What's happening?

Foundation

Welcome back! The Foundation students have loved sharing with their teachers and peers all about their holidays through their recount writing on Monday morning. It is lovely to have them back refreshed and ready for a big term 4. We can’t believe it is already their final term of Prep!

The sign-up sheets for corridor reading and writing can be found either in the Foundation corridor or outside your Foundation classroom. We really appreciate your assistance with this. The children love their extra reading sessions. 

In Literacy, we are continuing to consolidate known letter-sound patterns while also introducing new ones. This week, students are learning the sound codes ‘er’, ‘ir’, and ‘ur’. Next week, we will explore ‘air’ as in hair, ‘are’ as in share, and ‘ear’ as in bear. We are continually amazed by the students’ growing phonics knowledge and their ability to experiment with and apply these sound patterns in their writing. They are also doing a fantastic job reading our “Weird Words”. This week’s focus words are door, more, and before, and next week we will learn could and would.

In Maths, we are reviewing Place Value and are extremely impressed with all the student's growth on this topic. We will continue to use concrete materials such as MAB, unifix, bundling sticks and ten’s frames to help with this. 

Our ‘Show and Tell’ notice was sent home in the final week of Term 3. Please let your classroom teacher know if you did not receive this.

We look forward to a wonderful last term with our lovely preps!

Reminders: 

• Loud Shirt Day is on Friday 17th October – Students are encouraged to wear a bright, colourful shirt. (Please note: no full dress-up, just a colourful shirt). 

• Please ensure your child has a spare pair of underwear, socks, and pants in their bag each day!

Have a great week,

The Foundation Team

Grade 1

Welcome back to our final term for the year!

The students seem refreshed and appear to have grown. We have started the term by revisiting our school values and reflecting on our class expectations for the remainder of the year.

In Literacy, the students began the term with a descriptive writing piece about their holidays. Following this, they will be introduced to Narratives, with a focus on our term investigation of Minibeasts. The letters we are practising in handwriting are Ff and Ss — practising these at home is always helpful. The codes for the next two weeks are “wr,” “kn,” “gn,” followed by the code “qu” next week.

In Maths, we are revisiting the topic of Time. We have started with the days of the week and months of the year, followed by revising analogue time.

Our overall focus this term is Minibeasts, where students will learn about the different types of bugs on our planet.

Once again, it is important that students continue to read their take-home readers, and thank you for your continued support with this. Homework will be sent home weekly this term and is double-sided. This is an excellent way for your child to consolidate their weekly learning.

Grade 2

Our Grade 2 students have had a fantastic start to Term 4! They've returned from the holidays full of exciting news and positive energy, ready to learn and grow.

Writing:  We’ve been focusing on Narrative writing, and students are doing a terrific job demonstrating their understanding of story structure and key features like characters, settings, and plot development.

PhOrMeS / Word Study:  In our PhOrMeS lessons, we’ve been learning about homophones—words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings (e.g. break, brake). Students are practising reading and spelling these tricky word pairs with growing confidence.

The Grammar Project: This term, students are learning to extend their sentences using conjunctions. We’ve been working with sentence stems that begin with “since” or “although”, encouraging students to apply their growing grammar knowledge in their writing.

Reading: As part of our Core Knowledge reading unit, we’ve begun exploring The Wind in the Willows. Students are building their vocabulary, comprehension, and predicting skills as they engage with this classic text.

Inquiry: Our new Inquiry topic is ‘Our Community: Past and Present’. We’ve started by looking at how homes and family life have changed over time, and students are beginning to make thoughtful connections between the past and their own lives.

Wellbeing: This term’s Wellbeing lessons have begun with a focus on resilience—learning to bounce back when things don’t go our way. We’re encouraging students to face challenges with a positive attitude and to keep trying even when it’s tough.

Maths: We’ve started our Fractions unit! Students are learning about equal parts, fractions of whole objects and groups, and how to read and write fractions. Exploring fractions in everyday situations at home—like dividing food or sharing toys—is a great way to support your child’s learning.

Homework: Thank you for your support with homework: Regular reading aloud and a weekly Word Study/PhOrMeS worksheet. Optional online extras: ‘Nessy Reading and Spelling’ and ‘Sunset/Jetpack Maths’ (Essential Assessment).

Excursion Reminder: We are heading to Ripponlea Estate on Monday 20th (2M, 2W) and Wednesday 22nd October (2C, 2G). Please ensure you have read all the information on Compass and consented/paid. If you are able to be a parent helper on the day, please email your child’s teacher with your Working With Children Check. Thank you so much for your support. 

We’re excited for the term ahead and can’t wait to see all the wonderful progress our students will make!

Grade 3

It’s been a lovely week welcoming back our Grade 3 students for an action-packed Term 4!

Novel Study: This week, we started our novel study, ‘Charlotte’s Web’. Students listen to several pages each lesson and participate in discussions and written responses, with the current focus on building vocabulary, and sentence expansion to give more detail when talking and writing about the text.

Core Knowledge: Our inquiry unit this term is all about ‘Earth Science’. This week, students learned about the features of a rotation and a revolution, and how they cause day and night and seasons, and then moved on to investigate the layers of the earth.

Writing: We begin the term with a focus on the structure and features of narrative texts. This week, students had a go at writing a narrative in response to a prompt. This first piece (pre-assessment) will help guide the direction for their learning over the coming weeks.  

Word Study: This week, students have been learning to read and spell words derived from the Latin base strue/struct. They have been identifying and explaining the meaning of different morphemes within these words, as well as reviewing their knowledge of decoding words that include Greek number roots.

Maths: This week in Maths, we continued our Multiplication and Division unit. Students explored different ways to represent these operations using Think Boards, arrays, and bar models. They also practised solving multiplication and division problems with two-digit numbers, using materials and to help with regrouping.

Reminder of upcoming events (more information will be sent out very soon):

• Swimming – Week 6

• Camp – Week 7

Homework: Will be assigned this Friday (both Word Study and Maths) and we will remind students to ask a grown-up to check their homework with them and fix errors or make changes as needed, before submitting. Also, to continue regular home reading, record in diary, get it signed by a grown up, and bring it to school every Friday. Thanks for your ongoing support with this.

Grade 4

What’s Happening in Grade 4

Welcome back! We hope everyone had a fantastic break and enjoyed the Grand Final weekend. After a jam-packed Term 3, our Grade 4 students have returned full of energy and enthusiasm for Term 4!

We’ve hit the ground running with a range of exciting learning activities. Students have completed a variety of pre-assessments, started reading our class novel Wonder, and begun exploring Australia’s surrounding islands and beyond in Inquiry.

Reading

We’ve begun reading our in-class novel Wonder by R.J. Palacio. The story follows a young boy with a craniofacial condition and explores the challenges he faces at school and at home. Our Grade 4s have shown great curiosity and empathy, engaging deeply with the characters and themes. This text also links closely with our writing focus this term: narratives.

Writing

Using the ‘Elastik’ writing program, students completed a narrative pre-assessment titled Finding a Mysterious Message in a Bottle.

We’re now learning how to build strong narrative texts, focusing on key elements like character, setting, problem, and solution. We’ve been using fun animations to help us understand how these elements come together in a story.

Numeracy

In Numeracy, our focus is on mass and capacity. Students have been using a variety of digital and scaled tools to measure, compare, and convert different units. It’s been a very hands-on and engaging topic — we’ve had lots of fun experimenting and problem-solving in class!

Homework

Homework will begin next week and includes:

• Reading: 5 times per week. Please encourage your child to record their reading in their diary, and we ask that diaries be signed at the end of each week.

• Word Study & Morphology: Based on vocabulary from our class novel.

• Numeracy: ‘My Numeracy’ tasks on Essential Assessment

Grade 5

Welcome back for Term 4.

This term, Year 5 students will participate in Health Education sessions to begin the term. The sessions are 90 minutes and will be running each Thursday morning for the first three weeks of term. Students will be working on creating their own travel expo booth for their country to present at the end of the term, and will begin exploring the meaning of leadership as we begin the leadership process for 2026.

Maths

To begin the term in Mathematics, students have been exploring how to create meaningful questions to collect and analyse data. They have also been learning about different types of data, including nominal, discrete, continuous, and ordinal, as well as various ways to present their findings. Over the coming weeks, students will continue developing these skills and use Microsoft Excel to create graphs and charts to display their data.

Writing

Students have started the term by reviewing their narrative writing pre-assessment piece, discussing areas of strength, improvement, and setting goals. Students have also completed sessions in using a writing strategy, ‘show don't tell,’ an effective technique for adding rich description to characters and settings in their stories 

Reading

In Reading, students have started exploring our Term 4 mentor text, A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. The story follows the lives of two children, Salva and Nya, living in Sudan during different time periods. As we read, students have been learning new vocabulary, building background knowledge about life in Sudan, and practising different questioning strategies to deepen their understanding of the text.

Inquiry

Our inquiry topic this term is centred around our Travel Expo. This geography-based unit allows students to research countries across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Students have been placed into research groups, with each group selecting or being assigned a specific country to focus on. In the initial sessions, students have been exploring different types of natural disasters and investigating which ones commonly occur in their chosen country.

Reminders

• Information regarding G 6 Rugby Jumpers and Polo tops is now on Compass.

  Orders of your child's 2026 Grade 6 Rugby Jumper and/or polo top have now been submitted. Payment is now required and due by Monday 3rd November. 

  Please contact Helen Teasdale on 9580 1451 if you have any payment enquiries.

• The 2026 Rugby Top is $85.00.

• The 2026 Polo Top is $52.00

Grade 6

Welcome back!  We hope everyone has had a fantastic and restful holiday and is ready to take on the final primary school term for our Grade 6’s.

This will be an exciting, but also a super busy time for all. Term 4 will be packed with lots of learning opportunities, exciting incursions and excursions, sports finals, gala days, transition for year 7 and graduation, to name but a few.

Literacy 

The Grade 6 students will begin a new novel study based on a book called Rivet Boy. This will focus on studying the novel in depth and incorporate vocabulary and grammar linked to the story.

Writing

The students will continue to work on editing and publishing their memory book writing. We are also going to focus on the narrative writing genre this term. We started our narrative writing with a pre-assessment this week and will build on the students’ skills throughout the term.

Mathematics

In Mathematics, students completed our Location and Transformation topic in the first week. One of the main focuses was understanding and using Cartesian planes. They will revisit and continue with Data Representation in the following weeks.

Inquiry / Smoothie Bar Incursion

Our Market Day theme this term kicked off with our Mini Boss Incursion. This incursion introduced students to the business world in line with our Market Day inquiry theme. Students embarked on a quest to create a smoothie product and marketing campaign. Working in teams, students discovered what it takes to become a business owner. They investigated their target market, designed and learned about cost and profit and trialled their delicious and nutritious blends. This was followed by using their skills to create marketing materials to promote their product and brand. Then it all came down to The Pitch! Congratulations to Boomerang Energy, the winning business in the Pitch Off!

Interschool Sport

This term kicks off with some students participating in interschool finals. Congratulations on the many teams that made it through to Division from our Term 1 sports.

OCTOBER -   Useful Dates