PRIMARY SCHOOL
Head of Primary School
It has been wonderful to welcome our Primary students and their families back for Term 1 of 2023. We have made a tremendous start to the year with lots of exciting learning, incursions and excursions and we are very proud of our students efforts to give their best.
The term started with our annual parent teacher information evening, and this was a great opportunity for parents to meet teachers and find out about the year ahead. The Prep teachers welcomed new parents and students to the school with a Tissues and Tea morning. This was a lovely way for the Prep parents to get to know each other and the St Andrews community a little more. Following on from this was a Prep Picnic and evening celebration with students and families enjoying games and a picnic dinner.
In other class news, Year 3/4 visited the Botanical gardens to further develop their knowledge and understanding of indigenous cultures. They enjoyed rock painting and sampling bush tea! In addition, our Year 4-6 students have been busy with their swimming, committing to trials and a swimming carnival. St Andrews took out the championship winning the Primary trophy for 2023! Many of our students this year will compete at the next level, CSEN Championships, in the coming weeks.
Closer to home students have settled into learning routines enjoying art, drama, STEM, story writing, maths and a host of lunch time activities. If you haven’t heard of FUNDAMENTALS, it is a lunch group run by Mike, from the Wellbeing team, for our keen basketball enthusiasts. Other lunch opportunities include gardening, knitting, art, reading and Cubed. It is wonderful to see our amazing student leaders stepping into supporting these ventures and personally developing their leadership skills. One major highlight has been a visit from Joe Wicks a fitness coach from the UK. We were one out of five schools in Australia to be chosen and we were truly blessed and inspired to not only look after our physical health but also our mental health.
Finally, as we near the end of term we are looking forward to our Extension Week coming up for Years 4-6. Teachers are busy planning a host of challenges ready to stretch and enthuse our young minds. We are also looking forward to sharing with you at the upcoming parent teacher interviews. These are always valuable opportunities and one that supports the parent partnership in enabling your children to thrive.
Please continue to keep the College in your prayers. We are fortunate to be able to share our faith as we teach and keep God central in all that we do.
Every blessing for the weeks ahead.
Janita Bratton
Head of Primary School
Primary School Captains
Recently we welcomed the new Primary School Captains with a morning tea. Representative leaders from the High School enthused students with new possibilities and our Chaplain, Warwick Grant prayed for them. Year 5/6 Coordinator, Josh Cram will be supporting the growth and development of this enthusiastic team and we look forward to some new initiatives this year. Well done captains!
Janita Bratton
Head of Primary School
Prep P
We have loved starting school in Prep P. Our first day was one full of joy and excitement with a little bit of butterflies in our tummies. Since starting school on the 31st January we have enjoyed so many new experiences. We have made new friends, learnt letter names and sounds, learnt numbers 1-5, explored 2D shapes, learnt about Creation. We have loved getting to know our specialist teachers and starting to figure out what our favourite classes of the week are. One of our biggest highlights was our Prep Picnic where we came back to school with our families and enjoyed spending time with each other and playing fun games.
Shellene Pillifeant
Prep Teacher
Prep S
The Prep students have learnt their first memory verse from Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. We have loved talking about the amazing world God created and had fun making our own “In the Beginning” book.
Sonia Sires & Gail van Heerden
Prep Teachers
Ni Hao! Xin Nian Kuai Le 新年好！
We celebrated the Year of Rabbit and students embraced with the festive season. Student learnt the story of the ‘Nian’ and enjoyed making some crafts and saying some Chinese greetings.
Rebecca Lim
Chinese Teacher
I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14
In Health, the Year 1’s have been looking at being image bearers of our great God. He has made us unique and so wonderful! The children printed their special handprints onto some paper and transformed these hands into trees. We always want our roots to be planted near the streams of living water. How blessed are we to be able to have our Creator God always so near to us!
Natalie Nheu
Primary School Teacher
Light and Shadows with Year 1's
The students had lots of fun learning about light and shadows in our Science. They made a simple sundial using paper plates and pencils and tested them by placing them under the sun outside in the school grounds.
Olivia Tay
Primary School Teacher
Year 4 Go to the Gardens
On 22nd February, the Year 4 students went on an excursion to the Cranbourne Botanical Garden to learn more about the Aboriginal culture. We had so much fun learning about some of the tools that Aboriginal people use. We also learned how to use water and ochre rock to make paint and looked at some very interesting native plants. The highlight of the day for all was to play in the wading pool on a beautiful sunny day.
Paige Cheung and Rebecca Elliott
Primary School Teachers