Specialist News
Thank you Miss Hughes.
Before we begin our regular broadcasting of the PE/Sports report, we would like to thank Eliana Hughes for her positive contribution within the Physical Education space, since March this year. Eliana chose to complete her Year 12 placement requirements at Bittern PS and quickly became Mrs Berthet's right-hand woman! She was consistently encouraging the students, providing feedback, organising Mrs B and became a Netball Supercoach during the netball unit. We would like to thank her for brightening up our Wednesdays and we wish her all the very best in the future. She is missed so much already.
TERM 4 Sporting update:
This Term has started with a bang! Our Interschool Volleyball team competed in the district tournament, winning 1 of 3 games. This team trained multiple times a week, set up and packed up the court independently and coached each other to strengthen their skills in preparation for the day. Thank you to the students who joined the team in the eleventh hour to fill the gaps and to our super coach Maya for leading the squad on the day. These students did an exceptional job, and we are very proud of their commitment and positivity in preparation for the day.
We also had two of our Grade 6 superstars, Maya and Alana compete at Division level in their respective athletics events. This event brings together the best athletics of the each District for each athletics event to determine who will progress to the Regional event. Alana competed in high jump and finished 6th with a jump of 1.15m and Maya competed in triple jump, finishing 7th with a jump of 7.35m and discus, finishing 2nd with a throw of 20.04m and progressing to the regional event on the 21st October. We congratulate the girls on their effort at the Division event and wish Maya all the very best at the Regional event on Wednesday.
TERM 4 Physical Education:
Grade P-2 students began this term focusing on their two hand side-arm strike technique in the minor games of TBall and Cricket. They have worked on their hand placement on the bat, watching the ball and standing side on and have been able to apply these skills in mini-game settings with a partner and small group.
Grade 3 - 6 students have also been perfecting this skill and applying it in minor games as well as strategically hitting into space and varying the distance and speed of the hit, depending on where the fielders are. Across the next few weeks, they will play cricket and Tball to practise these skills, as well as bowling, fielding and base running.
BIKE ED UPDATE:
In week 6, the 3 - 6 students will be engaging in the Bike Ed program for 4 weeks and will ride around our school grounds, Graham Myers reserve and the reserve next to the school. Students will need their bikes to be onsite to use for the classes each Wednesday. If there are any concerns or issues with transporting bikes, please let myself or the front office know.
TERM 4 Health:
Students are currently using iMovie to create, edit and produce their own advertising campaign to highlight the strategies they notice when watching commercials. They are showcasing their abilities to use persuasive language, evaluate the lighting, images and sound effects used in food commercials and the way actors don't always bite or swallow the product they are showcasing.
In the garden, students have worked in small groups, rotating through tasks and contributing to all areas of our garden program. These tasks included composting, layering the garden bed for planning, potting plants, landscaping around the beds with tanbark and weeding the outdoor spaces.
In the coming weeks, we will be in the kitchen, cooking up a storm and sending the recipes home for your family to try as well.
TERM 4 Performing Arts:
We have started our Drama unit, focusing on dialogue, actions and being a good audience member. The students have acted out popular stories such as 'Giraffe's can't dance', 'Going on a bear hunt' and 'Three little pigs'. They have worked well in their small groups, sharing roles and performing together. In the coming weeks, the students will be creating their own short performance with a small group and the most engaging ones will be showcased at assembly.
Last term's Mrs B ran the school:
Last term, we ended with a Footy themed Mrs B ran the school. The students participated in AFL themed activities, a footy parade and a game on the oval. It was a footy-fever themed day! Enjoy the photos below.
Have the best week!
Mrs Berthet
Auslan (Australian Sign Language)
Welcome back to Term 4! This week in Auslan, students have been revisiting and practising the signs they learnt last term to refresh their skills and build confidence. We also enjoyed sharing stories about our school holidays using Auslan. Students were encouraged to use signs they already knew and, when they came across words they hadn't learnt yet, to use actions, gestures and facial expressions to act out what they wanted to communicate. This was a fantastic opportunity for students to develop their communication skills, think creatively and discover that there are many ways to express ourselves when we don't know a particular sign. It has been wonderful to see everyone enthusiastically getting back into Auslan!
Miss Bacon
Visual Arts
Our Visual Arts room has been buzzing with creativity as students have explored colour, texture, pattern and storytelling through a range of exciting art projects to start the term.
Students in Foundation and Years 1/2 have completed their textile projects and begun exploring colour, pattern and symbolism through collaborative sculpture projects inspired by Aboriginal artist Alejandro Lauren. They have explored how art can explore identity and discussed the artist’s approaches to colour, pattern and design before planning their own painted rolls.
Students in Years 3/4 have begun exploring symbolism through collaborative sculpture projects inspired by Aboriginal artist Alkina Edwards. They are learning how artists use symbols, patterns and colours to communicate ideas, share stories and express connections to Country and culture. Students are experimenting with creating their own symbols and designs on painted rolls, considering how visual elements can communicate meaning. Studying Aboriginal artists helps students develop an appreciation of and respect for the richness and diversity of Aboriginal art, cultures and storytelling traditions. Their individual pieces will eventually be brought together to form a collaborative sculpture, celebrating creativity, shared ideas and learning through art.
Our Year 5/6 students have been completing their landscape textile artworks, inspired by Aboriginal artist Luke Mallie. Using dry felting and more complex stitching techniques, students carefully added wool fibres, created textured details and incorporated a variety of stitches to bring their artworks to life. Throughout the project, students developed their sewing skills, practised safe needle handling and experimented with combining materials to create unique mixed-media pieces.
We are so proud of our students’ creativity, patience and perseverance as they bring their beautiful textile artworks to completion!
Mrs Roberts
Digi Tech
Learning to Log On and Bringing LEGO Robots to Life!
It has been another exciting and productive period in Digi-Tech, with students across our junior and senior classes developing their digital skills, building confidence with technology, and exploring the creative possibilities of coding and robotics!
Prep and Year 1 – Becoming Confident Computer Users
Our Prep and Year 1 students have been developing their computer skills by learning how to log on to our school network using their own laptops. For many students, this is an important step towards becoming more independent and confident users of technology.
Students have been practising the steps involved in starting up their laptops, entering their login details and accessing the school computer environment. These skills require patience, concentration and careful attention to instructions, and the students have been working hard to become familiar with the process.
Once logged on, students have begun exploring the Windows environment and becoming familiar with the features of their computers. This includes learning how to recognise and navigate the desktop, identify icons, use the mouse and touchpad, open and close programs, and interact with different windows on the screen. Students are also developing their understanding of how to follow instructions, navigate digital environments and use their devices responsibly.
While these may seem like simple tasks, they are essential foundations for future learning. Developing these skills will help students become more independent when accessing digital learning activities, creating their own work and using educational programs throughout their primary school years.
We are very proud of the progress our youngest digital learners are making as they build confidence, develop their independence and become familiar with the technology they will use across the curriculum.
Years 3/4 and 5/6 – LEGO AI, Coding and Robotics
Our Years 3/4 and 5/6 students have continued exploring our LEGO AI kits, combining hands-on construction with computational thinking, problem-solving and programming. These activities provide students with opportunities to design, build, test and refine their own robotic creations while developing a deeper understanding of how computer programs control the behaviour of machines.
A particular focus has been on using events and loops in their programs. These are important programming concepts that help students create more efficient and purposeful code.
Events allow a program to respond to a particular action or trigger. For example, students can program a robot to begin moving when a particular button is pressed or to perform an action when a specific condition is met. Understanding events helps students recognise how programs can respond to instructions and interact with their environment.
Loops allow a set of instructions to be repeated, rather than requiring students to write the same commands over and over again. Students have been exploring how repetition can make their programs more efficient, consistent and easier to manage. They are learning to identify patterns in their code and recognise when a loop can be used to simplify a sequence of instructions.
These concepts have been put into practice through a range of engaging robotics challenges, including programming a mini-golf robot! Students have been challenged to think carefully about how their robot should move, how far it needs to travel and how its actions can be controlled through code. They have needed to consider the sequence of instructions, identify suitable events to trigger actions and use loops where appropriate to achieve their desired result.
As with any programming challenge, getting the robot to behave exactly as intended often requires several attempts. Students have been encouraged to test their programs, observe the results, identify errors and make adjustments to improve their code. This process develops important computational thinking skills, particularly logical reasoning, debugging, persistence and the ability to break a complex problem into smaller, manageable steps.
The mini-golf challenge has also encouraged students to think creatively and strategically. They have needed to predict how changes to their code might affect the robot's movement, evaluate whether their programs were successful and refine their solutions when things did not go to plan. These experiences reinforce the idea that mistakes are a valuable part of learning and that successful programmers continually test, reflect and improve their work.
Building Skills for the Future
Across our Digi-Tech classes, students are developing much more than the ability to use computers or program robots. They are learning to approach challenges logically, follow and create instructions, solve problems independently and collaboratively, and persevere when a task becomes difficult.
From our youngest students learning to navigate the Windows environment to our senior students designing and programming robots, each activity is helping to build the digital literacy and computational thinking skills that will support future learning.
We look forward to seeing our students continue to develop their confidence, creativity and problem-solving abilities as we explore more exciting opportunities in Digital Technologies!
Mr Durrington
