What's Happening in the Senior School

Year 5

What’s Happening in Year 5 in Weeks 3 and 4

Year 5 have started the year with a bang! It has been a busy two weeks. Start-up program and then Sovereign Hill Camp. The students have learned about the new school routines, expectations and timetable and have settled very well. They have created a written piece that shares facts about themselves to build connections with other members of the cohort.

Sovereign Hill camp was fabulous. The students started their journey with a trip to the Eureka Centre in Ballarat where they learned about the Eureka Stockade and saw the Eureka Flag. Their eyes were wide when viewing the ‘Welcome Nugget’ which is the second largest nugget found in Ballarat during the Goldrush. After a bite of lunch, the students were off to Sovereign Hill. The afternoon was spent wandering around the town, gold panning and visiting the Lolly Shop. Raspberry drops were the crowd favourite.

On Thursday and Friday the students attended the costume school. They dressed up and were immersed in the life of a child on the goldfields in the 1850s. Their eyes boggled at the differences to the school they know today. The staff and parents were impressed with their engagement in the program. They have learned so much and have been sharing their highlights back at school. 

Wellbeing

• Explore the links between their emotions and their behaviour
• Reflect on how personal strengths have assisted in achieving success at home, at school or in the community 

Literacy

• Understand how noun groups/phrases and adjective groups/phrases can be expanded in a variety of ways to provide a fuller description of the person, place, thing or idea 
• Understand the use of vocabulary to express greater precision of meaning, and know that words can have different meanings in different contexts 
• Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print and multimodal texts, choosing text structures, language features, images and sound appropriate to purpose and audience 
• Reread and edit own and others’ work using agreed criteria for text structures and language features 
• Develop a handwriting style that is becoming legible, fluent and automatic 
• Understand how to use banks of known words, syllabification, spelling patterns, word origins, base words, prefixes and suffixes, to spell new words, including some uncommon plurals 

Maths

• Interpret, compare and order numbers with more than 2 decimal places, including numbers greater than one, using place value understanding; represent these on a number line 
• Recognise and extend the application of place value to tenths and hundredths and use the conventions of decimal notation to name and represent decimals 
• Identify and describe the properties of prime, composite, square and triangular numbers and use these properties to solve problems and simplify calculations
• Express natural numbers as products of their factors, recognise multiples and determine if one number is divisible by another 

Knowledge Unit

• How did the Gold Rush affect Australia’s population and migration to Australia?  
• What were the experiences of different cultural groups and classes of people on the goldfields?  
• How did the migration impact the development of Australian colonies and shape Australia as a nation?   
• What were the significant events and who were the significant people that shaped Australia as a democratic society?  

Homework

• Mathletics tasks

• 30 minutes of reading every night

   

Year 6

What’s Happening in Year 6 in Weeks 3 and 4 

The Year 6 students have kicked off the year with energy and enthusiasm, showing they’re ready to make the most of their final year in primary school. They’ve stepped up as the school’s role models, leading by example in both their behaviour and attitude. Whether in the classroom or around the school, they’ve shown maturity and responsibility, inspiring the younger students to follow their lead. Wearing their Year 6 jumpers with pride, they’ve embraced their role as leaders and have a real sense of school spirit. With such a positive start, it’s no surprise they’re ready to start their final year of primary learning at BPS! 

It’s important to be mindful that students are still adjusting to new routines and also that students will be attending camp in Week 3.  

Wellbeing 

• Students will explore the 4R’s. They will gain valuables skills to identify stressors and lift their moods through mindful strategies.  

Literacy 

• Students will unpack the new novel Us Mob, delving into its themes, characters, narratives that explore Indigenous voices and perspectives.  

Maths 

• Students are actively reviewing forms of data representation. They will revise and learn how to analyse patterns, interpret data and choose the most effective formats to present data accurately. 

Knowledge Unit 

• Students will be introduced to the Year 6 Knowledge Unit on Australian History. They will unpack the big overarching question ‘How have significant people and events of the twentieth century shaped Australia’s national identity and way of life?’  

Reminders

• Year 6’s will have a Teddy Bear Picnic with the Prep students on Friday 21st February. Please remind students to bring their teddies to school in Week 4. We ask that students limit this to 1 plush toy/teddy per person.