Foundation Camp

Rather than being excited to leave school for the day, the Foundation students were thrilled to be the only kids at school when they stayed back for afternoon tea and games

The Foundation children negotiated team building games, such as egg and spoon races, ‘cowboy races’ and sack races. The children prepared their own afternoon tea by making healthy fruit kebabs and a sweet treat of chocolate crackles. The children had a wonderful time and learnt to work together to be successful during all the activities. Check out some of the photos from the afternoon.

Sovereign Hill was a thrilling experience for the Year 5/6 students at St. Mary’s Primary School. There were many fun activities for both children and adults to enjoy, like visiting the famous gold panning creek, bowling, taking a tour in the Red Hill Quartz Mine, and watching the interactive pantomime “Blackbeard”. We also went to see demonstrations on how they made candles, lollies and how they purified gold. 

The well known Aura Lightshow was a big favourite amongst the teachers and students. It taught us how the world and minerals were created and how the gold rush has helped Australia become the democratic society it is today. It also featured an elaborate Aboriginal, dreamtime scene.

By Ella Giblett, Lindsay Dunne

Dear Parents

We have had a very exciting few weeks, with our Year 5/6 classes attending Sovereign Hill camp. The camp gave the children the opportunity to link their learning to real life experiences and is a valuable support to their learning about the Gold Rush. From all accounts it was a fantastic camp and students and staff thoroughly enjoyed it. It also gave the staff and students an opportunity to bond as a senior team, ready for a great year ahead.

Our Foundation students had their own camp experience this week when they stayed behind after everyone had gone home to have an exciting afternoon of games, fun and food that they had prepared earlier in the day. According to staff and students, it was a great afternoon with lots of exciting activities to do.

I am sure you can see from the photos that both camp experiences were great fun and a wonderful way for our children to experience independence and resilience as they spent time away from their families. I thank the staff for the wonderful job they did to support our camps program and provide exciting learning opportunities for our students.

This week we also participated in the Western Valley District Swimming competition. This was a fantastic day with all swimmers doing their very best and coming away with many ribbons, personal best times and the opportunity to move forward to the Divisional Swimming competition in Traralgon next week. Staff who attended said that the children were outstanding in their performances, behaviour and support for each other. We are so proud of our swimmers and wish them all the very best in Traralgon next week.

As we move through the liturgical season of Lent, we are focussing on the need to reflect on how we treat each other and making sure that we are being the BEST we can be. While this is always our focus, Lent is a powerful time to remind ourselves of the importance of respecting and caring for each other, saying sorry if we cause harm and knowing that, when we are sorry and say we are sorry, we have an opportunity to rebuild relationships and grow from the experience. This is important in all our lives and Lent gives us a gentle reminder to keep on trying to do better, be better and look after each other.

Kind regards

Lisa

Students who placed in their heats;

9/10 year old

Arlo Warner - 1st in Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly

Ruby Stagg - 1st in  Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly

Harlow Geisler - 1st in Freestyle, 2nd in Backstroke and Butterfly

Hugh Ridley - 1st in Freestyle and Breastroke

Lola Warner - 2nd in Freestyle and 3rd in Breastroke

Harrison Dwyer - 1st in Freestyle and 3rd in Backstroke

Gina Muller - 1st in Freestyle

11 year old

Olivia Booker - 2nd in Freestyle, 3rd in Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly

Emily Odlum - 1st in Breastroke and 3rd in Freestyle

Stella Ridley - 2nd in Freestyle and Backstroke

Ellie McMurdy - 2nd in Freestyle

12/13 year old

Jasper Warner - 1st in  Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly

Kaitlyn Laidlaw - 1st in Freestyle, Butterfly and 2nd in Backstroke

Penny Anderson - 2nd in Breastroke and 3rd in Freestyle 

Imogen Richardson - 1st in Freestyle and 3rd in Backstroke

Luke Scholes - 1st in Freestyle

Harvey Lewis - 3rd in Freestyle

Freestyle Relay

1st - 9/10 Girls

2nd  - 11 Girls

1st - 12/13 Boys

1st - 12/13 Girls

 Medley Relay

1st - Boys

1st - Girls

Students who made it through to Division Swimming on 6/3:

Ruby Stagg - Freestyle and Breastroke

Harlow Geisler - Freestyle and Butterfly

Harrison Dwyer - Freestyle

Kaitlyn Laidlaw - Freestyle and Backstroke

Imogen Richardson - Freestyle

Lola Warner - Breastroke

Arlo Warner - Breastroke and Butterfly

Emily Odlum - Breastroke

Penny Anderson - Breastroke

Jasper Warner - Breastroke and Butterfly

Olivia Booker - Butterfly

Freestyle Relays

9/10 Girls

Ruby Stagg, Harlow Geisler, Gina Muller and Lola Warner

11 Girls

Olivia Booker, Stella Ridley, Ellie McMurdy and Evie O'Connell

12/13 Boys

Jasper Warner, Thomas Skinner, Luke Scholes and Harvey Lewis

12/13 Girls

Kaitlyn Laidlaw, Penny Anderson, Imogen Richardson and Emily Odlum

Medley Relay

Boys

Luke Scholes, Arlo Warner, Jasper Warner and Thomas Skinner

Girls

Kaitlyn Laidlaw, Emily Odlum, Ruby Stagg and Penny Anderson