Primary

Mrs Leanne Schulz

Cumberland Cross Country

A very big thank you to Mrs Dowling, Mrs Wachter, the PE Department and Primary staff for the smooth and efficient running of the Cumberland Cross Country. The students were very excited to compete and were exhausted as they crossed the finish line. What a great effort by all, particularly the Year 3 students as it was their first time running in the competition.

Last week’s assembly was action packed with many awards being presented to students for their achievements in both the swimming and cross country carnivals. Congratulations to all the students for their positive attitude and house spirit.

Mackenzie SB and Chloe G

On Thursday 11 March the Cumberland students participated in Cross Country. Cross Country is a 2km race against a whole year level. It was the Year 3 students first time doing Cross Country and they all did amazing! On Monday 15 March the top three from each year level got their awards. In the end, Cameron won this event, but every House did a great job!

College Values

Each week at Assembly and Chapel we have been discussing the College Values. So far, we have looked at Compassion, Honesty and Integrity. This week Owen M and Kisali P, our Primary Captains, chose a short video to demonstrate Integrity and gave this short speech:

Owen- This week we are focusing on another one of our College values, Integrity. Integrity can be a hard value to understand, so we are going to show you a short video explaining the meaning of this value.

Kisali- To explain it briefly, having Integrity means you follow moral values such as kindness and fairness, and display honesty.

Owen- It is doing the right thing in all circumstances, even if no one is watching you. It means you are true to yourself.

Kisali- A person called Brené Brown once said, “Integrity is choosing courage over comfort. You choose what is right over what is fun, fast, or easy. And you choose to practice your values rather than simply professing them."

Leader’s Induction Day

How nice it was to see the Captains from Year 6 to Year 12 working collaboratively together on group tasks! The Leaders Induction Day gave the Year 6 Captains a wonderful opportunity to work with Dunhelen and Brookhill students on activities that promoted and developed their leadership skills.

Kisali P

Student Leader Induction day was held on Thursday 11 March in the Kitchen Garden Centre. In the session we discussed the key behaviours and values of a leader, and what we can do to make a positive impact on Aitken College. It was a great collaborative environment for us to meet the other student leaders of 2021 and discuss/plan our ideas; as well as learning more about what we can do to be a greater leader. After the induction, we made our way to the Chapel and Performing Arts Centre where we recited the Captain’s Pledge and received our badges. Overall, it was a wonderful experience; and one I learned much from. I learnt that the values of a leader (such as communication, confidence etc.) can be learnt and improved on, as well as learning more about the other School Leaders. It left me more confident to step into my leadership role and more exited for the eventful year ahead.

Prep News

Miss Gemma Jackson (AHOS)

The Preps have been busy with their learning. In Maths, we have been focusing on all things number. The students have been practising counting, ordering and recognising numerals. This week, we started our first no-bake cooking lesson. All of the Preps participated in making healthy fruit kebabs. We have been discussing healthy eating in Life Skills and know that fruit is an ‘always’ food. In English, we have been working really hard on our letter formation, writing sentences and reading common words. The Preps are enjoying outside play and making new friends.

Year 1 and 2 News

Miss Hannah Petterson (AHOS)

The term is flying by! The Year 1 students had special friends join them for Maths last week – their soft toy teddy bears from home! They were such a great help in Maths. The students have been learning about measurement and the language associated with this concept. After introducing the teddies to the class, the students compared their size and used terms such as length, estimate, shorter and taller. Then they celebrated by having a teddy bears’ picnic.

The Year 2 students have also been super busy. They have been exploring length using informal measurement units, such as cubes, counters, paper clips and cards. Their writing focus has been on procedural texts and the students are hoping to create class recipe books with their favourite recipes. Watch this space!

Year 3 and 4 News

Mrs Anne Adams (AHOS)

Year 3 students were ‘talking rubbish’ this week. As part of their Maths unit, students surveyed the area around their classrooms and tallied up the number of pieces of litter dropped. They then graphed this. Hopefully, the students will see a decline in their graphs over time. Cybersafety has been a focus for Life Skills this week. Discussions took place regarding passwords and how to stay safe online. Students then made posters to reflect their learning.

Relationships at school has been a focus for Life Skills in Year 4 this week. Students discussed situations that they have encountered at school in the playground and classroom. They talked about what kinds of solutions and steps could be taken to resolve situations where negotiation and compromise were involved. They decided on three main goals and visible steps: steps that you can see to meet their goals. They will now aim for these behaviours at school to build and maintain relationships and then assess these at the end of the term.

Year 4 Kitchen Garden

In Kitchen Garden we have learnt about knife safety and how to grate vegetables safely. This week we made zucchini gratin and zucchini slices. The zucchini's were freshly picked from our Aitken garden. It was wonderful to make a dish with my friends and to make our very own dishes.

By Uvinyaa W (4A)

Year 4 Junior Cooks of the Week

Year 5 and 6 News

Mr Nigel Keegan (AHOS)

Sovereign Hill

The Year 5 students experienced a glimpse of early Colonial life during the Gold Rush era, as they took in the sights, sounds and smells of Sovereign Hill. The experiences were vast, including a tour of an underground mine, an informative education session, bowling old school style, hard boiled lollies, and even panning for gold. Unfortunately, there were no significant gold finds to report! It was a very worthwhile excursion and a great day out for both students and staff.

‘The ancient Sovereign Hill lollies were delicious.’ - Nikka G

‘Sovereign Hill is like a living museum. It has many fascinating historical artefacts.’ - Tim C

‘The buildings are cool and there is lots of gold!’ -Koen G

‘I thought the excursion was really good fun. It had lots of shops and I loved the learning education session.’ - Zara B

‘I liked the mine tour. I liked it because it was dark and looked a lot like it would have in the olden days.’ - Kara D

Year 5 & 6 Interschool Sport Gala Day

Congratulations to our Year 5 & 6 students who competed in the Interschool Sport Gala day. The results were as follows:

Winners - Girls Volleyball and Boys Basketball
Runners Up - Cricket, Girls Basketball and Boys Volleyball
3rd Place - Boys and Girls Tee-Ball

Well done to all students and staff on such a great effort and excellent results.

Sadie and Otto

Felicity Donohue (AHOS)

Sadie and Otto are spending lots of time with the primary students these days. The VCAL students have set up times for students to come into a quiet space and pat the dogs if they want to.

Ivy L from 3T would like to share her experiences with the dogs:

I like spending time with the dogs because they are so cuddly, playful and adorable. I like going for walks with the dogs and throwing the ball for Otto. He runs so fast! Sadie’s really good at cuddles and she looks at the camera when she has her photo taken.

Sadie and Otto are the best! ❤