Whole School Activities

PDHPE Swim School | Promoting Water Safety | 'Kids Alive Do the Five'

Within our PDHPE swim school unit, students are developing essential water safety skills through engaging and effective learning experiences. We proudly incorporate the five key water safety rules endorsed by ‘Kids Alive Do the Five’, which are designed to keep children safe around water. These five important rules are:

1. Fence the pool
2. Shut the gate
3. Teach your kids to swim
4. Supervise
5. Learn how to resuscitate 

Our PDHPE syllabus for aquatics focuses on developing students’ water safety, movement, and survival skills by combining practical swimming activities with theoretical knowledge. This approach helps students gain confidence in the water while understanding how to stay safe in different aquatic environments.

As part of their learning, students were tasked with creating posters that illustrate and reinforce these five vital safety rules. The best posters will be selected to be displayed around the school and at the pool, helping to spread the message of water safety throughout our community.

Students are enjoying the practical component of the swimming program, this year run by Harwood Swim School instructors. James Harwood and his team are passionate about water safety and fundamental water skills which can be viewed as a rite of passage for young Australian children. Being so well staffed in the pool this year, we are able to run 5 ability based groups which allow for lower teacher to student ratios, leading to more personalised instruction and support. This also allows beginning swimmers the opportunity to grow confidence in the water at their own pace. It is only Day 3 of the program but we are confident this will be our best year yet in the pool. We are loving seeing everyone have so much fun!

Spreading Christmas Cheer | Christmas Cards

Today our students had the wonderful opportunity to attend a morning tea at McMaugh Gardens in Uralla. This heartfelt visit included sharing beautiful, hand-made Christmas cards with the residents, spreading festive cheer and kindness.

This experience is truly rich and meaningful for our students, allowing them to connect with the community, practice empathy, and appreciate the joy of giving. We are proud of their generosity and the positive impact they are making beyond the classroom.

Stage 2 English | 'Fire' by Jackie French

We are coming to the end of our novel ‘Fire’ by Jackie French. Throughout this unit, students have delved deeply into literary concepts such as imagery (descriptive language that creates vivid pictures in the reader’s mind), connotation (the feelings or ideas associated with words beyond their literal meaning), and symbolism (using symbols to represent ideas or themes).

This unit has been designed to develop students’ analytical and interpretive skills by examining how language devices bring stories to life and convey deeper meanings. Students have been combining these elements to demonstrate their understanding through various creative and reflective activities. 

To conclude the unit, students applied their new and consolidated knowledge by writing a final piece—a poem on the subject of ‘fire’. This creative task allowed them to showcase their understanding of imagery, connotation, and symbolism, culminating in a meaningful and personal expression of their learning journey.

Stage 2 Mathematics | Volume

Students have been investigating the concept of volume (the amount of space that an object or shape occupies) in their mathematics classes. Throughout the unit, students learned to measure volume using the formal unit of measurement called the cubic centimetre (cm³).

To help build their understanding, students used centicubes (small cubes, each with a volume of 1 cm³) to create a variety of three-dimensional designs. Sometimes these centicubes are also referred to as "ones" in place value activities, making them a versatile learning tool. After constructing their designs, students carefully counted the number of centicubes used to determine the volume of each creation.

This hands-on activity gave students practical experience in measuring and calculating volume, helping them to see how maths is used in everyday life. Their creative constructions not only reinforced mathematical skills but also encouraged teamwork and problem-solving. 

Thalgarrah EEC Excursion

On Friday of Week 6, all students K-6 enjoyed an excursion to the Thalgarrah Environmental Education Centre, which was an exciting immersion into living things, their survival and adaptations to their environment.

K-2 Students engaged in the teddy bears picnic program... only to find their teddys and packed lunches went missing! After following their signs and revising the elements living things need for survival, they were able to find where their picnic was set up for a lovely lunch together.

3-6 Students explored adaptations of living things. Kicking off with a live experiment observing yabbies, students then ventured down to the river to catch specimens to explore under the microscopes. Finishing the session with a special visit from the living creatures housed at Thalgarrah was exciting! Blue tongue lizard licks and a nerve-wracking photo opportunity with a carpet python was the best way to end the day.

Thank you to the staff at Thalgarrah for their expertise and effort to make such a wonderful day of learning for us!

Year 6 Mural

Our Year 6 students are working away at creating their mural which will be unveiled at the Presentation Day assembly. Our school tradition involves the Year 6 cohort coming together to develop a mural design which is displayed alongside previous year's artworks on the exterior of the toilet block. The design represents the group of students in a symbolic way which highlights their final year at the school. Our students have planned well and are working on finalising their shared piece for Tuesday 16th December at our final formal gathering of the year. We can't wait to share what they have created!

Lower Division English

Lower Division have been working on how we can use adjectives to make our writing more enjoyable. OUr study of the texts "Catching Colour" and "Chinese New Years Colours" have helped us to understand how we can build these ideas into our own work. Students were asked to choose a colour and relate that colour to something they associate it with. Malikah chose yellow for "the colur of the sun, Charney chose green for "the colour of the grass", Anthony chose blue for "the colour of the sky" and Edwin chose purple for " the color of plasma". This has been a very enjoyable and productive unit that our class has gained a lot from.