Year Level
Prep		This week, the Prep students shared all the amazing work that they have completed during Term 2 with their parents and families at our Exhibition of Learning. There was much excitement as they shared their reports of their chosen native Australian animal. It was wonderful to see their confidence as they read and explained the information they had gathered for their posters. (Please see the photos below) The students also shared their learning across other areas and proudly read their writing and shared their maths skills and knowledge. Thank you to all of our families for your ongoing support during this term. We look forward to working with you in Term 3 as we continue to nurture and encourage your children on their learning journey in Prep.
Year 1		On Monday, the Year 1 students thoroughly enjoyed our excursion to the Melbourne Zoo. This encompassed all of our learning during this term, including: learning about animals and their features and habitats during our Inquiry lessons writing an informative text about a chosen animal in our Writing lessons exploring and developing an appreciation for God’s creation in our Religion lessons During our excursion, the students excitedly explored the different animal enclosures, listened to the presentation about giraffes and participated in a workshop exploring the features and adaptations of different animals. As we conclude another busy term, the students should feel very proud of all their hard work this term. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday break and look forward to another exciting term ahead.
Year 2		This week, our Year 2 students enjoyed a fantastic excursion to the Melbourne Zoo! Their behaviour was wonderful and they were excited to spot so many animals throughout the day. We hope you’ve had a chance to look at the wonderful photos shared on Seesaw. A big thank you to the parents who were able to join us, your support and willingness to spend the day with us is appreciated. Over the past fortnight, the students have been enjoying our measurement unit, exploring length, mass and capacity through lots of hands‑on activities and experiments. In writing, we’ve been learning how to turn statements into questions and how to strengthen our sentences by using conjunctions. Thank you for another wonderful term. We wish all families a restful and enjoyable holiday break.
Year 3		As we wrap up another wonderful term in Year Three, the students have been busy engaging in a range of exciting learning experiences. In Science, we have had lots of fun exploring the properties of rocks. Students enjoyed bringing in rocks from home and investigating and classifying them according to their different characteristics. In Literacy, we created some fantastic poetry and were introduced to the classic poem, The Man from Snowy River by Banjo Paterson. Students enjoyed exploring the language and imagery used in this iconic Australian poem. In Mathematics, we completed our work on Data Representation by creating and interpreting graphs, demonstrating our growing confidence in presenting information clearly. In Religion, we have been learning about Saint Vincent de Paul, the patron saint of charitable societies. Through our studies, students have explored the importance of compassion, service, and helping those in need. It has been an amazing term filled with learning, growth and achievement. We thank all families for their ongoing support and wish everyone a safe, restful and enjoyable holiday break.
Year 4		Year 4 have had a very busy and exciting fortnight as we wrapped up Term 2. We have finished reading The Witches by Roald Dahl and explored instructional writing by creating our own potion recipes, carefully writing clear and detailed steps. We then enjoyed watching scenes from the film adaptation and comparing the similarities and differences between the book and the movie. In Religious Education, Year 4 proudly celebrated the Sacrament of First Holy Communion. Our students represented themselves beautifully, speaking with confidence and reverence at the lectern in front of staff, families and parish members. We are incredibly proud of all the hard work Year 4 have shown this term and wish everyone a safe, happy and well-deserved holiday break.
Year 5		This week, our Year 5 students enjoyed a wonderful Performing Arts excursion to Kilbreda College to watch The Addams Family. The students thoroughly enjoyed the performance and represented Stella Maris beautifully throughout the day. Over the past fortnight in Mathematics, students have been exploring 2D shape through engaging activities involving reflection, rotation and translation. They have also been developing their understanding of 12- and 24-hour time by reading and interpreting timetables and schedules. In Inquiry, students have been working collaboratively as scientists while investigating solids, liquids and gases. In groups, they planned and conducted their own experiments by gathering equipment and resources, writing a method, identifying variables, recording observations and analysing their results. Students then presented their findings to the class, demonstrating excellent teamwork and scientific thinking. I hope you enjoyed viewing the photos shared on Seesaw. Thank you for another great term! Have a safe, restful and enjoyable holiday break.
Year 6		As we come to the end of another busy term in Year 6, we are proud of all the learning and achievements of our students. In Literacy, students completed and published their personal responses to Free Diving. In Mathematics, they have been exploring probability and applied their understanding to real-world situations. In Inquiry, students enjoyed carrying out science experiments, carefully observing and recording changes before sharing their findings with the class. We also had a fantastic day at the Lightning Premiership, which marked the end of interschool sport for the year. It was great to see students showing teamwork, sportsmanship and enthusiasm throughout the day.
Specialists	STEM:	Our Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 students are nearing completion of their Bee-Bot Maps. They have been working collaboratively in teams to design, create and refine their maps, demonstrating excellent teamwork and problem-solving skills along the way. Their hard work is paying off, and the finished products are looking incredible! In Year 3, students have been creating their own Ozobot Paths, putting everything they have learned this term into practice. Using a rubric to guide their work, students are ensuring they meet specific criteria, including creating a path that their Ozobot can successfully follow from start to finish without errors, incorporating at least five colour codes, and including two intersections. Students have been regularly testing and refining their paths to ensure they work correctly. Through this process, they are learning an important lesson about coding: even the smallest error can affect the outcome, so careful testing and attention to detail are essential. Students in Years 4, 5 and 6 are busily coding away in Scratch as they move closer to completing their game design projects. They are using a rubric to help guide their progress and understand the requirements for achieving their desired grade. Criteria include ensuring that sprites, backgrounds, sounds and animations effectively support the game, as well as thoroughly testing their projects and fixing any bugs they encounter. Students are developing resilience and perseverance as they learn that coding requires precision, there is no room for 'close enough' when creating a successful program!
	Italian:	The Prep students have enthusiastically begun learning to count to 10 in Italian! They have enjoyed practising their numbers through games such as Tombola (Italian Bingo), making learning both fun and engaging. This week, the students explored ELLA App 3, where they continued to build their confidence with numbers through exciting interactive activities set at a birthday party. It has been wonderful to see their enthusiasm as they play and count in Italian! The Year 1 and 2 students have enjoyed sharing their learning by reading aloud the sentences they have written in Italian. Each student confidently told the class about the foods they eat at different meals, showcasing their growing vocabulary. To further develop their understanding of food-related words, the students have been exploring ELLA Apps 4 and 9. They enthusiastically completed a range of fun and interactive activities, including choosing the correct ingredients to make fruit juices for different characters. The Year 3 and 4 students have been completing their Seesaw recordings of a role play where the characters talk about food. Each group has worked cooperatively, taking on the different roles and practising their pronunciation of the Italian words to ensure the best possible performance. As groups finish their recordings, students have been consolidating their learning through a revision activity designed to strengthen their knowledge and understanding of Italian food. To consolidate their learning the Year 5 and 6 students have read and translated a role play about going to the doctors. The students reflected on their progress as they identified familiar words and phrases they have learnt thus far. They have worked in groups and brought the characters to life as they read and acted out the play.
	Performing Arts:	Year 1 and 2 students have joyfully concluded their Folk Dance unit by learning two traditional dances from Europe. They enjoyed mastering the lively French dance The Chimes of Dunkirk and the English King and Queen Folkdance. Through these dances, students experienced the fun of moving together while discovering how dance traditions have been shared across generations and cultures. Year 3 and 4 students have completed their exploration of dances from our cultural heritage by discovering traditional dances from South Africa, the Netherlands and Canada. They also learned about how Aboriginal dances can imitate the movements of animals and enjoyed recreating some of these expressive movements themselves. To finish the term on a high note, the classes celebrated with a lively ‘dance party’, joining in with popular group dances that many Australians have experienced at parties and social gatherings, including the Nutbush and the Heel and Toe Polka. It was a fun and energetic way to celebrate the rich variety of dance traditions and styles they have explored throughout the term. Year 5 and 6 students have wrapped up their exciting journey through popular dance styles across the decades by exploring the music and moves of the 1990s and 2000s. Working collaboratively in groups, students selected 3–4 iconic 90s hip-hop moves and choreographed their own short routines to songs from the era, showcasing their creativity and teamwork. This week, students stepped into the 21st century as they were each assigned a dance move from the years 2000–2019 and confidently demonstrated it to the class, highlighting how dance trends have continued to evolve over time.
	PE:	The Year 5 and 6 students finished the semester with two action packed Fridays. On June 12 they went to Waverley Basketball Stadium to compete in Hoop Time - a statewide primary school competition run by Basketball Victoria. We entered 3 teams with 2 of them playing Grand Finals and the other only just missing out. Our students played hard, demonstrated amazing ball skills and team work and most importantly showed great team spirit and sportsmanship. Unfortunately, we didn’t take home winners' medals but the day was a fun and exciting way to practise the skills developed during PE lessons. The following Friday they were joined by the Year 4 students to play in the Interschool Sports Lightning Premierships. All our teams; Netball, Softball, Soccer and AFL Football had great results with a mix of wins, draws and some losses. They played for each other, showed resilience and support of their team mates and had a fun day. Congratulations to our AFL team on finishing 1st in their pool and progressing to the Division Finals next term. The Years 3 and 4 students are excitedly awaiting their turn to play basketball at Hoop Time early next term. They have spent the past couple weeks refining and developing their basketball skills whilst becoming familiar with the rules. The improvement in their team work and confidence as they play and practise against each other has been outstanding. The Prep, 1 and 2 classes have also worked on developing ball skills with a focus on catching, passing and bouncing. All students know that when dribbling the ball the emphasis is on control before speed which they are all working well on. Students have also participated in many games and challenges which helped to develop their fundamental movement skills while having heaps of fun.
	Art:	Art Show News: Our Art Show will take place in Term 3 on Wednesday, 1 September - a date to remember!

Prep Exhibition of Learning Photos

Staff Profile of the Week