So much has been happening since our last newsletter!

Read on to hear about all the wonderful and exciting things that our students have been participating in recently.

Orienteering

Students recently participated in the District Orienteering and had a wonderful and successful time. The event is always a challenging yet rewarding experience, and our students continue to build on their skills in teamwork, time management and resilience.

Volleyball

By Raph, Josh, Oliver and Rory

On the 28th of August we started our house volleyball tournament. It was a round robin tournament where every house played each other. Players had to fill in for Bourke as they did not have enough people. Some players that really stood out were Josh M, Connor L, Bailey H, and Yuka P. The scores were, Bourke in 4th place, Mitchell in 3rd place, Hume in 2nd place, and Curtin in first place. Everyone played very well and had a lot of fun. A big thanks to the house captains for organising this event and to the scorers.

5 / 6 Landcare

By Robin, Crystal, and Lydia

On the 4th of September the year 5 / 6’s walked down to the creek near the Pine Forest. The year 6's and year 5’s got split and the year 5’s did planting first. Meanwhile, the year 6’s looked at water bugs from the creek and studied them. The groups swapped over after a while.

The year 5’s planted native water plants by the creek first. They were good for that area because they can survive the Macedon rain and cleanse the water. The year 5’s got a bit carried away though, they planted more than a hundred plants! So there weren't many plants left for the year 6’s.

While the year 5’s were planting, the year 6’s were looking at native water bugs from the creek. They found a lot of interesting bugs like a bloodworm, water striders, backswimmers and water mites. We learnt that water bugs are good for cleaning our waterways and eating all the other nasty bugs.

After both groups had finished the activities, we walked back to school and started to pack up for the end of the day. We all enjoyed looking after the environment, planting native plants, and learning new things about waterbugs!

Fun fact: The creek that the year 5 /6’s went to was actually named Riddells Creek!

LandCare

On Thursday the 4th of September the grade 5/6 classes walked down to the Riddells Creek in Macedon. We got split into two groups and experienced two great activities. We first planted some plants near the creek. After that, we examined water insects that we had collected from the stream. Overall, we learnt about the water around Macedon, and had loads of fun!

Division Athletics

Written by Sebastian M, Ted S and Archer D

On Thursday the 11th of September some people from grade three to six went to Division Athletics at Keilor Park. Everyone who went there tried their absolute best and did very well. Ten people from our school competed at division Athletics. Congratulations to Easton H who made it to regionals in discus. We all wish him the best of luck.

Division Athletics

By Ida and Sarah

On Thursday the 11th of September, a few talented students went down to Keilor Park, to compete in division athletics against lots of other super talented students. We all tried our best even though it was really wet and rainy. The competition was extremely tough but we all pushed ourselves to the limits. Even though we tried really hard only one student made it through in discus to regional athletics. A few kids like Ida though still got a ribbon for coming 3rd. Overall it was a great day and an amazing experience for everyone who competed and one we will remember for the rest of our lives. We would like to thank our amazing parents who drove us to this event and also our incredible sports teacher for organising and coming along to support and cheer us on. Mr O organises so much for our school and without him we would not have been able to compete in this fun event. Well done to everyone who competed, it is an amazing achievement to get this far.

5/6 Portsea Camp

On the 8th -10th September the year 5/6s went to Portsea camp. The bus drive lasted two and a half hours.

When we got there, we dropped off our bags, looked around the camp and started our first activity. The activities were archery, the big swing, geocaching, history hike,high ropes, scavenger hunt, team building and kayaking.

The people that came were our teachers, parent helpers and all the year 5/6s.

Overall the camp was really fun and we had a great time.

5/6 Portsea Camp

by Ava W and Isobel W

On the 8/09/25 the Year 5/6s went to the Portsea camp. After a two and a half hour drive we had all finally arrived. After we put all the bags down on the deck, we were all ready to start our activities. The activities consisted of the giant swing, a high ropes course, a scavenger hunt, geographing, historical hike, kayaking, team building and archery. On the first day all the groups did two activities, and after those activities we had afternoon tea, once we had finished up afternoon tea we were given time to settle into our cabins and set everything up for the next two days. That night for dinner we had nacho bowls, with an ice cream sundae for dessert. After that they let us get ready in our pyjamas for the talent show. The talent show was quite funny watching everyone do their so-called "talents".

After that unfortunately it was bedtime and time to get some “sleep”.

After a long night of ding dong ditching wars and lollies we were exhausted the next morning but had to push through the day which consisted of breakfast, which was cereal or toast with a side of juice. After the first activity it was time for morning tea which was banana bread and fruit. After 3 more long but fun activities, lunch and dinner. We were all super tired but it was time for the movie stalks, and then get banished to our cabins for more so-called sleep.

We all woke up early the next morning exhausted again, we all had to pack up our cabins and be out by nine am. We went to breakfast at eight am and had the same thing: toast and cereal. After that we had two last activities for the day after both of those we had lunch, which was rolls. When everyone was done with their lunch we packed up our bags and hopped on the bus finishing the 5/6 Portsea camp.

The camp was very fun and everyone enjoyed it thoroughly but it had come to an end.

Thank you to The Portsea Camp because we wouldn't have done it without you.

Year 5/6 Camp

By Isabel G, Isla D, and Ruby

We arrived at camp and we grabbed our bags and sat them under the shelter and then we sat down to know groups and cabins in my cabin I had Isla.D, Isabel.G, Roisin.M and me, Ruby.F. Our first activity was archery and then teamwork and then we had lunch, and we put our bags in the rooms there was a giant slide, so I went down it like ten times it was super fun we went down so fast. Day 2, we had the giant swing, history hike, geocaching and kayaking. On day 3 we had a Scavenger hunt and high ropes. Then we had our lunch, we had rolls, and they were really good. That's when we boarded the bus to go home! Best camp ever!

MTB Cross Country Series

Recently some of our students participated in an MTB Cross Country Series event in Bendigo. Congratulations to them all!

Oskar M participated in the Under 9 Series, finishing 4th overall.

Jasper K participated in the Under 11 Boys Novice and placed 2nd.

Seb M participated in the Racing Under 13 and was awarded 3rd place.

Amazing results that they should all be very proud of!

Fishing at the Res.

On Wednesday the 17th of September some of the year 5/6 walked down to the Res to go fishing. When they got there they started setting up the fishing rods the helpers were Ben (Ned's dad) Michael (Coen's dad) and Michael (Luca and Lil's dad) . We went to the far side of the Res and started spreading out around the curve of the Res and started fishing. After about 15 to 20 minutes we had our first fish then we let it go. After a while we had to leave. Only one person got lucky and caught a trout, because no one else caught a fish. Then we walked back to school and then the bell rang.

Shanti Yoga