Sing Out Loud Together 5/6S

 

Earlier this school term, the class of 5/6S from Padstow Park Public School participated in an eight week program called Sing out Loud Together. This program is a literacy and cultural program for primary school children in Years 5 and 6 and elders generally aged between 70 and 90. It was facilitated by the Arts Health Institute. The elders were from the aged-care facility IRT Peakhurst. These two groups formed singing buddies over eight weeks and worked towards a concert. The sessions provided opportunities for the students to learn songs from the elders’ youth while they also learnt about each other. This program was led by the enthusiastic Rose Grayson from the Arts Health Institute who was the Maestro of the program. She kept everybody engaged every week because she was so full of life.

A week prior to commencing the program, Rose came to meet us and gave us information about what the program was about, how we had to behave, hygiene information, information about the ageing process and dementia, what some of the songs would be etc.

It all started on Wednesday 16^th of October when the nervous, yet excited students arrived at the location of the program which was Peakhurst IRT. So in they went to what was called the Bonnet Centre of the IRT and already there were some elders eagerly waiting for some fresh young children to greet. Also waiting was none other than Rose Grayson, the Maestro. As it was the first week, none of them knew who their elder buddy was. The elders’ age ranged from their 70s to one person being 101 in one case. Some elders had one student and some had two. Firstly the students presented their elder with a letter that they wrote on the week Rose spoke to them. After that they got down to business and began to learn some of the songs the elders learnt in their childhood such as Kiss me Goodnight Sergeant Major, Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye and You Are My Sunshine. Morning tea was also provided by the IRT staff. The same process was repeated with the introduction of new songs until the 7^th week where the students had a dress rehearsal for the concert they would put on the following week. The students had to wear black and white clothes as Rose had instructed them the week before. Already they had developed a good rapport with their elder buddy compared to the 1^st week. They had already organised the program, the special acts and most importantly, the songs.

The week after that, it was show time. The hall was set, the glorious afternoon tea that was made by Mrs Weldon and Mrs Luxton was set up and by lunch, Rose had arrived. Not long after, the elders arrived and everyone scrambled onto the seats that were set up on the stage and the floor, but not before they took care of their elders and giving them the afternoon tea. The classes, teachers, parents and grandparents soon arrived and it began. The afternoon went on with songs, piano playing and even poetry.

In the end, it was a fantastic afternoon of performing and we sadly said goodbye to the elders and Rose but not before giving them gifts. It was a fantastic program and thankyou to Mrs Sharp and Rose Grayson for organising the program, to the IRT staff for providing morning tea, to Mrs Weldon and Mrs Luxton for making the scrumptious afternoon tea for the concert, to Mrs Graham for helping us make the gifts, to Mrs Lister for decorating the hall with lovely flowers from her garden and finally to the elders for participating in the program. What a wonderful experience we all had.

Chinese Restaurant Fun!!!

Yesterday Stage 3 students went to Padstow Inn Chinese Restaurant for lunch as a cultural experience.  This term, Stage 3 are learning about China.  Take a look at some of the photos!

Selective High School Success!!!

Congratulations to the following students on being offered a place in a Selective High School for 2014. 

Shuvam Adikari
Anthony Bao
Gigi Chen
Tien Dinh
Jessica Guan
Saratt Hayavauchanurak
Adeline Kwong
Michael Li
William Tran
Kevin Wang
Jadon Yip

You have all worked very hard and deserve this wonderful opportunity.

Prime Minister Portraits

Last term, Stage 3 was studing Democracy. 5/6B drew fantastic portraits of Prime Ministers from the past (and present!). The two artistic children pictured below are John Luo and Albert Luong.
John Luo drew Kevin Rudd and Albert Luong drew John Curtin. Well done boys!!!!

5/6B Initial Artwork

5/6B have shown their artistic ability with these fanatastic initial artworks. Here are some brilliant examples.

Menai High Transition

Over the past few weeks some of the Year 6 students from Padstow Park Public School have been going to Menai High School to participate in a transition program. They have been attending classes while at the school.

Students were given a choice of Wicked Woods (Woodworks and Technics), Squirms, Squawks and Squids (Science and Marine Studies), Kids in the Kitchen (Food Technology) and Makin' and Creatin' (Visual Arts).The program was run between 12:30pm to 1:45pm on four consecutive Thursday afternoons.

The aim of the program was to introduce the stuudents to a variety of subjects that are on offer at Menai High School, give them the opportunity to become familar with Menai High School's grounds and the secondary school atmostphere and meet students from other schools with whom they may attend high school.  All students thoroughly enjoyed the program.  Here are some photos of them with some of their creations!

 



Basketball Academy

This semester Padstow Park has had both a junior and senior boys team playing in the primary schools basketball competition at Bankstown Basketball Stadium. The boys play every Monday afternoon and have thoroughly enjoyed their season. Considering most of the boys had never played before both teams have done exceptionally well.

Both teams qualified for the semi-finals which took place on Monday 17^th June. Our junior team fought bravely but narrowly lost 17-14. Our senior team won 30-18 and advanced through to the grand final on the 24^th June. The boys played against Wattle Grove and unfortunately lost 34-25.

Basketball Academy has enabled the boys to learn a new sport, develop friendships and have a whole lot of fun at the same time. We will be giving more students from 3-6 the chance to play in this competition next semester. If this is something that interests you, please come and speak to Mr. Godkin.

 

 

 

Bankstown City Council Chambers Excursion

On the 30^th of May, Stage 3 went on an excursion to Bankstown City Council Chambers.

The day started off at 9:30am and the children were already roaring with excitement!

The chambers could only hold a limited amount of children, so only half of stage 3 could go in the first session and the rest went in the afternoon session.

When we arrived, everyone was waiting at the door for the guide to come. Once he came, everyone raced to get a seat at the front.

Our guide for the day was Matthew. He showed us around and told us what to do.

Firstly, Matthew spoke about local government responsibilities and explained how Bankstown was named.  He also told us the meaning behind the Bankstown Council logo.

Soon after, we did a mock debate of a local issue to help us with our understanding of how decisions are made at local government level.  Students were given roles such as The Mayor, councillors, audience, security guards and trouble-makers. From this, we were able to see how the process works.

After the mock debate had finished, we had recess that was supplied by the City Council Chambers. It wasn’t much but it did the trick of satisfying everyone’s hunger.

After recess, we split into groups and we each were given $10 (fake money) to spend on something in the community. Each of the sectors of the budget was explained to us.  They were Invest, Green, Liveable, Lead and Connect. We each got to spend our money but needed to justify why we were spending our money on that particular sector. The most common area of spending for the morning session was ‘Liveable’ coming in with $100.

Once that was finished, it was the end of the excursion. All the students were glad they had the opportunity and privilege to visit Bankstown City Council Chambers and learn so much about their local government.

By Natasha Harvey & Lili Green

 

 

Congratulations Adeline

 

On the 13^th of June 2013 Local Final No 4 of the Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition was held at Padstow Park PS.  It started at 9:30am for the Year 3 and 4 competitors and was ably compered by our School Ambassador Stephanie Hunt 5/6B and Angela Mataio 5/6B.  The timekeepers for the Years 3 & 4 section were Perry Alexakis 5/6B and Vuong Pham 5/6K.

After all the prepared speeches were over there was a 15 minute break while morning tea was served.  Once the break was over, the impromptus began. The impromptu topic was “The Best Gift in Life”.   There were some great speeches and the winner of the Junior Section was Anthea ???? from ???

The Year 5 & 6 section began at 12:30pm and was expertly compered by Perry Alexakis 5/6B and Vuong Pham 5/6K with Caleb Robson 5/6B and John Luo 5/6 B timekeepes.  Padstow Park was capably represented in this section by Adeline Kwong 5/6K who spoke on the topic “UnAustralian” and Natasha Harvey 5/6S who spoke on the topic “Racist Jokes aren’t Funny”.  The prepared speeches each went for 3-4 minutes.

After some wonderful prepared speeches the impromptus began.  The topic was “Taking Things for Granted”.  The students were all anxious and nervous about the impromptus, especially Natasha!

All the competitors got sent into the ‘waiting room’ or as they called it the ‘death room’.  They were called out one at a time to go to the computer room and prepare a speech in 5 minutes!! Then they had to go out in front of everyone and say it!

Once the last person had gone up and delivered their speech it was the time for the Certificates for Participation to be handed out by Mrs Mollica. Everyone stood up on the stage feeling like celebrities with the paparazzi snapping away.   Once all the parents and grandparents were finished taking photos, the REAL pressure was on… time to see who had won!

After two Highly Commended certificates were given out the winner of the Senior section of Local Final No 4 was announced.  It was our very own Adeline Kwong!!

At the end of the day everyone was happy and tired, especially Adeline and Natasha.

Congratulations to all the comperes, timekeepers and helpers from Stage 3 who represented Padstow Park in such a professional way.  Good luck to Adeline in the Regional Final to be held in Term 3!      By Natasha Harvey 5/6S               

East Hills Boys Enrichment Afternoon

On Wednesday 29^th of May, twelve high achieving male students from Stage 3 attended the East Hills Boys’ Technology High School Enrichment Afternoon. The aim of the afternoon was to develop a deep understanding of problem solving strategies. There were 25 teams involved in the program coming from 9 different schools in the South West Sydney region.

The teams competed with each other in Maths and Science to see which team was the smartest in the entire district. Padstow Park had three teams of four students.

Team 1 consisted of Anthony Bao, James Lee, Shuvam Adhikari and their team captain William Tran.

Team 2 included Michael Li, Jason Lim, Saratt Hayavuchanurak and their team captain Voung Pham.

Team 3 had Dylan Huang, Raymond Du, Sajja Hayavuchanurak and their team captain Jadon Yip.

First was the Mathematics where each team was given a series of math problem solving questions, one on each sheet of paper. Once a team had answered a question, the team captain had to walk the answer to their marker and the marker checked their answer. All the questions were very difficult, requiring a high level of both comprehension and problem solving ability.

After that there was a break, where the teams could relax. Then there was the Science round. There was no working out applied, it was all general knowledge. The Padstow Park teams raced through the questions.

Once all the questions were finished, the results were tallied. Finally they got the results and the victor for the East Hills Boys Enrichment Afternoon 2013 was……Padstow Park Team 2!

All of Padstow Park was thrilled with Team 2’s victory and were happy to have been part of the enrichment afternoon. The students in Team 2 received medals and a handshake from the principal of East Hills Boys High School.

All students involved had a great time.  Thank you to Mr Bao and Mrs Du for helping with the transportation to and from the event.

 

By Anthony Bao and William Tran