Student Learning

What's been Happening in Foundation L 

This term we welcomed our new students Michelle and Sophie to our class. We have enjoyed getting to know them over the past few weeks. In our morning groups we have focused on working collaboratively, taking turns and sharing with others. Our teacher group have been learning how to play games. Our favourites have been the different versions of Uno as well as Zingo and Headbandz for kids.

In art, we have been experimenting with different printing techniques, including using plastic animals to create animal prints and creating a butterfly using mirror printing with warm and cool colours.

We have enjoyed investigating 2D and 3D shapes in Maths. We have learnt about straight sides and curved sides, points and faces, shapes that roll and shapes that slide. We have sorted into groups and learnt some interesting shape names.

In English we have been busy learning our phonics sounds and writing sentences. We have enjoyed reading some fun picture books and developing skills in recount writing, using 'first', 'next' and 'finally'. 

Our Science study this term is all about living things. We have been observing the features of plants and animals and how they can be grouped. We started our unit off with an amazing trip to the zoo. The perfect winter weather meant many of the animals came out to say hello. 

We looked carefully at the features of plants and created models using plasticene. 

A regular feature of the Foundation classroom each year is the chick hatching program from Henny Penny Hatching. Mike has been bringing this wonderful program to us for over 10 years now and every year is full of excitement and learning. This is a valuable program to our classroom, giving our students a chance to observe daily, the changing features of the chicks as they hatch and grow over the 2 weeks. It was a great chance to compare the difference with our Pilgrim chickens as our classes took responsibility for looking after these too. Many other classes came to visit the chicks, as well as our Belong and Blossom Playgroup families. Wonderful memories were shared of the chicks from when the older students were in Foundation as well as some of the stories of how these chickens have grown in their homes.

Megan Loffler and Lisa Newbury

Foundation Class Teachers

What's been Happening in Year 5/6S 

It has been an incredibly busy start to Term 3 in Year 5/6S. Many of our classes this term are taught specifically to individual year levels due to the content being learnt. This has meant the Year 5s have spent a lot of time learning with Mrs Spencer and Mrs Tretheway. Much of the learning being shared is about the Year 5s across both classes. The Year 6s learning will be shared in a future newsletter item by Miss McKennall and also later in the term, at our shared Year 5/6S and Year 5/6M assembly.

You will read in this newsletter and see photos from Student Led Conferences and our excursion to Cleland Wildlife Park.

In addition to these exciting events, in Literacy, we have been learning how to craft effective Information reports and write Sizzling Starts to hook our readers. Here are some of our introductions;

“Ouch!” Did you know that jellyfish can still sting when they are dead? 

by Evan

A man jumps off a cliff and into a waterfall. Then after a matter of seconds, comes floating back up again? The Waipuhia Falls in Hawaii goes up instead of down, but sometimes it starts going the other way. 

by Hudson

If you happened to come across a male ostrich, and it opened its mouth. What sound would you expect to come out? You will be shocked to hear that it can let out a ferocious lion-like roar! 

by Johnny

Imagine having no eyebrows? That would be crazy! But did you know that the Mona Lisa has no eyebrows? 

by Rafiki

Literacy and Art are interconnected this term as we are going to create class Encyclopedias, complete with realistic ornithological drawings of our chosen Australian bird. We have experimented with different drawing techniques and looked at drawing realistic eyes.

In Maths, the Year 5s have been learning the difference between grid reference systems and grid coordinate systems. It was intriguing to note they are not the same thing, with a grid reference system using letters and numbers to define locations within specific grid squares, whereas a grid coordinate system is more precise and uses ordered pairs to show an exact point on a horizontal and vertical axis.

In Christian Education, while the Year 6s have Leaders Passport with Miss McKennall, the Year 5s have been learning about human rights and injustice. They are about to start looking at injustice in the Bible and will make a podcast we hope to share towards the end of the term.

HASS (formally iUnit) has built on our knowledge from Term 2 of migrants to Australia and the Year 5s are investigating the impact and major changes on our environment, First Nations Australians, convicts and settlers, that came about from establishing British colonies in Australia.

We have been pondering questions such as;

• What if sheep were never introduced to this continent? 
• What if First Nations Country borders had been officially recognised and respected? 
• What if colonial properties were leased or bought from First Nations People in the area?
• What if colonisers had used First Nations farming practices instead of introducing European crops and practices? 
• What if First Nations land rights and spiritual connection to Country were officially protected by the British Crown during the colonial period?

The Year 6s were very fortunate during Buddies to be able to ‘cuddle a chick’. Check out the photos below.

Libby Spencer and Kate Tretheway

Year 5/6 Class Teachers

Year 5/6 Excursion to Cleland Wildlife Park 

In Week 5 the Year 5/6 classes went to Cleland Wildlife Park to learn about some of the native Australian bird species for their Art and English projects. The students are working towards making an information report about their chosen bird, as well as an ornithological drawing to go alongside it. 

The students were excited to see their chosen bird in real life, taking note of their behaviour and appearance for their reports. They took part in an education talk called Brilliant Birds where we learnt about how bird feathers differ depending on their purpose. We were reminded of God's thoughtful and beautiful creation as we roamed the park, being able to see a variety of other Australian animals too. 

Abbey McKennall

Year 5/6 Class Teacher

Flourish Enrichment Activities 

A number of our students enjoyed the recent Flourish lunchtime activities which were Learning to Crochet, Basket Weaving and Posca Pen Art; and Dodgeball will be starting next week. 

NAPLAN 2025

Our Year 3 and 5 NAPLAN results were released earlier this term, and the national and state data recently became available. Whilst recognising that NAPLAN is only a snapshot of student achievement, Pilgrim School’s results have been consistently high historically. This year again, our results compared very favourably to the state and national averages, as you can see in the graphs below. 

Premier's Reading Challenge - Forms are due 5th September 

Time is almost up - Have you handed in your 2025 Premiers Reading Challenge form yet?

Last week we shared a celebration of adventure through National Book Week. It was wonderful to see students from across Campus engage with stories and characters by dressing up and sharing the adventure with their friends and teachers.

Well done to everyone who has completed and handed in their forms for this year’s Challenge. Reading for the Challenge closes on September 5th and all forms must be handed in for you to receive your certificate or medal. If you need help completing your form, please speak to your class teacher or someone from the Inclusive Education Team.

Yiota Chesterfield 

Premier's Reading Challenge Coordinator