Year 6 Term 3 Newsletter

Meet The Teaching Team

6A - Tom Packham (PLC Leader)

6B - Tegan Boucher

Integration Aides - Deb Butler (6A) & Divya Rai (6B)

Welcome to Term 3

Hey Year 6 Families,

A big welcome back to Term 3 to all our students and families! We are excited for a wonderful term ahead as we enter into the second half of the year. It’s hard to believe our students only have six months left of Primary School!

Term 3 is a busy one for our students with Dancesport, Athletics days, Book Week and more. We also continue to prepare them for Secondary School with fortnightly transition lessons addressing key areas that will assist with a smooth transition to Year 7. 

It’s going to be a wonderful term and we look forward to all the great activities on offer. 

Tom and Tegan

 Specialist Timetable

Important Dates

1/8 - Year 3-6 Assembly 

Dancesport - Weekly Fridays, plus Wed week 8 and 9

05/8 - House Athletics

08/8 - School Disco

08/8 - District Basketball (selected students)

15/8 - Year 3-6 Assembly 

18/8 - Book Week begins

19/8 - Book Week Character Parade

20/8 - Grandparent’s and Special Friend's Day - Open Classrooms & Book Fair

27/8 - CURRICULUM DAY

29/8 - Year 3-6 Assembly 

12/9 - Year 3-6 Assembly 

15/9 - District Athletics

17/9  - Dancesport Gala Evening Performance

19/9 - Footy Day

19/9 – End of Term 3 —Early Dismissal and Final assembly

Electronic Roles

Our electronic rolls are legal documents therefore we must be accountable for any absences. Please assist with this by informing the school of any absences as early as possible.

Teaching and Learning

Reading

This term, students will engage with a range of texts and themes designed to deepen their comprehension and critical thinking skills. Our class novel, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, offers a powerful exploration of empathy, identity, and belonging as we follow the journey of a boy navigating life at school. In addition to novel study, students will analyse song lyrics to uncover underlying messages and intent, while also developing media literacy through the examination of current news articles. Rich discussions and targeted vocabulary development will further support students in becoming thoughtful, reflective readers.

Writing

Our Writing focus for Term 3 is Persuasive Speech Writing. Students will plan, write, and present a persuasive speech arguing who they believe is the greatest person of all time, from either the past or present. They will be supported to structure a compelling argument, use persuasive language techniques, and consider how to tailor their message to suit a specific audience and context. Students will also develop their oral presentation skills, with a focus on voice, expression, and purposeful language choices to effectively engage their listeners.

Speaking & Listening

Students will be supported to develop their discussion skills with a focus on language choice (appropriate to audience & context) and voice. Additionally, questioning and justifying points of view will be encouraged through class discussions.

Mathematics

This term in Mathematics, students will focus on a range of number and measurement concepts. They will develop their understanding of length, mass and capacity through practical activities and unit conversions. In Number, students will consolidate their skills in adding and subtracting fractions, as well as converting between proper fractions, improper fractions and mixed numerals. They will also explore angles, learning to identify, measure and classify them using appropriate tools and terminology. Additionally, students will extend their skills in multiplying and dividing decimals. Lessons are delivered through explicit direct instruction, with opportunities for guided practice, discussion and independent application.

Humanities

This semester Humanities will cover three large areas: Design, Technology, Business and Economics. 

We will begin creating a classroom economy using the Banqer program, developing financial literacy. We will look at wants versus needs, resources, consumers and different types of work. 

Working in groups, students will become founders of a new company and product. They will follow design principles to develop their ideas and creativity as well as demonstrate their understanding of different design and technology techniques.

They will take the product and business through a series of steps with the goal to sell this to the sharks in the “Shark Tank”. Hopefully these sharks invest in the company taking a percentage of the profits.

Wellbeing

In Grade 6 we maintain an emphasis on the promotion of our school values through weekly yarning circle discussions and activities.  

During this phase of tremendous growth and change, student wellbeing is at the fore. We will be commencing  transition lessons to assist in the preparation for Secondary School.

Through the Dancesport program, students will explore themes of respectful relationships, courage and resilience. The skills of reflection, gratitude, acceptance and tolerance, goal-setting and resilience are implicitly woven into the program.

CEPS VALUES

COURTESY    RESPECT    CO-OPERATION    RESPONSIBILITY 

Friday afternoon assembly awards will be given to children who have shown personal growth specific to the school's values. Please note that Friday assemblies are now run fortnightly with grades 3-6 being every 2nd Friday (see 'important dates' above for our Term 3 assemblies). To further support the school values, CEPS follows a SWPBS framework, which we refer to as CEPS Positive Behaviours Support. This framework encourages acknowledging positive behaviours displayed by students within the school. 

Your child may receive a CEPS raffle ticket for displaying the expected positive behaviours! Award winners will be drawn and announced during assembly on Friday afternoons. 

Supporting Learning from Home

Homework

In Year 6, our aim is to help students build independent study techniques in preparation for their further education.  Students are expected to read at home for a minimum of 10 minutes per day, which counts towards the 120 minutes of homework per week (CEPS Homework Policy).

Every month, students will be given a selection of homework tasks to choose from. They are expected to complete one of these research activities per week and then publish them in their homework books by 9.00am every Friday. 

In addition, Mathletics is available and encouraged to be used for at least 30 minutes per week.

To reinforce what they are learning in the classroom, some additional tasks may be set for the students to complete. All homework tasks will be given out on Friday and due the following Friday.

Term 2 Additional Information

Headphones

We have some spare headphones in our classrooms, but if your child would prefer to bring their own set of ear/headphones, please ensure that you label them. Please note that Bluetooth headphones are not compatible with our school devices. 

Phones and Devices

In accordance with the Department of Education policy, student phones that are brought to school must be switched off and handed to the teacher to be stored securely during the day. Students will not have access to these phones until 3:30 pm.

Social Media

Please communicate regularly with your child about social media and their online use as these can often lead to social issues that carry on into school. A reminder that most social media apps currently have a minimum age restriction of at least 13 years old with the government policy to ban under 16s accessing social media coming into effect at the end of this year.

Lunch/Snacks

When preparing your child’s lunchbox, please avoid nuts and nut products as we have children with allergies within the year level and across the school. Fruit break items should be able to grab and go. Thank you

Communication

Sentral

All notes, messages and information will be located on Sentral. Here you'll find info about excursions, incursions, camps, special food days, permission slips, calendar updates, newsletters and plenty more things that you will need.

Dojo

Individual messages to and from the classroom teacher for non-urgent or informal communication. Photo updates of various events will be posted to the class story.

Phone

For any time-sensitive or urgent messages, please contact the front office by phone as we may not see a Dojo message during the school day.