Dear Families & Friends,  

Last week, we met as a Primary school around the flagpole to pay our respects to those who work for peace in the world, past and present. Our Year 6 leaders led us in prayer and we took a moment to remember the sacrifices made by our service men and women during this Anzac Day liturgy. We continue to pray for those who are suffering the effects of war and conflict in the world. 

The Year 5 classes headed to Kings Park on Friday to participate in activities at the War Memorial and to learn about the soldiers who are memorialised there. Students also investigated special plants and how they survive as part of their Science lessons. We look forward to hearing more about this next week.

Last week, staff participated in a day of professional learning in the Berry Street Education Model and your child might start talking about new routines happening in the classroom such as Welcome Circles and Ready to Learn scales. These are specific routines designed to ensure all students feel safe, welcomed and ready to focus on their studies. The implementation of the model will continue all year and into 2025. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask your child’s teacher or myself. 

God moments: 

• Reflecting with our Year 6 Student Leaders as they laid a wreath during the Anzac Day dawn service 
• Watching Year 3 and Pre-Primary students welcome a new friend into their classrooms 
• Enjoying the visit from Graham Brookes with his trailer of war memorabilia  
• Spending the afternoon doing yoga with my Quest Club group on Thursday 
• Closely observing some large moths after the rain with Year 4 students 
• Celebrating Leonard House Day with a sea of red at the combined Assembly and during lunchtime stalls

Linley Waters
Head of Primary

Class in Focus: Year Two Blue

WOW! How are we already at the end of Week 3?

We have achieved so much in such a short time in Year 2 Blue. We have hit the ground running in preparation for a busy yet exciting term ahead.

In Literacy this term, we are looking at information texts, specifically delving into the structure and coherence of our writing. In our Talk for Writing unit, we are studying information texts through the exploration of 'Life in the Olden Days'. Students have had the opportunity to play ‘old-school’ games, have a go at what school was like in the past (sitting in rows, walking in two straight lines, etc) and learnt about what type of punishment happened. This has tied in extremely well with our HASS unit.

To start HASS off for the term we have investigated the importance of ANZAC day and why it is such a significant date in Australian History. We then delved into Past and Present and how times have changed over the years. Some students couldn’t believe what life was like in the olden days. In the coming weeks, we will continue talking about Past and Present and how significantly life has changed over the years. 

So far in Numeracy this term, we have looked at place value to the thousands, skip counted by 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s, and explored a variety of addition and subtraction number problems. Numeracy is a lot of fun in Year 2. We get to use lots of different tools to help us out.

Every Friday afternoon we have the opportunity to spend the last two periods with high school students doing inquiry work. There are several different activities with open ended tasks for students to explore. This allows children to develop a range of learning and thinking skills and to interact verbally and non-verbally with others. Activities include using materials to build a bridge strong enough to hold various items, creating an imaginative pet using Lego and describing their creation to a peer, directed drawings, threading, reading and much more. We love having the high school students come for a visit. It teaches our children to interact with others with care, empathy and respect and allows our students to feel, safe, secure and supported.

I am looking forward to seeing the students in Year 2 Blue shine throughout Term 2 and the remainder of the Year.

Kayla Hyde, Tara Ryall & Louise Crees
Two Blue Team

Class in Focus: Pre-Primary Gold

The Pre-Primary Gold class has had a big start to Term 2.  

We had some new members join our class: Goldy, Rainbow Pinky, Ruby and Rosie have been a very exciting addition. Through inquiry, the students have explored “what fish need to survive?”. This has helped students to care for our new class members. Students are now starting to inquire about an animal of their choice.  

This term we have introduced ‘Inquiry’ into our timetable. Through inquiry, students develop strategies for critical and creative thinking to develop their abilities to ask questions, problem solve and reflect on their own learning. Inquiry incorporates many different learning areas such as Science, HASS, Design & Technology, English and Mathematics. To help us with some harder questions within our inquiry unit, the Year 5s have been coming on a Thursday afternoon to help us. We love having them join us and support us in our research to build on our knowledge.