Primary School News

From the Head of Primary, Tracey Rogers

From possum gliding to paper planes, blackout zones to delicious marshmallows roasted over an open fire, there have been plenty of enjoyable and resilience-building activities across Primary over the last two weeks. Today's Inter-House Athletics Carnival was a great celebration of athletic skill, House Spirit and sportsmanship. 

I would like to congratulate Year 6 student, Lilia McCabe for her recent achievement in the Armadale Young Writers’ Awards 2021. Lilia obtained 3rd place in the Years 5 - 6 category for her impressive short story titled The End Journey. Well done Lilia!

I could list many wonderful aspects of the events of the last fortnight; however, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I hope you enjoy the photo essay below along with some student accounts of the events.

Year 5 Encounter

Campfire

Written by: Kira De Sena

On the second night after dinner, we headed out to the campfire with our torches to go and roast marshmallows. We all sat down at the logs around the campfire and sang three camp songs called ‘There Aint No Flies On Us,’ ‘Yogi Bear’ and ‘Campfire’s Burning’. The boys roasted their marshmallows first and then went back to their dorms whilst the girls roasted their marshmallows. When we got back to our dorms, we brushed out teeth and all went to bed.

The Flying Fox

Written by: Akasha Ardzejewski and Jessamy Forsyth

The flying fox, in our opinion, was one of the most fun activities on camp and we’ll happily tell you about it. The flying fox is a tall building with rock-climbing pegs on the wall. To get to the flying fox, you find the secret door to a spiral staircase, leading you to the two zip-lining ropes which your harness attaches to. It was fun because when you were zip-lining down, it would go extremely fast and a few people were afraid (that’s totally fine!). It was scary when we climbed up. The worst part is when you have to unclip the zippy from your harness, then you get down and wait your turn again. The majority of people in our group loved the flying fox and rated it five stars!

The Blackout Zone

Written by: Andrew Rodrigo

When we were in the Blackout Zone, lots of people got scared when we saw Fredrick the Skeleton in one of the rooms. We had to complete lots of tasks to get to the end of the Blackout Zone such as finishing a puzzle to unlock the chest with five buckets of water, placing metal poles in bars coming out of the ground to get across quicksand and the last challenge was the hardest but we’ll keep that a secret. Overall, it was fun but kind of scary at the same time.

Canoeing

Written by: Ekjot Gill and Matilda Hewson

First, we learnt how to move forward in the canoe with a forward sweep, backwards with a backwards sweep then we learnt how to stop and move from side to side. We felt happy at first but when we got in the water and started canoeing, we felt nervous and felt like we were going to fall into the cold, smelly water. There was a very strange smell but besides that all was good, and we played a game called ‘World Domination’ where we started as a country and had to tap other people’s canoes to win.

Year 7 Orientation Day

Year 5/6 Zoo Excursion 

Written by: Olivia Knapp, Year 5

On Monday 6 September, the Year 5/6 cohort from John Wollaston went to the Perth Zoo. When we got there, we split up into our groups. We all went around and saw lots of different animals and habitats around the zoo. We all had a lesson about the African savannah and the adaptations of animals in one of the lion houses. It was fantastic to see all the animals and adaptations that we have been learning about in our ‘Where We are in Place and Time’ unit of inquiry. It was a fun day and thank you to Mrs McKean and the other teachers for organising the excursion.

Father's Day Afternoon Tea 

Inter-House Athletics Carnival

Take care.

Tracey Rogers

Head of Primary

The Primary Scoop

Have Sum Fun Online Mathematics Competition

Written by: Fiona Currey, Dean of Teaching and Learning (Primary)

Following the success of Have Sum Fun Maths in the Secondary School and a group of Years 5 and 6, this term a group of strong mathematicians in Years 3 and 4 had their first opportunity to participate. 

Organised by the Mathematics Association of Western Australia, the competition involves students working in teams of four to complete a series of Maths quizzes online, competing against groups of students from other schools across Western Australia. The teams competed extremely well with one Year 3 team finishing in the top 10 out of 48 schools. This is what the children had to say about it.

• Keira – At first I was worried, but then I realised that we were all working together as a team and that made me feel better.
• Henry – I learnt to never underestimate yourself!
• Neha – At the start I felt a mix of excitement and nerves and throughout the weeks I figured out it was not that hard and I was getting excited.
• Olivia – It is important to communicate your ideas.
• Kingston – It was a great time with lots of roadblocks but putting our minds to it helped make things easier.
• James – Have Sum Fun Maths has made me learn a lot about teamwork.
• Ishan – It was very fun and exciting, but also very challenging and complicated.
• Chloe – I was nervous at the start but when I found out that we were nearly coming first, I was very proud and excited.
• Harriet – I had a lot of fun doing Maths with my friends and when I found out the score I felt proud of my team.
• Bryden – I think everyone was nervous at the start but as we did more through the weeks, it got easier and when I saw my group’s score, I was proud that my group had done well.
• Kate - It was always really fun and made you feel you can go anywhere you want with the strengths you have.
• Violet – Doing Have Sum Fun Online has been a great experience and I think everybody had fun!