Specialists

LOTE

We have been delving into our term topics this past fortnight in Indonesian. 

Prep to Year 2 students have been exploring traditional stories from Indonesia and enjoying learning about different characters and settings. 

Prep

Our Preps are making great progress with colours and numbers, building confidence each week.

Years 1 & 2

In Years 1 and 2, students are extending their number knowledge by identifying numbers out of sequence and recognising them in different contexts.

Years 3 & 4

In Years 3 and 4, students are learning about the four times of the day in Indonesian - pagi, siang, sore, and malam. They have been practising how to identify and describe different times of day, making connections to their daily routines.

Years 5 & 6

Years 5 and 6 have taken on new identities, introducing themselves as Indonesian students and explaining who they are and where they live. They then surveyed their peers using this information, practising asking and answering questions to build confidence in conversational Indonesian.

Performing Arts

It has been a busy and exciting fortnight in Performing Arts! Students across all year levels have been developing their music skills, building confidence, and strengthening their understanding of rhythm, melody, beat, and performance.

Prep

Our Prep students have been focusing on beat and rhythm. They have been learning to:

• Keep a steady beat using their bodies

• Echo simple rhythmic patterns using their voice

• Chant rhythms using the terms 'ta' and 'ti-ti'

• Explore different vocal styles (robot voice, whisper voice, giant voice!)

Years 1 & 2

Students in Years 1 and 2 have been exploring rhythm. They have been:

• Clapping and speaking rhythmic patterns

• Breaking words into syllables to create rhythms

• Creating their own rhythm patterns using familiar words

Students have enjoyed discovering how everyday words can turn into music. It has been wonderful to see their creativity shine as they experiment with building their own rhythmic ideas.

Years 3 & 4

Our Year 3 and 4 students have been learning about melody and the relationship between beat and melody. They have been exploring:

• How the beat stays steady while melody changes

• How pitch moves up and down to create a tune

• The difference between rhythm/beat and melody

• How melody fits over a steady pulse

Students have composed their own short pieces of music, clearly differentiating between the steady beat and the melodic line. It has been fantastic to see their creativity and growing understanding of how different musical elements work together.

Years 5 & 6

Year 5 and 6 students have been working on advanced rhythm and beat skills using bongos. They have been:

• Playing beats in common time

• Exploring rhythms in half time and double time

• Identifying and performing syncopated rhythms

• Maintaining steady tempo while playing as an ensemble

Students have shown impressive focus and musical maturity as they experiment with more complex rhythmic structures.

Choir Update

Our school choir has been rehearsing beautifully and is preparing to perform at the Week 9 Assembly on Monday 23rd March. I am very proud of their commitment and enthusiasm, and I look forward to sharing their performance with our school community.

Thank you to our students for their enthusiasm and effort each week!

Physical Education

Developing Our Throwing, Catching, and Hockey Skills

Over the past few weeks in PE, students have been building their fundamental movement skills through a focus on throwing and catching, alongside developing hockey stick control. Across all year levels, we have continued reinforcing safe participation, spatial awareness, teamwork, and positive sportsmanship during all activities.

Prep to Year 2

Students practised throwing and catching tennis balls with a partner, focusing on watching the ball carefully and using “soft hands” when catching. They also enjoyed target challenges, aiming to throw bean bags into hula hoops, which helped develop accuracy and control.

Students have also been learning the foundations of hockey stick control. During our Magic Stick warm-up, students explored how to safely control the ball in their own space by tapping side to side, pushing forward gently, stopping the ball, and freezing on command. We reinforced key teaching cues, such as:

• Two hands on the stick

• Bend your knees

• Soft pushes, not big hits

• Keep the ball close

Students then practised the push and stop technique, through games like 'Traffic Lights', where they responded to “green,” “yellow,” and “red” commands. In partner activities, they worked on push passing and stopping the ball with control.

To finish, students participated in 'Treasure Island', where they carefully dribbled their “treasure” (ball) to different hoops and stopped it under control before returning for more. 

Years 3 to 6

Senior students also continued refining their throwing and catching skills through partner work with tennis balls, and target practice using bean bags and hoops. 

Students built on their fundamental hockey stick skills with a focus on control and safe play. Through the 'Magic Stick' warm-up and 'Traffic Lights' activity, they practised keeping the ball close, using soft pushes rather than big swings, and maintaining a low, balanced body position.

Students then applied these skills, concentrating on:

• Pushing, not swinging

• Keeping the stick low to the ground

• Stopping the ball softly and under control

Year 3 to 6 students participated in a hockey version of 'Rob the Nest'. Working in teams, students collected one ball using controlled stick skills, and returned it to their team’s hoop before tagging the next player.

STEAM

It has been another exciting and hands-on fortnight in the STEAM room, with students across all year levels exploring scientific thinking, while expressing their creativity through visual arts and design.

Prep

Our Prep students have been investigating how objects move by exploring pushes and pulls. Through playful experimentation, they discovered how different forces can make objects roll, slide or change direction.

To connect science with art, students created motion-inspired artworks, using diluted food colouring, absorbent paper, and pipettes to show movement as the different coloured liquids moved and blended together. It was wonderful to see them translating physical action into creative visual representations!

Years 1 & 2

Our Year 1 and 2 students explored weather, sunlight, and shadows through simple hands-on experiments. They investigated how shadows change depending on the position of the sun and experimented with creating different shapes and movements.

Students then applied their learning by designing striking silhouette artworks, focusing on movement, shape, and contrast. Their work beautifully demonstrated how science concepts can inspire powerful visual storytelling.

Years 3 & 4

Year 3 and 4 students have been creating a mixed media artwork expressing a living being, using a range of materials to show texture, detail, and form.

Next, they will begin exploring the growth of seeds, investigating what plants need to thrive and recording their observations through diagrams and science journals. 

Years 5 & 6

Our Year 5 and 6 students have been refining their animation projects, applying advanced techniques in filming, lighting, set design, and digital editing.

They have demonstrated impressive collaboration and problem-solving skills, while experimenting with camera angles, scene composition, and editing tools to enhance the quality of their final productions. The creativity and technical growth on display has been fantastic to see!

It has been a wonderful fortnight of curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking across the STEAM program. We look forward to sharing more exciting learning!