Bourke Centre
Green Street (PO Box 382)
BOURKE NSW 2840
Telephone: 026872 2424
Mobile:
0429 722424
Fax:
02 6872 3109
Walgett Centre
Warrena Street (PO Box 354)
WALGETT NSW 2832
Telephone: 026828 1374
Mobile:
0428 281374
Fax:
02 6828 1936
Email Address: walgett-d.school@det.nsw.edu.au
Principal: Wendy Hay
Newsletter No. 1 Week 6
From The Principal’s Desk
A big welcome to 2014 – I hope everyone
had a relaxing and restful break and
ready to achieve amazing things this
year.
It is with great sadness that I announce
that Miss Rachel Olson will be taking a
years leave. Rachel has decided to
further her skills in the area of Play
Therapy and will be taking up a position
at the Royal Childrens Hospital in
Melbourne. On behalf of the staff and
students I would like to thank Rachel for
her commitment and dedication to the
students of our school. Rachel’s work in
the area of digital technology and within
the DE network has been very valuable
and everyone in the DE community will
miss her greatly.
We wish her health, happiness and every
success in her new endeavour.
I would like to welcome Miss Sophie
Slack-Smith who will be employed on a
temporary basis for 2014. Sophie has
been working in Sydney and we are very
lucky to gain the services of such an
experienced teacher. I am sure you will
all make Sophie feel most welcome.
At present we are looking to fill Rachel’s
position and feel certain we will be able to
find a replacement teacher shortly.
We have already completed the first two
stages of swimming with all the small
schools and district carnivals completed.
Congratulations to all the students who
participated. Without everyone competing
in the carnivals it would not be as
enjoyable or competitive. In the next few
weeks we will see students travelling to
regional carnivals, we wish them every
success.
Other news to share with families is the
Young Leaders Conference has been
booked for Year 6 students and their
teachers in Week 10. We will be sending
out permission forms and itineraries soon.
Also both centres will be running MiniSchools in Week 10 so parents will be
receiving more information about what to
bring for these in the next few weeks.
We have also claimed the date for our
whole school excursion which will be
held in Dubbo from the 15 – 19
September.
Please note these dates in your diary.
For those studnets in Year 3 & 5, the
NAPLAN dates for 2014 are Week 3
13,14 & 15 May.
A big thank you to all the families who
have been so welcoming and
accommodating with home visits this
term. Many students have already had a
visit from staff with others booked for the
next few weeks. As you can imagine it is
a very busy time for staff with visits,
swiimming carnivals, satellite lessons and
training all occuring in the first part of this
term, please be patient if your work has
not been re-sent, especially with our new
staff who are still “learning the ropes”.
We are experiencing many changes
within the Department during 2014. A
major change for staff and parents is
moving to the teaching of the new
curriculum in English this year and Maths
in 2015. Staff will be undertaking training
throughout the year and supervisors will
be participating in sessions on the new
curriculum during Mini-Schools.
Miss Warden will be participating in
Taking Off With Numeracy (TOWN)
training in Sydney week.
Other staff are involved in online training
in Count Me In Too and Curriculum
updates. Staff will also participate in
Focus on Reading and L3 in face to face
training during the year. This training
supports the school targets in literacy and
numeracy for the year, with our focus on
spelling from 2013 continuing and the
introduction of a writing focus for 2014.
I would also like to welcome two new
families to our school – the Dean family
from near Moree, John Yr 6, Robert Yr 5
and Mariade Yr 2 and the Sasen family,
with Kate in Kinder. We hope you enjoy
you time with DE.
We are still looking into the purchase of ipads for families. A backlog in IT
supplies within the department has put us
a term behind in delivery – however our
approach to what and how this will
happen will be discussed at your next
parent meeting.
I look forward to having a chat to
everyone over the Mini-School time and
hope that mother nature smiles on us
soon with some much needed rain.
‘Do not dwell in the past, do not dream
of the future, concentrate the mind on
the present moment
Buddha’
Kind Regards
Wendy Hay
Principal
Assistant Principal’s Report Bourke
The Bourke Walgett School of Distance
Education (Bourke Centre) are very proud
of the achievements and recognition of
our Athletics relay team in 2013.
The team, consisting of Jack Humbert,
Malcolm Bartlett, Jonathon Bartlett and
Adelaide Fisher jointly won the Young
Sportsperson of the Year award at the
Bourke Australia Day Awards following
their representation in the State
Small Schools Relay Final in Homebush
2013. Congratulations to them and with
such a young team, we look forward to
seeing success again in 2014.
Jack Humbert, Malcolm Bartlett, Jonathon Bartlett
and Adelaide Fisher
This year we welcome a new teacher
Sophie Slack-Smith, recently of Sydney
and formally of Wee Waa. We are lucky
that she wanted a return to the country
after a number of years in Sydney. Miss
Slack-Smith has had an exciting first
couple of weeks, meeting all of her new
students and travelling to some of our
most remote families. This has certainly
been a great way to see some of the
more remote sections of the district.
We are very pleased to have someone
with her experience and passion for
teaching, join our school.
Our teachers have been on many home
visits already. Thank you to the host
families.
James Warne
Assistant Principal- BWSODE
DATES TO REMEMBER
March 7th – Western Region Swimming
carnival @Dubbo
March 10 – North West Swimming
Carnival @ Armidale
March 14th – Integration Day Bourke
March 21st – Integration day Walgett
March 31 – Young Leaders conference
@ Sydney
NEW STAFF MEMBER
Hello, my name is Miss Slack-Smith and I
moved to Bourke in January after
teaching in Sydney and England for the
past few years. I have really enjoyed my
first few weeks at the BWSODE meeting
the students, parents and seeing some of
their properties. I grew up in Wee Waa
so I am enjoying living in the country
again especially as everyone here has
been friendly and extremely welcoming.
The property I grew up on was only 25km
from town so I have a lot of learning
about the distances you travel!
Throughout my time teaching, I have
taught students across all stages, more
recently with a particular focus on
Mathematics and English and I am
looking forward to teaching through
Distance Education. I have met some
incredible people in a variety of
circumstances and I have no doubt I will
meet many more throughout my time
here.
Here is a little bit about me:
My favourite book: “The Bronze
Horseman Trilogy” by Paullina Simons
however I’m also liking my current book
“Dear Sister” by Judith Summers.
My favourite sport: This is tricky as I
enjoy playing most sports. I’d have to say
that netball and tennis are probably on
the top of my list along with Zumba.
What I do after work: I usually go to the
gym with one of my friends, to run or do
some boxing and then we come home to
play with our neighbour’s cattle dog pup.
He’s only a few months old and has been
adopted by everyone in our block of flats!
My favourite food: I love cooking new
recipes and trying new food although
nothing beats spaghetti bolognaise or a
roast.
What you find in my house: Music. I
always have music playing at home,
which I think is because I grew up in a
large, noisy family.
Something you might not know about
me: I can speak German as I studied it
throughout university and have been
lucky enough to visit parts of Germany
several times. Since having a German
exchange student living with my family
when I was 5 years old, I’ve always been
interested in Germany and it’s culture.
Hopefully I will get the chance to meet
most of you throughout the year,
Sophie
Parent Information
English
The following web site has some
interesting resources and information on
children’s spelling and writing skills:
http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/ho
mework-and-study/english
Maths
‘Tips and tools’ to help you, to help your
child with Maths:
http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/ho
mework-and-study/mathematics
Bourke Walgett School of
Distance Education Website
www.bwsode.schools.nsw.edu.au
Michael Grosse (Parentingideas)
True ‘ GRIT’ Helps Kids Succeed
Developing character strengths is just as
important to your child’s future success as
building academic skills
‘Talent or persistence’ - Which would you
choose for your child?’
I often ask this question at my parenting
seminars and the responses are fascinating.
Parents naturally want both. Sorry, but that’s
not an option.
When pushed most parents choose talent
over persistence, which in many ways
reflects the current thinking around
achievement. However, intelligence,
sporting prowess and ability in whatever it
is we value, will only get a child or young
person so far. Talent is purely potential.
They need more than this to achieve
sustained excellence in anything they do.
It is the character traits of hard work and
the ability to stick at a task and see it
through that make all the difference.
Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers,
describes twenty-something American
student Renee, who took 22 minutes to
work out a complicated math question.
The average student gives up after THREE
minutes, preferring to ask for help than
work through the problem.
Renee was unusual in persisting for so long
until she got the solution. The funny thing is,
she doesn’t describe herself as a good math
student, yet she is highly successful at maths.
Grit rather than pure math talent is her forte.
Character matters. Cognitive (thinking and
reasoning) skills by themselves aren’t
enough for children to succeed over the
long journey. Many recent studies (most
notably the work of US-based Angela
Duckworth), have found that character, not
cognitive ability, is the single most reliable
determinant of how a person’s life will turn
out.
The traits associated with success include:
 The inclination to persist at a
boring task (grit)
 The ability to delay gratification
(self-control)
 The tendency to follow through
with a plan
These are invaluable traits at school, in the
workplace and in life in general. Character
works as an indicator of success when it’s
seen as set of strengths and personality
traits, rather than personal values such as
loyalty, tolerance or forgiveness. Character
is forged under difficulty. The key character
traits of grit, self-control and
conscientiousness are forged under hardship
and duress. This makes our current propensity
to over protect and over indulge kids
problematic. When kids continually
experience easy success, we set them up for
failure because when they finally face up to
difficult situations many lack the capacity to
push through the tough times.
Encouraging kids to step out of their
comfort zones and take learning and
social risks is one of the great
challenges for modern parents. It’s
critical that we challenge children and
young people to attempt activities where
failure is a real option. Overcoming
setbacks and pushing through
difficulties is how character is formed.
Character is malleable
The good news is that character, like
intelligence, is malleable. It’s not fixed.
It’s important to establish in your own
mind as a parent, and also in your
children’s minds, that character traits such
as grit, self-control and conscientiousness
can be developed.
To this end, it’s important that parents steer
clear of using absolute language to label
behaviour and express views those traits
and abilities are fixed. Comments such as
‘You’re no good at maths’ become a rule that
young people learn to live by, and become
default thinking that’s hard
to budge.
Make grit part of a family’s brand
In my book Thriving! I wrote about how every
family has its own distinctive brand, which is
a reflection of the strengths and traits that all
members share.
For instance, if high work ethic is a common
trait, then it’s a fair bet that hard work is
something parents focus on in their family.
Parents can actively promote grit and
persistence in kids by making character
part of their family’s brand.
 They can focus on character in
conversations.
 They can share experiences
where character paid off for
them in their lives.
 They can discuss how character
contributes to excellence and
success in everyday life
including at work, at school and
in the sporting field.
Character and its many components can
become part the family narrative regardless
of the age of the children.
Continuous messaging of terms and
phrases such as ‘hang tough’ and ‘hard
yakka’ help weave character traits into
the family DNA.
Parents should reflect on the language
and terms they already use and build
key phrases and terms around the
following key character strengths:
 Grit
 Self-control,
 Conscientiousness,
 Enthusiasm,
 Social intelligence,
 Gratitude,
 Optimism,
 Curiosity.
Character becomes the default mechanism
Habit and character go hand in hand.
Conscientious young people don’t go
around consciously deciding that they’ve
got to delay the fun stuff until they’ve
done their work. They’ve just made it
their default mechanism to stick at their
task, or delay gratification or jump into a
task with enthusiasm.
Conscientiousness doesn’t always serve a
young person well. They can sometimes
place full focus on menial or unimportant
tasks when a smarter option may be
to cruise and save energy for the
important times such as exams.
That’s where parental guidance plays
a part. However, in the long run,
conscientiousness serves a young
person well when it’s their default,
because when the stakes are high
and they really need to work hard, they
will automatically make the right
choice. In fact, it will be the only
option they see when excellence
really matters. Build proprietary
language around character. Families
develop their own language around
what’s important to them and that
needs to include the language of
character if parents want to foster
excellence.
Quote of the Week
“Siblings are the people kids practice on"
Home Visits
MORRIS
On Friday 7th February, Miss Warden & I
travelled to Bonanza for a home visit with
Harriet and Campbell Morris.
Two very enthusiastic students, who
proudly showed us their beautifully
organised schoolroom and introduced us
to their new governess, Laura, greeted us
when we arrived.
Harriet and Campbell immediately settled
into work until we took a quick morning
tea break. In the break time the children
were busy nurturing the newest member
of the Morris family, ‘Miss J’ an orphaned
Joey. They spent their time trying to make
her a substitute pouch and encouraging
her to drink.
After morning tea we returned to the
schoolroom where the students continued
to work solidly.
After a scrumptious lunch, we finished a
few more tasks and then Harriet and
Campbell demonstrated their acrobatic
skills on the trampoline and played us a
few musical tunes on the keyboard and
guitar.
Harriet also played a recording of last
Year’s Gymnastic & Diving Presentation.
Not to be outdone, Campbell
demonstrated his prowess on the Tower
Wing Scooter and Roller blades.
We had a very enjoyable day at Bonanza.
Thank you Jo, Laura, Harriet and
Campbell.
Miss Warden & Mrs Colwell
FISHER
Bright and early on Tues 11 Feb Miss
Slack-Smith and Miss Olson set off to
visit the Fishers at Kilberoo. It was going
to be a scorching hot day so we were
both looking forward to a day with Millie
and Jerry.
We arrived to smiling faces greeting us at
the gate and soon we started our
schoolwork. Both Millie and Jerry worked
really hard for their teachers and we were
all rewarded with a delicious lunch!
Next we had a quick tour to see the new
pig traps before some beautiful artworks
were created.
Thanks to the whole Fisher family for
having us!
Gurrawarra Station for the first home visit
to the Humberts for 2014.
The boys made us feel very welcomed by
riding out to meet us at the front gate.
Miss Slack-Smith had some assessments
to do with both Luke and Aaron so I was
able to take the opportunity to do some
serious archery and table tennis with
whoever was getting a break at the time.
It was a very hot day (the beginning of
this humid build up), so we were never far
from the air-conditioned house. These
two sports lent themselves to the hot
conditions.
The boys both worked very hard for MissSlack-Smith and a foundation was put
into place for a fantastic school year.
Thank you to Julie and the boys for
making us feel very welcomed and for a
very worthwhile home visit.
Mr Warne
DARE
On Tuesday 18 Feb, Miss Slack-Smith,
Mrs Taylor and I went on a new
adventure to visit Hannah and Olivia
Dare.
It was an exciting trip to a new property
and a new family. Some very excited
animals and a very friendly pig called
‘Pickles’ greeted us. We met all of the
extended family of animals, which was
very exciting!
We knuckled down and got our
schoolwork done which included some
fun plasticine moulding before seeing the
newly filled dam from the weekend’s rain.
Millie and Jerry Fisher with the new pig trap
HUMBERT
On the 12th of February, Miss Slack-Smith
and I went out along the river road to
Miss Olson, Hannah, Olivia and Miss Slack-Smith
with their pets
It was a lovely home visit and great to
catch up with the girls and mum. Thanks
so much for having us!
Miss Olson
SCHILLER
Leaving Bourke at 7am on Friday 7th
February, Mr Warne and I travelled out to
Nantilla to see Sophie Schiller for the first
home visit of the year. Sophie welcomed
us with a huge smile and a tour of her
house and school room.
I was able to do some assessing to see
how hard Sophie worked in South
Australia last year while Mr Warne set up
the archery targets and bows.
Both Sophie and her brother Brayden
proved to have a good eye for the targets,
bursting several balloons and gaining a
lot of confidence in the sport. Sophie
worked extremely hard and it was the
perfect way to kick start a fun year of
learning.
We were spoilt with Erika’s fabulous
cooking for both morning tea and lunch,
leaving us with content full tummies!
Both Oscar and Felix worked really well
for the morning, completing assessments
and reviewing their work.
The afternoon was spent with some
action packed fun including testing out
the remote control cars, checking out the
Nerf Gun collection and having a Monster
Truck playoff on their gaming console.
Felix with his Nerf guns
Sophie and Brayden Schiller
Thank you to the Schillers for having us
for the day; we are excited to have you
back this year.
Miss Slack-Smith
HENDERSON
On Thursday 13th February, Miss Warden
and Miss Evans set out on an adventure
to “Athlone” to visit Oscar and Felix
Henderson.
After quite an eventful trip we made it
safely and were greeted with some very
happy faces!
After meeting Chai and Mocha (the dogs),
we headed to the School Room to make
a start on our work.
Oscar with his Nerf guns
RITTER
Miss Warden and Miss Evans had a nice
early start heading off to visit Tully and
Bridget Feb the 10th .After meeting their
lovely new Governess Kerry, it was
straight down to business! Both Tully and
Bridget powered on through all the
assessment tasks we had planned and
were more than ready when our morning
tea break arrived!
As always, Carmel’s Gourmet Kitchen
was filled with delicious treats – she
definitely knows the way to our hearts…!!
It was evident the Dunumbral School had
been a busy place over the last few
weeks and it was wonderful to see what
Tully and Bridget had been up to and how
well Kerry was settling into her new role.
No trip to the Ritters would be complete
without a wander outside to meet the
latest adopted pets including a yard full of
poddy calves and Mozart the goat.
It is always such a pleasure visiting
Dunumbral, thank you for having us and
we look forward to seeing you all again
soon.
Miss Evans & Miss Warden
Batman (Darcy Mitchell
Tully and Bridget in their schoolroom.
Western and Darcy on their bike.
MITCHELL
On Friday 14th February, Miss Evans and
Miss Warden headed to Croppa Creek to
spend the day with Western and Darcy
Mitchell. We arrived to some very excited
faces!
Miss Evans spent the morning with Darcy
completing the Best Start Assessment
while Miss Warden worked with Western
on one of his Maths Units.
Darcy had the pleasure of working with
Miss Warden on some craft activities,
which included lots of glitter. Miss Evans
worked with Western to complete a
Spelling and Maths Test.
Miss Evans & Miss Warden
Western completing his work.
We stopped for a morning tea break and
were spoilt with Angela’s delicious
baking. Batman (aka Darcy) then
entertained us all!
ROBINSON
On an ominous looking Thursday, Mr
Warne and Miss Olson headed off in the
direction of Dunsandle along with storm
clouds, for a day with the Robinsons. We
put the windscreen wipers on about 20
minutes from the mailbox and decided to
commit to the day of fun that is sure to be
had at the Robinsons!
We arrived to a French Day complete
with outfits, berets and French food!
We started with some beautiful croissants
before jumping straight into schoolwork to
get the day underway. The kids all put in
a HUGE effort and worked solidly till
lunch! The rain started to get heavier at
lunch and the promised game of
basketball looked in doubt until Mr Warne
came up with the new concept of Mud
Basketball! It was received with rounding
enthusiasm from everyone and so it was
decided to have a girls v boys muddy
game. There were some very funny
muddy moments, the first when Grace
went sliding and got covered in mud, and
the second victim was Mr Warne, who
slid out a beauty!
The Robinson family
Calumn, Grace and John
Thanks to Caroline, Callum, and to
Grace, Calum and John for an excellent
day!
I hope everyone got some of that
beautiful rain!!
Miss Olson
MERIT AWARDS
Walgett Students
Max Clarke – For a great start to 2014
and a super attitude towards his work /
Wonderful work in whole numbers.
Oscar Henderson – Good work
completing his Maths Units /
Impressive work in his Drug Education
unit.
Kelly Lloyd – Excellent effort in Story
Writing.
Percy Thwaites – Impressive work with
improper fractions.
Ayden McLean – Great reading
strategies used
Magnus Henderson – Brilliant work
completing all set maths tasks.
William De Groot – Fantastic
handwriting.
Zedi Jones –A fabulous start to the
year and completion of a spelling
master level
Zari Jones – Good work and great start
to the year / Excellent multiplication
work.
Harriet Morris – Marvellous effort in
Maths / Awesome independent reading.
Tully Ritter – Terrific working out
skills in maths / Superb spelling results
/ Fine efforts in handwriting.
Emily Tonkin – Great start to Distance
Education.
Bridget Ritter – For a dynamic job in
the ‘Very Mice’ English unit / Awesome
work with 3D objects / A huge
improvement in comprehension.
Gilbert Thwaites – Keep up the good
work in maths.
Beatrice Thwaites – Terrific compass
work.
Teddy Tonkin – Excellent
comprehension work / Creating
awesome artwork / A dynamic job in
‘What is a Drug’ unit.
Campbell Morris – “Off the charts”
effort in the unit ‘Calling all Kids” /
Fantastic effort with trading
Bourke Students
Calum Robinson – Attaining his
provisional pen licence / Excellent ideas
in persuasive writing.
Grace Robinson – Attaining her
provisional pen licence.
Brandon Coleman –Attaining his
provisional pen licence.
Adelaide Fisher – Attaining her
provisional pen licence.
Malcolm Bartlett – Attaining his
provisional pen licence.
John Robinson – Fantastic
contributions to his satellite lessons.
Emmett Murray – Excellent
contributions to his satellite lessons.
Peter Pagett – Enthuastic attitude
when writing for his Japanese culture
work.
Kate Bartlett – Beautiful and
informative poster for PDHPE.
Katie McGrath – Working hard on
solving difficult maths problems.
BIRTHDAY WISHES
A belated birthday wish to
Oscar Henderson who celebrated his
10th birthday in the holidays on January
the 8th. Hope this was a happy day for
you Oscar.
Feb 2nd was Millie Fisher’s
birthday - big ‘double figures’! Happy
Birthday to you Millie and hope you had
great day.
10th
New to DE this year is Darcy
Mitchell and he celebrated his 5th
birthday on Feb 8th. Happy birthday
Darcy and welcome to Distance
Education.
The 13th of Feb was Tully
Ritter’s
birthday. Happy birthday to
you Tully and hope you had a great day.
11th
Campbell Morris also had a
birthday in Feb, he turned 9 on Feb 17th.
Hope you had a good holiday Campbell
and a great day on your birthday.
Another Feb birthday was
Gilbert Thwaites. He turned 8 on the
15th, and we hope you had a great day
Gilly.
Feb is a busy month for
birthdays at DE with Brandon Coleman
also celebrating his special day on Feb
23rd when he turned 11. Happy Birthday
Brandon.
LIBRARY NEWS
Happy Birthday to Zedi
Jones who celebrated his 8th birthday on
Feb 2nd. Hope you had a great holiday
Zedi and a very happy birthday.
Welcome to Library for 2014. I hope
everyone has read some awesome books
over the holidays. I have heard that a few
people have managed to get a kindle or
ebook reader for Christmas, fantastic!!!!
I still love to hold a book to read but I do
see the advantages of a reader for
travelling.
The Primary students this term are
reading and helping to write a new ebook
on line. It all sounds very exciting!
The Infants are making some really cool
bookmarks to keep track of their reading.
Hopefully by now you have received the
PRC flyer.
I am looking forward to lots of emails from
students wishing to join the challenge.
Until next time happy reading
2014 Premier's Reading
The 2014 Premier's Reading Challenge
will open on 3 March.
Please send Mrs Robinson an email if
you wish to join the PRC for 2014, as
soon as possible.
K-2 read 30 books. 25 PRC books and 5
personal choice books. Students can
read from any list
3-4 read 20 books. 15 PRC books and
5 personal choice books from 3-4 list and
above.
5-6 read 20 books. 15 PRC books and
5 personal choice books from 5 -6 list and
above.
Visit The PRC website to see the rules
SPORT REPORTS
Small Schools Swimming CarnivalCollarenebri
On the 12 February BWSODE
participated in the Small Schools
Swimming Carnival at Collarenebri.
Other schools competing on the day were
Rowena and Mallawa.
It was a perfect day to be in the pool and
our students definitely did not disappoint.
I think everyone walked away with a
ribbon and enjoyed the day thoroughly.
Our school took out the overall point
score this year and we had many
recipients of Champion and Runner Up
trophies and medals. This is an amazing
overall achievement by our students and
they should be congratulated on their
hard work and efforts- that big, shiny
trophy will sit proudly in our staffroom
until next year.
https://products.schools.nsw.edu.au
/prc/home.html
In 2014 I will be running a few little extras
for PRC.
 Join the challenge and receive a
participation Certificate
 Read 5 books = 1 chocolate frog
 Read 10 books = 2 chocolate frogs
+ a merit award.
 Read 15 books = 3 chocolate frogs
+ a merit award + a special pencil
 Read 20 books = 4 chocolate frogs
+ a merit award + a pencil + ?????
 Finish the challenge = all of the
above + a big merit award +
??????
Looking forward to lots of emails
over the next week or so!!!!
Loretta Robinson
Library
loretta.robinson@det.nsw.edu.au
Winners are grinners!
Phoebe Schwager, Percy Thwaites and Max
Clarke with the Point Score trophy
Most students who attended this carnival
went on to compete at Lightning Ridge in
the Barwon District Carnival on Monday
24th February. Congratulations to all
these swimmers on your participation and
success.
Well Done BWSODE!
Barwon District Carnival at Lightning
Ridge
BWSODE -Walgett centre Boys
BWSODE -Walgett Centre Barwon competitors
We had a huge number of students
venture to Lightning Ridge to compete in
the Barwon District Swimming Carnival
and it was a perfect day for competition.
Our students looked like speedboats in
the pool, with special mention to Tully
Ritter for taking out the 11yrs Girl
Champion.
All students represented our school with
great pride, sportsmanship and we are
very proud of their achievements.
Lastly, a big thank you to all parents and
supervisors who made the journey to
Lightning Ridge, without you they
wouldn’t have had the opportunity to be
there.
The following students have progressed
to the Regional Carnival to be held in
Armidale on March 10th.
Gilbert Thwaites: 50m 8 yrs Freestyle
Teddy Tonkin: 50m Junior Butterfly and
the Junior Relay.
Harriet Morris: 50m 11yrs Backstroke,
Breaststroke, Butterfly and Senior Relay.
Tully Ritter: 50m 11yrs Freestyle,
Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke and
Senior Relay.
Max Clarke: 50m 12yrs Freestyle, Senior
Backstroke and Senior Relay.
Congratulations and GOOD LUCK!
BWSODE – Walgett Centre relay team
Small Schools Swimming Carnival at
Bourke
On February 15th, our students came into
Bourke to compete in the Small Schools
Swimming Carnival where they competed
against students from Weilmoringle,
Enngonia, Wannaring and Louth. The
day is characterised by students
participating enthusiastically regardless of
their speed or confidence, which is so
lovely to see.
The students can be very proud of
themselves for their participation and
sportsmanship throughout the day. There
were also some very successful individual
results.
Congratulations to:
 Junior Girls Champion Millie
Fisher
 Runner Up Katie McGrath
 Junior Boys Champion Sam Stone
(Enngonia)
 Runner Up Luke Humbert
 11 year Girls Champion Adelaide
Fisher
 Runner Up Emily Reid
(Weilmoringle),
 11 Years Boys Champion Aaron
Humbert


Runner Up Malcolm Bartlett
Senior Boys Champion Jack
Pagett
 Runner Up Jerry Fisher
Well done to these swimmers.
Millie competing in the back Stroke
The Champions !!
Adelaide Fisher, Kate McGrath and Millie Fisher
enjoying the Carnival
Bourke District Carnival at Bourke
On Friday the 21st, our Distance
Education students participated in the
District Swimming Carnival in Bourke,
and we CONGRATULATE them on their
participation and success.
The following swimmers will be
representing the Bourke District at the
Western region Carnival in Dubbo on the
7th March in the small school relay event:
Adelaide Fisher, Jack Pagett, Millie
Fisher, Jonathon Bartlett, Jerry Fisher,
Malcolm Bartlett, Aaron Humbert,
Peter Pagett.
Adelaide Fisher and Jon Bartlett will
also be competing in individual events.
We wish all competitors the best of luck.
James Warne
BWSODE Champs at District Carnival
Adelaide Fisher
ATTACHMENTS

Millie Fisher, Kate McGrath and Adelaide Fisher
Critical Satellite Information