By Eleanor Wilson
One thousand origami cranes made by students at Hampton Park Primary school will soon find a new home at the Hiroshima Peace Park in Japan.
It is part of curriculum for Year 5 and 6 students at the school, who spent part of Term 2 learning about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945.
Alongside the origami making, students are studying the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, which tells the story of 12 year old Sadako Sasaki, who died of leukaemia as a result of the atomic bombing.
Mirroring Sadako’s actions in the book, students are making 1000 origami cranes as a symbol of peace and good fortune.
Japanese language teacher and support teacher Andrea Elliott said the curriculum aims to educate students about how society can learn from its past mistakes.
“The reason for Sadako in particular is its a story of an incredibly transformative time in the history of the world, where the first atomic bomb was dropped and it changed people’s perspective on everything, particularly war,” she said.
“The kids have been fantastic at identifying that they don’t want something like that to happen again.
“I think we are lucky enough to be in a generation of children now who are far more reflective than we ever were and who really can make the change we need.”
Once the origami cranes are completed, they will be connected by fishing line and sent to Hiroshima for display at the Peace Park.
“Our paper cranes will be there, probably with one million others from countries all over the world, that idea that we are united as a world rather than just a country, it’s really powerful,” Ms Elliott said.
“Especially at this school, students are from so many different backgrounds, some of them have had the experience of war and they don’t want to see that again.”
