Specialists' NEWS
SPANISH
Spanish Program – Term 2 Overview
Prep
Students developed foundational Spanish vocabulary through songs, games and hands-on activities. Learning focused on colours, numbers, fruits and vegetables, while building confidence in listening, responding and participating in classroom routines.
Year 1–2
Students learned to communicate basic personal information in Spanish, including their name, age and favourite things. They practised vocabulary related to colours, numbers, fruits and vegetables through interactive activities and games. To conclude the unit, students created their own Spanish passports, demonstrating their understanding of key vocabulary and simple sentence structures.
Year 3–4
Students learned to talk about their daily routines using common action verbs and regular present tense conjugations. Through speaking, reading and writing activities, they developed their ability to describe habits and everyday actions. As a final task, students completed a "Mi Rutina" project, writing about their own routines in Spanish. Students also explored Spanish language and culture through a cooking experience.
Year 5–6
Students explored the Spanish-speaking world through a country research project. They investigated geography, traditions, food, landmarks and cultural practices while developing research, presentation and intercultural understanding skills. The unit concluded with student presentations sharing key findings and reflections about their chosen country.
ART
Preps
Prep students have had a busy and colourful term in the Art room. They created teddy bears inspired by Corduroy, assembled bright rainbow scenes, searched magazines as "colour detectives", printed Rainbow Fish scales using celery stamps, and built textured under-the-sea collages. Students also explored the work of Piet Mondrian through heart artworks and experimented with bending, twisting and looping paper strips to create line sculptures inspired by Larry the Line.
Grade 1/2
Grade 1/2 students explored colour, shape and pattern through a range of exciting artworks. They designed and constructed their own printing stamps before using them to create repeating patterns, completed vibrant tropical toucan drawings, and experimented with colour mixing inspired by Mix It Up! by Hervé Tullet. Students also painted colour wheel lion artworks, discovering how primary colours can be mixed to create secondary colours while developing their painting, drawing and collage skills.
Grade 3/4
Grade 3/4 students focused on the element of colour through a variety of creative projects. They used bleeding crepe paper to create colourful painted papers, which were then transformed into striking bird collages inspired by the colour wheel. Students also created collage colour wheels using carefully selected magazine images and completed modern landscape artworks, exploring warm and cool colours, overlapping shapes and chalk pastel blending techniques to create depth and contrast.
Grade 5/6
Grade 5/6 students investigated how artists use colour, value, line and shape to create expressive artworks. They explored colour theory through hands-on activities involving complementary, analogous and monochromatic colour schemes, created value scales and shaded forms to develop realistic drawing techniques, and produced colourful artworks exploring tints and shades. Students also designed calligraphy-inspired initial artworks, combining flowing lines, organic shapes and carefully planned colour schemes to create bold and visually striking compositions. Throughout the term, students reflected on their artistic choices, evaluated their completed artworks and identified ways they could refine and improve their work.
STEM
In STEM, students have been engaged in a range of biological science topics, exploring plant and animal species around the globe and native to Australia, and even species that are extinct!
During National Reconciliation Week, students viewed a range of First Nations rock art containing images of Australia’s extinct megafauna. Artworks included Diprotodon (a marsupial larger than a rhinoceros!), Thylacines, Short-nosed kangaroos, and Thylacaleo, Australia’s marsupial lion. Students compared the artworks to fossils and images of megafauna, and understand that through both fossils and rock art, scientists can more accurately date when species were alive.
Lower primary students have been expanding their scientific vocabulary and inquiry skills, investigating different habitats, animal features and classifications of species. Preps were introduced to Australia’s extinct dinosaurs and megafauna, and created their own fossil moulds. Grade 1/2 developed their skills in using compound microscopes to examine specimens.
Upper primary students investigated how environmental changes can impact the survival of species. Grade 3/4 explored invasive species and their impact on the Australian environment and wildlife, understanding that invasive species can be animal, plant or fungus. They examined plant features under a microscope and illustrated their observations. Grade 5/6 researched ocean biomes and species, presenting their findings to the class. Furthermore, they conducted an experiment exploring how environmental changes in light and salinity can impact the growth and survival of grass.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
In PE, students have been engaging in parkour, learning how to move the body in a fluid way between obstacles, involving a mixture of balance and strength. Students have learnt how to land safely from height, and to maintain momentum whilst through different spaces. They have used a shoulder roll, precision jumps between obstacles above ground, and learnt to make efficient movement judgments based on balance and speed.
Students have also designed their own parkour courses, using a mixture of equipment with the outdoor spaces. They have used the new skills to navigate obstacles on the adventure playground and competed in time trials, tackling the ropes ladder, monkey bars and other equipment in different and dynamic ways.
