Every year, children in Years 3 to 6 have the opportunity to participate in 3 annual school sports carnivals. This is in the area of swimming, cross country and athletics. When children compete in their events, they are earning participation points for their sports house. If children are placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd overall, they may have the opportunity to represent out school at the Auburn Zone Carnival. Children who excel at the Zone carnivals have the opportunity to progress to the Regional Carnival, then on to the NSW State Carnival. Below is a short blurb about each of the carnivals.
The children in K-2 also have some opportunities to experience what a carnival is like. They are invited to come and watch a stage of the cross country carnival as it is held at school. They hold their very own athletics carnival where they compete against each other in a range of events.
Depending on the format of the 3-6 carnival, sometimes all children from K-6 join together in groups for a tabloids rotation of games and activities in conjunction with the finals of 3-6 field events.
Swimming Carnival
The school swimming carnival is held within the first few weeks of Term 1. At the swimming carnival children can participate in the 50m events in a range of different strokes. The 50m events are the ones where the children can progress to the Zone level and in which the ribbons are based on.
To progress to the Zone level, children must be placed either 1st or 2nd overall in an event and in some circumstances achieve a particular time. Freestyle is in age groups whereas all the other strokes are organised into Junior, 11years and Senior. The Auburn Zone Carnival is always held at Ruth Everuss Swimming Centre in Lidcombe.
We realise there are many children who struggle to swim 50m, so we also have 25m races in all of the strokes. These children are earning points for participation for their houses and also from their place in their race.
The first 2 place getters overall in each event proceed to the Zone Swimming Carnival. Please be aware that some of the events have specific swim times that must be met in order to be eligable to race at zone level.
Cross Country Carnival
The school cross country carnival is held either at the end of Term 1 or the beginning of Term 2, depending when the Auburn Zone carnival is being held. The cross country carnival involves long distance running around a given track for a particular distance, depending on the age group. The children are organised by age and gender. The age groups are 8 and 9 years combined, 10yrs, 11yrs, and finally 12 to 13 years combined. The distance run is 2km for 8/9 yrs and 10yrs and 3km for 11yrs and 12/13 yrs. The carnival will be held again around the Guildford Leagues Club sports grounds.
The first 5 place getters in each age category will progress to the Auburn Zone Carnival.
Athletics Carnival
The school athletics carnival is held either at the end of Term 2 or the beginning of Term 3, depending on when the Auburn Zone Carnival dates. The athletics carnival involves both track and field events. Track events include the 100m and 200m sprints, and the 800m race. The 100m events are organised per age group, whereas the 200m and 800m are Junior, 11 years and Senior. The field events are organised into Junior, 11 years and Senior events. They include shotput, long jump and high jump.
The first 2 place getters overall for each event will progress to the Auburn Zone Carnival to be held in Term 3 at the Sydney Olympic Park training track.
Our younger students at Guildford West also have the opportunity to participate in the athletics carnival. It allows them to experience what it is like to attend a carnival and to compete against others the same age and gender.
The carnival involves races that are around 50m in length. The children are broken into both age groups and gender for the races. It begins with the sprints and then the finals. Next is usually the tabloid events. After lunch, children have the opportunity to become involved in grade-based challenges such as the tug-o-war.
Any child who places 1st, 2nd or 3rd in a race receives a place sticker on their age tag that is pinned on their shirt at the beginning of the day.