Primary School

It has been a big couple of weeks in Primary School! Book Week, a hockey tour to Perth, Tournament of the Minds judging and Father’s Morning, alongside regular learning! 

Happy Father’s Day 

One of my favourite days in the ECC was on Wednesday, when we welcomed dads and special guests into our school to celebrate Father's Day. 

Thankfully, the rain stayed away as we trekked to the BIG Wild Space for a nature scavenger hunt. We brought along some small animals and then worked together to build shelters for them using natural materials. The creativity, problem-solving and teamwork on display were wonderful to see. 

After all their hard thinking, we treated our dads and special guests to bacon and egg burgers in the Boarding House Dining Hall, giving everyone a chance to connect and enjoy each other's company. 

Thank you to everyone who came along and helped make the day so special. We hope you enjoy being celebrated and spoilt this Father's Day weekend and have a wonderful Sunday. 

Classroom News 

We hope you enjoy reading what our classes have been up to this week. 

Djinda  

Last week we were buzzing from parading our cuteness around the Gym. It took us quite some time to come down from the excitement; it is not every day you get to high five big friends who we see through the gates and when touring the school. One Djinda beamed with pride, ‘they actually touched my hand.’ These events create connection, a deep sense of belonging and memories etched with fondness. It was a magical day for all Djinda staff and our little stars themselves. 

Kindergarten 

What a busy and exciting time we have been having. We have been working hard to finish our special projects for the upcoming Art Exhibition. While working on our projects, we have also had lots of wonderful opportunities to spend time playing and building friendships with our friends from the other Kindergarten class. It has been lovely to see the children connecting, sharing ideas and enjoying play together. We have also been very busy creating some special gifts for our dads and special friends. The children put lots of thought, care and love into their creations, and they were so excited to take them home and share them with their special people. Our ECC Father’s Day Morning was a wonderful way to celebrate these important people in our students’ lives.  

Pre-Primary    

What an exciting and memorable week we have had! The students thoroughly enjoyed taking part in our Book Week celebrations: exploring stories, dressing up as their favourite characters and sharing their love of books with friends and teachers. It has been wonderful to see their enthusiasm for reading and storytelling throughout the week. Alongside Book Week, we have also been busy celebrating Father's Day with a range of special activities. We enjoyed our ECC Father's Day walk, providing students and their families with a wonderful opportunity to spend quality time together while enjoying the outdoors. Thank you to all the dads, grandfathers, uncles and special friends who joined us and helped make the morning so special. As we come to the end of this exciting week, we would like to wish all of the dads and special male figures in our children's lives a very happy Father's Day. Thank you for the important role you play in supporting, encouraging and loving our students each and every day. We hope you enjoy a wonderful weekend celebrating with your families. 

Year One    

Obviously, the Book Week dress up parade was the highlight, with some amazing characters and costumes created with the help of our wonderful parents! The children had fun sharing their well-known and less well-known stories with each other. This week our Inquiry honed in on First Nations toys from the past. The children were fascinated to find out that the toys were all made with natural resources like shells, bark, wood and seeds or nuts and fastened together with beeswax or plant fibres. The class took a trip to the Wild Space to collect some natural materials in order to try and replicate some of these toys. It was amazing what they came up with! We welcome Mrs Draper into the class for the next two weeks as she completes her Education Support practicum. 

Year Two    

Week Six came and went in a flash! It was a short and busy week, packed with lots of fun-filled lessons that brought together so much of the learning we have done so far this term. We started our week by sharing the adventures we had over the long weekend and writing some fantastic weekend recounts. We also continued our learning about subtraction strategies and discovered the importance of showing our working out when solving Mathematics problems. We even got to build some fun creations involving 2D and 3D shapes. 

It was wonderful to see the creative and colourful costumes for the Book Week Parade and to hear students share with each other all their favourite books. We finished off our crazy week with some activities at the Wild Space, where students had the opportunity to show off their learning from this term in fun and creative ways while problem-solving, thinking outside the box and working together as a team. What a week! 

Year Three  

Students investigated the three types of heat energy transfer: conduction, convection and radiation. Through a range of hands-on activities and discussions, they explored how heat energy moves from one place to another and identified examples of each type of energy transfer in everyday life. Students learned that conduction occurs when heat moves through direct contact; convection occurs when heat moves through liquids and gases; and radiation transfers heat through waves from a heat source. They applied this knowledge by making connections to familiar situations such as cooking food, heating homes and keeping warm in the sun. In Writing, students focused on developing engaging character descriptions and expressing character feelings through their writing. They learned how authors use descriptive language, actions, thoughts and dialogue to help readers visualise characters and understand their emotions. Students practised using ‘show, don't tell’ techniques to create more detailed and interesting narratives, helping readers connect with and relate to the characters and their experiences. Together, these skills have strengthened students' scientific understanding and their ability to communicate ideas effectively through writing. In Technologies, we tracked the journey of dairy products from farm to fork.  

Year Four 

This week students have been working hard to complete their persuasive texts, developing strong arguments and using persuasive language to convince their audience. Over the weekend, students are encouraged to rehearse their persuasive speeches, so they feel confident and prepared to record them next week. In Science, students have also begun investigating how erosion takes place in the environments around us. They are exploring the causes and impacts of erosion and considering ways we can minimise erosion in our local area. Students will continue to build on their ideas as they investigate real-world examples and possible solutions. 

Year Five 

In Mathematics, we have been finalising our understanding of area, perimeter and units of measurement. Students have been busy calculating the space inside shapes, measuring the distance around them and choosing the most appropriate units for different measurements. 

It has been a fantastic week of measuring, calculating and plenty of mathematical discoveries! Look out for our upcoming Garden Investigations next week. We will be designing a leafy paradise full of calculation opportunities. 

Year Six   

We have continued to work on our Science inquiry which involves analysing how salty water impacts crop growth. This is very prevalent in Western Australia, and we have watched videos on how farmers in the Wheatbelt are overcoming salinity in the soil to reduce the impact on crops. In Mathematics we have enjoyed working on timetables and recently completed a task to design a day trip for tourists visiting Rottnest which is most relevant as we will be visiting the island next term.  

ECC Briefing 

The following superstars have worked exceptionally well and received a Star Award for their outstanding efforts.  

Kindergarten A: Mya Parkes  

Kindergarten B: Aiden Wu 

Pre-Primary A: Alphonse Wong  

Pre-Primary B: Addison Jordan  

Year One: Connor Robson 

Year Two A: Ralph Bennett 

Year Two B: River Melia  

Students have been focusing on the value of Courage this week. Well done to the following students who stood out within their classrooms: ECC Briefing 

Kindergarten A: Arthur Knox 

Kindergarten B: Billy Buxton 

Pre-Primary A: Kudrat Mann 

Pre-Primary B: Alby Sedunary 

Year One: Lucas Perera  

Year Two A: Jemima Lester 

Year Two B: Odin Stephenson 

Primary School Briefing  

Students have been focusing on the value of Courage this past week. Well done to the following students who stood out within their classrooms: 

Year Three: Amaya Fourie 

Year Four: Alexander Standish and Samuel Inglis  

Year Five: Faolan Williams 

Year Six: Jackson Kirkpatrick and Loki Henderson 

Brag Award: Year Five Davison for tidy bags 

Learning Enrichment 

Tournament of Minds   

Seven of our Year Six students presented their long-term challenge and participated in their spontaneous challenge on Friday. Their presentation was in front of their families and two judges from Perth. The students did exceptionally well with their presentation of their sci-fi radio performance of Tomorrow’s Mistake and truly highlighted why they were chosen for their academic, acting and team work skills. 

Well done to team Small Children, Big Brains: Brodie Pyle, Zyana Prasad, Lillian Taylor, Taylah Gent, Loki Henderson, Maggie Skeet and Grace Henry.  

Student Wellbeing Officer    

We were excited to introduce the role of our Student Wellbeing Officer – Mrs Jo Wegner in the Bulletin on Tuesday. Mrs Wegner is already making a big impact on student wellbeing and doing some incredible work with social skills and self-regulation. She has transformed the learning enrichment hub and students are enjoying the benefits of the space and calm provided by it.  

Have a wonderful weekend.  

Ms Leah Field | Head of Primary and

Mrs Hayley Ranger | Head of Early Childhood

Primary School Hockey Trip to Perth 

What a fantastic experience it was for our Primary School Hockey team as they travelled to Perth to compete in the School Sport WA Hockey Carnival! 

The students were an absolute credit to our school throughout the entire trip. From the moment we left Albany, the team demonstrated wonderful teamwork, sportsmanship, enthusiasm and camaraderie. On the hockey field, they competed with great determination, showed impressive skill and continued to support and encourage one another throughout each game. It was fantastic to see the students put into practice the skills they have developed and represent our school with such pride.

While the hockey was certainly a highlight, the trip was about much more than just sport. Our accommodation at the Fremantle Prison YHA provided a unique and memorable experience for everyone. Staying in such a historic location gave the students plenty to talk about, and they thoroughly enjoyed experiencing something very different from a typical school trip. 

Perhaps most importantly, the students conducted themselves exceptionally well throughout the entire trip. Their maturity, positive attitudes, respect for others and willingness to work together made the experience enjoyable for both students and staff. Whether they were competing on the field, travelling, exploring Fremantle or spending time together at the accommodation, they represented our school wonderfully. 

A huge congratulations to every member of the team. Your effort, attitude and behaviour made us incredibly proud. The team had a tough first game against an individually strong St Stephens School just being pipped in the last couple of minutes resulting in a 3 - 2 loss. The tournament progressed well after this with two wins, one draw and two losses resulting in a joint third finish. The results on the scoreboard were only one part of the experience — the way you supported each other, embraced the opportunity and represented our school was the real success of the trip. 

I would like to mention how grateful I am to Ms Leah Field and Mrs Gemma Pyle for their help in making this trip such a success. 

Well done, team! You should all be extremely proud of what you achieved. 

Team: Brodie (goal scoring machine) Pyle, Fraser (all over the field) Lester, Bonnie (ever reliable) Jenkins, Chloe (second, third, 100th effort) Vesey, Hannah (small but mighty unflappable goalie) Fergie, Harriet (bring the hype on and off the field) Stan-Bishop, Caleb (do not even try and go through or around him) Ward, Hamish (small but tenacious) Field, Saakhi (so much growth in one day) Mann, George (I can stop and set up goals) Owenell, Bryce (catch me if you can on my reverse stick) Ward.  

Mr Stephen Berryman | Primary Physical Education and Sports Coordinator

Celebrating Book Week in the Library

Last week's Book Week was a wonderful celebration of reading, books, and library fun, with students enthusiastically participating in a range of activities throughout the week.

One of the highlights of the week was the Primary Door Display Competition. Each class decorated its door based on the theme of a favourite book or this year's Book Week theme, "Symphony of Stories." The creativity, effort, and attention to detail on display throughout the primary school is truly impressive. Congratulations to our winners, Mrs Sandy's Year Six class. Honourable mentions go to Year Three with Miss Wegner and Mrs Youens' Pre-Primary class. Our secret judges had a very difficult task choosing a winner, which is a testament to the outstanding effort of all classes involved.

Each lunchtime, students enjoyed the challenge of finding the Golden Notes hidden among the library shelves. The hunt created plenty of excitement as students read the clues and searched high and low for these special treasures.

This year, for the first time, we held two Book Week parades. Our Kindergarten students enjoyed their very own parade on Wednesday morning. We walked and danced around the Primary School to wonderful applause from students and staff. It was so much fun and helped build excitement across the school for the main parade the following day.

Wednesday also saw the launch of our Great Book Swap. I would like to congratulate our Year Five students for their outstanding efforts in making this initiative such a success. They worked incredibly hard designing and displaying posters, visiting homerooms to promote the event, collecting donated books, and creating an attractive display in the library. Their teamwork, organisation, and enthusiasm helped ensure that many books found new homes with eager readers. Thank you to Miss Laneaux-Neale and Mr Davison for supporting the Year Five cohort.

On Thursday lunchtime, students put their literary knowledge to the test in our popular Book Week Quiz. Participants were challenged to match pieces of music to the books they were associated with, making for a fun and engaging competition. A special thank you goes to Mr Liam O'Donnell for his valuable IT support. His assistance helped ensure the activity ran smoothly and successfully.

By far the most exciting event of the week was the Book Week Parade held in the gymnasium. I can say without hesitation that this year's parade was outstanding, and I sincerely thank our parents for their support of this wonderful school event. Seeing children proudly parade with their books was an absolute highlight of the week. It sparked many conversations about favourite characters, stories, and authors, both before and after the parade.

Of particular delight was seeing our Djindas experience their first Book Week Parade. Their excitement and participation were truly special to witness. The value of events such as these in supporting a child's reading journey cannot be underestimated. They help foster a love of books, encourage discussion about reading, and strengthen the connection between home and school. I warmly thank parents for partnering with the library to make this event such a memorable success.

Thank you to all students, staff, and families who participated in Book Week. A huge thank you to Mrs Speldewinde and Mrs Cherry for working their magic in the front foyer of our library, creating a welcoming Book Week display for all to enjoy. It was a fantastic celebration of reading, and we look forward to many more literary adventures together throughout the year.

Ms Elinor Couper | Head of Library Services