From the Head of Junior School

Pre-Primary – Exploring how things move

A little snapshot into Pre-Primary this week. It’s a joy to see these young learners bounding into the classroom each day, big smiles and ready for a full day of activities with their friends and educators from across the school.

Each day begins with morning routines, setting up their water bottle, fruit snack and diary before starting their first literacy activity and games. It's impressive to see at this stage of the year how much they have progressed, and their confidence to complete tasks independently or work together. The class have been exploring in inquiry how things move, therefore many of the activities, learnings and play are connected back to that concept.

In the morning they participate in physical activity with Mr Berryman called PMP – perceptual motor programme designed to assist students with the muscle group co-ordination and link to language. This week this has also been connected to games in preparation for next week's Athletics carnival, all the while talking about how our bodies move and how we can make changes to make our bodies move faster, slower, jump, hop, throw, catch and much more.

In literacy rotations, the students engage in a range of activities to develop their spelling, reading and writing skills following the Promoting Literacy Development programme (PLD). Students really appreciate the multi-modal approach as they apply their learning with a range of materials and contexts to deepen their understanding.

Pre-Primary have been writing their own narratives this week, adapting a story they know well ‘Bad Luck Duck’, then changing the characters, setting and problem in the story. The students have really enjoyed playing with different ideas to make their story interesting and the different parts of a narrative to keep the story moving, linking this idea with our inquiry theme of ‘how things move’.

In Mathematics, students use materials and practical activities to develop their understanding. These are great fun to use and talking through the mathematical concepts as we build or create helps us learn. It's really lovely to see students making connections throughout the day when they notice the mathematical concepts in others setting, for example, a student noticed when they were in the playground that a ball is a sphere, and a toy in the sandpit was a cube.

In other subject areas like Science, we have been exploring Forces, in particular push and pull forces. Again, linking back to the inquiry theme of exploring how things move, the Pre-Primary class learn how push and pull forces help move objects or ourselves towards and away. They explored the classroom, playground and around the school identifying different features that use push and pull forces, like the flagpole in the centre of the school, gymnasium doors, playground swings and trolly carts.

Throughout the week, Pre-Primary also engage in special lessons with Music, Art, Library, Physical Education and Christian Studies. A variety of experiences across the week, introducing new skills and opportunities to explore their own interests.

Each day is full of learning and activity for the Pre-Primary students; they have brilliantly curious minds with lots of questions to offer and stories to share. This snapshot doesn’t fully capture all the elements of a regular day at school, but we hope it does give you a little window into the world and wonder of Early Childhood.

Junior School BBQ and Dads in Great Southern (DIGS) event update

This Friday 28 October, 4.00pm to 6.00pm, all families are welcome to join the Frisbee fun and BBQ at Eyre Park. This combines the social element of the Junior School BBQ with the family connection activities that DIGS has organised, best of both worlds.

Junior School Athletics Carnival

Next Tuesday 1 November, our Kindergarten to Year Six Interhouse Athletics carnival will be held on the GSG oval beside the Multi-Purpose Sport Complex. Students have been practicing their sprints, field events (Long Jump, Triple Jump, Turbo Javelin and High Jump) and Ball Games in preparation for this exciting event. A programme for the day is linked below. Families are most welcome to attend throughout the day, and anyone who would like to assist can make contact with Mr Stephen Berryman, Physical Education teacher, via e-mail Stephen.berryman@gsg.wa.edu.au

Year Two Celebration

Next Thursday 3 November, 2.15pm to 3.30pm, will be our first Year Two celebration event. This is an informal occasion for families of Year Two to share with their children to recognise the milestone moment of Year Two finishing their Early Childhood Centre journey and moving into the Middle Primary years. For students, this is a significant developmental step, and for families too, one of the ‘milestone moments’ in their child's life. Kindergarten to Year Two will hold a short assembly in the ECC building before symbolically wishing the Year Twos well with a guard of honour to the Years Three to Five building where the students and teachers in that area will welcome them together with their families. Afterwards, parents will enjoy an afternoon tea with their children. It’s a small but meaningful gesture for the Year Two students that we value what they have contributed to the ECC over the past four years and wish them well for the next stage of their journey into Year Three.

Year Three Camp Sleepover, and trip to Castle Rock

Next Friday 4 November, Year Three students will enjoy their first camp experience with a sleepover at school. This is their first step in our camps programme, that will progress into a two-night experience at Camp Quaranup in Year Four, then three nights at Pemberton in Year Five before traveling to Rottnest Island in Year Six for four nights. The sequential stages in each camp grows their confidence to be independent, organised and confident to try new experiences, working together with peers to support each other.

The Year Three sleepover is actually a full day event with an excursion to Castle Rock, where students hike the trail and climb the summit together which does have some challenging sections where they will work together to help each other make the very top. On their return to school, Year Three will enjoy an afternoon and evening together of activities with their teachers Mr Hardey and Mrs Field before setting up for bedtime in the main Junior School building. In the morning, the Year Three cohort are treated to breakfast in the Boarding houses, where they get a snapshot of a boarder's life. After breakfast, it's pack-up time and collected by parents for the weekend. It’s a lovely little experience for the Year Threes but an important one for their preparations into Year Four.

Warms regards, and appreciation,

Mr Ken Raven | Head of Junior School

Year Five Excursion

On Monday 24 October, the Year Five students went on an excursion to Woolworths, Foodbank, the Old Gaol and to see the oldest dwelling in Western Australia - Patrick Taylor Cottage.

The students spent their Market Day profits at Woolworths on essential items and donated these to Foodbank as the 'Taking Action' phase of our Term Three Inquiry.

As our enquiry was all about the allocation of resources, we decided as a class that this would be the most effective use of the funds raised.

Mrs Leah Field | Assistant Head of Junior School

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