Message from the Principal

Dear families

This week you will receive a Term 2 Class Overview for your child’s year group/grade. These overviews outline the teaching and learning focuses for each year group, giving families insight into what their children will be learning throughout the term. Additionally, the overviews include grade-specific events and important information relevant to each grade, ensuring parents are well-informed and can support their child's educational journey. We encourage all families to take advantage of these resources to stay engaged with their child’s learning and school activities.

Multicultural Public Speaking Competition

The Multicultural Public Speaking Competition is an exciting opportunity for students to showcase their speaking skills while celebrating diversity. This week, Year 3 to 6 students present their speeches in class. Public speaking skill development is part of the curriculum. Students prepare and deliver speeches on various topics that reflect culture, diversity and inclusion. 

Through participating, students communicate in a range of informal and formal contexts by adopting a range of roles in group, classroom, school and community contexts. They identify the effect of purpose and audience on spoken texts, distinguish between different forms of English and identify organisational patterns and features. 

Engaging in this program helps students use effective and accurate sentence structure, grammatical features, punctuation conventions and vocabulary relevant to the type of text when responding to and composing texts. It promotes thinking imaginatively, creatively and interpretively about information, ideas and texts when responding to and composing texts. Students respond to and compose a range of texts that express viewpoints of the world similar to and different from their own, which ultimately encourages critical thinking, creativity, and builds a more inclusive environment.

Online Safety

I want to remind our school community about the importance of keeping our children safe online. The internet is great for learning and connecting, but it also has risks, especially for young people. It’s important for us to work together to help kids use technology safely and responsibly. 

We encourage families to talk regularly about online safety and check in with children about the websites, games, and apps they are using. Sometimes, we find that young students are on platforms that are not appropriate for their age. 

Here are some helpful resources for parents and carers: 

• eSafety Commissioner: https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents  
• Kids Helpline: https://kidshelpline.com.au
• Tweens, Teens and Screens Webinar (registration link in our Community Noticeboard)

Opportunity Class and Selective High School Entry Tests

The Selective High School and Opportunity Class (OC) test process involves students sitting for an assessment designed to identify their academic abilities and suitability for selective programs. Parents need to apply for their child to undertake these tests, which are conducted at a testing centre outside of the school. Our school has many students who participate in each test, reflecting the strong interest in these opportunities. Students typically take this test in Year 5 for entry into Year 7 selective high schools or in Year 4 for opportunity classes in Year 5. Good luck to all our students sitting the tests this year.

Year 1 Reading Workshop for Parents – 7 May

Year 1 teachers will be hosting an informative Reading Workshop in the D Hub on 7 May. This workshop is designed to equip parents and carers with practical strategies and skills to support their child’s reading development at home. 

During the session, attendees will learn about the structure of our reading programs, how to effectively engage with children and ways to encourage a love of reading. The workshop will cover key reading concepts being taught in Year 1, such as phonics, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary building. 

This is a wonderful opportunity for parent to gain confidence in supporting young readers and to play an active role in their child’s literacy journey. We warmly invite all interested Year 1 parents and carers to join us for this valuable session. We are also planning a workshop for Year 2 parents and carers. Information will be published in the newsletter closer to the date.