Infants and Primary
Infants
What a fantastic effort by all our students at our recent Cross Country Carnival! It was impressive to see everyone having fun running, jogging or walking the course and cheering each other on. Infants’ students then watched and cheered the older runners, spurring them on to the finish line.
This week we have all been focusing on kindness and ‘filling each other’s buckets’ as part of our ‘Do it for Dolly’ week. Watching our students being kind, caring and helpful class and school mates has been great to watch, with many students commenting on how being kind to others also fills their own buckets. We are encouraging and teaching students to ‘reverse their thinking’ in terms of choosing positive behaviours rather than negative behaviours.
Our staff are always happy to answer any questions or discuss any concerns – please contact us through the office at any time.
Mem Brougham
Assistant Principal Infants (relieving)
Kindergarten
This week in Kindergarten, we have been building on our sounds and letters and are now able to decode (or sound out) more and more short words and are even beginning to encode (or spell using our sounds) when writing short words. Each week we are amazed at how many new words can we read and write.
In mathematics, we have been focusing on mass and have been using our arms as ‘balance scales’ to explore this concept. We’ve had fun imaging what would happen if we put a dinosaur and an elephant on scales and must think about how we could balance the scales to make them equal or equivalent.
Mem Brougham - Kindergarten teacher
Assistant Principal Infants (relieving)
Primary
We have had a very full two weeks in the Primary classrooms. Our brilliant support staff member Jaimee has been the driving force behind our school’s Do It For Dolly campaign – focused on choosing to be kind to others and re-enforcing the importance of speaking up when things aren’t right. The students have thoroughly enjoyed the Do It For Dolly activities, and we thank all of the staff and the SRC for supporting this great cause. Choosing to be kind is the easiest way to make a difference in the life of someone else – it’s free and it can mean so much.
Our school cross country was a spectacular afternoon. All students thoroughly enjoyed themselves and tried their best. Notes have been sent out for the District PSSA Cross Country which is happening in Canowindra on Friday 26 May 2023. We have a huge team of 46 students running at this carnival and we wish them all the best.
Unfortunately, from time to time, our staff have to be away from school either through sickness, professional development or family matters. We have had quite a lot of this lately, and it has been pleasing to see that most of our students adapt to the change of a new teacher quite well. Sadly, some students have been choosing to make extremely poor choices when their regular teacher is not in the classroom – and this will be a focus for us over the coming weeks. No matter which teacher is in each classroom, the expectations for choices and behaviour remain the same high level.
If you require any additional information or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me via email: Jason.stuart3@det.nsw.edu.au
Jason Stuart
Assistant Principal Primary (Relieving)
5/6 Classroom
The Year 5/6 class has been busily working through narrative writing during English lessons, and we have begun a unit of work on an animated short called ‘The Present’. This ties in well with our anti-bullying focus for Do It For Dolly day. The 5/6 mathematics focus is on measurement, specifically the aspect of ‘time’. Time is quite a tricky concept, as it doesn’t align with ‘base 10’ number sequences, so we have been problem-solving how to calculate intervals of time, break down minutes into hours, and investigate units of time measurement across the world. In science, we have been looking at the migratory practices of animals, and seeing how animals survive harsh temperatures and in fact thrive under certain difficult conditions. In PDHPE, we’ve been looking at e-Safety and how it’s so important to stay safe online. All students can identify safe and unsafe online practices, and in today’s digital world, this is so important.
I would like to thank Ms Corcoran and Ms Green for stepping into my 5/6 class from time to time over the past two weeks. It is always challenging relieving a 5/6 class on short notice; however, we are so lucky to have these great teachers who can step in and provide quality lessons and activities at any point in the day. Our classroom focus is to ensure that our behavioural choices are high when Mr Stuart is not in front of the class teaching – as there have been some significant issues over the past two weeks, with some unkind choices being made.
I am beginning to write semester one reports this week. This is a long process, with each report taking over an hour to write. A lot of thought, consideration and data goes into the report writing process, so please read your child’s report when it comes out later in the term and please come to parent/teacher evening at the start of Term 3.
As always, please get in touch if you require any further information.
Jason Stuart - 5/6 Class Teacher
Assistant Principal Primary (Relieving)