19, 22 and 26 November: Over three days, all classes in the school visited the National Gallery of Victoria for an Arts/Italian excursion. The students participated in a two hour workshop and lesson about 'Carnevale', an annual Italian festival where brilliantly-fashioned masks are worn. After a guided tour of the gallery, the students visited the gallery's studio to make their own very colourful masks. Afterwards, the grades had the opportunity to continue to explore the gallery and many groups also took advantage of the fine weather to visit Federation Square, Birrarung Marr and other places of interest in the city. Thanks to Lucy for organising this fantastic excursion.

November 16: Our annual Twilight Fete was an outstanding success! It was wonderful to see so many families and other supporters enjoying themselves while supporting our school. Highlights of the evening included performances by our school choir and by the participants in Brunswick South Idol - although perhaps the less said about a particular group (bearing an uncanny resemblance to the male teachers) the better! The stalls and rides were busy all evening, and we really appreciate the efforts of the parents and teachers who worked so hard on the night to make it such a great event. The organising committee, headed by the amazing Alison, have done a brilliant job this year and we can't thank them enough for taking on this enormous task.

November 14: Grade 3/4U and Judy T walked to K-Mart, Barkly Square to attend the launch of the ‘Wishing Tree Christmas Appeal 2007’.  The ‘Wishing Tree Appeal’ has been running at K-Mart for 20 years. It provides disadvantaged families with presents at Christmas. This year, the staff at Barkly Square are trying to beat their record of 1,050 presents. After speeches from Jason, the manager, and Basil, a representative from the Brotherhood of St.Laurence, the class sang ‘Jingle Bells’ and ate chocolate cake. The teachers got coffees and the students got lolly bags and a drink. It was fantastic to be out in our local area and to meet people who are working together to end poverty and raise awareness in the community.

November 14: Today we received the exciting news that Jenny (2J) has been successful in winning a $64,100.00 grant from the Federally-funded Australian School Innovation in Science, Technology and Mathematics project. This grant will see Brunswick South leading three other schools in an online/multimedia Forensic Science project for Grades 5-6 in 2008. During the project, we will also be working with the CSIRO, Scienceworks, La Trobe University and the Victoria Police to ensure that our students are exposed to the most up-to-date forensic tools and techniques. This project will be a great addition to our fantastic science program and we are delighted to be one of only 56 projects Australia-wide to receive funding. Well done Jenny!

November 13: Fables and Frolics, a musical theatre company, visited Brunswick South today to present a bi-lingual (Italian/English) production of 'Aladino'. The children really enjoyed the antics of the performers and puppets, the music and the many funny moments throughout the show. The children participated in both English and Italian throughout the performance. It was great to see them using their Italian language skills and immersing themselves in the story. Thank you, Lucy, for making the Italian program so enjoyable!

November 8: Today we officially opened our beautiful indigenous mural. Our talented artist, Markeeta, has worked with all students to create this wonderful mural and we are delighted to have this exceptional art work in our grounds.

October 30-November 7: Twelve of our Grade 6 students attended Somers Camp, a Government-subsided educational camp aimed at building self-esteem and teamwork. The challenging activities included rock climbing, abseiling, boating and swimming, and high ropes. Thanks to Rachel for coordinating the event and to Rachel, Rod and Suzie for attending with the students.