Primary School

Just When We Thought Primary School Couldn’t Get Any Better… 

Just when we thought Primary School couldn’t get any better, Book Week happened, and boy, did everyone go all out! 

For one wonderful week, it felt as though a book had exploded right across our school! From Paddington's to tree houses, Moon Face to ballerinas, we had it all. The creativity and enthusiasm from our students, staff and families was truly wonderful to see. 

I think we may have set a record for the largest parade in Primary School history! It was fantastic to see our students proudly dressed as their favourite characters and bringing the magic of books to life. 

A particularly special part of this year’s celebrations was welcoming our littlest learners, our Djindas, to join in the festivities. It was wonderful to see our youngest students experiencing the excitement of Book Week alongside our Primary School students. 

Thank you to all our students, families and staff for making Book Week such a memorable celebration of reading, imagination and creativity. It was certainly a week to remember! 

This week we also have our Hockey Tour in Perth, where our team has been competing. We look forward to hearing how it went and sharing the highlights with you in next week’s newsletter. 

What a fantastic week it has been in Primary School! 

Early Childhood Centre Book Week Parade

Primary School Book Week Parade

We need your help…  

The ECC is looking for donations of good quality milk crates for our play areas. If you have any to donate, please bring them to Primary School Administration.  

Classroom News 

We hope you enjoy reading what our classes have been up to this week. 

Djinda  

Excitement is rife in Djinda; high-pitched squeals when sharing who they want to dress up as and then the wide eyes of bewilderment when being told they get to wear their chosen costume all day! Could there be anything more fun?! This week we have a shared morning tea to celebrate Book Week, inviting families in to share in the creativity, fun and pure joy that comes with new exciting traditions. 

Kindergarten 

What a fun week we have had! It began with learning all about the letter ‘Ee’ and making ‘eggs in the egg cups’. We also started a new story for Talk for Writing. It is called Somebody Swallowed Stanley. We had an exciting adventure to the Wild Space and guess who we found? Stanley! We also had our Book Week dress up parade through the Primary School. We all looked so fabulous in our costumes and loved dancing our way through our adoring fans!  

Pre-Primary 

On Friday the Pre-Primary classes visited the Wildlife Park at Discovery Bay. First we went on the bus, which was a long drive but also very exciting. Once we got to the Wildlife Park, we had our recess and a play on the grass in the amphitheatre. Next, we went to look at the animals. We were very lucky to be shown a squirrel glider called Alvin and a possum. We also found Pepe the talking cockatoo who did a dance for us! After seeing the animals, we went on a walk along the paths of the botanic park, where we heard lots of frogs and saw a big skink. After lunch we hopped back on the bus to travel back to school. It was such a fun day!  

Year One 

Our class questionnaires have been analysed and comparisons between our toys, our parents’ toys and grandparents’ toys are starting to form. We loved exploring the old playground games that our parents and grandparents may have played during their childhoods, including hopscotch, hoops and elastics. The children have also completed the Year One phonics screen, using real and nonsense (alien) words, which they have been practising all this term. However, the big excitement this week has been creating our class door for Book Week. Using this year’s theme ‘A Symphony of Stories’, we read ‘Peace at Last’ and identified the ‘cacophony’ of night-time sounds in this book. Come and see our findings (and look at all the other amazing doors the rest of the Primary School have produced too!) 

Year Two 

Last week was filled with excitement as we prepared to deck out our doors for Book Week. Preparation involved our neatest colouring, creative designing, messy painting and lots of glitter! We are all extremely proud of our wonderful creations. In between all the creative fun, we have been working hard on our writing, researching planets in Science in preparation of our report writing, and enjoying some Mathematics activities on the laptops. We are super excited for the upcoming fun with ECC Father's Day activities next week! 

Year Three  

We have been excited to celebrate Book Week and explore this year’s theme, ‘Symphony of Stories’, through a range of creative learning experiences. Using our class novel, The Swiss Family Robinson, as inspiration, we worked collaboratively to design and create a window and door display that reflects the adventure, resilience and teamwork shown throughout the story. As a class, we shared ideas, planned our design, and contributed to the final display, demonstrating cooperation, teamwork and creativity. Our display also incorporated our History learning focus for the week, which explored how individuals’ cultures, values, interests and experiences influence and contribute to our community. Through discussions and activities, students reflected on the different perspectives and strengths that they bring to our community. Our display reflects our symphony of cultures, creating a stronger community. 

Year Four 

Diving into Book Week, with our focus being ‘Kings, Queens and Leaders’, the Year Four classes have been thinking about what makes a great leader. Is it someone who conquers evil with a lightning-bolt scar and a mess of black hair? Is it someone who takes his pride back from his vengeful uncle? Or could it simply be how we lead our lives, choosing to make decisions that positively impact others? 

These ideas about leadership have also flowed into our persuasive writing. The students have begun shaping persuasive texts, considering how strong leaders can use their voice to stand up for others and make a difference. They are working to persuade their readers to support people, groups or causes that may be disadvantaged, using their writing to advocate for positive change. 

Year Five 

If you had to write an obituary, what would you write... A bit of a heavy question for our Year Five classes. How about an obituary for a famous person, or perhaps an infamous bushranger from the Aussie legends catalogue. Well, that is what we have been pondering in our history deep dives. What makes the cut: is it the birth, the death, the first arrest, perhaps a deportation? To help us assemble this timeline of big events, we have been scouring the archives for certificates, newspaper columns, arrest posters, court documents and a whole trove of other primary sources. The aim, of course, is not just to foster a love of Aussie history. We are also learning to research credibly, reference and evaluate the credibility of information in a blurry world.  

Year Six 

Year Six is buzzing with learning and exciting events and we are certainly busy bees! Launching into our last Book Week of Primary School has seen us exploring and celebrating the wonderful works of some of our favourite authors and we have thoroughly enjoyed revisiting some of our favourite childhood picture books. We have been proud to represent Great Southern Grammar for the Dockers AFL Carnival, the 2026 Perth Hockey Trip and in the 2026 Tournament of Minds Challenge. Our curious minds have been busy investigating the cost of plastic in our environment and the effects salinity is having on landscapes around Australia.  

Have a wonderful weekend.  

Ms Leah Field | Head of Primary and

Mrs Hayley Ranger | Head of Early Childhood

Primary AFL Dockers Shield Carnival

Our Years Four, Five and Six students recently represented Great Southern Grammar with pride at the AFL Dockers Shield Carnival, competing against nine other schools from across the region.

It was a fantastic day of football, with our team finishing fourth overall in a highly competitive field. The result was a wonderful reflection of the skill, effort and determination shown by the students throughout the carnival.

A particular highlight was the sportsmanship and camaraderie displayed by our players. Students encouraged and supported one another, celebrated their teammates' successes and represented Great Southern Grammar with respect both on and off the field.

There were some excellent team performances, with the students demonstrating strong skills in passing, tackling, positioning and decision-making as the day progressed. Equally impressive were the number of individual performances, with several students showing great courage, skill and composure in challenging situations.

Finishing fourth against such strong opposition is an excellent achievement and one that the students should be very proud of. More importantly, their willingness to work together, compete fairly and support one another made the day a memorable one.

Congratulations to William Skinner and Archie Low who received a brand new AFL ball for their performances throughout the day.

Well done to all of our Dockers Shield players on a fantastic carnival and for representing Great Southern Grammar so proudly!

Mr Stephen Berryman | Primary School Sports Coordinator