Each year, Avalon Public School opens its gates to the public for its learning expo, showcasing students’ real-world problem-solving skills to friends and families.

This year, the school took the celebrations a step further, with the entire school dancing down a stretch of Old Barrenjoey Road to the classic Motown tune, ‘Dancing in the street’.

Principal Andy Rankin said the school wanted to shake things up a little and help lift community spirit.

“We initially wanted to do a big street parade after COVID to let the community know we’re a great school and we’re here. This was the perfect way to get out on the street and do so,” he said.

“Dancing down the middle of the road also makes it into a special day that students will remember.”

The expo is an opportunity for all 740 students at the school to display and explain design solutions they have worked on to help others.

In keeping with the school motto of ‘Happiness Through Helping’, students spend a term engaging with issues that matter to them.

“It gives our students the opportunity to solve problems and think creatively about things that matter, and they exceed all expectations,” Mr Rankin said.

Year 6 students Lucy Mower and Noa Walthers developed a reuseable cover to protect the studs on football boots while walking home on the footbath.

They proposed using the material mouth guards are made from, polyurethane resin, which could be adapted to fit a football boot after being warmed up in hot water.

It could also be resized the same way, when a child needed a larger boot.

Eli Goosen, also in Year 6, created a taste-masking device for when young children are taking unpleasant medicine, working to the theory that a pleasant smell could change the taste of something unpleasant.

“I put a teaspoon of honey under my nose while I was taking the medicine and it worked. It changed the flavour,” he said.

Eli developed a small aroma dispenser on the top of a syringe, so a pleasant smell goes up a child’s nose while the medicine goes in their mouth.

“My device is for toddlers or younger children who spit out medicine, which in turn could make them sicker or develop new illnesses,” he said.

Year 1 and 2 students came up with the concept of a ‘Grandfriends Day’ to help foster community connections.

The learning expo also included performances by the school’s bands, dance groups, string section and choirs, with several hundred community members attending.