Maclean High steers students in right direction

KIDS OF SPIRIT: All the latest news from Clarence Valley Schools

Maclean High School students are about to start competing in steer competitions.

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Maclean High School

EXCITING things are happening at Maclean High School. We are starting a Cattle and Livestock Showing team. Our Agriculture team has secured some cattle, and shortly our students will commence the hard work of training the cattle and perfecting handling techniques before we join the show circuit to display the cattle and our skills.

This will be a first for the school and the initial set up of equipment and resources can be extremely costly. Initial equipment includes livestock, feed, trainer, cattle/hay feeder, feed storage equipment as well as a range of showing equipment including industrial blower, clippers, hackamores, leads, brushes, buckets and a large toolbox for equipment storage.

Preparing for, and showing cattle, can be an extremely rewarding and educational experience for young people. The lessons learned in showing cattle can directly influence their lives in positive ways. By developing skills like organisation, communication and presentation we are ensuring the students involved will transition from Maclean High School ready for work with key employability skills. Additionally, our program will instil patience, good sportsmanship, confidence, respect for animals and people alike and above all, engagement at a community level with all participants.

Winners of the Harry Lange Memorial Essay Competition from Maclean High School

We are looking for donations to help fund our Cattle Show Team.

What do you get? Advertising on the side of the stock trailer, banners at shows, banners at the school farm and special mention on our numerous social media outlets. If you think you can help us out, please contact our Primary Industries Teacher, Christopher Kirkland, on 0427 645 843.

Each year our students enter the Maclean RSL Sub Branch Harry Lange Memorial Essay Competition. The two categories, senior and middle school, are competitive and provide an opportunity for students to step away from curriculum based writing.

For 2020 the senior results saw a clean sweep by Year 10 students with Carissa Miltiadou taking out first place, followed by Josh Parlevliet-Dean in second place and Bailey Cameron in third place.

The junior school section saw Harry Campbell take out the top position followed by Amelia Johnson and Charles Jeffery, who are all Year 8 students.

Congratulations to these students who love writing, pushing themselves and their skills to support a local community event.

South Grafton Public School

SOUTH Grafton Public School is celebrating Education Week with this year’s theme “Learning Together”.

Students and staff will still be participating in a range of activities to support quality Public Education in NSW. The timetable below is an example of some of the activities classes will have the opportunity to participate in, using Livestream and IT technology.

• Tuesday – Introduction to Aboriginal languages livestream

• Wednesday – Virtual Film Festival livestream

• Thursday – Virtual Activities

• Friday – Virtual Activities

Don’t forget to take a leisurely stroll down ‘The Link’ at Grafton Shoppingworld during Education Week to see our students’ art work showcased.

Our Performing Arts concerts which we would normally hold in Education Week will be held on Wednesday 28th August for students and staff. We are looking forward to our talented students showcasing their excellent skills at these concerts which will be held during school times. We will post snippets of each performance on our Facebook page for your perusal.

South Grafton Public School AFL team played Grafton PS at Ellem Oval last Tuesday. The students displayed outstanding determination and sportsmanship during the game. The eventual score was SGPS 54 to GPS 12. Congratulations to the team on a fantastic effort.

As part of our sporting organisation for this term to provide opportunities for our students due to all PSSA NSW Knockout competitions being cancelled, our AFL team played Grafton Public School at Ellem Oval.

All children from both schools participated in a skills coaching session before the game and then displayed outstanding determination and sportsmanship during the game.

The eventual score was SGPS 54 to GPS 12. Congratulations to the team on a fantastic effort.

We received our photos back from the NSW DEC Communication and Engagement team. These photos will be used to represent the NSW DEC and promote our school across many platforms. The photos are of a very high quality and we also received a very positive comment complimenting our staff and students:

“I just wanted to say thank you so much for having us at your school! We were so blown away by the kids and staff working and learning there.”

Earlier this year we were notified that the National NAIDOC Week 2020 celebrations were postponed and will now be held November 8-15. They were to be held in July.

Our school celebrates NAIDOC week each year with a range of activities to recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. As part of this wonderful week every member of our staff is supplied with a NAIDOC shirt which we wore collectively last Monday to recognise this fabulous week leading into the formal celebrations to be held in Term 4.

The 2020 Premier’s Debating Challenge has been reorganised for this term. Due to COVID restrictions we have had to renominate for this competition and this year we have entered our Year 6 team.

The first round will be debated against Iluka PS tomorrow (Wednesday), starting at 10.30am in our school library.

The debate will be held using the Zoom platform for adjudication and we are very fortunate to have Mr Tony Davey from the Arts Unit NSW DEC adjudicating this debate. The following two debates will be against Maclean PS and Grafton PS.

We are ENROLLING NOW FOR KINDERGARTEN 2021. Please complete your enrolment forms and lodge with either office to help us with our planning for 2021.

Our Infants breakfast club was very successful last week. Students have been enjoying a healthy breakfast on both campuses.

We would like to thank to Kylie from Grafton Veterinary Clinic who visited our Stage 3 students last Monday to talk about animal health care and the responsibilities of owning a pet. The presentation was a perfect way to launch the Stage 3 Chicken Coop Project Based Learning Unit. The students were truly engaged in the presentation.

Last week our primary students participated in Littlescribe’s Mini Writing Festival. This was a unique opportunity to interact with 13 of Australia’s most treasured children’s authors. Some of the authors included Andrew Daddo, Jackie French, Wendy Orr and Deborah Abela. This was a wonderful opportunity for our students!

Canteen Roster

PRIMARY

Tuesday Sam Kroehnert, HELP WANTED

Wednesday Leanne Torrens, Megan Hunter

Thursday Belinda Wormald, HELP NEEDED

Friday Rae-Anne Finlay, Amy Reid, Suellen Davies

INFANTS

Tuesday Grace Snowden, Chris Clay

Wednesday Rebecca Milligan, Suellen Davies

Thursday Rebecca Milligan, Suellen Davies

Friday Rhonda King, Barbara Tibbett, Rebecca Milligan

St Joseph’s Primary School South Grafton

DURING Art lessons this term, the students are embarking on a journey ‘around the world’. Each week, art classes will look at a different country and an art form related to that country. The first country visited was China and a short film on the Chinese New Year Festival was shown together with an audio read of ‘How to Catch a Dragon’ by Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton. The children then created their own dragon puppets. What amazing, colourful works of art! I wonder where they will journey to next week?

St Joseph's Primary students are going around the world with art.

Please note the following update information to all parents and carers on restrictions which will remain in place for Term 3, as advised by the Catholic Schools Office. The canteen will remain closed, assemblies are not taking place at present, adult gatherings remain restricted and we thank parents for adhering to the drop off and pick up procedures.. Entry is limited to meetings which cannot happen over the phone or via email, off site excursions have also been postponed for Term 3, including school camps. The Junior Joey’s Investigators’ transition program has been postponed and an online program is being prepared for our 2021 Kinders which will commence during the term.

Our Athletics Carnival will go ahead but will be held on the school oval, without parent involvement. Our Book Week Parade and Book Fair will also continue but parents will not be able to attend. Please be assured that lots of photos will be taken and will appear in the newsletter and on Facebook.

We thank you all, most sincerely, for your support and respect of the restrictions in place during these challenging times and we will update you immediately upon any changes.

This term, Miss Liz is focusing Indigenous studies during Geography on the 2020 NAIDOC theme of “Always Was, Always Will Be”. This theme recognises that ‘First Nation’ people have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years. It also recognises that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are the oldest continuing culture on the planet. Each Stage will be completing Indigenous activities throughout the term that coincides with this theme.

Miss Lizz has also created a wonderful ‘Aboriginal Dreamtime Corner’ in our new library. It includes beautiful Indigenous designed cushions, a fantastic Indigenous mat and an Aboriginal art design on the wall. This is a fantastic area for the students to use during library time. Thank you Miss Lizz!

Ulmarra Public School

Our annual statewide celebration of NSW public education runs this week from Monday 3rd August to Friday 7th August, with the theme, ‘Learning together’. We will be celebrating with a variety of activities in the classroom. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions in place we will not be holding any Open Classrooms, but we will be posting classroom photos and videos of our students sharing their views on the best parts of Ulmarra Public School on our Facebook page to share with families and friends.

We are looking forward to the Wheelathon tomorrow, 5th August. Just a reminder all sponsorship forms and money need to be returned on the day. We strongly recommend that parents drop off their child’s wheels at school unless they are regular riders to school. Please be aware that the southern car park will be closed off on this day as it will be part of our course. The gates from the northern car park will be open on the Wheelathon day. Please park your “wheels” along the northern fence of the playground.

Healthy Harold will be visiting UPS in his Life Ed van Thursday 13th August. This program works towards empowering children and young people with the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need to make informed decisions about their health in a fun and interactive way. Healthy Harold merchandise will be available for purchase from their website www.lifeeducation.org.au

Yamba Public School

Class 2JR are pictured with some letters they received from the residents of Caroona Yamba. The children were motivated to each write a letter to Caroona after they heard that the residents weren’t able to have visitors due to the COVID restrictions. What a wonderful surprise the children got when they each received a letter back from the Caroona residents! Thank you to Miss Meg from our school who helped facilitate the deliveries.

Yamba Public School 2JR with letters they received from residents of Caroona.

Originally published as Maclean High steers students in right direction