Primary School News

From the Head of Primary, Wayne Revitt

Book Week

What a wonderful Book Week we all enjoyed recently! The staff pantomime was a highlight of our Book Week Assembly, and students (and staff!) looked amazing in their Book Week costumes. Thank you to Library Teacher, Haylee Godfrey for organising such a great celebration of reading in the Primary School. The buddy reading after recess was a great success and the effort made by all staff and students is testimony to the strong spirit in our school. The script for the pantomime was cleverly adapted by Year 6 students Blair Louis, Mcenzie Lee and Meaghan Eng. The main theme centred on the 'Golden Rule’ - the importance of treating others how we would like to be treated. Our Class Representatives confidently ran the assembly and the Year 12 Prefects thoroughly enjoyed dressing up for their younger peers. I hope you enjoy the pics!

Opti-MINDS Regional Final

On Saturday 25 August, the inaugural JWACS Opti-MINDS team competed in the Regional Final held at Curtin University. Opti-MINDS is a creative thinking and sustainability competition which encourages participants to think outside the box and work as a team to solve problems.

Our team, consisting of Chelsea Bydder, Tuppence Cornelius, Jonah Lee, Charlotte Pilgrim-Byrne, Anna Shaw, Matthew Tonnessen-Carvajal, Charlotte Trueman and facilitated by Year 6 teacher, Katherine Stevens, worked incredibly hard throughout Term 3 to prepare the long-term challenge, which was in the Science and Engineering discipline. Not only did they have to prepare two devices that would launch and collide two tennis balls, they also had to write a script for a dramatic presentation that included the reasons for making the devices. They rehearsed the play and had a lot of fun designing costumes made out of recyclable materials.

On the Opti-MINDS Regional Final day, they presented their long-term challenge solution to a panel of judges who were impressed by their confidence and enthusiasm. They also had to solve a spontaneous challenge in front of a different panel of judges which required them to focus and use their collaborative strength as a team to come up with the most creative answer. Our students enjoyed the Opti-MINDS experience very much and would love to be part of a team in the future.

Independent Primary Schools Heads Association (IPSHA) Cross Country Carnival

Well done to all competitors in the Primary Inter-School Cross Country, recently held at Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School. Many of our students finished in the top 10 to 20 places. Our Year 3 girls were our strongest team, with Melody Nagel finishing an excellent 2nd place. Overall, John Wollaston placed 6 out of the 11 Independent Schools. Congratulations to all members of our team! As always, our students displayed great spirit and grit. Thank you to Primary Physical Education Specialist, Melanie Fowler for organising this event and we greatly appreciate our parent volunteers who all contributed to a wonderful day. 

Virtual Reality 

Secondary Science teacher, David Longman provided our Primary students with an exciting opportunity to take part in virtual reality classes which were led by Year 11 and 12 ATAR Science students. The classes used Google Cardboard VR headsets and the Google Expedition app to transport students through the milky way galaxy or back through time to see prehistoric animals and ecosystems. Mr Longman received a National Science Week grant which was used to purchase the VR headsets to run the classes during National Science Week. The VR headsets provide students with a unique, multi-sensory learning experience that they have never had access to before. Classes were organised according to age and parents were invited to attend all classes. Feedback has been very positive and this is an activity which the Science Department intends to expand upon in future years. I acknowledge this great initiative by the Secondary Science Department and Mr Longman. 

Wayne Revitt

Head of Primary