Classroom & Curriculum News

Prep Class News

We would like to congratulate all the Prep students for their wonderful achievements throughout the Term.  They have settled into school life and are becoming responsible and confident learners.  To celebrate their first term of Primary school, we celebrated with our very own Teddy Bear's Picnic at Harris Reserve.  The students enjoy Tiny Teddy biscuits,  game of Teddy Says,  Teddy Dance freeze and blowing bubbles with their teddies.  We wish you all a safe and Happy Easter.

Journey of the Cross- Pilgrimage

With a reflective and prayerful end to Term 1, the St Augustine's community including children, staff, friends and families took part in the Journey of the Cross Pilgrimage. 

We travelled as a large group through different parts of the school grounds reading a short version of the Stations of the Cross from the Gospel of Luke. 

We were lead by our School Ambassadors, Gabriel and Aleksandra, with the support of some of our Year 6 leaders reading scripture, prayers and reflections. 

It was a wonderful sight to see all students being so reverent and prayerful during this time and appreciating the true meaning of Easter. 

Thank you to all students and families for attending, we hope your own personal pilgirmage helped to prepare you for Holy Week and Easter. 

Physical Education

All students at St Augustine's Primary School participated in Physical Education with great joy across Term One! The students all had the opportunity to be involved in several Minor Games, Units of Sport as well as a visit from The Footscray Hockey Club, who delivered a fun clinic for all year levels.

Year Prep:

The students in Year Foundation have been very excited to participate in Physical Education this term! The class did a great job at learning and applying safety and following rules throughout the lessons. A range of games including 'Fruit Salad', 'Octopus', 'Clean Your Yard' and many more exciting activities were performed enthusiastically by all students. It has been terrific to see the involvement and enthusiasm among all the Year Foundation students on a weekly basis!

Year 1 & 2:

Students across Years One & Two performed a range of Minor Games throughout the term with great enthusiasm! Among these were 'Octopus,' 'Poisonball' & many more. The students did a fantastic job in the Throwing & Catchng unit, where they practiced their skills through a variety of engaging activities. The students in Years One & Two should be proud of their efforts across Term One!

Years 3 & 4:

Students in Years Three & Four enjoyed the Red Stage Tennis Hot Shots Unit, which took place for four weeks. The classes were able to further practice the shots of tennis and applied these successfully through rallying formats. Years Three & Four students also were involved in many Minor Games throughout the term. Well Done to all Years Three & Four students on their efforts and resilience across the term!

Years 5 & 6:

Students in Years Five & Six also enjoyed the Red Stage Tennis Hot Shots unit over the course of four weeks. The classes further built up their skills and competed in matchplay across most weeks of the unit. Many activities and games were also played throughout the term which were performed with great excitement and eagerness. A great job overall by the Year Five & Six students with their participation this term!

Kitchen Garden Program with Grade 3/4

Students have been busy working in the garden since the arrival of our new worm hotels (bins). We have been turning over the soil in the top garden bed in lieu of planting fruit trees in the near future. The two larger raised garden beds have also had their soil turned and topped with sugar cane mulch, with students learning about how the change in season affects the soil temperature and what can be planted and harvested at this time of year. 

Our sugar cane mulch topping is acting as a winter blanket to protect our new plants  introduced - basil, spinach, parsley, thyme, spring onions and vietnamese mint just in time for the school open day. To encourage growth in the garden Year 3/4 produced signs which are highlighting to all students playing in the garden, that the garden beds are not play, nor somewhere to dump rubbish, therefore going forward we hope that students will play a part in being advocates for the gardens survival. 

In the kitchen we prepared a favourite with a twist - damper, but this time with fresh thyme and lemon myrtle. Students were not sure about ‘green bits’ being added to their damper, however they still keenly prepared their dough and devoured it after it had baked in the oven. We enjoyed it with Indigenous fruit jams and fresh whipped cream. There wasn’t a lot of need for lunch after these classes.

In celebration of our term in the garden and kitchen, students enjoyed making pizza dough and passata for a delicious pizza party. Simple and tasty Margherita pizzas topped with fresh basil were the best way to end the term. In addition as we have been practicing our three knife skills, bear claw, rock n chop and bridge/tunnel, students were all awarded with their knife licence to take home. We hope that parents keep encouraging your child to cook at home using the recipes from their kitchen garden booklet.

Year 3/4 Class News

Wow what a term we have had. We have had a very successful Term 1 in Year ¾ and it has been amazing to see the growth in our self confidence as the term has progressed. It is hard to think that we have managed to learn so much throughout this term. In Maths we have recently spent some time learning about graphs & completing a mini project in small groups to create an infograph! An Infograph  is a visual representation of information that uses images, charts, and text to communicate data. Infographs are designed to make complex ideas easy to understand. We have revised our understanding of apostrophes for contractions and understanding that verbs can be categorised as an action, occurrence or state. We have also learnt how to upgrade speaking verbs to make our writing more entertaining. We have really enjoyed taking part in the Stephanie Alexander Program with Mrs Re and we love how the garden is looking! With the Sacrament of Reconciliation now completed, next term we look to learning about the Sacrament of the First Eucharist to help prepare those making this very special sacrament. We thank you all for your continued support throughout this term and wish you all a lovely & safe Easter break.

Year 1/2 Class News

As we wrap up a fantastic first term, we’re so proud of the strong start our Year 1/2 students have made to the school year. Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been busy developing comprehension skills in Reading through story retells and sequencing using story maps, as well as exploring both literal and inferred meaning in texts. In Writing, students have been learning to expand their sentences by adding who, when, and where, while in Phonics, groups have been targeting specific learning goals—reviewing long vowel sounds a, e, i, and o, or focusing on the consonant n, nasalised a (as in am and an), and the short o sound. Irregular (heart) words have also been a key part of our learning. In Maths, students have worked on addition and subtraction strategies such as fact families, using known facts, bridging to ten, and number lines. Our Religion lessons have focused on the events of Holy Week, including Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday and Good Friday, and in Respectful Relationships, we’ve explored help-seeking—learning how we can support others, how to ask for help, and who we can turn to. It’s been a busy and rewarding term, and we’re so pleased with how far the students have come. Wishing all our families a safe and happy Easter break!

More Colour Run Fun!

Thanks Ben & Emily (parents of Emily 3/4LP & Lachlan 5/6B) who took these photos.

Chess News

Term One chess has been a highlight for the students who have been participating.  Those new to chess have really persevered and shown great improvemnt and those who have been playing chess for the last couple of years continue to improve and have become mentors to the new players.  Medals were given out in the final class for Term 1:

1st place:  Charlie

2nd place:  Lachlan

3rd place:  Fidel (absent in the photo)

Most Improved:  Matthew

Italian News!

All the children in the Italian classroom have been truly impressive with their enthusiasm, curiosity, and hard work as they embrace the language and culture. From learning new words and writing short paragraphs to role-playing and exploring Italian traditions, each lesson has been filled with excitement and energy!

The 5/6 students have created amazing letters/cards that will be sent to Northern Gardens Aged Care - MACG Italian community. Mr. Pearce and I will be visiting during the school holidays.

Wishing you all a joyful and peaceful Easter, filled with love, laughter, and new memories.

Miss Paglianiti