Student News

YEAR 3/4 NEWS

This week, the ¾ students had the opportunity to make damper. This was for our curiosity unit on Australian history, specifically, what life was like for the First Nations People prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Bush damper has been part of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’s lives for thousands of years. We learned a bit of history on the dried ingredients we were going to put inside the damper. These ingredients are special to the First Nations People. We watched a video on wattle seed, a seed that comes from the Australian Acacia tree. We then looked at lemon myrtle, which can be used in various ways, from eating to treating headaches! 

We smelled the wattle seeds and dried lemon myrtle, both had a distinct smell, some said the wattle seeds smelled like coffee. Students thoroughly enjoyed making the damper and tasting the difference between the wattle seed and lemon myrtle within the damper. 

Students have also been looking at different plant resources that the First Nation’s People used for sustainability purposes. We looked at the Lomandra, a plant used for a variety of reasons. Students enjoyed creating a Lomandra rope, which was very strong!

YEAR 5/6s GO TO THE IMMIGRATION MUSEUM

The 5/6s have been deeply immersed in their Curiosity unit of: How did we become a nation? Over the last few weeks, students have been exposed to the different types of migrant groups and the timeline of Australia’s immigration waves. To further inspire and respond to our students' questions, we decided to go to the Immigration Museum. 

Students were given artefacts of an influential immigrant and explored the backstory of their arrival - such as following a Chinese immigrant coming to Australia for the Gold Rush in the 1850s. The second aspect of this excursion involved students receiving their very own passport booklet. In this passport, students were to explore the different sections of the Immigration Museum to explore and note take. This exposed students to the timeline wave of immigration, the customs house, an experience of what an interview to be admitted into the country was like and a dictation test to prove literacy skills. 

It was a great experience to observe the artefacts and be shown videos of the journeys of so many immigrants that now call Australia home.

We are so proud of the 5/6s behaviour and the way they conducted themselves. They are commended for their outstanding ability to question and participate in discussions, as well as their punctuality to transition to the next session respectfully.