Green Thumbs and Cooking Crew

Green Thumbs and Cooking Crew Delight with Broccoli Mac and Cheese

On Friday, 20th February, the Green Thumbs and Cooking Crew worked together to prepare a delicious broccoli mac and cheese. The meal was a huge hit, with many students returning for seconds—and even thirds!

The Green Thumbs began by harvesting fresh broccoli, silver beet, and parsley from the garden. After delivering the produce to the Cooking Crew, they returned to the garden to add compost around the strawberry plants, helping to improve the soil and retain moisture.

Meanwhile, the Cooking Crew chopped the broccoli and silver beet to add to the boiling pasta. They prepared a creamy cheesy white sauce, which was combined with the pasta and greens before being garnished with fresh parsley.

Students gathered around the table to enjoy the meal together, sharing their favourite parts—most agreed it was simply the joy of eating such a tasty dish!

Questacon Science Circus - Student Recounts

Exciting Collaborative Events with Woolbrook, Yarrowitch, Kentucky, and Kingstown

Recently, our students had the wonderful opportunity to join forces with students from Woolbrook, Yarrowitch, Kentucky, and Kingstown for two fantastic events that brought lots of fun, learning, and teamwork.

The first highlight was the Questacon Science Circus experience. Students from all schools gathered to participate in this interactive and educational workshop hosted by Questacon. It was a fantastic chance to connect with peers from neighbouring communities.

Following this, our students competed in combined team sports events featuring T-ball and netball. These friendly matches encouraged teamwork, sportsmanship, and healthy competition across the schools. Everyone enjoyed the challenge of working together in mixed teams, making new friends, and improving their skills in both sports.

We congratulate all students for their enthusiasm and positive spirit during these combined events. Experiences like these strengthen community ties and create lasting memories for everyone involved. We look forward to more exciting collaborations in the future!

Celebrating Our Students’ Amazing Writing Progress

I am delighted to share with our school community the tremendous progress our students have been making in their writing skills. It has been a joy to witness their creativity and growing confidence as they explore different ways of expressing themselves through words.

One of the highlights recently was our writing project where students practiced writing from different perspectives. This gave them a chance to step into other shoes—or other voices! The students did a terrific job imagining and writing from the perspectives of various characters and objects. My personal favourite were the wonderful stories written “as told by” Russell, Mrs Crawford’s pet Labrador, who visited the school to meet all the children. It was entertaining to see how the students brought Russell’s playful and curious personality to life through their writing.

Alongside this, the students have been working hard on their descriptive writing. They have been practising the use of rich adjectives and sensory details to bring their stories and descriptions to life. Features of descriptive writing taught and used across Early Stage 1, Stage 1, and Stage 2 include:

Using adjectives to describe nouns (for example, "fluffy puppy" or "bright, sunny day")
Incorporating sensory language, such as sounds, smells, textures, and tastes, to help readers imagine the scene
Writing simple and compound sentences that smoothly describe people, places, or objects
Building vocabulary through word choices that paint a clear picture in the reader’s mind
Organising ideas clearly with a beginning, middle, and end

Students have shown increasing skill in applying these techniques in their writing tasks, creating vivid, engaging stories and descriptions that showcase their growing knowledge and imagination.

We are proud of all our students’ achievements and will continue to encourage and support their writing journey. Thank you to all families for your ongoing support—together, we are nurturing the next generation of confident and creative writers!

Green Thumbs and Cooking Crew

Green Thumbs and Cooking Crew Create Delicious Cabbage Fritters

On Friday, 6th March, our Green Thumbs Gardening Team and Cooking Crew collaborated to make delicious and easy cabbage fritters. The gardeners harvested fresh vegetables from the school garden, including parsley, one cherry tomato, and three cabbages, which were then passed on to the Cooking Crew. Using these fresh ingredients, the Cooking Crew prepared tasty fritters for everyone to enjoy.

Six students loved the fritters and described them as very delicious, while five others gave them a try but didn’t enjoy them as much. Overall, students are really enjoying the combined gardening and cooking experience, which takes place every second Friday.

We look forward to many more fun and tasty sessions ahead!

Our learning in Science and Technology this term has been a real hoot! If I do say so myself. The student’s enthusiasm and engagement in searching for and identifying our endemic avian species, (commonly known as our local birds) have been outstanding. Each week we have been active listeners and observers in our school grounds, which has allowed us to record twelve species so far. We have learnt that birds have better vision than humans but poorer hearing due to our evolutionary journey. Students have also chosen a bird for their project and begun researching. To take you on our learning journey, students will be writing a bird profile in our regular newsletter allowing you to also become familiar with the birds found in our local area. This week, I will get the ball rolling with the Red Wattlebird, which we spotted in one of our large gum trees near the tennis court. More information regarding Australian bird species can be found at the following reputable websites,

https://australian.museum/learn/animals/birds/

https://birdlife.org.au/bird-profiles/

https://backyardbuddies.org.au/explore/birds/

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