What a busy fortnight it has been in our wonderful Gawura School. On Monday 8 March our Gawura students K-6 attended our first cultural excursion for this year. We travelled to Kuringai Chase National Park where two Indigenous Elders (one was Uncle Bill’s nephew) showed us Aboriginal rock art and engravings. Red Hands Cave was excellent and Les described what life was like for the ancestors who lived in this part of Sydney. Laurie then took us to the rock engravings that existed along the Basin Trail and explained the meanings behind the engravings. This was a wonderful day full of cultural knowledge. Students in Years 7-12 will attend this same excursion on Tuesday 30 March.

Last week our Year 5 students spent 3 days and 2 nights at Kirrikee which is our outdoor education centre located at Penrose in the Southern Highlands of NSW. When I visited on Thursday 4 March the students were all actively engaged in various pursuits. The whole camp came together after lunch to participate in Kirrikee’s version of the Amazing Race. Jenarose, Annie and Tilly had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

Also last week our Year 6 students visited Canberra for three days and two nights and attended a number of attractions including the War Memorial, Parliament House and Questacon. Djillirra, Kailan and Balan had a wonderful time.

Please see attached insert below from Mental Health First Aid Australia who are running a specific Indigenous program titled Building Strong Minds which focuses on social and emotional wellbeing.

Have a wonderful and safe fortnight ahead.

John Ralph
Head of Gawura

Positive parenting

As parents most of us doubt our abilities at times and wonder if we are doing a good job. It can be difficult to know what we should focus on for our children’s best development and what we should let slide. It often feels like we are not getting any of it “right”. So what does the research say about parenting? 

The National Academy of Sciences defines four major responsibilities necessary for good parenting. These include

• maintaining a child’s health and safety,
• promoting a child’s emotional wellbeing,
• ​instilling a child’s social skills,
• and preparing a child intellectually. 

So if you would like to find out more about these things please go to: https://sacs.nsw.schooltv.me/newsletter/positive-parenting and find some really interesting interviews, clips with experts, a reflection quiz and articles on this topic. Let’s all support each other in this constantly challenging and amazing job of raising our precious young people!

SchoolTV is a P&F funded parenting resource for our SACS parents.

Bronwyn Wake
Junior School and Gawura School Counsellor and Well Being Coordinator

The Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) website has experienced some significant difficulties since the Challenge officially opened on Monday 1 March. Unfortunately, that has meant that our usual roll-out of login details for our students has been delayed. If your child is yet to receive their personalised login letter, please be patient. It won’t be long now! Books can be entered right up until mid August, so there is still plenty of time for us all to access the website. In the meantime, class teachers have been given a hard copy handout for students and their families to physically record the books that are being read. These can be kept safely in the back of school diaries or front-and-centre on the kitchen fridge.

We are a school that loves to read. Last year, students in our Junior School read a total of 20,000 books, which equates to approximately 50 books per student. So, for most of our kids, the reading challenge is just a recognition of what they are already doing plenty of – reading! It would be so great if this year, every one of our Junior School students successfully completes the challenge. Class teachers and our school librarians are available to offer support. Remember that all of the titles that have been read since September 2020 can be included in this year’s tally. The large collection of PRC books we have available in the library are clearly labelled with stickers indicating the year grouping. It should be easy for every student to find something to read!

Spurring us on to love reading,

Nicole Cotter
Coordinator of Digital and Information Literacy – JS & GS

Does your child enjoy music practice?

Parents play a vital role in creating the right environment for consistent music practice. Here’s a checklist of the most important things parents can do to encourage kids to practice:

• Establish a routine. Build time into your family’s schedule that allows your child to practice without disruptions. Get used to a particular time of day being practice time and stick to it religiously!
• Provide your child with a private, distraction-free area within the home where they can practice. It doesn’t have to be a room – it can just be corner. Make it a special space that is reserved for this part of your child’s life.
• Don’t mix practice time with chore time. It’s best not to lump practice time in with other obligations that a child may dislike.
• Create a positive mindset around practice time instead of treating it like a “burden” on the family schedule.

JS Musical Auditions (Stage 3)
Applications have now closed. Auditions will be held during the school day on Friday 12 March. An e-mail with audition materials has been sent to parents of students who applied.

SING SING SING! Infants Choir and Junior Choir rehearsals are back on!
We are so happy that our choirs are singing again. They sound wonderful! Restrictions have been lifted and there is now no limit to how many children can sing together. If your child is not involved in a choir and you would like them to be, please email bmilis@sacs.nsw.edu.au to enrol them.

Junior Choir (3-6) rehearses on Monday mornings from 7:40am and
Infants Choir (K-2) rehearse on Thursday mornings from 7:40am.

Ben Milis
JS Music Teacher and Chapel Music Coordinator

It’s been great to see sport back in action and the students have certainly made the most of it! Year 5 and 6 have been doing interschool competitions on Thursday afternoons, with girls working on their touch skills and boys dabbling in AFL. Year 4 has been doing rolls and jumps at gymnastics, while Year 3 have done AFL and tennis sessions run by professional coaches. K-2 are developing fundamental movement skills on the roof with Mr Collier, which will no doubt assist them in each of their future sporting endeavours.

Saturday sport has had a successful start to the year, with each of our teams getting a win so far to begin the season. While our sporting program is not result driven, it is nice for students to have this experience and receive this positive results for their efforts. Our cricket team did a particularly impressive job, bowling out an opposition for 21 runs! I look forward to seeing how each of the students continues to develop as they move further through our sporting program.

Tony Dunseath
Assistant Year 8 Coordinator, Curriculum Coordinator, Junior School Teacher

Sunday's at 9.30am - High School students welcome

Darling Street Youth is designed to help teenagers grow their faith, their character and their relationships. So if you are a high school student and are looking to work through some big questions about Jesus, God, or how the bible fits together, you can join Darling Street Youth on Sundays at 9.30am. They meet at 668 Darling Street, Rozelle.

A youth band practices afterwards for anybody interested in getting involved in music. Parents are welcome to join the main church service.

Please contact Byron Patching via email or phone 0411 511 914 for more information.

Wednesday and Friday appointments available

I would like to advise you that we have secured the services of a very generous doctor in the city who is willing to see our Gawura students and their families free of charge (he will bulk bill through Medicare) if the need arises.

Dr Shuo (Shore) Zhao is located at Level 1, 70 Pitt St, Sydney. You can book an appointment with him on any Wednesday and Friday morning between 8.00am – 12.00pm. The number of the practice is Ph: 02 9233 3399. We understand that many parents already have their own doctor that they use, possibly even through the Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS) in Redfern but this is just another option for you to use if you choose to do so and one that is located in the city, near our school.