From the Primary School

From the Primary School

Hopefully everyone had a restful break during the holidays and followed the 4 rules!

Ms Nadia Morris, who I introduced last term as our new STEM Teacher working on Mondays with us, has hit the term running. She spent time with our younger boys teaching them how to use various programs. You’ll see photos of the Reception boys using Coding Awbie and Year 2's using the coding program Scratch Junior.

Coding Awbie is a hands on and interactive application that teaches logic skills, problem solving, and computational thinking. The boys needed to code Awbie to move around the maze. Coding for students in F-2 can be found in the Digital Technologies Curriculum in the Digital Technologies and Production Skills strand. In this strand students are required to, “Follow, describe and represent a sequence of steps and decisions (algorithms) needed to solve simple problems.” Coding Awbie can also be integrated into the Maths curriculum (Location and Transformation) as the students need to describe position and movement, give simple directions and interpret everyday language of location and direction. The boys loved using the resources and picked it up very quickly.

You may have already seen a few additions to our Primary quad area in the form of a Friendship Bench accompanied by the “school hound”. This is for boys who may feel lonely or looking for someone to play with – the other boys will recognise this and offer support and friendship.  There are also some native animals that have appeared including a Kookaburra in a tree and a Wombat. Look out for a koala and crocodile coming soon too. Later in the year some colourful farm animals will appear in our garden area.

Mothers’ Day is a special time in the calendar where we can show our appreciation for the wonderful work mothers do for their children. The Reception class has prepared a special liturgy this Friday in Frassati Hall (all welcome) with morning tea to follow. May is also the Month of Mary, the mother of Jesus, so it is an extra special time. Happy Mothers’ Day! And Go Power!

Dates to Remember

10 May – Mothers’ Day Liturgy and Morning Tea (Frassati Hall) 9:00am

14 May – 17 May NAPLAN Week

17 May – Assembly presented by Year 1 (2:20pm)

24 May – Reception to Year 2 Excursion, “The Gruffalo”

27 May – FYI Education (Incursion)

30 May – Crows visit: Positive Reflections – follow up from Growing with Gratitude (not Leading 

                 Teams!) 12:00 – 12:50pm followed by Junior Primary Football Clinic

3 June – Catholic Education Week

10 June – Queen’s Birthday Holiday

25 June – Primary Arts Evening

28 June – Term 2 ends for students 3:05pm.

Regards,

Mr Frank Ali

HEAD OF PRIMARY