PREP

We hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable break. It’s great to see our students back with big smiles, ready for another exciting term of learning, growth, and fun.

Here is what some of our Prep students enjoyed doing in the holidays-

Harrison - I liked going to the Reject Shop.

Archer - I liked feeding my grandad’s cows in the tractor.

Eileen - I went to McDonald’s and then went to Red Door.

Sydney- I enjoyed dancing with Matisse.

Today we started our very first swimming lesson! The students were full of energy and enthusiasm as they got into the pool, and it was wonderful to see so many happy faces giving it a go. We’re looking forward to watching their confidence grow over the coming weeks.

We were thrilled to receive an invite to Milo’s surprise birthday celebration happening tomorrow! The students are buzzing with excitement, and we can’t wait to help make it a special day for him. Don’t forget to dress up in something that starts with the letter or sound of your name.

Next Friday 8th August, we look forward to celebrating being at school for 100 days. All you need to do is send your child to school as normal. We have a fun day planned out with some special activities organised!

On Tuesday the 5th of August, we say goodbye to Kate. We have enjoyed having Kate as part of our Prep team, helping us to learn and grow. We wish her all the best for her future teaching career.

Gemma Blake gblake@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Elissa Rodger erodger@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 1

We’ve had a great start to the term and it's been wonderful to see the students settling in so well. There is a bit of illness going around at the moment, so please take care and remember to notify the office or your child’s teacher if they will be away.

A reminder that our swimming sessions at Bluewater have begun this week. This will continue throughout the term each Thursday. Children will need to bring a separate, named bag containing their towel, goggles, crocs/thongs, and school clothes—please ensure all items are clearly labelled. Children will also require an extra snack on swimming days. If your child is unwell or unable to swim for any reason, they will be supervised by another teacher during the session at school.

Looking ahead, Book Week is coming up with the exciting theme Book and Adventure! Our parade will take place on Friday, 22nd August, straight after Prayer Gathering. It’s never too early to start thinking about costume ideas!

Leah Martin lmartin@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Rebecca Murray rmurray@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Judy Carr jcarr@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Paula Parish pparish@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 2

Welcome back to Term 3!

We have a busy and exciting term ahead, filled with new learning opportunities and special events.

Swimming

Our swimming program begins this week and will run every Thursday at 1:30pm. Students will follow the same procedures as previous years. Please check our Class Dojo post for full details, including what to pack and reminders about labelling belongings.

Literacy

We’ve dived straight back into our Little Learners Love Literacy program. This week, we explored the suffix “-ure”, learning how it appears in words like cure, measure, and picture. Students have shown a strong understanding of the different sounds this spelling can make in reading, and are beginning to apply these strategies in their writing too! For example, some students wrote mini-stories featuring words like treasure, mixture, and future.

Mathematics

In maths, we’re revisiting number lines and numbers to 1,000. Students are learning to read, write, order, and represent these numbers in expanded form. Be sure to check your child’s blue reader folder for their counting goals booklet. We love seeing their progress during our check-ins—some students are absolutely blowing us away!

Religion

Our Religion unit this term focuses on Wisdom. We’re excited to be leading the school in a Prayer Gathering next month. Stay tuned on Class Dojo for details and how you can join us.

Inquiry

Our Inquiry unit has launched, and students are showing great enthusiasm as we explore continents, countries, and maps of the world. We’re building on their geographical knowledge through engaging activities, including locating countries on globes and creating classroom maps.

Book Week

We are celebrating Book Week in week 5 of this Term. The theme for book week this year is ‘Book an Adventure’, encouraging students to explore new worlds through stories. As always students are encouraged to dress up in celebration of this week, with our dress up and parade being on Friday the 22nd of August.

A Friendly Reminder

We’ve noticed a number of extra items coming into the classroom lately, such as teddies, toys, and additional pencil cases. While we understand that these items are fun to bring and share with friends, they can quickly become a distraction during learning time.

Where possible, please keep these items at home. If your child does bring something special to school, kindly remind them that it should remain in their school bag and not come into the classroom. This helps us maintain a focused and calm learning environment for everyone.

Emma Roberts eroberts@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Matt O'Dowd modowd@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Amanda Delorenzo mdelorenzo@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 3

Term 3 is off to a flying start. As always, it was great to welcome the children back to school after a refreshing break.

Last week we farewelled our dear friend, Ollie Carson, who has moved to his fabulous new school. We are sad to see him go after so many years together, but look forward to hearing all about what he gets up to next.

We have been learning to tell the time on clocks and calendars. This is a great Numeracy topic for parents to get involved in at home. When your child asks what the time is, practise how to work it out with them. Reinforce fundamentals like ‘big hand on the 3 means it is something past’, and ‘big hand on the 12 means it is something o’clock’.

A new Writing Revolution strategy we have been practising in Literacy is scrambled sentences. Unscrambling sentences helps us practise our sentence structure, punctuation, grammar and vocabulary, while also enhancing critical thinking, problem-solving, and writing skills.

We will be celebrating Book Week in week 5 this term, with our Book Week Parade on the Friday. This is always an exciting time for the children, with the added bonus of encouraging reading. Time to get planning our costumes!

Prayer Gathering:

Friday 8th August- 3JL

Friday 15th August- 3DH

Jade LoRicco jloricco@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Deb Holland dholland@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 4

It’s been a short but sharp start to Term 3, and we’re so pleased with how well students have settled back into their learning routines. The energy in the classroom has been focused and positive—it's fantastic to see everyone hitting the ground running!

In Maths, students have been diving into the concept of hundredths, building on their place value understanding and exploring how decimals connect with fractions in everyday contexts. There’s been lots of hands-on learning, problem-solving, and discussion about where we see hundredths in real life.

Over in Literacy, we’re exploring the beautifully complex wordless book 'The Arrival' by Shaun Tan. This powerful story uses only illustrations to convey deep themes of migration, resilience, and hope. Without a single written word, students are learning how to interpret visual cues, make inferences, and share thoughtful responses. The conversations and creative writing this has inspired have been truly impressive.

In our Religious Education unit we’re taking a deeper look at Respect, with a particular focus on the Golden Rule – "Treat others as you would like to be treated." Through stories, discussions and reflections, students are thinking critically about how this value shows up in their own lives and the world around them.

In Inquiry, Civics and Citizenship, students are working collaboratively to design and build their own class town. This exciting hands-on project is helping them explore the systems, rules and responsibilities that keep a community running smoothly. From designing buildings to creating fair laws and choosing leaders, students are learning what it takes to make a town inclusive, respectful and functional. It’s a fantastic way to build teamwork, critical thinking and a deeper understanding of how citizenship works in practice.

Matt Absalom mabsalom@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Maegen Potter mpotter@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Susie Scott sscott@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 5

The Grade 5s have settled in well back to Term 3 - with a very short, but busy term so it’s been straight into business as usual!

In Literacy the students have enjoyed beginning our new novel study; ‘Wonder’ by R.J. Palacio. We have also been reading about North America for our History Geography learning and this week are starting a Narrative where students were asked to choose a natural setting in North America and add elements of this area into their narratives.

In Numeracy, we kicked off the term with a focus on Location, learning about the first quadrant and using directional language, something all students thoroughly enjoyed. This week, we are diving into Multiplication and Division, exploring different strategies to solve problems. A friendly reminder to keep practising your counting, multiplication, or division goal as part of your homework.

Last Friday, Rachel D’s class led a beautiful prayer gathering, sharing heartfelt grandparent stories through scripture and reflection. It was lovely to see so many members of our wider school community join us in celebration. This Friday, Rachael C’s class will lead our next prayer gathering with the theme of ‘Promise’. Everyone is warmly invited to join us in prayer.

Please remember to:

Bring your diaries daily and ensure they are signed at least once a week.
Bring your homework folder in at the end of the week so new homework can be sent out the following Monday please.

Winter Sport continues this Friday, with matches against Colac Primary School. Please ensure PAM permissions are completed. Last week’s Winter Sport day was chilly but lots of fun! Students played tee-ball, soccer, netball and football against South West Primary School and represented our school proudly.

We’re looking forward to another great week ahead in Year 5!

Rachel Downard rdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Rachael Cahill rcahill@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 6

It’s been a busy start to Term 3 for our Grade 6 students! Last week, we had a blast with our Minute to Win It games with plenty of laughter amongst the group.

In Maths, we explored Cartesian planes and plotting coordinates, and this week we've kicked off our new unit on multiplication and division.

In Literacy and Humanities, we’ve begun investigating our new topic: How are Australian people, places and culture similar and different to Asia?

Winter Sports is also well underway, with students enjoying their first match against Colac South West last Friday. This week, we’re heading to Colac Primary School for more fun. Please ensure you’ve given permission on PAM for all upcoming Winter Sports events.

We’re looking forward to a fun and exciting Term 3 ahead!

Jess Downard jdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Jodie Hassett jhassett@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Katie Monaghan kmonaghan@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

The Marian News

Issue 11 · 31 Jul 2025

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