Nabiac Public School commendation for Picasso Cow

Her name is Nelly and she identifies as a Jersey cow.

As she is also a Picasso cow, she stays where she is put, indoors or out, costs nothing to feed, and stands stock still while students take selfies with her and listens patiently when they sit beside her and read her a story.

"Nelly is a Jersey cow as there are many of this breed living in our local area. We named her Nelly inspired by Farnell St, which runs past our school and she put together a team of designers from year four to year six. Farm to Plate was chosen as our theme because it is such a big process with so much to learn about," explained year five students Joey and Harry (with some help from teacher, Mrs Karin Madden!)

"As a team we collaborated to decide which designs we would use and how we wanted Nelly to look.

"Every class in our school had a special song to sing to Nelly. She visited each class riding in on her big skateboard, and then the whole school got together for the final big song!

"We made a moo-vie. We put a special QR code on Nelly's ear tag. When you scan it with a device like a phone or iPad the movie will play.

"Nelly is now a very important member of our school community. We love her!"

Picasso Cows is a program started by Dairy Australia to encourage school children to learn about the dairy industry - from raising calves to dairy's role in a healthy diet.

Participating schools receive a life-sized fibreglass cow - a blank canvas for the students to decorate, as they learn with a suite of learning resources.

In the past, other local schools have also participated in the Picasso Cow program.

The students from Nabiac taking part first had to design how Nelly would look, then paint that design onto the cow.

"It was really hard to transfer a design onto a three dimensional shape. So it was a really good learning experience in that respect," Mrs Madden said.

Nelly is now famous - Nabiac Public School was recognised for its outstanding entry (Nelly) in the Best Decorated Picasso Cows competition beating hundreds of schools Australia-wide.

"Their entry caught the eyes of judges for their extensive understanding of the curriculum materials and creative capabilities," a spokesperson for the Picasso Cows program said.

Mrs Madden said the school didn't realise it was a nationwide contest that included both primary and high schools.

"We did really well to be commended in such a sort of tough competition," she said.

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