Classroom & Curriculum News

Year 6 Road to Zero Excursion

The Year 6 students travelled to the Melbourne Museum for a Road to Zero Workshop. They explored different road safety elements including vehicle evolvement, pedestrian access and road rules. 

The students also worked in small groups to create a road safety advertisment relating to pedestrian or cycle safety. 

It was a very educational program which allowed students to become more aware of the road and environment around them as well as prepare for travel to high school.

Walkathon- Mission Week

On Thursday all students helped to raise money for Catholic Mission charities. It was also a bit of fun with studentswearing crazy, bright and colourful socks. 

Our SRC team worked together to encourage our students to walk around the block of St Augustine's, with some students walking up to 11 laps!! 

A special thank you to all the Parent Volunteers that assisted with the day. 

3-6 Swimming Carnival

The final major House Sport competition took place at Sunshine Leisure Centre with the 3-6 Swimming Carnival. It was so great to see so many students having a go and participating in all the swimming events!! Students competed in Freestyle, Backstroke and Breaststroke events with points collected for simply getting into the pool!!

Thank you to the amazing parent volunteers who were keeping time and encouraging our students to do their best and have fun!!

Congratulations to GREEN team for collecting the most points!! 

1st GREEN: 2425 points

2nd YELLOW: 1950 points

3rd RED: 1750 points

4th BLUE: 1650 points

Prep Classroom News

Term 4 has begun with a bang!!!  The students have been immersed in wonderful learning.  They are very excited and are enjoying the new classroom across the road. 

They have been coping very well with the changes and are to be commended for their reilience throughout  this.  

Over the last  week, the students ecjoyed a visit from Fr Werner who came in to answer some very deep questions about Creation.  The interaction between Fr Werner and the students was wonderful to see.  

One of the highlights this term was the Fire Brigade visit where they learnt about what to do during an emergency and what to do in the case of a fire.  The students loved the experience of using a hose and it was a great to see.

3/4 J Chicken visit 

Thankyou Miss Matthewson and 1/2M for letting us visit the baby chicks after doing some great poetry this week :) 

Kitchen/Garden Upgrade

Over the holidays our garden has received a major upgrade thanks to the generous support of the Parent & Friends Committee. The much needed funds have been utilised to purchase soil, plants and watering parts to construct and lay out a garden for our students to enjoy as it develops. The garden though still settling in, has a stepped pathway, whereby students will have the opportunity soon to explore, smell and experience nature.  

An outdoor learning environment provides vital connection for students and teachers with God's creation, adds a bonus learning space for outdoor classes and a variety of garden beds that our students will care for. The garden upgrades will continue this term, so please watch this space. 

Preps in the kitchen

The kitchen was alive with the electricity generated from Prep M. They were so excited to begin their first ever kitchen/garden classes. Todays menu was kale chips with a Tzatziki dip. The students lovingly and thoroughly 'massaged' the olive oil all over the kale that they had ripped off the stems, then sprinkled it with sea salt. The kale chips went into the oven to crispen. Whilst this was baking we carefully grated our garlic and cucumber, measured our Greek Yoghurt and seasoned our dip with dried dill, olive oil, cracked pepper and sea salt. The meal was delicious. 

We headed outside so that Prep could be introduced to the garden and enjoy their meal. However, the weather had other thoughts and we had kale chips blowing everywhere! Oh well plenty were still enjoyed and there was quite a lot of licking of fingers from the Tzatziki. Please keep reading future newsletters to see what else we get up to.

1/2RS students discover how much they have grown this year!

Earlier this year we took rough height measurements of all our class including me. This week we decided to take height measurements again to see who has grown. There were squeals, giggles and 'oh wow' once results were viewed. Everyone has had a growth spurt this year, except Mrs Re - who apparently has the dreaded shrinks. NB: Quin took my measurement and agreed that I had different shoes on, hence the shrinkage:)

Year 1/2 Learning Update

It’s been a busy and fun start to Term 4 in the Year 1/2 classrooms. We began by revising how to write strong informative paragraphs before diving into Tiddler by Julia Donaldson. Students have enjoyed exploring the story’s moral and have already made connections to The Boy Who Cried Wolf. They’ve also been experimenting with sentence openers using subordinating conjunctions in their own writing. In Literacy groups, students have been working on sounds like sh, th, long ā and ē, and tricky VCe words such as have and done.

In Maths, we’ve been learning about maps, directions and fractions. To put our directional language into action, we headed out onto the basketball court where students guided blindfolded partners through an obstacle course, practising how to give clear and accurate instructions. There were only a few minor collisions along the way, which provided some very constructive feedback and lots of laughs. Our Inquiry has helped us uncover the story of St Augustine’s and reflect on our own family connections, while in Religion we’ve been learning about Saints and what it means to love others.

The Year 1/2 classrooms have had an egg-citing few weeks watching our chicken eggs hatch. Out of 11 fertile eggs, all 11 successfully hatched, and the students were lucky enough to watch the very first chick emerge live. The rest of the fluffy arrivals joined us over the next two days, bringing plenty of excitement and wonder to our classrooms. 1/2M experienced all the emotions when they held the chicks for the first time, and we are now looking forward to welcoming other classes to visit and help with the socialising. Our new feathered friends have been named Coco, Penguin, Chicki Minaj, Yolkahontas, Soda, Pop, Boq, Dusty, KFC, Nugget and Mr Chicken, creating quite the flock.

🏃‍♀️ Wellbeing Group – Morning Aerobics! 

The Wellbeing Group is running aerobics sessions every Thursday and Friday morning from 8:30 am.Sessions will take place in the junior yard assembly area.Come along, get moving, and start your day with some fun and energy!

This term in Italian, students are exploring a range of exciting new topics!

• Prep & Year 1/2 – Hobbies and Sports -Students are learning to talk about their hobbies and sports, expressing what they like and dislike. They are practising writing simple sentences and sharing their preferences in Italian.
• Year 3/4 – I miei sport e passatempi preferiti! (My favourite sports and hobbies!)Students are expanding their vocabulary and building longer sentences to describe their favourite activities and pastimes.
• Year 5/6 – In viaggio (Travelling) Senior students are researching a place in Italy they would like to visit and are creating a digital brochure for tourists, using Italian vocabulary to describe destinations, landmarks, and activities.

All year levels will also be exploring Christmas traditions in Italy, learning about festive customs, food, and celebrations.

Students across all year levels are enjoying learning Italian through songs, games, and interactive activities while developing their confidence in speaking and understanding the language.

Chess Update

Physical Education

Over the past two weeks in Physical Education, we've been fortunate enough to have Basil and Natalie from Kobudo Kai Martial Arts deliver self defence classes for all F-6 students. The students were taught a variety of concepts around safety, awareness, confidence and communication. These classes involved safe hands on practicing and important discussions around the area, including:

-Being in safe environments and around people that we trust.

-Knowing who to go to such as teachers, parents, police or trusted adults etc.

-Getting out from physical encounters such as grabs or holds without getting injured.

-Understanding that escaping is the goal, not to fight.

-Understanding that students can protect themselves and make safe choices.

-Strategies for emergencies.

The students enjoyed their experience overall and learnt valuable skills along the way.

We thank Basil and Natalie for coming down to our school and passing on valuable knowledge to all of our students.

If students would like to further their skills in this area, more information can be found at:

https://www.kobudokaimartialarts.com.au/