Primary Life

Building Community with a LEGO Challenge or Two!

Ali Coffey - Head of Curriculum

Did you know that with just six 4x2 LEGO bricks, you can make over 500 million different combinations of builds? 

Two weeks ago, we had the privilege of welcoming Ryan, a LEGO GrandMaster Finalist, to DCC Primary to lead our Years 3 to 6s in some memorable building challenges.  Students (and adults) were very excited to see his famous LEGO creations and be given a building challenge such as the one-metre bridge build, the one-metre tower challenge, and in our Year 6 student and parent evening event, the “Bringing It Together” task. 

It was wonderful to see the excitement, energy and laughter as our community spent time building together. This was best seen in our evening event where our parents got to build alongside their child in creating some amazing pieces: a colourful bookshelf, a set of ice creams, and even a whole airport scene. 

In Ryan’s words: 

WOW - what a day! I’ve had some great days doing this gig, but I’ve never felt so welcomed and so instantly part of the fabric like I did at Donvale. It was such a fantastic energy in the room and wow - what a family night. I’m so rapt we went with the bringing it together activity. It was so symbolic and those builds were next level!

Year 5 Camp Reflections

Rebekkah Birch - Year 5 Camp Coordinator

On a crisp Wednesday morning, a brave band of boys and girls, mums, dads, teachers and support staff boarded buses bound for Forest Edge. Three days and two nights of adventure were in store.

Whether staying overnight at a school camp for the first time, broadening friendship networks, flying through the air on the flying fox, or (for some of the adults) helping to care for 100+ children that you only just met, many challenges were overcome and ambitious goals achieved.

We thank the Lord for stunning weather throughout. Crisp, foggy mornings made way for sunny days. While the gloves were definitely needed early on, beanies were swapped out for sun hats by the end of the first activity each day. The rain rolled in right on schedule as we were wrapping up the final activity and heading in for lunch before boarding the bus home on Friday.

As teachers, it was a privilege to observe significant growth in the students as they embraced the opportunity to try things that for some had seemed very scary. The hospitality of the children toward their peers and adults at mealtimes was truly a blessing that I hope carries on at home too!

Prep Animal Immersion Day

Helen Reid - Prep Team Leader

All five senses were used as the Preps touched alpaca fleece, heard chickens clucking, looked at snake skin through a magnifying glass and many more wonderful experiences on our Animal Immersion Day last Monday. 

Throughout the day each Prep class rotated through each classroom which was set up to explore different animal classifications. Birds, Insects, Sea Life, Mammals and Reptiles were all represented. 

Children used the Merge Apps on the iPads to take a 3D look at different animals. The aim of the day was to give students an opportunity to learn the features and habitats of animals in a hands-on way. There have been many rich conversations since then about the amazing animals God has made in our world.