Reading

This fortnight in Reading, Year 6 students continued exploring our class novel I Am Malala, following her powerful story and engaging in thoughtful discussions about the importance of standing up for what you believe in, as well as children’s and girls’ rights to education. The novel has sparked rich conversations around equity, access to education, and gender equality, with students also exploring contributing factors to inequality such as gender and poverty.

In Week 9, CPS hosted a Literacy Open Classroom, where parents of our CPS students were invited to join a morning reading session. We warmly welcomed families into our classroom to listen, participate, and engage in learning alongside students as we explored a new chapter of the novel and worked through vocabulary together. It was wonderful to see such strong parent involvement and connection to our learning community. Thank you to all who attended and supported this experience.

‘I like learning about what Malala’s life was like, and how hard things were for her.’ - Mohamed 6A

‘Malala’s mum didn’t learn or know how to read when she was younger. She learnt later on.’ - Senuli 6B

‘I’ve in reading that l can summarise a text using the important points’- Paige 6B

‘I am Malala is a book I loved reading, it was nice to have my mum come in’- Zach 6C

Writing

The Year 6 students have been working hard these past few weeks. Between Athletics Day, Cross Country, the Young Leader’s Dream and Lead Conference along with Photo Day, to round it all off, they have been finalising their explanation reports.

Students have been focusing on working on their explanation reports that have incorporated higher-order language and visuals, specific for their closen topic.

Year 6 students have also continued to focus on using appropriate tense throughout their writing and how using present tense is used when describing truths, facts and statements. Students focused on using these verbs to complete sentences to demonstrate their understanding.

‘In writing we have been working on explanation texts and seeds. I have been writing about F1.’ - Ibrahim 6A

‘In writing we have been working on explanations. I have been really enjoying writing poems for my seeds and then publishing them. - Mahrosh 6A

‘For writing I liked writing my explanation text and writing about Basketball’ - Mohamed 6A

‘In writing, I’ve enjoyed using paragraphs, diagrams, fun facts in my explanation text on How planes fly’ Qasim 6B

‘ For my explanation text I wrote about Canadian animals’- Artaaz 6C

Maths

In maths, students have been learning how to represent income and expenditure and profit and loss using worded problems with known quantities. They have been focussing on identifying information in a mathematical question and using their knowledge of the 4 processes to calculate savings. Students have also been focussing on how to calculate equations using division. They have had practise in identifying the dividend, divisor and quotient with no - remainders and remainders.

‘I have found learning about Integers a little challenging, but it has been fun’ - Marcus 6A

6B ‘ I enjoyed learning about long division because its useful’ - Aroosh 6B

‘I like how integers are easier to understand than BODMAS’- Riyansh 6C

‘We learnt about integers which are whole numbers that can be negative or positive. Zero is a neutral integer’- Prish 6C

Inquiry

This fortnight in Inquiry, Year 6 students began their end-of-term project exploring the creation and early development of the Australian Federation. Students selected an important historical figure involved in Federation and investigated their impact, alongside creating a short biography. They developed their research skills by learning how to identify appropriate historical sources, determine key information, and record ideas in their own words. Working in pairs, students then began designing their presentations, carefully considering what information and images would best communicate their learning. In the final week of term, students confidently presented their projects, showcasing their understanding and effort.

‘It was really interesting learning about how our country was founded and learning about the people who were involved in Federation’ - Ina 6A

‘I have enjoyed researching on William Cooper for inquiry’ - Jhavier 6B

‘Jax and I chose William Cooper for our inquiry project’- Jayden 6C

Social and Emotional Learning

This fortnight, the Year 6 Cohort focused on Harmony Day and building positive relationships. Students created 3D hearts and shared facts about Harmony Day and their own cultures, celebrating that everybody belongs. They also practised speaking kindly to others, reflecting on their actions, and learning how to focus on what they can control to create a respectful and inclusive classroom environment.

‘We have been learning about manners. We played a game where we had to use manners. Manners are important so bad things don't happen. - Ivan 6A

‘Harmony day lets us celebrate our own culture and other cultures too.’ - Qasim 6B

‘Harmony day was really cool to see everyone dressing up for a special event’ - Kaynen 6C

Auslan

This fortnight in AUSLAN, students continued learning about Auslan handshapes, focusing on how different handshapes are used to form signs. They were introduced to new handshapes including bent flat, soon, plane, and bent two, and explored signs that use these forms such as tired, room, celebration, afternoon, plane, and train.

After watching a learning video, students practised recognising and forming these handshapes. They then completed a matching activity, linking handshapes to the correct signs and discussing their answers with a partner.

Students also explored how to show size in Auslan using their hands, facial expressions, and body movements. They were introduced to SASS (Size and Shape Specifiers) and learned the signs for small and big.

After watching a learning video, students worked in small groups to practise indicating the size of different objects such as balls, cups, boxes, and books. They also used constructed action to demonstrate how these objects are held, carried, or used in real life.

Students enjoyed performing their ideas to the class and giving feedback to their peers, building both their confidence and Auslan communication skills.

'We have been learning about how to make fruit signs, and we learnt how to make signs for breakfast. I have been enjoying it and learning new signs every week’ - Yousif 6A

‘ I have enjoyed learning new signs about fruit. It has been fun’ - Zein 6B

‘ We learnt about fruit signs’- Naya 6C

Special Events

Year 6 students have had a very busy end to term 1. Students have enjoyed many different sporting events and school community celebrations. Please see below what our Year 6 students have been doing.

Dream and Lead Conference

Our Year 6 leaders had an amazing opportunity to learn how to become the best leaders they can be, while attending the Dream and Lead Conference. They were inspired by several notable Australian leaders who are making great change in the world while inspiring young people to become leaders in their own lives.

‘We went to the Melbourne Exhibition Centre with lots of other schools. We met lots of inspirational people that made the day great. - Ibrahim 6A

‘The Dream to Lead Conference was interesting as there were lots of inspirational leaders who told us about how we can achieve our goals and be a good leader in life. - Jethro 6A

‘The Dream and Lead conference taught us that anyone can be a leader even students without badges’- 6C

Harmony Day Celebrations

Harmony Day is celebrated each year on the 21st of March. It’s a way of recognising the diverse culture of Australia and celebrating inclusiveness and respect and highlights the importance of ‘we all belong’. Students were invited to wear orange - the chosen colour of Harmony Day or their cultural clothing. All students enjoyed completing the Harmony Day activity and taking it to the gym to showcase their work. Year 6 Students acknowledged the inclusiveness and diversity of our school and community and enjoyed being about to celebrate this with the school community.

Cross Country / Summer Sports Gala Day

It has been a very exciting term for the Year 6 students and the many sporting events we have been able to be part of. Our annual CPS Cross Country and the summer sports Gala day have always been a favourite for students. All the Year 6 students had a wonderful time at both events. They are now looking forward to our winter sports gala day during term 2.

Check out these snaps from our Gala Day:

‘Gala day was really fun and getting to spend the day playing sports with my classmates’- 6C

‘I enjoyed doing cross country and exploring the school’ - Suhavi 6B

Year 7 Transition

Year 6 students will be beginning the transition process early next term. The Year 6 team will be posting on compass any open days and parent information evenings that might interest families. If you have any questions, please contact your child’s classroom teacher or Melissa Chancellor.

Mount Ridley College – Information Tours

Mount Ridley College invites families of prospective Year 7 students (2027) to attend their upcoming information tours.

Tuesday 28 April 2026
4:45pm: School tou
5:30pm: Information briefing
Location: Nottingham Theatre Building (enter via Aitken Blvd)

Families will have the opportunity to tour the college, learn about specialised programs and speak with staff.

To register, please scan the QR code on the poster or click here. If you require any further information please contact the college.

Important Dates