Leadership Report

Junior Primary Swimming

During Weeks 4 and 5 of this term, the junior primary classes took part in swimming lessons at The Arc. Students had a fantastic time exploring various water activities and building their confidence in the pool.

For Max in P8, the celebratory event on Friday was the highlight, “I liked the pool party. We got to dance in the pool. At the pool party, it was my first-time diving underwater. I was proud of myself.”

Jasmine in P8 particularly enjoyed using the floaties, explaining, “The best thing was the floaties because you could go get the sinky and then go under the hoop.”

Elena in P8 was happy to share her highlights. “I was diving. It was good. I was going under the water and through the hoop. I was doing kicking and swimming with my arms.”

Marine in P6 enjoyed the variety of options saying, “I liked to go in the baby pool to play. I did star float a lot. I did a bit of dancing in the big pool.”

Henry in P6 expressed his excitement about venturing into deeper waters, stating, “We went in the deep end. It was fun. We got to do a safety jump into the deepest end of the deepest area.”

Overall, the junior primary swimming program proved to be an exciting and rewarding experience for the students with many challenges both in and out of the water. The teachers did a great job at helping students to build their skills in organising their belongings and taking responsibility for getting changed. Thank you also to the range of adults who helped to make this program a success.

Intervention Programs

We are currently running a range of literacy, numeracy and social skills intervention programs to build the knowledge and skills of small groups of students. Towards the end of this term, progress assessments will be undertaken to measure growth and determine next steps.

Literacy interventions have focused on building students' knowledge of the 44 sounds of English and the most common ways of spelling them.

Students are also engaged in extensive practice in blending and segmenting these sounds to enhance their reading and writing abilities with words and sentences. As these skills become more automated, students can read with greater fluency, comprehend texts more effectively, and derive enjoyment from them.

New Building

The construction of the new building is progressing well and is on schedule. By Term 3, all of the junior primary classes should be comfortably settled into their new spaces. The tradespeople involved have done an excellent job, ensuring that each day is filled with bustling activity. We are all eagerly looking forward to the move.

Winter Solstice

On June 21st, we will experience the shortest daylight hours of the year, marking the winter solstice. By the time the next newsletter is released, we will be enjoying longer daylight hours.

Wishing you and your family well.

Daniela Lawlor

Deputy Principal