Primary School Happenings

Marble Run Competition

Mrs Sumita Quinn | Year 6 Teacher

The Engineering students from The King's College versed students from Mother Teresa Catholic College in the James Dyson Marble Run competition. The challenge consisted of building a marble run which would allow a marble to run for 60 seconds without stopping. Points were given for innovation and the use of recycled materials. The students enjoyed the competition and with the help of Mother Teresa students they salvaged their marble run and it ran for 30 seconds. The time came down to a millisecond and both teams tied in their score. Attached are pictures of the marble 

What’s Happening in Primary!

Yvette Clifton | Head of Primary

As the first half of the year draws to a close it is great to take a step back and reflect on what we have achieved in Primary this Semester.  Early in the year, primary staff created their own mission, vision and goals for where we would like the primary school to go in the future.  Their vision was: 

“ Our Primary School is a safe, orderly and happy environment, promoting high expectations. The school is welcoming and inclusive, and is well-resourced and organised. Staff enjoy working collaboratively, and they implement a well-structured curriculum with evidence- based pedagogy, in a clear, consistent sequence across the primary school years. This results in high academic achievement levels and high levels of student and staff wellbeing. As a consequence, the school enjoys a continuing high demand for enrolments as the school of choice in the area, as well as an ability to recruit the best and most dedicated educators as the educational 

employer of choice in the area."

The primary team has worked very hard this semester to solidify and clarify our curriculum. We have a structured and well-sequenced curriculum throughout primary school that ensures our students graduate primary school with all the skills and knowledge they need to be successful in their future learning.  Our curriculum is now set in stone for next semester and beyond.  Common assessments will be set regularly and data from those common assessments will be used to determine whether teachers need to adjust their teaching strategies and programs.  We have set our reading program for the primary school and our lovely Librarian Leah Walker has just ordered the novels and books which will be studied in each year level for the next few years, including class sets of novels for our upper primary students. 

Our teaching staff have been developing a culture of feedback and continual improvement this year, with frequent observations of their lessons by leadership staff and their colleagues.  This will increase next semester, to fortnightly peer observations of their lessons, as well as getting filmed during lessons so they can reflect on their teaching strategies.  The primary staff have embraced this culture of feedback and continuing growth as educators, and it shows in the excellent achievements our students are demonstrating in their learning. 

The word must be getting out there also, as we have 15 new students starting in Term 3 in the primary school! Thank you to all our families for supporting the school when talking to your family and friends.  Whilst we are very excited about gaining new enrolments, and the extra government funding which each enrolment brings to the school, I would like to assure parents of our commitment to not have class sizes above 25. This will ensure we can maintain a high level of individualised care and attention to each and every one of our students. 

Our focus next semester will be to increase our parent engagement levels and to try and get parents in the classroom and on our school grounds more. Research shows how important parent engagement in schools is to student achievement levels.   We will also be looking at ways to improve our children’s wellbeing and equip them for life with skills that enable them to build good relationships and allow them to resiliently navigate the world’s uncertainties.  

Once again, we would love parent feedback on the primary school this term, so I urge you to give us as much feedback as possible on how we can improve as a primary school. You can do so using this form:  https://forms.office.com/r/LAVfmwvgwv