BENNETT ROAD PUBLIC SCHOOL FETE

Team Colyton and Community Junction Inc. were invited to the P&C Fete at Bennett Road Public School.  We had some great conversations with people in the local community whilst enjoying what was on offer from the Team Colyton BBQ. Local residents and visitors had a great day.  Team Colyton is a group of people working together to improve neighbourhood well- being in Colyton. They meet each month at Colyton Neighbourhood Centre.  For more information please contact the centre on 9188 9065.

KOORI CRAFT / CHAT GROUP

A number of participants from our Koori Craft / Chat group made their way to the Blue

Mountains and learn another form of Silk Screen Printing.  Thank you to Aunty Bev, Sue and their team of experts for showing ‘how it’s done’.  For more  information regarding Koori Craft / Chat please contact Maureen  on 9673 3908.

ABORIGINAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

Year 7 girls, students from Chifley College Dunheved Campus have just successfully completed the first intake of the Aboriginal Leadership program for 2019. During this intake the group participated in various activities that aimed to strengthen their personal skills and leadership qualities by connecting them to their community and Aboriginal culture. On Thursday the 9^th May, the Aboriginal Leadership group went to North St Mary’s Children’s Centre and taught the preschool children ‘heads, shoulders, knees and toes’ in Darug language. It was great to see the students proudly represent Chifley College Dunheved Campus and Community Junction with many of the students wanting to come back and teach them more. North St Marys Children’s Centre also said they were very impressed and hope that the girls can come back to teach other pre-school children.

CHILDREN SERVICES

It has been a busy term for North St Marys Children's Centre. Preschool have attended the launch of the ‘Yarning Space’, National Simultaneous Story Time and Rooby Roo's birthday at the Neighbourhood Centre as well as participated in St Marys North Public School, K-2 Athletics Carnival where the educators and children dressed in the schools house colours and ran in a race. To extend on the Preschool children's interest in ‘fire fighters’ educators arranged an excursion to the Museum of Fire at Penrith as well as a visit from the St Marys Fire Brigade.  Our OOSH service have shown an interest in ‘Sustainability’ and have been eager to learn what practices they can engage in to be more sustainable. To facilitate the OOSH children's interest in physical activity, educators have been taking them to use the Primary School's basketball court, oval and climbing equipment during After School Care. Our OOSH educators have been busy planning a variety of fun experiences for the upcoming July school holiday Vacation Care Program. 

A HUGE thankyou to Ian and the Martin family from Austral Masonry Prospect of Arrinstone bricks to create our new sandpit play area.  For more information on our OOSH or to book a place in the  Vacation Care program please contact Mel on 9623 0331.

FOODREDI WORKSHOPS

During Term 2, St Clair ran a 6 weeks FoodREDI workshop focusing on healthy and affordable meals.  Participants learnt about nutritious planning for meal and snacks, how to understand food labelling, ways to save money and cook different meals each week, selecting from a great range of recipes. Joan who is a participant said ‘ FoodREDI is a very informative program.The FoodREDI  program has helped me  build my confidence to cook different  meals I have never tried  before. Today I have tasted Fetta, something I  have never tried before. Everyone is  nice and polite.’  The workshop was enjoyed by young and older community members. We are  currently taking expressions of  interest from residents wanting to  participate in our next workshop  during term 4.  To register your Interest please contact Kim on 9673 3908.

FRIDAY NIGHT YOUTH OUTINGS

Our combined Youth Outings have been incredibly popular amongst our young people throughout 2019. Once a term on a Friday we have been bringing all of our Youth Spaces together for a joint night out. Our Term 2 outing was a trip into the city to see the annual Vivid Light Festival. All 21 young people  had a wonderful time in the city and it was great to see them mixing and mingling with young people from our other Youth Spaces.  We had a lots of fun and are super excited to commence planning for our remaining outings for the year.  

For more information on our youth services  please contact Monique on 9834 2708.

NATIONAL SIMULTANEOUS STORYTIME—NORTH ST MARYS

The sun was shining and children listened attentively to this year’s book “Alpacas with Maracas” written by Matt Cosgrove. Alpaca puppets were painted and maracas were made and used to shake and dance with. Music, dancing and instruments were being played to make this year special. Morning tea was prepared by our ING corporate volunteers who came and joined us. Thank you Ross from United Way and our regular Playvan bus who makes each Playvan week so much fun. Playvan meet every Wednesday during school terms. For more information please contact Kim on 9673 3908.

Outreach Help Event

Community Junction Inc. partnered with Prosper Project Australia in assisting 25+ families 

experiencing financial hardship on Tuesday 25^th June 2019. Families from Werrington and surrounds attended Arthur Neave Memorial Hall and collected food packs, toiletry packs, nappies, birthday gifts for children and other essentials. Free resources to help families with financial hardship, to budget and manage their finances was also available. The event was a great success and another will be run in the near future.

 For more information on the great work Prosper Project Australia do visit their Facebook page facebook.com/ProsperProjectAustralia or email mail@ prosperprojectaustralia.org

YOUTH WEEK 2019

This year our Youth Team and young people attended various Youth Week Events around Penrith, including our very own Skate Clair Event at St Clair Skate Park. Skate Clair provided young people an opportunity to celebrate youth culture and engage in a day that  recognises young people and their voice within the community.  Skate Clair is renowned for their annual skateboard, scooter, bike and street skating competition, where young people compete and additional young people judge the contest on the day. Skate Clair also included live musical performances conducted by local young people, free food and interactive activities and free stalls held by local Youth Services for young people to engage with.

LIVING WELL GROUP - COLYTON

The group has had a fun filled first half of 2019. So far we have been lucky enough to get some legal tips from Legal aid and Western Sydney Community Legal Centre, find out about outings that are offered to seniors from Great Community Transport, hear about elder’s safety from Nepean Local Area Police and had fun with our Australian Trivia day. Plus we have had outings to Community Junction’s Seniors week event, St Marys Harmony Day event, Bunnings Minchinbury for a gardening workshop, morning tea at Tench Reserve and later this term we will be joining the St Marys Historical Society to learn about all things Penrith / St Marys.  

The group meet at Colyton Neighbourhood Centre everyThursday during school terms.  For more information please contact Nicole on 9188 9065.

EASTER SHOW OUTING

On Tuesday 23^rd April, the Youth Team took 20 young people to the Sydney Royal Easter Show. We spent all day at the show and had so much fun together. Young people enjoyed going on rides, playing games, winning prizes, eating ice-cream, chips on a stick and lots more. We stayed until the very end for the show and fire-works which was an awesome sight. All the young  people had a  great  day and were very well behaved. We can’t wait to go again next year for even more fun.

YARNING SPACE - INDIGENOUS TEAM

The launch of the recreated ‘Yarning Space’ at North St Marys Neighbourhood Centre saw community members and children join us to see how fabulous the space now looks. Children and adults used their creativity to paint a rock, to make this space a community space, a place belonging to the community at North St Marys. 

During the project we have had children visit the space  from North St Marys Community Preschool, St Marys North Public School, Gulyangarri and families from Community Junction groups, groups at North St Marys Neighbourhood Centre and Penrith City Council Mobile Playvan. It’s exciting to have so many people involved in the project, all whom have contributed to a place of belonging.

REFUGEE WEEK

Penrith Multicultural Interagency celebrated Refugee week, with over 150 community members at St Marys Area Community Development Centre on Wednesday 19^th June 2019. Community members shared multicultural food whilst watching performances and local inspirational guest speakers sharing their world stories. Community Junction Inc was grateful to be a part of this amazing event and look forward to supporting next year. For more information on the great work Penrith Multicultural Interagency do, please contact Laura Sardo at Nepean Multicultural Access on 9833 2416.

‘ROOBY ROO’ OUT AND ABOUT

Rooby Roo has been out and about this term visiting her friends and sharing her love for reading and rhyming. One of her favourite places to visit is St Clair Library. Each term Rooby hops into the library to join Storytime.  This term, Storytime will be held on Thursday 30th May 2019 from 10:30am.

Why not come along and meet Rooby and her friends and join in by singing and rhyming  and show Rooby how much you love to read too.

KOORI CRAFT / CHAT GROUP

This group is made up of local residents from North St Marys and surrounding areas.  Participants come from many different cultural backgrounds, which led to our group designing and making a welcome sign.  We used hand prints and painted circular designs, which in Aboriginal culture represents meeting place. Everyone had a choice of colours and what they wanted on the sign, including a word or two about what they get out of attending the group.  Their words were then placed around the board for all to see. The finished piece is colourful and eye catching. For more information about the group please contact Maureen on 9673 3908.

ABORIGINAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

This term we have launched our first Links to Learning Aboriginal Leadership Program for the year with Year 7 students from Chifley College Dunheved Campus. The program gives the girls opportunities to strengthen their personal skills and leadership qualities by positively connecting them to their peers, services,  community and Aboriginal culture. So far in the program we have had a focus on building relationships and aspects of leadership through team building challenges and learning about different ways of communication such as symbols and art. We are really looking forward to seeing the girls continue to grow and develop into tomorrow’s leaders.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY EVENT

Together with various community organisations, Community Junction assisted in planning this years International Woman’s Day event, which was held at St Marys Memorial Hall on 6^th March.  Corina Norman, an Inspirational speaker spoke about the importance of family and community togetherness creating a balanced society for the better of us all.  This year there was a focus on showcasing our local female youth.  St Marys Senior High graduate Mae Limbaco was invited to speak about her experience as a female from Australian / Filipino heritage and how important the message #Balance for better is for all young women, regardless of age, nationality, background or heritage. Slam poet Nieshanka Nanthakrishnakumar delivered some dynamic self-written poetry articulating the struggle for balance and the judgement often experienced by women. NCNS produced artworks depicting inspirational Aboriginal Women in History and our very own Erskine Park Girls Space performed a strong and hard hitting self-defence demonstration.  It was great to see the energy and passion of all these young women at this years event.

GIRLS SPACE INVOLVEMENT

This years International Women’s Day was an incredible opportunity for our Erskine Park Girls Space Self-Defence group to perform on stage and showcase the skills they had learnt during 2018 with the support from Ann Stirton from Akyu Martial Arts. We had 10 young women perform from both Erskine Park and St Clair High Schools.  All the girls had an awesome day together, have built strong friendships with each other and their confidence shined through the day.

MIND BODY & SOUL SENIORS WEEK EVENT

We celebrated our National Seniors Week Event on Thursday 21^st February with great attendance. This has been the first time we have celebrated a Seniors Week Event in St Clair in 10 years.  Seniors had a great day

learning more about local services that are there to support them, engaged in a range of workshops and leave the event with a goodie bag. Community Junction Inc would like to thank all the services who supported our event, by  holding workshops, mini demonstrations and information stalls on the day.