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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

 

BOOK EXCHANGE LIBRARY

Recently the Colyton Book Exchange has seen a number of residents drop off their pre-loved books while picking up new books to read. You will find a Book Exchange at all of our centres, with an amazing range of books to please everyone.  If you’re at a centre or in the area drop by, have a chat to our workers, grab a book and get lost in a story.

CHILDREN SERVICES

This term we have been very busy engaging in educational and inclusive community events. Preschool and OOSH celebrated superhero day for Bear Cottage which was a huge hit, with most children participating in dressing up and making a donation,followed by an exciting science week at Preschool involving experimenting, hypothesising, and reacting experiences that kept children engaged and asking for more. Preschool’s combined Fathers Day afternoon tea and Jersey Day with a big hit with an AMAZING turn out from our families.  The children from OOSH have shared an interest in animals, in particular birds, and have been researching types and environments of a variety of breeds.  Thank you to everyone who came to share in the experiences with their children.

ROOBY ROO VISITS ST MARYS LIBRARY FOR NAIDOC WEEK.

Rooby Roo hopped in to join her friends at St Marys Library Storytime for NAIDOC Week last term.  Maureen, our Indigenous Teams Community Connections Worker also came along and told her 'Emu Egg' story. After some singing and rhyming, Rooby and her friends joined in with the actions of the storybook 'My Country'.

 'My Country' is an Aboriginal picture book depicting the beauty of Australian landscapes and the importance of nationality and belonging. Rooby proudly wore her Koori vest and was able to stay back and have photos and hugs with her friends.

CRAFT N CHAT GROUP

Christmas in July was celebrated at North St Marys when the Craft n Chat group met and enjoyed a delicious lunch together. The group provided the lunch and decorated the table in a Christmas theme.  The group meet weekly and enjoy sharing skills of patchwork, knitting and catching up over a coffee.  

TAFE OUTREACH BARISTA COURSE

During Term 4 staff at North St Marys looked forward to Tuesday mornings when our TAFE Outreach Bartista Class made coffees for staff and our Tuning into Kids group.  Natalie our TAFE teacher came each week with two coffee machines and taught students how to make Café quality coffees.  They were also taught how to clean the machine and correct  procedures in food handling.  This group have formed great friendships and are looking forward to the next TAFE Course Beauty

Therapy that will be run during Term 1 2018.

CARER'S PAMPER DAY

Carer's in our community were treated to a few hours of pampering during Carers Week.  In partnership with Carers NSW and Ability Links, Community Junction held a “Carers Day Off”  during  October.

Our all important carer's were treated to a facial, manicure and pedicure, enjoyed and learnt how to relax with yoga lessons, where treated to loads of yummy food and received a gift bag, which meant they could take a little pampering home with them.

Most importantly they were able to meet and share a cuppa and GREAT conversation with other carer's.

Gift bag goodies were donated by local business, Mooney Real Estate Penrith, Pizza Hut Cambridge Gardens, Kath from Younique Independent makeup, Katrina and Sara from Jamberry Nails, Donna from Senegence and Renee at Candles and Scents.

KIDS BOOTCAMP

A 6 week Kids Boot Camp workshop at Erskine Park was held during Term 3. 

Children aged 8 - 12 years were able to keep active during the winter cold, whilst  challenging themselves in different circuits and activities.

Each week they pushed through their limits to  improve their fitness. We look forward to providing more active programs for kids in the oncoming terms.