Year Level News

Including Specialist Subjects

Upcoming Excursions and Incursions

Please ensure you have processed all consents and payments on your Compass portal to guarantee your child's participation in all upcoming incursions and excursions.

Please also ensure 2026 Permissions and Agreements have been processed to include permission for local excursion, photography permission, and ICT agreements.

Foundation News

What a busy two weeks we have had in Foundation, filled with fun and learning!

Maths has been lots of fun! We have been exploring measurement by weighing and comparing items, thinking about things that hold more or less, are longer or shorter, and comparing heavier and lighter objects. We have also been experimenting with balance and hefting.

Literacy has been busy too! We have been learning about digraphs — two letters that work together to make one sound, such as ch, sh and ck. We have been building words, reading decodable words, sentences and books, and completing lots of dictation to practise our new learning.

We have also been writing weekend recounts and learning to add more detail and use conjunctions (joining words) to connect our ideas. We have recently started exploring the three parts of a narrative: the beginning, middle, and ending. Our 'Star of the Week' interviews and book sharing continue to be a wonderful way to encourage writing.

In Health, we have been learning about keeping our bodies safe and identifying our trusted adults. We have practised the important steps No, Go and Tell — saying “No”, moving away to somewhere safe, and telling a trusted adult if something makes us feel unsafe or uncomfortable.

Year 1 News

Year 1 Celebration of Learning

On Thursday 13th August, our Year 1 students celebrated reaching the halfway mark of the school year with a special Celebration of Learning! The day was an opportunity to celebrate the wonderful learning and hard work the students have been doing, particularly our learning around celebrations and commemorations. We were so excited to welcome parents, siblings, grandparents, and loved ones into our classrooms to share in this special occasion.

Together, we listened to the beautiful story Little Glow by Katie Sahota before creating our own special pieces of writing and artwork about a favourite celebration or family tradition. It was a lovely morning filled with painting and writing, and it was particularly special to see our students enjoy this experience alongside their loved ones. Thank you to all of our families and loved ones who joined us and helped make the morning so meaningful for our Year 1 students!

Year 4 News

Inspiring Visit from Ryley Rametta

Students recently enjoyed a special visit from Victorian Institute of Sport judo athlete Ryley Rametta, who shared her sporting journey and inspired students with her message of perseverance and determination.

Ryley had students up and moving as she demonstrated a range of judo techniques and invited volunteers to help showcase some of her impressive moves. The hands-on session was both exciting and educational, with students enthusiastically participating throughout. She also passed around her judo uniform, and many students were surprised by just how heavy it was, giving them a greater appreciation of the strength and skill required in the sport.

During her presentation, Ryley spoke openly about the challenges she has faced in her career, including an injury that prevented her from competing at the most recent Commonwealth Games. She explained that while this setback was disappointing, it has not deterred her from pursuing her goals. Her positive attitude and resilience provided a powerful reminder that challenges can be overcome with hard work, determination, and a strong mindset.

A Special Visit from Zeno Sworder

On Tuesday 11th August, our Year 4 students were excited to welcome award-winning writer, artist, and children’s book creator Zeno Sworder to our school!

This term, students have been studying Zeno’s beautiful book My Strange Shrinking Parents, exploring themes of migration and immigration through the eyes of a child. This connects closely with our Knowledge Building Unit on identity, diversity, and belonging.

Zeno shared stories about growing up with migrant parents and how his own experiences inspired him to become a writer and create stories for children. He also spoke about his journey as an artist and how writing, drawing, and storytelling can be used to share personal experiences and connect with others.

Students loved hearing about Zeno’s creative journey and asking questions about his books, artwork, and experiences. It was a wonderful opportunity to bring our classroom learning to life and see how real experiences can inspire powerful stories.

A huge thank you to Zeno for sharing his time, stories, and creativity with our

students!

Year 6 News

History in Year 6

Our Year 6 students have been exploring Australia’s history from 1900-today this term, as part of our Knowledge Building unit. We’ve been diving into each decade from 1900 to the present day, and right now, we’re focusing specifically on the events of World War II and its impact on Australia.

As part of this unit, we had an engaging excursion to the movies to watch The Book Thief, a wonderful film set during World War II. This gave the students a vivid and relatable insight into the era. Back in the classroom, we used our iPads to dive deeper into research about the events of WW2, which countries were involved, and the impact this had on shaping Australia. Each student then wrote their findings into a clear information report and eventually into a creative poster.

The students worked extremely hard on this project. Check out some images of the amazing posters below!

STEM News

2026 STEM Challenge - Seeds of Science

A huge thank you to all the students who took part in our 2026 STEM Challenge as part of Science Week! This year’s 'Seeds of Science' theme inspired an incredible range of creative projects, from terrariums and seed art, to growing experiments, plant investigations, and informative posters.

It was fantastic to see students exploring how plants grow, experimenting with different seeds, and sharing their learning in so many different ways. The time, creativity, and care that went into each project was wonderful to see.

The display inside the STEM room has been a great way to celebrate everyone’s work, with students and staff stopping to have a look at the amazing projects.

Well done to all of our budding botanists. You should be very proud of your work!

PE/Sport News

Williamstown District Athletics Carnival 2026

On Wednesday 12th August, fifty-five students from Years 3 to 6 went to the Newport Park Athletics Track to participate in the 2026 District Athletics Carnival. The students who went along had qualified for the event after performing well in the school’s athletics carnival held in Term Two.

After an exciting day of competition, our school was able to finish in first place overall and win the District Shield for the first time. We are all so proud of our students who participated on the day, not only by their performances, but also in the way they conducted themselves and displayed our school values. This was highlighted fantastically well by Angus M in Year 5, who went and shook hands and offered supportive words with every opponent after his victory in the 100m. Well done Angus!

Many of the students who participated on the day have now qualified for the Division Athletics Carnival, which is due to take place at the same venue on Thursday 10th September. More information about this event will be sent home to families in the not-too-distant future.

Final Standings:

Newport Lakes 1134.5 points
Newport Gardens 1030
Williamstown PS 1025
Williamstown North 974
Altona PS 958.5
Seaholme 946.5
Sacred Heart 825
St Mary’s 721.5

Art News

Year 6 students learnt about the life and work of famous Australian artist, Pro Hart. We viewed many of his paintings and were inspired to create our own multilayered artworks of a dragonfly. Students used mark making techniques such as creating a wash, splattering, spraying and blowing with straws, finger painting, then outlining using a tomato sauce bottle.

We emailed our artworks to the Pro Hart Gallery in Broken Hill and were thrilled to receive a reply

Hi Lisa and Year 6 students,

What a wonderful inspiration to see so many interpretations of a dragonfly. I wish Mrs Hart was alive to see these works. She would have been delighted! I think they are all fabulous. Well done everyone!