Deputy Principal Learning and Teaching

Buongiorno a tutti

Week 10 – and we’re there!

As we come to the end of another busy and rewarding term, let’s take a moment to reflect on all that we have achieved together.

Our students have shown enthusiasm, resilience and teamwork in their learning this term and we are proud of their efforts.

The swimming program was once again a success with all students enjoying their time in the pool.

A big thank you to our staff, families and volunteers who make St Francis’ a vibrant place to learn and grow.

I hope everyone has a safe and restful break and look forward to welcoming you back to Term 3, refreshed and ready for more learning adventures!

Ciao for now

Rosina Gemmill

Foundation

This fortnight the Foundation class have been working on writing sentences and using our writing checklist to correct any mistakes. We have learnt that it’s ok to make mistakes and they are easy to fix in our writing.

We have been practicing reading really long sentences using our sound knowledge and tricky word skills.

In maths we have been building our skills in counting to 20. We can now find numbers on a number track. Using the number track to find what number comes next in the counting pattern.

This week 3 of our students finished their first 10 week block in the NELI intervention program for oral language. The improvement they have made has been incredible this term. We look forward to seeing the growth in the second semester.

Year 1

During the InitiaLit 1 programme, the Grade One's have studied some lovely picture books. The most recent was Mum's Elephant by Maureen Jipyiliya Nampijinpa O'Keefe. This was the story of a very treasured possession that looked very much like an elephant, then became a special reminder of the wonderful times with and memories with a mum. The students all enjoyed their time decorating their own teapot, which are currently hanging proudly in our classroom.

Year 2

Well done to our recent reading aware winners, we are getting very close our first 100 nights of reading award!

We all had a fantastic time at the harvest festival last week, thank you to all of the volunteers who created such an amazing event for our community.

Grade 2 students have finished the term learning about addition and subtraction, when to regroup when solving these problems and using a number lines to help them.

Our favourite things this term were:

I liked doing handwriting - Margot

I liked going swimming - Macie & Billie

I liked doing sport and going swimming - Audrey

I liked doing Italian and going swimming Lily

I liked doing cooking, swimming and the Harvest Festival-Jason, Geroginga and Sam K

I liked learning new games in sport and cooking - Bill

I liked everything about the Harvest Festival-Hendrix

I liked doing garden, sport and the Harvest Festival and I liked going swimming and cooking - Sam B

I liked doing art and Literacy - Arlo

I liked going swimming and the Harvest Festival - Dusty

Year 5/6

To wrap up the term, the 5/6's have written some reflections of their favourite parts:

Amelia: Harvest Festival was a good day, we had pasta, focaccia and orange muffins for lunch. There were games everywhere. My favourite maths topic was probably shapes because it was really easy and we got to learn about how all the different shapes looked and what you could do with them.

Ryder: My favourite part of the term was easily winter school sports. We got to play footy and netball, it was fun because everyone got to play their own sport and everyone had a good time. The best thing in maths was the Play Doh when we had to make a heap of shapes with it, it was fun.

Flynn: My favourite Book was Free Diving because we got to paint a water colour painting. It was a great book about First Nation peoples diving for pearls.

Abbie: My favourite part about term 2 was on Friday because we had winter school sports. I also liked the battle ships we did in maths: we had to use a cartesian plane to guess where the ships were. My favourite book we read this term was free diving because it had nice watercolour paintings. I rate this term 7/10.

Thomas M: My favourite part of the term is the Harvest Festival, because we got to play games, eat lunch with our parents, and play games and activities. My favourite subject was math because we got to play games like battleships and other math games and we learnt about location and coordinates.

Maddie: My favourite part about term 2 was on Fridays when we had winter school sports and we finished against Nathalia primary school. I also liked battle ships with our friends. My favourite book we read this time was free diving a picture story book because it had water colours pictures. I rate this term 7/10.

Aimee: My favourite part was painting our watercolour piece for our book Free Diving. I liked how my stingray painting came out. A close second would probably be playing winter school sports. My favourite maths subject would probably be 3D objects because I liked making my own 3D objects out of paper, I also liked location. My favourite text was our poem mostly because I liked creating my own poem. This term would probably be a solid 8.5 out of 10.

Bodhi: My favourite part of Term 2 was winter school sports. I really enjoyed getting out on the field and playing footy because it is one of my favourite sports. It was exciting to play with my teammates and improve my skills each week. My favourite maths topic was shapes. I liked learning about different shapes and their properties, and I found this topic easier to understand than some of the others we studied. My favourite book this term was Free Diving. I enjoyed reading it because it taught me about Aboriginal culture in an interesting way. I also liked the catchy song that was part of the story. Overall, I would rate Term 2 a 7/10. I had lots of fun, learned new things, and enjoyed spending time with my friends. I am looking forward to seeing what exciting activities and learning experiences Term 3 will bring.

Levi: My favourite part of the term is when we watched the world cup during class and me, Darcy, Daniel, Tom and Bodhi went off when Sweden scored a goal. My favourite maths topic was decimals because some of us already learnt it.

Spencer: My favourite part of term two was when we played Katunga primary and I scored a very good goal and bawled over one of my friends from Katunga. My favourite book was Free Diving because I never actually was able to read it my favourite math topic was probably when we did shapes because I knew a lot about shapes.

Ava: I liked the harvest day festival because we got our face painted and myself, Harper and Hannah were matching with our stripe long sleeves. We got matching face paints and they were very cute. On Fridays, I play netball with my friends. When we played Cobram primary school, my friend got to play in my team.

Hannah: This term we are doing swimming week it is so fun on the bus because we get to talk to your friends, and swim for 40 minutes but we do stuff like swim free style and back stroke. If we are good, we get to do handstand comp it is fun.

Matilda: This term my favourite part is when we painted a drawing about the book Free Diving. We also wrote a poem because we were reading the poem “There will come soft rains.” My poem was about sweet things.

Emily: This term my favourite part is when we painted one of the pictures from the book we were reading, and when we wrote a poem because we were reading different poems instead of a book.

Darcy: My fav part of the term was the harvest festival. My favorite math topic was shapes since it was fun and easy.

DUE NOW - CSEF Applications

Do you hold a concession card? Have you completed and returned a Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) application form? Time is running out to apply for this!

Applications must be received by 25 June 2026.