A painting by the students of Wallendbeen Public School will help brighten up the walls of Cootamundra Police Station.
The large canvas they have produced, soon to go to Cootamundra, was on display on Thursday at an end-of-year presentation ceremony attended by proud parents and citizens at the Wallendbeen Memorial Hall.
The students were invited to contribute a painting during a police visit earlier this year.
Their artwork portrays Wallendbeen village and surrounds, with yellow canola fields, the landmark grey Wallendbeen silos, the train tracks, the always-green Wallendbeen oval with its white picket fence, and a vivid blue sky with fluffy white clouds.
At Thursday's presentation Jim Galloway of the RSL read out the recollections of a student who attended the school from 1942, during the Second World War.
The student's home was five miles away, a distance he walked because cars could not be used due to scarcity of petrol.
The road know known as the Olympic Highway was unsealed, with barely any traffic except when an Army exercise rolled through. Army tanks, he said, left bumpy tracks, which made for an interesting trip home.
The audience was treated to a variety of entertainment based on literature and music studies during the year, including "Horton Hears a Who", from a Dr Seuss book, with Aaron Wells as the elephant and Lucas Wells as the kangaroo.
There was a drum corps presentation by the senior percussion band, who were taught by a visiting teacher from the Young School of Music, while the junior percussion band gave a rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the glockenspiel.
The chairperson of Goldenfields Water and deputy mayor of Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council, Councillor Dennis Palmer, gave books to five students who achieved stage two or stage three in their primary education, donated by the Cootamundra Rotary Club, Cootamundra Soroptomists and Goldenfields Water.
Principal Toni Daly made a presentation of medals to senior students, and also presented flowers to Karina Lenehan, in recognition of a teaching award she received from the regional director.
The CWA dictionary for a student graduating from primary was given to Declan Wells by CWA representative Jenny Hocking.
Ms Daly said that because of its small size the school was able to stay open throughout the Covid pandemic, although it had been a changeable time, with student numbers going up and down with the movement of families in and out of the district.
Students at Wallendbeen get a unique small school experience, with an excellent teacher:student ratio which provides every chance for them to develop personally and academically.
Next year the school, established in 1881, will celebrate its 140th birthday.
The school has a departmental website at https://wallendbee-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/, and can be contacted by phone on 02 6943 2568 or by email at wallendbee-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au
