Primary School

Last Thursday night, our community was hit by an unexpected storm that left many reeling. In the aftermath, the true strength of our town’s spirit has been shining through. Neighbours came together, offering support, and resources to those affected. Volunteers worked tirelessly to help clear debris and check on those in need. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who was impacted by the storm, especially the schools that were hit hard.

What a fantastic morning we had for our Harmony Week Walk to School Day! It was wonderful to see so many students and families walking together, promoting healthy habits and community spirit. The event was a great success, and we appreciate everyone who took part and enjoyed a scenic walk to school via the very special Fish Traps.

Looking ahead, we're all excited for Science Week! The week will be filled with hands-on activities and engaging experiments that inspire curiosity, a love for learning and help students to learn more about the endearing creature that is the western ringtail possum. Thank you in advance to Mrs Gouldthorp and Ms Mordy for all their hard work around Science Week and the Backyard Possum Encounter project.

A huge, good luck to our team participating in the da Vinci Decathlon! We are so proud of their hard work and dedication, and we are cheering them on every step of the way. The team will be travelling to Bunbury next week to represent the school and compete.

Finally, we are looking forward to our Year Four assembly tomorrow. We hope to see many parents there to celebrate the students' achievements and enjoy the presentation of their learning.

Science Week and Challenge

As the Primary School Science Coordinator, I have an exciting week of activities planned for all students during Week Eight, which will include three evening excursions. To celebrate Science Week, I am organising a Science Challenge, with one for students in Kindergarten to Year Two and another for those in Years Three to Six. The theme for this year’s Science Week is Native Australian Animals, with a special focus on endangered species, particularly the local western ringtail possum.

This theme aligns perfectly with the school-wide Possum Project, led by Ms Mordy, which has been featured in the Bulletin, the Anchor and MyGSG. A copy of the challenge will be sent home in your child’s diary tomorrow, and included is a summary of it below. My expectation is that every child in the Primary School will complete the challenge for their subschool. These can be brought to the ECC on Wednesday 26 March and placed on their class table (labelled with their class name). There will be prizes for the best entries in each class. Thank you in advance for your involvement.

Mrs Fiona Gouldthorp | Teacher

Running Club

We are excited to introduce a Years Three to Six Running Club for the remainder of the term to support training for the Interhouse Cross Country competition on the last day of Term One. Running Club will take place from 3.30pm to 4.30pm on a Monday afternoon and 3.30pm to 4.00pm on a Wednesday afternoon. To sign up for this, please email paul.osborne@gsg.wa.edu.au and indicate which session (or sessions) your child will attend.

Week Eight Horizons

Due to the evening walks of Science Week, staff and student attendance at ECC Horizons will be combined on Wednesday with a Wild Space walk for ECC and Dance for Years Three to Six. Please email Ms Hitchcock if your child is not attending this week so appropriate staffing can be arranged primary@gsg.wa.edu.au.

Classroom News

We hope you enjoy reading the news from our Primary classes.

Kindergarten: Our Kindergarten students have been having a fantastic time building their fine-motor skills through a variety of fun, hands-on activities! This week we have been busy snipping colourful spaghetti, rolling playdough snakes and using our pincer grip to pick up small, loose parts and carefully place them on pictures. These activities strengthen the small muscles in our hands and fingers, helping to build coordination and control for future learning success.

Pre-Primary: The Pre-Primary students continue to learn letter sounds so that they can transfer this knowledge to reading and writing. In the past week they have learned ‘l’, ‘o’, ‘g’. We licked lollipops, made orange octopodes and groovy googles using the letter ‘g’ for arms. A big thank you to Mr Donaldson for helping us put up our octopus display!

Year One: The Year One students have measured length using non-standard units, partitioned numbers and completed number challenges in math this week. They have been writing about their favourite memories (come and read them outside our classroom!) and learning how to write recounts. However, the most treasured recounts happen on Thursday mornings, when the class teddies Bumble and Crumble return to school after spending the week at two lucky children’s houses! The Year One class all look forward to hearing about the adventures of Bumble and Crumble, and help each other to sequence the events, using time order words (or time adverbs) of: First, Next, Then and Finally.

Year Two: This week the Year Two class has been working hard on their maths skills. Students have looked at the months and seasons as well as working out how many days are in each month and making a mini calendar. We have also looked closely at place value where we have been identifying the numbers in the ones, tens, hundreds and even thousands column and then expanding out these larger numbers and even ordering them according to their value. We are super mathematicians in Year Two!

Year Three: The Year Three class is so excited to have their new laptops, and what better way is there to try them out than to use them for our NAPLAN tests? They have been learning how to use their technologies wisely and productively, to have fun while they engage with different concepts and skills. The internet can be a black hole for procrastination and distraction, but our trusty Year Three students are already developing study habits and positive expectations for touch typing, researching and representing ideas in digital formats. They also made houses in Minecraft to visualise the area of different shapes.

Year Four: The Year Four class has been continuing their inquiry project about early European explorers and has been asking questions about the consequences of exploration - some of the consequences such as finding new foods to take back to Europe were great, but some consequences, such as the impact the Europeans had on the indigenous people of the places they visited, were terrible! They have also been busy rehearsing their assembly item for this Friday's assembly. It is looking great! You do not want to miss it!

Year Five: As the Year Five students approached NAPLAN, we encouraged them to embrace a positive mindset and resilience in their learning journey. They approached the assessments with confidence. Well done, Year Fives! Beyond NAPLAN, students continue to explore their inquiry and have gone further into architectural design, discovering how weather conditions and natural disasters, such as floods and heat waves, influence the way buildings are constructed. Through this investigation, they are developing a deeper understanding of how design can enhance safety and sustainability in different environments.

Year Six: Our Year Six students have been working hard to strengthen relationships with the Early Childhood Centre and Primary School students, fostering a culture of care, inclusion and House spirit. They are becoming positive role models, helping our younger students feel welcomed and supported. Interactions such as reading pairs and Year Six-run House sports not only build confidence and leadership skills in our Year Sixes but also strengthen the sense of community within our school.