Out and about at Surfside

It has been a bumper 2 weeks at Surfside with some amazing experiences in and out of the classroom. From science experiments, to reading, to maths, hot dog days, our year 3's heading to Anglesea for their first ever day camp and so much inbetween. Winter has definitely settled in and we hope all of the students are looking forward to an extended long weekend in preparation for the back end of term 2.

State Principal's Conference Presentation and Barown South West Principal and Leadership Presentation and Classroom Observations

A big congratulations to Ms Lynda Patterson, Mr Adrian Chapman, Mrs Trina Charleston and the amazing education team at Surfside PS. We were privilidged to present this week at the 2025 Victorian Principal's Conference in Melbourne. The topic of the session that Surfside presented was Retrieval Practice in Mathematics and the focus of the conference was Excellence in Every Classroom. Surfside also had the opportunity to recently present to the Barwon South West Network and received some great feedback from the network group of school leaders. Well done to the Surfside students and staff who have supported the growth in this teaching practice over the last few years.

There is plenty happening in and out of classrooms over the next couple of weeks so please utilise our Dates for your Diary page and please note the upcoming Curriculum Day (Friday 6th June) and Kings Birthday Public Holiday (Monday 9th June) where students will not be at school for these days.

Some important dates as a reminder for the next few weeks

June

Fri 6th -       Curriculum Day - No students at school

Mon 9th -   King's Birthday Public Holiday - No students at school

Tues 11th - Foundation Maths afternoon in classrooms - 2.45-3.15pm

Thu 12th -   Breakfast Club in the kitchen - 7.45am-8.30am

Fri 13th -     Assembly @ 2.30pm in the courtyard 

Mon 16th - Project 25 (Bellarine SC) - selected year 4 & 5 students

Tues 17th - School Council @ 5.30pm (Finance 5.00pm)

Thu 19th -   Breakfast Club in the kitchen - 7.45am-8.30am

                       Year 2 Wild Action Incursion

Fri 20th -     Victorian State Schools Spectacular Rehearsal - Western Heights College

Spotlight on Excellence: Project 25

Over the past term, a group of our Year 4 and 5 students have had the exciting opportunity to take part in Project 25 — a fantastic partnership between Surfside Primary School and Bellarine Secondary College.

This initiative is designed to extend and enrich the mathematical thinking of students who demonstrate a strong aptitude and passion for Mathematics. Held at Bellarine Secondary, the program brings together like-minded learners from across the two campuses to tackle challenging problem-solving tasks, explore new mathematical concepts, and build confidence through collaboration.

Our students have embraced the challenge with enthusiasm, engaging in deep mathematical investigations and developing strategies that push their thinking beyond the regular classroom setting. The sessions have not only nurtured their skills but also helped to build connections with peers and teachers in a secondary school environment.

We are incredibly proud of the way our students have represented Surfside — demonstrating curiosity, persistence, and a love for learning. A big thank you to the staff at Bellarine Secondary for their leadership of this program and to our families for supporting this opportunity.

We look forward to seeing the continued growth of these young mathematicians!

Year 3 Step Back in Time

Our year 3 students have recently been embracing the text Matilda as their novel study and all classes took a Step Back in Time to discover how school, routines, learning and games looked way back when. The students embraced the look back at educational history but the staff stepped up their game with new (or old) teaching approaches that brought about some laughs (hopefully not too many tears) and also some serious acting. We welcomed some visitors in the afternoon to join in with some old style games. A big thank you to the students and staff and all of our families for embracing the da

Year 1 Science Incursion

Rory Molloy from Happy Kids science joined the Grade 1 in the STEAM Lab! 

The students explored the difference between chemical and physical reactions, and ways to tell them apart. They experimented with an air cannon, dry ice, made elephant toothpaste, created bubbles as big as their bodies and saw different chemical reactions using purple cabbage!

Year 3 Day Camp - Coastal Forest Lodge

Our year 3 students and staff embarked on the first ever day camp to Coastal Forest Lodge in Anglesea. This was a great opportunity to build connections within the cohort, focus on teamwork and also build skills in preparation for our year 4 camp in 2026. The students departed on the bus at 9am packed and ready for a fun filled and action packed day. They were very lucky to have a beautiful day of sunshine and light winds as the coming days did not look promising on the radar. The students participated in the following activities that had a consistent focus on our school values of respect, honesty, teamwork and achievement and definitely enabled them to step out of their comfort zone:

• Archery & mini golf
• Low ropes course
• Bush walk
• Yabbying
• Bush art
• Orienteering 
• Bush cookout
• Animal feeding

Following an action packed day of activities the students were able to settle into their PJ's and prepare for dinner which saw spaghetti and apple crumble on the menu. After a clean up and reflection on the day it was time to step on the bus and a little nap for the trip back home.  

Year 5 Sovereign Hill Excursion

Vroom, went all of the Surfside Grade 5s excursion to Ballarat, Sovereign Hill. Let me tell you, the bus was the most immaculate bus you have ever been on. It had a toilet, LED lights, phone charger, spotless seats, fancy curtains, there is too much to even name! The ride there and back was a soothing calm one and a half ride. You will be jealous of how much fun all the activities were! Even though the bus ride was really long, it was so worth it! The reason we went to Sovereign Hill was because we were learning about the Gold Rush and why people went there.

The first activity we did was panning for gold. There was an old, lovely guy teaching us techniques for finding gold. He said to grab a shovel and start digging at the bottom of the small creek and put the rocks from the shovel in a pan. He also said to put some water in the pan and keep swishing it around like this. Swish, swash, swish, swash! I took his advice and grabbed a pan and shovel. I started digging at the bottom of the creek. I put the rocks in the pan and started swishing it around. After a couple of minutes I saw it. The light of an angel. It was shining like a shooting star. Two small pieces of gold. Bang! I showed the teacher and put it in a small glass jar.

The next activity was the Educational Session Eureka. This was by far my most favourite activity. We started off by hearing a few stories of diggers and their problems. We got to dress up in hazy old clothes. There were lots of options. Trooper, a blue and white jumper just like a police outfit but a bit different. It also came with a navy blue cottage hat and a small wooden prop gun. Red coat, a red jacket with white button ups and a long red hat with a big gold 40 on it, and a bigger wooden prop gun. Dresses, there were lots of different colour long sleeve dresses with patterns all over, and a white bonnet. Diggers, there were all sorts of colours of jackets and it came with a variety of hats and prop guns. I chose the trooper because I loved the blue and the cottage hat. There were lots of photos taken of different scenes and different costumes.

Last but not least the Labyrinth of Gold, this was another one of my favourite activities. We had a nice tour guide guiding us to the mine. The first thing we did was go on a small old rusty tram. There were rows of three so me, Orin, and Lora went on together. Me and Orin had to comfort Lora because she was a bit scared of caves. When we went down on the tram it turned pitch black! We’re now at the bottom of the mine and walking around with the tour guide talking us through. It was really fun walking around the mines, but also a bit scary. When we went to go up we went on the same tram but we were going backwards! That was really unexpected but we still had fun.

I would really recommend this trip. It is a very educational school trip as well as being really fun. I learnt a lot of things on the journey together. This was my most favourite excursion I’ve ever done! I would definitely do it again if I could. I think everyone should have this amazing experience at Sovereign Hill.I loved everything about Sovereign Hill like the funny tour guides, the buildings, the mines, and the towers.

Written by Addy L

School Council 2025 - June Meeting 

Our school council look forward to our next meeting which will be held on Tuesday 17th June:

• Finance Meeting at 5.00pm
• Council Meeting at 5.30pm