Specialists News

Sport/Phys Ed News 

Sandhurst Division Swimming Championships

Last Friday, we had 8 students from Grades 3-6 represent the school at the Sandhurst Division Swimming Championships at the Bendigo East Pool. 

The students competed against the best swimmers from across central Victoria. The standard of competition was very high and our team is to be congratulated for both their individual achievements, and for the way they conducted themselves throughout the day.

One of the highlights of the day was the performance of our 2 relay teams, both of which had competitors swimming outside their age group. Our Girls team came 3rd in their heat at finished 5th overall, whilst our Boys team finished 6th overall. 

We also had some outstanding individual swims, with a number of our students recording personal best times. Ivy A finished 2nd in the 10 Years Girls backstroke and 3rd in the freestyle, whilst Lenny F came 3rd in the 11 Years Boys breaststroke.

I would like to thank the parents/carers for their support of the students on the day. I would also especially like to thank SEDA student Liam Cummings for helping as an official timekeeper.

2026 House Swimming Sports Results

As announced at our last assembly – Ashby House claimed the shield for our 2026 Senior Swimming Sports House Challenge. Congratulations Ashby!!

*All students received House Points for each race that they completed, including the 25m races. Bonus points were awarded for place getters, the House relay and novelty games.

National Ride to School Day – FRIDAY 20th of March.

Friday the 20th of March is National Ride2School.

National Ride2School Day is Australia’s biggest celebration of active travel and one of the best days on the school calendar. It is a day where students, teachers and parents discover the joy of riding and kick-start healthy habits for the future.

Join more than 350,000 students across the nation who will ride, walk, scoot and skate to school.

Part Way is OK.

For those who live a long way from school – riding, walking or scooting part of the way is also ok. We have a number of excellent walking/riding tracks around the school that you can use that lead to our School crossing.

All students who ride/walk/scoot or skate will receive a sticker and there will be prizes for the class with the highest percentage of active travellers.

Due to the number of students riding to school on this day, there will be a space on the BOTTOM OVAL to place all bikes and scooters.

Auslan News

In response to the many questions I receive from students across the year levels, on how people are born or become deaf, we have been doing some study on how the human ear works. Students are always very fascinated by this topic which includes looking at the parts and structure of the ear, how we hear sound and types of hearing loss. The students are always very engaged in the discussions about how our ears work, and we have many students interested in sharing facts and information about people they know who have different levels of hearing loss, and asking many, many more questions!!

Grade 5-6 students have been learning about the basic structure of the ear and how each special part of the ear helps to convert soundwaves in the air into electrical signals that are transmitted through the auditory nerve to the brain, to allow us to hear sounds. Your child/ren might be able to explain how sound travels through the parts of the ear in more detail for you!! It is extremely interesting!

Here is a link to a short video that explains how we hear sound, if you are interested in watching it:  

CLICK HERE: The Journey of Sound to the Brain

Grade 3-4s have been signing simple conversations with a partner, to practise Auslan Greetings and Wh… Qn words. Students are being encouraged to draw upon the signs they have learned as well as new signs, rather than attempting to fingerspell everything. We have learned quite a signbank of signs over our 3years learning Auslan, so I am really encouraging students to try to recall signs we have previously learned and use these in mini conversations with each other.

Grade 1-2s have also begun practising a simple Auslan conversation for their Term 1 Learning Task, where they use signs to introduce themselves, greet someone and respond to greetings. Some students are very eager to practise this at home so an email was sent this week with the script attached if your child/ren are showing interest in practising at home for fun. The Grade 1-2s will be practising this signed conversation in class for the next 2 weeks. 

Grade Preps are currently learning Colours in Auslan, including: red, yellow, pink, green, purple, orange, blue, white, black, grey, brown, gold and silver. Prep students have been practising these signs through a computer Paint Palette activity, and learning to sign a song: ‘I Can Sign a Rainbow.’ Preps have coloured their own rainbows to practise signing colours in class, and students are also enjoying using ribbon wands to create a rainbow effect whilst their peers sign along to the song. 

Mrs Riordan