Learning News

Learning News Week 2, Term 4 2025

K/1

Last fortnight, our K/1 class was diving into a crucial unit focused on ocean pollution and its impact on marine life. Our core learning skill was Reading, where students analysed texts to understand and compare the author's perspective and argument.

We were closely reading two powerful picture books. First, The Mess That We Made by Michelle Lord and Julia Blattman, a cumulative tale that builds a clear argument about the growing magnitude of trash and plastic in the ocean and culminates in a positive call to action for both children and adults. Students compared this to Nicole Godwin’s Jelly-Boy, a cautionary conservation tale about a jellyfish who mistakes a plastic bag for a friend. This story provides an inventive and humorous approach to the serious argument that plastic bags pose an extreme danger to sea creatures. By analysing the distinct ways each author presents their case, the children were making a personal connection to how their choices affect ocean life and were learning how we can all make better choices to protect our seas. We encourage you to continue these discussions at home!

Mrs Crafford

K/1 Teacher

Year 1

What a colourful and communicative few weeks we've had in Year One writing! We dove into the world of storytelling and sensory detail through the lovely picture books, Boy and The Black Book of Colours. Students explored how authors use words and images to create vivid experiences, even for things we can't see. Expanding our understanding of communication even further, we were introduced to Auslan (Australian Sign Language) and Braille, discovering that people use many wonderful and different methods to share their ideas and stories. It was a fascinating way to learn that writing and communication are much broader than just putting pen to paper! ✍️

Miss Lyall

Year 1 Teacher

Year 2

For the past few weeks, Year 2 has been fascinated by David Williams’ books. The students have enjoyed listening to ‘The World’s Worst Teachers’ and ‘The World’s Worst Children’. David Walliams' books are popular children's stories known for a blend of humour, heart and adventure, often featuring a mix of funny and outrageous situations. Listen to what some of our students had to say about these books. 

Miss Rasche

Year 2 Teacher

Year 3 

This term, Year 3 students are embarking on an insightful learning journey focusing on the significance of Cultural narratives in sharing the history and lived experiences of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples. We'll be using the picture book Our Dreaming as a mentor text to explore concepts like the significance of Country , the power of oral storytelling and cultural practices such as Yarning circles. Students will also develop their writing skills by analyzing how authors use figurative language and multimodal features to create vivid imagery and enhance meaning in texts.

Mrs Davis 

Year 3 Teacher

Year 4

Our Year 4 students have started diving into their thrilling new novel, '200 Minutes of Danger' by Jack Heath. This book is actually a collection of ten super-exciting, stand-alone short stories, and each one throws the main character into an immediate, life-threatening problem—like being stuck on a sinking ship or needing to stop a threat right away—that they have to sort out in just twenty minutes! The fast pace gives us a fantastic way to explore how authors build characterisation. We'll be closely watching how the characters react, solve problems, and show off their true personalities when they're under immense pressure. By watching how characters handle all this pressure and intense action, the kids will develop strong reading skills and better understand how writers use crisis and dialogue to create compelling, relatable people.

Miss Martin

Year 4 Teacher

Stage 3

Stage 3 have begun reading a fascinating new novel “Worse Things” by Australian author Sally Murphy.  The story follows three Australian young people—Blake, a football player injured in a devastating accident; Jolene, a conflicted hockey player dealing with a controlling mother; and Amed, a non-English speaking refugee who feels like an outsider. Despite having little in common on the surface, their shared love for sports brings them together to find connection, support, and a sense of belonging while learning that everyone faces their own struggles.  The students are making meaningful connections to the themes in the text and their own experiences and we have had many rich discussions.

This novel has an unusual structure and is written as a verse, so Stage 3 are practising oral expression reading free verse and realising that reading the punctuation and pauses in a poem is almost as important as the words!  In response to the text we have created ‘definition poems’ so we hope you enjoy our multi-modal poetry.

Great work Stage 3.

Mrs Shepherd

AP/Stage 3 Teacher