Junior School
Head of Junior School Update
We have hit the ground running in Junior School for the start of Term 4! A huge thank you to Miss Stephen, Mrs Hunter, Mrs Hales, Mr Leach, Mr Dunning and Mrs Newton for putting on a fun and exciting Halls Gap camp experience for Year 3 and 4 last week. I have never heard so much positive feedback about a camp before. Thank you to staff for all the planning and efforts that you went to to make this camp absolutely amazing! Thank you also to God for safety and beautiful weather. See the Year 3 and 4 articles below for more photos.
Also, students in Year 3 Art participated in two Indigenous Art Workshops led by Garawa Artist, Edwin Sherrin, who shared about his life in the NT, his artworks inspired by his cultural/family and personal songlines, passed down stories, and life growing up in the bush. Students were able to respond to Edwin's artworks, learn about his symbolism within his paintings, learn about painting and brush techniques, and complete an Indigenous inspired canvas artwork depicting meeting places and flowing water/rivers. Thank you to one of our amazing Art teachers, Steph Kosh, for organising this!
Alex Burgess
Head of Junior School
Prep - Year 4 Art Show
Our Prep to Year 4 students would like to show you all that they have been doing in their Art classes. Come along to a Mini Art Show in the Library and Library classroom from 3:25pm - 4pm on Thursday 31st October to see their paintings, drawings and sculptures!
Year 1
As we begin the last term for 2024, Year 1’s have embraced every opportunity to make the most of their learning. It is wonderful to celebrate the growth each of our students have shown over the past number of months.
This week we made farewell pictures for our Year 12 students. We will miss them and are thankful for the great role models they have been to all of us.
With the warmer weather this week, the students have enjoyed sitting outside in the nature playground while eating their lunch.
On another happy note, the class are counting down the sleeps until their excursion next week when they will visit Flagstaff Hill and Lake Pertobe.
Kerry Snook
Year 1 Teacher
Year 3
For Year 3, the highlight of our year has to be our camp to Halls Gap last week! We were all absolutely amazing and surprised ourselves over and over with the amount of hard things that we did! Our resilience and strength was wonderful to see and we looked after each other so well. For many of us, two nights away from our families was really challenging, but we did it and we had a wonderful time returning safely to our families to share some magnificent stories. Halls Gap was a camp that we will all remember!
Ang Hales
Year 3 Teacher
Year 4
Last week the Year 3 and Year 4 class embarked on a two night adventure to beautiful Halls Gap. We were blessed with the best weather and the children spent three days bonding and growing together as a group. During their time away they tackled abseiling, the high ropes course, and a long walk to Venus Baths (where some people got very wet!)
We also saw so many different talents come out of the woodwork during the Wednesday night talent show - including from some teachers! Another highlight would have to be an epic game of tribal wars, meticulously organised by Miss Stephen and Mrs Newton. A huge thank you to our team of helpers, Mrs Hales, Mr Dunning, Mr Leach, Mrs Newton and Miss Stephen. We arrived back on the bus with weary but happy kids - the sign of a fantastic camp!
Emily Hunter
Year 4 Teacher
Year 5
Year 5 has had a great start to Term 4. They have settled in well and got straight into their new units. It is very exciting learning about the Gold Rush in anticipation of our Sovereign Hill Camp in November. They have also been working hard on division in Maths and understanding this concept well. It has also been very interesting to learn about the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires as we delve into our novel study of 47 Degrees by Justin D’Ath.
In Science, the students have started a unit on survival, understanding what plants and animals need to survive and adapt to different environments. This week, they learned about different parts of plants and how the plant system works to provide water and nutrients in order for it to survive. They also planted some sprouts using various elements and environments, as an experiment to see which conditions help them to thrive.
Naomi O'Brien
Year 5 Teacher
Year 6
As you know, Year 6 have been busy learning about Circuits and Switches in Electricity for Science. This week, we have started designing and building a model to show all that we have learnt. We've had two planning sessions, working out what each small group is building, and organising who is bringing what from home to contribute to the build.
On Monday, we had a double lesson of Science so we were able to get a really good start on the actual building of our models. Lots of creative ingenuity has been going on to try and achieve what was desired for each group. Below is the work in progress. The next Newsletter will have photos of our finished models.
Coral Robertson
Year 6 Teacher
Gideon Program
Junior School Gideon students are not slowing down in Term 4, but continuing to work diligently in both their maths and literacy subjects! A big congratulations to some of our numeracy students who are moving into the next stage of mastery on their Maths learning journeys. Bobby-Joe and Henry are now working hard on their Gamma level books with some of our younger students moving onto the Beta book also! This is a big deal as it means these students now have a strong, solid foundation and can teach and explain what they know confidently to others.
I am always blown away by the results of such dedication and perseverance that our students demonstrate each day. What incredible, talented and inspiring young people we have in the class! The Junior Gideon class will be continuing with our evidence-based learning tasks and routine right until the end of term. A massive thanks also to all the parents and families of our Gideon students who are supporting their children in all ways possible throughout the year! Thank you for your collaboration.
Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ - Ephesians 5:20
Steph Kosh
Junior School Gideon Teacher