Stories and highlights

WELCOME TO RAND PS!

To start our year, we welcomed two brand new kindergarten students and one Year 2 student to our school!

We also had a photos of the generations as part of our Centenary year.

WALBUNDRIE SMALL SCHOOLS SWIMMING

Our students participated who attended the carnival were very keen to do well and challenged themselves in every race.

Well done Sophie, who was named 11 year girls runner-up age champion.

RAND PUBLIC SCHOOL IS 100!

On 19th February we recognised the school's birthday when Mr Herbert Birrell opened the school for the first time in 1926 with 17 students (9 boys and 8 girls).

On 27th February, we welcomed over 250 current & previous staff, students, families and their descendants to walk down memory lane and share the stories that make our school so fabulous.

SWIMMING

In February our students participated in the Walbundrie Small Schools swimming carnival. Everyone showed great enthusiasm and school spirit.

WELCOME BACK FAN!

Our first series of sporting lessons for the year saw us welcome Fan back to our school for some advanced taekwondo lessons. Everyone learnt about courtesy, self-control and respect while mastering a range of movements and kicks - some even did some combinations!

HALVE WASTE

In late February, Jennifer from Halve Waste did a visit to our school to audit our bins after last year's education sessions - they were excellent (very little contamination). Jennifer was very impressed by the knowledge and understanding our students have about waste and the problems it causes.

HARMONY DAY

On Harmony Day, we welcomed the students from Brocklesby Public School for a day of cultural games, music and fun. Everyone had the chance to make new friends (or connect with old ones) and develop their understanding of why everyone belongs.

CROSS COUNTRY

We spent most of March practicing our cross country running and strategies before we all competed in the Walbundrie Small Schools cross country carnival. We had winners and place-getters in every age group. We were very proud of the support that our students gave their peers as they ran the 2 and 3km courses.

ANZAC DAY

In April, we welcomed members of the Naval Protection Force, Mother Jane Trigg, retired naval seaman Bill Warburton and members of the Corowa RSL branch and to the school for our ANZAC service. The level of utmost respect shown by our students during and after the service was an absolute credit to them.

Our school leaders then very capably ran the town service on ANZAC Day

ATHLETICS

In April and May, our parents and staff worked with our student to develop their athletics skills in the lead-up to the Walbundrie Small Schools athletics carnival. On the day we had maximum participation and some students who had personal best results in field and track events. We even had some age champions.

AUTHOR VISIT

In May, we were fortunate enough to be included in the Riverina Library author visit program and had the pleasure of welcoming Adrian Beck to the school. Adrian spoke to the students about how he gets ideas and writes, shared some of his funny & imaginative stories and then gave everyone a drawing lesson.

MOTHER'S DAY DISCO

Our Year 6 leaders organised and ran a fun-filled afternoon disco for all our Mothers. They were rewarded for their efforts with an afternoon teat o finish the day.

NATIONAL SIMULTANEOUS STORYTIME

On May 21st, at 12 midday, we all stopped and read 'The Truck Cat' as part pf National Simultaneous Storytime Day.

The Truck Cat by Deborah Frenkel is a picture book about Tinka, a cat who travels with Yacoub, his owner and truck driver. When they get separated, Tinka stays with Mari, a kind bakery owner who shares Yacoub’s culture. Together, they help Tinka and Yacoub reunite, showing how family and home can be found in surprising places.

ALTINA WILDLIFE PARK

In May, our incredibly supportive P&C took all of the school to Altina Wildlife Park for the day. There were some very excited faces and great excitement about seeing familiar animals - and learning the names of some they had never seen before. The highlight was watching the keepers do some conditioning training with the hyenas and lions: they were up VERY close!

NAIDOC WEEK

To recognise the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples who were the first inhabitants of the land, we studied culture, interpreted traditional stories and created artworks.

100 DAYS OF KINDERGARTEN

In early July, we celebrated 100 days of learning with Remi. Everyone in the Wallaby class took part in English and Maths activities based on 100.

LIONS CLUB SPELLING BEE

This year the Lions Club of Lockhart invited us to participate in their inaugural Stage 3 Spelling Bee. We had four students who put their hands up to challenge themselves and back their own spelling ability by participating in this event. They all approached the day with confidence & a high level of skill.

FOOTBALL-NETBALL CARNIVAL

On Sunday, August 10th, our dedicated P&C ran their 41st Annual Football-Netball Carnival. This carnival draws junior players from the Riverina and north-east Victoria, offering the opportunity for sporting development and teamwork. With nearly 1,000 players, along with manager and coaches it was a very early start to an action-packed day! Once again, the P&C presented a well run carnival and everyone had a great day.

THE CIRCUS CAME TO TOWN!

In August, everyone had a fabulous afternoon learning and practicing circus skills at the Rand School of Arts Hall. There was hula hoops, scarfs and circus sticks. We heard a lot of cries of awe and saw a lot of happy, smiling faces.

BOOK WEEK

Our Book Week parade was well attended by families and friends - we saw some amazing costumes and it was great to see so many entries in the Best Dressed Family category (parent included). The judges were really impressed by the Best Dressed Pair - two girls in a horse costume!

BADMINTON

Our Term 3 external sport coach came in and did badminton lessons. We saw great improvement in racquet skills and control of the shuttle. Badminton has now become a popular playground activity.

BERNIE O'CONNOR CUP

A cold and windy August day saw our Year 2-6 students travel to Yerong Creek for the annual Bernie O'Connor Cup. There was some excellent netball and AFL skills on show as well as excellent teamwork and sportsmanship. Our school continues to be very grateful for the parents who coach and manage these sides - making it possible for us to offer our students these opportunities.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR VISIT

On September 4th, Josie Bailey ) relieving Executive Director for Rural South and West) came to visit with Matthew Gray (our school Director of Educational Leadership). She was able to spend time with parents and families before being part of an English lesson in the Koala room.

FATHER'S DAY BREAKFAST

Our annual Father's Day breakfast was attended by generations of significant men in our student's lives, from fathers to great-grandfathers and even uncles. They enjoyed ta morning of social connections and delicious bacon and egg rolls (served by our amazing student leaders). The coffee van and tea service was also very popular.

MEGAN THE MAD SCIENTIST

In late October, we had Megan the Mad Scientist visit the school. She taught everyone about forces using balloons, oil & food colouring and bubbles. Her ability to put smoke into a bubble amazed everyone! Everyone agreed that the best experiment of the day was the volcano making and explosion.

STAGE 2 - MELBOURNE EXCURSION

Stage 2 went on their overnight excursion to Melbourne and were able to visit the Melbourne Museum and Science-works, travel on the tram system and visit the zoo.

GRANDPARENT'S AFTERNOON

This year the theme of our annual Grandparent's day was 'games with grandparents' . Our students made and served an afternoon tea of sandwiches, cakes and slices before everyone spent time together playing board or card games.

MATHS MUSTER

Our school had three teams entered in the inaugural Bangerang Schools Maths Muster - an initiative asking students to identify a problem that they could design a solution for. One of our Stage 2 teams took out the win for their initiative to reduce plastic in the Murray River. Our other teams had excellent presentation for saving greater gliders from extinction and helping disadvantaged students in Mali.

REMEMBRANCE DAY

While Years 4-6 attended a leadership day at Burrumbuttock PS, we had a Year 3 future leader step up and lead our Remembrance Day service.

FUTURE CAREER DAY

One of our Year 6 leadership initiatives this year was to ask all students to come dressed as their 'future career- - without buying costumes.

We had vets, bakers, farmers, midwives, dancers and so much more!

BASKETBALL LEGENDS!

We accepted the invitation to the Riverina small schools 3 x 3 basketball competition in Holbrook. There was some dedicated practice during recess and lunchtimes before the day. the effort certainly paid off, with the 3/4 and 5/6 girls teams, as well as the 3/4 boys teams being named champions on the day

STAGE 3 BALLARAT EXCURSION

Our Stage 3 students spend 3 days and 2 nights visiting Bendigo and Ballarat. Just some of their experiences included: going down mines with Baz, panning for gold, watching boiled lollies being made, bowling on wooden lanes with wooden balls and watching the amazing Aura sound and light show.

THE RETURN OF CHESTER McSPARKLE.....

December 1st arrived - and so did our elf! He has been up to a lot of mischief, some of which includes changing the colour of the water in the bubblers, drawing on staff faces in the foyer and trapping our regular visitor, Luna.

WATER FRI-YAY with Year 6

Our Year 6 students organised a full days of water fun including bucket relays, water balloon relays and STEM boat building. It was hot and everyone had a great time

PRESENTATION EVENING

It was great to see so many of the community attend our annual Presentation Evening. We had some proud, and some surprised, faces when awards were received.

Out students did a fabulous job of writing and performing a melodrama 'Shaun's Christmas Wish'

BIG DAY OUT

It was a very hot day, but everyone still enjoyed our Big Day Out to the movies in Corowa, followed by a picnic in the park and some mini-golf.

MURRAY CONSERVATORIUM VISIT

On December 18th, we were lucky enough to have the Murray Conservatorium come and do a 'try an instrument' session with our students. The trumpets and drums were the stand-outs and we have some talent too!

Year 6 FAREWELL LUNCH.

On December 19th, we held our farewell lunch for our amazing Year 6 students - celebrating their successes and achievements. They have been an integral part of our school and will be greatly missed.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2025 has been a very busy year and everyone has has successes. We would like to wish all our community a very happy Christmas and a relaxing holiday.