Infants and Primary

Infants

What a fun and productive fortnight we’ve had. Highlights have been welcoming our new Kindy-start students for their first morning at ‘Big School’, dressing up as part of our Halloween fundraiser and visiting Healthy Harold.

Last Friday our Infants building was full of excited faces, new and old, as our Kindy-start students were dropped off for their first transition morning. It was wonderful to see our current students so pleased to see them, looking out for their sisters, brothers, cousins and friends, and helping to make it a special day for our newest students. A special thank you to our Year 5 buddies who really helped them settle in and made it a fun morning. We look forward to seeing them again this week, and then for 2 full days the following fortnight.

Staff are busily observing and assessing students in preparation for report writing, and it is pleasing to see students putting in extra effort and rising to the challenge of tasks set for them. Reports provide families with feedback about areas of strength and challenge and will be issued at the end of the term. If you have any questions or concerns in the meantime, please reach out to your child’s teacher by contacting the front office. Our doors are always open.

Kindy

Our clever Kindergarten students are now learning vowel digraphs, such as ‘ai/a_e/ay, o/o_e/oa, and ir/ur. Learning to read and write vowel digraphs opens them up to spelling and decoding many many more words, helping them to read and write with greater confidence. It is wonderful to see them being proud of themselves and noticing how much they have improved, especially when working individually or in small groups with our support staff.

Our Kindergarten mathematicians have been practising their skills in counting, noticing patterns in counting, working with teen numbers as well as adding and subtracting to change the total numbers in groups. Over the coming fortnight, our focus will be on measurement, learning about length, area and volume and capacity.

Kindergarten were excited to see Mrs Bridge back at school for our STEM lessons. They love the hands on challenges and today began making Christmas decorations – yes, that time of the year is fast approaching!

Mem Brougham

Kindergarten Teacher - Assistant Principal Infants (Relieving)

Year 1/2

In week 3, students in 1/ 2 have been learning about writing informative texts in English. This has involved learning to develop paragraphs with different topics. Students researched a lion together using various websites, and then were challenged to write in paragraphs about a lion’s habitat, diet and appearance. For the next two weeks, 1/ 2 will be exploring perspective and argument in English. 

We have loved seeing parents back in the classroom over the last few weeks. Parents are supporting 1/ 2 to develop resilience and communication skills as well as fluency and comprehension in reading. We are extremely grateful for this opportunity. If you are interested in joining our class for reading as well, please contact me through the front office- we can always use more helpers! 

In Mathematics, students have been busting numbers. We have been learning that numbers can be partitioned- or broken into smaller parts to assist with addition and subtraction. Students have experimented with a range of strategies to support them with finding solutions to complex mathematical questions. Next week, we will be adding ‘volume’ to our knowledge of measurement. 

In Sport, 1/ 2 have greatly enjoyed having a say in the games we play by having a fair vote. Th favourite game by far is ‘Chicken and Fox’ and I think they will forever be voting for this game! I am so proud of the resilience 1/ 2 have developed within sport lessons as all students take their outs, cheer their peers on, try their best, and have a laugh- which is what sport is all about! 

This week, we have welcomed Healthy Harold to our school. 1/ 2 went into the van on Tuesday and were exposed to discussions about safety. Students had some strong discussions about the difference between an emergency and non- emergency problem, as well as considering the rules in different spaces around the community. We loved helping Harold pack items for his camping trip that would keep him safe.  

Tuesday of this week was certainly enjoyable as students were invited to dress up for Halloween! We had such fun talking about costumes and telling spooky stories. 

Upcoming activities: 

The library will be closed from week 5 until the end of the term due to some exciting renovations. Can all students please return their books this week for end of year stock take. There will be no more borrowing this term. 

We will be doing Gymnastics for Sport over the next two Fridays- 10th and 17th November.  

Swim Scheme begins on Monday 27 November for all year 2 students (every day for two weeks). Please ensure the notes are handed in ASAP. Please contact the office if you need a new note. 

Primary

Welcome back to an action-packed term four here in the Primary department. We are busily preparing for our Year 3-6 Excursion on Thursday 23rd November. The final cost is $60 and most of our students are attending! This is very exciting. Please get your final permission notes and money back in when they are sent out next week.

We are very much looking forward to hearing our Year 5 students make their speeches for School Captain and Prefects as part of our School Leadership Team. We already have 9 nominees from Year 5, so our voting process will be tough! All members of the community are invited to a special assembly at 10am on Monday 27th November at the BCS School Hall. We will hear each nominee say their speech and then students will vote for their choice of School Captain. We use the ‘preferential voting process’, so it’s always a tight election! All members of staff also get a vote, it is a democratic and equal process for all.

Well done to Amali Bush for finishing 14th in the state of NSW for High Jump at the State Athletics Championships at Sydney Olympic Park last week – what an achievement and what an experience!

All K-6 students wrote a piece of narrative recount text on a video called ‘The Lantern’ earlier this term – and the teachers spent a staff meeting ‘moderating’ these pieces of writing to see how our students compare to state standards. This is a great process of professional development for staff, and a great example of our students doing their best and achieving great things. Lots to work on, which is helped by all of our staff analysing these pieces of writing to find our focus areas for the remainder of this year and in 2024.

A further reminder that school bucket hats must be worn in term 4 during lunch, recess and bus playtimes. This is to help avoid sun exposure and keep your children safe. Any students without the correct hats must play in the shade.

If you require any additional information or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me via email: Jason.stuart3@det.nsw.edu.au 

Jason Stuart

Assistant Principal Primary (Relieving) 

3/4 Classroom

This fortnight, the 3/4 class have been hard at work.

In spelling, we’ve put a strong emphasis on phonemic awareness, and they've made incredible strides in understanding suffixes and homophones. During our reading sessions, we've been diving deep into the nuances of texts. They have identified the tone and understanding the author's purpose in a piece of writing. In our guided reading sessions, two of our groups have completed "Tooth Trouble" by Abby Klein and are now reading "Heidi" by Johanna Spyri. Another group is halfway through the ever-enchanting "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl. They're not just enjoying the stories, but also the art of reading itself. Guided reading groups are a fantastic way to foster a love for reading, cater to individual learning paces, and spark in-depth discussions. These sessions are supported by our wonderful SLSO’s were are lucky enough to have Chris, Jill, Greg, Sara, and Sasha supporting our class at different times of the week.

In Mathematics, while we're strengthening our fundamentals, the students are also diving into fractions, place value, and number patterns. They're displaying a keen aptitude for recognizing patterns and making connections between different mathematical concepts.

In History, we've wrapped up our lessons on the First Fleet, and it's heartening to see most of our 3/4 students articulate key details about it. From the fleet's departure from England to its arrival and impact on the Aboriginal people, most students can recount historical facts with enthusiasm and detail. Our next unit promises to be just as engaging as we focus on the conditions faced by both the British settlers and the Aboriginal people after 1788.

Exciting news! STEM lessons are back, thanks to the return of Mrs. Bridge. We look forward to the innovative and hands-on sessions she has in store for our class.

Halloween was a delightful treat! The creativity and passion with which our students approached their outfits were truly commendable. Additionally, our class had an enlightening session with Healthy Harold. They showed great maturity, asking intriguing questions about cyber safety.

If you ever have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out to me at matthew.rowley12@det.nsw.edu.au.

Year 4/5 Classroom

In Year 4/5, the students have been exploring the fascinating world of art and its various elements. This week, their focus was on Texture. On Wednesday, they had a hands-on experience by experimenting with different materials to create implied texture. They had a blast using play dough to mold and shape different textures and then tried their hand at drawing on paper to capture those textures visually. The students truly enjoyed the lesson and had a great time expressing their creativity through art! 

5/6 Classroom

The year 5/6 students continue to be very active and energetic across the school. In the classroom we have had our annual Life Education Van visit and met Harold for the final time as primary school students. We looked at responsibly using technology, the idea of consent and what relationships and positive communication mean. We all love Harold and are excited for the younger kids to continue to see him in years to come.

In English, we are nearing the end of our novel study of ‘Wonder’ – and we are writing as characters and exploring emotional language, text types such as reflections and diary entries, and then we are going to do a comparison study between the novel and the movie – exciting times! 

In Mathematics, we are at assessment time, so we are going over all aspects of Mathematics as Mr Stuart gets all of the data he needs to write the final year reports. 

In Science, we have paused our unit on ‘Matter Matters’ and we will pick this up again when Mrs Corcoran returns in week 6.

As always, please get in touch if you require any further information:  Jason.stuart3@det.nsw.edu.au 

Jason Stuart

5/6 Class Teacher

Assistant Principal Primary (Relieving)

Library

This week in the library, we’ve been making Halloween themed Jack- O- Lantern decorations from our reading of Pig the Pug by Aaron Blabey! 

Lauren Hewett