Narrabri West Public School's Blog

3/4S 100 Days of School Celebration

2011-08-02T15:09:00.002+10:00

Today many of our parents came to visit us in our classroom. We presented a PowerPoint containing our thoughts on the year so far and watched a slide show of photos taken throughout the year. At the end of the presentations we all had cake!

Science and Engineering Challenge

2011-07-26T15:58:00.002+10:00

Students from Years 4, 5 and 6 participated in the 2011 Science and Engineering Challenge, run by the University of Newcastle and the Narrabri Rotary Club.
They were involved in a variety of exciting and challenging science and engineering based activities, which saw them designing, creating, testing and problem solving their way through tasks.

Stage 2 Warrumbungles Excursion 2011

2011-05-03T12:37:00.003+10:00

On Friday the 8th of April Stage 2 students went on an excursion to the Warrumbungle National Park. All students had a good time and learnt something new. Mrs Smith took some photos and made a short movie, check it out!

Swimming Carnival – well done Cunningham!

2011-02-18T15:04:00.002+11:00

Our 2011 swimming carnival was held last Tuesday, with Cunningham winning the House Champion Trophy.

A Fantastic School Fete!

2010-09-02T10:10:00.004+10:00

Every year we say, but every year it happens!

Our fete continues to get bigger and better each year. A huge crowd, great weather (a big relief after the days before), fantastic stalls, plenty of attractions and terrific live music, saw Narrabri come out in force yet again to support our school.

Thank you to everyone who came and all of our many helpers. The highlights of the night for most of the children attending were again the rides, especially the ‘Cha Cha’ and Dodgem cars. These, as always, were extremely popular.

Education Week 2010

2010-08-09T08:28:00.002+10:00

Last week was Education Week and what a busy week we had.

100 days of School - Tuesday was the 100^th day of school for students this year and luckily this day fell in Education Week, so we took this opportunity to invite parents and community into our school to help celebrate this milestone. We wanted to showcase how much we have learnt and achieved this year.

A very large crowd attended and they enjoyed a picnic lunch in our school grounds and then visited classrooms where students proudly presented their work and demonstrated very clearly the progress they have made this year and how clever they are. Just imagine how much they will have learnt after 200days of school!

Classes showed their portfolios of work, presented multimedia presentations of their class activities, sang songs, danced, had spelling competitions (which the parents had to do as well), played Jeopardy on the whiteboard to test general knowledge skills (the parents also had to join in with this) and some classes also showed the movie animations they have been working on. Every class was very busy and the student’s certainly enjoyed the opportunity to show their visitors what they can do.

After the classroom sessions we had an assembly where the School Concert Band, Senior Recorder Group and our drum group, The Drum Muster performed. We also acknowledged our high achievers in recent University of New South Wales competitions.

Certificates of appreciation were also presented to parents who have provided great assistance to our school this year.

Athletics Carnival - Congratulations Oxley 2010 Athletics Champions!

Our 2010 Pre School to Year 6 Athletics Carnival has been held in front of a large crowd of supporters. Despite having to reschedule due to the wet weather, we managed to strike a fantastic sunny day which added to the occasion.

After great rainfall and consistent watering from our bore and irrigation system in the last 12 months, we have a high quality grass coverage and surface on our athletics track, which is only going to get better as time progresses. Narrabri West is extremely fortunate to be able to hold our athletics carnival on our own school grounds. We are the envy of many other schools for being able to do this.

After two days of very hard fought competition, Oxley was the winning house. The Ball Games Shield was won by Cunningham.

Destination Book Fair

2010-07-27T22:22:00.003+10:00

You're invited to our

BOOK FAIR

DATE: Monday 2nd August -- Friday 6th August

WHEN: Every lunchtime

WHERE: Library

We would love to see you there!

Every purchase benefits our school with great new books for our library.

Science Challenge by Emily 3/4W

2010-06-17T14:46:00.004+10:00

On Tuesday 8th June 2010 about 40 students represented Narrabri West Public School at the University of Newcastle Science and Engineering Challenge at the Crossing Theatre.
We were divided into 8 groups: dark green, light green, orange, purple, light blue, dark blue, red and pink.
Some groups were full day groups and some groups were half day groups. The half day groups did two activities but the full day groups did one. Our activities included things like deciding who could use the electricity, reflecting light waves, building catapults, making planes that flew a long way and creating environmentally sound houses.
After the half day groups had done their first activity, we had a BBQ lunch. It was delicious. After lunch the half day groups went to their second activity and the full day groups went back to their activity. At the end of the day, we got to watch the bridge testing. Our schools bridge made it to the ‘bridge buster’ which was the same level as the best bridges on the day. It was exciting to watch the bridges collapsing one by one. One of the organisers drew a school's name out of a hat to win a mystery science prize. Our school's name was pulled out of the hat! Then Mr Nelson told the schools the results and our school had the highest score! It just goes to show what teamwork can achieve! All the students had fun and tested our skills in science.

Science Challenge - Narrabri West wins again!

2010-06-11T11:13:00.001+10:00

This week students from our Years 4, 5 and 6 participated in the National Science Challenge, run by the University of Newcastle and the Narrabri Rotary Club.

The students were involved in a variety of exciting and challenging science and engineering based activities. They designed, created, tested and problem solved their way through such tasks as bridge building, ring gliders, electric circuits, hovercrafts and catapult making.

The challenge was also contested by other schools from Narrabri and surrounding districts.

Due to excellent team work and the problem solving skills of all of our participants, we received high scores in all activities and were announced as the overall winners of the day. This is the third year from the last four that we have won this competition. More importantly, all of our team members had an exciting day and learnt heaps!

Thank you to Narrabri Rotary Club, the University of Newcastle and the sponsors and helpers for making the day such a great experience for all students.

Thank you also to Mrs Woolford and Mrs Phillips for organising our team and to all team members for your excellent behaviour and attitude.

Our continued success in this challenge can certainly be put down to our practical and hands-on science program, our emphasis on higher order thinking skills and the ability of our students to operate effectively as a team. High quality teaching helps as well! Well done everybody.

1/2M Class News

2010-05-21T10:45:00.011+10:00

We are well into Term 2 and have achieved so much this year in 1/2M, including our ‘Me Box’ and animation presentations and of course the Eisteddfod! Thank you to the parents who have already discussed their child’s achievements and learning goals at the Three Way Interviews. We look forward to informing parents more formally about their child’s progress through the written Semester 1 Reports which will go home at the end of term. Please make an appointment if there are any questions regarding these.

A big thank you to all the parents who had their child looking so wonderful for our Eisteddfod performance last Tuesday. The children were very well behaved, sang beautifully and looked absolutely fantastic in their uniforms. They should be very pleased with their efforts. Here are some of 1/2M students’ thoughts about the Eisteddfod…..

*My favourite bit was singing. (Eden M)
*We sang two songs on the stage, ‘My Island Home’ and ‘Blue Moon’. (Stevie-Lea)
*The recorders did a very good job. (Eli)
* We watched and listened to other people. We came first and the recorders played and we came first again. (Georgia)
*We got a trophy. (Aiden)
*Yesterday we went to The Crossing Theatre to sing our songs. It was fun. (Jeffrey)
*First we watched the other schools then it was our turn. My favourite part was when we sang. (Caitlyn)

Our unit this term is ‘Getting Along’ which focuses on how other people care for us. We are also enjoying reading, writing and talking and listening about texts that persuade us in some way, such as expositions. Mrs Davis is helping us in Science and Technology lessons and we have started learning about emails and magnets. Year 2 students turning eight this year have been joining Stage 2 and Stage 3 for athletics practice during the week. Year 1 students and the seven year old Year 2 students will be joining KD and K/1N for running, games and ball skills practice in sport this term, so it is a very busy time indeed.

Parents are welcome to help in reading groups which are held Mondays to Thursdays from 10.00 – 10.30 am. A reminder – could parents please send in the money for the Maths texts, if you have not already paid for these ($15.00). Thank you also to those who have sent in their portfolio money ($2.00), and the tissue boxes and glue sticks. Thanks also to those parents who have continued to support our homework program. The homework program is a valuable tool in consolidating the work done in the classroom.

Here are our animations to enjoy!

The Balloon Family Goes to the Beach

The Balloon Family Goes to the Park

The Balloon Family Goes Camping

The Balloon Family Goes Fishing

Leadership Conference

2010-05-05T10:56:00.003+10:00

On the 30th April our school captains and councillors travelled to Tamworth to participate in the Impact Leadership Conference to help our leaders learn more about being a school leader. The conference started at 8:45am and by the time we entered the town hall the conference had already started. They were showing movie clips and we had to write down in our books who were the leaders in the clip. Our favourite segment of the day was ‘loud noises.’ There were two men who ran that segment and their names were Mason and Ronan. They did fun games with us and we even had do dance.
We learnt a lot about what makes a good leader and ways to be positive leaders and good role models within our school. We had a great time and would love to go again.

Connor and Daniel

Cunningham – 2010 Cross Country Champions!

2010-05-05T10:36:00.002+10:00

Last week our annual Cross Country Championships were held with Cunningham the winning house in yet another very close result. Our champions for each age division are Jonty and Clariese (8/9 years), Jordan and Kate (10 years), Coby and Lidia (11 years), Riley and Amber (12/13 years).

Good luck to all of our athletes who are looking forward to boarding the bus on Friday 21^st May and travelling to Burren Junction to compete at the Narrabri Zone PSSA Trials.

5/6C News Term 2

2010-04-21T14:18:00.005+10:00

Welcome back to Term 2. The first few days of the term have been very busy but we have settled well and have jumped straight back into work mode. This term our Science unit will be on electricity and circuits. This will be a lot of fun with heaps of hands on activities. Our class and Miss Baldwin's class have started a program where all the boys work with Mr Cornish and all of the girls work with Miss Baldwin. This program runs for the first hour of the day. The idea came from current research on the benefits of boys and girls working in their own groups for certain times during the day.

We have been talking about ANZAC Day and the importance of this day to us. We are completing a writing task about sacrifice, history, pride, loyalty and freedom. The class are extremely engaged in this activity and are producing some excellent pieces of work. We have continued our approach to fitness this term and run every morning around the oval. This is very good practise for the cross country which is on next week.

The class all enjoyed their holidays and were very excited to get back to work!! We used Inspiration (computer program) to plan and write a recount of the holidays. It sounded like the students had lots of fun. NAPLAN is also approaching quickly and the students in Year 5 are looking forward to completing these tests. (some of them)

This is going to be a very busy term with the class needing to work very well to keep up with expectations. Even though it will be very busy, there will be plenty of interesting activities to complete.

5/6C

2010-03-19T07:56:00.004+11:00

We have experienced an enjoyable visit from Mr Michael Coutts-Trotter, the Director General of Education for NSW. Mr Coutts-Trotter was in Narrabri for the annual New England Education Region Principals Conference, which this year was held at The Crossing Theatre.

Whilst at the conference he saw our drum group perform (which was the highlight of the opening ceremony), as well as some other great items by other local schools. He also delivered the keynote address to principals from across all 126 schools in our region.

Together with Mr John Charles, School Education Director (New England West), Mr Coutts-Trotter then had the pleasure of visiting our school, where he was greeted by our school captains and councillors, together with Mrs Annabelle Guest, President of the Narrabri West School Council.

Our Pre School and Kindergarten rooms were then visited and this was an opportunity for him to see high quality programs in operation. In particular he was able to see how Pre School children can easily transition into Kindergarten in the same school. It was quite obvious he enjoyed meeting our students and joining in with their activities. He asked them lots of questions (and they had some for him as well!).

The 5/6C classroom was the next port of call as Mr Coutts-Trotter wanted to ask Mr Cornish about his recent trip to Singapore. He was excited to learn that we are hoping to organise video conferences with a school in Singapore that has 4,000 students!

We are sure Mr Coutts-Trotter and Mr Charles left with a wonderful, impression of our schools students, and also our captains and councillors, who were terrific hosts and guides around our school.

2/3S Rugby Clinic

2010-02-24T14:21:00.002+11:00

Today 2/3S students participated in a Rugby Union Clinic. We began with some ball warm ups in pairs. Then we practised passing the ball to each other while running. It was important not to do a forward pass.

Towards the end of the session we played touch football. 2/3S enjoyed playing touch football and all students participated with enthusiasm.

We were all given posters and stickers as a souvenir. The posters told us information about the Waratahs and how to register to play football.

Water Bug Research

2009-12-02T13:00:00.005+11:00

On Wednesday the 2nd of December, 5/6C went on an excursion to Narrabri Lake to undertake research on bug life. This term we have been researching lifecycles of various bugs. We contacted Miss McCaffrey from CMA (Catchment Management Authority) in Tamworth. She explained the process for catching and identifying the bugs. It was difficult to catch and identify bugs because of the huge amount of mud in the water. The lake is very low which didn't help our research. Miss McCaffrey explained the best way to get bugs and the reasons why the only bugs we could find were Water Boatmen. The Water Boatmen are very tolerant to difficult conditions and don't have gills, so the mud in the water did not effect their breathing as much as some of the other insects. This was a very good excursion and we learnt a lot. We would like to thank Mrs Davis for organising the excursion and Miss McCaffrey for coming from Tamworth to talk to us.

KD and 5/6C animations

2009-10-02T14:18:00.003+10:00

On the last day of Term 3, students from KD joined 5/6C to create some animations. This was great fun for all the students. They worked hard to produce their animations and were very proud of the finished product.

Flower Power Rockets

Crazy animals Shapes

Flowers

1N Holiday Wordle

2009-10-02T11:21:00.003+10:00

In our diaries today we wrote stories about the holidays. We made a Wordle with our stories.

If you want to make your own Wordle go to the Wordle website.

http://www.wordle.net/

Human Body Animation by 3/4S

2009-10-02T09:57:00.004+10:00

This term 3/4S have been looking at the human body and how it works. We have studied the circulatory, digestive, respiratory and skeletal systems. We have written explanations on all of these and learnt how they interact with each other. To consolidate the information we have learnt, we created a partly animated movie. We all took turns in moving the pieces of our animation and at the end we had over 800 photos. Now sit back, relax and enjoy our movie!

4/5P

2009-09-28T10:32:00.001+10:00

Our class has been learning about Antarctica. We have researched many topics about this uniquely stunning environment. We have found out that Antarctica is not all ice. We have studied the impact people have made on this beautiful land and the pollution we are creating. People are even thinking about opening Antarctica for tourism.

We have discovered that whales have dropped by incredible numbers due to the everyday killings of these magnificent mammals. Another depressing fact, is that people are mainly killing the female whales. Toothed whales are mainly killed for the ivory in their teeth.
Our class is starting a debate about whaling, one team is going for whaling and one team is going against. There are three speakers in each team. The rest of the class are doing speeches about whaling.

This term we have been e-mailing students in Germany. It has been exciting and lots of fun for us to learn what the German students have been up to during their holidays and also what they had to say about their school and their country,even though they are only learning our language. It must also be good for them, because they get a chance to write in our language and talk to children that share common interests.

Our Year 4's are visiting Lake Keepit. We will write about their adventures in our next blog entry.

Year 5's entry - 4/5P.

2009-09-24T09:55:00.001+10:00

Dubbo Zoo Excursion

On Friday the 18th September, Stage 1 went to Taronga Western Plains Zoo. We went to the zoo to have fun with our friends and learn more about animals.

In the morning, we had to arrive at school by 6.45am! If we all didn’t arrive at that time, the coaches would be late! 2/3S and 1/2M went on the first coach and KD and 1N went on the second coach.

We watched Bolt and Bedtime Stories on the way to the zoo. We stopped in Coonabarabran for a crunch ‘n’ sip break. We also had to go to the toilet. As we drove through Coonabarabran, kids were only just going to school!

When we got to the zoo we had morning tea near the souvenir shop. Then we had to go to the toilet and put sunscreen on. After we had morning tea, we went to our first stop.

Our first stop was the black rhinoceros and the camel. After we saw the rhinoceros and camels, we saw lots and lots of deer! After that, we saw the giraffes, white rhinoceros and the elephants on the African Viewing Tower. Then we had lunch near the ice-cream shop and zebras.

After we had lunch, we saw the lions! While we were watching the lions, the teachers took some photos. We then got back on the caoch and saw some wild horses. We then saw the siamang apes. We really wanted to watch them swing but they were lazy and didn’t swing!

Then we had afternoon tea in the savannah lake area and played on the playground. After lunch, we saw the meer cats first and they were very jumpy! Then we saw a very big and fat wombat. The last exhibit we visited was the bird aviary. There were some very nice birds in there. Then we walked back to the coach to go home.

On the way home we watched Shawn the Sheep and Barnyard. My favourite part of the day was seeing the hippos. I had a really good day.

By Jenna Baxter 2/3S

Dubbo Zoo Excursion

On Friday the 18th of September KD, 1N, 1/2M and 2/3 went on an excursion to the Taronga Western Plains Zoo. We went to learn more about animals and see what they look like in real life.
We had to arrive at school at 6.34am so the coaches could leave at 7.00am. 2/3S and 1/2M went on the first coach and KD and 1N went on the other coach. My coach had a toilet and the other one didn’t.

On the way to Dubbo we watched Bolt and Bedtime Stories. Jenna was sitting next to me. She let me borrow her book called ‘Courageous Dogs’ because I didn’t want to watch the movies. Then we stopped in Coonabarabran for crunch ‘n’ sip. Mrs Smith told us to go to the toilet because it was the last stop before Dubbo.

When we arrived at the zoo we had morning tea outside the souvenir shop. We all went to the toilet again. In the toilet I saw a lady cleaning her fake teeth! We all had to put sunscreen on so we didn’t get burnt. After that we got on the bus and went to our first stop.

The first animals we saw were the black rhinoceros and camels. Then we saw antelope and the common eland. Later on we had lunch at the milk bar. Then we took our bags with us to look at the lions. One of the female lions had had surgery on her ear. We also saw giraffes and cheetahs.

Then we got on the coach and went round the zoo and saw lots of animals. We saw wild horses, galapagos tortoise, kangaroos, ostrich emu and white rhinoceros. Then we got off the bus and saw siamang apes. I sat down on the seat. One of them was energetic and the other went away so we wouldn’t see it.

Then we had recess at the playground. I didn’t get to play on the playground because I was eating my food. Then we went to see the meer cats, wombat and bird aviary.
Finally we went home on the coaches. At Coonabarabran we stopped to have some fruit and cordial. Then we got back on the coaches and went home. My favourite part of the day was seeing the wombats and siamang apes.

By Emily Stiller 2/3S

2009-09-23T09:34:00.004+10:00

This term we have been doing lots of work on our RAT's (real assessment tasks) about Antarctica. We have also been focussing on explanations, the topic we used to write a portfolio task was on how to ride a bike. Over the last few weeks our class has been looking at animation. We have been using whiteboards to create images and taking pictures with the school's new cameras and tripods. We are using movie maker to transform the photos taken into an animated movie. We are currently planning storyboards for our group animation projects which will be done outside using whatever resources we can find.

Miss Mostyn, who is a second year education student from UNE has been in our class for the last four weeks. She has been doing some exciting lessons with us and we will miss Miss Mostyn and hope she comes back to the West when she is finished her degree.

Next term we are very excited about beginning senior sport. Our choices this year were golf, gym and tennis. This is a great treat and we can't wait. The holidays are rapidly approaching and we are all thrilled to be getting a rest from the exhausting work load we have been under this term.

Our gold badge assembly is on next week and the people receiving this award have been extremely well behaved and thoroughly deserve this honour. Our term has been hectic but we are pleased with the work we have produced and can't wait until next term, the last at the West for some of us.

5/6C

2009-09-10T10:11:00.005+10:00

2/3S Term 3 News

2/3S have had a very busy and exciting term. We have enjoyed art lessons and have made some beautiful artworks. We enjoyed making our Father’s Day presents and cards. Our Dad’s were very impressed with our hand made gifts.

We have done two video conferences this term. We participated in a video conference with Frances Watts. She read some of her picture books to us. She talked about the writing, editing and publishing process. We also participated in a video conference about the air, atmosphere and weather. This was presented by the CSIRO.

We are looking forward to our excursion to the Dubbo Zoo next week. We will put a bolg up when we return.

2/3S Term 3 Blog

What a great school fete!

2009-09-02T13:05:00.002+10:00

Our school fete continues to get bigger and better each year.

A huge crowd, great weather, fantastic stalls, plenty of attractions and terrific live music from country singers Tony and Helen Cornish (assisted by our very own Mr Cornish), saw Narrabri come out in force yet again to support our school.

We have again made a healthy profit, far in excess of last years record breaking figures, with the money raised being used to fund our latest interactive whiteboard purchases. It is quite amazing to think how much money can be raised by what is essentially a small school, in such a short period of time.

Thank you to everyone who came and all of our many helpers. We owe a huge thank you to our very small, but active Fete Committee, which has met regularly over the last year planning the night.

The highlights of the night for most of the children attending were the rides, especially the ‘Cha Cha’ and Dodgem cars. These, as always, were extremely popular.

1/2M News

2009-08-30T16:50:00.002+10:00

What a busy term! The children have been working very hard on our ‘Minibeast’ unit, listening to stories such as ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’, making insects in craft and learning about the life cycles of some of them, such as butterflies. We have also been discussing nouns, verbs and adjectives within the context of minibeasts, which will help us when we write our explanation texts soon. We were very proud of our 2nd Place in the ‘Jewel on the Newell’ Science Week competition, and would like to especially thank Ben and Asher (our presenters) as well as Mrs Stiller and Mrs Bromage who accompanied the boys on the day! Ben and Asher talked about our bean plant experiment and discussed the results of their investigations about what plants need to grow’.

Mrs Davis has been teaching the class about the ‘shelters’ that people and animals use, and she has helped us finish a spectacular quilt, which was on display at the fete last week. Mrs Jackman has helped the students make some magnificent grass seed heads (a distant relative to Cousin It!). We enjoyed the Athletics Carnival recently and congratulate Will and Taylor for making it to the Zone Athletics. Good luck to Will, who will be running again at Tamworth soon in the North West PSSA Carnival. We are also hoping to have tennis for sport for the Year 2 children soon, so look out for a note that will come home with more information about this. Many children will enjoy the opportunity to learn new racquet skills.

Earlier this term we participated in a video conference with the author Frances Watts and thoroughly enjoyed listening to her stories, along with students from lots of other schools. Last week we also shared a narrative that we wrote using some special software with students from North Ryde Public School. Here are some of their recounts of the experience…….

On Tuesday, 1N and 1/2M went to the video conference room to watch the stories that we made. First we went for a jog and played ‘Duck, Duck, Goose’. Then we watched the stories that we made on ‘Create a Story’. Our story was ‘Spiky the Spider Finds a Friend’. 1/2D had a slightly different ending to ours. My favourite part was when North Ryde Public School showed their ending, At the very end we said ‘goodbye’. (William)

On Tuesday we went to a video conference and 1N came with us. North Ryde Public School from Sydney was on the screen. 1N’s story was ‘Tas-Kooka-Dragon’ and ours was ‘Spiky the Spider’. 1/2D and 1S were also there and we saw them on the t.v. My favourite part was the end of ‘Tas-Kooka-Dragon’. (Jonty)

On Tuesday we went to the video conference room. We sat in our lines. We watched ‘Tas-Kooka-Dragon’ first. Then we showed our story. I changed the page on the Smartboard and Harry read the story. My favourite part was when I changed the pages. (Asher)

All the children are becoming very excited about our trip to the Dubbo Zoo in a few weeks. Please don’t forget to send in your note and money as soon as possible.

5/6C News

2009-08-27T10:39:00.002+10:00

Canberra was a sensational week and it has been hard to settle down after returning to school. We have managed to get back into our routine and are working furiously to get through the loads of work we need to complete. This term we have been researching Antarctica and the impact of whaling. We have also been making a speech about whaling and the food chain, our RATS all involve this topic. The fete is on tomorrow and we are getting ready to rumble. Many of the class have been busy bringing in bottles and jars for the bottle stall and we think we may be a chance of being the champion class this year. In technology we have been learning about animations and how to create them. We have been working in small groups to create animations and we have also made a couple of class animations. The animations take a lot of patience, although then results are worthwhile. A quality animation can take between 150 and 1000 photos. PE has been fun this term. We have been learning a variety of Indigenous games with whole school PE and one day a week we do basketball skills with our class. Our skills are developing well and we are improving at a rapid rate. We have completed our buddy craft project with KD and 1N. The results will be able to be seen in the 'Art Gallery' at the fete. It has been a great start to the term and we have been working very well.

5/6C

Congratulations Sturt - 2009 Athletics Champions

2009-08-12T14:33:00.003+10:00

Our 2009 Pre School to Year 6 Athletics Carnival was held last week in front of an extremely large crowd of supportive, cheering and vocal parents, relatives and friends. Our athletes responded to the great conditions on the athletics facilities in our school playground with some outstanding performances! After two days of hard fought competition, Sturt was the winning house. The Ball Games Shield was won by Oxley. Age champions and medallion winners were:

5 yrs Thomas Snape

6 yrs Kyah Cornish Kobe Varcoe

7 yrs Clariese Ryman Harry Edwards

8 yrs Jessica Kelly Will Alexander

9 yrs Josie Wilson Lawson Morley

10 yrs Taylah Tordoff Tom Baker

11 yrs Sienna Brown Giulio Heimoana

12/13yrs Josie Kirkby Dylan Phillips

We had 4 new records set at our carnival – 2 of them by Sienna Brown! New records are: Harry Edwards (7 Years Boys 70m - 11.60m), Sienna Brown (11 Years Girls High Jump - 1.30m, 11 Years Girls Discus – 19.88m), Dylan Philips (Senior Boys Discus - 21.56m). Jaymie-Lea Wheeler also set a new record in the 11 years discus, only for Sienna to break it in the same event!

Ready to go for Term 3

2009-07-29T14:20:00.004+10:00

We have started this term talking about Antarctica, we have realised already that there are lots of interesting facts. We have completed a RAKE and KWL on the topic. The new sports court has proven to be extremely useful and we have begun learning basketball skills. This has been great fun. It's starting to get very exciting because we are leaving for Canberra in 11 days and we can't wait to get going. The school Fete is coming up and our class is bringing in bottles at a great rate and we think we will have the most in the school. Our communication with Westdale is continuing this term and we have sent them a message on our Wiki, asking them to join us in a video conference. We are looking forward to the rest of the term and we can't wait to start our work.
5/6C

Our multisports court is finished!

2009-07-27T12:40:00.003+10:00

Our new multisports court has just been completed. What a great asset this will be for our school for generations to come! This fantastic new facility has been built using funds provided by the Federal Governments economic stimulus package.

We are all very keen to test out our tennis, volleyball, basketball and netball skills on the Rebound Ace surface.

We know it is going to gets LOTS of use!

2009-06-17T14:38:00.004+10:00

On Saturday Narrabri West's 7 year old football team drove to Tamworth to play in the Peel Schools Rugby League carnival.

We played two games and we marched in the march past.

We beat Manilla in the final 18 to 12 and we won a trophy, a football and a pennant.

We would like to thank our parents and Mrs Nichols for taking us.

by 1N

Exciting new projects at Narrabri West!

2009-06-16T09:41:00.002+10:00

This week we have received official confirmation that our nominated projects for the Commonwealth Government’s Building the Education Revolution program have been approved. This is fantastic news for our school, with construction to begin very shortly on the following projects:

· A hall – this will be built in the back playground adjacent to the Pre School. It will have a stage, toilets, showers and storage facilities, as well as an adjacent Covered Outdoor Learning Area. This will be a terrific addition to our school and will allow us to have the whole school indoors for assemblies and performances etc. It will also provide a rehearsal and concert venue for the school band and other groups. Whilst it will not be huge, it will certainly be big enough for our entire school to use. Importantly, it will not encroach on our athletics track or any of our sporting areas in the back playground. Whilst this news is exciting, the second project as part of this funding we are sure will really excite our students, (and will be a major asset to our school). This will be the construction of a….

· Multi-sports tennis, basketball, netball and volleyball court – this sporting facility will be built in the existing staff car park (bad luck teachers!) and will be an all-weather surface with a surrounding fence. It means we will have our own court for these sports, as well as an adjoining area with handball and hopscotch markings etc. This is really exciting news and will ensure that Narrabri West will have without a doubt the best facilities of any school, not only in Narrabri, but in the entire New England area. How lucky are our students? The court will be similar to the one in the photo.

These projects will certainly enhance our school and we are looking forward to watching their progress as they take shape. These are exciting times for Narrabri West!

School Debating

2009-06-11T15:32:00.004+10:00

On Wednesday June 3rd, eight people went to Tamworth Public School to learn how to debate. Josie Wilson, Alix Sills, Kiara Harvey, Jane Phillips, Taylah Cook, Jess O’Neil, April Squire and Felicity Elford all had a great day learning about the 3 m’s - Matter, Manner and Method. We all started off by learning to debate and wrote down dot points, sentences and tables. The instructors told us about how to set up a debate, how to use speakers to present arguments and how to rebut the oppositions arguments. We had to see what would we do if we ruled the world , and lots more. We also got a chance to debate and it was fantastic! The instructors were really nice too and if we got stuck they would help us. We all had a great day and our school will definitely go next year.

Written by Josie Wilson & Alix Sills

3/4Ws report on the Cross Country

2009-06-11T15:28:00.003+10:00

On Thursday 4th of June Narrabri West Winners went to Number 2 oval for PSSA Cross Country and ran their hardest. These are the results of the PSSA runners from our school:

1st - Josie Wilson, Jack Edwards
2nd -Dylan Phillips
3rd -Josie Kirkby, Kate Brown
4th -Tom Baker, Lidia McCauley
5th -Lawson Morley
6th -Joe Baker, Will Brennan
7th -Brandon Gold
8th -Khiarni Cornish, Jenna Baxter
Others- Drew Merten 3rd last, Howard Litzow 20th, Tyler Arnold 40th, Jordan Harvey 9th , Will Alexander 18th, Emily Stiller 9th, Amber Meskill 12th, Tegan Bush 10th, Kiara Neave 9th, Jacob Shields 13th

Those people above represented our school extremely well and they had wonderful manners too. They were also pleasant to the other runners and the organisers. As excellent role models, they cheered our school on when they were running. The next level is Coolah - We wish them luck!

Written by Howard Litzow and Josie Wilson

3/4Ws plant news and other activities

2009-06-11T15:10:00.006+10:00

3/4W has planted some winter vegetables such as: Broccoli, Cabbage, Peas sillver Beet and Brussel Sprouts in large, plastic pots outside our classroom in front of our balcony where they receive lots of sun. The seedlings took 7-10 days to germinate. 3/4W worked in groups of 4 or 5 planting a vegetable. They get watered once a week by chosen people to keep them up and running. They have really taken off! 3/4W are very proud of their plants and are having loads of fun with them!!!

Written by Gwenieve Merten & Georgie Guest

Edited by Reading Group 5

cabbage 13.5.09

cabbage 18.5.09

cabbage 27.5.09

Knitter's Club 2009

2009-06-11T14:30:00.007+10:00

The Knitting Club is off to a great start this year with 20 keen knitters showing up on Wednesday, armed with brightly coloured wool and needles, ready to create beautiful knitted masterpieces! It is great to see many students returning this year after learning to knit in 2008 and these students are proving to be excellent helpers, assisting some of the new knitters this year. Ms Dafter has been assisted by Mrs Phillips who also shares a love of knitting, and they have sure been busy casting on and teaching basic knitting techniques to everyone. The children, from Years 3-6, are a very enthusiastic bunch and are planning to make nice warm scarves for Winter as well as little bags and purses. The group will meet every Wednesday at lunchtime in Ms Dafter’s classroom during the colder months. All knitters are welcome, but our spare needles have run out so be sure to bring along some of your own!

2009-06-01T13:25:00.002+10:00

Narrabri West Public School has won the 2009 New England Education Region Award for Excellence in the Arts. This year a total of nineteen ‘Excellence in Education’ awards were announced by Relieving Regional Director Mr Jim White in Education Week. These awards recognise excellence within a school.

Narrabri West’s Excellence in the Arts Award was judged on criteria which included:

exemplary professional practices in one or more of the art forms of music, dance, visual arts, drama;

an excellent record of developing opportunities for participation by students in school, regional and state events; and

exemplary practices in encouraging students to develop their talents in one or more art forms.

All nominations were judged by a panel that included the Regional Director of Education, a Principal representative, a Teacher representative and a P & C representative.

The judging panel determined that all areas of Narrabri West’s performing arts program were the most outstanding examples of ‘best practice’ within the New England Region. The judges acknowledged in the award citation that music is an integral part of the school’s curriculum, with students experiencing a sequenced program which also allows those with a particular interest or aptitude to receive specialised instruction and further develop their talents. Special mention was made of the schools concert band program, sequenced instruction program for teaching all student s the recorder and the percussion (drumming) program. They also acknowledged how the school music program impacts not only on the school, but also the whole community, with many students going on to join Narrabri High School music programs and also the Narrabri Shire Band.

This is the fourth major award that Narrabri West has won in the last two years, which is indicative of the high quality educational programs that we have implemented. The real winners of course are the children attending Narrabri West, who get to benefit from the impact of these award winning programs.

Newcastle Variety Bash Visit

2009-05-24T15:20:00.001+10:00

We had a terrific time when we were visited by the Newcastle Variety Bash entrants for breakfast. The highlight of the morning was the presentation to the school of a cheque for $2000, to assist in the purchase of another interactive whiteboard. We were also given $1500 to supply breakfast for the 150 entrants, which due to the outstanding support we received through donations, enabled us to make a profit of $1250. This means we raised $3250 through the ‘bash.’ Thank you to everyone who assisted.

2009-05-22T15:04:00.001+10:00

Boys Soccer Knockouts

On Monday the 18th of May the boy’s soccer team walked down to gately fields to play soccer against Wee Waa.

Mrs Burtenshaw coached the Wee Waa team that lost 11-1. These were the boys that scored the 11 goals for the westies. Mrs Smith’s husband Scott Smith was our coach that helped us with our victory.

Daniel 4
Scott 2
Dylan 2
Jack 1
Conner 2

We all had a very fun day and enjoyed their company and I hope they enjoyed ours. All tried really hard and did their school proud.

By Coby and Dominic

Narrabri West - a very busy place!

2009-05-19T14:32:00.007+10:00

It is is so busy at Narrabri West at the moment. We have the Narrabri Eisteddfod, Education Week, sporting events and many more exciting events to keep us occupied. We enjoyed our Mothers day stall and are loving playing on our new 9 hole Narrabri West Golf Course. WE also had a special visit from the Easter Bunny just before Easter. He had lots of yummy eggs! Here are some photos.

5/6C Back to school!

2009-04-30T14:52:00.003+10:00

We have returned from our yummy chocolate holiday and are ready to get back into our school routine. We have heaps of sport events early in the term including cross country, football, netball, softball and soccer. We are making sure we work really hard so we don't miss out on any learning. Our focus unit this term is about Traditions and Heritage. In this unit we talk about gold, Aboriginal lifestyle, democracy and about our history. Hopefully we may be able to pan for some gold. This term is going to be extremely busy with lots of exciting activities planned for the term. We have continued working on our Eisteddfod pieces and are very pleased with the way they are going. We are continuing our video conferencing with Westdale and our wiki is working well. We are currently working on writing tasks about Westy the Bear. We are calling them the Westy T Bear chronicles. This is going to be a great term and we can't wait to get into it!
Welcome to Amber and Tayla Jane who have joined our class this term.
5/6C

3/4W Class Activities

2009-04-29T16:19:00.008+10:00

On the 7th of April, 2009 3/4W started to grow some Weeping Red Bottle Brush plants. First we needed an eighth of a piece of newspaper to squash down the bottom of the little tubes. Secondly, we went outside and put dirt in the pots. Following that, we put the pots under the sprinkler so they could be moistened ready for the seeds.
The following day, we planted 135 seeds in the pots. We got the seeds from the Tankaday Challenge. Hopefully they will germinate in 21-28 days. But we don’t expect them all to grow. If we have enough we will be able to take some home or maybe sell at the Fete. Most of them will be planted in the school. We had lots of fun doing it and are keeping our fingers crossed for a good result! If they germinate, they will grow to about 5 metres high and will attract birds. This term we will be looking at seeds and the growth of plants. Already Mrs. Woolford has organised for us to grow a mini vegetable garden near the classroom for us all to be involved in. We will keep you up to date with how our garden is going. We hope to grow peas, beans, spinach, brussel sprouts and broccoli. Yummy vegetables !! Maybe we will be able to have a cooking day at the end to use some of the goodies we grow!!

Our COGs unit is about the early sea explorers of Australia. We will be researching 4 explorers to discover who was the most noted for discovering the Great Southern Land. Today we have begun using Master Slides in our Power point documents getting ready to present a major project revealing all that we have learnt in our research time in reading lessons.

KD students are too clever!!!

2009-04-03T07:03:00.003+11:00

The students in KD have become very clever this term! So far we have learnt 9 sounds and letters and can now use these letters to make tons of CVC words. We are also getting to know quite a few sight words and can use these in short sentences. We have been writing information reports this term and have some written some interesting reports about cats. Isn't it amazing to think that at the beginning of the term, most of us could only write our name, and now only 9 weeks later we are writing sentences and learning to use handwriting lines!

Ms Dafter was very pleased to speak to all the parents during Three Way Interviews, because she had such pleasing reports to give about every child in KD and could show parents such fantastic work samples, proving what hard workers KD are! Thank you to all the parents who have attended an interview as it means a lot to your child to know how interested you are in their progress at school.
In week 10, KD teamed up with 5/6F to complete the final assessment for our COGS unit, Our Place. The task involved the children designing a home environment that would be suitable for a storybook family and creating a diorama. KD chose The Three Bears and decided that the house would need 3 chairs, 3 beds, 3 bowls of porridge plus many more homely items. So far the homes look very inviting and comfortable and there has been lots of creativity flowing during this task! The finished dioramas will be on display in KD's classroom when we have our open day on Thursday, 9th of April.
In the past few weeks we have all been working hard practising our poems and songs for the Eisteddfod which is coming up in Term 2. We have also been working on a special class entry for the Narrabri Show where we have created a large wall hanging showing where we live in our environment. The children are very excited about this and are looking forward to seeing their work displayed at the show.
It's not long now until the Easter bunny visits and KD is now counting down to this exciting event. This week we will be making some Easter baskets in the hope that the Easter Bunny pays us a visit before the end of term!
Thank you once again to all of the parents who continue to help out in our classroom each day. It is such a great help and the children really enjoy having you there.

Ms Dafter & KD

5/6C Video Conference with Westdale.

2009-03-30T13:16:00.002+11:00

Over the past few weeks we have been communicating with Westdale PS using the Wiki we established, emails and today we had a video conference with our partner class. We are creating this Blog with 6B from Westdale while we are having the conference. We were able to introduce ourselves to our email buddies and get to see what they looked like. We're learning about Living Lands and Westdale are learning about Antarctica. We learnt we do similar things between the schools. Our house names are named after prominent people. 6B told us about their fundraising efforts with FM 92.9 and Westpac Rescue helicopter.

"I learnt a lot more about the Video Conferencing and using computers to communicate." Zac 6B

"I enjoyed doing the Video Conference and learning about students from another school." Connor 5/6C

"It was fun to meet other people we didn't know before" Zach C 6B

"It was good to meet our partners" Daniel 5/6C

Boys Cricket Knockout

2009-03-26T15:09:00.002+11:00

Our boys cricket team played Narrabri on 26th March in the second round of the NSW PSSA Boys Cricket Knockout. Unfortunately Narrabri were too strong and defeated our boys to move into the next round. Narrabri batted first and scored 101 after their 25 overs. Josh Wilson was an absolute megastar in the field, taking 5 catches and returning 1-13 form his 3 overs. This was a big score to chase and we started well, however we ran out of overs and were 6-69 after our 25 overs. Man of the match Josh Wilson top scored with 12 runs, although S.Undries was as consistent as ever, notching up 33 runs! All boys played well and are now looking forward to the Cricket Challenge in Term 4.

2009-03-26T13:27:00.003+11:00

2/3S Blog

2/3S have participated in their first video conference! The students participated well and really enjoyed connecting with other schools and our presenter, Dhinawan. After the conference the students were asked to write a recount. One was chosen to publish:

Video Conference

On Thursday the 26th of March 1/2M and 2/3S participated in a video conference. The presenter was Dhinawan and he taught us some things about Aboriginal culture through dance and games.

We got to ask questions about his culture. Jenna asked how the didgeridoo was made Dhinawan told us that you cut a hollow part off a string bark tree then pour hot water through the middle to remove any insects that may be in there. Then you take the bark off the outside. After that you get the woman to paint it. I didn’t want to ask a question but it was fun.

We saw other schools like Forbes during the video conference. We got to learn some dance and games. They were really fun. One was where we were rocking like a canoe. Other classes asked questions too. It was fun!

By Emily 2/3S

PSSA Girls Cricket Round 2 Gunnedah Fields

2009-03-23T15:43:00.006+11:00

On March 23rd 2009 round 2 of the PSSA cricket was played against Gunnedah South at Donnelly Fields, Gunnedah. After winning the toss, we elected to bat. K Cornish opened and batted extremely well hitting fours and sixes consistently notching up a score 40 not out. She was supported by J Kennedy scoring 4 runs before being stumped. The girls played in the true spirit of the game but once again sundries scored well. Gunnedah South batted competently displaying aggressive skills with 2 batters retiring both with 40 runs a piece. Our bowlers had difficulty getting accuracy on the pitch for some of the overs but delivered other balls that were easy targets for the Gunnedah South girls. S Brown bowled well at 0–10 for 2 overs. As their coach, I was impressed with the gregarious nature of the team and their willingness to put in the hours during training. We look forward to using their skills in the cricket challenge at the end of the year.

Carmel Woolford
Coach

5/6C and Westdale

2009-03-23T14:56:00.003+11:00

Last week Mr C went to Tamworth to learn some more uses for technology. While he was there he met a teacher from Westdale PS and they decided to have a video conference and email - pen pal project. We were very excited about getting buddies and having a video conference. We created a Wiki to begin our communication. We use the Wiki to communicate with Westdale which helps us to find out about other schools and make friends. We are learning about technology through using different types of technology. So far we have looked at email, Marvin, Blogginig, digital photography, Wiki's, videos and Video Conferencing.

We initially set up a Wiki and invited Westdale to join our Wiki. They replied and we buddied up with a penpal for the email project. We have created a link from the Wiki to our Blog for Westdale. We took a photo of 5/6C and we pasted it onto our wiki page. Next we are learning about podcasts and widgits we are learning to communicate using technology.

3/4S are Working Hard!

2009-03-19T14:53:00.009+11:00

This term 3/4S have been working hard and learning lots of new things. We are learning to have a go and help others. Here are some of the activities we have been doing:

Clayton working hard in a Maths lesson

Jessie and Brittany working together
In Cogs we have been learning about National Parks and we have been using items from the local environment like leaves, nuts and bark for our artwork. Trinity

We have been writing Information Reports. We had to choose an animal and write, then present an information report about it. I chose a Tasmanian Devil, it was really fun. Kate

Taylah showing her poster
We have been playing with magnets for Science. We made magnet powered cars with paddle-pop sticks, axles, wheels, blu-tac and magnets. We raced the cars by pushing them using the power of repulsion. Jake

We have a growth tree that used to have no leaves on it. When someone does something really good they can get a leaf. If we reach 100 leaves, we get to have a class party. We already have 31 leaves. Callie

A picture of our Growth Tree

5/6F and KD Buddies

2009-03-13T10:52:00.005+11:00

5/6F and KD are buddies. We have been doing lots of art activities such as a rainforest collages and some beautiful butteflys. Lunch times and recess are lots of fun with our buddies because we borrow equipment from the sports shed such as balls, hoops, and skipping ropes and play together helping each other with social skills. 5/6F also took KD buddies around the school to show them all the great places to play and be safe. We always have lots of fun whenever we do anything with our buddies.

Kathy and Jaymie-Lea

2/3S Week 6

2009-03-11T11:07:00.005+11:00

2/3S have had a busy and productive start to the year. Our classroom is full of beautiful artwork. We have enjoyed learning about frogs and have had pet frogs in our classroom. However, they are mysteriously disappearing each night - perhaps they are escape artists! We have made a frog PowerPoint and are looking forward to showing parents during 3 way interviews later this term. We are getting ready to write our own information report on endangered animals and have been busy learning what it means to be in danger and how we can help to protect our wildlife.

On Shrove Tuesday 2/3S made pancakes with 1/2M. They were very yummy and some students made pancakes at home using Mrs Smith's secret recipe!

Netball Clinic

2009-03-10T14:32:00.011+11:00

On Monday 9th March, 26 NWPS girls (and Westy) walked to the Bev Burrows Netball Courts. They were split into age groups and participated in activities that helped improve their skills and knowledge of the game. These activities included shooting, defending, footwork and ball skills. The day was organised by Sport & Rec, but Narrabri Netball Association assisted by supplying helpers, including NIAS reps from Narrabri High and Official Netball coaches. To finish off the day the girls played a round robin competition of 8 minute games, to consolidate the skills they learnt earlier in the day. Every student involved enjoyed themselves, even Jessica who had a bit of a crash.

5/6C and 1N email legends

2009-03-05T15:20:00.008+11:00

5/6C and 1N have created a buddy system to learn how to email and to create a Blog. 5/6C learnt how to email and Blog. They then were given a buddy to teach the same things. 5/6C went to 1N's classroom and the kids buddied up and went to the computer lab to begin our emailing. The students worked very well together and were able to send and receive emails. The work between these two groups was very impressive.

5/6C learnt a traditional Indigenous game called Taktyerrain. This game involves throwing balls a certain distance and racing to get your ball the quickest. The class, in groups were responsible for teaching small groups from 1N. The students were taught the game and then we played a huge game involving all of the students. Everyone had a great time and all of the students developed confidence in different situations.

5/6C Class News

2009-03-03T10:49:00.008+11:00

Welcome to our first class news.

This year we have been working on different types of technology such as: Marvin, Emails, Web Quest, Blogs and Video conferencing. We have created a buddy class with 1N. We are going to work with the class to teach them how to access and reply to emails. This process will help us to learn as well as helping 1N.

Also this year we have been using alot of thinking tools such as the doughnut, lotus diagram, blooms grid, brainstorming and decision making matrix. These tools help us to think, organise, plan and produce quality work.

Fitness is a focus for the term. We are running or exercising most mornings which helps us get our minds active for a great days work. We are working towards making ourselves healthy and strong for the future. Recently we have begun learning circus skills which is great fun and also helps our hand eye coordination. Some of the class are natural clowns!

We are continuing to develop our skills in singing and have begun learning to use our voices as an instrument. We are learning a couple of different songs and everyone is having a great time singing together.

Our focus for the term is on Living Lands which includes areas such as National Parks, rainforests, animals and plants. We have been conducting research on this and are learning some very useful information.

The class has begun the year extremely well and are producing quality work in all areas.

5/6C Thinking Tools

2009-02-24T09:49:00.004+11:00

Our class has been using and developing our skills using Thinking Tools. These tools help us to plan, organise and think about our work. We have used several tools this year already including the Doughnut, DMM (Decision Making Matrix), Imagineering, Six Hats, Lotus Diagrams, Thinkers Keys and Multi-Voting. These tools help us learn and provide opportunities for us to think "outside the box". We have completed a Venn diagram on National Parks and we use Six Hats on a weekly basis to talk about our learning and how we can improve. Thinking tools enable us to work to our potential.

1/2M Students Have A Busy Start To The Year!

2009-02-23T20:53:00.007+11:00

1/2M has had a very busy start to the year! We have begun talking about our local area as a lead up to our unit with an environmental focus called ‘One World’. We have collected gum leaves from the playground and have used them to make rubbings in art. The recent wet weather has also encouraged lots of discussion about frogs! Mrs Wales visited our class with some green tree frogs and we painted our own green frogs which are just as cute as the real thing! We are curious to find out if any frogs are endangered and how we can protect all our animals and plants.
We are off to a flying start having commenced spelling, reading and maths groups already. We have been using the Smartboard, computers and big books to gain information about endangered animals, which is exciting! We are also learning about the six thinking hats and now use the ‘white hat’ to help us when we discuss facts and gain information about a topic. We will be writing an information report about frogs and investigating different endangered animals to make a PowerPoint presentation on the computer.
We were very happy to welcome Lachlan Bennett to our school this term! We also enjoyed having our friend Westy Bear visit us this week. He has been kept extremely busy helping in the classroom and in return has been getting heaps of cuddles. Ben will be the lucky boy to have the opportunity to pamper Westy over the next weekend. Westy will not have a moment to spare though! Westy will be in for a great weekend because Ben has planned that they will be playing on the swing set and trampoline, then they will be relaxing in the sand pit and cubby house. Westy will also have a bath and a game of chess with Ben before bed. Lucky Westy and Ben!

5/6F's Water Bomb Experiments

2009-02-20T09:39:00.006+11:00

5/6F jumped straight in this term and stuck into some challenging work. They were asked to form small groups and figure out the question:
‘How many water balloons would it take to fill the 5/6F classroom?’
The students brains started to tick over with this problem. This is what they had to do:
1. Suggest questions that needed to be answered before this problem could be solved.
Are the balloons filled or empty? Filled
Will there be furniture in the room? No
Will the storeroom door be open or closed? Closed
Are the balloons small or large? Small
2. Work out what measurements have to be made to find the answer – find the volume.
3. What equipment was needed – water balloons, water, a box, metre rulers
4. Discuss how we find volume and why it is cm³ - The students realised that to find volume they had to know the height, length and width of the object (in this case the classroom and the box they were going to fill with the filled water balloons). They also realised the reason it is cm³, is because there are three dimensions (LxWxH).
5. Fill the water balloons – the fun part, and with the extremely hot weather we had it was quite a relief to have some balloons accidentally popJ .
6. Count how many balloons filled the box – Each group had a different sized box to see if this was a successful way to measure.
7. Find out how many boxes would fit in the classroom (volume of the classroom divided by the volume of the box).
8. Multiply the number of boxes that would fill the classroom by the number of balloons in each box. There fore coming up with the answer to the initial question.

Group 1 – Khiarni, Chloe, Jack A, Caitlin
Group 2 – Jessica, Drew, Dylan, Kathy, Marissa
Group 3 – Taylah, Linden, Josie, Jayden
Group 4 – Scott, Jacob, Patty, Breanna
Group 5 – Sienna, Jack E, Ashley, Connor, Lachie

The rest of the term should be just as fun. We will be looking at more problems similar to this one and many more exciting things.
I am very pleased with the maturity of all the students in 5/6F and am happy to say it is shaping up to be a great year.

Mrs Trudi Ford
5/6F classroom teacher.

KD- off to a great start!

2009-02-12T22:40:00.003+11:00

This week in KD we have been busy reading the Big Books, Mrs Wishy Washy, The Sly Fox and Little Red Hen and Smartypants. It has been lots of fun acting out the stories and singing songs that relate to the books.
We have been introduced to “s” and “a” and have learnt actions to help us remember their sounds. Everyone has been trying hard to use the correct pencil grip and we have been doing lots of writing and drawing every day!
On the Smart Board we have been doing story sequencing activities and maths games which are very fun, and we have visited the computer lab to learn the correct way to turn them on and off and to play some fun games. All the children in KD now have a buddy from 5/6F who will spend time with them at lunch times 2-3 times per week. We will also be doing some fun craft activities with 5/6F later in the term.
Next week we look forward to beginning our reading groups and learning 2 more new sounds!
Well done to all of KD for settling in so quickly to school! What a great year we are going to have!

Rugby League visit – an exciting start to the year!

2009-02-11T12:58:00.002+11:00

We recently received a visit from 6 NRL footballers. We welcomed Jake Lingard, Vic Mauro (Sea Eagles), Chris Heighington, Chris Lawrence, (Wests Tigers), Brad Tighe and Geoff Daniela (Panthers). We enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the players and learn about their experiences. This was certainly a surprise for all students when they lined up for their first assembly for the year and saw some familiar faces from the NRL to welcome them back to school. What a thrill!

2009 Swimming Carnival

2009-02-09T07:51:00.003+11:00

Our 2009 swimming carnival was held last Friday, with STURT retaining the House Champion Trophy. Our individual champions for the day were:

8/9 Years – Emerson, Will
10 Yrs – Lidia, Jack
11 Yrs – Emma, Daniel
12 Yrs – Kiralee/Josie (tied), Dylan

Pictured are all of our ribbon and medal winners!

PSSA Softball Finals

2008-12-16T11:00:00.002+11:00

Last week our boys’ softball team traveled to Sydney to play in the finals of the PSSA State Knockout. Although the team didn’t win any games in Sydney, they still finished as the 4^th best team in the state! How good is that? We are very proud of the boys’ achievements in making it to the state finals.

Daniel L, Matthew and Daniel O wrote this report.

On Wednesday morning we all traveled down to Sydney in our own car for the semi finals and finals of the PSSA Softball. Once we got there we checked in and got our room keys. We then had a swim downstairs in the heated pool, which was totally awesome. Even though it was raining we still had our training session. That night we all went down to the RSL club for dinner, we all enjoyed our meals and dessert and a good night sleep.

It was game day and we were all fired up for a good competition. We had breakfast in our rooms but some families went down to the food court at the shopping mall just down the road. We arrived at the grounds at 10.00am; we were all amazed by how good the grounds were. We started training hard and while we were training there was a couple of rabbits that joined in which was quite amusing. The two captains and vice captains had the coin toss. We won the toss and elected to field. We didn’t really play our best because we dropped a lot of balls because of nerves. We didn’t bat very well either but they did have the NSW pitcher, pitching faster than we can throw. Daniel Litzow hit a home run and Cameron King made it to home and a couple others. The end score was 16-4 but they were a very good team.

In the second game we were leading 6-2 but just in the last three innings our team fell apart and narrowly lost 10-13 against Narranga.

The winner of the 2008 PSSA Softball Knockout was Avalon Public School who were from east Sydney.

Once the official presentation was over, the team presented Ms Noble and Ms Dafter with gifts for their all their hard work, time and effort they had put into our softball team this year. There was a lot tears pouring out of both of them and a couple of parents even had watery eyes.

Overall it was a great experience and achievement for us, and a lot of the parents enjoyed watching us play softball.

Presentation Night 2008: Celebrating Success!

2008-12-15T09:36:00.002+11:00

Thank you to everyone who attended our Presentation Night last week. We are sure you all enjoyed the opportunity to acknowledge the achievements and successes of the students of Narrabri West. We have had a huge number of positive comments about Presentation Night from a large number of parents and community members. Congratulations to all award winners on the night, in particular our major school award winners (pictured).

Narrabri West: PSSA Knockout Finalists!

2008-11-18T14:43:00.002+11:00

Our Quarter Final match in the NSW PSSA Softball Knockout was played against Shalvey P.S (from western Sydney) today. The game was played on the Narrabri West softball diamond and heaps of supporters came along and cheered for our team in their efforts to make it to the semi-final stage of this state-wide knockout competition, which will be held in Sydney in early December.

And...we won! Look out Sydney - here we come!

The boys played a magnificent game, defeating Shalvey 16-3. The rain made conditions a bit difficult for both sides but our boys took it in their stride and came out the victors.

Photography Club Clicks into Action!

2008-11-12T17:18:00.002+11:00

24 very keen photographers have joined Mrs Stewart and Mrs Galvin in our school Photography Club. They meet during lunchtime on Wednesdays, when armed with a digital camera each they have set about learning the art of digital photography. Mrs Stewart and Mrs Galvin's expert instruction and eye for a great shot will ensure that they not only learn extra skills, but also have and enjoyable and rewarding time. They are looking forward to an excursion to the Narrabri Lake shortly, where they will be on the lookout for various forms of wildlife as photographic subjects!

Narrabri West wins a free tank!

2008-10-31T10:51:00.004+11:00

This week we were excited to learn that we have won a 27,000 litre Bluescope Steel Tank, pump and associated equipment as part of the Australia wide ‘Tank a Day Challenge’ competition. This was announced on the ‘Today’ show on Tuesday. The competition aims to help schools with their water conservation programs, whilst teaching students about the water cycle and the importance of conserving water. We entered last term by providing details on our water conservation efforts and our students completing an online water saving quiz. We will use the tank to capture the runoff from our new Primary shelter, which we can then use to assist the watering of our lawns and gardens.

Sporting Success!

2008-10-20T07:55:00.002+11:00

Boys Softball – Quarter-Finalists!

There was great excitement at Narrabri West last week with the news of our boys Softball team winning their Round 6 match against Molong PS in Orange. The boys won 16-11 in an exciting and tough game.

They are now in the Quarter-Finals of this state-wide knockout competition and will play the winner of one of the Sydney regions in a home game in Narrabri in the next few weeks. If (when!) they win this, they will travel to Sydney to play in the final series. This is great news and we are very proud of all the boys in the team. We look forward to the next match.

Sienna – Silver Medallist in NSW PSSA 200m Final!

More exciting sporting news last week with Sienna Brown coming 2nd in the 200m 10 years’ girls final at the NSW PSSA State Athletics Championships. Sienna is therefore the 2nd fastest 10 year old girl in NSW. How exciting is that!

She will now represent NSW in the Australian Championships later this year. We are very proud of not only Sienna, but also our other competitors at the NSW Carnival: Jack , Giulio and our relay team of Sienna, Lidia , Shaine and Khiarni , who all finished in the top 25 in their events – a fantastic achievement!

‘Arr, me hearties’ – Talk Like a Pirate Day!

2008-10-19T16:06:00.001+11:00

Last Friday our school was invaded by a menacing assortment of pirates, with gruff voices and bloodcurdling screams for ‘Talk Like a Pirate Day’. Thank you to everyone who had some fun and joined in with the spirit. $125 was raised by Year 6 as a result of the gold coin donation by our pirate crew.

Ready, Set, Kinder ! Week 9

2008-09-25T15:54:00.007+10:00

In week 9, the preschoolers imagined that they were going on a bear hunt and after reading "We're going on a bear hunt", we discussed what we might take on a bear hunt and all the sounds we might hear. The activities this week involved the children dividing into groups and making the sounds from the story, clapping the rhythm and and dramatising the story. At the end the groups came together to perform for the teachers! The preschoolers certainly are a creative bunch!

Ready,Set,Kinder! Term 3 Week 8

2008-09-17T08:37:00.004+10:00

In week 8 the preschoolers read the big book, "Smarty Pants" and we all talked about some of the very clever things that we are able to do. The activities for week 8 included two talking & listening activities where the children used picture cards to say a sentence about what they can do and talked to a partner about what clever things they can do. In the third activity the children were given a large black outline of Smarty Pants and they had to choose coloured clever words to glue onto his pants.
Any activities that the children complete during Ready,Set,Kinder! will be kept and put into a special portfolio which will be presented to the children at the final assembly in Term 4.
Below is the timetable we are following each week in Term 3.
1:15pm - Big book
- children are divided into 3 groups
1:40pm - 1st activity rotation
2:00pm - 2nd activity rotation
2:20pm - Toilet
- Fruit & water snack
2:40pm - 3rd activity rotation
3:00pm - songs, stories

Ready,Set,Kinder! Week 7

2008-09-11T16:26:00.003+10:00

This week we read the story "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" which the children really enjoyed. Our activities were then based around a theme of healthy eating and included sorting healthy and "treat" foods, making a healthy food caterpillar, sequencing the story using picture cards and making a human body caterpillar, focusing on ordinal numbers.

Each day the children attend Ready, Set, Kinder! we spend 15-20 minutes sitting outside eating fruit and having a drink of water. It's great to see a wide variety of fruits and vegetables being eaten as this encourages the children to speak about the different foods they are eating. The preschoolers are certainly getting good at naming all the different types of apples!

We finished our sessions this week with songs such as Dr Knickerbocker & Shimmy Shake by the Wiggles, which saw the children really testing out their dancing skills!

1/2M Book Week Celebrations

2008-09-09T09:01:00.004+10:00

1/2M celebrated Book Week 2008 by listening to the story, ‘The Night Garden’ by Elise Hurst. In this story, a little girl draws a garden on her misty window one rainy day when she wishes she could play outside. That night, when the rain is gone, the garden comes alive with many weird and wonderful creatures, yet she feels very safe and secure in her special garden.

The class painted some vivid images of their own ‘night garden’, with spooky eyes peering out to look at us, although they are never really scary!

Many different book characters also visited us for our Book Week assembly! There was the Rainbow Fish (Emily), Princess Charlotte from Prncess Charlotte and the Birthday Ball (Charlotte), Chloe from the Bratz (Clariese), Lord Abrioll from the Golden Compass (Joe), Raymond Martin from the Crusty Demon Team (Jack S), Jessie from Toy Story (Jenna). Hannah Montanna (Grace H.) and finally the Monster from the Monster Shop (Jack R). What star studded line up!

Balloon Rockets Soar in the Science Challenge!

2008-09-09T08:37:00.004+10:00

During the recent Science Challenge, students made Balloon Rockets in the 1/2M room. First the children were given a balloon, a straw, string, a clip, a texta and masking tape. The challenge was to make a balloon rocket travel the furthest. The children had to blow up a balloon and decorate it, then they had to attach it to the straw with tape. A clip was used to stop the air coming out. They then threaded the string through the straw. When the children tested their balloon rockets, most worked but some didn’t go as far! A couple of balloons even popped and they had to start again! The winning team worked really well as a team, decorated their balloon and made their rocket travel over 3 metres!

Here are some of the student comments….
We had our Science challenge. We made lots of things. My favourite part was the balloon rocket. (Cassidy)
I made lots of things. I liked it. (Taylor)
Yesterday I made a balloon rocket and it went three metres. It was fun. (Robert)
It was fun making the balloon rocket. (Layten)

A Memorable Canberra & Mt Kosciusko Excursion!

2008-09-09T07:28:00.006+10:00

Year 6 students had a great time on their excursion to Canberra last week. Five very busy days saw our students visit the nation’s capital and experience many of the wonderful experiences such a visit offers.

Whilst in Canberra they enjoyed The National Museum, Parliament House (where they met Federal MP for Parkes Mr Mark Coulton), Electoral Education Centre (Old Parliament House), National Art Gallery (where they saw ‘Blue Poles’ and Monet’s ‘Water Lilies’), Questacon, Australian War Memorial, Australian Institute of Sport and Mt Ainslie Lookout. They also loved Ten-Pin Bowling and Laser Tag, which were new experiences for most of them.

They highlight of the trip however was undoubtedly the trip to Mount Kosciusko National Park to spend a day in the snow! After a visit to the Snowy Hydro Visitor Information Centre and a stop at the Ski Hut in Cooma to get their snow gear, they headed off to Smiggins Holes all rugged up and ready for what was to be for nearly all of them their first experience of snow. Fresh snow falls the night before meant a great snow experience, and the next five hours were spent building snowmen, throwing snowballs and sliding down the hill! All in all an excellent day and one we have no doubt the students will remember for many years.

Ready, Set, Kinder! 2008

2008-08-27T09:13:00.010+10:00

On Tuesday the 26th of August, the Ready, Set, Kinder! Transition Program started again for 2008 with 17 eager and excited preschoolers arriving, ready for a fun afternoon in the Kindergarten rooms. The children completed three activities based around the Big Book, "The House That Jack Built" which included building a Lego house on the Smart board with Ms Dafter, sequencing the story using picture cards with Mrs Stewart and using different blocks to build Jack's house with Mrs Jackman. This was followed by a quick snack of fruit and water and some songs like, "I'm a little teapot". All the children had a fantastic time and Mrs Stewart, Ms Dafter, Mrs Lawty and Mrs Jackman were impressed with how clever the preschoolers were!

Book Week 3/4W

2008-08-21T17:15:00.003+10:00

What a great time we had reading "The Peasant Prince" by Li Cunxin. It was based on a true story about a small boy in China, who at the age of 11 was chosen by the Government to attend a ballet school to train to be the best male ballet dancer for his country. Although it was a great honour for his family, it meant that he had to leave home and he didn't see his family for many years to come. Finally, he went to America where he continued to train and they were allowed to see him perform when he was an adult. We enjoyed making some kites that were in the story. This is a picture of our display board with the tissue kites we made. Buddy reading was fun to be involved in too!

Our Science & Engineering Challenge

2008-08-21T07:53:00.001+10:00

Narrabri West students celebrated National Science Week last week with a Science and Engineering Challenge that involved all students from Kindergarten to Year 6.

Students were divided into small groups and these groups then undertook a number of scientific activities throughout the day that challenged them and required cooperative group work to successfully complete their tasks. To do this they first had to listen to the problem, look at the diagrams and then generate ideas in their heads about how they might go about reaching a solution. That’s what all successful scientists do!

Dr Edwards from the Narrabri Telescope also came to talk to all groups about his scientific work. He spoke to the students about the universe, planets and other interesting facts abut the telescope. ‘Awesome’ was the word most used by the students after his talks!

We also had terrific assistance from Narrabri High School Year 10 students who helped each group throughout the day.

Some of the activities were building newspaper towers, circular wing flyers, delta wing flyers and designing and building a 30cm suspension bridge. Year 6 students Jemma and Jaice wrote these comments about some of their groups activities: “Our group, ‘The Coustaeu’s’ started by building a catapult. We had to chose a design from the board and start building using materials we were given. These materials included dowel, masking tape and rubber bands. We then had to make a house that had working lights with a switch. The house also had to have a rainwater tank, windows and be of a certain size.”

All groups had had a fantastic time being budding scientists. Everyone was challenged, fully engaged and enjoyed the activity immensely!

Congratulations to the boys softball team!

2008-08-14T12:00:00.005+10:00

Congratulations to the Narrabri West Boys Softball Team!

On Thursday 7th of August our boy’s softball team continued their excellent form to defeat Gunnedah South Public School in the North West Regional final.

The extra training the boys have been doing with Ms Noble really paid off as they played extremely well as a team and showed excellent sportsmanship throughout the game. Some outstanding catches were made and their batting was superb! The boys demonstrated brilliant fielding strategies, making some skilful double plays to get the runners from the other team out. In the first few innings the score was very tight but the boys stayed focused and worked together to achieve great results and bring their runners home under pressure.

Great cheering from the rest of the school as well as the support from parents throughout all the knockout games has allowed the boys to achieve such great results!

Originally it was thought the boys would play Orange East PS but Western Region schools still have not played their regional final games, so the boys will not know their next opposing team until mid September.

We wish them all the best and know that they will be training extra hard in preparation for their next big game! Well done boys!

Mini Olympics - let the games begin!

2008-08-12T10:04:00.004+10:00

We had a great afternoon last Friday at our Olympic Games, with excited competitors and many Mums and Dads joining us for lunch and the activities.

After a march past and raising of the Olympic Flag by school leaders Abbey, Daniel and Gemma, the Olympic Torch arrived after its long journey. Gabby and Tim and had the honour of carrying it on its last leg to our assembly.

Our Olympics were then opened by Dr Lu, who now lives in Narrabri but is originally from China. Dr Lu presented an interesting and much enjoyed speech to our students, talking about China and the relevance of the date (08.08.2008) to the Chinese people. Dr Lu also explained why the Chinese alphabet meant that Australia would be amongst the last nations to enter the arena at the Olympic Opening ceremony. She then officially opened our games by declaring “Let the games begin!” in her native language.

An afternoon of games then commenced, with children competing in some interesting and fun variations of swimming, equestrian, cycling, hurdling, ten pin bowling, 3-legged relays, gymnastics and hockey activities.

The day concluded with a presentation to the winning teams and a commemorative ribbon to all participants, including our Pre School children who had joined us for the afternoon’s activities.

2008 Athletics Carnival: Sturt Wins!

2008-07-30T14:23:00.003+10:00

Our 2008 Pre-School to Year 6 Athletics Carnival was held last week in front of an extremely large crowd of supportive, cheering and vocal parents, relatives and friends. Our athletes responded to the great conditions on the athletics facilities in our school playground with some outstanding performances, although a strong headwind made it virtually impossible for any running records to be broken on the day!

This carnival was the culmination of many weeks practise and trials at school as part of our weekly sports and PE program and this extensive preparation certainly paid dividends.

After two days of hard fought competition, Sturt was the winning house. The Ball Games Championships Shield was won by Mitchell.

Mary Steele inspires Stage 3

2008-07-24T13:10:00.006+10:00

Recently Stage 3 had the pleasure of meeting Mary Steele. She is the author of various books some of which include Arkwright, Blotsville, Featherbys and Tenterhooks. Mrs Steele read part of the novel Blotsville to the students (and teachers) which was quite entertaining. She was able to give a first hand account of planning, writing, editing and eventually publishing books. There is more editing involved than a lot of us knew about. She told us that ideas come from many different places and that she didn't start writing until she was about 40. By then she said she had many life experiences that she was able to draw upon for ideas for her books.

Below are some questions that students asked Mrs Steele.

Makayla, "Why do authors dedicate novels to people and why did you dedicate 'Blotsville' to Josie?"

Daniel, "When did you start writing books and when did you first publish a book?"

Keith, "What gave you the inspiration for writing Arkwright?"

Blake, "When did you decide to become a writer?"

It was a very entertaining event for the Stage 3 students and now they are all waiting in line to read Mary Steele's books.

5/6C Native Garden Project

2008-07-24T09:49:00.009+10:00

Our class have been researching government. We watched a video about "How kids can make a difference in the environment". We thought we might be able to help the environment by cleaning up an area and introducing native plants to help improve the grounds near the school. We discussed developing an area of the lake near the school fence. It was decided that a site outside of the school would be difficult to maintain so we went for a walk around the school to see if there was a location that we could develop. Luckily the place we found was right behind our classroom.

We researched native plants that would suit this area. Other requirements we needed were:

no spikes
no fruit that younger children might eat
bird attracting
frost tolerant
drought hardy
full sun/ part shade
less than 2m tall

We decided on some plants and prepared the area which required digging, raking, clearing, introducing new soil, creating a border, stepping stones and seats.

After the preparation we began planting trees and shrubs that class members brought in. We were all responsible for the garden and the continual maintenance.

The garden is going quite well, it has improved from being a pile of dirt to a garden that is already attracting birds. It was great that we could all help improving our school and creating a garden that will hopefully be here for a long time.

Crazy Hair Day

2008-07-04T10:42:00.004+10:00

On the last day of Term 2 our Student Council organised our involvement in Crazy Hair Day, which raises funds for Cystic Fibrosis. Students made a gold coin donation for the privilege to come to school with their craziest hair. $200 was raised by the students of Narrabri West for this worthy cause. We certainly had some strange sights and crazy hair styles!

Silver Badge Assembly

2008-07-04T10:38:00.003+10:00

Our Silver Badge assembly was held this week where we presented Bronze Certificates and Silver Badges to all students who have reached these levels in our Merit Award system. Our school captains and councillors once again organised and hosted this special occasion. Students receiving these awards have displayed fantastic behaviour all year. We had another large crowd in attendance to congratulate all the fantastic students of Narrabri West.

Knitter's Galore at the West!

2008-07-01T21:10:00.004+10:00

Now that the colder weather is here, students from Year 1 to Year 6 are learning to knit so they can create some warm winter woolies for themselves! Ms Dafter and Mrs Barrett have been overwhelmed with the number of boys and girls coming along each Friday lunchtime to learn to knit, and have been very impressed with how quickly some students are catching on to their new craft. There are many colourful projects on the go at the moment, including beanies, scarves (in footy team colours) and even a blanket. Ms Dafter is encouraging Year 6 knitters to work hard so that they can wear their woollen creations when they go to Canberra in Term 3.

Learning to knit is a fun and easy hobby and Ms Dafter and Mrs Barret look forward to seeing more knitters join the group in the near future. Well done to everyone who has started knitting and we look forward to seeing your finished projects soon!

What's been happening in K/1D?

2008-07-01T20:07:00.009+10:00

The children in K/1D have been working very hard in in Term 2, but it wasn’t until they all sat and made a giant list of all the fun things they have done, that they realised just how busy they have been! This term the focus has been on healthy eating and the children have been making decisions about whether different foods are healthy or not so healthy choices. They have also been working hard to improve their reading and writing skills with fantastic results all round. Below are some comments made by K/1D children about their favourite classroom activities this term.
“I really like learning about numbers and doing Count Me in Too games with Ms Dafter and Mrs Nichols.” by Harry.
“I liked making 3D watermelons with 6F and I like them visiting to do craft with us every Thursday afternoon.” by Anthony.
“My favourite art activity was making a collage of a bowl of ice cream.” by Chloe.
“The mystery bag was the best bit, where we had to hide a fruit or vegetable in a paper bag and give clues so the class could try to guess it!” by Clayton.
“I liked drawing a proper picture of bananas with crayons and Ms Dafter put a paint wash over it.” by Kyah.
“We have a sight word competition. Ms Dafter plays a slideshow on the Smartboard of our sight words and she picks one person every day. If they get them all right they win a treat like a Freddo.” by Jonty.

It's great to hear that the children are enjoying their learning and are coming to school each day with big smiles, eager to try something new!

During the first half of the term, K/1D learnt how to describe foods and became very good at writing descriptive clues about a particular fruit or vegetable. They were given a "What am I?" task to complete at home, where they had to hide a fruit or vegetable in a special bag and create clues to present to the class, to see if they could guess what was inside. There were some very interesting foods described, such as lychees and pecan nuts, and some very tricky clues were given.

After this the children learnt about procedures and decided to write instructions about how to make a milkshake. They wrote their own milkshake recipes and decided that they would like to test them out. Ms Dafter agreed that this would be a great way to really understand the purpose of a procedure so, on Friday of Week 9, K/1D teamed up with 6F to make their milkshakes. With all the ingredients ready on the table, each K/1D student was able to tell their 6F buddy how to make the milkshake with step-by-step instructions. This certainly was a tasty way to end the term!

Boys Softball Team

2008-07-01T19:22:00.006+10:00

On Tuesday the 1st of July, the Boys softball team continued their excellent form, defeating Inverell Public School 12-4, in Round 4. They played a fantastic game, with all players demonstrating excellent skills, which have been developed through many training sessions at lunchtimes and after school. This now secures them a place in the regional boys softball final to be played early in Term 3. The boys are to be highly commended for their excellent teamwork and sportsmanship as well as their positive attitude to the game. Boys, we are so proud of your achievements and wish you all the best in your next game!

Narrabri West: Science Challenge Champions Again!

2008-06-17T13:41:00.002+10:00

In June 38 students from our school participated in the National Science Challenge, run by the University of Newcastle and the Narrabri Rotary Club.

The challenge was also contested by St Xavier’s Gunnedah, St Francis Xavier’s Narrabri and Narrabri Public School.

Due to excellent team work and the problem solving skills of all of our participants, we received high scores in all activities and were announced as the overall winners of the day with Tim and Josh proudly accepting the winning plaque. This is the second year in succession we have won this competition. More importantly, all of our team members had an exciting day and learnt heaps!

Narrabri West wins New England Region Excellence in Education Award

2008-06-03T09:56:00.003+10:00

Narrabri West Public School has won the 2008 New England Region Excellence in Education Award for Quality Service. Each year a total of nineteen ‘Excellence in Education’ awards are announced by Regional Director Mr Des Gorman in Education Week. These awards recognise excellence within a school.

This annual and prestigious award has as its criteria:

commitment to a whole school approach to quality service initiatives;
exemplary practices associated with systems and professional development aimed at continuous improvement in quality service to the school’s community; and
mechanisms to obtain feedback from the school community with a view to continuous improvement.

This is the third major award that Narrabri West has won in the last 12 months, which is indicative of the high quality educational programs that we have implemented. However the really exciting thing about these three awards is that they have all been for completely different aspects of school life. The Australian College of Educators Harris Award was won in 2007 for our Quality Teaching Program, whilst our 2007 New England Region Literacy and Numeracy Week Award was awarded for the excellence of our Learning Support Team and the programs within the school that they have implemented and maintained.

But in all of this, the real winners of course are the children attending Narrabri West, who get to benefit from the impact of these award winning programs.

Loud Shirt Day

2008-05-23T07:31:00.001+10:00

Our Student Representative Council has organised our participation in Loud Shirt Day which raises money to assist deaf children across Australia reach their language, listening and speech potential . $157.50 was raised by the students of Narrabri West for this very worthy cause. Thank you to everyone who participated.

Cross Country 2008

2008-05-15T09:54:00.002+10:00

Congratulations to our 2008 Cross Country Championship winning house - Sturt! All athletes competed superbly and a great time was had by everyone. Good luck to all of our representatives at the Narrabri Zone PSSA Trials to be held at Rowena. Our age champions are in the photo.

School Leaders Meet the Director-General!

2008-04-02T08:13:00.004+11:00

Last week our school captains and councillors had the opportunity to meet NSW Director-General of Education Mr Michael Coutts-Trotter. Along with New England Regional Director Mr Des Gorman, and the Narrabri High School captains and prefects, they travelled to Federation Farm where they showcased this facility. They also had the chance to have a long chat with Mr Coutts-Trotter and answer his many questions about their school and also the role they play as captains and councillors. Mr Coutts-Trotter was extremely impressed with the quality of our leaders and their conversation with him. He also commented on how great their uniform looked!

2008-03-20T15:09:00.002+11:00

The white, fluffy, pink-eared Easter Bunny with long, drawn out, milky whiskers attentively observed Jessica’s accurate spelling.

by Jessica,Tia, Jaice and Michael

PSSA Swimming Achievers

2008-03-19T10:20:00.003+11:00

Narrabri West swimmers competed very well at last weeks North West PSSA Swimming Trials held in Armidale. Congratulations to Jack (1^st 9 yrs 50m Freestyle, 3^rd Junior Boys Butterfly) and Daniel (2^nd Senior Boys 50m Breaststroke) who were selected to represent North West Area PSSA at the NSW State Swimming Championships to be held in Sydney later this term. What a terrific effort by Jack to win his event against so many other talented swimmers. Our Junior Boys relay team of Jack, Brayden, Josh and Jess also qualified for Sydney by finishing 3^rd in their event. Many other swimmers swam personal bests. What a great achievement and experience for these swimmers!

Anzac Bikkies in 5/6C

2008-03-07T12:34:00.004+11:00

This term we have been discussing Australian identity. As a part of the unit we have learnt about Anzac biscuits and their origins. Anzacs were apparently first made in 1914 or 1915 for the soldiers serving in World War One.

We organised ourselves into groups to make the bikkies, we were all responsible for bringing ingredients for our group. Mrs Davis helped us to prepare the dough before cooking. After cooking the bikkies we all had a big MUNCH!

We all had fun making the biscuits and also learning about why they are a part of our history.

2008-03-07T08:34:00.006+11:00

Amazing Adjectives

5/6C have been using amazing adjectives to improve their writing.

Laying in the nice, hot sun was a big, long tree snake with a small, thin head and a green, fat body.

by Jacob

A slithering, green tree snake was lying on a fat,black tree trunk flicking its black tongue in and out.

by Mick

Crawling inside a large, hollow tree trunk was a small, dark goanna with a long, silver flicking tail.

by Timothy

Down along the slow, narrow, twisting river lies a little, blue bird catching its morning tea.

by Jemma

Swimming Carnival 2008

2008-02-12T10:18:00.000+11:00

Our swimming carnival was held on Friday 8th February and we had a terrific day with Sturt being the winning house. Pictured are all of our ribbon and championship winners.

Pre School Renovations

2008-02-12T10:15:00.002+11:00

The final touches have been added to our Pre School renovations and it will reopen on Thursday 21st February. We are looking forward to showing the Narrabri community our great new facility!

Pre School Renovations

2007-12-12T15:14:00.000+11:00

The complete internal refitting of our Pre School has begun. After 30 years of operation we will have a brand new facility for 2008. What a great environment this will be for generations of Pre School students to come!

Narrabri West wins the 2007 Harris Award!

2007-11-06T16:03:00.000+11:00

Narrabri West has been announced as a 2007 winner of the H.T.B. Harris Memorial Award. This highly prestigious and much sought after award was inaugurated in 1984 by the New England Regional Group of the Australian College of Educators (ACE).

We nominated our work with the Australian Government Quality Teaching Indigenous Project (AGQTIP). We have developed a significant program and approach that has led to the fulfilment of specific educational needs. These include:

Providing teachers with the professional development required in order to improve student engagement and achievement;
Catering for differences in learning styles and abilities, increasing student direction and developing greater student ownership and responsibility for their learning; and
Strengthening and augmenting our teaching and professional learning culture in order to benefit all students.

The Harris Award was presented at an awards dinner and presentation in Armidale on Friday 26^th October which was attended by a number of school staff.

Year 4 Lake Keepit Excursion

2007-11-01T07:51:00.003+11:00

Year 4 had a fantastic time on their 3 day excursion to Lake Keepit. Rock climbing and raft building were their favourite activities. As the photo shows there were some very clever raft designs!

Shelter Finished!

2007-09-28T12:55:00.001+10:00

Our new shelter is finished. What a great addition to our school. This will benefit the students of Narrabri West for generations to come. Already it has been put to great use with the warm weather we are experiencing.