Student News

SORRY DAY AND RECONCILIATION WEEK

On Friday the 26th of May National Sorry Day remembers and acknowledges the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are a part of the Stolen Generations. Students read the book Sorry Day and had discussions about what sorry means, why the apology was important and why it is important for the future. 

From May 27th to June 3rd students at SMPPS have been acknowledging Reconciliation Week. It starts and ends on two very significant dates. Saturday the 27th of May is the anniversary of the 1967 referendum where Australia voted yes to the inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in the constitution as a part of the Australian population.  Saturday the 3rd of June is the anniversary of the Mabo decision where the High Court of Australia recognised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are Custodians of the land and set a principle of native title rights in Australian common law. 

Students have started to read about the Uluru Statement from the Heart in the picture story book Finding the Heart of the Nation by Thomas Mayor and Blak Douglas as a way to begin understanding what is needed to support the Uluru statement and reconciliation.

'When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.' 

SOUND AND LIGHT WORKSHOP

In Year 2 we attended an Inquisitive Kids Science Incursion, on Tuesday the 30th June with Carmen. We explored the Sound and Light Workshop to demonstrate the understanding of how light and sound can be produced by a range of sources and can be sensed. 

Students participated in a range of experiments predicting what might happen and why it happens. Some of our favourite experiments were:

Gabriella - We used a slinky, pulling it back to show the vibration of sound waves. 

Trinity - Using the egg shakers, they had different high and low sounds, they had different things inside them. 

Lina- I like the experiment where Carman shined the UV light onto the UV sensitive beads, turning them purple and then when she shined the UV light in tonic water making it blue and swirl because of the quinine in it. 

Will- We did the experiment where there was a steel bowl with plastic wrap over it, on top of it was 100s and 1000s. When we made an ‘mmm’ sound it caused vibrations so they moved. We blew the 100s and 1000s away with our breath.

Khaled- We used a coat hanger which had strings attached to both sides, when you placed it in your ears and tapped it with the chop stick it make a bell/gong sound.

Leana- You see things upside down because of the plastic like lens which is curved in your eye so your eye sends an upside down picture to your brain and your brain fixes it! 

Now we have done all this learning we will be applying it to make musical instruments in Passions and light scapes in Curiosity. 

YEAR 5/6 NEWS

Fortnightly we get the opportunity to do an activity with our Prep Buddies. This allows our students to show their school values of 'being a leader' and 'being connected'. It also highlights that learning does take place outside of the classroom. It gives our 5/6 students the opportunity to develop their communication skills, learning to adjust the topics and their manner to build a connection with the younger students. 

With our buddies, we only do the best activities. We have had the opportunity to read books, play games, dance party, we made pig the pug puppets and eat lunch together. I like how small and cute they are. - Ollie M 

It is awesome to have buddies, because you get experience with younger students and get to support them in making the right choices, to help them in the future. We get to be a good role model for them at school in the classroom and yard- Tavi 

The first time I meet them I was a little shy and I made friends with them quickly. They are always happy to see me, they are cute and a little cheeky. It is cute when they read books to us, as they are learning to read. The best thing about having a buddies, is being with them because they are fun to be around.  When we had our dance party, we got to play chasey, it was a lot of fun to run, play and laugh with them.- Harry 

I enjoy the time spend with our prep buddies because they are really fun and energetic. - Jaden 

PREP NEWS

FIREMEN AND THE FIRE ENGINE!!!

A very exciting day for the Preps today when we had a visit from the South Melbourne Fire Station! Everyone had fun including Ms Arnold!