EXPO takes curriculum out of the classroom and into the community

Our Lady of Good Counsel School, Gatton

OLGC students learn about policing in a rural town 

MORE than 350 students from the city and the country descended on Gatton Showgrounds for the inaugural ‘Learning & Growing Student EXPO’.

Hosted by Our Lady of Good Counsel (OLGC) School, Gatton, the EXPO brought the students’ knowledge out of the classroom and into the community.

The OLGC “mini experts” educated students from Catholic schools outside the Lockyer Valley community about the importance of the area and its rural industries.

Activities revolved around being a farmer for a day, a scientist for a day, understanding drones and how they work and new technology versus old technology in a rural setting.

There were plenty of animals for the enthusiastic students to hold and pet and trucks, tractors and quad bikes to explore and ride.

They learned how to deal with a snake bite, fall from a horse, the beauty of ‘ugly’ veggies and how simple it was to turn milk to butter.

 

UQ’s Tesla was a big hit with students

A highlight for many was the appearance of the University of Queensland’s Tesla car and Bondy the biosecurity dog attracted a lot of attention.

OLGC’s Principal Nathan Haley, who was celebrating his birthday, was surprised to find he had a calf named Haley in his honour. 

EXPO coordinator Kristi Warskitt said the activities throughout the day were all contextualised to the Lockyer Valley.

The Year 6 teacher and they wanted to make the activities as hands on and engaging as possible.

She said the overall goal was to provide an enriching experience to students around contextualised curriculum, with the STEM and HASS perspective, particularly.

“The Learning and Growing Student EXPO was an absolute success,” she said.

“It was a beautiful day in the Lockyer Valley, and we had smiles all round from students, teachers and our industry partners.

“OLGC’s Year 6 students worked exceptionally hard to prepare lots of activities and their expertise in their chosen fields was evident on the day.

“Leah Hansell and I worked extensively with Jodi-Ann Gulley (Education Officer Science and STEM) and Melissa Roth (Education Officer HASS) to contextualise our curriculum to the Lockyer Valley, making learning real and relevant.

“It was an amazing, engaging and relevant day that was deeply connected to the curriculum.

“We look forward to hosting the next ‘Learning and Growing Student EXPO’ in 2020,” she said.

Jodi-ann Gulley said the EXPO was a culmination of two terms worth of embedded curriculum work in the areas of STEM and HASS.

She said the school partnered with a number of local business to learn about how they could influence long-term sustainability in the Lockyer Valley.

“It was a fantastic effort by the team at OLGC,” she said.

 

Students from St John Vianney’s School, Manly, enjoyed collaborating with their country cousins

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