National Reconciliation Week runs from 27 May to 3 June every year. It marks two big moments in Australia's history - the 1967 referendum, and the 1992 Mabo decision - and it's a time for all of us to reflect on where we've come from, where we're going, and what reconciliation actually requires of each of us. This year's theme is All In. Not watching from the sidelines. Not waiting for someone else to do it. All of us, every day. At Aussie Kindies, we reckon that starts with the little ones, and it starts early.
Why the early years matter for reconciliation
Kids are natural learners when it comes to culture, story, and belonging. Before the habits and assumptions of adult life take hold, children are genuinely open to understanding that Australia's story is long, layered, and shared, and that First Nations peoples have been caring for this Country for tens of thousands of years.
The early childhood years are when children form their first understandings of identity and community. When First Nations perspectives, languages, and ways of knowing are part of a child's everyday learning from the start, they don't become something to be taught later. They're just part of how that child understands Australia. That's powerful, and it's exactly why reconciliation education belongs in early learning, not just in primary school.
Our partnership with Wandana Aboriginal Education
One of the things we're most grateful for at Aussie Kindies is our partnership with Wandana Aboriginal Education. Wandana's educators and cultural knowledge holders work alongside our teams to ensure the First Nations learning children experience at our centres is genuine, respectful, and grounded in community knowledge, not just content lifted from a curriculum guide.
Through this partnership, the Lifelong Learning Curriculum includes First Nations perspectives that come directly from the people who hold that knowledge. The stories children hear, the art they explore, the language words they learn, the relationship with Country they begin to develop, all of it is shaped by Wandana's guidance and expertise. We're grateful for their partnership, and we don't take the trust it involves lightly.
What First Nations learning looks like at Aussie Kindies
For young kids, learning happens through doing, through stories, play, making things, and being out in the world. First Nations learning at our centres follows the same approach.
Children hear stories, real ones, passed down through oral tradition for thousands of years, and learn that storytelling is one of the most ancient and sophisticated ways of holding knowledge and sharing it with the next generation. They explore art-making inspired by First Nations traditions, understanding that the patterns, symbols, and colours they're working with carry meaning that goes back a very long way. They pick up words from local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, getting a feel early on for just how many languages and cultures exist across this one Country. And they learn to care for Country, not as a concept, but as something real and living that connects people, place, and time.
This isn't just for Reconciliation Week. It's how we try to run things all year round.
All In - what it means this week and beyond
The 2026 theme All In invites everyone to be part of this ongoing journey. It highlights the importance of collective effort, and the role we all play in building respectful relationships and understanding.
The campaign artwork is by renowned Gumbaynggirr/Bundjalung artist Otis Hope Carey, created in collaboration with Carbon Creative, a First Nations-owned and operated marketing and creative agency. It's a vibrant, optimistic image of people coming together, which feels about right for a week that belongs to all of us.
For Aussie Kindies families, being all in this week might look like:
- Doing an Acknowledgement of Country together before you go for a walk or visit the park, and talking with your kids about what it means
- Finding a picture book by a First Nations author at your local library - there are some brilliant ones for little readers
- Asking your child what they've been learning about Country at kindy - you might be surprised what they already know
- Checking out what's happening in your local community for Reconciliation Week and getting along if you can
- Thinking together as a family about what being all in for reconciliation looks like beyond this one week
A big week - and a bigger commitment
Reconciliation Week is one week. But the work of reconciliation doesn't clock off on 3 June, and neither do we. At Aussie Kindies, we'll keep learning alongside Wandana, keep weaving First Nations knowledge through what we offer children, and keep showing up, because that's what all in actually looks like in practice.
To every First Nations educator, community member, and cultural knowledge holder who shares their knowledge with us and with the children in our care: thank you. This week and every week.