Science

Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2025, and welcome your input:

Hayley Oliver (Science)  Hayley.Oliver@education.vic.gov.au

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

This year has gone by so quickly, it feels like just yesterday that we were talking about all the things that Science is, and now here we are at the end of the year and it feels like we’ve actually done all the things!!!

Firstly, I want to say a huge congratulations to the Grade Sixes on a fantastic year and I would like to wish you all the best for your next chapter. Hopefully you will look back at primary school with fond memories. 

I would also like to congratulate Keira Ferguson, who was the 2025 Science Award recipient. 

Below is a copy of the speech from graduation:

The Science award goes to Keira!! Your dedication, curiosity, and quiet determination have made you an outstanding role model in Science. Keira, you are a quiet achiever and have consistently produced work of exceptional quality. Whether it is completing a hands-on investigation, writing up findings, or collaborating with others, you approach every task with focus, maturity, and a genuine desire to understand the world around you.

You showed commitment by being a member of our RoboCup team for two years, where not only did you build strong coding and problem-solving skills, but you also proved to be a calm, reliable leader—supporting your teammates and helping guide the group through challenges.

This award celebrates far more than academic success. It recognises curiosity, creativity, teamwork, and hopefully, a love of science. These qualities will take you far, as you continue into secondary school and beyond.

It is with great pleasure that I present you this year’s Science Award. You have embodied what it means to be a scientist—thoughtful, dedicated, innovative and curious.

Congratulations, Keira.

I would also like to say a huge thank you, to all of those families who have so kindly donated supplies to the Science room. We have been able to have some really good quality hands on learning, due to your kind donations, so thank you. 

I wish you all the best over the holiday season. Hopefully you will be able to find some time to relax and unwind. I look forward to seeing you in 2026!

Here is a snapshot of our learning over the past few weeks. 

Year One and Year Two learning

The Grade One and Two students continued to learn about what living things need, but we switched out focus to what we can do to look after our pets. The students all completed a profile about either a pet they already have or have had, or they completed a profile about a pet they would like. Then they created their pets out of clay. These were super cute! 

This week some of the students took on the challenge to try and make a Christmas tree, stand up using only paper! I was really impressed with their persistence, dedication and problem solving skills. 

Year Three/Four learning

In Year Three and Four we have been talking about living, non living and once living things. The focus for the last few weeks has been on once living things. We have learnt about different types of fossils. To understand trace fossils, the students went outside and collected some leaves, then came back and coloured over the top of the leaves to look at the leaves in more detail. They learnt that an impression that can make and leave on an object is called a ‘trace fossil’. 

We consolidated this learning by making our own dinosaur trace fossils. The students had fun getting messy, combining flour, salt and water to create dough, to then make an imprint of a dinosaur or footprints. These look fantastic. 

Finally they have also had some fun creating a made up once-living creature. The options were endless, they could combine animals living, once-living or mythical to come up with their own creature. 

Year Five/Six learning

The Year Five and Six students did an amazing job learning about light pollution. They created a poster to try and promote people to switch off any artificial lights, to help our animals. I was so impressed with these posters.

The most fun was the most disgusting lesson, when we learnt about germs and how easily they can spread. They also learnt importance of Scientists studying different types of viruses and bacteria to help develop medicines. The students chose something to swab, they then put their swab in some geli ‘type’ plates for their bacteria to grow and wow did we have some amazing results. Some of the kids were so resilient in looking at their bacteria, even though it was so gross. I think what they took away from this lesson, is to make sure they always practise good hygiene. I decided not to publish the photos of the bacteria, but I have included some pictures of their drawings (and reactions)!

It's been a fun and busy year!!!