Around the Junior School

Pre-Kinder Excursion to Hillside Harvest

Pre-Kinder were lucky enough to visit Hillside Harvest. Catching the school bus is always so exciting and noisy. 

When we arrived at Hillside we had a little tour around the orchard to see the different types of fruit trees and to walk in puddles left from all the rain. It was then our turn to pick some pink lady apples and collect them in our apple bags. It was lovely to see the children munch in to fresh apples straight from the tree. So juicy and crunchy. 

The sun came out just in time for us to have a picnic morning tea before heading back to school. 

With the help of Mrs Gavin and Ms Youll the hospitality students came to Pre-Kinder and made apple muffins with the children. The interactions between the big children and little children was great and both enjoyed the experience and the muffins were very yummy. 

It was a great excursion being able to celebrate Orange as an apple growing region. 

Thank you to Hillside Harvest. 

Year 2 Letter Exchange 

In both 2 Barty and 2 Alcott, we have been investigating informative texts. Whilst at school we love to link our learning experiences to everyday life, our recent letter exchange with Woollahra Public School in Sydney, NSW has allowed us to do just that (whilst also make some new pen pal friends along the way). 

Late last term, we received letters from our friends at Woollahra. These letters provided great information about our pen pal, their hobbies and what Woollahra Public School is like. It was very exciting to open our own individual letter. We loved reading our letters and learning lots of new facts about our Woollahra friends. It was amazing to hear some stories of what living in Sydney is like and funny to receive some questions such as ‘how do you live without a Westfields?...’! After sharing our letters with the class and taking them home, it was time for us to respond!

We drafted our letters, sent them to print and finally placed them into an individualised envelope which we decorated. We look forward to hearing some replies and continuing to learn facts from our Woollahra friends. 

By 2 Barty and 2 Alcott

HICES Junior Debaters

The debating team have continued to make huge strides with their skill development, with Round 4 seeing another win. All members of the debating group have been working hard on argument development, rebuttal skills and structuring their debates effectively. The topic for Round 4 was not an easy one, 'All fines should be replaced by community service in the court system.' We were arguing the negative and came out on top! With one round to go, we are hoping to secure another round of wins to head into the semi-finals. Watch this space!

Year 5 Excursion to the Bathurst Goldfields

On Friday 20 May, Year 5 travelled to the Bathurst Goldfields to gain an insight into colonial life. Students were able to witness some of the hardships that everyday people faced and reflect on how life has changed overtime. The highlights of the day included observing ancient trades like blacksmithing, prospecting and carpentry. Students were able to participate in these activities and gain an understanding of early techniques used by the settlers. 

The opportunity to pan for gold quickly turned Year 5 into amateur prospectors, allowing each student to try their luck. Many students left wealthier than when they arrived. Other experiences included making mud bricks, cooking Damper on a stick, and forging tools as a Blacksmith. Year 5 thoroughly enjoyed their day and took some amazing experiences with them. 

Year 4 Geography

Over Term 1 and part of Term 2, the Year 4 students worked on an upcycling project at Windermere as part of the Geography unit being taught about sustainable practices. The students were split into groups and given an object to repurpose. Items included a bathtub, laundry sinks, tyres and wooden cupboards. During each visit to the farm, the teams worked on planning, designing and building a new purpose for their objects. The students used teamwork to get the job done, and each person brought to the group their own special skills to make garden beds, worm farms and more! There was a lot of sawing, painting, removing of screws and carting wheelbarrows of soil.  Each team did a brilliant job and the projects are ready to be enjoyed by all that visit Windermere. 

Merit Awards

Friday 20 May 2022

K.Caterpillar 

• Gurbani Mor for Contributing with confidence to class discussions 

• Thomas Williams for outstanding effort during ‘on the mat’ literacy lesson 

K Paddington 

• Rigby Delbridge for brilliant blending when reading 

• Elsie McLaurin for super length work in Maths 

1 Elmer 

• Anoushka Kotasthane - for handwriting 

• Ivy Coleman – For counting in tens and ones 

• Ayush Prasad – Clever counting in tens 

2 Alcott 

• Nick Rourke for approaching the school day with enthusiasm and cheerfulness 

• Lilly Kilby for having such a great attitude to the school and learning 

• Alec Stewart for persistent effort with base word and suffixes 

2 Barty 

• Alexander Flynn for being a kind, caring and respectful member of the 2 Barty Team 

• Grace Monaghan for her fantastic informative writing 

• Madeleine Russell for continuously making active learner choices 

• Kayley Lett for taking excellent pride in her bookwork 

3 Curious Creatures 

• Willa Dunlop for her creative and imaginative writing pieces 

• Alex Coleman for his diligence and application to all classroom tasks 

• Sofia Devjak for her researching skills in History 

3 Volcanics 

• James Proudford-Nalder for his kindness to everyone 

• Claire Gordon for her vocabulary in English writing 

• Bella Zhang for her improvement in Maths 

• Julian Capanas for his fantastic effort in Maths 

4 Attenborough 

• Saxon Haynes – continuously sharing his knowledge with the class and approaching all learning with courage 

• Elizabeth Harmer – for being an inclusive and positive member of 4 A 

4 Phillip Parker King 

• Daniel Kerdic for his enthusiastic attitude to learning 

• Angus Triggs for his enthusiastic attitude to writing 

• Harriet Johnston for her enthusiastic attitude to writing 

6 Goodes 

• Zoe Freeman for her enthusiasm and positive attitude tin Mathematics 

• Harry Fielding for his beautiful reflections on ‘The Burnt Stick’ 

6 Mabo 

• Harriet Blair – her depth and detail in her diary entries on the Stolen Generation 

• Ben Chambers – His fluency and understanding in Maths daily reviews 

• Olivia Greenwood – Her researching skills in science 

• Jed Volkofsky - His dedication to completing tasks on time and in great detail 

What’s happening at Gowrie 

At Gowrie OSHC we have been busy exploring reduce, recycle and reuse, this has been reflected through various activities including lava lamps, using recycled bottles and loose parts play. 

We entered some beautiful artworks into the Orange show where we come away with second place out of all the OOSHC’s in the Orange region, a wonderful achievement. Thank you to all the children who created such amazing artwork.

Pupil Free Day 10 June

We will be running a full day, Friday 10 June for the Pupil Free Day from7am-6pm. We’ll be enjoying a winter wonderland day so rug yourself up. We will be creating our own snow and maybe if we are lucky, we will get some real snow. 

Please enquire via email OSHC.kinross@Gowriensw.com.au or phone on 0427490914 

Vacation care bookings 

Once again, we are preparing for an awesome vacation care starting on Friday 24 June and running until Monday 18 July, we have a fun filled program with enrolments opening soon.