The annual camp experience for Year 5 and 6 students took place last week as both groups travelled to Camp Cooby for a two-night stay.  Such an experience is a wonderful opportunity for the children to develop skills such as team work, confidence, leadership and collaboration as well as overcome the anxiety around things such as heights and being away from home.  Camp Cooby offers all these things and the reports from the tired children on their return to school suggested that the reality met, if not exceeded, the expectation. As well as the activities, the food at camp was a significant talking point. Thank you to all the staff members who made it possible for the camp to go ahead - Tracey Cullinan, Kim Badcock, Johanna Campbell and Amy Veitch - and a special thank you to Sarah Day who stayed at camp for the whole week.  We thank them all sincerely for their time and commitment.

Year 6 students reflect on their camp experience

Amity: At camp, I learned how to communicate with my group and camp instructors by helping people on the rock wall, so they could go higher.

Gracie: At camp, I learnt to step out of my comfort zone and climb the rock wall.  I wasn't going to do it but I pushed through and did it.

Year 5 students at Camp

Year 5 students reflect on their camp experience

Ned: All the challenges I overcame with the help of my class. 

Sienna: We all learnt something new, and we all faced a fear. 

Ella: The first activity we did was crate stack, you got attached to a harness and had to stack crates, it was a great experience. Some of us were scared at first but our encouraging teammates helped us to go and give it a go.  

Sean: At Camp Cooby we did a load of fun activities including Crate Stacking, Raft Building, Leonardo’s Bridge Build, and Orienteering.  

David: We had a night walk, that was also quite uneventful. Going to sleep, however was truly dreadful. I won’t point any fingers, but ….. 

Billy: It was Billy’s Birthday (ME), and we had chocolate and lollies. We had dinner and dessert which was my birthday cake! 

Scarlett: "The second game was whale watching. We do not know why it was called that because we are not watching whales. We were on a giant see-saw that we all had to make balance for as long as we can."

Emma: "Last week grade 5 went on camp, the camp that we stayed at “Camp Cooby”, where we faced a lot of challenges and activities that taught us about teamwork."  

Ella: "At Camp Cooby I had the funnest time ever! We ate delicious food that I absolutely loved."

Aleese: "Some of the activities were whale watching, crate stack, raft build, orienteering and much more fun activities. Camp is something I am definitely going to next year."

Issy: "We did the rock, stick and leaf ending. What we did was we had to say something that rocked for the rock. Then something that we wanted to stick with for the stick. And something we wanted to leave behind for the leaf."

Boyd: "When we woke up we had breakfast which was cereal and toast with yoghurt and juice, I like juice."

Clare: "Candice, Imogen, Sienna and I were on clean-up duty on the first night."

Lily: "The first night was amazing we went for a night walk, we even went out of CAMP PROPERTY, but we saw 2 owls 1 possum and a tourney frog mouth it was so cool."

Imogen: "Camp Cooby was just like another lesson at school. We learnt how to work together, build up our confidence and try our best."

Ben: "The first night recap: LOUD NEIGHBOORS + SCREAMING!! = NO SLEEP!! "

Jordan: "I saw my life flash before my eyes when we were doing the crate stack."

Rowan: "It was much fun with the “High adventure” activities like the following: Raft building, Leonardo’s bridge build, crate staking and introduction to orienteering.  "

Last week also provided another off-campus learning experience with the students from Year 3 - 5 attending Caring for Nature: Granite Belt Biodiversity and Endengered Species Expo at the Civic Centre.  They were excited to learn about the specific species of flora and fauna native to this area from experts in their field and to walk away with a boomerang bag and other goodies.  The morning provided an opportunity for the students to undertake some research for their entry to the Crisps Art Show which will take place later this term.  Thank you to Mary Findlay, the Stanthorpe Art Gallery Director, for facilitating this event.

This week sees the national annual reminder about the importance of being respectful towards others in our choice of actions, words and tone. August 18 is the National Day of Action Against Bullying and, across the school, we will be involved in activities to show our support and information has been sent home via email.  Bullying has no place in our society and certainly no place in our school.  As adults, we need to be very clear about the definition of bullying so that we can we support our children appropriately. 

What is bullying? (Years 3-4) (bullyingnoway.gov.au)

This link Growing connections - Primary school students - YouTube explains the theme of this year's campaign.

Finally, in recent times we have seen a number of students arriving at school as early as 8am.  Please bear in mind that there is no supervision by teachers until 8:20am. 

With God's blessings