newsletter - woodville gardens school · 2018-09-06 · popular coding2 platform. the team has...

Years B – 7

Ridley Grove Woodville Gardens South Australia 5012

Phone : 8414 8600

Website : www.wgs.sa.edu.au

Email : [email protected]

Final rehearsal

Team “original ORIGINALStudios”

Dear families and friends,

Adelaide Band Competition Last Thursday Mr Brian Monger accompanied the Woodville Gardens School Instrumental Music Band to Westminster College to perform. The Band performed three songs; including compositions from Mozart and music from Pirates of the Caribbean. They received some positive feedback from the judges as did Mr. Monger for his conducting.

STEM Game Development Competition Nam, Kullen, Nghia and Chairon from 1007 have been successful in reaching the second round in the National STEM Video Game Challenge. The team are competing in the category for Years 5-8 designing playable video games designed in Scratch, a popular coding platform. The team has created a video game within the theme of Transformation; constructing a detailed Game Development Plan within very strict criteria including a ban on violence and abusive language. The teams concept includes transforming robots through upgrades as they progress through levels. The aim of the challenge is to engage the Australian students with STEM, (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths), and we wish them the best as they progress through the competition.

Sports Day 2018 Sports day has been scheduled for the Thursday of the last week of Term, 27th of September 2018. We are gearing up for another exciting day and I would encourage all children and families to join in dressing up in team colours, ribbons and other decorations. The year 6/7s will again be selling coloured ribbons and badges before school as part of their fundraising endeavours.

Kind regards,

Fiona Voigt, Principal

Newsletter No. 13

Term 3 6th September , 2018

DATES TO REMEMBER 10/9/2018 Junior Primary Swimming Starts Illustrator/Author Phil Cummins visit

Years 4/5 11/9/2018 WGS R-7 Governing Council 20/9/2018 SACA Cricket Clinic Rec – Year 5 21/9/2018 Years 6/7 Enterprise Learning at

Arndale Shopping Centre 25/9/2018 WGS Childcare Governing Council 27/9/2018 WGS B-7 Sports day 28/9/2018 12:00pm Whole School Assembly

On stage and performing

Newsletter 6th September , 2018

Students

designed new

Mopokes with

Miss Danica

We have been busy reading lots of

amazing books as part of Book Week

this term. During Week 5, all students

in Orange chose a book activity to

participate in.

Ms. Paula made

monsters from ‘I

Just Ate My

Friend’.

Ms. Paula made

monsters from ‘I

Just Ate My

Friend’.

Ms. Danielle

made collage

dragons from

the book ‘Boy’.

Ms. Jean made

penguins from

‘The Second

Sky’.

Ms. Viv made

symmetrical pattern

prisms from ‘Left &

Right’.


Finding Our Treasure in

Orange Building!

Students worked very hard to design and create costumes for our Book

Week parade. We had so much fun!

“I made a knight

costume and had love

hearts.” Demi 607

“On my

costume, the

penguin was

trying to fly.”

Sophie 611

“My costume had my

favourite book, ‘I Just

Ate My Friend.” Jowel

612

“My pirate costume had sparkles on the

hook and it was very colourful.” Linda 609

“The back of my costume was my favourite

because it had a giant skull on it.” Justin 608


w2

DEBATING 2018

On Thursday 30th of August, Lorena, Jasmina and Angelica represented our school in the year 6/7 division debate held at Grange Primary School. The topic was that ‘Children should be weighed at school.’ Woodville Gardens Blue team debated in the negative. Grange Primary Green debated in the affirmative. It was a very close debate and Grange Primary Green won. This was our last debate for 2018 and we did very well despite it being the first year Woodville Gardens School took part in the debating program. Our team of 2018 truly loved debating, it has opened up so many opportunities and we learnt so much. ‘I learnt how to rebut and speak confidently. Debating has also increased my vocabulary. All of debates have been fun, even when we lost.’

- Jasmina

‘The first round was tough, all of us had little to no experience rebutting but our presentation was decent. This round was the round that taught us the most about what to do. It also helped us gain confidence.’

- Wesline and Teina

‘Debating taught me a lot in the 15 weeks the program was running. It taught me that persuasion is a great skill to have and it’s easy if you practice and persist to be your personal best.’

– Lorena ‘It was fun and enjoyable I really learnt the valuable skills of debating.’

- Bryce

‘At the start of debating I was terrified of public speaking, my voice trembled whenever I spoke. Through the 5 debates my voice has become stronger and more confident.’

- Angelica

We would like to thank the families and teachers who supported our debating team; we would not be able to do this without their support. Thank you to Ms Nesbitt and Ms Margy for giving up their time to help, and organise the team.

EXEMPTION FORMS Reminder to parents for students who will be away for an extended period of time ie: family holiday. If the period of absence from school will be over one week, parents/caregivers need to fill out an Exemption Form for each student who will be away. The form/s will then need to be sighted and approved by the principal before the starting date of the absence /holiday. Exemption forms are

available at the front office.


Ryan Nguyen Katrina Huynh Lorena Kodzic

These three students, together with the best fifteen stories will also get a master class with a published

author; Phil Cummings in week 8. In addition, their work will be published in a book which will be available to

borrow from our library later this term or early next term.

It was heartening to see so many students enter the competition and the standard was very high.

Please read Ryan, Katrina and Lorena’s stories below

The Isolation World By Ryan Nguyen Room 1008

As the copious rain pelted the stained window, Miles sat dormant in front of the television, inside Apartment

5B in his 10-storey apartment. The show was displaying a pink fairy telling the audience to ‘cherish and treat

family like treasure’. Like treasure? Miles despised his family. They always irritated him. His mum always

nagged him to do chores and his dad bawled at him for every little mistake. Suddenly, the lights started to

flicker on and off. The television flashed grey static. The noise infuriated his ears. Miles knew something was

wrong. This wasn’t his home.

Soon, the lights returned to a luminous state but the television was still baring grey static, however the noise

was less of a nuisance. Miles looked around. The apartment was clearly his home but something felt odd. He

called out to his parents but there was no reply. He began to feel isolated. Had his family left him? Miles

slowly walked into the hallway. He tried opening his bedroom door. It was locked, even though he didn’t have

a lock on his bedroom. It appeared that all the doors in the apartment were locked, apart from the front door.

Miles was hesitant about opening the front door. He was certain something abnormal was going to occur. He

opened the door to find a normal hallway. The hallway looked as if it was maintained on a weekly basis, but

the feeling of isolation and abandonment still crept inside his mind. The hallway was unnervingly quiet. He

couldn’t hear the constant arguments from Apartment 5K or the incessant barking from the dogs that passed

the apartment building every day. He once loathed these irritations, but their absence made him wish they’d

come back, to fill the void of his isolation and uncomfortable silence.

Miles hoped he could find the comfort of people outside. So, he quickly bolted into an elevator and pressed the ground floor button. The elevator chimed a nice, peaceful tune. Miles was amused by the tune but knew it wouldn’t cure his fear of isolation. Finally, the elevator doors opened and Miles dashed out of the apartment,

Year 6/7 Writing competition

As part of our Book Week, the year 6/7 students

were invited to write a story that related to the

theme of Book Week which was Find Your

Treasure.

The following three students were the winners.


expecting several people to be passing and the continual blaring of the cars. Unfortunately, none of what he

anticipated was outside.

The downpour had receded, but the world looked as though the rain had never come. Everything looked dry, as if

there was a drought. The trees stood tall, but the leaves didn’t show signs of life, the sky was dim, and the streets

were devoid of people. The fear of isolation finally broke him. He never liked to be alone. The thought of dying all

alone petrified him. Being alone was something he wanted to avoid. Suddenly, a blue streak of light flashed past Miles, exploding into a wall. It was round, and it bloomed; bright blue. It was a portal, but a portal to where? Miles knew this could be an opportunity to return to his normal life. He was anxious but concluded that he must take this opportunity. Miles started striding towards the portal, but as he got closer, the portal seemed to push him back.

He realised it wasn’t the portal that was pouring out the force. It was wind. A fierce wind that was piercing into his

skin, pushing him back. He saw miscellaneous items flying over his head, demonstrating how powerful the wind

was. Miles knew he couldn’t surrender to the wind. He had to reach the portal. He used all his willpower to start

walking towards it. The wind became more powerful with each step. He extended his hand to try and touch the

portal, but a big blast of wind knocked Miles off his feet. Miles collapsed onto the cold pavement and blacked out. Miles woke with fright, gasping for air. Miles thought it was a nightmare, until he heard a faint hum. He looked to

his left and saw the portal. The portal abruptly inverted and disappeared without a trace. Miles heard a car parked

just outside of his apartment. He went to the window. Miles spotted a familiar silver sedan parked on the

sidewalk. He knew who was going to walk out of the car. Miles was going to greet them. He looked back at the

television, the pink fairy told the audience, ‘cherish and treat your family like treasure’.

Miles knew exactly what he had to do.

Broken by Katrina Huynh Room 1007

His eyes were red filled with anger. I didn’t mean to break it. It was completely accidental. But at that moment

I knew I’d messed up and he was about to snap. I had just broken the thing that he treasured more than

anything. His grandad’s watch, which was given to him seconds before his death. I had just broken Arnold’s

watch. What had I done? It was the start of the ninth grade for Arnold and me. We were lucky enough to be in

all the same classes. I was filled with joy but what happened next could potentially break our friendship.

It was 8am and I was already late for my first day of school. I quickly got ready and got on the bus. I texted

Arnold, my best friend of 9 years, and told him to meet me at the front gate of Hemlock Liberty High. When I

got off the yellow bus I saw Arnold. He had short thick black hair. He turned his head and caught a glimpse of

me. It was the first time we had seen each other since summer break. Arnold was on holiday with his

grandparents and I was stuck at home waiting. I walked up to him and we greeted each other. I noticed he

had gotten a new watch although it didn’t look new. It looked quite old. I didn’t think much of it so I kept

walking into the school with Arnold. I looked at Arnold. I thought he would be happier to see me, but I guess

not. As we were walking to our first class, Arnold didn’t say a word. It was as if someone had removed his

tongue.

As recess approached I became more angry. I had waited all that time to see him and he acted as if we

weren’t even friends. I couldn’t help it, I had to ask why. ‘’Arnold, why are you acting like that?’’ I snapped. At

that moment I found out why he didn’t talk. I was wrong about everything. Arnold wasn’t on holiday but in fact

he was at the hospital. His grandfather had been sick and had passed away. I learnt that the watch that I saw

was a gift


from his grandfather. I felt so bad. Arnold loved his grandfather. I knew that Arnold was closer to his

grandfather than his own parents.

A few weeks had passed and after days of begging our moms, we were finally out playing soccer. We met

up with a few other friends and began to play. Arnold was goalkeeper as usual, and I was striker. As we

were playing I realised Arnold didn’t put down his watch. He was protecting the watch instead of playing the

game properly. I was getting frustrated but I couldn’t stop playing for a reason that didn’t involve me.

We were tied, two all with two minutes left. Luckily my team was in possession of the ball. My teammate,

Jennie, dribbled the ball down the field. My heart was pounding as I knew Jennie was going to pass the ball.

She passed the ball and it was a one on one situation. I knew Lisa was right behind me so I couldn’t stop

running. It was my chance to score. I kicked the ball with as much power as I could but still aiming it at the

top corner. The ball left the ground and starting rotating into the net. I looked at Arnold and he was going to

block the ball. My heart dropped as I heard the ball hit his hand and started to come back at me. There

wasn’t much time left so I had to act quickly. I ran after the ball and kicked again. This time I knew it was

going in, he was nowhere close to blocking it. I heard a cheer from Rosé and Jisoo. Right after that, I heard

a familiar voice shout my name.

His eyes were red filled with anger. I didn’t mean to break it. It was completely accidentally. But at that

moment I knew I messed up and he was about to snap. The thing that he treasured more than anything I

had just broken. His grandad’s watch was shattered. I had just broken it. When Arnold blocked the ball it hit

his watch and it got demolished. That was the end of our friendship. I had broken two treasures that day.

I knew I had to fix it. For the rest of the year I worked my butt off and got the money to pay for it. I tried to

spend as much time as I could to work and earn money. I was so busy that I ignored Arnold almost every

time I saw him. What I didn’t notice was that after all this time he wasn’t really angry at me anymore. He was

just annoyed that I kept ignoring him. Finally by the end of the year I had enough money to fix Arnold’s

watch. I caught up with him at the bus when I saw him sitting alone. I immediately went up to him,

apologised and gave him the watch that was fixed. His eyes started to tear up, he told me he wasn’t angry

at me anymore. He was glad to have his grandpa’s watch again but most of all we found the greatest

treasure ever … our friendship.

Breaking Loves Distance by Lorena Kodzic Room 1006

Birds chirping loudly, kids running around playing all sorts of games. Waves on going, it was all beautiful.

The place I’ve just described goes by the name of Morro Bay, in Western California. My name is Zach. I’m

an average fifteen year old boy, recognisable by my deep blue eyes. I have light brown hair which glows

brighter in the face of sun. I’m 175cm tall, I wear glasses throughout the day because I was born with rather

bad eyesight. Everyone in this town I know says I’m loving and caring, outgoing and pretty smart so that’s

what I like to believe.

Today is full of tragic moments and grief for my family and me because my mother passed away. As we said

our final goodbyes, we were torn.

My father, Scott sits on the back porch late at night thinking about what will happen next. My father; so

loving, helpful and caring with the most gorgeous green eyes. He’s 193cm tall and 54 years old with many

more years to live as an only parent. I would grow up without seeing my mother be part of my life or say

“good job son,” watching me grow. It kills me to think this way but it’s tragically true.


The sounds of whistles blow as trains go by. Waves on the beach swishing, people out for lunch, kids on the

playground screaming and laughing having so much fun. My name is Sally, I live in Adelaide, a place in South

Australia. I’m a fourteen year old girl, with divorced parents. I live with my mum Emily, she has full custody

because my father, George is very uptight and aggressive. My hair’s blonde, my eyes like the ocean so blue

and the tiniest of freckles underneath my eyes. I’m 165cm tall with a loving, helping and outgoing personality.

My mother, Emily has dirty blonde hair, whilst my father, George has dark brown hair. My parents, once so in

love, made me realise I need to hold onto my happiness or it will end up just as heart breaking as theirs.

You may be wondering how someone from Adelaide comes into a story with someone from Western

California. Well, Zach and I started off as Internet best friends for two years. Now we have a love for each

other that no one can explain. Yes, distance breaks us but we pass it. Our families have both been through

the rough patches that heal day by day, but we try not to let the grief ruin us.

Let me remind you, I’m Zach and I’m planning a very big surprise for Sally in the upcoming twenty days. I’ve

been saving up for two years now and my surprise is to break the distance between us for three weeks. She

doesn’t know I’m going to see her. I’ve organised it all with her mum to take her to town where we’ll meet for

the first time.

Those twenty days passed quickly and Sally doesn’t suspect a thing. She thinks today’s just another normal

day with her mother. Little does she know that she’s finally meeting me. My plane just landed. Adelaide is so

beautiful. The people here are so happy, just like my town. I’m excited. The distance between us is finally

breaking.

Oh my, there she is with her mother. She’s so beautiful. I shout her name and she turns around. She drops

everything in her hands and starts running. I do the same. We hug tightly. She whispers to me this is an

amazing surprise. I never want to let you go, ever. We spend the day in town together with Emily, her mother,

walking around grabbing food and having an amazing time. My dream of meeting the love of my life has finally

turned into a reality.

That night we go back to Sally’s house. Emily, her caring mum sits us down and says love is the greatest

treasure anyone could ask for. Hold onto it. I have a really good feeling you two will last your whole lives.

Don’t let the distance break you because you’re tough enough and you’ll eventually grow old together. Tears

run down our faces. We both thank her. Sally hugs her mum and I hug them both tightly. These young kids

now know that their treasure in life was their very own outgoing love.

newsletter - woodville gardens school · 2018-09-06 · popular coding2 platform. the team has...

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