Year 5/6 News

Numeracy

We started our learning this term by revisiting fractions and played fraction games to consolidate our understanding of equivalent fractions and reducing fractions. We explored transformations (slides & translations), turns (rotations), flips (reflections), and enlargements (scale) and how they appear in everyday life. We spotted symmetry and movement in letters, numbers, logos, road signs, and sport lines. Students used little cut-outs of shapes (triangles, squares) and worked out what a slide or flip looked like in their grid books, remembering to count their steps before the final position.

Literacy

We’ve begun poetry writing, starting with colour poems and acrostic poems. Students are using the five senses to show emotion and create strong images. We’re adding figurative language—similes, metaphors, alliteration, personification—to hook the reader’s attention. Students are using their 5 senses (see, hear, smell, taste, feel) to bring their poems to life.

Interpersonal Skills - Building Feedback Skills: “Two Glows and a Grow”

This term, students learned a simple feedback routine called Two Glows and a Grow: share two specific positives (“glows”) and one clear suggestion (“grow”). We modelled what good feedback sounds like—kind, specific, and about the work (not the person)—and practised with sentence stems such as “A strength is… because…” and “A next step could be…”. Students used the routine in writing, maths explanations, and art, then acted on the “grow” during quick revision time.

Why this matters: feedback literacy builds confidence, clarity, and independence. When children can name what’s working and what to improve, they become more strategic learners, better collaborators, and kinder communicators. It also grows a growth mindset—mistakes become information, not a dead end.

You can reinforce this at home with the same stems:

• Glow: “I like how you… because…”

• Glow: “Another strength is…”

• Grow: “One next step could be…”

Thank you for partnering with us—together we’re helping students give (and use) feedback that moves learning forward.

Inquiry - Sustainable Cities

Have you ever thought of what makes a city sustainable? Here, in the 5/6s, we are planning to make our individual, eco-friendly cities in inquiry. We learned about what makes cities sustainable, eco-friendly, and green. We also learned about a city’s edge, which was the line between the countryside and the city. Our project was to make a map of our own sustainable cities and include geographical features on the edge. Geographical features are places that can be considered as landmarks, areas, or even regions. Geographical features consist of volcanoes, mountains, reefs, harbours, archipelagos, plains, rivers, glaciers, and many more. The 5/6s are eagerly awaiting to have a look at each other’s final masterpiece and finding out what other Inquiry projects the teachers have in store!

By Naura 5/6 A

Transition & Graduation

We’re supporting Year 6 students with a smooth transition to secondary school, including secondary school visits, practice trips using their PTV cards, and city-based excursion. Families will also hear transition dates and details directly from high schools—please add these to your calendar to help your child prepare confidently. Behind the scenes, we’re planning another awesome Graduation celebration to recognise our Year 6 students. We’ll share event information and how families can be involved closer to the date. 

We participated in Westall Secondary College’s iCreate program and experienced a high school learning environment to support our transition.

Statewide Orientation Day – 9th December 2025 (Year 6 students go to their High School)

Graduation Celebration – Thursday 11th December 2025 (3.45 to 6.00pm)

Westall iCreate Transition Excursion

On the 15th of October, the Year 5s went on an exciting excursion to Westall Secondary College. We participated in remarkably interesting sessions such as, math, sustainability, cooking, and sport. After all those engaging lessons, we were introduced to a program called iCreate. We were told that iCreate was a project that made Westall unique from all other high schools. The subjects in iCreate that we got to do were Westall Cafe, taekwondo, sport, outdoor adventure, landscape, architecture and design, visual art, aviation, coding, and STEM. I did cafe, and we had an enormous amount of fun, baking, icing, and blending. The things we made were sold at the cafeteria later. The Westall Taster Day was incredibly fun, and if we could, we’d love to go again.

-Saarah Zaman 5/6 A