Bourke Distance Education Centre
Green Street BOURKE NSW 2840 Telephone: 6872 2424 Fax: 6872 3109 Email Address: bourkep-d.school@det.nsw.edu.au School Website: www.bourkep-d.school.nsw.edu.au
Week 4 Monday 9^th August
Don’t forget to encourage your students to draw a design for a gift card. These need to be given to Di Ridge at the workshop. The theme can be “Birthday” “Christmas” or “At Home” and the drawing needs to be black and white. A brief ‘blurb’ can be written to go on the back of the card that gives some background information about the child or information to go with the design. This blurb can either be typed or neatly handwritten but please put it on a separate page from the picture. Di will also be taking orders at the workshop. You can order specific numbers of a particular child’s card or mixed packs of Birthday, Christmas and At Home cards. They will have the school logo on the back and will make a great gift as well as being lovely cards to have on hand to send for any occasion. Henry Ridge has drawn a great picture for his card and written some information for the back of his card:	Hi my name is Henry Ridge and I’m 12 years old. I have 3 brothers and I do school at home. Our governess teaches us. We have a club house which was the old chook house. We have converted it into a huge cubby house and we have some plants growing. There are also 2 pet goats there and we have to feed them each day. We all spend many hours playing there, cleaning up and changing things around. Great work Henry. Audrey Magrath wrote a fantastic recount about her experiences in a supermarket: On Friday afternoon I went shopping for my favourite chocolate ice-cream. The supermarket was about to close so I hurried in. The icecream was right down the back. All at once the lights went out. I ran and I tried to get out but the doors were locked. I was on my own. I could see a little bit so I went to find the torches. Luckily they were with the batteries. I opened the torch and I turned it on. I felt hungry and I went to find some yummy chocolate. I ate three whole bars. That night I slept on some toilet roll packets. For the next two days I tasted all the food. Some foods were horrible but I liked most of it, especially the lollies. It was fun eating that food. I wasn’t scared because I had my torch with me. I was happy to be let out on Monday morning so I could sleep in my own warm bed! A fantastic recount Audrey – I’ll be sure to check my watch next time I duck out to buy chocolate ice-cream!
For the Yr 3 – 6 students who participated in the Science Competition in May, the certificates have arrived at the school. These will be presented at the assembly on the final day of our workshop at Ourimbah. For the students who are not attending the workshop, your certificates will be sent to you. We were very impressed with the student’s results, particularly with Maddy Magrath who received a High Distinction. We were able to tell Maddy this exciting news when she came into the DEC for her Basic Skills Test. Congratulations Maddy. We have been receiving quite a few Bourke Public Library books in mail bags lately so please check your books before you send them in to ensure they don’t get misplaced. Any agenda items for the P&C meeting which will take place on Thursday the 19th at Ourimbah, need to be forwarded to Gabie. She can be contacted on 68747390 or via e-mail: yathonga@bigpond.com A reminder that this Friday 13^th August is the Bourke Public School Staff Development Day. There will be no morning messages or Library lesson. The DEC will be unattended all day. If you need to contact us, please send a fax or leave a message at the BPS office – 68722051.	Brain Injury awareness week is in September from the 13^th – 19^th. Wendy McLachlin from the Brain Injury Awareness Association is conducting a competition for the Bourke DEC students. This involves thinking of a slogan to remind children to wear their helmets whenever they ride their motorbikes (or horses). The prize is a brand new motorbike helmet filled with lollies!!! The entries need to be in by September 10^th and the winner will be announced during Brain Injury Awareness week. Please see the attached flier for more information. Miss Burns and myself had a lovely day with Kate Ponder last Thursday. We were able to help her with lots of school work and were very impressed with her typing skills using her new touchtyper gloves. We were also able to see Kate and Anna ride their horses. Thankyou to the Ponder family for a lovely day. This week Mr O’Mally and Ms O’Brien will be heading out to Ballycastle to see Adelaide for the day on Thursday.

Thank you to all the families who travelled into town last Friday to participate in the athletics carnival. It was a great day and DE was very well represented in all of the events. A combination of great cheering, excellent behaviour, maximum participation and a series of first second and third placings resulted in DE coming second overall. A very impressive result which was well deserved. Congratulations to all of the students who competed in the various events. Special congratulations go to: Henry Ridge who was awarded Senior boy Champion Adam Davis – runner up senior boy champion Carla Burke – runner up senior girl champion Sarah McManus – runner up 11yr girl champion Jack Courts – Runner Up junior boy champion Some Action photo’s … Emma Fessey in the relay Adelaide throwing the discus Ben and Hugo proudly displaying their stickers

The relay teams also deserve special mention. The senior boys relay was particularly exciting with Jack Courts taking the lead just seconds before the finish line. Well done! Junior boys relay Junior Girls relay team Senior Boys relay Senior girls relay A quick baton change by Jack and Michael