Focus on Learning 

Canberra 2022!

Last week Year 5 and 6 were lucky enough to head to Canberra for our Stage 3 excursion. It was an action packed week of learning, excitement and fun. The children were a pleasure to take away with many comments of their respectful behaviour being communicated to me by venue organisers. I would like to thank Mrs Meade for accompanying me on the excursion as well as our fantastic parent helpers...Kate Dillon, Brett Thompson and Jason Allan. We made a great team! 

Australian War Memorial 

Of special mention was our visit to the Australian War Memorial. We were lucky enough to be chosen by the war memorial to participate in the Last Post Ceremony. Not many schools get this opportunity and it was a very special experience for us all. During the ceremony a fallen soldier is remembered with their citation being read out. The soldier remembered on our visit was Private William George Jacob. 

Private Jacob was born at Kootingal near Tamworth and went to school locally. He grew up to follow in his father's footsteps and became a farmer. At the age of 19 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. Private Jacob was was the only one of his 8 siblings to have reached adulthood. He was killed in battle on the 10th of June by an explosion of an enemy's shell and was buried at Messines Ridge British Cemetery, near where he fell. He was just 20 years old. 

After no family members were in attendance at the ceremony and discovering our school is in the same region as Private Jacob's origins, the Australian War Memorial gifted our school with his commemorative photo and citation. I would also like to thank local community member Graham Bullock for volunteering his time to frame this beautiful photo for our school free of charge. We will use it proudly in our commemorative services and remember Private Jacob's sacrifice for our beautiful country. Lest We Forget. 

Canberra Excursion Photos & Reflections

Below is a sample of excerpts from student journal reflections as well as some of the many photos from our awesome adventures whilst we were away. 

My favourite thing that happened in Canberra was Lazer Tag and the Arcade games and the Bumper Cars. The funniest thing that happened was when Mrs Bartholomew went down the slide at Questacon and screamed. (Jack Bennett)

The next day we went to the NMOA, NFSA, Botanic Gardens, National Library and one of the best places of our trip was the magnificent Questacon, plus the arcade that we played at from 7:30-9:00 pm that Wednesday night. (Abbie Coghill)

My absolute favourite memory from the excursion was when I went on the vertical slide, Archie went first, and then it was my turn. You had to hold on to a bar and hang your body down. You had to look down to your toes and the lady would count to 3 and then you would let go and slide down. When I looked down it looked like I was going to just plop on the ground, but it was really smooth and I went down the slide twice unharmed. (Charles Lee)

My treasured memory would have to be the museum, our entertaining, delightful tour guide, fascinating crystals, the ancient artefacts and the bargain shop. We were always operational instead of staying in the one location for 10 years, she was using youthful islands and made us appreciate and understand. The crystals were alluring and some were rare, all of them were geodes. (Stella McMahon)

Another thing that I liked about being in another part of the country was the bus tours. l liked how our bus driver was so knowledgeable about Canberra. l also loved the arcade, it was great! l loved the laser tag, it was really fun because my team dominated. l also loved breakfast and the dinners, they were also so good. l liked how the hotel room was massive and spending time with my roommates. (Archie Mcnamee)

On Wednesday we went to the national museum of Australia and I like seeing all the old artifacts and items there. There were old tools, old cars and many more things. Then after that we went to the national sound archives of Australia and made a commercial for Rinso, which is a laundry detergent. Then we went to the Australian botanic gardens. We saw lots of plants and trees. They were all native too. After that we went to my favorite place in Canberra, Questacon. We got to look at the cool and wacky inventions. I also went on a big slide and it was scary the first time but the second time was fun. I enjoyed watching the dry ice float and slowly disintegrate into the water. Then after that we went to the Library of Australia and they have lots of old books and paintings But they also have new books and paintings too. The last thing we did on Wednesday was go to the arcade. We played laser tag, dodgem cars and racing games. There was also a roller coaster simulator thing and it was very bumpy. (Alex Cortis)

The main attraction I remember was Questacon, for spending as little as $19 is enough to bring home 3 worms on strings, a bouncy egg and a squishy ball that popped as soon as I arrived at my house. Running around the iPlay arcade trying to find games that are available for our cards was very amusing to myself. (Ayden Coward)

My favourite memory is different to other peoples enjoyments, for I almost put my own life at risk, it happened at Questacon.  There was a huge slide with a 4.5 metre drop, you have to hold onto a bar then let it go, but oh boy was I petrified because my hands were shaking and sweating, I thought I'd fall. My stomach dropped, but it wasn't that bad, though I thought I'd die. You'd be scared too; Anyone would have to be MAD to try it. (Ayla O'Rance)

On Day one we travelled most of the day and when we got to Canberra we had dinner and then we went on a tour of canberra. I liked seeing the parliament house. On day 2 we went to parliament house old and new,  national archives of Australia and the MOAD. I learned Australia had a constitution. (Zeb Allan)

Photo Time!

Accomodation

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4