About St Gerard's The multi-cultural character of the school community provides a rich environment for developing attitudes of acceptance and respect for one another. The diverse cultures and the variety of celebrations which these people bring to the school community leads to a greater experience and understanding of other people’s traditions. Opportunity is given to sharing cultural practices and celebrations. St. Gerard’s Catholic Primary School is situated in North Dandenong in the Southern region of Melbourne, approximately 35 kms from Melbourne. The area is “the most culturally diverse locality in Victoria with residents from 156 different birth places, over half the population born overseas and 51% from nations where English is not the main spoken language.” (City of Greater Dandenong (www.greaterdandenong.com). St Gerard's has a very high percentage of ESL students with diverse cultural backgrounds, specific educational, social and family needs. This is especially true of our refugee families where transition into mainstream schooling and the community is an ongoing challenge. There are 140 children attending St Gerard’s school from Prep to Grade 6 and 100 families of which 70 students were born outside Australia . The multi-cultural character of the school community encompasses approximately 49 nationalities and 32 languages. The majority of families are Sri Lankan, Indian, African, Vietnamese and a minority of families from other countries. We celebrate our cultural diversity at St Gerard’s with activities during Refugee Week , Cultural Diversity Week , Italian Day and other events during the year.