STEAM News

Book Week in STEAM This year, Book Week had a special focus in our STEAM program, as we explored our much-loved cyber safety books.

 

  • Years 3–6: Students created interactive story retells using Makey-Makey, bringing their stories to life through hands-on coding and design.

 

  • Years P–2: We used the book Once Upon a Time Online, by David Bedford and Rosie Reeve.

 

  • Preps designed their own character puppets and worked together to retell scenes.
  • Grades 1 & 2 focused on three characters and unpacked the key e-safety message: “Always ask a trusted adult before going online.”

 

STEAM Lessons Across the School Alongside Book Week, students have been busy exploring a wide range of exciting STEAM projects:

 

  • Preps – Investigating Ant Farms, connecting to their Unit of Inquiry How We Organise Ourselves“Resources connect people, places, and living things around the world.”

 

  • Grades 1 & 2 – Participating in Zoos Victoria’s Animal Enrichment Project, designing creative toys to engage identified zoo animals and enable them to use their senses, move their bodies and behave in natural ways. . This ties in with their next Unit of Inquiry, Sharing the Planet. 

 

  • Grade 3 – Taking part in the Maker’s Empire Space to Dream Challenge, a design thinking project where students design a toy or gadget for children moving to Mars.

 

  • Grades 5 & 6 – Despite a busy schedule with musical rehearsals, students have continued their strong focus on Cyber Safety, exploring topics such as Digital Footprints, Respectful Behaviour Online, Group Messaging, Cyberbullying and Trolling, and Unsafe Online Behaviour.

 

Science Week Highlights As part of Science Week, we welcomed some very special visitors from Poet’s Grove and Elwood Children’s Centre Kindergartens. These budding scientists joined us in the STEAM room for science experiments and coding activities. The students were curious, engaged, and left buzzing with excitement. We even received wonderful feedback from their parents about how much they enjoyed their first taste of STEAM learning.


Inform & Empower – Digital Wellbeing Incursions

This term, our students have continued their journey in building strong, safe, and positive online habits through Inform & Empower’s Digital Wellbeing incursions. These engaging sessions have supported the cyber safety focus already explored in STEAM and across the school.

Each year level has explored age-appropriate topics designed to help students make safe choices and reflect on their online behaviour. 

 

See the attached ‘Information for Parents’ overviews. 


   Compass Updates

We are excited to share a new feature now available on Compass. Families can view the live school calendar directly through Compass, making it easier than ever to stay up to date with what’s happening at school.

 

To access the calendar:

 

  • Go to the School Favourites button (the same place used for lunch orders, newsletters, etc.) and click on Semester 2 Calendar 2025 for a full overview.

 

  • Alternatively, you can use the Calendar button on the homepage, which provides a slightly different view of upcoming events.

 

  • The calendar is also available on our school website under Parent → Term Dates and in the Term Dates section of this newsletter. 

 

This new feature will help ensure families have the latest information at their fingertips.