McCrossins Mill Outlearning Excursion

On Tuesday 22nd February 13 Big Picture students went on a trip to McCrossins Mill Uralla for an outlearning excursion. Outlearning excursions allow our Big Picture students to develop their communication skills and to connect them to fields of work or parts of the community they may not have thought about before. The idea of this outlearning excursion was to broaden our horizons on different subjects and to open our eyes to surrounding communities.

Whilst at the Mill we learnt about the History of Captain Thunderbolt and other Australian icons. We learnt that the Mill is run by volunteers that are passionate about restoring the history of the community and the Mill. The building has not always been a museum, it was originally a Flour Mill to service the local community before being run out of business because of the train from Adelaide that brought produce into the area in competition with the Mill.

Although a lot of us mentioned we were not interested in History, the outlearning excursion opened our eyes to many different fields that we could be studying as part of our Personal Interest Projects, for example wheat (how far the growing of wheat has come); steam engines (learning about how the engine ran the mill); the history of the gold rush and how Uralla is part of that History; lace making and the history and processes of this practice or evening studying the local legend, ‘Sunny Jim’ Mackay who was the only Uralla resident to go on to international fame, but our only citizen to not play for his own country.

Following the visit to the Mill, we went to the Uralla Pioneer Cemetery and located Thunderbolts Headstone and Grave. It was interesting to see all of the old sculptures and graves and how in those days they were able to create these using locally sourced materials, with limited technology.

We would like to thank the volunteers at McCrossins Mill, as well as Mrs Doyle who organised this trip for us. We look forward to going on more outlearning excursions such as this one, later down the line.

Braden Daly, Oliver Flynn and Ingrid Chilcott-Geere

Big Picture students

UON Health Forum Excursion

Yesterday, we went to Tamworth UON campus. There were two other schools that joined in the day along with our school. We went into two of the lecture rooms and heard how to get into the different Universities around our region. After they had finished talking, we were able to ask the lecturers questions from those areas of study. We also went into one of the hospital prac rooms. All of us were able to do different activities with a mannequin that could blink and ‘talk’ to show how different students react to different patients and their needs. The people that had gloves on could be a helpers, one person had to put a feeding tube into the mannequin's stomach. This demonstrated to us different fields that we could potentially study if we went to University to study medicine or any of the allied health services.

Indiana Gosper

Year 11 Big Picture Student

Agriculture students success at the Guyra Show

The Secondary Agriculture Students from Guyra Central School participated in many events this year at the show. From Sheep and Cattle judging to volunteering in the pavilion and in the horse events, there was much to celebrate by the end of the day.

Students were commended by many of the stewards for their outstanding participation and assistance across the showground.

Results for the Judging are as follows:

Prime Lamb Junior Judging: Archie Jackson 3rd place, Darcy Heagney 5th

Senior Prime Lamb judging: Ellie Mitchell 1st, Harrison Brazier 2nd (Also received a major encouragement book prize), Matthew Connors 5th, Patrick Wadley 6th

Senior Wool Judging: Ellie Mitchell 1st, Courtney Ward 4th, Patrick Wadley 5th, Cooper Brennan 6th

Junior Cattle Judging: Hugo Brazier 3rd

Students are to be commended on their excellent behaviour, achievements and participation in all events and volunteering activities.

Many thanks to Adrian Cameron for his support for our students on the day.

Rebecca Smith

Agriculture Classroom Teacher

GCS Arts at the 2022 Guyra Show

A range of artwork was submitted by GCS students at this year's Guyra Show. Within the School Arts and Craft - Section 15, artwork was enetered into most of the classes of artwork within that section. Congratulations to all the students who entered their artwork, and in particular, to those that were awarded a placing, including Andrew Pearson (Champion Secondary Craft / Reserve Champion Section 15), Carter Atkin (Champion Yr 12 Major Work) and Jordan Banville (Reserve Champion Secondary art). A full list of secondary school winners can be found below:

Stage 4

Piper Kempton (Yr 8) - Expressive form - Sculpture - 1st place

Annabelle Collins (Yr 9) - Expressive form - Photography - 1st,2nd place

Haylee Campbell (Yr 9) - Expressive form - Painting - 2nd place

Shakira Beechey (Yr 8) - Expressive form - Painting - Highly Commended

Bailey Greenfield (Yr 7) - Expressive form - Drawing - 2nd place

Stage 5

Jada Alefosio (Yr 10) - Expressive form - Painting - 2nd place

Jada Alefosio (Yr 10) - Expressive form - Drawing - 1st place

Jaymie Donnelly (Yr 10) - Expressive form - Drawing - 2nd place

Trisha Varley (Yr 10) - Expressive form - Drawing - Highly Commended

Selina Surawski (Yr 10) - Expressive form - Photography - 1st place

Selina Surawski (Yr 10) - Expressive form - Photography - 2nd place

Georgina Griffiths (Yr 9) - Expressive form - Mix Media - 1st place

Stage 6

Andrew Pearson (Yr 12) - Expressive form - Sculpture - 1st place, Champion Secondary Craft, Champion Section 15

Lucinda Mayled (Yr 12) - Expressive form - Painting - 1st place

Lucinda Mayled (Yr 12) - Expressive form - Drawing - 1st place

Renee Vanderwolf (Yr 12) - Expressive form - Drawing - 1st place

Renee Vanderwolf (Yr 12) - Expressive form - Highly commended

Primary Excursion to the Guyra Show

Ariella Gallindo (Stage 1 Lime)

"At the Guyra Show I got to eat yummy food like fairy floss. I liked the magic show. The man did some tricks with his cute dog. I had a great day and I can't wait for next years show."

Harry Watters & Johnny Lockyer (Stage 1 Mint)

"We went to the Guyra show with our friends. We looked at our Artwork in the Pavillion and we got to touch the wool. We watched the horses and saw Elsie riding on her horse. We watched ‘Troppo Bob’, a magic show. He swallowed a balloon and made funny noises. We got to spend our money on snow cones, fairy floss and lucky dips. It was a very fun day. "

Amelia Hartas-Berrys' Tamworth Adventure

On Wednesday 16th February, Amelia travelled to Tamworth with her Itinerant Hearing Teachers Rosie and Nikki for a hearing support appointment. We took advantage of some spare time by visiting the Marsupial Park. Amelia loved seeing a range of different animals including kangaroos, emus and a range of other bird species. Amelia loves birds, so it was a real treat to walk around the free-flight aviary and spot many different types of birds.

Mrs Nikki Robinson

Classroom Teacher

PSSA North West Swimming Carnival

At the north west swimming carnival Eli McGinty , Shelby Heagney ,Chloe Wilson, Parker Campbell, Beau Wilson, Tom Bull and Makayla Galindo all swam in an event. Eli, Parker, Tom and Beau went in the senior boys relay and they were good. Makayla went in the 100m freestyle, 50 metre freestyle, backstroke and butterfly. Chloe went in the breaststroke and Shelby went in backstroke. They all did a good job at swimming.

Shelby Heagney

Stage 3 Indigo

Year 8 Aquatics Program

The Year 8 Aquatics program was off to a splashing start this week with students putting in their all for session 1. They focused on correct warm-up procedures, stroke development, flexibility in the water and cooling down. The students were taught the importance of using their lower (lumbar) spine and the hip for more effective mobility in the water during breaststroke. A flexible lower back allows the swimmer to elevate higher during the pulling motion and develop a more effective pull motion following the kick. The students applied themselves well during this lesson, especially when it was the first time some of them have focused on this area of their body.

Next they worked on two armed backstroke and allowed themselves to stretch out in the water and pull back in a straight motion, focusing on head position and straight arms. Another excellent first attempt at correcting their flexibility in the water.

The students finished with 25m sprints, focusing on their own times and seeing if they could improve their own time, remembering the skills learnt from today’s session.

We look forward to the remaining sessions and more Year 8 students joining us during Wednesday aquatics lessons at the pool……

Mrs Stephanie Belson

Secondary Classroom Teacher

Armidale Zone PSSA Touch Football Trials

On Wednesday 23rd of February several Stage 3 students travelled to Walcha Central School to trial for the Zone Touch Football squad. Chloe Wilson, Lincoln Atkin, William Vidler, Beau Wilson, Thomas Bull, Max Lockyer and Parker campbell all played very well. Lincoln, Parker and Thomas all were through to possible/probables but unfortunately we missed out on making it to go on to the North west PSSA trials. Chloe was selected to attend the North West trials later in he term. Good Luck Chloe!

It was a good experience and we all had a lot of fun. The organisers encouraged us all to come back next year and have another got. They encourage more students from our school to come have a go next year too.

William Vidler and Lincoln Atkin

Stage 3 Silver

Important Information

Art work: Stage 2

Higher school Certificate (HSC) minimum standard