On the 9th of March, Year Ten, Eleven and Twelve art students arose with excitement as we all made our way into the great City Of Sydney to see Art Express and the Archibald. I woke up in the darkness of the morning to meet at the train station for 7am, with the help of coffee and the smiles of my friends we headed in early to get some delicious French pastries for breakfast. At 9am the whole group came together and we excitedly headed to the Art Gallery of NSW; we went into art express and were pleasantly greeted with the level of creativity, talent and original ideas of prior Year Twelve students' pieces.
Everyone seemed to really enjoy the video art, along with the photography and drawings. I particularly liked the sculpture with all different old books which has been cut up, burnt, and manipulated to give them personality and meaning. Everyone received each others feedback as we sat outside enjoying some lunch under the sun so we could be rejuvenated to see the famous Archibald.
This year's Archibald was overflowing with Australian talent and everyone enjoyed seeing some well known faces being displayed, a favourite amongst the group was the little Aboriginal boy who was painted with a staggering amount of realism, my personal favourite was Anthony Bennet whose style I fell in love with and consequently voted for him for people choice! After soaking up all the art works from the day, I think everyone walked out of the gallery more inspired for their own artworks and were ready to either take their tired feet home, or frolic around the city a little longer.
On Wednesday 15 October, anticipation was high as Year 6 arrived at school at 5.45am. The bus pulled up and the excited children gave their parents a final hug and kiss then boarded the bus. The 4½ hr trip was a smooth one, including a McDonalds stopover halfway. When we arrived in Canberra we went to the National Museum and created houses, cars and planes at K-Space, and learnt about the courageous sacrifices made by others at the War Memorial. We enjoyed afternoon tea up at Mt Ainsley and looked down over Canberra. The day ended with a visit to the CSIRO, where we discussed the importance of Omega 3 and Bio-fuels. We arrived at the campsite, had dinner and some of us went on a walk where there was a “graveyard” and a mysterious “ghost light”.
It was an early start the next morning, when we cleaned our rooms and had breakfast. The definite highlight of the day was Questacon and the ‘Giant Drop’. We had lunch on the lawn by Lake Burley Griffin and then walked up to Old Parliament House where some of us got dressed up in the old clothing that was worn by various political leaders. The day concluded with Ten Pin bowling which was thoroughly enjoyed by all. We fell asleep easily as we were tired out by the campfire songs about monkeys and crazy elephants.
On Friday we packed up early and went to our final destination. The National Museum was our first stop, where we saw some impressionism and statues. We then arrived at New Parliament House and enjoyed a tour around both houses, and a completed a role play about extending the school day to 5pm - What an idea! After that 49 students and 4 exhausted teachers set off back to Sydney and arrived back at school at 6.30pm. This was a great trip and if I could I’d do it all again.
On Tuesday October 21, a group of year 10 and year 8 students embarked on a “Mathematics in the City” excursion. We met at Manly, caught the ferry into town, and started our day with an exercise aimed at calculating the cost of running a car to the city every day for work. We looked at the architecture of the Opera House and also the changes in building design in the Rocks area since the time of settlement, before moving on to Darling Harbour. The students had the task of finding our way around the city throughout the day and tested their skills in reading timetables and maps.
We had morning tea at Darling Harbour and tried to estimate the travelling distance in one year of the carousel. We had an interesting discussion as to whether the horses on the inside or the outside of the carousel actually travel faster. There was also a giant Connect 4 game at Darling Harbour, where Luke Grose displayed his skills in defeating Mr Muddle!
We moved onto Sydney Wildlife World, where the students had a wonderful time learning about different environments in Australia, and collected data in order to do some statistical analysis of flora and fauna species in Australia, and also some consumer arithmetic work.
We had some lunch, and calculated how much money could be spent on a holiday in Australia, and how expensive it is to eat out every day!
Our investigation concluded with a traffic survey – where we aimed to estimate the amount of traffic crossing the Sydney Harbour bridge throughout the year.
The students (and teachers!) had a wonderful day – and came home exhausted from all the exercise.
Thanks to Mrs Smithies for organising such a wonderful excursion. It was most enjoyable and a way of using mathematics in the real world.
Year 4 went on an excursion to Imax and Powerhouse Museum on Tuesday 5 August. Here are two students' accounts from the day.
At the IMAX we saw a movie about some very interesting bugs in the rainforest. All of the kids screamed when we saw the 3D spider right in front of our faces. It was cool, scary and exciting. At the Powerhouse Museum there was also transport like old fashion trains and spaceships you could go into. The spaceship moved and it was very cool. The excursion was fun, educational, interesting and they were great places to visit.
Lorissa Hines (4E)
My highlight was going to the Powerhouse Museum. There was a screen with a 3D image which you could move around using a joy stick. I also liked eating the chocolate from the chocolate making machine. I learnt that on the spaceship, there are TVs and strange looking toilets. The excursion was fun and exciting.
Julian Manwaring (4S)
On the 1st of August some wintery weather greeted the ski trip class of 2008 at school and we were excited! Some good snowfall during the week, and a forecast of wonderful snowfall to come had us set for some wonderful action. The group was a mixture of students from Years 10 and 11, some staff, friends of staff and some ex-students. Sadly we had to do the ski trip without Mr Monin (the first ski trip he has missed in 18 years!) – and of course the snow was the best it has been in years!
We hit an amazing storm outside Canberra and we thankful for the provision of a safe bus driver – we stopped in Cooma for dinner before heading into Bungarra Alpine centre, our accommodation for the weekend. It was snowing in Jindabyne – another wonderful sign for the mountains. We hired our gear, watched Manly win on the telly (great stuff) and then headed off to bed. Some had more trouble sleeping than others – such excitement!
The students were awoken at 5:45am on Saturday morning – a hearty breakfast and we were off – to some of the best snow seen in the past 5 years down at Thredbo. The students had a lesson in the morning, where beginners were shown the basics, and those with experience on skis and snowboards were extended! We rode the snow under beautiful skies all day Saturday, and then headed back to our lodge for some quiet reflection on a wonderful day’s activity. Accident count was at one – Greg Bendall has a new scar on his nose and a story to tell about his first day on the snowboard!
A sad hour or two watching the Wallabies get thrashed in the footy was brightened up with a nice dinner and then a devotion from our guest speaker and snow enthusiast, Dwayne Stockini. Dwayne encouraged us to be bold in sharing our faith, our story with those that we meet. We then headed off to watch a movie, play cards, and some turned in for the night very early.
Sunday was another beautiful day and another fresh dumping of snow on the mountain. A few of us headed up to Merrets and Crackenback and enjoyed making the first tracks in the snow. Students took another lesson and then disappeared with their buddies over the mountain for a few more hours riding the white powder!
Sadly it was too quickly time to come home – but what a wonderful time. A few more war stories on the bus back, a few movies and lots of sleep – all in all a great weekend away.
We had a great amount of fun, and we wondered at God’s amazing creation. We are already looking forward to next year.
I would like to thank the ski trip class of 2008 for the wonderful way in which they represented the school on the trip (a very easy bunch to lead); and to Mr Youl, Mrs Freestone and Mrs Glassock for their wonderful support on what was a most enjoyable weekend away.
On June 19th, Year 12 Extension 1 students travelled to Newtown to see ‘The Real Inspector Hound’ by Tom Stoppard. Three teachers in total accompanied us, with two English teachers (Mrs. Glassock and Mrs. Bootes) and an art teacher (it seems Mrs. Wiltshire just wanted a night out).
With time to spare, upon arriving in the chic inner city suburb, we dined at a local café , their gelato seeming to be a favourite for teacher and student alike.
Upon being seated inside the theatre, great anticipation overcame us, the stage set up as the play suggested.
The play seemed to get the approval of the English Coordinator, Mrs. Glassock, who was heard laughing in affirmation. The rest of the Extension One students were not far behind her, a previous reading of the script apparently helpful in understanding the play.
For me anyway, a sign of a good play or movie is the quotes that stream out from the audience long after, this theory evident again that night, as the students and staff quoted the play the entire trip home, possibly irritating the hired bus driver. We would like to thank the teachers for accompanying us, the Mr. Busman (I think his name was Peter) for safely transporting us, and would like to apologize to the patrons of the café in Newtown, as we were possibly quite loud and excitable.
On Friday Year 9 and five teachers went to Palm Beach for an excursion. When we arrived, Mr Bannister led Year 9 up to Barrenjoey Lighthouse where we all got to experience a lovely view of across Palm Beach (where Home and Away is filmed). After a hot walk up there was a nice breeze up at the lighthouse. After a short break we all headed back down to the beach where we walked from one end of the beach to the other. On the way we splashed each other in the water. When we got near the flagged area most of Year 9 and two teachers went for a swim to cool off. The rest of Year 9 who didn’t go in the water stayed on the beach and had lunch and some even had their own little picnic. The surf was very pleasant. It was a perfect day to be in the water cooling off. Some boys brought boogie boards which they used in the surf.
We had several home class competitions which were: build the biggest sandcastle in the quickest time. Then, make a track on the sand castle for a golf ball to roll down. It was the golf ball to take the longest time to roll down. 9B came 1st. Next it was the quickest home class to destroy another home class’s sandcastle. That activity was fun! After we grouped around a square area of sand, the teacher said ‘Go’ and we had to find the five tennis balls and a packet of lollies that were buried in the sand. The final activity was the beach race. The girls were first to lie down in the sand on their stomach and when the teacher said ‘Go’ we had to get up and race to get one of the hose pipes standing up in the sand. After the girls it was the boys’ turn.
My favourite part of the day was swimming in the ocean and getting all sandy in the beach activities.
When we arrived back at school Mr Bannister announced to us that 9B had won the ‘Year 9 Cup’ by accruing the most points from the activities. I would like to thank Mr Bannister, Mrs Wiltshire, Miss Hale, Mr James and Mr Green for such a great day and Mrs Knowles for organising it.
Author: Natalie Hibberd
Near the end of last term, both the School and Vice Captains along with Mr Smithies travelled into the Darling Harbour conference centre to attend the 2007 National Young Leaders Day. It was a huge event to which over 200 different schools from all over the state attended. The Day was aimed at informing young leaders about important issues to do with leadership in our schools, communities and also globally.
The day consisted of talks by five different speakers starting with a talk from the organiser of the event, Michael Martin from the Halogen Foundation, who discussed the importance of our role and the impact which one person can have. He gave examples of Ghandi and others like him who used peaceful methods to change a country.
The next speaker was Karen Matthews, the woman who brought the cosmetic brand and company, Ella Bache, to its successful state.
The third speaker was, for most of us, the most valued talker. Geraldine Cox is the founder and mother to the Cambodian Sunrise Children’s village. The village is the home to over a hundred Cambodian orphans. Geraldine talked us through the current situation for orphans in Cambodia and, through talking about some of the children from the village, was able to catch the hearts of the audience receiving a standing ovation when she had finished.
The fourth speaker was an Australian mountaineer, Linkin Hall. Linkin talked of his climb up Mount Everest and the extraordinary events which led to his supposed death, and later rescue. Linkin’s courage was a testament to us all.
The final speaker was the famed Christian NRL player Jason Stevens. Jason gave a Christian perspective to leadership even though the event was run by a non Christian organisation. For the Leaders from Covenant, it was Jason’s willingness to speak openly about his faith which was the best show of leadership as he used his fame from football and his passion for Christ to spread God’s word.
Overall the day was a great success and both the School and Vice Captains left with a new understanding about leadership and with many ideas about how we can effect those around us in the future.
that night, as the students and staff quoted the play the entire trip home, possibly irritating the hired bus driver. We would like to thank the teachers for accompanying us, the Mr. Busman (I think his name was Peter) for safely transporting us, and would like to apologize to the patrons of the café in Newtown, as we were possibly quite loud and excitable. 
We had several home class competitions which were: build the biggest sandcastle in the quickest time. Then, make a track on the sand castle for a golf ball to roll down. It was the golf ball to take the longest time to roll down. 9B came 1st. Next it was the quickest home class to destroy another home class’s sandcastle. That activity was fun! After we grouped around a square area of sand, the teacher said ‘Go’ and we had to find the five tennis balls and a packet of lollies that were buried in the sand. The final activity was the beach race. The girls were first to lie down in the sand on their stomach and when the teacher said ‘Go’ we had to get up and race to get one of the hose pipes standing up in the sand. After the girls it was the boys’ turn.
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