School News and Information 

Term 1 was certainly a very busy term. On top of all the learning that has happened inside the classroom every day, Martin's Gully students have had the opportunity to participate in the following activities:

Aboriginal Education

Stage 1 and 2 classes visited the Armidale Cultural Centre and Keeping place. Both visits tied in with their classroom work, learning about the land we live on - Anaiwan Country. All classes also had a visit by Mr David Widders where he introduced students to the Anaiwan language and taught the K-2 students an Aboriginal dance.

High Potential and Gifted Education

Students from Stage 3 had the opportunity to attend the da Vinci Decathlon, competing against other Stage 3 students in Engineering, Mathematics, Code Breaking, Art and Poetry, Science, English, Ideation, Creative Producers, Cartography and Legacy. Year 5 students came first in the Engineering category and Year 6 first in the Creative Producers Category. This week, selected students in Stage 3 attended the Inquiring Minds camp at Thalgarrah. Students had an opportunity to work with their mentor in their chosen field such as gaming design, invertebrates, animal antics and creative ecology. 

Creative Arts

This year we have partnered with NECOM to have an orchestra.  Approximately 20 students in Stage 2 and 3 meet with Mr Liddell once a week.Mrs Clendinning and Miss Landow have started the Primary Choir. Next term they will compete in the Armidale Eisteddfod.Staff from NERAM visited Stage 2 and 3 and delivered an art lesson.

PSSA Sport

Our school swimming carnival kicked off a busy term in sport. From this carnival 30 students were selected to represent Martin's Gully at the Zone carnival. This was a very successful carnival with approximately 15 students being invited to compete at the North West carnival, leading to 6 students travelling to Sydney this week for the State Championships at Homebush. This is a great achievement by the students. Throughout the term we have also had students attend Zone and Regional trials for cricket, tennis, hockey, touch football and basketball. Maddie Byrne (cricket) and Olivia O'Neill (tennis) have been selected to represent North West at the state carnivals later in the year. Not PSSA, but sport - we had Hockey NSW visit and run a skills session for all students.

Social and Community Events

Stage 2 and 3 students helped the Armidale Tree Group and Kindly Animal Sanctuary plant approximately 300 trees, and the Stage 3 students attended a Slime Fest at Newling PS with other Stage 3 students from Armidale schools. Finally, the SRC ran a disco for all students. This was a great afternoon with approximately $300 raised for Ronald McDonald House, and we recently had our Easter Hat Parade with a large number of parents and family members attending.

So, as you can see, it has been a busy term with all students at Martin's Gully having the opportunity to participate in numerous extra curricular activities.