From the School Leadership Team

Middle of Term Breakfast 

Thank you to all of our students and families who were able to join our staff team for Middle of Term Breakfast on Wednesday! It was so enjoyable being able to gather together and catch up in community as always, and we are incredibly appreciative of all of the efforts of our P & F to help to further grow and support our amazing school community! 

Congratulations! Oliphant Science Awards

Well done to Henry Kumela and Lucy Harry who have both received Highly Commended awards for the projects in the Oliphant Science Awards this year. They both did an amazing job of their projects and it is great to see that they are so enthused about their Science learning! 

Book Week Dress Up Day and Read Around 

Our Book Week Dress up Day & Read-a-round on Monday was again an absolute stand out - it was such a joy to see all of our children embracing and celebrating their love of reading. All of the children looked amazing in their costumes, and a wholehearted thank you to our school families for your support and assistance with the many great costumes of display and for coming along to support the students during the parade on the day. The children really enjoyed the Book Week Read A Round which followed - and thanks to our staff team who volunteered their time to help out with this great initiative. Last but not least, we are also thankful to Ruth Carter, our Teacher-Librarian, who always does a magnificent job or arranging an engaging and enjoyable Book Week and Book Fair each year. 

Pong A Thon 

Thank you to our school community for your generous support of our Ping Pong A Thon. The students really enjoyed the casual clothes day and participating in playing pong on Friday, with lots of community members and our church congregation joining us overnight and into Saturday morning. As a community, we have raised over $10,000 this year to support those who are in slavery in a range of different situations around the world, which is a wonderful outcome. A huge thank you to Joel Schiller, our Chaplain, for all of his tireless efforts in making this event a reality each year. 

A few reminders 

Please be reminded of some of our key events coming up over the next few weeks.   

• Friday 30 August - Fathers' Day Stall
• Friday 6 September - Pupil Free Day 
• Friday 20 September - Special Person's Afternoon (please note this is now one week later due to clash with SACSA AFL on Friday 13 September) 

Will Wallace

Principal

Inquiry Through the School

There are currently a wide variety of inquiries taking place through the school. Looking across the clusters students are inquiring into: 

Foundation: Who We Are: Every day, people learn more about themselves and others. 

Year 1/2: How we Organise Ourselves: Places and processes are involved in producing    food. (just beginning)  

Year 2/3: How We Express Ourselves: The elements of the arts are used to express ourselves.  

Year 3/4: Where we are in Place and Time: Natural and built features can have cultural and social significance. 

Year 5/6: How We Organise Ourselves: Systems can influence the behaviour of people and the way they live. 

The variety of learning across the school sees our students inquiring, researching, experimenting, viewing, researching, discussing, reading and writing about many different things.  

The titles given here for each inquiry include the Transdisciplinary Theme (in italics) and the central idea.  

‘These transdisciplinary themes together provide children with authentic learning experiences that are not confined to the boundaries of traditional subjects. Although subjects play an important role in learning, PYP learners explore real-world problems by going beyond subject boundaries. Students have opportunities to reflect on the significance of their learning to take meaningful action in their community and the wider world.’                       From ‘How the PYP Works’ 2023 

The central idea is the learning in the unit in a one sentence nutshell. The aim is that the ‘gist’ of the central idea, which could but not have to be the exact wording, is understood and retained as an enduring, ongoing understanding.  

There are some exciting things happening in these inquiries including planning, excursions, experiments, preparing to persuade someone, experiencing and creating within different art forms. When beneficial, students learning across the subjects (this is what transdisciplinary means) include learning such as English in their inquiries. Students in Year 1/2 will read and write procedural texts. Year 5/6 are creating persuasive texts related to what the government should be giving their focus to.  

Through inquiry, students are encouraged to ask questions, to pursue their interests and to continue to build their skills as learners.  

Jayne Zadow 

Director of PYP, Teaching and Learning