A huge shout out to all the Class Four students who performed their poetry as part of the Djilba/Spring Festival last term! It was a big deal for several of the students to stand up and share their work in public, but to have the support of their friends performing with them, as well as a beautifully attentive audience, made this such a wonderful growth opportunity for all of those involved. Here are the poems in written form if you would like to have the chance to read them:

Black - by Billy 

When I am in the darkness

it all comes over me

it pushes me around

when my eyes adjust

everything I see again

When I am alone

the darkness

gives me company

the dark becomes

my home

Night Sky - by Rio 

The ground wet under my feet

Cold air on my skin

Millions of little lanterns in the sky

Glowing back at me

A satellite slowly making its way

across the night

Djilba - by Harlem

Shine on top of water like shattered glass

Fresh smell of salt

Sea curling around my body like a blanket

Sound of the ocean crashing against the rocks

Whales splurting, playing with my family

Finding treasure

The Night Sky - by Cadez

The night sky is so mysterious

How the darkness swallows the sun for hours

Some find it scary, but I find it comforting ꟷ

The shadows, the stars and the moon

No-one knows what is there

I lie with my head on my dog

Looking up at the stars

Wishing for the night

To never end

This term Class Three and Four, as well as Class Five Literacy Support, will be working on writing narratives, with a particular focus on how to establish a story’s setting in interesting ways, as well as writing believable characters. Class Five will be delving into poetry and creative journal work, while Class Six are finishing the final drafts of their persuasive texts. These texts will be the culmination of looking at persuasive tools such as emotive language, rhetorical questions, repetition and exaggeration to argue either for or against the fictional scenario of a proposal to build a theme park on Prawn Rock Channel. Rumor has it that some of these devices have since been used to formally lobby classroom teachers with great success! Class Six will then also be focusing on creative writing, including poetry and journal work until the end of term.

It has been a joy to extend students creatively at Golden Hill this year, seeing the rich and often surprising ways students respond to the world around them. I can’t wait to see what fresh ideas are unearthed in the coming term!

Renee Schipp

Learning Enrichment Teacher