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 2 Term 3 Monday 26^th July

We are very happy to welcome the Ciesiolka family to Bourke DEC. William is in Year 2 and Emily is in Year 4. They have recently moved from Warren to Toorale farm. We are looking forward to meeting them very soon. We also wish William a very happy birthday for last Sunday, 25^th July. Last term I mentioned we had registered with the Telstra Adopt-a-Hero program and we nominated to ‘adopt’ Don Elgin for the Paralympic games. However, Don had not registered to be part of the program so our Adopted Hero for the Olympic Games is Matt Welsh. Matt is a swimmer who will be competing in the 100m and 200m backstroke and the Medley Relay. Our students can send messages directly to Matt by logging onto www.heromessage.telstra.com and clicking on the Adopt-a-Hero link. Our school’s user name is T214. Matt will personally check his messages and (hopefully) reply. We will be sent regular updates on his progress. There is a publication called “In the Distance” which is a magazine produced by Sydney Distance Education Public School which represents DE centres from all over Australia and NZ. Last month I sent them several photos and samples of work from Bourke DEC and they have published Michael McManus’s ‘Scary Land’ story in this months magazine. They have also printed three photos from our day at Jandra with Chris, John and Don with a summary of our activities. I am currently trying to order extra copies for our library and we

have on copy of the magazine at the Centre for anyone who may like to see it. It was very exciting to see Bourke DEC represented. Congratulations Michael!. Next term’s publication will have an Olympics them so I will be looking for samples of work to send in based on that theme. I will also send in some photo’s from our mini-Olympics at Kahmoo. Hopefully Bourke will feature once again! On the 8^th September, Wendy Everitt, who is a ‘Reading Recovery’ Tutor will be at Bourke Public School to conduct a Reading Recovery training session. If any supervisors are interested in attending this workshop, please let me know. It will be a very worthwhile session. Don’t forget to encourage the students to draw a design for a gift card. The picture can either be a ‘Birthday’ ‘Christmas’ or ‘At Home’ theme. A brief profile of the students can also be written to publish on the back of the card. The pictures need to be given to Di Ridge at the next workshop. I have attached an A4 sheet to this newsletter with a border that the students can draw their designs on. The movie making workshop which some Stage 3 students registered for in Term 1 is being held in week 6 from Tuesday 24^th – Thursday 26^th. This has not been put on the term planner so you may like to add it on. More information will be distributed regarding this workshop closer to the date.

Eliza and Emma Fessey had a great time in the Northern Territory last holidays. We were very excited to receive a postcard from them last week, signed from the “Adventurous Fessey’s”. Eliza had obviously done her research before they left as she sent in a fabulous poster illustrating all the things to see. Great work Eliza. We also received a postcard from Jack, Henry and Hugh Courts. They spent last week at the snow and we are looking forward to hearing about all their thrills and spills! Sally Davis would like copies of any photo’s that may have been taken at the Kahmoo workshop. She was unable to take any of her own due to a broken camera and would like to put an album together of the event. Please contact Sally if you are able to provide her with any photo’s. Alternatively you can e-mail them to her at POSADAVIS@bigpond.com Speaking of Kahmoo – Emma Fessey sent in a very well written recount: Kahmoo Camp By Emma Fessey Kids everywhere! As soon as I got out of the car, my friends came running over. From that moment on, we had two days of fun, fun fun. The skit night was so funny because the teachers did a rap and boy, where they good. They should go on TV! The next day, it was freezing cold and we all warmed up at the campfire. Then we all got into

our countries and the Mini Olympics started. My country was Spain and we came home with lots of medals! I can’t wait until the next workshop. A great recount Emma – I’ll let you know if we ever go on TV! Thankyou to all the other students who sent in recounts of Kahmoo – they have been filed away to use in the school magazine. On the 17^th August (day before our workshop), The Wanderers cricket team from Queensland are coming to Bourke to play a match as well as run coaching clinics for children. These will be held from 9am at Coolican Oval. Please let me know if you would like to be involved in these clinics. The athletics carnival is next Friday, 6^th August. The track and field events are for ages 8 and up but there will be a 50m race for younger students as well as novelty events. Don’t forget to send me an e-mail if you would like your e-mail address made available to other DE families. philippa.myers@education.nsw.gov.au Thank you to those families who have already provided me with your e-mail address. In regards to a “Govie handbook” the P&C want to create, could you please bring any contributions you may have to the next workshop. The idea of the handbook is to help a new Govie settle into their position easily with ideas on living in a family environment, keeping their students motivated, social events in the local area etc. Home visits will start again this week and Miss Burns, Ms O’Brien and Mr O’Mally are all looking forward to seeing Emily and William Ciesiolka on Thursday and Sarah and Michael McManus on Friday. I hope the term has started well for everybody, Regards, Pip Kearney