Primary Specialists

Prep Art

Hello wonderful Prep families!

I hope you’re all doing well and ready to embark on our Term 4 Prep art adventure. The past two weeks have been full of fun and creativity in the art room! As part of the Prep team’s final inquiry, based on the Central Idea “Journeys inspire our imagination,” our young artists began the term by exploring their personal histories. They created a Life Journey Artwork that highlighted key moments in their lives—such as their birth, first day of school, and favourite memories. Following this, students explored a variety of 3D paper techniques and spent the past week enthusiastically practicing all eight methods.

 

🎨 Year 1 and 2 Art 🎨

Our young artists returned from the Term 3 holidays full of creativity and excitement! We kicked off Term 4 

with holiday-inspired artworks celebrating all the fun and adventures from their break — from beach scenes to tasty treats inspired by Wayne Thiebaud’s colourful dessert paintings.

In Week 2, we blossomed into spring with fabulous flower art inspired by Yayoi Kusama. Students used a range of techniques and processes to fill their pieces with bright, beautiful cherry blossoms and will continue working together to create a collaborative mural of flowering blossom trees. It’s been a joyful, vibrant start to Term 4 for our talented Year 1 and 2 artists! 🌸🍰🎨

 

Year 3 and 4 Art

Welcome Back to Art for Term 4.

In the first couple of weeks students were welcomed back to the Art room with a focus on landscapes and the world around them. We began by exploring the work of artist Moira Hazel, whose vibrant landscape artworks uses shape, line, pattern, and form to capture imagery from both nature and everyday life.

Students discussed what an ecosystem is and how living things depend on each other within their environment. Building on this idea, students created their own landscape drawings. Year 3 students began by designing a coral seascape, while Year 4 students focused on a Springtime landscape inspired by growth and renewal.

Year 3
Year 3
Year 4
Year 4

Throughout these lessons, students also learned about key features of landscape layout, including the foreground, middle ground, and background, and how these elements help to create depth and perspective in their drawings.

It’s been a wonderful start to the term, with students showing curiosity, creativity, and great attention to detail in their artwork.


Grade 5 & 6 Art

Over the past two weeks, Grade 5 and 6 students have been wrapping up theirprevious unit on stamping, taking time to finalise their work and reflect on their learning journey. They discussed what they found most successful and how their skills in design, carving, and printmaking have developed. 

This week, students have begun their new unit on perspective drawing, learning how artists use line, depth, and distance to make two-dimensional drawings appear three-dimensional. They are already experimenting with these techniques in preparation for their upcoming creative projects.

 

MEDIA: With Mr. Brendan Howarth

 

Hello families!

My name is Mr. Howarth and I am teaching Media alongside Mrs. Katelyn Waldron and Miss. Dhana Athukorala from Prep to Year Six this year. Each term, a new cohort of classes will start Media. Those who had Music in Term Three will have now have Media. 

In Media, we learn how we can communicate messages and ideas through different media mediums, including photography, sound, filming, advertising, visual narratives, etc. Students also analyse and interpret media texts with cross-curricular connections made with Literacy, Numeracy, Language and the Arts. 

Our unit topics include migration, Indigenous history, our emotions, advertising, and Who We Are. 

We are looking forward to getting to know all students throughout the term.

🇪🇸 Spanish Class Newsletter 

🎨 Prep to Year 2: “We Are All Different, Yet the Same”

This term, our youngest students explored the idea that although we look different on the outside, we are all the same inside. Students learned to describe and color people using Spanish color words such as:negro, verde, rojo, amarillo, azul, piel, rosa, naranja, and café.They loved expressing their creativity while learning new vocabulary to describe diversity and inclusion in Spanish.

🌺 Years 3 & 4: Discovering Frida Kahlo

Students in Years 3 and 4 were introduced to Frida Kahlo, the famous Mexican artist known for her self-portraits and unique artistic style.They watched a video about her life and then reassembled a self-portrait of Frida Kahlo, exploring her colors, emotions, and symbols.The following week, they completed an interactive Blooket quiz to review what they learned about Frida Kahlo’s life and art.

🎭 Years 5 & 6: Learning Through Frida’s Story

Our senior students continued learning about Frida Kahlo in greater depth. After watching a story about her life, they told a short summary in their own words. Next, they filled a Facebook profile template for Frida Kahlo, filling in her personal details, interests, and achievements — a fun way to connect language learning with creativity and technology!To wrap up, students played another interactive Blooket game.

Wellbeing 

Hi all, 

My name is Mrs. P and I am one of the few Wellbeing teachers. Welcome to T4 where the weather gets that little bit nicer and the finish line is almost at reach for our students. 

Grades 1 + 2

Grades 1 and 2 have been working on  identifying some of the different things that they enjoy doing.  Students will compare ways their preferences may be similar to or different from those of their peers.  

Grades 3 + 4

Grades 3 + 4 have identified and explored similarities and differences between themselves and others whether it be their cultures, interests, dislikes etc. Students have also been learning that it is okay to have different interests from their peers. 

Grades 5 + 6 

Grades 5 + 6 have been working on the importance of equity. Specifically, students have needed to think of what they would need to change in the school setting to improve it using their own judgement and knowledge of the school. Using a 'Fish Diagram' students needed to choose a goal which would be based on the change they wish to achieve. Once their goal was chosen they were to identify strengths, strategies, key actions and barriers they would face when trying to achieve their goal. 

🇨🇳Chinese Mandarin 中文

Miss Qiao & Miss Xiong

😄迎接新学期,欢迎回来!

🎉Welcome back to Term 4!

We are very happy to see everyone return and continue our Mandarin learning journey this term. Students will explore new topics, build their vocabulary, and practise their speaking skills through fun and interactive activities. It is wonderful to see their confidence growing each week, and we look forward to another great term of learning together.

 

Our Prep to Year 2 students will learn about their family members and basic colours. They will then continue to explore Chinese traditional culture, learning about beautiful customs such as calligraphy, porcelain, and paper cutting.

 

Our Year 3–4 students will continue to strengthen their conversation skills by learning how to introduce themselves in Mandarin and share information about their name, age, and interests.

 

Our Year 5–6 students are beginning an exciting new topic about pets. They will learn how to talk about different pets in Mandarin and discuss how to take care of them. Through fun activities and small projects, students will continue to build their vocabulary and confidence when speaking about familiar topics.

 

This term promises to be full of creativity, discovery, and language growth across all year levels. We are so proud of how our students embrace Mandarin with enthusiasm and resilience. Thank you for your continued support at home. We cannot wait to see all the wonderful progress they will make.

感谢您的信任与支持!

 

DANCE!

Wakakirri.....(Dance)

I would like to say a huge CONGRATULATIONS to all the amazing students and staff involved in Wakakirri this year, on achieving the highest award for the second year running! Saltwater P-9 College won the Wakakirri National Award for our story titled “Full Circle” for 2025! 

Over 200 schools nation wide participated in Wakakirri this year, and we were one of only two primary schools in Victoria, and one of 19 national award winners from around Australia to win this amazing award! This also means we have now won this prestigious award and honour consecutively back to back for 2024 and 2025, which is an amazing achievement in our first two years performing in Wakakirri!

 

Going back a little to the end of Term 3, our amazing students performed their hearts out on stage at the Wakakirri State Award Finals on Friday 12th September. We had the honour of being the last school to perform on the night and close the show, followed by winning the main award on the night as National Award Nominees. This was only awarded to one school on each state awards night, which put us in the Australian National Finals. From there 50 finalists were sent through to be judged, and Saltwater were selected amongst the final 19 winning schools!

I would like two say a huge THANK YOU to our amazing staff (especially Miss Morison), for all your hard work, time, effort, and support in helping make this happen, we have such an amazing team that work so well together to make this happen. Our ridiculously talented, hard working and dedicated students, for your constant efforts and commitment, along with amazing team work to make this happen also. We are beyond proud of you! Congratulations again on the amazing performances and accomplishments you have achieved this year…just simply amazing. To our supporting teachers, parents and wider community…we thank you also, you are part of this team that have helped make this happen! Congratulations to you all!

 

VSSS.....(Dance)

Our Saltwater VSSS dancers showcased their amazing talent at this years Victorian State School Spectacular on Saturday 13th September at John Cain Arena! We had 15 dancers in the Mass Dance ensemble and 2 students in Michaela Goh and Eloisa-SIERRA PEREZ representing Saltwater College on the main stage with the VSSS principal dancers. Michaela was performing in her 4th year in VSSS, but her 2nd year as a principal dancer, while Eloisa was the first to represent the primary students on the main stage with the principal dancers. Both have achieved such great success with VSSS and we are so proud of all they have achieved on this journey! 

 

Our main cast of 15 dancers performing in the Mass Dance section were amazing both on stage and throughout the rehearsal period and journey. Our VSSS dancers performed in the two sold out shows with a combined audience of over 10,000 people, leaving our students excited, proud, and hungry to come back and do it again next year! They gained more than they expected both on and off stage throughout our VSSS journey, and we are so proud of all they have achieved!

A huge THANK YOU to our teachers Danielle Colling and Katie Colling for all their hard work and dedication also, and to the supporting staff, parents and Saltwater community for your support throughout also! You are a part of this team and we have been proud to share this with you all. Congratulations again to both our Wakakirri and VSSS students and staff on an amazing journey this year! :)