Primary School
Years Three to Year Six Interhouse Swimming Carnival
Excitement is building as we look ahead to the Year Three to Year Six Interhouse Swimming Carnival, taking place at ALAC tomorrow (Friday 6 March) from 9.30am to 2.30pm. Staff and students alike are eagerly anticipating a fantastic day of racing and House spirit. As a reminder of information previously shared in the Bulletin with families, please see here.
The events and divisions program is available on MyGSG here. All students have received their race slips, which include approximate event times, to help them prepare for the day.
We are looking forward to a fun, supportive and competitive atmosphere, with plenty of encouragement from peers and supporters.
Students who achieve a top four finish in their race will have the opportunity to have a photo taken. Photo requests can be made at the end of the day.
We wish all competitors the very best of luck. May the best House win!
Kindergarten
We are so excited to share that we have now assembled most of our All About Me books!
The students have absolutely loved bringing in photos and talking about the special people and important moments in their lives. They have been confidently sharing stories about their families, celebrations, pets, favourite activities and meaningful events. These conversations have created beautiful opportunities for connection, listening and learning more about one another.
Through this project, the students are developing a strong sense of identity and belonging as they recognise what makes them unique and special. They are also building their oral language skills as they describe their photos and respond thoughtfully to their peers.
Thank you to families for supporting this special activity by sending in photos and sharing your stories with us. We can’t wait to continue enjoying these books together throughout the year.
Pre-Primary
In Pre-Primary we have been busy building strong foundations for reading and writing. Students have continued learning a variety of letter sounds and are practising correct letter formations with growing confidence. We have also begun blending and segmenting words, which is an important skill for both reading and spelling. Most exciting of all, students have started independently experimenting with writing during play! Seeing them apply their sound-knowledge to write labels, messages and simple words on their own has been a fantastic milestone. We are so proud of their progress and love watching their confidence grow each day!
Year One
This week, the Year One students were excited to take Mr Hardey’s Year Four class to the Wild Space on our Minibeast hunt (a blast from the past for some of the 2023 students and Mrs Gouldthorp!) The clever Year Four classes took photos of the younger students as they searched and found a variety of mini and not-so-mini (think huntsman spider!) beasts. It was delightful to see the awe and wonder on all faces and hear the nurturing and encouraging voices of the older students as they all collaborated to help the Year One class complete tallies on their worksheets and find those missing pencils! The weather also turned on a show for us − what a great afternoon!
Year Two
It has been a busy few weeks for the Year Two classes as we settle into new routines and review some important topics in both Literacy and Mathematics. In between all the dragon hunting and Science experiments, we have been exploring place-value as well as doing some fantastic writing and spelling. We even counted 1000 counters together to gain a greater understanding of hundreds, tens and ones! We have begun writing our own procedures on how to trap a magical creature and are learning all the important things we need for someone to follow our instructions.
Year Three
‘How are we almost halfway through Term One?!’ was a question we pondered this week and was one of many questions we tried to find the answer for in Science, we had fun sifting through our collected soil samples and finding words to describe our observations. It was quite a messy task, and we were very thankful to Wesley, who took the initiative to clean and sweep our work area! During Mathematics we completed a name fraction activity and enjoyed finding fraction facts to do with the number of vowels and consonants found in our names. The main highlight this week was when the class was introduced to our second Year Three mascot, an octopus named Oscar-Ollie Bubbles-Blueberrini! The students participated in a blind vote to choose the name of our new friend, illustrating the power of the democratic vote.
Year Four
Our Year Four students are getting ready to set sail on the innovation stage of their writing journey. After learning about famous explorers like Ferdinand Magellan, Vasco da Gama and Vasco Núñez de Balboa, they are now ready to create their own explorer journals. Using our class model text as a guide, students will combine what they have learned about life at sea, challenges on long voyages and exciting discoveries. With plenty of imagination and creativity, our young explorers will write their own adventurous recounts as they journey into unknown lands.
Year Five
Elton John may have penned the famous song Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word, but in our Health lessons this week we have been practising the equally challenging ‘no’, or ‘nay’ as we preferred it. We looked at the effects of alcohol on growing bodies with giggles, gasps and groans in equal measure. Finally, we got the chance to practise our own skits where we made simple scripts modelling peer pressure to consume alcohol, with of course the ultimate outcome of saying the hardest words: nay (It means ‘no’, just ask your horse.) It may seem like fun and the acting was really amusing for all involved, but the learning was serious. In other lessons we have learnt of Foucault’s pendulum as he proved the Earth rotation theory. Never again shall we watch a sunrise, instead we shall just bask in the Earth’s rotation as it glances the sun.
Year Six
It has been full steam ahead learning in Year Six! We have been investigating how something as simple as the width of a train track could lead to the Government of Australia being formed in 1901 and were quite impressed with the thought that New Zealand could have been an Australian state while Western Australia might have been a different country! We have explored our role in maintaining positive relationships with our peers, families and friends, and strategies to manage intense emotions during Health and, in Mathematics, it has been everyone’s favourite ... Fractions! We are now super excited for our upcoming Interhouse Swimming Carnival, our very last in Primary School.
ECC Briefing
The following superstars have worked exceptionally well and received a Star Award for their outstanding efforts.
Kindergarten A: Olive Yap
Kindergarten B: Hannah Zhang
Pre-Primary A: Laylah Stone
Pre-Primary B: Matilda Moir
Year Two A: Ally Buxton
Year Two B: Charlotte Perera
The following students have stood out for their ability to show respect.
Kindergarten A: Hugo Walls
Kindergarten B: Rose Weatherill
Pre-Primary B: Isobel Henry
Year One: Sylvia Lines
Year Two A: Elleanor-Grace Danso
Year Two B: Sebastian Pyle
Upcoming Events
Week Five
- Friday 6 March, Year Three to Six Interhouse Swimming Carnival, ALAC 9.00am to 2.30pm (House Shirts and House swim caps, please).
Week Six
- Wednesday 11 March, NAPLAN testing starts for Year Three and Year Five
Week Seven
- Harmony Week
- Monday 16 March, NAPLAN testing ends for Years Three and Year Five
- Tuesday 17 March, School Photos
- Tuesday 17 March to Wednesday 18 March, da Vinci Decathlon, selected Year Six students
- Friday 20 March, School Photos
Have a wonderful weekend.
Ms Leah Field | Head of Primary and
Mrs Hayley Ranger | Head of Early Childhood