Sacred Heart's sad farewell
Suzie McManus - Sacred Heart School
IT IS with great sadness that we farewell Chris Cooney this week.
Chris has been an incredible powerhouse of passion and energy at this school.
Over many years, her knowledge of the art curriculum combined with her gently encouraging nature has inspired dozens of budding artists to be creative and has given those who think they are terrible at art a glow of success each week; this will be hard to follow-on from!
The way she connects Catholic Social Teaching with our Mini Vinnies’ projects is inspirational to both staff and kids at this school; we are super proud of what our Mini Vinnies achieve each year and much of it is thanks to Chris.
Thank you for your dedication, your friendship, and commitment to the school.
You will be sorely missed and we hope you keep in touch.
Grade 2/3 sustainability experience
THE Grade 2/3s headed out the bush in Bahgallah to plant stringy barks for Red-tailed Black Cockatoos this week.
We met up with Tim Burnard who gave us some background on this endangered subspecies of cockatoo and showed us how to plant the saplings.
The property we visited is one whose owners strive to be sustainable; it is off the main power grid, the house is built from sustainably harvested timbers and is passive solar in design.
We were super lucky with the weather- the sun was out and a great day was had by all!
Talk like a Pirate Day
THE F/1s had a fun day of dress ups, treasure hunts, map making and learning about the history of pirates.
The official date is actually next week, but with holidays coming up we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to have some swashbuckling fun.
Please note: Actual pirates aren’t that law abiding, so it’s best to go for the parody version!
No actual pillaging, stealing or brawling took place on the day!
Sovereign Hill camp
THE Grade 5/6 class had an amazing time at camp last week.
Together with students from Coleraine, Edenhope and Penshurst, they saw gold pouring demonstrations went down into the mine shafts, had a go at candle dipping and experienced life in the old fashion classroom where they wrote messages with quills and ink.
They also went gold panning, watched the famous sound and light show and explored the streets of Sovereign Hill.
It was a jam-packed adventure and they all returned with smiles and stories to share!
We have since had feedback that this group developed a reputation over the two days of being the best group the camp has ever had!
So proud of our gorgeous kids and their wonderful teachers.
PJ party 4 Life
Ann Hirst - Casterton Secondary College
THE Glenelg Shire Live4Life Casterton crew held a pyjama dress up day at Casterton Secondary College to promote and raise funds for the Youth Live4Life charity.
The charity promotes youth mental health and wellbeing within the school and wider community through different programs throughout the year.
The Live4Life Glenelg crew have a focus this year on the theme ‘Smash the Stigma’, which encourages people to reach out and seek support when they need it.
Shared celebration is back
FOR a number of years, students and staff of Casterton Secondary College have celebrated the end of semester one with a whole school sit down lunch.
It is an opportunity for everyone to relax in home groups and together, enjoy an uninterrupted meal and conversation.
Unfortunately, over the last couple of years Covid-19 rules and restrictions limited what we could do.
It was therefore an exciting time for students and staff on Wednesday, 14 September, to sit down and enjoy a scrumptious lunch.
Many thanks to our canteen manager, Mrs Beever, for organising bottles of water, hot roast chicken rolls with gravy and delectable desserts.
Fitness, fun and creativity abound
Charli, Ryan and Judd - Newspaper Club - Merino Consolidated School
ALL term we’ve been going to Hamilton to take part in gymnastics lessons.
We have all loved it.
I didn’t think I could do a lot of the activities that were there at the start but now I can – balancing on the beam is my favourite.
I also like to learn how to do proper handstands and to do flips on the bars.
I can’t wait to go back next year and do gymnastics again!
Artist in Residence
EVERY Friday we have our artist in residence.
I love having Jacinta come and do art with us – we always do something different and this term we’ve been working one of the things that we have been doing is learning how to weave.
We have made dilly bags by weaving then sewing our bags together and then we plated a strap to go over our shoulders – at first I didn’t know how to weave but now I do.
New blanket for the bus
WHEN we go to Hamilton we travel on a bus the ladies at Woolly West Fest have knitted us all blankets to go over our knees.
They are all different shapes and sizes and different colours too; I have chosen a multi coloured blanket to be mine and love it.
Japanese
WE LEARN Japanese here at Merino and we love it.
This term we have gotten a ‘sister school’ in Nagano and we have written them letters and made videos for them.
They are really cool and like lots of the same things that we like.
They are really good a drawing and have sent us pictures of cartoons that they like to watch.
We have sent them pictures of the cartoons that we are interested in.
I really like that I get to practise my Japanese with them and look forward to their next video when I get back from holidays.
