Oak Flats Public School have been crowned overall champion in the latest Picasso Cows competition run by Dairy Australia.
Oak Flats, south of Wollongong, NSW, beat out 100 primary and high schools to win the title, with judges scoring the school a perfect 40 out of 40 in their assessment.
Oak Flats Public School assistant principal Emily Chatterton said the high calibre of work produced by the students delighted the judges.
The judges wrote that the decorated cow 'Princess Delilah Oakalina Mooze' encapsulated so many different areas and provided extensive evidence about how the Picasso Cow program educated and engaged the students about the Australian dairy industry and the nutritious products it produces.
"We loved the way Princess Delilah Oakalina Mooze's designs complemented the knowledge and understandings demonstrated in the Learning Journal. It was extremely rewarding to see evidence a whole school approach to the Picasso Cow Program and the rich history it has with dairy farming," the judges said.
Ms Chatterton said Oak Flats chose to be involved in the program due to the school's commitment to future focused learning and enrichment opportunities and to learn more about our local area's rich history and involvement in dairy farming.
"Our students from Year 1 to Year 6 met once a week to research, design and paint our cow which included tessellated-style oak leaves to represent our local community, green and yellow to represent our school colours, and images of dairy farming, farming technology and the process from farm to plate," she said.
"We ran a whole-school competition to name our cow with four winners (one for each stomach!) and dubbed her, "Princess Delilah Oakalina Mooze".
"To showcase our journey the students wrote, performed, filmed and edited a news report.
"Our dedicated teachers, led by Mrs Sarah Beesley, and school support liason officers committed many hours during and after school hours to mentor and work with students.
"It was a highly engaging and enjoyable process."
The school plans on spending $2000 of the prize money on a sensory garden and donating $500 to farmers for drought relief.
Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
