COMMUNITY PROGRAMS

KIDS SPACE

We have had the biggest year at Kids Space so far! Each term brought new and exciting activities for all the kids to participate in. When we asked the kids what their favourite thing about Kids Space they all shouted various things but what stuck most is each week they did something different, making friends and having fun. We have another fun packed term 1 for Kids Space at North St Marys Neighbourhood Centre. Throughout the 8 week program, each week we set a different theme filled With fun and challenging activities to offer.

MENS SOCIAL GROUP

During Term 4 the men have been busy redoing the garden at Autumnleaf Neighbourhood Centre.  Thank you once again to the boys from the Boys Shed Program for helping with the project. Also a big thank you to the community and to Bryce Roney, the Field Coordinator from Public Spaces Maintenance at Penrith City Council for the generous donation of plants.

CRAFT AT HEART

Craft at Heart have been busy at work this term doing their bit to support our wildlife who have been affected by our recent bushfires, making koala mittens, joey pouches and bird nests that were donated to the Animal Rescue Craft Group. 

  

SENIORS LIVING WELL

During 2019 Seniors Living Well have done many amazing things. We have enjoyed bingo, created fabulous art pieces, gone on outings and shared many stories. On one of our outings we went to Berowra Waters to see a Christmas show. The ladies enjoyed sharing food, listening to live Christmas music and experiencing  somewhere new. They have also enjoyed celebrating birthdays, giving advice and being there for one another. The ladies have had an amazing year and are looking forward to 2020. Also a huge thank you to our volunteer bus driver Ted, that helps make every week  possible. What a great year it has been in Seniors Living Well group.

HAPPY HEALTHY KIDS 

This group have had a fantastic term playing with colourful parachutes, play-dough, yoga, playground fun and plenty of toys, a great partnership between Penrith City Council Children's Services team and Community Junction. We are  looking forward to more fresh-air and creative fun during 2020. 

YOUTH PROGRAMS

FRIDAY NIGHT OUTING

On Friday 13^th December 2019, we held our last Friday Night Term outing to Penrith Ice Place where our Youth Team took 32 young people from our 5 different Youth Spaces on a huge, fun joint outing. There was lots of first timers on the ice, trips and falls but above all heaps of laughs and playing tips on the ice.  It has been so awesome to see the friendships young people have built throughout 2019 continue to grow through our joint outings and we can’t wait to have more fun on Friday nights throughout 2020!

WERRINGTON YOUTH SPACE

This year at Werrington Youth Space the centre has seen many new faces. There have been friendships created and many laughs shared. The group have had a good time sharing jokes, competing in games and just hanging out. Handball has been a centre favourite for many months and has encouraged healthy competition with our young people. Prizes were won, rules were disputed, moves were created and laughs were never lacking. Werrington Youth Centre has loved bringing in more kids and is looking forward to continuing this in 2020. What a great year 2019 has been. Thank you to all our young people for making this a reality.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Children's Week
During Children’s Week 2019, we held two successful Children’s Week events. One of these events was held at North St Marys Children’s Centre and the other at Colyton Neighbourhood Centre. Both were great events and were enjoyed by workers, caregivers and children most of all. Rooby Roo made an appearance on both days, there was plenty of activities for everyone and the food grazing tables were a hit. Mission Australia and Ability Links also helped at these events providing activities and helping hands. A big thank you to our services and St Marys Band Club for providing us funding for these events. It was a great two days and we hope to do it again in 2020.

Carers Week 

“This Day is My Pamper Day” was held at Autumnleaf Neighbourhood Centre in St.Clair, with over  25 people attending. It provided opportunities for participant to meet with other carers from the local area, develop friendships and start to build strong bonds with each other which will help reduce isolation and not feel alone as a carer. The event empowered participants to improve health and self-care in a supportive and fun environment. The event had self- care guest speakers, health check stations, pamper stations and a stretch class demonstration workshop. Their was a lot of chatting, laughter, a few tears as well as support amongst all the carers who attended. The atmosphere this created was one full of love and joy making participants feel that they were in a comfortable environment to be themselves and breakaway from there carers role.

CHILDREN SERVICES

Term 4 was jam packed with many events which included our 35^th North St Marys Children Centre birthday celebrations,  Children’s Week 2019 with Rooby Roo, two of our Early Childhood teacher students, Shellbie and Lily graduating, School Readiness Orientation evening for parents, OOSH network Conference in Sydney, Preschool Graduation, and OOSH and Preschool’s Christmas party at Lollipops Playland.  Our team really thrived on the support of all families and our community who came together to attend and be a part of such memorable and significant occasions. We would also like to formerly announce that our service went through the Assessment and Rating process back in September and have received a proud ‘Meeting National Quality Standards’ which could not have been achieved without the children, families, educators and community that surround and support our Preschool and OOSH services each and every day, so thank you.

CHRISTMAS IN OUR COMMUNITY

Christmas Food and Toy Drive 

The 2019 Food and Toy Drive is over for another year. We were overwhelmed and thankful for the generosity of our community who again have donated food and toy items, which were distributed to families and community members in time for Christmas. Community Junction Inc. would like to  thank St Clair Shopping Centre and St Clair Public School for partnering with us again this year as well as local community members who donated to the drive.

Colyton Carols

Colyton Carols 2019 was a spectacular Christmas event hosted by Team Colyton and Community Junction on 7th December 2019. Kevin Dwyer Park Colyton was once again the home of the annual event which was attended by over 800 people who came along to sing, dance,  and celebrate the festive season with their local community. Colyton Carols is a major event in the Colyton community and is successful due to massive collaboration with local businesses, churches, schools and other organisations. We would like to thank all those who made Colyton Carols 2019 such a massive success and we look forward to doing it all again in 2020. 

North St Marys Christmas Event

Santa arrived giving children a big smile during our North St Marys Christmas Event. Over 200 residents joined us at North St Marys Neighbourhood Centre for this free event.  Families enjoyed free popcorn, slushies, jumping castle and having their face painted. During the event a Christmas card could be made or a letter could be written to Santa just to make the afternoon extra special. Thank you to Jo Greenwood from  CTET for providing our lucky door prizes to our community, it is greatly appreciated.

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.

‘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.