Primary School

Year Three Camp - Adventure Awaits on Castle Rock

Our students had a fantastic time last Thursday during their Castle Rock hike! The walk offered breathtaking views and an opportunity to practise beautiful manners while enjoying nature. The students took care to respect the environment and look out for each other, making the day memorable and safe for everyone.

Back at school, the excitement continued with a ‘Minute to Win It’ challenge led by Mrs Keatch. From stacking cups to quick-thinking games, everyone joined in with teamwork and laughter, creating lasting memories.

Our movie night was another hit, with cosy blankets, laughter and tired eyes. The delicious pizza was a favorite, fueling us up for the big event: our sleepover! Students enjoyed this special night together, sharing stories and, yes, even getting a bit of sleep.

Through every activity, our students showed kindness, teamwork and resilience. Whether hiking Castle Rock or cheering each other on in ‘Minute to Win It’, our students made this term one to remember.

Ms Meg Ritchie | Year Three Teacher

Read on to discover what has been happening in each classroom over the last week.

Weeks Seven and Eight Swimming Times

Please note if you are picking your child up from the swimming pool, you must be there before the bus leaves otherwise your child will be taken back to school.

Class	Lesson time	Depart ALAC
Year Six (Week Seven only)	9.20am-9.50am then 10.00am-10.30am	10.55am
Pre-Primary, Year One, Year Five	12.50pm – 1.30pm	1.55pm
Year Two, Year Three, Year Four	1.35pm-2.15pm	2.40pm

Early Childhood Disco

On Thursday 21 November we will have an ECC disco in the morning. Students will come to school as normal, and teachers will organise the rest. It is also a swimming day and sport uniform will remain the same. It is a chance to have fun and a dance to celebrate the end of the year with their friends.

Primary School: Year level Information and News

Djinda: It is crazy to think that our Djinda classes only have a few days left of coming to school this year. Due to that, this week, we started talking about Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year. It is so exciting. We loved reading about Peter Rabbit’s adventure, ‘The Christmas Star’. We then got to make our Christmas Star ornaments. Painting and gluing are always messy but creative fun. This Friday will be our 2025 Kindergarten Orientation, so our Djinda class will look very busy for a few hours as we combine our Djinda classes, welcome new students and get excited about Kindergarten in 2025. So many exciting things happening at this time of year.

Kindergarten: We had a week filled with excitement. We continued to learn about coding and how we can input instructions into robots to make them move in certain directions. We also learnt to follow our own direction instructions and practised moving to the left and the right. To top off the week, we learnt about making predictions (guesses) about what will happen in an experiment. We added food colouring to milk and touched it with dishwashing liquid to make a wonderful reaction.

Pre-Primary: This week started with beautiful weather and after reflecting on the significance of Remembrance Day and attending the service beneath the school flag poles, making an afternoon of open-ended play under the sun at the Little Wild Space was too tempting to resist. The sounds of laughter, squeals of mixed emotions including excitement, fear and anticipation when interacting with the tiny crabs and the floating seaweed at the beach is always a joy to behold.

Some of the students are enjoying developing their technological skills using iPads at the Wild Space to capture patterns in nature as well as some of the moments that make Pre-Primary at GSG so unique. Back in the classroom we have embraced the festive spirit this week and everyone is enjoying learning a new song for Christmas amidst tinsel, decorations and Christmas crafting provocations in our environment. This week will also be filled with opportunities to reflect on the memories made in Pre-Primary in 2024. Each student will be constructing their own Memory Mailbox and students will then have opportunities to write to each other sharing gratitude, happy memories and offering good wishes to their peers. I am looking forward to bursting mailboxes full of affirmations and Christmas spirit as the end of the school year fast approaches.

Year One: We have celebrated Diwali in Year One this week. Uday’s mum, Jasleen, made beautiful diya candle holders with the class and we have designed Rangoli patterns on plates. We started our Diwali investigation posters and have posted our letters to Santa (You can see a copy of these gorgeous letters in the library!) We are on our last week of spelling homework, so are getting in as much revision of sounds as we can. Mathematically, we have continued to extend our think board knowledge using 2-digit numbers and have had great fun finding as many different ways as we can to represent a variety of numbers.

Year Two: Finally, our red pencils have returned! They were so impressed with the persuasive arguments each student wrote that it convinced them to come back to the classroom! Impeccable timing too, as we needed to colour our poppies for Remembrance Day! Please take the time to have a look at the students’ work, which is displayed on the board outside the classroom.

All is quiet on the butterfly front this week, as we wait 12-14 days for the next butterflies to emerge from their chrysalis.

We have also enjoyed making fact family houses in Maths with multiplication and division and finishing up our work on fractions.

Year Three: Last week Year Three had a class run event. We had the Icy Treat Stall. We served Years One to Six. We all had very good jobs and the stall was a success. - Ellie M

Year Three made $243.95 during the stall and have collectively voted to donate to The Darcy Effect. Thanks for all those students who came to get some tasty treats.

This week we will be working on a Science investigation, and I look forward to seeing students work as a group to follow the investigation process.

Year Four: In Languages with Mrs Krier our Year Four classes have been working hard to put together an Indigenous Celebrations exhibition. Different pairs have investigated a plethora of topics and created interactive showcases for their work.

Here are some first-hand experiences from the crew:

Bonnie: Mrs Krier told us to make a festival, and we had options of art, music, medicine, or food from the bush or bush food. We chose the choice of bush food.

We researched all about bush food and chose our parts on what to bring to festival.

We went to the wild space and collected some supplies like salt bush. Finally set up our table. The thing enjoyed most was all the food and how well it went.

Taylah: On 6th of November Laily and I made/created an aboriginal art stool alongside the other Year 4L kids. We all had a different topic about aboriginal culture. At our stall people were able to paint their own paintings and see different symbols and what they meant. A couple words in Noongar that were related to art. Not long after recess, the Year 2s came and saw all our stalls, art was the best and especially because you got to make you own paint there was a choice of four colours, light green, red, brown and dark green. It was fun, amazing and hysterical.

Sophie: Appin, Lilly and I decided to do bush food and medicine. Appin brought natural cake, Lilly and I brought in peppermint leaves and sap. We also went to the Wild Space and collected little shell clasps and salt bush. For our research, we created a PowerPoint that told our audience a bit about Billy Goat Plumb and the Sydney Golden Wattle.

Zyana, Gracie and Maya: Our group concentrated on bush foods and the way it is collected and prepared. We made damper and our display we had a Boab seed and nuts, Lilly Pilly fruits, hollow emu egg and a replica of the Fish Traps to show how fish were caught.

Layla, Olivia and Ava: Our focus was bush medicine, where we presented a PowerPoint, showed Tea tree oil and explained its benefits. We had small cards to give out that explained different bush medicines, its benefits and medical properties.

Fraser, Blake, Grace and Chloe: We concentrated on body paints. We used natural materials and painted people’s hands with them. We used examples of Aboriginal designs used in festivals.

Year Five: Construction has begun! In HASS we have researched the Swan River colony and compared it to modern day Perth. The class has been tasked to build a 3D model to show the difference between what the colony looked like in 1829 and now. These will be displayed when we host the Primary School for a walk through when we dress up as someone significant from the early settlers. We are also wrapping up some of our final assessments for the term.

Year Six: In Year Six, we have been learning about autobiographies. Students are working hard to individually create a multimedia film that tells a story of their learning journey from first steps to their first day of school and finally graduating into Secondary School. Student films are designed to reflect and celebrate significant events, inspiring role models, hobbies, skills and talents that shape each child to be unique. In Visual Arts students have enjoyed drawing extraordinary self-portraits exploring anime culture and history.

In Humanities students are focused on Geography and countries of Asia. Well researched, impressive information reports have been published this week, testing students’ ICT, graphing, research skills, persuasive writing and finally speech writing as each student presented in front of the class.

We are certainly working hard right up until the finish line this term. Year Six students show stamina, determination and a positive attitude towards their school work that is worthy of these superhuman portraits!

Year Two Market Stall

At the beginning of the term, six very enthusiastic, determined and compassionate Year Two girls knocked on my office door. They had a goal to raise money for their community. Together Lucy, Pippa, Amaya, Aurora, Saakhi, and Rosie decided to plan a market stall to raise money for the kids that need to stay at Albany Health Campus. After much thought, they agreed that the money they raise will go towards buying supplies for the care bags that The Darcy Effect make for children in regional areas needing to stay in hospital.

The market stall is at recess (and lunch if needed) this Friday, November 15. Prices range from 50c to $5. There will be crafts, cakes, lemonade, second hand toys and books.

Fangs on the Farm

Local legend and Darcy Effect founder Kate Mitchell has recently released a new animated series called ‘Fangs on the Farm’. ‘Fangs on the Farm’ is an animated children’s episode that explores the diverse challenges faced by regional, rural and remote children across Australia, through the adventures of three main characters – Darcy Dingo, Gracie Gecko, and Harry Hopperoo – who live in the countryside and hang out at Help HQ, their magical cubby. Together, they embark on exciting adventures across the country, discovering valuable lessons about themselves and the world around them. Using their teamwork and first aid skills, they assist friends in need along the way. We encourage you to view it here: https://youtu.be/jh0SzLRL9U0?si=gkP7EGomnrk89e6y