Year 6 pupil Aaron Rucinski takes us through his grade’s novel way of saying farewell to the School.
Traditionally at the close of every year at St Ives Prep, families of the Year 6 graduating class present a thank you gift to the School. Typically, parents raise funds and purchase a thoughtful present. This year, we decided to take matters into our own hands. Our year group wanted to raise our own funds and create a completely unique, collaborative artwork as our gift to the School. This would be a memorable and meaningful way for us to express gratitude for our wonderful years and memories at St Ives. We decided to create an enormous 3-D Lego model of the Sydney Grammar School Coat of Arms.
Off to a flying start
On 17 March, after weeks of project team meetings, we were ready for our big fundraiser, the inaugural Great Grammar Paper Plane Challenge. Year 6 conducted paper plane folding lessons for infants, prepared and cleared the Hall and managed the logistics for the smooth running of this all-school event. This fundraiser was a huge success raising well above our target, and brought the whole School together in a fun-filled day of competition and giving. A highlight of the day was the form masters’ competition. Who knew there were so many paper plane enthusiasts among both St Ives pupils and staff? There was a great sense of school spirit as each class walked onto the stage to launch their paper planes.
Piecing it all together
Year 6 used the funds raised from the Great Grammar Paper Plane Challenge to purchase the nine Lego baseboards which would form the foundation of our huge Lego artwork (1.14 square metres). Every boy in Year 6 also brought in as many pieces of black and yellow Lego bricks from home as they could find. We produced a scaled template of the School Coat of Arms and designed 3-D elements to give the artwork extra depth and dimension. The template was carefully marked onto the baseboards and divided into sections, before Year 6 was invited to help construct this one-of-a kind Lego piece. Each Year 6 boy was also asked to create a customised Lego mini-figure of himself which formed a ‘guard of honour’ around the Coat of Arms.
Giving back
We are very proud to have created this unique gift, and to have been able to give back to the School in different ways. We were able to donate all surplus black and yellow Lego pieces not used in the project to St Ives Preschool and Kindergarten to inspire the next generation of Grammar boys, and to provide over $600 to the Graduation Dinner Fund. Our gift to the School is officially being unveiled on the evening of the Year 6 Graduation Dinner in December.
St Ives Year 6 acknowledge Mr Stephens, our teachers and the teams behind the fundraising and planning in helping us leave behind a ‘piece’ of ourselves at St Ives – a place we will remember fondly – as we embark on our next exciting journey towards high school.
