Emu Leonay Gazette » Community

Student Councillors elected from Emu Plains Public School

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 01:03:35 +0000

Matt McAlpine and Kelsie Brodribb

Penrith City Mayor Kevin Crameri OAM has selected a student to be ‘Junior Mayor’ and another 14 students as ‘Councillors’ to participate in a mock Council meeting and discuss a topic in depth during Local Government Week in August.
The competition was open to all primary school students who reside in and attend school in Penrith City. The theme this year was “Building a Brighter Future” and students were asked to tell us what they think their local suburb will be like in the year 2050. Students had to describe their thoughts on one A4 sized page. The entry could be written as a story or poem, drawn, or as another format.
Clairgate Public School’s Ethan McKay was selected as Mayor. He will get a taste of what it’s like to be Mayor while wearing replica Mayoral robes at the mock meeting.
The other 14 students selected to be Councillors for the day will each be teamed with a Councillor, who will guide them as they participate in the Council meeting.
Matt McAlpine and Kelsie Brodribb have been selected from Emu Plains Public School. Tony Best, Principal of Emu Plains PS says “ They are great children and wonderful ambassadors for our school in many ways. We are very proud of them.”

Guitarist Gig at The Basement

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 04:55:38 +0000

Local Emu Plains jazz guitarist Chris Komorowski has performed at the Basement in Sydney playing music from his debut CD which is due to be released. This is the first time he has performed under his own name as a soloist and was supporting well known jazz and blues artist Pugsley Buzzard.
Chris has performed with many top artists and has played at numerous festivals all over the country including the Tamworth country music festival and Darling Harbour jazz festival.
Chris has been playing guitar professionally since he was 14 and teaches guitar at several local schools as well as privately.

Chris has lived in Emu Plains for 30 years now. He grew up in Emu Plains and then bought a house here in 2001.

Chris says “There is a list of reasons that I love living in the area and why I stayed. These include:

Easy access to transport. Emu Plains station is close to where we live and it’s an easy trip to the City. Also, with all the motorways now, I can get anywhere for gigs pretty quickly without too much traffic lights etc.

I love living so close to the mountains and river. I like to spend time bushwalking in the mountains or using the river circuit for bike riding, running and walking etc.

I find the people of Emu Plains to be friendly and I feel the family is safe here. There is also lot’s of places to eat!

Actually, referring back to the information on my website, the first gig I ever played was at ‘Our Lady Of the Way’ in Emu Plains at a Bush Dance my Dad’s band was playing at.

Coming Up Roses At Emu Plains Public School

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 04:51:42 +0000

Recently a team of over 60 dedicated members of the Emu Plains Public School community shared a sunny autumnal Sunday sprucing up the grounds of their historic school.
Under the expert direction of the P & C Committee, this amazing band of parents and children completed the front rose garden, planted natives around the Anniversary paver garden and weeded, pruned and mulched the other gardens at the school. Principal Tony Best is justifiably proud of the school and the strong sense of camaraderie that was exhibited on the day. “Over twenty families were represented at the working bee and we really appreciate and value the family time that people donate. Such occasions demonstrate the strong sense of community we enjoy here at Emu Plains,” he said.
“This amazing band of parents and children completed the front rose garden, planted natives around the Anniversary paver garden and weeded, pruned and mulched the other gardens that make Emu Plains Public School one of the most attractive in the area.”

Skate Park Petition

admin — Mon, 10 May 2010 02:38:11 +0000

Karyn Paluzzano recently met with local parents and children to petition for a skate park to be built in Emu Plains. Karyn has written to Penrith City Council on their behalf, requesting that a skate park be built for the benefit of young people in the area. Karyn has also started a Facebook group ‘Emu Plains [...]

Jamison Creek Bushcare

admin — Mon, 10 May 2010 02:12:48 +0000

Funding from the NSW Environment Trust has been granted for a new 3 year programe for bush management along Jamison Creek which connects Huntington Reserve and Hollier Reserve in Emu Plains through to the Leonay wetlands. Penrith Council Bush Management Officer, Janet Rannard, can now coordinate the work along the creekline. The priority is weeding, bush [...]

River Road Riparian project.

admin — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 10:58:23 +0000

In the past nine months bushland management works within the River Road Riparian Corridor have included:
Bushland contractor work north of the M4 road bridge focussing on spraying extensive areas of weed vines, in particular Madeira vine, maintaining and extending areas that were worked in the previous year and maintaining planted areas where secondary weeds were encroaching
Bushland contractor work south of the M4 road bridge within areas of remnant bushland. The areas were identified where there is a native canopy and the potential for regeneration of shrubs and native ground layer plants. Since weeds have been controlled e.g. Lantana in these areas there is an abundance of native regeneration
The Conservation Volunteers of Australia (CVA) National Green Jobs Corps have also undertaken weed removal works, predominantly Lantana, in an area immediately south of the M4 road bridge. Once they have completed this work they will be planting local provenance natives back into the area to assist with stabilising the river bank. Council is grateful for the work that these young people are assisting with as they learn ‘on the job’ new skills about contributing to the environment.
Council is also pursuing any grant funding opportunities available to supplement Council funding with a view to accelerating the works program.

Storing rainwater in local aquifers

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:44:52 +0000

Penrith Council has been investigating options for a non potable water supply, in which Managed Aquifer Recharge plays a significant potential opportunity.
This is an exciting project using the existing aquifer at the council reserve in Wedmore Road and the detention pond near the oval in Leonay to store captured stormwater to be used when needed instead of drinking water.
There are significant concerns in relation to the gap between future demand and supply for water as the population of Western Sydney increases. The project would supply more than enough water to save more than 100 million litres of drinking water each year. It would also improve the natural habitat, reduce our carbon footprint and improve the environmental water flows of the Nepean River.
If the project eventually goes ahead, Penrith Council would have to put part of the $1.9 million in and the other funds would come from other levels of government.

Helping Haiti

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:30:58 +0000

Children at Emu Heights Public School are determined to let the people of Haiti know they care for them in this incredibly tragic time.
The school Student Representative Council has constructed a large jigsaw puzzle of a map of Haiti with each class holding one piece with an envelope attached.
Children have been challenged to do jobs to earn money to put in their class envelope to raise funds for relief programs for the Haitian people.Later this month the money will be collected and the giant puzzle put together.
Emu Heights children want to live up to their school motto “Happiness By Helping”

Local artists

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:15:41 +0000

Georgia Garland, 8, from Emu Heights Public School and Jordan Lewis, 12, from Leonay Public School are both famous artists! They each have a painting in the 2009 Western Sydney Environment calendar.
Jordan’s colourful wetlands design was chosen for the front cover and the background at the award ceremony. Georgia’s cute platypuses are featured in December.

Move Over Master Chef

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:46:50 +0000

There will be a couple of celebrity chefs looking over their shoulders when Emu Heights Public School Kindergarten children get older.
Each week the children take part in a developmental activities program which focuses on language acquisition and social skills through a range of small group activities.
This term the activities include computer tasks, craft, painting, creative design, water play and a special favourite, cooking. Kindergarten’s creative delicacies to date include healthy snack bars, fruit jelly and banana muffins with special Christmas treats also on the menu. With more tasty treats planned, these children won’t want to go on holidays come December!