 12, and relished the opportunity to be a part of the concert.

Of particular note was the energy in the room when the audience kept beating with one of the performances supporting the youngest dancers.

After the concert, family members spoke of the importance of learning more about each other as a community and city and voiced their support for VSL and its work.

As a statewide school, VSL provides students with the chance to continue to engage with and further learn through their first languages and culture.

The school is welcoming enrolments for 2024. To enrol, visit www.vsl.vic.edu.au/enrol

The school is located at the Greater Shepparton Secondary College campus and runs every Saturday, from 9am to 12.20pm, during school terms.

Connecting with community: Junior Punjabi students perform their dance about the little people serving their community and bringing feelings of belongingness to all. Photo by Contributed
Space to express themselves: Performances were held in the gymnasium at Greater Shepparton Secondary College. Photo by Contributed
Traditions continue: Malayalam senior Year 7 to 10 class performs a traditional dance wearing traditional dresses called Thiruvathira. Photo by Contributed
Special occasion dance: Persian male students performing an Afghan traditional wedding dance. Photo by Contributed
Ready to go on: Persian students (from left) Farid, Yousuf and Sohail Khaksar ahead of their performance. Photo by Contributed