Primary School

This year’s Book Week was a wonderful celebration of the joy of reading, imagination, and Australian literature. Inspired by the 2026 theme, ‘Symphony of Stories’, students enthusiastically participated in a range of engaging activities throughout the week, each designed to foster a love of books and storytelling.

One of the highlights was our annual Book Week Character Parade, where students proudly arrived dressed as their favourite literary characters. From classic storybook favourites to modern day heroes, the creativity, enthusiasm, and effort on display made for a truly memorable event. It was wonderful to see students sharing their love of reading with their peers and celebrating the characters and stories that inspire them. We were delighted to welcome so many families to the parade. Your support helped make the occasion even more special for our students and reinforced the important role that reading plays in building imagination, curiosity, and a lifelong love of learning.

A sincere thank you to Ms Height and Ms O’Neill for their outstanding organisation and commitment in bringing Book Week to life. Their efforts ensured a week filled with fun, creativity, and meaningful opportunities for students to connect with the magic of books and storytelling. 

Stepping Back in Time at Sovereign Hill

On the 17th, 18th and 19th of August, the Year 5 cohort had the pleasure of going on school camp to Sovereign Hill. We packed the buses and set off on the three-hour journey to Ballarat. When we arrived, we visited the Eureka Centre, where we participated in many activities. We learnt about different objects from the Gold Rush and even got to see the original Eureka Flag! After we finished, we got back on the bus and headed to Sovereign Hill. Everyone was fascinated by the 1850s town and its old-fashioned buildings and shops.

 

One of our favourite parts of camp was Costume School. Each class was separated into different old-fashioned schools. 5A went to Red Hill National School, a middle-class school, while 5B went to the Ballarat Benevolent Asylum Ragged School, a school for orphaned children. We even got the chance to dress up like school kids from the 1850s! The girls wore different patterned dresses and capes, while the boys wore blazers and knickerbocker shorts. The classrooms were really cool, with old-fashioned calligraphy writing displayed on posters around the room. During the costume school experience, we wrote with the nib and ink, participated in some reading, writing and arithmetic lessons and played with some olden day toys. 

We also went panning for gold, which was both fun and challenging. Some people were lucky enough to find real gold. The river was very cold and rocky, which made panning even more difficult.

 

On the first night, we watched the AURA light show. It was split into three parts and told the story of the Eureka Stockade. The lights, sounds and storytelling made it an amazing experience.

 

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our camp and would definitely go again!

Written by Grace Pike and Hamish Moon

Spotlight on Science Week - Year 4 Blast Off with Catapults!

During Science Week, the Year 4 classes have been busy building and launching! Each student had a go at making their own catapult using nothing more than craft sticks, a plastic spoon and a few rubber bands.

To build their catapults, students stacked several craft sticks together and secured each end tightly with a rubber band. A single craft stick was then wedged into the middle of the stack to act as a lever arm, and a plastic spoon was fastened to one end to hold the ‘ammunition’. With their catapults assembled, the real fun began as students launched scrunched-up balls of paper and other light, safe projectiles across the classroom, with plenty of adult supervision, of course!

But this was not just about seeing things fly; it was also a hands-on physics lesson. Students learned that a catapult is a simple machine called a lever, with the stack of craft sticks acting as the fulcrum and the spoon serving as the lever arm. Pulling the spoon down stores potential energy and releasing it converts that energy into kinetic energy, sending the projectile soaring before gravity brings it back down to earth. It was a great practical demonstration of Newton’s Laws of Motion in action.

The students were then given the opportunity to experiment like real scientists. They tested how pulling the spoon back at different angles changed the distance travelled and discovered that moving the stack of sticks closer to or further from the spoon altered the trajectory. A closer position resulted in longer flights, while positioning it further away sent objects shooting almost straight up into the air.

Many classes turned the activity into a friendly competition, predicting which projectile would travel the furthest and keeping score as they aimed for targets. It has been fantastic to see our students engaging so enthusiastically with hands-on science, turning simple materials into a meaningful exploration of forces, energy and motion.

Spotlight on Learning - F1 in Schools STEM Program

Students in Years 5 and 6 have officially crossed the finish line after completing the exciting F1 in Schools STEM Program under the guidance of Mrs McManus and Ms O’Neill. Throughout the first six weeks of this term, students explored the science behind Formula 1 racing, investigating key concepts such as aerodynamics, air resistance, gravity, friction and downforce. They also learned how different design features can influence a race car’s performance on the track. 

During Weeks 3 to 5, Ms O’Neill joined the classes to support students in designing and constructing their own race-ready Formula 1 cars from paper. As part of the engineering design process, students tested their vehicles and analysed how various design modifications affected speed, stability and overall performance.

The program culminated in an exciting race day finale, where students took on a variety of pit crew roles and discovered how air pressure can be used to propel racing cars. Their finished models were launched along a 10-metre track using compressed-air pumps, with races timed and winners determined by the first car to cross the finish line.

The competition was filled with enthusiasm, teamwork and plenty of friendly rivalry as students put their STEM knowledge into practice. Congratulations to all participants for their creativity, problem-solving skills and outstanding effort throughout the program. It was wonderful to see students so engaged in hands-on learning while developing their understanding of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in a fun and authentic way.

Spotlight on learning - Democracy in Action

On Tuesday, students in Year 6 got together to vote on who would be the Prime Minister of Year Six. Each class formed a political party and elected a leader to represent them. Year 6A was the Sustainability Party, Year 6B was the Human Rights Party, and Year 6C was the Economic Party.

 

The leaders worked with their classes to write a speech about their party’s priorities and then we all went into Mr Ward’s class for a formal parliamentary sitting. Each leader presented their speech, and afterwards we voted using a preferential voting system to decide the major party of the year level.

 

In the end, the Human Rights Party came out on top, with Will Bourke elected as the Prime Minister. The Human Rights Party now holds 31 seats, the Economic Party holds 24 seats, and the Sustainability Party holds 11 seats. These seats will be important when we vote on our first bill in the coming weeks. It was a really fun experience, and we even learned how preferential voting works.

Written by William Bourke (Year 6 unofficial PM)

Primary Assembly

Our Primary School Assembly on Friday 21 August was led by Meninya House Captains Morgan Wright and Savannah Dicker and was a wonderful celebration of student achievement, talent and community. Logan Wright performed Best Friends on piano, demonstrating the progress he has made after only six months of lessons. Sienna Eacott and Abi Nicholls entertained the audience with a lively bass and drums performance, while the energetic K-2 Dance Group delighted everyone with a preview of their Jackson 5 Medley. Congratulations to all performers for sharing their talents with confidence and enthusiasm.

A highlight of the assembly was the presentation of the 2026 NAPLAN Academic Awards, recognising students who achieved an Exceeding result, the highest achievement level awarded in NAPLAN. We also celebrated students receiving the Kiwanis Terrific Kids Awards, acknowledging their positive contribution to school life through qualities such as respect, responsibility, inclusion and kindness. 

In addition, students were recognised through our Core Value Awards for consistently demonstrating one or more of the School’s Core Values and living our school motto Honour and Excellence. We are very proud of your efforts. Keep up the fantastic work!

Students from the Tournament of the Minds teams shared their experiences representing the school in Bendigo, highlighting the creativity, teamwork and perseverance required to prepare for the competition. We also celebrated the success of our recent production of Mary Poppins Junior and recognised the outstanding efforts of students who represented the school at the RAS Primary Athletics Carnival. Thank you to all students, staff, parents, special guests and support teams who contributed to another memorable assembly that proudly showcased the many achievements and strengths of our Primary School community.

Skipping Strong for Heart Health

Our Primary School has been enthusiastically participating in Jump Rope for Heart since the beginning of Term 3. Students have been skipping regularly to keep their hearts happy and healthy while raising money for the Heart Foundation and supporting people living with heart disease.

We are incredibly proud to announce that, as a school, we have now raised an amazing $8,521, surpassing our original goal of $8,000! 

Currently, 57 students are signed up and are actively fundraising. With more than 400 students in our Primary School, we would love to see even more students get involved and help us see just how much we can achieve together. There are some fantastic prizes available for students who get involved in fundraising, making it a great way to have fun, get active and support an important cause. Simply visit the Jump Rope for Heart website, register your child and share their fundraising link with family and friends. Every donation helps support the Heart Foundation and its important work helping people affected by heart disease. 

A special congratulations to Jax Smith from Year 1B, who is currently sitting in the top 20 individual fundraisers in Australia. What an incredible achievement! A huge thank you to all students, families and friends who have supported our fundraising efforts so far. Keep skipping, keep fundraising and keep those hearts happy.

Stage 1 Assembly

On 19 August, Students in Year 2B proudly hosted the Stage 1 Assembly in the TAS Centre due to the inclement weather. Students confidently shared their learning from the class novel study, Bear in Space by Deborah Abela. As part of the English unit, students explored how authors use the rule of 3 to create engaging descriptions and how to structure effective informational paragraphs with a topic sentence, supporting details and a concluding sentence. 

Students showcased a selection of their information reports about space, demonstrating the knowledge and writing skills they have developed throughout the term. They spoke clearly and proudly as they shared fascinating facts about planets, stars and other features of our solar system. It was wonderful to see students present their work with confidence and enthusiasm, highlighting the growth they have made as writers and communicators.

Congratulations to the following students who were awarded Stage 1 Super Stars

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Kind regards,

Nici Deller                                                  

Deputy Principal | Head of Primary