School Camp - Year 4 - 7 students

Last week many of our year 4-7 students attended Arbury Park Outdoor School for two nights and three days. Over the course of the camp, students participated in activities such as orienteering, group problem solving to support team building, microbiology, hiking and animal study. Students experienced nature on a number of levels, from appreciating the natural environment to examining micro-organisms through microscopes. It was a fun, exciting and enriching experience for us all.

Scholastic Bookfair 2021

All students visited the Bookfair during their borrowing time in the Resource Centre. Many families took the opportunity to purchase a special book to encourage reading at home. The Bookfair raises money for the school enabling us to expand our Resource Centre collection which benefits our whole school community.

Indigenous Bush Garden with Y6

Y6 have been developing their design skills by helping to create features in our Bush Garden that will support plants and animals to thrive and survive. In Design Technology the students have learnt to work together as a team in order to help each other see the 'bigger picture'.

We were fortunate to get a grant to support the development of the garden. Each group of students are developing on a different part of the garden. This includes a frog pond, insect hotel, native bee sanctuary, a humpie (stick house) and various plants that provide food and shelter and have been used for thousands of years by our First Nations People.

With fresh inspiration from the Outdoor School camp, we are looking forward to finishing off the garden in the next few weeks and welcoming you to come and see it.

Well done Y6!

Indonesian

Last week many of our Year 4-7's students went to camp. The students who didn't attend came together and had fun making Congklak boards, which some say is the world's oldest board game! Congklak is a popular game in Indonesia, and much of the Arab speaking world (it is also known as Mancala - check your device app store, you may find an electronic version). The aim of the game is to collect as many biji (seeds) in you ibu or congklak (the big nest at the ends) by the end of the game.

To play the game, players sit opposite each other, with the long sides of the board facing them. Empat (four) biji are plced in each anak (literally means child - the small wells in the centre of the board). Leave the ibu (literally mother - large wells at each end) empty. The enam (six) small wells closest to each player and the ibu to their kanan (right) belong to them. On each turn, players will take all the biji from an anak on their side. Moving counter-clockwise, place one biji in each anak until you run out. This includes placing one in your own ibu but NOT you opponents ibu.

The game can get exciting if you manage to capture your opponent's biji. You can do this if you place your last biji in an empty anak on YOUR side of the board. You then capture all the biji in your opponent's anak directly opposite. Place all the captured biji into your own ibu. If your last biji lands in your own ibu, you may take another turn.

But how do you win? As soon as all the anak on one side of the board become empty, the game is over. Any remaining biji on the other side belong to the player whose side it is. Now count up the biji, can you do this in Indonesian? The person with the most biji in their ibu wins the game. Don't forget to thank your opponent for playing with terima kasih!

Music in Y3

We have been learning about different classical composers including Mozart and Tchaikovsky. We played some of their beautifully composed pieces of music with bucket drums and body percussion. Two of our favourite pieces to play are Tchaikovsky’s Trepak from the ballet the Nutcracker and Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. We were inspired by these composers and composed our own music by using symbol notation and played our music using everyday objects and body percussion. We have learnt about how music is good for us and provides us with a total brain workout!

Diary Dates