Around the School
Multicultural Public Speaking
In 2021 we participated in the Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition, which is run by the Arts Unit and open to all NSW public primary schools. The competition has two different age divisions – one for Years 3 and 4 students and one for Years 5 and 6 students.
All Stage 2 and 3 students had the opportunity to write speeches and presented them to their classes, three students from each class were selected to participate in the school final.
On Monday the 31st of May, we held our school final in the gymnasium. Stage 2 and 3 class had 3 representatives present their speeches to the Year 1-6 students. This was an excellent opportunity to develop student public speaking skills.
The following students participated in the school final:
Stage 2 Rose- Dean Rumbel, Tom Ward, Rose Gordon
Stage 2 Crimson- Billy Ryan, Will Vidler and Zac Raper
Stage 3 Navy- Summer Tibbs, Rose Kliendienst and Hayley Williams
Stage 3 Platinum- Zander Lloyd, Anja McIlwain and Brooke Clark
Miss Fletcher and Eunice Blair were the adjudicators for this school final and chose our representatives for the local final.
On Monday the 7th of June, Guyra Central School hosted the Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition New England Local Final. Students from Sir Henry Parkes Memorial Public School, Armidale City Public School, Ross Hill Public School, Ben Venue Public School and Guyra Central School presented their speeches in the School Library. Mrs Leanne Vaughan came from Armidale Secondary College to adjudicate. Each student who participated was given one-to-one feedback about their speech and public speaking skills.
Our Guyra Central School representatives were:
Years 3&4- Dean Rumbel and William Vidler
Years 5&6 Session- Summer Tibbs and Rose Kliendienst
Here is what our participants had to say about the local final:
Summer Tibbs
In Stage 3, it was nice to see all the other schools speaking and in their blazers. They all spoke very well and Hamish was very good and I liked his speech. We had a lot of fun, with the impromptu speeches we were in the back room and we got to know each other, overall it was very fun and we had a great day. Afterwards we got some very good advice from the adjudicator.
Rose Kliendienst
Summer and I had a very good time speaking and listening to all the amazing speeches, everyone spoke well. Everyone was very prepared for their speeches and most knew most of it off by heart. It was a little nerve racking getting up and speaking at the start but after you finish the first paragraph it isn’t that bad. My favorite part about the speeches was meeting new people and seeing how great they could speak in front of other people.
Will Vidler
When I first saw who I was up against I was thinking “It will be right, just give it my best shot.” When Clee called my name up I was shaking but I had a great time overall. After I had given my speech I was glad I spoke and the year 5&6 speeches were excellent, I can't wait for next year!
Dean Rumbel
I had an amazing time meeting all the new people and watching them do their speeches.I loved the whole thing overall.It was scary when i got up to do my speech but after seeing how confident the other people are I was ready to go, I can’t wait to do it again.
The overall winners were Hamish Eastment from Armidale City Public School and Resandi Wijesekara Sir Henry Parkes Memorial Public School. They will represent New England at the Regional Final in Tamworth.
Northern Schools Prime Lamb Competition
On Tuesday 1st June, fourteen Agriculture students from Years 7-11 attended the annual Northern Schools Prime Lamb Competition hosted this year in Tamworth. We participated with 13 lambs kindly donated by the Presnell, Grills and Jackson families.
An outstanding day was had with our led lamb placing first in a quality line up of lambs. Emily Bull did an outstanding job leading our lamb and was ably assisted by Angus Dullaway and Darcy Grills in the show ring. Our other ‘pen of three’ lambs achieved a sixth and seventh placing, also in a very competitive showcase of local prime lambs.
Our students well and truly shone in the Junior Judging with Sophie Roberts achieving 1st place and Angus Dullaway placing 2nd for their age groups. Both students demonstrated excellent confidence and understanding of the lambs they were judging, and both stood out for their speaking and presentation skills.
Our older students also did exceptionally well with Ashley Donnelly placing 1st and Michael Looker placing 4th in the Senior Judging competition. This is an excellent result considering that there were 200 students competing on the day from schools across the New England North West.
I would like to thank Mrs Gwyn Pearson for her amazing assistance throughout the day, the wonderful students who were a pleasure to take away on this excursion and for giving their best efforts. You are a credit to our school and your families.
QuickSmart PROGRAM
38 students from Year 6 - Year 9 are participating in the QuickSmart Numeracy Program this year - which runs for approximately 30 weeks. Through pedagogical and research aims, the intensive program responds to students' individual needs and develops fluent and efficient strategy use through number facts and problem solving skills. In other words we are increasing their automaticity by repeating number facts in a variety of verbal and written ways.
QuickSmart promotes a healthy understanding of basic Maths foundations. It is not scary, it is a fun and engaging way of speeding up the student knowing the answers automatically, and freeing up brain space, which results in the students being able to concentrate on other subjects without feeling overwhelmed or too tired. It builds their self-esteem and self confidence, it is definitely a ‘can do attitude’ in the QuickSmart rooms.
For 30 minutes three times per week, we practice our Focus Facts (current + - x or ÷ facts), Flash Cards, Speed Sheets (written sheets with a variety of operations), games and talk about strategies to help them to remember their facts faster. We make their retrieval times quicker and smarter.
We have noticed the small group opportunities supporting students in building their confidence in skills and understanding of numbers and how they work. The games at the end are fun, we play Bingo, Number Fact Dominoes, games that match what they are learning in class (volume, area, mathematical vocab games) and the Double O! game which the students find extremely fun, as they race each other to double the double.
QuickSmart is proving to be a success here at Guyra Central with the students and their families feeling that it is a valuable program that is both enjoyable and a great opportunity to improve their numeracy skills. The students are commenting that they are learning skills that they go back into the classroom with.
Many of our students have commented to either their instructors, parents or teachers how much they have improved.
If you would like to know more about the QuickSmart Program, please contact Mrs Steph Belson our QuickSmart Coordinator for 2021.
At the end of the program students who have successfully completed the program get to have morning tea with the Principal and their QuickSmart Tutors, so watch this space for more news from the QuickSmart Crew.
Message so far from our tutors.
"I am absolutely excited about the growth my QuickSmart students have achieved since the start of the program. They are working so hard and this engagement and enthusiasm for their learning has paid off. They are reaching their goals and their automaticity to their focus facts is building self confidence. I love this program and love facilitating these lessons." Nadine Youman
Steph, Nadine, Mel, Eunice, Amy and Lynn
QuickSmart Crew
Author Visit
On 26th May, 2021, illustrator Sandy Flett and author Gabrielle Wang came to visit Guyra
Central School to talk about their books and how life is to be an author and illustrator. Sandy taught us some drawing skills and Gabrielle showed us some of her really cool drawings and told us how her book got rejected a lot and she had to edit it 64 times. Sandy even based a character illustration of her daughter. Gabrielle taught us how to draw Peng. It was a really fun experience and we hope to have them visit again.
By Kayden Mulligan and James Grills
Primary Merit Awards
Attendance Award
Eli McGinty and Marie Swan
Good Sport
Eva Artz
Guess Who
Billy Ryan
Early Stage 1 Rainbow
Johnny Lockyer - Learning all the numbers 0-10
Kayleigh Jones - Effort and improvement in developing phonics knowledge!
Stage 1 Lime
Brysen Bull - Using descriptive words to explain the weather in Science
Lilly Colley - Showing enthusiasm and persistence during spelling
Alexia Towler - Using persuasive techniques in her writing.
Stage 1 Mint
Hamish Brown - Wonderful effort in maths, when learning about number patterns
Kodah McKellar - Using his knowledge of tens and ones when making two-digit numbers in Maths
Tenae Tighe - Taking pride in her work and keeping her books neat and tidy
Stage 2 Rose
Aleck Campbell - Excellent effort to improve his reading
Oakley Brazier - Always trying her best
Sienna Sheldrick - Improved effort in completing her spelling
Tommy-Ray Jones - Demonstrating responsibility towards his job as computer expert
Stage 3 Platinum
Secondary Head Teacher Awards
Congratulations to all students receiving these awards.
Zoomobile
Last Thursday, the Zoomobile from Taronga Zoo in Sydney came to our school. The zoo keepers name was Kerry Staker, she came with Matt from Thalgarrah. We saw six different animals, a ring tailed possum, a type of stick insect which was a female so it had what looked like little leaves on it, a python, an echidna, a white lipped green frog and a blue
tongue lizard. Unfortunately due to COVID restrictions we were not able to touch the animals. Mrs McIlwain was disappointed to not get her photo taken with the snake.
Each time Kerry took out an animal she told us a little bit about the animals, it was interesting to hear, for example, the ring tailed possum was rescued from its mothers pouch when it was attacked by a cat. The blue tongue lizard had to have its tail removed because a man thought it was snake when he went to move it. The white lipped frog can shoot water from its bottom, up to a metre!
The zoo vet often has to care for and rescue animals. It was fun to see the different animals and learn about them.
Snow Day
On Thursday 10th June, our students enjoyed playing in our 'winter wonderland' after our first snow fall for 2021.
Secondary Music
In Music, the Year 7 class have been learning to sing and play “Inanay Cupuwana” - a
traditional Aboriginal song in Yorta Yorta language. The class sounds beautiful playing ukulele, guitar and marimbas. We hope to perform this for the high school at the Friday assembly this week.
The Year 9/10 Elective Music class have been busy preparing for their “Like a Version ”
ensemble performances this week. They have chosen to cover songs by artists including Pearl Jam, Ed Sheeran, ABBA and Neil Diamond. They have all worked very hard to learn their parts on various instruments such as guitar, bass, keyboard and drum kit.
ARC National Simultaneous Storytime Colouring In Competition
Congratulations to Sophie Rumbel, one of three winners in the Armidale Regional Council National Simultaneous Storytime Colouring in Competition