PRIMARY SCHOOL

A Message from Head of Primary Mrs Hughes

As always the beginning of the year in the Primary School has started with great enthusiasm! There is a great sense of optimism amongst both the students and staff despite the masks and regular rapid antigen tests. This year in the Primary School we have expanded our leadership team, below I have listed the team and their area of influence;

• Ben Sheahan - Years 5 & 6 Coordinator 
• Paige Cheung - Years 3 & 4 Coordinator 
• Judy Hendricks - Prep to Year 2 Coordinator 
• Shellene Pillifeant - Prep Coordinator 
• Sonia Sires - Primary Wellbeing Coordinator 
• Katelyn Grant - Primary Administrator.

In addition to our amazing homeroom teachers this team are also available for parents to contact if you have any questions. I am blessed to be surrounded by a team with incredible experience and wisdom who above all else love Jesus and serve Him faithfully. 

As a team we made the difficult decision to cancel the Year 6 Canberra trip planned for later this term. The impact of restrictions in the ACT meant that many of the reasons for visiting were not available. The Year 6 students will join the Year 5 camp in Term 2 with an adjusted program to compensate for the repeat destination from 2021 for these students. 

Other than a few delayed excursions, parent information night via Zoom and some sport events the Primary program hasn’t been too affected by COVID restrictions. We are all excited about the reintroduction of assemblies, interschool sport and excursions from this month. 

Later in March we will be having our Parent Teacher Interviews and have decided to do a hybrid version, where parents will be able to have interviews via Zoom or in person so as to accommodate the individual needs of families. We are all looking forward to sharing with you about your children. 

It has been a wonderful start to the year and God has again been ever faithful to us by giving us the wisdom and grace to teach and serve at this beautiful College. 

Yvonne Hughes

Head of Primary

Getting to know Prep P! 

We’ve had a wonderful start to school with our days full of fun learning and exciting activities. Our first days were filled with learning all about St Andrews, getting to know each other and our teachers.  

We have learnt so many things already;

• We can write our own names. 
• We have learnt the letters Aa, Oo, Cc, Tt, Dd, Gg, Ss, Ee and the sounds they make.  
• We have learnt about the numbers 1-5. 
• We have learnt about 2D shapes 
• We have learnt how God created the world in 7 days. 
• We have met our specialist teachers and enjoyed, Music, STEM, Digital Tech, Sport, Art and Chinese. 
• We have learnt about colours.  
• AND MANY MORE THINGS 

Most of all we have loved being at school!

Shellene Pillifeant 

Prep Teacher

Beautiful Buddies in Prep 

One of the exciting things about being a Prep student at St Andrews is meeting special “Buddies”! This year, the Prep children are again blessed to have both Year 6 Buddies and Year 12 Buddies. 

Our Year 12 Buddies visit once a fortnight and we share Devotions together. We love reading Bible Stories and praying together. 

We also spend time with our Year 6 Buddies a few times each term. We enjoy reading together and then have fun outside doing PMP activities. We are thankful to the Year 6 students who set up and run these activities. 

We pray these special times will help our Prep students get to know other students, as they enjoy being part of our St Andrews Community. 

Sonia Sires

Prep S Teacher

22/02/2022 - A Once in a Lifetime Date!

On Tuesday the 22nd of the second month of 2022, we celebrated TWOSday by making TWOSday crowns and looking at the story of Noah's Ark. 

We loved how God called the animals into the ark two by two and learnt that God always keeps His promises. How great is our God!

Gaye Jones & Natalie Nheu

Year 1 Teachers

Passion for Teaching in Christian Education

St Andrews Year 1 Teacher Natalie Nheu, was featured in this weeks Monash Uni Education Alumni 'Why I became a teacher' spotlight. We are so thankful to God for our staff, and the passion they bring to their classrooms teaching at St Andrews and celebrate together with Natalie the joy it is to journey with our students in their learning journey while also sharing the heart of Jesus in all we do.

Super Start to Year 2 in 2022!

The Year 2s have had a great start to the year and have been very busy settling into routine and school. We are so thankful we are able to be at school together learning lots of new things and look forward to a wonderful year ahead.  

Mrs Hendricks, Miss Moss, Mrs Tay and Mr Grant

Year 2 Teachers

Science Bean Plant Experiment  

The Year 2s have had lots of fun in Science this term looking at living & non living things, and the incredible way in which God has created them. To help our understanding of living things and life cycles, we made our very own greenhouses and began a bean experiment to watch how the seed germinates. We can’t wait to see them grow!  

Miss Taylor Moss 

Year 2 Teacher

Students Have Been Busy in Year 3

Year 3 students have had an amazing start to the year. Here are some of the things we have been busy doing: 

• Learning new words in Chinese
• Acting out fun skits in Drama 
• Learning more about God
• Having fun with friends at school 
• Learning to play footy in PE

Year 4 have had a Great Start to the Year. 

We have had a chicken visit and learning about Aboriginal culture and their life. 

We were blessed with such beautiful weather today for our excursion! We had fun learning about some of the tools that Aboriginal people use, using water and ochre rock to make paint and making scent pouches with lemon myrtle leaves. We also had a fantastic time looking at some very interesting native plants and playing in the wading pool. 

Paige Cheung & Gail van Heerden 

Year 4 Teachers

Year 4 Thankfulness

4C students are learning to be thankful in everything.  Here are some of things they are thankful for: 

We are going to practice being thankful at school every day.  Every time someone shares something they are thankful for, we will add a pebble to our Thankfulness Jar. When the jar is full, we will do something as a class to celebrate the fact that we have so much to be thankful for. 

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 

1 Thessalonians 5:18 

Paige Cheung  

Year 4 Teacher

Year 5 

It has been a fantastic start to the school year. The Year 5 teachers have loved getting to know St Andrews and the Year 5 students. Here are a couple of things we’ve done so far:  

In Science, we have been investigating how some animals have physical features which help them survive in their environment. Year 5 students had to test how different kinds of blubber could help an animal endure icy temperatures- who knew ice cubes, water and gloves could be so much fun! 

We’ve also had an author visit our class via zoom- Mark Wilson! Grade 5s have been learning a lot from his books and he was able to divulge his 4 writing tips. We were so happy to learn from a real author! 

Primary Art News

Primary students are learning so much in the art room this year while thoroughly enjoying the process of creating and making! 

Year 1 learnt about fauvism bright colours and textures to paint houses. They then used lines to contrast the shapes on their fabulous fluro paintings. The creation of clay houses followed on from their fauvism house. They completed an earthenware clay rectangular house emphasising texture on them as well as a terracotta Yemen house.

Year 3 students made some striking collages - they painted many textured, warm colour pages before layering them to create a desert collage. Students added natural materials and paper clay black cockatoos.

Year 4 created some vibrant green paintings - these artworks were based on Birrarung (the Yarra River). Students focussed on mixing paints and adding patterns.

Year 6 enjoyed working with plaster making masks based on a famous artist they chose. 

Maria Wheelton  

Art Teacher

Lego Club News

Students were happy to once again join in the Prep to Year 3 Lego Club in Term one! 

Music News! 

Our Music year has started off wonderfully! All our ensembles are up and running, students have begun their instrumental lessons, and it is such a joy to share our musical experiences in the classroom together each week.  

We have 3 featured instruments in our instrumental music program: Cello, Viola, and Ukulele! 

If your child is interested in learning one of these instruments (or any other), please fill in our instrumental music enrolment form and send it in! If your child would still like to join one of our ensembles, then please encourage them to speak to Mrs Ranger or Miss Perera! 

Rachel Ranger

Primary Music Teacher