School enters in International Antarctic festival

Students at Jerilderie Public School are joining schools from 20 other countries in a bid to raise awareness and protection of Antarctic animals by painting penguins.An expected 15,000 plywood penguins from throughout the world will be sent to the biennial Australian Antarctic Festival being held in Hobart.It was initially mean to be held this July, but has been postponed because of the Coronavirus pandemic.Jerilderie Public principal Nyree Taylor said the event’s aims complemented the curriculum this year, and added some fun.‘‘The school received an invitation to participate in the project in early February, and it fit nicely with a Stage 3 focus text, ‘Polar Boy’,’’ she said.‘‘Students have painted one side of the cutouts as a traditional penguin, and on the opposite something that represents Jerilderie and the local area.‘‘All students have had lots of fun and they look forward to displaying their colony at the festival, which has been rescheduled to July/August 2021.’’The festival and its art project, run by not-for-profit organisation Mawson’s Huts Foundation, is encouraging students to take an interest in the Antarctic, climate change and the unique wildlife.The focus on the world’s 18 species of penguins is designed to highlight that many of the are threatened with extinction.Penguins will also be supplied from Italy, Estonia, Romania, The Netherlands, Japan, Monaco, France, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland and New Zealand.