Youth

Glyn Rees. The Wattles Junior Warriors enjoyed a great day of undefeated junior rugby league in superb weather last Saturday in Stanthorpe contesting Round 7 Warwick & District Junior Rugby League fixtures against the Stanthorpe junior Gremlins.

The claypan flat at Yeovil was the place to be on a typical Wilcannia autumn day, giving the students and staff from Wilcannia Central School and St Therese’s School a perfect setting for the first combined schools cross country event ... Primary kids only had to run 1k, secondary had a 4k slog, well most of them did.

Australia needs a high-quality, universally accessible and affordable early learning childcare system, according to Thrive by Five. The organisation is calling on federal and state governments to reform early learning and child care to benefit more families and early education staff.

When we look at the Australian teams competing for us at the Olympics and world championships, older riders feature prominently. Fair enough, because with age comes experience, but times are changing and many other country’s Olympic teams are far younger than ours ... in all Olympic disciplines, there is beginning to be a changing of the guard.

Pam Dillon. Students from schools across the Central Barkly Region converged into Tennant Creek for the annual Softball Inter-school Cup Championship. The girls aged from 10 to 15 enjoyed learning and developing their softball skills through skills sessions and playing games against each other.

On 14th of February 2023, 20 students aged 8 to 11 years old from Lord Howe Island became marine scientists for the day. In doing so, they joined UNESCO’s global environmental DNA research initiative that is being rolled out across 25 marine World Heritage sites to better understand ocean biodiversity and the impacts of climate change.

Patrick Goldsmith. In a landmark moment for child care services on Yorke Peninsula, the Maitland Family Centre officially opened on Monday, May 22. Following a long push from central and southern Yorke Peninsula families, the new centre, to be joined by a purposebuilt facility at Minlaton in January, was met with strong enrolments and a productive first week.

This is the ninth consecutive year of the FightMND movement, and for this year, for teacher Kim Griffiths and the Year 12 Donald High School girls, it’s personal. Tony Goode was a vital part of the heart of the school. For this year, as it was last year, the funds raised from the FightMND beanies and socks will be in honour of him.  

There are three things we need to solve the juvenile crime problem: It’s not $250m, not more cops, not more talk. It’s families, families and more families – functioning ones. The film Audrey Napanangka playing in Alice Springs this week is about a woman in her seventies who demonstrates this, and doesn’t take no for an answer.

Not every teenager has something in common with their parent, but young Maldon local Anthony Hanson shares a passion for speedway racing with his dad, Marc. Now, after 23 years of racing himself, Marc is stepping aside to support 17-year-old Anthony pursue his dream to become a professional racer.

With existing measures seemingly having minimal effect on perpetrators of youth crime, a 24/7 youth co-responder team was introduced to Toowoomba last weekend in an effort make a positive difference. In Toowoomba to launch the team last Saturday, new Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer said it was one of five new co-responder teams being established across Queensland, alongside Mount Isa, Hervey Bay, South Brisbane and Ipswich.

Long-time local Damien Ha was in good spirits as he recovered from surgery after a vicious attack by a group of teenagers in the early hours ... "I get the stitches out in two weeks so I should be right to play." Damien has ranked four in the Territory for the Masters, and travels each year to represent Tennant in the Australian Titles. "I told them I know your face, and he told me he had a machete, grabbed it out of the bush and hit me with it."

Continuing her good form, Sarah Jarvis recently wrapped up her metropolitan solo campaign at the 2023 Calisthenics State Championships at The Besen Centre in Burwood. This was her fifth and final competition in the 17 Years Open Reserve Division, against dancers from all around Victoria.

From kindergarten to high school, Sunshine Coast students are turtle-y in love with turtles ... “Hatchlings are the most popular topic with the kids wanting to know if they can breathe under the sand, how they get out of the nest, what happens if they get left behind and if a mother turtle can find the hatchlings if the nest is relocated": Leisa Baldwin.

The Lockyer Valley knows only too well just what the impact of a severe weather event can look like – physically, mentally and emotionally. Following two severe flood events in 2022 alone, after bushfires and years of drought, Lockyer Valley Regional Council has forged important new partnerships to bring tangible benefits to the community.

Friday 12 May is Do It For Dolly Day, a national day dedicated to bringing the community together, spreading kindness and uniting in taking a stand against bullying. One in four Australian school students between years 4 and 9 are being bullied. One in seven of them won’t tell anyone. That’s over 340,000 young people staying silent.

Lockyer Valley Libraries will participate in National Simultaneous Storytime later this month. The event, to be held at the Gatton Library on Wednesday 24 May, is an annual campaign  by the  Australian Library and Information Association  (ALIA) that encourages young children to read and enjoy books.  

Charlotte Harris, formerly of Nhill who now resides in Wodonga recently competed for the title of Miss Teen Galaxy Australia for Australia Galaxy Pageants, and represented Victoria in Sydney on Saturday ... Charlotte was the only one chosen from Victoria.

JUTE Theatre Company’s award-winning First Nations residency program, Dare to Dream, hits the road this month, touring the Far North and Cape with, I Gut this Feeling, an engaging new theatre work aimed at empowering young people with knowledge for building safer communities ... I Gut this Feeling is clever, comical, and entertaining and has been created by Drandic to engage and educate audiences both young and old who rarely have opportunities to access or participate in theatrical arts expression of this kind.