Junior School

Wellness Week

Next week, we celebrate Wellness Week. Each day will have a focus, with a range of activities at recess and lunch.

Magical Monday - Laidlaw House Service, Sand Art and Junior School Has Got Talent

Teamwork Tuesday - Chalk Drawing and Bobs and Statues

Work It Out Wednesday - National Simultaneous Storytime and Fingerprint Display Board

Thoughtful Thursday - Graffiti Wall and Laidlaw House Touch of Blue Day/Bake Sale

Feel Good Friday - Lego Building, Movie Time and College Has Talent

A big thank you to Mrs Milich, Mrs Bell, Mr Hawthorne, Mrs Alexander, the Junior School KidsMatter team and SRC for all the planning and organisation that has gone into Wellness Week.

Week 5 Assembly

At our Week 5 Assembly, I introduced the notion of ‘thank the passer’ to the students. The concept comes from American College basketball and was created by legendary coach John Wooden. His goal was to initiate a gesture to build a team culture of acknowledgement and togetherness. In practices and games, the players on his teams who scored a basket had to point to the passer, make eye contact or nod. It is a tradition of generosity and unselfishness that promotes the idea of thanking others for allowing an individual to shine. I like this notion of celebrating as a team and not as an individual.

“Be quick to give credit and slow to seek it. 

Thank the passer — no one scores alone.”

- John Wooden

The following students received Star Student Awards at this week’s Assembly.

Year 6

• Georgina Whale for a positive delayed start back to Term Two, giving everything her best shot and being a helpful classmate.

• Amina Barrera for consistently trying her best across all areas of learning and upholding the school values both inside and outside the classroom.

Year 5

• Will Brown for his enthusiasm for contributing thoughtfully to class discussions, regardless of the topic, and his willingness to seek out challenges in Maths. 

• Harry Parfrey for stepping out of his comfort zone, trying new things, and embracing life in the 1850s at Sovereign Hill with curiosity and interest. 

Year 4

• Herbie Dyer for working hard to improve his knowledge and understanding, and persevering with challenging tasks in Maths, particularly during our Fractions and Time units. 

• Chelsea Tang for actively engaging with our History unit about First Nations People, providing well-developed responses and asking insightful questions.

Year 3

• Eadie Tigges for the effort she puts into her day, taking pride in her work and completing tasks of a high standard, including classwork, home learning and her co-curricular pursuits.

Year 2

• Evie McVeigh for her wonderful articulation in describing her ideas and opinions when comparing and ordering objects by length, mass, and capacity. As well as her great recall of the terms and their meanings for parts of speech in Literacy. 

Year 1

• Clementine Shrive for being an impressive role model in class each day with her consistent enthusiasm, effort and ‘can-do’ attitude. 

• Tom Simmons for his consistently beautiful, neat and well-set-out work he presents each day. As well as his friendly and positive attitude, he shares with all his peers. 

• Theo Stevenson for the well-thought-out ideas and responses he contributes in our class discussions each day, across all areas of his learning tasks.

Pen Licences were awarded to Annie Barber and Rosie Bell. 

Mobile Devices and Bus Travel

A small number of Upper Primary students have long bus trips to and from school and are permitted to use mobile devices for communication and safety. 

There have been reports of Junior School students having their devices out and using them to record others on the afternoon run from Junior School to Senior Campus. 

This is not respectful and responsible use of a device and falls short of our expectations. This week, we will be contacting parents of regular bus travellers to get an understanding of who has devices and for what requirment.

ICAS Reach Mathematic Results

Our Year 2-6 students recently sat the University of Sydney ICAS REACH Mathematics papers. We celebrate some wonderful results.

Outstanding - Emily McVeigh (Year 3), Charlie Giles (Year 3) and Shriaan Golwala (Year 5)

Commendable - Rihaan Golwala (Year 2), Sophie Harvey (Year 3), Ted Bufton (Year 3), Will Farquharson (Year 3), Sam Uebergang(Year 3), Chelsea Tang (Year 4), Rosie Bell (Year 4), Will Diprose (Year 4), Will Brown (Year 5), Penelope Copley (Year 6), Mila McCabe (Year 6), Georgina Whale (Year 6) and Ed McDougall (Year 6).

Year 5 Sovereign Hill Camp

Our Year 5s returned on Friday evening after a highly successful three days at Sovereign Hill. The students were transported back to 1854, where they attended the Ragged School. Throughout their stay, the Year 5s explored Sovereign Hill, visited a gold mine, panned for gold, learnt old-world crafts including cross-stitch, straw weaving, and scrimshaw, spent two days in the Ragged School and perfected their writing with ink and nib. Eleanor Kerr was presented with the Sovereign Hill medal, recognising her excellent efforts in role-playing a child of the goldfields. 

In recognition of their diligence and work ethic, Arthur Adamson and Lucy Cameron were offered apprenticeships with the local candle makers. 

The students were wonderful ambassadors for the College and are to be commended on their manners and attitude at camp. Thank you to Mrs Povey for her organisational skills, Mrs Kelvy for her support of the students and Mrs Bell for her leadership and coordination of the Year 5 camp.

Next Week: Laidlaw House Service

The Laidlaw House Service will be held on Monday.  We invite you to join us at 10.15 am at the Uniting Church as we reflect on ‘Belonging’.