News gallery

Every day at Royal Far West School is different and fun! Here are some recent stories:

Healthy hearts

Students in Blue group celebrated World Heart Day by discussing healthy lifestyles, creating beautiful artworks and reading stories.

Numeracy and literacy

Jo, who teaches Blue group, has creative ways of introducing numeracy and literacy to our youngest students. They played a die game to create a monster: great for subitising (looking at a small set of objects and knowing how many there are without counting them). Then they focussed on the skills of a palaeontologist. After finding bones in the sensory KidFetti, they measuring them and comparing length.

Our deputy principal, Marianne, brought a special visitor - her pet piranha! the students loved Piranhas dont eat bananas by A Blabey, a great story for rhyme, vocabulary and fun!

Trauma-informed practice in the Riverina

In week 6, assistant principal Kristy travelled to Finley Public School in the southern Riverina region of NSW with Ross Whitfeld, deputy principal of The Beach School, to deliver Modules 3 and 4 of the Department of Education’s Trauma-informed Practice for Increased Learning and Wellbeing professional learning. This session was for staff at both Finley PS and Jerilderie PS, following the delivery of Modules 1 and 2 to the same schools last term. Kristy and Ross were thrilled to see how staff had integrated the knowledge from the earlier modules into their school culture and classroom practices. The training also provided an opportunity for staff to workshop and discuss the strategies they had been trialing.

Finley PS has developed a sensory room to support neurodiverse students and others with sensory needs in developing regulation skills through modelled co-regulation, progressing towards self-regulation. Each student accessing the sensory room follows an individualised plan tailored to their specific needs, created in consultation with their class teacher and learning support staff. This initiative has proven highly beneficial for the students and highlights Finley PS’s strong commitment to enhancing student learning and wellbeing.

Wombat stew

On National Threatened Species Day, Blue group learned about the endangered hairy nosed wombat. Harry read the story Wombat Stew and students made their own wombat stew with all the fascinating creatures in the classroom. Using Pete Cromer's book as an inspiration, they created beautiful art works and finally sang along to the song Wombat Stew.

Student-initiated learning

One of our families had the thrill of visiting Taronga Zoo at the weekend and the children came back with news of all the creatures they had seen. Jo and Ella used this as the springboard to help the girls create Pete Cromer inspired paintings. What a beautiful job they did!

Appreciating our support staff

SASS (School Ancilliary Staff) week is a fabulous opportunity to celebrate our support staff. They are the engine which keeps our school running, whether it's as the friendly voice on the phone welcoming families (and all the related administration needs), engaging with students in the classroom or coming alongside our indigenous visitors with empathy and understanding. We really appreciate you!

Our versatile playground

You might think that it would be hard to have a great playground in a school set in the heart of Manly, but our playground on level 3 provides space for even the most active games. Staff change the equipment each recess so that there is always something to appeal to our students, whether it's a boisterous game of volleyball, or something calm like a spot of painting.

Celebrating Book Week

Blue group enjoyed the Children's Book Council of Australia 2026 shortlisted book, Frogs are our Friends. We made our own frog pond using only natural objects and removing pollutants, then we practised our fine motor skills by hopping the frogs into the pond. The teachers were delighted to see the students spontaneously created their own frog pond - such joy in learning!

Meanwhile, Purple group enjoyed reading Bob and Dob by Sean E. Avery, exploring sibling relationships, trust and knowing when to speak up. Students then designed their own unique character, considered their special qualities and brought them to life using paper clay. Green group read the book Ningaloo by Tim Winton and one student was inspired to use the story as the basis of his bag design.

Breathing beads

Emotional regulation is important for each of us to learn and it is taught in many different ways at our school. This week Aunty Caroline showed Blue group students how to thread beads in colours that made them happy, and use them in a mindful breathing activity. This connects with our school theme of yindyamarra - pause, breathe, be calm.

Science week explodes!

We've had an incredible time in Science Week!

Purple Group literally exploded making lemon volcanoes by mashing up the flesh of a lemon, adding liquid soap, food colouring and bicarbonate of soda and watching the chemical reaction go off.

Green group experimented with magnets in the playground (including making our own compass and learning about Mag Lev trains), created our own air-powered rockets and learned all about native plant properties and the indigenous connection to local flora. Aunty Caroline shared the story of Talara'tingi, how the flower flannel came to be, which reminded us that if we care for Country, Country will care for us and that flowers provide food and life for birds, insects and people.

Blue group made magic milk by adding dishwashing liquid and natural food colouring to a puddle of milk and watching it react with the fat to break the surface tension - and make very pretty patterns! They also grew rainbows.

SWAY school visit

On Tuesday 4th August, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Day, some of the SWAY team visited Roseville Public School. SWAY has been implemented at Roseville PS since 2022. The school is a sister school to Bourke Public School, and both participate in the SWAY program.

SWAY at Roseville is shared in their Year 6 and Kindergarten Buddy Program. The students work together on SWAY and the day we visited they were sharing Aunty Lois Rowing to School Yarn and were going to make their local community build from the SWAY program.

Upon arrival Aunty Lois (AEO), Aunty Caroline (AEO) and Juliana (ECT) were warmly greeted by school staff Sean Moran (Principal) and Sarah Lockhart (AP K-2) and welcomed into the school hall where all the students were waiting for us. Aunty Caroline was invited to pay respects before the activity began which she did by asking student leaders to join her and share their versions together to the group. Aunty Lois then shared her yarn to the students of how she went to school when she lived on Ulghandhi Island.

The students went outside to forage for items to add to their community build and then came in to start. There was a busy hum to the hall with students talking about what and how to make their local community creations. Seeing the year 6 students work together with the kindergarten buddies building and using their imaginations to make their local school community was wonderful. The SWAY team were eager to get in to help and chat to them about their communities.

Once we finished and then packed away, we were treated to a lovely morning tea in the staff room sharing and building connections through SWAY. What a memorable day and partnership.

Music therapy

Royal Far West students engaged in some music therapy with school counsellor/psychologists Cliona Mulloy and Georgia Braude. This involved learning body percussion, drumming, and chimes. Music is a valuable tool for supporting emotional regulation, social connection, hearing and listening, and co-ordination skills. Research into the neuropsychological benefits has found that music and rhythmic movements are a powerful tool to help children regulate stress. It's also a lot of fun for all involved!

Aboriginal astronomy

Purple Group participated in a rich cultural learning experience through story, shared viewing, conversation and hands-on exploration. In a fascinating video, Aboriginal astrophysicist Kirsten Banks demonstrated that for Indigenous people the dark spaces between stars are as important as the stars themselves. It shows when seasons and tides change and when certain foods are available. The position in the night sky shows when emu eggs are available for collecting.

Aunty Caroline shared her own story and memories of collecting emu eggs in Walgett, NSW. This personal storytelling created a meaningful connection between the learning experience and Country, family and lived cultural knowledge. Students were invited to hold and carefully explore a real emu egg – Dinawan egg. They observed its size, weight, texture and colour, and were encouraged to think about the importance of the emu within Aboriginal culture and the ways knowledge can be shared through stories and objects.

To conclude the experience, each student was gifted an emu feather to take with them as a reminder of their learning. The feather became a special connection to the story shared, Dinawan and cultural knowledge explored together.

Measuring dinosaur bones

Fosicking through kidfetti sensory pellets, students in blue group discovered dinosaur bones! They were able to match the shapes and sizes on a work sheet and then measured each one. Such a fun maths lesson!