What's Happening in the Senior School

Year 5

What’s Happening in Year 5 in June

Hi Year 5 community, we hope everyone is enjoying term 2.

Year 5 had the pleasure of being hosts for the 2026 Grandparents day here at BPS. It was a fantastic day, with our Year 5 students performing two songs in front of the whole school community, to help represent our appreciation to all grandparents out there. This was followed by activities in the classroom, with the day being a great experience. We hope everyone enjoyed the day as much as we did.

BPS also held our cross country, with the weather putting on a show for us. All students should be proud of their efforts as everyone had a go at the 3km track out at Dendy Park. We had 12 students then compete the following week in District, once again representing our school with pride. Congratulations to all that competed!

All year 5’s will be continuing their leadership workshops starting with the Grade 2’s starting on Monday in week 7. The leadership workshops include Art, Sport, Digital technology, sustainability and our Upstanders Program.

Wellbeing

Explore the links between their emotions and their behaviour
Reflect on how personal strengths have assisted in achieving success at home, at school or in the community

Literacy

Understand how noun groups/phrases and adjective groups/phrases can be expanded in a variety of ways to provide a fuller description of the person, place, thing or idea
Understand the use of vocabulary to express greater precision of meaning, and know that words can have different meanings in different contexts
Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print and multimodal texts, choosing text structures, language features, images and sound appropriate to purpose and audience
Reread and edit own and others’ work using agreed criteria for text structures and language features
Develop a handwriting style that is becoming legible, fluent and automatic
Understand how to use banks of known words, syllabification, spelling patterns, word origins, base words, prefixes and suffixes, to spell new words, including some uncommon plurals
Read and complete associated activities with our class novels Black Cockatoo and Dirrarn

Maths

Students will be completing Shape and Decimals for the remainder of term 2. This will include:

designing and constructing exact nets for packaging particular-shaped items or collections of interest, taking into consideration how the faces will be joined and how the package will be opened
visualising folding some possible nets for a range of prisms and pyramids, predicting which will work and which cannot work, and justifying their choices, based on the number, size and position of particular shapes in each diagram
sketching nets for a range of prisms and pyramids considering the number, shape and placement of the faces, and testing by cutting and folding
investigating objects designed and developed by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples, such as those used in fish traps and instructive toys, identifying the shape and relative position of each face to determine the net of the object
applying estimation strategies to addition and subtraction of decimals to at least thousandths before calculating answers or when a situation requires just an estimation
applying whole-number strategies; for example, using basic facts, place value, partitioning and the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction, and properties of operations to develop meaningful mental strategies for addition and subtraction of decimal numbers to at least hundredths
working additively with linear measurements expressed as decimals up to 2 and 3 decimal places; for example, calculating how far off the world record the athletes were at the last Olympic Games in the women’s long jump or shot-put and comparing school records to the Olympic records
deciding to use a calculator as a calculation strategy for solving additive problems involving decimals that vary in their number of decimal places beyond hundredths; for example, 1.0 − 0.0035 or 2.345 + 1.4999

Knowledge Unit

Use geographical tools to identify the relative location of the major countries of North America and Europe and their environmental characteristics. 
Understand the influence of people on environmental characteristics
Describe Australia’s place in the world using maps, globes and digital tools
Understand the influence of First Nations Australians on the characteristics of a place.
Identify traditional land management practices and their sustainability.

Year 6

What’s Happening in Year 6 in June

It has been a busy and productive time in Year 6! Our recent Cross-Country event was a highlight, and we were incredibly proud of the determination and effort shown by all students who participated. Equally impressive was the spirit displayed by those cheering on their peers, as well as the leadership shown by our House Captains who supported younger students in running activities. Congratulations to those who progressed to District, we were proud of the way you represented our school.

We also hope all of our Year 6 mums enjoyed a wonderful Mother’s Day. It was so special to welcome many of you into our classrooms for our M&M (Mum and Me) Moment. More recently, we loved hosting our Grandparents and Special Persons Morning and appreciated the opportunity to share our learning space with such important people in our students’ lives.

Alongside these special events, students have been engaging in challenging Maths tasks and continuing to strengthen their spelling skills through the Word Origins program.

Excitement is also building as students step into their roles for the Year 6 musical- practising dances, learning lines, and refining their performances. We can’t wait to see it all come together!

Wellbeing

Students recently participated in the ThinkUKnow Program, where local police spoke about safe online communication and interactions. It was an informative session, with many thoughtful questions raised by students.

As part of National Reconciliation Week (27 May – 3 June), students are engaging in activities to deepen their understanding of Australia’s shared history and the importance of reconciliation.

Another highlight was spending time with their Prep buddies during a fun and collaborative scavenger hunt.

Literacy

Students have been captivated by our class novel Number the Stars, often expressing disappointment when we reach the end of a chapter. This unit has provided valuable insight into historical events while exploring themes of bravery and loyalty. Students have been developing their descriptive writing skills through the use of strong verbs and sensory imagery. Soon, they will begin drafting persuasive speeches as part of their Civics & Citizenship unit.

Maths

We have been exploring the place value of decimal numbers. One of the games we have enjoyed is Decimal Pickle- ask your child to teach you how to play at home! You only need a deck of cards. Over the coming weeks, students will explore probability and number patterns, while continuing to build their individual number fluency through daily practice.

Knowledge Unit – Civics & Citizenship

Students are learning about the three levels of government in Australia- federal, state, and local- and the role each plays in governing the country. They are also exploring how laws are proposed, debated, and passed in Parliament.

Looking ahead, students will begin writing speeches on issues they are passionate about, focusing on changes they would like to see in their communities or the wider world. Students will have the opportunity to submit their speeches to the Raise Our Voice campaign as part of Youth Voice in Parliament Week, where selected speeches may be presented in Federal Parliament.

Homework

Students are expected to read for a minimum of 15-30 minutes, five times a week, to improve their reading skills. Additionally, those who have purchased a subscription will receive Mathletics tasks to reinforce and build on their mathematical knowledge.

Reminders

* Please discuss with your child the importance of riding safely to and from school. Complaints have been made by members of our local community and safety is a non-negotiable.

Friday 5th June – Curriculum Day
Monday 8th June - King's Birthday Public Holiday – no school
Wednesday 11th June- Grade 5 & 6 Cake Bake Competition
Friday 26th June- Last Day of Term, 2:30pm finish