A conspiracy was uncovered when the students of Kalinda School revealed they had been secretly working on an art project without the parents or the school principal being any the wiser.
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Principal Angela Sampson said she was taken by “complete surprise” when she saw the students had put together a wooden police car and trailer on Friday.
“They have done a sensational job keeping it a secret,” Mrs Sampson said.
“They’ve been working on this for 10 weeks; who keeps a secret for that long?"
Kalinda’s car was built at Pioneer Park, and will stay there for the benefit of the pre-school playgroup that plays there every Tuesday and Friday from 10am to midday.
Some of the pre-schoolers have already had fun with the police car, crawling over the hood and turning the steering wheels.
The students put together the car with the help of co-conspirator and Pioneer Park technical coordinator Ryan Dimini, who showed the students how to put the whole thing together.
Mr Dimini said the students’ craftsmanship was excellent, and that the finished product was one the park could be proud of.
“They have done a very good job,” he said.
“The one hour or two hours the kids turned up was my playtime with them, which was really fun.”
Teacher Rachael Gill was also in on the conspiracy, and she gave the credit to her students for coming up with the idea for the blue police car and red trailer.
Mrs Gill said she enjoyed turning up to the park every Thursday to supervise her students and say hello to Mr Grumbles the Pioneer Park emu.
"Mr Grumbles visited us every week - that emu sure kept them all in line," Mrs Gill said.
They are very excited to learn new skills and work collaboratively – just look at their smiles, it says it all.
- Kalinda principal Angela Sampson
Mrs Sampson said the building project seemed like a valuable learning experience for the Kalinda students.
“They are very excited to learn new skills and work together collaboratively – just look at their smiles, it says it all,” she said.
“There’s a purpose for what they’re doing, and hopefully they’ll use the same skills and build another one for our school.
“They’ve had lots and lots of fun, and I’m very proud of them.”