The Anchor

Primary School

A Day with Our City: Year Four Council Excursion 

As part of their Humanities and Social Sciences inquiry into the services and facilities provided by our local Council, the Year Four class embarked on an exciting excursion last Thursday. They visited the Mayor and staff at the City of Albany Council Chambers, explored the Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre, spent time at the Albany Public Library, met the rangers at the Mercer Road office and learned from the Waste and Sustainability team at the Aware Centre. 

 

It was a full and fascinating day! We are incredibly grateful to all the staff at these locations who prepared such engaging and informative presentations for our students; some even sent them home with gifts! The students had a wonderful time and gained valuable insights into how our local council supports our community. 

 

Here are some of their reflections on the day. 

Raine: Something I enjoyed was the ranger’s visit because we found out about all the things they do, like stopping people from starting a fire on the beaches. 

 

Mackenzie: I enjoyed going to the pound because there were no lost dogs, but it smelled like dog poo, and we all got doggy poo bags! 

 

Harriet and Carter: I never knew that there is a plant room in ALAC that has no plants in it, but lots of pipes and machines that the chlorine runs through. 

 

Aila and Stephanie: We found the plant room at ALAC interesting, where they use old woodchips to heat the water. I also found the library interesting because there is an after-hours study room that you can use even when the library is closed. 

 

Sascha: I liked seeing the Mayor and his chain and mace. 

 

Katrien: I found out at the pound that they do other cool stuff there. At ALAC, I found out they run yoga classes, and they have a gym. I was so honoured to meet the Mayor and see fascinating stuff about the City of Albany. 

 

Pippa: I found out that the Mayor can only stay there four years at a time. 

 

Poppy: They do a lot more stuff than just take rubbish at the tip! 

 

Joel and Beau: I didn’t know that Albany City Council has had 40 Mayors in 200 years and 11 people were running for mayor at the last election. 

 

Ellie: I learnt that the tip does more important things than I thought. 

 

Kaidyn, Hannah and Haydee: Something we thought was nice was going to the rangers and talking about what they do there and how they deal with lost or feral animals. We got to scan toy animals and find where they are microchipped – it was a brilliant excursion. 

Classroom News 

We hope you enjoy reading about the classroom news from the first week of term in our Early Childhood and Primary School classes.  

 

Kindergarten 

Our Kindergarten classes have had a very exciting start to the term! Last week, we went on a walk to the Wild Space to spark curiosity for our new inquiry: What lives in and around the water? However, when we arrived, we were met with a big surprise: the water near the bridge was bright red! This unexpected discovery led to a flurry of questions: Why is the water red? Is it sick? Do fish like red water? We are in the Tuning In phase of our inquiry, guided by our curiosity. Back in the classroom, we have been drawing what we remember and sharing our ideas, and this week we will be experimenting with red water in play. We cannot wait to see where our wandering takes us next! 

Pre-Primary 

This week we celebrated our 100th day of Pre-Primary! Did you know that is 10 lots of 10 days? We reflected on what we have learned since starting our Pre-Primary journey, including learning to read, learning to spell and counting to 100! During our 100th day of school, we counted out 100 fruit loops for a necklace, completed 100 different actions, had a special morning tea and played pass the parcel. As part of our celebration, we dressed up as 100-year-olds and we wrote about what we would do if we were 100. Some of the things we would do include: 

 

Having 100 pets. 

Having 100 friends. 

Driving a monster truck. 

Doing back flips. 

At the end of the day, we felt like we were 100 years old. 

 

Year Two 

The Year Two class has been very busy learning about what the word significant means and has completed a brainstorm about people and places that they think are significant in our local area. They have been busy trying to predict places we might go to on our excursion in Week Four. We have had the laptops out and are getting pretty speedy at logging in. We now know tips and tricks to use a Google search to find relevant information and have been talking about sites that are trustworthy as well as using clear and relevant key words for searching. We have even learnt to use the ‘voice typing’ function rather than typing our search, which comes in handy when we are not sure how to spell some of the more complicated words. We are going to be superstars by the time it comes to writing our information reports!  

 

Year Three 

One week down and Year Three is already far down the polygon path of inquiry. We have already started developing research skills in HASS, observation skills in Mathematics, classification skills in Science, as well as description and explanation skills in English. After a mouthwatering introduction to classifying through food, we are beginning to narrow our focus onto Australia in general and living things in detail. Our burgeoning biology lab is filling up with well-preserved specimens – mainly mammals and molluscs – that allow us to test our skills in the real world. A lot of our early questions revolve around whether a specimen is real, how it died and how much you can sell a fossil for. 

 

Year Five 

This week we have taken to the skies and started exploring the solar system. The students investigated some of the planets and discovered some fun facts. Here are two really fun ones: 

  • Saturn is mostly made of gas and is so light for its size that it would float in a bathtub – if you could find one big enough! 

     

  • Our whole solar system orbits the centre of the Milky Way at about 828,000 km/h and takes around 225–250 million years to complete one orbit. 

Year Six 

As part of our Health unit, students engaged in an inquiry-based activity to explore their personal understanding of safety. Using loose parts and an A3 sheet of paper; students visually represented what safety looks and feels like to them. This diagnostic task helps us understand each child’s unique perspective and serves as a starting point for future discussions. Students then participated in a silent gallery walk, interpreting a peer’s artwork and later sharing interpretations as a class. The focus was on creativity, empathy and open-minded thinking – there were no right or wrong answers, only interesting insights. 

Languages 

This week in Languages, our ECC students giggled as I pronounced their names with a French accent – some were très chic! We listened to French first names and voted J’aime or Je n’aime pas. Years Three and Four began exploring why we should learn French – but here is the twist: the whole text was in French! Luckily, they quickly realised that many words are similar to English, helping them make clever guesses and feel like real language detectives. Meanwhile, Years Five and Six learned that France is more than croissants and the Eiffel Tower, diving into iconic images from the Festival de Cannes, Roland Garros and the stunning Cathédrale de Reims. A très cultural week all around! 

ECC Briefing  

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

Kindergarten H: Isobel Henry 

Kindergarten M: Aurelia Davison  

Pre-Primary: Harry Downham 

Year One: River Melia 

Year Two: Ava Murnane 

 

The following students have stood out for their ability to show courage. 

Kindergarten H: William Kittow 

Kindergarten M: Luka Moon  

Pre-Primary: Rosie Paton 

Year One: Oakley Pyle 

Year Two: Wesley Jenkins 

Shaun Tan Participation Award for his fabulous leafy sea dragon: Benji Fergie 

Years Three to Six Integrity Awards 

Year Three: Hunter Stewart 

Year Four: Xavier Palmer 

Year Five: Maya Durant 

Year Six: Sol Talmage and Asha Fitzpatrick 

We awarded an amazing number of PB awards for July Ten Minute Tables and welcomed four more superstars to the 120 club. Well done! 

Year Four: Ellie Murnane 

Year Four: Katrien Lambrechts 

Year Six: James Howard 

Year Six: Baxter Bowey 

Upcoming events 

Term Three 

Week Three 

  • Thursday 7 August, Denmark Roadshow, Boston Brewery, 5.00pm to 7.00pm 
  • Friday 8 August, Music and Leaders’ Assembly, all welcome to attend in the Hall at 9.00am  

Week Four 

  • Wednesday 13 August, Year Two Magical Mystery History Tour, 9.00am to 2.45pm 
  • Friday 15 August, Principal's Coffee Morning, Dylans on the Terrace, 10.30am 
  • Friday 15 August, Chapel Year Six L, all welcome to attend in the Hall at 9.00am 

Week Five  

  • Tuesday 19 August, Primary School Book Week Dress-up and Parade, Multi-Purpose Sport Complex 9.00am to 9.30 am 
  • Thursday 21 August, Year Five and Six Dockers Shield Boys Carnival, Centennial Park, 9.00am to 2.30pm 
  • Friday 22 August, Assembly Year Five F, all welcome to attend in the Hall at 9.00am 

Have a wonderful weekend,

Ms Leah Field | Head of Primary and

Mrs Hayley Ranger | Head of Early Childhood