Tuesday night’s ACPS Production of the Lion King was a great success. The atmosphere was exciting and electric. Adrenaline was running high. The production opened with the whole school dancing to the iconic song ‘The Circle of Life’. It was clear from the beginning that this was going to be a night to remember. The play provided many humorous moments throughout with the audience laughing heartily.

Main characters, played mainly by Grade 4,5,6 students (with the exception of Young Nala and Banzai, played by Grade 3 students), remembered all of their lines and were on cue as they entered and exited in a timely manner for each scene. The Preps did exceptionally well for their first performance as they bravely sang and danced to ‘I Just Can’t Wait to be King’. The famous ‘stampede’ scene where Mufasa, betrayed by Scar, falls to his death and is trampled by wildebeest was re-enacted through dance and movement by the Grade 2/3 students who also performed a delightful dance to ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’.

The costumes and makeup were bright and spectacular. Our makeup artists were on hand to create authentic looking characters. The sound and lighting was well done and the change of props was seamless.

After speeches, a surprise video was shown at the close of the evening to showcase our talented musicians who played ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ on recorder, ukulele and keyboard.

Our students would like to thank everyone for their assistance with costumes, makeup, props, stage direction, ticket sales, choreography, sound, lighting and video. Without their help the night would not have been such a great success.

Parent feedback to students has been very positive. Our students tell about their own feelings of performing on the night in the comments below.

Yesterday was our last day of our gymnastics program for the year. For the last four weeks, every Thursday, the whole school has been travelling to Pit Gymnastic in Mill Park for a gymnastics. Each session began with warm ups which had the kids running, bouncing and stretching before being split into age appropriate groups for their lesson.

Gymnastics is a sport that can improve overall fitness, strength, balance and body control, as well as helping to improve athletic performance in any other sport. Students participated in a range of activities on a variety of apparatus including high beam, trampolines, rings, vaults, and both high-low and parallel bars.

The kids had loads of fun as was evident from the big smiles on their faces throughout the sessions.

We asked the kids to comment below on what they most enjoyed about their gymnastic sessions.

Wow! What a busy week. No sooner than Hoop Time and the Kids Teaching Kids Conference was over, we were on the bus again to Edwardes Lake Park in Reservoir for the Sugarloaf District Athletics Competition.

Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 students from Arthurs Creek Primary School competed against another 11 schools from the Sugarloaf District. Our students did extremely well in their events although (as with all these events) it is the participation and having fun that is the most important, and there was certainly a lot of fun on the day.

The day was cool and the weather threatened to spoil our special event but fortunately the rain held off and students found that running around and keeping active was an excellent way to keep warm.

We asked the students to comment on the day and their participation in the sporting events below.

On Tuesday, 8th September, 2015, students from 15 schools in Nillumbik including Arthurs Creek Primary met at Edendale Farm in North Eltham for a conference on sustainability. The theme of the conference this year was “Soil Matters” (as 2015 is the International Year of Soils). Students from each school gave presentations in the form of a role play, slide show, dance or video.  It was a great opportunity to share the learning and knowledge.

Year 4, 5 and 6 students from Arthurs Creek Primary presented a short play called ‘The Lorax’ which focused on the environmental impact of deforestation and pollution.

Workshops were also held by the Edendale Farm staff and students from MacLeod Secondary College, focusing on indigenous planting, worm farming and compost, making a worm farm, what a healthy soil looks like, improving your soil naturally and veggie gardening. Students even got to plant their very own tomato seedling and decorate a pot to take it home in. It was a very valuable learning experience for all involved. I think even the teachers may have learnt a thing or two.

We asked the students what they learnt from their time at Edendale Farm. Their responses are in the comment area below.

Year 4, 5 and 6 students participated in the annual McDonald’s Hoop Time event held on Friday, 4th September, 2015 at the basketball stadium at Diamond Valley Sports and Fitness Centre in Greensborough.

Leading up to the great event Arthurs Creek Primary School students spent many hours drilling and practicing basketball their skills. We were excited and well prepared for the competition. Thanks to our wonderful parents who helped coach our teams, score games and transport students to and from the event, the day was a great success.

We asked our students to comment on their experience. You can read their comments below.