PRIMARY (F-6)

School Leaders Report - Kara

We’re back!! 

I hope everyone was able to enjoy some downtime over the school holidays and extended break. Taking time out to do the things that make you feel happy and maybe giving something new a go, challenging yourself or hopping out of your comfort zone. We ask that of our kids very often so it’s always good to give ourselves the same challenge every now and then.

Staff spent the three days between Easter Monday and ANZAC Day deeply involved in professional development as part of the Magnify Sandhurst implementation. All Catholic schools in the Sandhurst Diocese engaged in the same learning at their own schools. Some key takeaways for staff included;

• Brain development
• Concentration
• Memory

Staff learnt some of the reasons and causes of cognitive overload, why students retain some information and not other information, tips and tricks to chunk learning and transfer from one setting to another.

Our term is looking exciting with activities and events coming up, please keep your eye on the calendar for the most up to date list.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mother’s and mother figures in our community. I hope the day is an acknowledgement of all you do for your children and time to reflect on the importance of you and what you do for others!

Students, staff and families gathered for the first Primary Assembly for Term 2, once again, being ran by the Year 6 students.

It is fantastic to witness the confidence in the Year 6 students as they address the audience. 

Each assembly the students reflect on one of St Anne’s College’s values and this week the focus was on ‘Respect Everyone and Everything’. The students demonstrated the value in action with short videos.

Year 4 student Jorja Neff received the ‘Community in Action’ award for her amazing work knitting beanies for the homeless. You may have already seen Jorja’s efforts on Facebook where she donated the beanies to local charity through Azem Almaz. We are so proud of Jorja for her generosity and compassion to those in need!  

Foundation

Foundation students have enjoyed re-connecting with friends and sharing stories about their holidays. The children have all settled back into the routines easily and it is terrific to see them happy and relaxed.

Foundation students are continuing to learn new letters and sounds of the alphabet and to blend sounds to read and write words. 

Students have a Term 2 reading diary where they record the books they read at home. There are also useful tips to help with home reading.

We were excited to meet up with our Buddies this week and they helped us make a card for our Mums.

Udderly Adorable Foundation Inquiry

Nikea's adorable Foundation students have inquired into the process products go through before consumption. This week students learnt about how milk comes from a cow and the process milk goes through before it arrives at the supermarket.

Turning cream into butter

Using a just tub of cream, a mason jar and the power of the Foundation students - butter was created from scratch! 

Foundation students learned just how easy it was to change a dairy product simply by shaking the mason jar. The children eagerly watched on as the cream changed from thickened cream to a deliciously smooth and creamy butter as they continued to take it in turns to shake. 

The students got to taste their efforts enjoying crackers with their homemade butter with many children enjoying the flavour! 

Year 1

This week in Inquiry, we took a trip to Lowana Park Playground with our Grade Two buddies. Students explored the environment, identifying various materials and discussing their uses and what they are made from. It was a fun and hands-on way to deepen their understanding of materials in the world around them.

We had a wonderful morning celebrating the special women in our students' lives. The morning was filled with joy, meaningful connections, and appreciation as we welcomed these special women into our classroom.

Year 2

In Literacy this fortnight, students have been learning the /ar/ sound as in star and revising the grapheme <y> and the different sounds it can make. They also learnt another spelling rule - doubling the final consonant when adding -ing and worked on making text-to-self and text-to-text connections to deepen their comprehension.

In Maths, we have begun our Addition and Subtraction unit, focusing on the bridging to 10 strategy to help solve problems that cross a decade. Students have also been practising their basic number fact recall, with a focus on bonds to ten.

During Inquiry this week, we visited Lowana Park Playground with our Grade 1 buddies. Students were given the opportunity to identify different materials in the environment and discuss their purposes and what they’re made of. 

Year 3/4

Home Reading Folder

Home reading is an important part of your child’s learning, helping to build confidence, fluency, and a love of reading. We encourage all students to read at home every night and record their reading in their Home Reader booklet. Please ensure your child brings their booklet and reading folder to school each day so we can celebrate their progress together!

Literacy

The Year 3/4 children have been enjoying the book Off We Go Around Australia, exploring the unique landmarks and wildlife of each state and territory. They have been discussing the features of an explanatory text and learning new facts along the way. This week, they have begun writing their own explanation texts on how waterfalls are formed.

Mathematics 

In Mathematics, the Year 3/4 children have been learning the basics of fractions, focusing on understanding equal parts and recognising simple fractions like halves, quarters, and thirds. They have also learnt how to count in fractions. 

Religion: 

In Religious Education, the Year 3/4 children have been learning about Pentecost by reading Acts 2:1–4. They completed a scripture analysis, identifying the characters, what happened in the story, the symbols of the Holy Spirit, and their own feelings and reflections. 

Year 5

Interschool Cross Country

Our Year 5/6 cohort competed in the Interschool Cross Country event at Princess Park where they completed a 3km course. Well done to Bella on coming second in her division.

The year 6 girls were the first team to finish with the most participants.

Congratulations to all students for their participation.

Skyscraper Maths

Last week Year 1 SS came to spend some time with us. We learnt about buildings, structures and how shapes are used to create stability in buildings. 

We used the words foundations, beams, height, stability, we learnt about how shapes can withstand different forces (like wind) in different ways, and why engineers and designers use specific shapes in certain places of their structures.

We focussed on The Shard. Looking at it’s height and how it can be so tall. Why it is triangular in shape, and how the materials of the building are supported through the foundations underground.

Together we worked collaboratively to build the tallest free standing tower! Kara helped measure the towers. There were some very creative designs, and many that used our learning about shapes and forces in their tower.

The tallest tower was over 1m tall! It stood up all on it’s own.

Year 6

On Wednesday the 7th of May, the Year 5/6 students did cross-country at Princess Park. 

The red 12 yr old girls team had gotten a flag for the first five members of that section to cross the finish line. Bella Lahm had gotten second place for the blue 12 yr old girls team.

By Lara Stevens

Year 6 Inquiry

How We Express Ourselves: Communities are connected through digital systems

Heli, Bella and Sydney

In Inquiry we have been learning about digital communication. We made a YouTube short about art.

Lucy, Eadi and Ciara

For our inquiry project we made a YouTube video and set it up like it was actually on YouTube. Our favourite part was the front page where the video was set up because we made it look really good like a real YouTube set up.

Gianluca, Sahaj and Hassan

In Inquiry we have been doing a podcast/interview. Our podcast is to entertain people and make them laugh. It is also about football/soccer and a rising player called Sahajdeep Sidhu (made up).

Jett, Ahmad, Parm

In Inquiry we did a podcast about gaming. Jett and Ahmad were the podcast owners and Parm was the guest.

Bharpur, Navi and Kehar

In Inquiry we made a video on tips for soccer if you’re a beginner. In the video we show how to do a bicycle kick which is an acrobatic kick shown in the picture. We also show normal tips like passing and shooting.

Eleina, Avaya and Olivia 

In Inquiry we made a sports podcast, interviewing three special guests. We interviewed our teachers, Ivy, Ryleigh and Connor. Ivy was our basketball player, Ryleigh was our football guest, and Connor was our soccer star. 

Karamveer, Xavier and Smile

We were talking to people about the interesting facts of soccer.

Matilda and Izzy

Our podcast is about the Carlton AFL team and the importance of digital communication. Our purpose was to change the listeners minds about AFL teams and to listen to fun and entertaining news.

Millie and Jemma

We made an iMovie Luke Combs mashup of our favourite song lyrics. It was really fun to make and share with the class. It was fun to find someone else who shares a common interest.

Maanvir, Ekam, Ryan and Kaden

We made a YouTube video about a game that two people created. The name of it was REMFC. We added more description about the game in the video.

Henry, Luke, Jack and Josie

We were all in a game show called Game-Show Bros. We play games and ask game related questions. It’s for content and to entertain. We even had a bonus round. It was fun and we would do it again.

Zander, Lucas and Seamus

In our project we made a podcast about sports, we included news about Laliga Soccer League, Asia World Cup qualifiers soccer and AFL Australian Football League. We added lots of jokes and had a lot of fun recording.

Specialist

Italian 

Foundation

This term we have been learning about animals and what they are called in Italian such as orso which means bear and gatto which means cat. The Foundation students were also excited to make special Mother’s Day cards and wrote a special message in Italian.

Year 1

This term, the Year 1 students have been exploring the topic Famiglia e io (Family and me) in Italian. So far they have learnt how to pronounce the names of each family member and began practicing their speaking skills through engaging activities. To celebrate Mother's Day, the children have also created some special surprises to give to their loved ones. 

Year 2

The focus for Year 2 Italian this term has been La mia giornata (my day), where the students have been learning to recall the days of the week and parts of the day. 

Year 3/4

This term we have been building on our adjective vocabulary so that students can better describe objects and people e.g. 'alto' which means tall, 'bella' means beautiful and 'forte which means strong. The Year 3/4 students were also excited to create Mother’s Day cards.

Year 5

This term’s topic is all about belongings with a focus on masculine/feminine nouns and how to change a noun from a singular to a plural. 

Year 6

The topic for Term 2 is all about school life in Italy compared to Australia. The Year 6 students have already learned that in Italy the typical school day begins at 8am and that everyone goes to school or work on Saturday, leaving only Sunday for their weekend.

Art

Foundation

This term we have been learning all about Autumn, students went outside to study the colours they see in nature at this time of year and and to collect leaves for their etchings. Using a variety of autumnal colours, students etched beautiful leaf pictures. We also had fun making special Mother’s Day presents using paint to create handprints on shrink plastic to become keychains.

Year 1 

This term in Visual Arts, the Year 1 students are exploring Nature in Art. They are learning how natural materials can be inspired to create beautiful work. This week the students worked with clay and used real leaves to create beautiful prints. They enjoyed pressing the leaves in the clay to then peel off and reveal an amazing print.  

Year 2

This term the Year 2 students are diving into the topic of Exploring Materials and Techniques. To begin their journey they used the material of clay. Students had the opportunity to mold, shape and use tools to create a clay hand tray. This hands-on experience allowed them to feel the texture and build on their creative expression. 

Year 3/4 

As we are so close to Mother’s Day, the Year 3/4 students have been using polymer clay and beads to create pieces of jewellery as gifts for their mums. The focus for the rest of this term will be on famous pop artist Roy Lichtenstien which will see students create their own pop art. 

We are very proud of Year 4 student Jorja Neff who has received a 'Community In Action' award for her compassion and creativity in supporting a local cause and knitting beanies for the homeless.

We remind all that the college opens at 8:30am. This enables educators time to prepare for their day ahead. We appreciate your support in helping our educators be successful. Yard duty staff begin at 8:30am to monitor play spaces before the school day begins at 8:55am.

Upcoming Dates

Please refer to the calendar on PAM for upcoming dates for activities and events.