Newsletter Articles

Welcome to Country

We acknowledge Aboriginal people as the First Peoples and Nations of the lands and waters we live and work upon and pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge and pay respect to both the Warki People of the Ngarrindjeri Nation and to the Peramangk people as the traditional owners of the land we share our R-12 School on today. We acknowledge and respect the deep spiritual connection and the relationship that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have to Country.

R-6 Magazine

The cover artwork for the 2021 Magazine had been created from Year 6 student artwork.

School Captains for 2021

Ashbourne

I am pleased to announce that the School Captains of 2021 are Grace B and Coyote K. They both display individual skills and passions, as well as strong leadership skills. Grace and Coyote are excited for this special opportunity.

Langhorne Creek

We are very fortunate to have so many students who are keen to help across the school and actively look to include other campus members. Our Year 6s were given the opportunity to prepare a speech highlighting their leadership qualities and why they should be chosen as campus captains for 2021. Well done to everyone who nominated for these positions, your speeches were excellent. Congratulations go to:

Captains – McKenzie and Levi
Vice Captains – Charli and Mason

Milang

Each year Milang Campus elects two School Captains who have responsibilities around the campus, such as showing visitors around, helping organise events and being mentors for younger students.

This year we had five nominations for School Captain and the elected students are Scarlett and Liam. I know they will do an excellent job representing the school in 2021.

Strathalbyn

Congratulations to our 2 School Captains Jeremy and Rhiannon who will be supported by Erika and Zoe as Vice Captains.

House Captains

Ashbourne

Our House captains for 2021 are:

Angas

Captains: Haley and Edward

Bremer

Captains: Coyote and Hayden

Finniss

Captains: Scarlett and Grace

Langhorne Creek

Congratulations to the following students who have been elected as House Captains for 2021:

Angas

Captain: Ethan
Vice Captains: Mason and Taylor

Bremer

Captain: Ella
Vice Captain: Ava

Finniss

Captain: Keely
Vice Captain: Zerah

Strathalbyn

Well done to all students who participated in giving a speech to be nominated as House Captains for 2021. A big congratulations to the following students who were successful:

McLean

Captains: Issy and Sam
Vice Captains: Caitlin and Jaspar

Rankine

Captains: Ruby and Alex
Vice Captains: Sophie and Zoe

Dawson

Captains: Jai and Ella
Vice Captains: Darcy and Coby

Davidson

Captains: Isla and Noah
Vice Captains: Grace and Hamish

Swimming

Ashbourne

The students have had a fantastic time at swimming. They have learnt many new skills including floating, swimming strokes, swim safety and rescue. It has been pleasing to see the growth and confidence in the students from the first lesson. Students who were hesitant of the water at the start, are now putting their head under, swimming with a floating device and enjoying the lesson. The older students have embraced all the new skills they have been taught and have created new memories.

Langhorne Creek

At the Strathalbyn pool, we have been learning about the importance of safety in and around the water and protecting ourselves in the sun. Some of the survival strokes and techniques we have been practising are survival backstroke, floating on our front and back, gliding, different entries and rescues. Each day we have learnt something new and we have worked hard to improve our swimming strokes and knowledge of water safety.

My instructor’s name is Karen and she taught us how to do freestyle and float on our back. I found picking up the sinky toys hard because I had my eyes shut. - Darcey

Our group practised bubble-arm, breathing-arm and treading water in the deep end. Treading water was hard because we had to do it for one minute. - Kate

With Karen we have been practising treading water, sculling on our backs, starfish float and survival strokes. The hardest thing for me was side stroke because you do the frog kick at the same time. - Peggy

On the first day of swimming we did survival back stroke and sculling. We also swam sidestroke and floated on our back. The thing that I found tricky was diving down and collecting toys from the bottom of the pool. - Jack

I have improved at doing the starfish float on my tummy and I have been learning survival backstroke. I like duck diving for sticks. - Regan

Milang

Our swimming happened in Week 2 with some warm days and some cold ones. Enjoy the photos.

Swimming Diary

The Junior Primary class have kept a record of their swimming lessons this week, writing in their ‘Swimming Diary’ each day.

Strathalbyn

Well that’s a wrap on Middle Primary Swimming for Strath R-6. Students had an excellent time learning water safety skills!

Quality Start with the Emus

As part of our Quality Start in the Emu Class, we have completed some art and discussed what we are looking forward to this year. We have also been looking at famous Australian's who have made a difference. One of them is, the late, Steve Irwin. - Maggie

New Staff at Milang

We welcome Caroline Kacirek Junior Primary Teacher and Chloe Ward SSO to Milang. Chloe will be working in the Junior Primary along with Suzanne Minards who we are lucky to have back this term as an SSO.

We also welcome back Grace Shaw who has returned from maternity leave. Grace will be working in the Upper Primary with Merran Jolley along with Denise and Donna.

Milang Nature Play

Students were getting re acquainted with each other this week in our Nature Play area. Working together students from both classes were making a waterfall and a home for the resident frogs!

New Receptions

Milang

Latisha, Cedar, Scarlett, Indiana and Beau have all settled in nicely to the classroom.

Here are some photos of them in their first days.

Strathalbyn

On day one the children came into our classes feeling shy, overwhelmed, happy and excited. We spent some time getting to know them a little more and exploring their new environment together. Some classes used books such as ‘Where is the Green Sheep?’ to become reacquainted with the yard, canteen, office, library, and playground. We have also completed a range of arts and crafts using books and stories to highlight key learning aspects such as ‘Being a Bucket Filler’, showing kindness to name a few. These activities have been a great way to set a foundation for the children to become part of a team or group within the classroom.

Each year all our Receptions classes count our way to 100 Days of School. This is something that will be celebrated across the classes usually falling in late Term 2 or early Term 3. The children really look forward to this and the milestone that it brings.

Small Campus Sports Day

Exploring Deep Learning at Milang

This year we will be focusing on the 6 Global Learning Competencies (GLCs); Collaboration, Character, Citizenship, Creativity, Critical thinking and Communication. These skills are not only for learning, but for life. During the first half of the year we will focus on the first three across the campus. This year both classes have started working towards these competencies through a variety of activities.

We held our first Lego Challenge which the students have identified demonstrate their Collaboration, Creative and Character skills. Students must work together to produce a build in a time limit which is based around a theme. They are then judged on their final build and how they collaborated. Our first winners of the Golden Brick for 2021 were Erin and Zander!

In the Upper Primary class Mrs Jolley put students Collaboration skills to the test this week with a paper linking challenge. Firstly they brainstormed the skills they thought you needed to collaborate. Kaiden, Erin and Natasha wrote about the challenge;

‘In the Upper Primary class students are working on Collaboration. As a collaboration activity we worked in groups to create the longest paper chain in 25 minutes. We were allowed to use one A3 sheet of paper, scissors and glue sticks. The competition lasted 2 days. We made one on the first day and one on the second day. The longest one of ours entered the competition. Each group in the class entered their longest chain. We measured the chains next to each other, then we used a tape measure. The longest one was 4.6m. Our group was the winner’

Berry Street Training

All Eastern Fleurieu School staff attended the final day of Berry Street training. This has been a focus for staff in 2020 and will continue this year. Some of the practices we have adopted so far have been our daily ‘Welcome Circle’ and checking in with students about their readiness to learn. Each student now has a ready to learn plan which identifies strategies they can use if they are not feeling 100% ready to learn. This week students in both classes also made their ‘Ready to Learn Scale’. This is a five point scale displayed in the classroom where students place a peg to show how they are feeling throughout the day. Each child designed their own and the class voted on their favourite.

Check out the creativity Milang students have; The Upper Primary chose a computer screen and the Junior Primary the Pink Flamingo.

Autobiographies

Through writing autobiographies using a poetic style, students in the Upper Primary class have learnt something new about each other to start the year.

Critical Thinking in Room 27

We have started the Term 1 developing our understanding of the 6 Global Competencies through STEM based activities. We have been undertaking tasks that have helped us work on our Critical Thinking as well as our Collaboration skills.

Students have really enjoyed working in groups and working together to be able to complete the activities.

Two of the activities we have completed this term were called Spaghetti Tower and Cup Stack no hands.

Charlotte’s Hair

Last year Charlotte watched an episode of Behind The News about kids with Alopecia. These kids needed wigs so Charlotte started to grow out her hair.

In the last week of holidays Charlotte was ready for the chop and donated 32cms of thick, stunning hair to Sustainable Salons in Sydney. They are a company who make wigs for kids and adults who need them.

Well done Charlotte, what a wonderful donation!

A Quality Start to School in Team 21

Team 21 have begun their Year 1 journey by developing strong relationships within the classroom.

Each morning we begin with a welcome circle, whereby the students discuss our agreed topic and share announcements.

We established clear classroom expectations which were recorded by the class.

The class made a recipe for a safe and happy classroom using real food as pretend ingredients such as A choices, respect, collaboration, and kindness.

We learnt how to interview a new friend to record new information about each other.

Each student drew their self-portrait, with attention to detail. They did such a brilliant job!

Collaboration Team 25

In Team 25 we have been learning about Collaboration. The students have completed a number of collaboration challenges and reflected on how well they used this skill.

In this challenge students needed to work as a whole class to move a hula hoop around the circle without letting go of each other’s hands.

We are now working towards completing this faster!

Hakea Class – Family Tree

Hakea class has been learning about their families. The students painted a family tree with their new watercolour paints and added leaves to represent each member of their family. The students were very proud of their beautiful trees. Well done Hakea.

Zoo Snooze

Mrs Hunt’s Year 3/4 Class had a fantastic time at their Zoo Snooze this week!

ANZAC Award - State Winner

Last year Mrs Hopkins’ Emus class entered the ANZAC day school awards competition, organised by The Department of Veterans' Affairs. We were fortunate enough to win for the second year in a row. We put a lot of time into our research and learnt a lot. It was a great learning experience and a way we really connected with our community. We won $3000 for our Campus.

Country Women’s Association (CWA) Donation

For the last few years, Langhorne Creek classes have worked with our local CWA doing several different projects like dances, cooking, presentations and speeches. It has been a great experience working with our local community. Unfortunately, last year we couldn't do anything due to the restrictions and the Langhorne Creek CWA kindly donated $200 to us. We are hoping to work together again this year.

Exploring Milang with Alan McInnes

The Upper Primary class have been working with local Historian, Alan McInnes, during their research on local buildings of the town. They will be learning about the significant local buildings, including the school and creating an interactive map with QR code links for visitors to the area. Alan, along with Di Potter, came to school last week to talk to the students about their research and shared their valuable knowledge with them, answering all their questions.

Waterways with Milang Junior Primary

The Junior Primary are continuing their work looking at local waterways. After investigating the Murray River in 2020 they will be looking at what lives in the sea and how the environment impacts their habitat.

5th Generation at Milang

As Scarlett B starts her first year of schooling she is unaware that she is the 5th generation of the Blackwell family to attend the Milang Primary School. Although it is now part of the Eastern Fleurieu School, it is the same building and it is the oldest purpose built building still being used for education in South Australia. That’s a pretty special part of history for our little town and for our family.

Scarlett’s father Callan started his schooling at Milang Primary in 1993 and went through to Year 7. He continued his education at Murray Bridge and is now working in the Vineyard industry.

Callan’s father Grant went to school at Milang from 1962 until leaving in 1969 at the end of Year 7 in which he received Dux of the school. He then went onto Strathalbyn High and on leaving school he was put to work on his father’s farm on the outskirts of Milang.

Graham Blackwell, Grant’s father attended Milang Primary School from 1929 till about 1936, he then went to work on the family farm. He didn’t have any further formal education as it was too far for transport from Milang to Strathalbyn at that time.

The first family member to go to school at Milang Primary was Richard Blackwell. He attended Milang in 1903 until about 1910. On leaving school he worked as a carpenter and helped on his uncle’s farm which in time was passed on to him and the land remains in the Blackwell family to this day.

Milang Council Meeting

On Wednesday, 10th February in Week 3 students from Milang Campus and 7-12 Campus attended a Village Innovation Project (VIP) meeting as part of the process of developing Alexandrina’s Community Strategic Plan (also known as A2040). The VIP is a proposed model that links long-term community aspirations with a ‘ground up’ community consultation process aimed at celebrating the ‘strength in diversity’ of each unique village.

Milang will be the first to experience VIPs, however, outcomes from VIP Community Consultations will help guide and inform Council on the following:

• Delivery Program, Annual Business Plan and Budget
• Strategic land-use planning directions
• Community input into Council’s future budgeting process, Long Term Financial Plan, Asset Management Plan and Disability and Inclusion Plan

Students were given the opportunity to speak about their thoughts on the future of Milang and its short and long term development. The council members were very impressed with how the students spoke and the depth of their ideas.

Lego Challenges

The students are still enjoying their Lego challenges each Wednesday. The themes have been movies, PE and castles.

Cricket at Milang

We had two young men from the South Australian Cricket Association come and teach the kids some cricket skills. They really enjoyed it.

Ann Prime Visit to Strathalbyn R-6

This week we welcomed Ann Prime (Education Director) to observe our InitiaLit and Deep Learning lessons across our Junior Primary classes. She was blown away by the rigor and engagement students had in their learning, their ability to collaborate, and problem solve, to respond to questions about what they had learnt and more importantly, why they were learning it.

Students knowing the intention of learning and the success criteria is step one of our five strategies of Formative Assessment.

In planning learning and assessment we consider the:

Learning Intention

• What do we want students to learn and why is this learning important?
• How will the learning intentions be shared and developed with students?

Success Criteria

• What will quality learning look like?
• How will this understanding of quality learning be shared and developed with students?

When chatting to our children at home, it is great to ask, ‘What did you do at school today?’ but maybe add the follow up questions of, ‘Why did you do it or I wonder why that is important?’

‘The basic goal of education is understanding. You have to take enough time to get kids deeply involved in something they can think about in lots of different ways.’ (Gardner, 1993)

Goodbye Sharon

Last Friday we said goodbye to Sharon White, our happy, smiling canteen manager for the last 6 years. Sharon has been part of our school community for 14 years as a parent and committee member before stepping into the canteen. Sharon was so proactive at implementing the Right Bite food policy into our menu, providing healthy options for our students and staff each day. Sharon was an active member of the South Australian School Canteen Group and our canteen menu was highlighted as best practice across this forum. The purchase of a Thermomix was a revelation and the smell of fresh scrolls and rolls and pizza slices, all homemade, made avoiding the canteen at recess very difficult. We would like to acknowledge and thank Sharon for all her years of dedication to our site, we will certainly miss her.

Fun in the Sun

Did you know that the Japanese Snow Monkey (macaques) are one of the only other mammals whose fingers and toes go wrinkly in the water?

In Room 4 we are undertaking a deep learning unit of sun and skin safety, and healthy living. We have spent a lot of time investigating the natural and environmental impacts on skin and put our best foot forward while at swimming in Weeks 4 and 5. Wearing hats, sunglasses, long sleeved rashies as well as sunscreen during our time at the pool seems like something obvious, but we as a collective group spoke about the importance of taking on the responsibility for ourselves not just now, but in the future. We have also researched the different ways our skin can be altered, firstly the effect the pool water has on our hands and skin when we have been in it for a long period of time, then looking specifically at piercings, tattoos, and other modifications - Mr. Springhall wouldn't let us try these in the classroom though. As we progress further and further into the unit, we will begin to study the impacts of living a healthy life by creating and building upon healthy habits including food, mindfulness, and a balanced life. Our tip for you all, as age catches up to us, don't fear wrinkles - they are a sign that you have lived!

Room 11 News

We have made an awesome start to the year! We are working hard developing our writing skills focusing on sentence structure, place value in mathematics and drawing self-portraits!

We are loving Learning Breaks, especially when the Year 6s join in!

We are getting very excited as we will be having butterflies hatching in our room soon...we will study the life cycle of these beautiful creatures in real life.

Year 11s Visit Room 30!

Mrs Smith's Year 11 Psychology class came to work with Room 30 on Friday, 26th February. The children were really engaged working on the activities the Year 11s had organised and they enjoyed being the big kids.

Room 2 Lessons from the Titans

One of my favourite films growing up was Boaz Yakin’s ‘Remember the Titans’. Although I struggled to relate to the American Football slang and gameplay, I was heavily impacted by upon by the storylines and subplots that playout. Set in early 1970’s Virginia, the film highlights the impacts of segregation and discrimination within the community between black and white Americans. Despite the obstacles and systemic challenges faced by people of colour at this time, parties on both sides of the race divide reject social persuasion; rising above the crowd to affect change in their communities.

The students of Room 2 spent the last week analysing the film, searching for role models within it. They highlighted the need for characters to act with integrity and courage as well as cope with setbacks and challenges, in sport and life. This film study will form the basis for our first major project of the year where the class discovers the importance of character development and the impact it has on guiding their future. In fact Dr Julia Clinton (Child Psychiatrist) describes this teaching as crucial to “immunising students against mental health issues in the future”.

After identifying the characteristics of their role model, students will develop a personal plan that helps them to develop this aspect of their personal identity. Students will be aided by the use of the GLC continuum which guides these growth points and directs their personal development.

Under the Microscope

We continue our focus ‘Under the Microscope’. Students designed and created their own bug hotels. They used natural resources from around the school and worked collaboratively to put them together. The students were very proud of their bug hotels and placed them in safe, sheltered areas around the school.

Students discussed the purpose of webs and their prior knowledge. They then needed to find a web and observe it. In small groups the students had 10 minutes to create their own web - they could only use wool and scissors. The lesson finished by viewing how a spider makes a web, followed by a group reflection. Students were given a few minutes to redesign/ add to their web. The next steps are to develop their own product and add campaign inspired by spiders.

Tennis at Ashbourne

The students have had 3 sessions of tennis coaching with Erica. They are enjoying learning new skills and their confidence and ability has increased each week. As part of our Sporting School grant we were able to get new rackets, balls and portable mini nets.

Rachael Sporn - ‘Olympics Unleashed’

Langhorne Creek R-6 Campus hosted Rachael Sporn, OAM, as part of the ‘Olympics Unleashed’ Program, taking Olympians and South Australian Sports Institute Athletes into South Australian schools to inspire and motivate young Australians ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games, and beyond.

The Year 3-6 students were enthralled by Rachael’s presentation which covered her journey from a young country girl through to representing Australia at the Olympics. Rachael spoke to the students about making the most of every opportunity that is presented, learn from those around you and turn disappointments and set-backs into learning opportunities.

Students were asked to reflect on their passions and dreams and develop a goal and accompanying action plan to achieve this.

The presentation finished with the students having the opportunity to see Rachael’s medals up close and to hold the Olympic Torch which Rachael carried as part of the Torch relay prior to the Sydney Olympics.

Kangaroos Enjoy Adelaide Zoo Snooze

On Monday, 1st March our class went to the Adelaide Zoo for a Zoo Snooze. We stayed for 2 days and 1 night. All of us did an observation on 2 or more animals. My observations were on the Rhinoceros Iguana, the Australian Sea Lion and the Giant Panda called Wang Wang. My favourite thing about the Zoo Snooze was seeing the elusive Tasmanian Devil and having a close up encounter with Henley the Blue Tongue Lizard, who was rescued from a dog attack at Henley Beach. My favourite activities were the night and early morning walks with our education officer called Kat. I also enjoyed learning about heaps of different animals while we were there. My brochure on the Rhinoceros Iguana shows they live in the rocky and desert areas of the Caribbean and they eat fruit, leaves, shrubs and insects. - Jack

The first animal that I observed was the Australian Sea Lion. The female’s name was Addy, which is short for Adelaide. I learnt that Blue Tongue Lizards have a blue tongue so that their predators think they are poisonous because of their distinct blue tongue. I studied the Spinifex Hopping Mouse. When I observed them in the nocturnal house, they were all gathered up in a ball, it was very cute. The mother was searching for food. - Charlotte

My favourite activity was the night walk with Kat. We had a guided tour of the zoo in the dark when everyone had gone home. My favourite animal was the Binturong because they smell like buttered popcorn to attract a mate. My scientific observations were on the Meerkats, the Australian Sea Lion and the Sumatran Tiger. My brochure is all about the Sumatran Tiger. They are carnivores and they’ll eat whatever they can catch including fish, crocodiles and fowl, with the most common larger prey being wild pigs and deer. Sadly, tigers are poached for their body parts which are used in traditional medicines believed to work. Habitat destruction is also a major threat to their survival. There are now estimated to be fewer than 400 Sumatran Tigers left in the world. - Peggy

I enjoyed seeing the kangaroos and the Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies. One of the Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies called Missy became a foster mother to an orphaned Goodfellows Tree Kangaroo when he was only 7 weeks old. He lived in her warm pouch until he grew too big. I studied the African Lion and my favourite facts that I discovered was the male lion is the only species of cat that has a mane, which gives them a majestic appearance. They’re also known as King of the Beasts. - Scarlett

At the zoo I loved seeing the Serval. On the first day, I observed the Serval eating meat and on the second day the Serval was walking around its enclosure from one side to the other. If you read my brochure, one of my fun facts is: if people had ears in the same proportion to our head as the Servals do, they would be the size of dinner plates! - Maisy

At the Zoo Snooze, I learnt that animals that are awake during the day are called diurnal. I also learnt that the Australian Sea Lions are trained to let the keeper give them medicine and give them health checks. I made a brochure about the South American Emperor Tamarin. Did you know, they hiss when they’re competing with each other and they stick their tongue out when they’re displeased? The Emperor Tamarins were named after Kaiser Wilhelm 11 because of his moustache! - Kate

Thank you to our amazing mums who came with us to help supervise and make our stay so enjoyable. Thanks to Jess, Kristy and Kylie.

Work Hard, Be Kind with the Emus

In our class we go with the moto - "Work Hard, Be Kind" which has come from the Berry Street Training. We talk about being better tomorrow than we were today and using all our learning time to its fullest. We are working on stamina and have set learning goals.

We made these posters to display in the class. - Ava

Artist Study

At Langhorne Creek we have been doing an artist study on Reg Mombassa and have looked at various pieces of his artwork. We tried some of our own. Here are some of them. - Adam

Health

In Junior Primary Health we have been learning about taking risks and using our support network to help us. Using the new stilts, brought to school by Mrs M we were taking a risk and trying to balance on our own.

We have also been learning about how we can tell when our bodies are feeling different emotions. We drew pictures of our bodies shaking, our head beating faster and sweating.

Colonial Milang

This year the Milang Upper Primary class is working on a Deep Learning project about colonial Milang. Our project is going to involve creating a hand drawn map featuring drawings of old buildings and information we research about the buildings in conjunction with the Milang Historical Society.

Paquita’s Post

It was great to welcome Tyla and Abby from the Life Matters team (Schools Ministry Group) to present “The Light of the World” on Monday, 22nd March.

The children enjoyed the presentation of the story of Jesus and how he is the ‘Light of the World’ but also how we can be the ‘Light of the World’. Tyla and Abby gave examples of what we can do to thank friends and family and generally everyone around us who make a difference in our lives. There were some funs games for the children to join in and at the end they had a hot cross bun which was supplied by the Milang Church of Christ. A big thank you to the Strathalbyn Inter Church Council for paying for the program to come into the schools. Easter is a very special time for us to celebrate and be thankful for people make a difference in our lives.

Harmony Day

Langhorne Creek

On Sunday, 21st March, National Harmony Day celebrations take place around the nation.

The Echidnas used their creative thinking to make colourful headbands and flags, which they showed off at the Week 8 assembly.

We learnt that the key message of Harmony Day is that Everyone Belongs.

A Chinese Proverb:

If there is light in the soul,
There will be beauty in the person.

If there is beauty in the person,
There will be harmony in the house.

If there is harmony in the house,
There will be order in the nation.

If there is order in the nation,
There will be peace in the world.

Special thanks to Diana and Mark for organising our special lunch for Harmony Day which we celebrated on Friday, 19th March. Students enjoyed the opportunity to sample Indonesian cuisine along with undertaking a range of activities in class to help celebrate the end of Harmony Week.

Milang

This year for Harmony Day students worked together on making a Chinese dragon boat. They then sampled Philipino rice made by Gloria and the traditional Halo Halo dessert.

Special thanks to Gloria for making enough rice for all the students and staff to enjoy. It was delicious!

They then took their boats to the lake to test and enjoyed a swim!

Strathalbyn R-6

A sea of orange welcomed in the school day for Harmony Day, it was so wonderful to see bright bunting in the trees, students participating in rich conversations about diversity and culminating with our whole school lunch under the trees. Many thanks to Heidi Yard, our Wellbeing Leader for her organisation of the day. Please enjoy reflections from Room 1 with Ms Russo.

What does Harmony Day mean to you?

A day that everyone stops fighting, it’s a peace day! - Sophie

A happy day where everyone is equal. - Issy

A day when there is peace between girls and boys. – Jack C

A day where all cultures can feel like they belong and are not treated different to anyone else. - Ella

A world peace day. - Hamish

A day where we accept everyone as equal and we try to show everyone that everyone is equal, we are all human! - Josh

What can we do to make the world a more harmonious place?

Make everyone feel like they belong. - Sophie

Make sure that everyone is being treated nicely and be kind to everyone. - Issy

Spend time with your family and friends and be nice to each other. – Jack C

If you have seen or heard anyone going through anything, speak up! Don't be a bystander! - Ella

Discard racism! Stop the protests so everyone can be happy. - Hamish

Teach people about how it's wrong to be racist and discriminate. - Josh

What would you say to someone who doesn't feel like they belong in Australia?

Australia is a multicultural place, we can live freely here! - Sophie

Australia is a place where anyone can live and not get treated unfairly. - Issy

Australia is a place where everyone is kind and can be their full selves. – Jack C

I would remind them of all the things they've done and make sure they know their worth. - Ella

Australia is a place of peace and we try to discard racism here. - Hamish

Everyone is welcome here and because we are so multicultural, that's what makes this a great place to live! - Josh

Gardening at Milang

Mrs M is doing a great job looking after our garden with some eager helpers on some afternoons.

Thank you to Chloe for providing a giant tyre for us to use as another garden bed.

Milang big tyre img1

Collaboration and Character in Room 9

Room 9 have been exploring what 'Collaboration' and 'Character' are as part of our Deep Learning and Science units. Students had to create a package that would safely transport an egg using recyclable materials. They had to communicate and collaborate to plan their design, construct it, work through problems that arose, develop solutions and work towards achieving a common goal.

We had to share ideas and then came up with an idea to use. - Sophie

Brock and I had to agree on one of our ideas before we started building our design. - Haley

Rory and I made the plan and shared ideas, when the end fell off we had to show resilience and teamwork to fix it. - Nate

What’s been happening in Room 12?

We have been participating in cricket clinics for PE.

The cricket clinic is a fun way to learn how to play cricket. You learn how to bowl, bat, throw, field and more. It’s so much fun. You can have a partner, but you can only have one partner. Your partner will be at one end and you will be at the other end. - Emily

We talked what we wanted our classroom to be like.

We worked out our class rules. Some of our rules are to be nice, be kind, share, care, be responsible, make friends, play with people, play nicely, not put rubbish on the oval, and to be quiet when the teacher is talking. - Carley

We have class meetings to talk through class issues.

Every Friday, the whole class goes on the floor in a circle, and we talk about more equipment, excursions, and what we should do on celebration days. There is a person to be a timer, a chairperson and observer. - Lauren

And more...

I am Tyrian. This year, in Year 3 we have done ‘Smiling Mind’ lots of times and we did swimming for a week. We play maths games and the funniest thing so far this year has been learning about heat in Science. We also learned about our school rules. - Tyrian.

We went to swimming in Week 3 and learned torpedo arms and how to save our partners. For PE, we are learning how to play cricket with bowling and throwing. Throwing is hard. After recess, we sometimes get to do mindfulness. We listen to the man and relax our bodies. In maths, we get to play maths games, and some are really hard – some are for counting up. In our class, we always try to make new friends and we have a rule that says we have to be nice. In Science, we are learning about sources of heat such as electricity. In our class, we have class rules. We have five of them. The class rules are called our ‘Class Values’. They are: ‘Be responsible’, ‘Be respectful’, ‘Be safe’, ‘Be kind’ and ‘Work hard’. The rules are very important because then people might not be mean. - Tayla

Mysteries in Room 3

In Term 1 students have been immersed in a mystery called 'The Missing Mona Lisa'. Who has stolen it? Where could it be? Are there any clues? Each week a new piece of information is revealed where notes and important facts can be recorded in true detective style. Scavenger hunts to comprehend witness statements, audio and evidence to analyse, putting together a timeline of events and much more. A cross-curricular unit that covers achievement standards in HASS, English and 21st century learning skills that include critical thinking and collaboration.

It's been fun so far because it's a mystery where no one knows the answer. We get to talk about the clues and ideas as a class and work in small groups. The main Cs we have been using are Collaboration and Critical Thinking. I'm looking forward to the next lesson because they are always different. - Olly

Buddy Class!

Mr Pelle’s and Mrs Woolford’s students during buddy class. We learnt about lots of things that you would find in the ocean.

Year 6 Jumper Presentation

On Monday, 22nd March the students from Ashbourne, Langhorne Creek and Milang travelled to the Strathalbyn R-6 Campus to be presented with their brand new Year 6 Jumpers!

We were happily surprised by the 2021 Year 12s who walked over to be a part of the assembly and present all students with their jumper. We hope this is the start of a new fantastic tradition!

Langhorne Creek

Milang

Strathalbyn

SAPSASA State Softball Carnival

Eastern Fleurieu students again made up most of the Southern Fleurieu SAPSASA District’s Softball teams that competed in the State Carnival at the end of Term 1, and they were coached again by teachers, Mandy Hopkins and Jono Koutsikas. With both the boys and girls being made up of mostly inexperienced Softballers, they began slowly on day one, but improved rapidly. For the rest of the carnival both teams won most of their games, which was a great effort by the players and coaches. The girls finished 4th of 9 zones in Division 1 and the boys 3rd of 9 zones in Division 2.

SAPSASA Swimming representatives

On Friday, 26th March four EFS students represented the Southern Fleurieu Country Day at the SAPSASA Championships at the SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre.

EFS students representing Southern Fleurieu – Madison, Year 7 (7-12 Campus), Boyd, Year 5 (Strath R-6), Jack, Year 4 (Strath R-6) and Jayden, Year 4 (Strath R-6).

The Southern Fleurieu team didn’t come away with a place for the day, but individually performed well in their races and represented EFS and Southern Fleurieu proudly.

Hakea Art

The students from Hakea celebrated the season of autumn by using leaves collected from around the school to create beautiful, unique trees. It was lovely to see them enjoying this activity, the students look forward to Art with Rebekah each week and display their creativity and talent.

Music at Ashbourne

The students look forward to Mrs Baker’s music lessons every Friday. This week the students were using the scarves to be falling autumn leaves as the other students played the xylophones. The older children have been enjoying learning the recorder and a group of girls have started their own recorder group during play time.

Circle of Trust in the Acacia Class

Students in the Acacia class will focus on the importance of keeping themselves safe and their Circle of Trust. This week their lesson focused on personal safety and what this means to them. They used wool to create a spider web as they shared their ideas, passing it each other.

Problem Solving with Hakea Class

We have been working on our number automaticity and problem solving. Students have been practicing reading and writing numerals, creating and solving number sentences, and playing lots of maths strategy games. A key part of our learning has been working on explaining and justifying our reasoning.

Buddy Reading with the Echidnas

As part of our oral language program, we have been joining Miss Hunt’s class for Buddy Reading. Every Thursday afternoon, the Kangaroos buddy up with the Echidnas and spend some time together reading picture books. The Kangaroos lead the afternoon and share their learning about comprehension strategies. Last week we focused on ‘Predicting’ and ‘Making Connections’. The Kangaroos encouraged the younger children to look at the front cover to find clues related to the content of the book and asked questions as they read the book to encourage forward thinking. ‘Making connections’ with the text involves connecting their own experiences to those in the text and demonstrates that the reader is comprehending what they have read. Buddy Reading is a great way to spend an afternoon and helps the younger readers learn valuable reading strategies from the older children.

Can you ‘Make 10?’

We have been learning lots of new Maths games. One of our favourites is ‘Make 10’. For this game, the children have to remove the picture cards and then lay out ten cards in a row. Taking it in turns, they then see if they can ‘make 10’ using any of the cards in the row. For younger learners, it is a good opportunity to practise ‘Rainbow Facts’ and for the older children, they can choose to use as many cards as they like to make 10. The game finishes when all the cards have been dealt and the winner is the player with the most cards.

Kangaroos Enjoyed Bike Ed- Way 2 Go!

Our Year 4 students had an incredible time learning about bicycle safety and road use. The State Government Bike Ed program provided students with lessons over 3 weeks to improve their bike riding safety and knowledge, specifically about the law and rules for riding on the road. Everybody participated respectfully and responsibly, continually reflected on their learning and used explicit feedback to improve their skills, knowledge and confidence.

Each lesson began with a bike check- Air, Brakes and Bell, Chain, Drop Test, Helmet (which must comply with Australian Standards), and Laces. Firstly, we practised riding around the school grounds and then we rode on the roads around Langhorne Creek. We learnt how to signal, how to make a hook turn, how to communicate with other road users and riding off road. We enjoyed riding outside of school and using the skills that we learnt. - Maisy and Thomas

Mother’s Day

Langhorne Creek

Happy Mother’s Day to our Wonderful Mums!

We made Exploding Mother’s Day Gift Boxes for our mums. Firstly, we measured all 3 layers so that they were divided into thirds with a grid. This was a bit tricky because we had to carefully measure each layer differently. Then we cut out the corners of each layer and added messages and pictures to show our mums how much we love and appreciate them. We liked writing messages and decorating each flap to make it special for our mum. - Darcy and Lexi M

Mother’s Day with the Emus

We hope all mums had a very special Mother's Day. We certainly enjoyed doing this artwork for our mums! - Charli

Milang

Mother’s Day Craft

The students enjoyed making a key holder or ring holder for their mother or grandmother.

Emus ANZAC Day

In class we have been talking about the brave men and women who have fought in all conflicts. It is important for us as young students to make sure the ANZAC spirit lives on. - Mack

MoneySmart Program with the Emus

In class with Mr D we have been involved in a number of activities to develop our financial literacy skills including:

• Designing and costing a Nature Park including calculating the area of the facilities, working within a budget of $1,000,000 and using calculators and spreadsheets to work out running costs and possible profit
• Establishing a vegetable garden and developing a business to sell fresh vegetables and condiments. We have had to carefully follow plans, research what vegetables to grow, brainstorm and vote on business names and logos and trial making tomato relish to sell.

We are learning about many financial literacy terms including profit, loss, credit, loans, discount, debt and asset to name a few as well as how to manage our finances and budget using a spreadsheet.

We are very grateful to everyone who has helped us so far including:

• ASIC for the grant to purchase the garden beds, tools and more kitchen equipment
• Mark from Adelaide Hills Vegie Gardens who delivered and taught us how to assemble our Biofilta Wicking Garden Beds made from recycled plastic
• Trent from Peats Soils for support in accessing bulk soil at a discount rate

We hope to have some tomato relish to sell in the near future along with holding a Special Lunch Day for students which we will cater for.

Warradale Camp

Here are some of the students thoughts about camp:

We got to go through 6 different rooms at the museum and we went on public transport and to parliament house. - Dakota

At Warradale we had spaghetti for dinner. A cool thing about camp was we got to go on public transport and a double decker bus. - Liam

On camp I liked going to the South Australian Museum to do the Shadow Initiation and seeing all the exhibits and history. - Zayden

I enjoyed going into parliament house, we were lucky to go in. It was very interesting going into the main room. - Lydia

I liked all the food at camp. - Timothy

At the museum we did a lot of hard thinking and used all of our 6 C’s. It was a hard challenge but we got through. - Carly

At the museum there was a series of questions and we had to work in teams. The questions led us around the museum to different exhibits, rooms and floors. We all got a score for our work and a card to say we were part of the “Secret Order of the Quill and Compass”. - Erin

Surf Life Saving

We travelled to Port Elliot on Thursday, 8th April for Surf Education Day funded by Sporting Schools. They learnt many new skills and showed great determination and resilience throughout the day building on our Deep learning work this term on Character traits.

The weather was perfect and we all had an absolutely fantastic day.

Gardening with Mrs M

The students have enjoyed helping Mrs M in the garden, preparing the soil, planting the seeds, watering and watching them grow, and then eventually picking the corn and eating it. It was delicious! The Junior Primary also picked some herbs and made scones and ate them whilst the Upper Primary were away on camp.

Lego Challenges

The children are still enjoying their Lego challenges on a Wednesday afternoon. Our themes have been Easter, Space and Movies.

ANZAC Day

On the first day back in Term 2 students from Milang Campus met with local veterans John and Greg (and service dog Riley) at ANZAC park in Milang. They took a wreath decorated with wattle and rosemary which was placed on the Cenotaph. Students learnt about the Milang soldiers who went to World War 1 and the conditions they faced. They also gained an insight into other conflicts involving Australia. Riley the service dog was a huge hit with the students and Greg explained why he was so vital for him. Greg gave us our own copy of the poster with the soldiers who came from Milang and it is on display in the Upper Primary Class. The students also did some lovely artwork for Anzac Day.

BEBRAS Awards

Congratulations to all the students who participated in the BEBRAS computational Maths competition in Term 1. Alannah received a merit, Erin and Dakota both received credits with Dakota achieving the highest score across Eastern Fleurieu School.

Room 1 Adelaide Zoo Excursion

On Tuesday, 6th April Room 1 were lucky enough to go on an excursion to the Adelaide Zoo! Students were treated to a day of perfect weather and wonderful sights thanks to tour guide Miss Russo. Thank you to all the parents and carers who were able to support the day. What an amazing way to end the term.

What’s happening in Room 21?

Team 21 have been strengthening their literacy skills by participating in the InitiaLit programme each morning. Mrs Pitt and Mrs Eastwood focus on reading, writing, listening and speaking with the intention that the students will have the skills to be life long learners. Teacher led explicit lessons are followed by group rotations. The skills learned in the explicit lessons are practised independently and with adult support in small groups. Each group has a student, who is team leader. They organise the group and lead the group when it is their turn to read together. The students enjoy this time in the morning and have been super proud of their achievements.

Another focus for Team 21 has been Cyber Safety. Keeping yourself safe online has become another very important life skill. We are supported each week to think about our online presence and how to use the internet safely, by our friends from Hector’s World. An online programme developed by the eSafety Commissioner.

Life Matters

Late in Term 1 we had the privilege of the Life Matters team visiting our campus to bring an Easter presentation to our school called 'Light of the World'. The presentation was full of lively music, games and the telling of the Easter story from the Christian perspective.

The students really enjoyed the presentation and loved being involved in the games and were all so respectful to our visitors! It was a great day and definitely something fun to lead into the Easter weekend.

Thankyou to all the families who supported by sending their children along and to the staff for rearranging your days to accommodate. I would also like to acknowledge the Strathalbyn Inter Church Council for generously donating to make the sessions free for all the students.

Action Stations!

Did you know there is a special tree in our school?

Our class does, and we think that you need to know about it too. The special tree is called the Lone Pine and it is directly related to the original tree in Turkey.

It can be seen in the front garden.

In World War 1 there were many battles. In the year 1915, one particular battle took place in Gallipoli. It was fought by Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, now known as ANZAC’s . This battle is known as the Battle of Lone Pine. Why? Pine trees were cut down to line the trenches, and one pine tree remained after all the shelling and gunfire.

The Lone Pine tree in our front garden is directly related to this tree! And here it is:

Our immediate concern is our tree being is damaged by students making cubbies, pulling off small branches and swinging on it. So we have swung into action.

We brainstormed what action we needed to take, both short term and long term.

Our action teams are very busy.

Protection Team: temporary logs at base of tree and a laminated sign, researching and designing a permanent fence with a bench, a permanent plaque and we now a daily roster to check for misuse and we to talk to students while near the tree.

Research team: finding out about the history of our tree and the original, the battle of Lone Pine and to support other action teams.

Education Team: Assembly items, Newsletters, visit all classes to run a lesson in Term 2.

Here are some interesting facts discovered so far:

There were 8 700 Australian deaths during the battle and 2 779 New Zealanders died.

Our tree is about 8 years old and came from Canberra.

Mrs Jolly applied for trees for our school. We think 7-12 Lone Pine has been removed. (more investigations pending)

We think our tree is 3rd generation.

We have found 2 pinecones and a breakaway team is attempting to propagate the 32 seeds recovered.

Comments from some students

The Lone Pine is an important historical thing and I feel humble to change the world in my school. - Owen

I think the lone pine is important. - Mersadies

I like history so I think this is important. - Padraig

I think its spot on. We need to protect it. – Ariah

I think it is a beautiful and important tree. - Bethany

Deal or No Deal with Room 4

In Maths, Room 4 has been starting to look at chance and data. We decided to raise the stakes and partake in a game of ‘Deal or no Deal’ to really put some pressure on our decision-making.

It was really fun playing the game, I took the deal early but wished I kept going, I didn’t think we would make much more money. - Darcy

I took the deal after round five, I could see the top amounts starting to be eliminated and didn’t want to lose any more money. - Elijah

Completing a template of the chances we had at winning over $100,000 (not real money obviously) students had to think critically and find out the probability of this happening after each round.

Room 9’s Migration Museum Excursion

On Tuesday, 4th May we went to the Migration Museum. We learnt about how Aboriginals used to live hundreds of years ago. We got to experience what it was like to go to the Native School. We had lunch at Marshmallow Playground where we had to show collaboration to climb trees, go on a giant swing and enjoy the water play area.

We had to put these clothes on to show what the students wore when they went to the Native School. It was really uncomfortable and very heavy. - Erica

At Marshmallow Playground we worked together to pump the water through the floodgates to make a waterfall. We named it ‘Lazy Lagoon’. - Archie

The students who went to the Native School spent their free time playing string games. These were sometimes used to tell stories and share knowledge. We learnt how to play some games but we still need lots of practice! - Lachlan

We got to visit all the different rooms at the Migration Museum. I enjoyed using the interactive storytellers. - Leia

History Award for Langhorne Creek Campus

Over the last few years the older students at Langhorne Creek have been working with Mrs Hopkins researching the history of Langhorne Creek and family connections to this amazing area. Recently we were lucky enough to have won the Alexandrina Council, Historical Research Award which we are very proud of.

We are looking at having the book reprinted and taking orders as a fundraiser for the campus.

National Sorry Day

Wednesday, 26th May was National Sorry Day. The students of Ashbourne participated in class discussions on what National Sorry Day stands for. The students reflected on how they would have felt if they were part of the stolen generation and why it is important that we acknowledge what happened to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people. The empathy and compassion was evident through their deep questioning and their engagement during the activities.

Growing with Gratitude

On Wednesday, 19th May the Hakea students were part of the ‘Growing with Gratitude’, an online world event. The students talked about what they are grateful for including school, their family and friends, pets, books, fun places to visit and technology. Schools from all around the world used online technology to be part of this great experience.

Character Strengths

The Ashbourne students have been focussing on Character Strengths with Rebekah, and what this means to them and what they think their top 5 strengths are. This term we have looked at ‘Bravery’ and ‘Creativity’. The students shared their personal experiences of when the have faced challenges with bravery and when they use their creativity. The students of Hakea created comics to share their bravery experiences and took part in a Lego challenge using their creative skills and collaboration.

Art and Mapping with the Acacia Class

In Art this term, we have been learning different colouring techniques with different materials. We explored using our names to artistic effect.

Mapping has been our focus in maths. Students built on their mapping skills, culminating in an orienteering challenge around the school grounds. Some excellent maps with keys and colour coding led to a very successful exercise. This has led us onto looking at the history of Ashbourne, and creating mud maps of our town as part of our HASS research.

Art in the Echidna’s Room

We read the story of ‘Twig’. The main character in the story is Heidi, the stick insect, and she has a big problem! Because she is a stick insect and blends into her surroundings, she often finds that she is overlooked and misses out on all the fun. Her teacher decides that the best way to make sure Heidi stands out is to knit her a beautiful stripy scarf so everyone knows where she is. All her friends take part and Heidi is presented with a long and very colourful scarf. For our art lesson, we started by using black marker pens to draw the outlines of trees and then used watercolour paints to fill in all the spaces. Once our paintings had dried, we added Heidi and her stripy scarf! We hope you enjoy looking at our beautiful works of art.

Reception Maths

The Reception children have been learning all about numbers. This week we decided where to place the numbers from 11 – 20 along the number line. Once we had discovered where each number went, the children then had to match the number with the right number of pop-sticks. It can be tricky to get the ‘teen’ numbers in sequence so it was good to work together to make sure we got it right!

Character with the Kangaroos

As part of our Deep Learning, we have been focusing on Character. We read a book about friendships and discussed various friendship qualities. We then did some artwork displaying the qualities we brain stormed.

Emus Warradale Camp

Soon we are going on camp. We are going to Adelaide on a learning adventure. Firstly, we are going to the Maritime Museum to learn more about the First Fleet. After that we are doing the Tree Climb in the city. We are staying at Warradale Urban Camp for two nights. On the Thursday we are going to Parliament House, The Botanical Gardens, and The Art Gallery. On the last day we are having a visit to SASVI, AFL Max and The Army Museum. It sounds like lots of fun, and I am really looking forward to it. We are making our own camp booklets, and these are some of our title pages. - Gemma

Emus Reconciliation Week

As part of the activities we have done for Reconciliation Week, we did some art work. We looked at lots of art by some First Nations People and read some stories. They look colourful and vibrant. Here are a few examples. - Charli

Cow Create Careers

As part of the Cows Create Careers program we have been looking after two calves. They are so cute and we need to feed them twice a day. All of the students at our campus love watching and spending time with them. - McKenzie

The calves have been supplied by Mulgundawa Dairy, we are extremely grateful to Jess Chandler for her knowledge and support of this program. The calves have been named Betty and Wilma.

A huge thank you to the families and staff who are helping out with feeding the calves over the weekends.

Junior Primary Visit to the Lake

On Thursday, 27th May we went to the Milang Lake to see how much rubbish was in and surrounding the lake. We found lots of rubbish under the jetty and even some in the lake itself. We also found some fishing bits and pieces in the reeds. We did a big clean up and will be looking at the rubbish in our next lesson.

Work Experience

In Week 4 we had April come and do a week of work experience with us. We enjoyed having her happy cheerful personality here with us, always helpful and involved with the students’ learning.

Here are a few photos of her helping out in the Upper Primary with their reading groups.

Ned Kelly

We have been reading about Ned Kelly, a well-known bushranger in colonial times. In Art we created a painting of Ned Kelly based on Sidney Nolan’s portrayal of him in his famous artworks. We used colour slicks as the medium and focused on the proportions of Ned Kelly in relation to the back ground.

Cross Country

Scarlett and Kye represented Milang Campus at the Cross Country Trials at Encounter Lutheran College.

Young Environmental Leaders (YEL)

Ashbourne

On Thursday, 27th May 17 Year 5 and 6 students from across all four campuses participated in YEL - Young Environmental Leaders day. We were bussed to Watchalunga a property on the Finniss River owned by the Nature Foundation. There we were met by experts and professionals in land care, native frogs, birds and fish. We learnt many fascinating facts about these native species, and how the Nature Foundation is planting to help endangered local species like the Emu Wren. Not only was our day informative, but it was great to build relationships and connections between the campuses. A big thankyou to Lizzie for organising the day.

Milang

Scarlett, Lydia, Alannah and Erin are our YEL for 2021. Last Thursday they went to Watchalunga at Finniss. Here are some comments from them about their day.

I enjoyed learning about frogs and finding a frog in a pile of wood. - Lydia

I enjoy YEL because we get to spend a lot more time in nature than usual. – Alannah

I enjoyed learning about the fish and the DNA tracing. It was very interesting learning about how they can trace what the animals are. – Erin

I enjoyed trying to find the frogs and learning about fish and other things. – Scarlett

Milang Year 6 Civics and Citizenship

During Term 2 the Year 6 group are required to perform a community service. Liam and Zayden have chosen to help out in the community garden each week. They worked really hard this week mulching, planting and cutting back blackberries.

Magnetic Moves with Room 14

In Science we are learning about magnets. Magnets are very fascinating. – Zahli

With magnets, I found that some metals can’t be attracted to the magnet. – Amanda

We learnt about how there is a magnetic force and if there is something relatively thin between them, the magnetic force can go through. – Violet

We got to test lots of different things and lots of them stuck together or through. – Lilly

We have been testing what is magnetic and what magnets go through. We have been recording this and it’s been really fun. – Nevaeh

I didn’t know that if you put a magnet and a paperclip with a tissue in between, it will move. – Ashlea

Room 30 – Nature Play Incursion

On Friday, 28th May Nature Play SA came to school and ran sessions for Rooms 20, 30 and 31.

The multi-sensory workshops gave the children the opportunity to discover, create and design using natural materials from the earth.

The children rotated in small groups and were involved in:

• Loose parts play - using medium size natural loose parts, students become the engineer to create and design.
• Autumn Colour Play dough Play
• Clay making mushrooms
• Autumn stories with Cameron
• Sunflower seed bomb using clay and sunflower seeds.

The children thoroughly enjoyed the experience and Cameron was a great presenter.

Tech News

With a new teaching space comes new opportunities for students to immerse themselves in robotics.

In Term 2 our Upper Primary students have used Lego Mindstorms for the first time, working collaboratively to design, modify and program their own robots. Weekly challenges are designed to represent real world situations where students learn about tools such as autonomous tractors, before coding their own simulations.

Junior Primary and Middle Primary students have been using Ozobots to develop their understanding of robotics, programming the Ozobots to complete tasks such as catching Pokemon, knocking down pins in Ozobot Bowling and even creating their own magic 8-balls where the robots answer questions.

Having a class full of robots buzzing around makes for an incredibly busy space but it's been fantastic to see the level of collaboration, creativity and critical thinking that students have brought to each and every lesson this term.

Global Learning with Room 26

As part of our Deep Learning unit Rooms 26, 27 and 28 participate in Global Learning on Friday afternoons. Each week our groups are engaged in a new activity which supports students learning of the 6 Global Competencies- Character, Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, Citizenship and Creativity.

The activities include:

• Lego challenge,
• Mini-beast paper craft
• Cooking
• Butterfly painting
• Observing mini-beasts in Tungaree

In Global Learning we are creative and made a Lego hospital. We made TomBoys with red wool. - Oliver

We develop our Character by helping each other and by being nice. - Jaden

The best part about Global Learning is doing lots of fun activities. We learn how to do new things. - Laycie

I like to do cooking, because we made pinwheels and they were delicious. - Iris

We never hurt nature in Tungaree, especially living things. – Sam and Willow

Minibeasts!

Team 28 have had a Deep Learning focus of “All Things Minibeast”. It has been a fascinating Deep Learning topic so far. We have learnt how to classify different Minibeasts by their different characteristics. We then used our Communication skills and Collaborative skills to teach Room 26 how to classify Minibeasts using their characteristics.

We have had many different Minibeasts visit our class. One of the most exciting has been watching the butterfly lifecycle happen right before our very eyes.

Also as part of our learning we have learnt how to write French Cinquain poetry. We wrote our poems about some of the Minibeasts we have been observing. We hope you enjoy reading some of our examples.

Mindfulness Session with Stage 2 Child Studies and Room 28

On Wednesday, 16th June the students from Room 28 walked to the Strathalbyn 7-12 Campus where they participated in a variety of Mindfulness Activities organised by the Stage 2 Child Studies students. The Stage 2 Child Studies students have been learning about the importance of Mindfulness, the benefits and how educators and parents can include it in everyday life.

To put their learning into practice, they created their own 15 minutes Mindfulness activity sessions. These activities included; making glitter jars, creating nature mandalas, pinwheels, sensory mats, mindful colouring and drawing, bubble paintings, yoga, dance, stress balls and playdough.

Eastern Fleurieu School Represents Southern Fleurieu at Netball State Carnival

Talented netball players from across South Australia came together from Monday, 31st of May for the Netball State Carnival at Priceline Stadium. Teams were split into separate Year 6 and Year 7 teams and placed in either the metro or country divisions. Southern Fleurieu were placed in Division 1 country and knew that they had a tough week of netball ahead.

Year 6s started the carnival off strongly, recording three wins on day one. Across each game, the team continued to build, and they were able to win 9 consecutive games to be undefeated for the carnival, with their toughest opponents being Mid South East and Riverland. The girls walked away with gold medals as outright winners of the Year 6 Division 1 Country competition.

Back Left- Right: Kelly White (Coach), Lily, Sophie, Edie, Evie, Holly
Front Left-Right: Isabelle, Sophie, Reese, Michaela, Lily, Danika

Learning about Ashbourne

Rob Johnston, and his mum Robyn were invited to Ashbourne Campus by the Acacia students who are looking at Ashbourne community as part of their HASS. Robyn and Rob have lived in Ashbourne for their whole life. The students asked Rob and Robyn a series of questions about Ashbourne, the farming, Indigenous connection, changes to the town and school. The students were confident and displayed a high level of interest and engagement.

Hakea Class Spelling

Students in the Hakea Class have been showing such pride and enthusiasm during their spelling lessons. They have enjoyed dissecting words, identifying spelling patterns and then trying to work out the possible rules. When we come up with a rule we run it past Mel Pitt, the Key Literacy Teacher and so far we have been right every time! Did you know that if the final constant in a word is a F, M, N or V, then if you want to make the ‘ie’ you will most likely do it using a Magic E (eg. life, grime, twine). If the final constant is a T, then you will most likely use the igh spelling (eg. light, tight, right).

How are the Echidnas Feeling?

For our Health lessons, we have been learning all about ‘Feelings’. We started by making a long list of all the ‘feelings’ words we could name. Our list ended up having twenty-two ‘feelings’ words. At the end of the term, we are planning to see if we can add even more words! For one of our lessons, the children worked in pairs to come up with a solution to a ‘feelings’ event. There were several different ‘feelings’ events to choose from and each pair had to think about how they would react in that situation. The children were asked to draw their facial expressions and think about how their body language reflected the way they were feeling. There were lots of great examples of collaboration as the children talked about their ‘feelings’ event and then worked on their drawings together.

Miss Hunt’s Kangaroos Showing Character!

One of the Global Learning Competencies we have been learning about in our class is Character. A part of developing Character is learning how to learn, using traits such as perseverance, grit and resilience.

Using a Growth Mindset means believing in the power or YET, that we might not know something or fully understand something - yet! We know that using positive self-talk is an important part of taking an active role in our learning and that perseverance will help us to push through challenges and accept setbacks. Using a Growth Mindset means that we actually value the learning process, and that it’s ok to make mistakes and errors because when neurons are making new pathways in our brain, this is what helps our brains to grow!

After reading ‘Your Fantastic Elastic Brain’, we unpacked the main functions of the brain and what each part these roles play in what we do, say and think.

The Hippocampus is responsible for storing short term memories into long term memories and remembering the location of objects and people. It has 2 parts, one on the left side of your brain and one on the right side, and it is under the Cerebral Cortex. - Peggy, Macy and Angus

The Cerebrum is the largest part of the brain and it has 2 halves. It is the thinking part of the brain and it controls movement, speech, intelligence, memory and processing. - Lexi P, Kate and Lexi M

The Prefrontal Cortex is the decision-making part of the brain and it helps you to plan and think about the consequences of your actions, how to solve problems and control impulses. It helps you to make good, well-balanced choices and it sends memories to and from the Hippocampus. - Maisy, Darcey and Emma

The Amygdala is responsible for processing and expressing emotions, especially anger and fear and it’s always on the lookout for danger or times when we feel threatened. When the Amygdala senses danger, it can overrule the upstairs brain and take over, and make us act before we think, which is a highly useful survival response. - Jack, Thomas and Regan

Here are some of our Growth Mindset posters and the positive self-talk that we tell ourselves when learning tricky or new things:

Picasso, Portraits and Pelicans!

Last week the Kangaroos had an afternoon of Art with Gayle. We created 3 visual artworks using paints, pastels and pencil. We enjoyed making these and look forward to developing our artistic skills further.

A few days ago Gayle came to do art with the Kangaroos class using oil pastels and some water colour paints. We did self-portraits, a Picasso portrait and a superb pelican! Our class is very grateful for Gayle to come. - Lexi P

A couple of days ago, one of Miss Hunt’s friends came to our class to do art, her name is Gayle. First we did a portrait of ourselves. Then we did a challenge where you could not take your crayon off, with these we could do paint or pastels. Last of all, we did a pelican. Our class is very happy that we got to spend time with Gayle. - Peggy

Reconciliation Footprints from the Wanggamis!

Wanggami is Ngarrindjeri for Kangaroo!

During National Reconciliation Week we talked at the theme ‘More Than A Word’ and what this means as a journey moving forward for all Australians. We enjoyed reading and listening to indigenous stories and making colourful footprint artworks showing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditional and modern symbols. We agreed that the discussions around reconciliation should happen every day, not just during one week of the year! Students showed excellence in empathy, creativity and critical thinking.

Warradale Camp 2021

On Wednesday, 2nd June at 9:00am we travelled to Adelaide for camp. First we went to the Maritime Museum. It was full of ships and facts about The First Fleet and even some real artefacts from real ships were there! I was too excited to wait for the Tree Climb, but I was also so nervous about it. I did the blue, red and white zipline course and the final and hardest course the black one. It was really challenging but I eventually got through it. Then we went to Warradale campsite to set up and had tea.

On Thursday we got to go on the train to Adelaide. We walked from there to Parliament House not too far from the train station, we met Adrian Pederick who gave us a tour and we learnt a lot about politics. Then we walked down to meet Linley at The Botanical Gardens in Adelaide. I think this was one of my most favourites because it had lots of plants and things about the environment. Later on, we left to go to The Art Gallery, where we had a wander around, looking at paintings and art work and we also had an art lesson. We then went back to Warradale and had burgers for tea and ice cream for dessert.

But before we ate tea, Tom from The Art Gallery came and talked to us about clay making self-portraits and what’s unique about us, I made myself with mixing different colours and I eventually finished. It was really fun and creative for us to do and we were grateful for Tom coming in to talk to us. Afterwards we had a Talent Show, Kenzie, Ava and I were the judges. Keely won with her song Driver’s License that she sang.

On Friday we woke up at 6:00 am and packed up for home, it took me a while to roll up my sleeping bag but I got there. We went to SASVI (South Australian School for Vision Impaired) afterwards we all couldn’t wait to go to AFL MAX, we did a 2-hour session and my favourite part about it was the trampolines and rock climbing. Then we went to the Army Museum, there were lots of mannequins and it was really cool and we did heaps of quizzes and I liked all of the information.

I am really grateful to have had this opportunity to go on such an amazing camp. - Ella

Cows Create Careers

In Week 5 of Term 2, our calves arrived at our school, dropped off by Jess Chandler from Mulgundawa Dairy. We looked after the calves and gathered information about weight, height and behaviour. They stayed for 3 weeks and we had a perfect home for them, it had grain, hay and a shelter for them to sleep or lay in. We had a roster to see which class feeds them and what time of the day, either in the afternoon or morning, and the weekends some of the Year 5/6s families took care of them.

In Week 6 the Year 5/6s went on camp so the rest of the school took care of them while they were gone, the Year 3/4s and Reception - 1/2s got to help name them. After the discussion it became Betty and Wilma, they stayed in the middle of Year 3/4s and library.

Betty and Wilma left in Week 7 and got picked up by Jess Chandler.

It was a valuable learning experience and we are very grateful to have had this opportunity. - Ella

Woodhouse Camp

Here are some of the Upper Primary students’ thoughts on camp:

The dinner on the first night was burgers. That was my favourite moment. – Timothy

I loved the hamburgers. – Alannah

Tube slide was really fun and scary. – Opal

So many favourite things, but Ice blocking was so much fun going fast down the hill and turning around. – Erin

I enjoyed the tube slide because we were all helping each other pull the tubes up the hill– Alea

I enjoyed the boulder rush the most – Zayden

I loved climbing the tower on Challenge Hill – Liam

The tube slide was so much fun – Kayla

We went really fast on the tube slide – Kye

I loved that the teachers had a go on the tube slide and everyone was helping each other – Scarlett

Tube sliding was really fast and heaps of fun. – Natasha

Milang Regatta Club

The Upper Primary students have been investigating local community groups and had a guided tour of the New Milang Regatta Club which houses the new Rescue Boat. They had loads of questions and were excited to climb in the boat.

Dreaming stories

As part of their narrative writing the Upper Primary students made Dreaming story books and shared them with the Junior Primary students.

Parliamentary visit

As part of their Civics and Citizenship lessons with Mrs Cook the Upper Primary students had a visit from Adrian Pederick, Natalie, Jesse, Tahlia and Steve to help us understand how Parliament works. They really got the students involved and were engaging them in a role play activity.

Year 6’s Focus

Meet Zayden and Liam, two of our Year 6s. This year our Year 6s as part of their Citizenship have chosen some community projects to get involved in. Zayden and Liam have been spending Tuesday mornings over at the community garden with Mrs Cook and a team of local volunteers. The boys are enjoying doing some gardening and helping the community. In Week 10 some of our Year 6s will be cooking some morning tea for the local craft group.

A Case of Emergency

On Friday, 18th June students in Years 3-6 had the amazing opportunity to attend the ‘A Case of Emergency’ incursion. Students were instructed to put on their best detective hats and become Forensic Scientists for the day to solve the mystery of the missing boy Josh.

All students had the chance to observe the crime and pick up any clues they could see, as well as test fingerprints, use UV lights to examine items of Josh’s clothing and inspect scat droppings. All of which were needed to put together the pieces of this puzzle.

Luckily, all of the groups were able to locate where Josh was (in the Haunted House) and he was returned safely to his parents.

Performing Arts Update

Over the last 2 terms, a group Year 5 and 6 students have been working together as part of our 2021 Eastern Fleurieu Performing Arts Group. With dancers rehearsing every Wednesday lunchtime, and singers rehearsing Wednesdays after lunch, our Eastern Fleurieu Year 5/6 Performing Arts Group (PAG) have shown exceptional dedication to developing their movement and singing skills. This year’s theme ‘Reach for the Sky’ was developed after discussions around problems that need solving; this one stemming from two separate ideas: 1) A growth mindset, where mistakes are a part of learning, and where there are no limits to where our skills can take us, and 2) that electronic devices and social media see us constantly looking down, instead of looking up and viewing the people and places around us.

The songs chosen for this year’s repertoire are all songs that mention the sky, or words to do with the sky, and as a performing arts group, we have been working on challenging ourselves to “reach for the sky”. We have been focussing on Collaboration and Character, developing strategies for how to challenge ourselves in skill development, as well as working out what it takes to learn and create repertoire as a group. The students have voted for Captains, to help support and encourage students, and have shown character in many ways, especially in setting themselves up ready for rehearsals and performances, doing vocal warmups before singing, and learning how to look after their bodies when they sing.

In Week 7, students showed their dedication by staying afterschool at our “PAG Bootcamp” where we go over our whole repertoire, sharing dances with the singers, learning whole group actions and having the opportunity to spend extra time bonding and working on our songs. The students worked incredibly hard, and showed us just how capable they are at achieving the goals that we set. We finished the evening with pizza and chips for dinner, plus a visit from Mrs Tarling, who is currently on maternity leave.

We could not be prouder of the work that students are putting in, the skills that they are developing and the challenges that they are facing, and we are thoroughly excited to see what they continue to achieve!

Health and PE

Over the last month, we have had some terrific results from students at our campus in the Cross Country, Netball and Football competitions.

Cross Country Carnival

In the regional Cross Country Carnival at Encounter Lutheran School we had some unbelievable results.

In the 10 year old girls race Neveah finished in 3rd place.
In the 10 year old boys race Ned finished in 2nd place.
In the 11 year old girls race Ariah took home the gold in 1st place.

These students were also been selected to represent Southern Fleurieu at the State Carnival at Oakbank along with Archie and Caitlin. Congratulations!

Southern Fleurieu State Carnivals

In Week 6 we had students represent the Southern Fleurieu region in the Year 6 State Football and Netball Carnivals.

Both teams finished the week undefeated and earnt the gold medal. The netball team was in Division 1 and the football team was in Division 2.

Strath R-6 students selected were:

Football – Sam, Jeremy, Archie, Toby, James, Hamish, Jai

Netball – Michaela, Issy, Sophie

Swimming with Room 29

In Millindilla, our Thursday mornings are a little different to everyone else’s, because we get to go swimming!

This year, Millindilla students have begun accessing the Department for Education weekly swimming program for students with disabilities. This water safety program provides students with 30 1 on 1 swimming lessons throughout the year. How lucky are our students!

What is even more exciting is that our program is held at the Mount Barker State Swim, which means a warm pool every day of the year! To support our transport, we are extremely grateful to use the fantastic OSHC bus which accommodates our class size perfectly!

Since starting in Term 1 Week 6, the students’ confidence, skills and knowledge has improved greatly!

The students look forward to swimming every week, as it is great physical activity, as well as sensory stimulating.

I love swimming, I can now put my head under the water. - Isabella

I have learnt how to swim with flippers on. - Edward

Yay swimming. – Faith

Healthy Habits in Room 3

This semester the Global Learning Competencies we have been focussing on have been Character, Collaboration, and Communication. Our Deep Learning unit has been focussed on healthy habits. Students have learnt about skin and the damage that can be done if we don't protect ourselves. Hidden sugar in common foods and drinks have also been examined where knowledge has been gained to enable students to make better choices. More recently, we have been looking at physical activity, components of fitness and students have designed their own fitness programs either individually or with peers based on weaknesses in which they wish to improve. As you can see, Isaac and Jake have included variations of push-ups in their program. Jake has told me he can feel his pecs, deltoids and triceps becoming stronger already. Great stuff!

Off to the Circus!

On Monday, 21st June Rooms 11 and 14 headed off on their excursion to CirKidz! Students were treated to a day full of tumbling, acrobatics, super trampolines, aerial work and balancing. Here are a few comments from students of their favourite activities:

I liked the Super Trampolines because you bounce high. – Jett

Watching Jett do flips. – Patrick B

Super Trampolines because you can do anything you want. – Diesel

The tissues because they taught me how to spin down. – Violet

The trampolines because they were fun and we could jump into the foam pit. - Ruby

Probably the trampolines because I got to jump into the foam pit and do front flips. – Elsie

The Global Learning Competencies in Room 2

Throughout the first semester of 2021, Room 2 has been focusing on Character, Critical Thinking and Collaboration as our 3 Global Learning Competencies. Students have been taken through a learning cycle, which involves them unpacking the competency and its elements as well as a range of tasks and lessons which focus on this skill and develop it. “Collaboration is important when you’re with your family because if you can’t work together, and listen to your parents, it won’t be a happy household,” Jayden reflected. “I think it’s important for University because you will have to work on collaborative tasks where everyone has a role to complete the task successfully,” commented Tallera.

After looking at the why, the class begun using Collaboration as the ‘lens’ we look at specific lessons through. “in the past I have got frustrated or upset when people don’t listen to my ideas and only chose the same group members to share their opinions,” Tallera explained. “But we practice collaboration in daily literacy groups by rotating a leader and they make sure everyone is contributing evenly to the discussion which feels better.” But as Jayden points out, this is not always an easy process. “When you have to work with someone who you might have had a fall out with in the past, it can be a pain.”

The explicit teaching and development of the 6 Global Competencies is equipping the students of Room 2 to be better at learning and better at life.

50th Year Celebration

The School Library Association of South Australia (SLASA) celebrated 50 years by hosting a dinner during the school holidays at the Sanctuary at the Adelaide Zoo. Students across all schools were encouraged to make placemats for the event. Students from Andrea Thomas’ Strathalbyn R-6 class, Mandy Hopkin’s Langhorne Creek class and Mathilda Moore’s Ashbourne class all contributed placemats to this event. It was really good to see a number of campuses of our school represented at this event. Well done to those students involved.

From the Archives

Here are some photos of some familiar buildings taken from the fantastic book ‘100 Years of Secondary Education in Strathalbyn’ put together by Brian Simpson, Deputy from 1974-1995.

This building is now used by the Alexandrina Council as a Community Centre and a Library.

The Front Office in 1927, when our current site was opened and below, once the front hedge started to grow.

NAIDOC Week Celebrations

Ashbourne

As the term nears the final few weeks it is a good time to reflect on the student learning and wellbeing. The students of Ashbourne have continued their learning journey on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. We were privileged to have Mark Koolmatrie, a Ngarrindjeri man hold a smoking ceremony on Tuesday, 1st June. Mark explained to the students the cultural meaning and purpose of the ceremony, he spoke in his native language, connecting to the land and ancestors that had sat upon the land we were sitting. He acknowledged the traditional owners and blessed the students with the smoke. He explained that they could if they chose to, to take the smoke over themselves and it would strengthen their body and connect them to country and land. At the end of the ceremony Mark asked if any First Nation students would like to put the Native Rosemary into the fire, which would go back into the land. Michaela took this opportunity, it was a special moment for her.

The students had the opportunity to use Mark’s message stick which he held in smoke to cleanse first. The students spoke about their connection to Ashbourne and shared an appreciation. It was a memorable experience for the students.

Mark told the students a Dreaming of ‘Kondoli’ the whale. The students have been listening to Dreamings each week as part of Bush School day and their Deep Learning unit. It was an honour to hear Mark tell this dreaming.

Milang

Students at Milang campus celebrated NAIDOC week with a walk to the lake where we listened to the story of Thukeri. As we looked over the lake and the reeds we had to visualise the story. On returning to school we collected bark and leaves then recreated the story in a life size outdoor collage.

We were also very lucky to have Cedric Varco conduct a smoking Ceremony at our school fire pit. Students sat mesmerised as Cedric spoke and then walked around the circle.

Finally our Lego Challenge theme was NAIDOC and the students made some amazing creations. As they have been focussing on Collaboration it was a team win this week of the Golden Brick.

Strathalbyn

NAIDOC week this year’s theme is Heal Country.

Due to COVID restrictions, we recorded a day’s celebrations with all our First Nation students for all schools to view. Local government and community members were invited to join our celebrations.

The day started with a our First Nations leaders Jakyra and Tait introducing themselves and inviting Mandy Brown who is a local Peramangk lady to do the Welcome to Country. Then we did the flag raising Aleckai and Coby.

We then went out to Tungaree where local Ngarrindjeri man Cedric Varco performed a smoking ceremony. Smoking ceremonies are an ancient custom among Aboriginal Australians in which native plants are burnt to produce smoke and acknowledge the ancestors and pay respect to the land, waters and sea of country. The smoke is believed to have healing and cleansing properties.

After the smoking ceremony Cedric showed students some symbols to paint on rocks.

Every student in all schools were able to paint a rock.

Cedric Varco went out to all Eastern Fleurieu School Campuses and preformed the smoking ceremony. He also taught the students some Ngarrindjeri words!

Nuken = Seeya
Arnool ninti = Thankyou

7-12 students planted native plants and did flag designs using symbols.

Term 3 Deep Learning Unit at Ashbourne

This term all students will engage in the Deep Learning Unit on the 5 facets of Wellbeing, Social, Physical, Emotional, Spiritual and Intellectual. This will take place on Bush School day. In Week 1 we introduced the students to the new unit and the students participated in a physical activity testing their fitness with set exercises and a wellbeing activity focused on “What brings them happiness”. The Hakea students made worry dolls after reading “Silly Billy” and the Acacia students started their passion project on a facet of choice. In Term 3 and 4 the students will focus on the Global Competencies Creativity, Citizenship and Critical Thinking.

Success for Grace at Falls Creek

Eastern Fleurieu school student Grace had a golden outing at the recent Interschools Snowsports Competition. Run by Snow Australia and the South Australian Snowsports Association Inc (SASKI), the annual event is open to school-aged skiers and snowboarders of all ages and abilities, with a focus on participation and fun.

Welcome from Mrs Crowden and Mrs Rollins!

It has been a crazy start to Term 3. We have two new teachers working with the Kangaroos, Hannah Crowden will be working Monday to Thursday and Christine Rollins will be in on Fridays. Both teachers are very excited to get to know the students and work together for the term.

Why South Australia should host the 2036 Olympics?

I think South Australia should host the 2036 Olympics because in my opinion it’s a great state to live in.

The Olympics is held every four years and is hosted by different countries. Last year the Olympics were due to be held in Japan but because of the global pandemic, the Olympics had to be postponed. This is the fourth time in the Olympics history that the games have been affected. Consequently, the Olympics is going ahead this year (2021) in Tokyo but with very strict restrictions.

South Australia would be a great place to host the 2036 Olympics because we have a lot of hotels for the athletes and the spectators to stay in. They are in the city and near the beaches and the prices are reasonable.

We have lots of stadiums but there’s also enough time to build more.

South Australia has a lot of tourist venues such as the Adelaide Art Gallery, Adelaide Zoo, Adelaide Maritime Museum, Adelaide Tree Climb, Adelaide Botanical Gardens, Adelaide Central Markets and lot’s more. There’s always something fun to do.

What do you think? SA seems like an ideal place to host 2036 Olympics. - Molly

Walking the ‘Nuggets Trail’

Students from the Upper Primary class visited the Milang Train Museum and Historical Milang Walk as part of their Deep Learning unit. They had many interesting questions and got to ride on the mini train as well as use the driving simulator. The ‘Nuggets Trail’ Historical walk is a new addition to Milang and is signposted with informative signs all the way from the train station to the jetty.

Community Service with Zayden and Liam

Year 6 students have been working on a community service initiative. Zayden and Liam completed their time at the community garden, much to the disappointment of the volunteers who really appreciated their help. Scarlett, Alannah and Lydia made a beautiful morning tea of pin wheels and chocolate slice and then served the Milang Friendship craft group tea and coffee. They spent time talking to the ladies about their craft projects and their links with Milang.

Why is Physical Activity good for you?

In Term 2 the Upper Primary class were investigating the benefits of physical activity on their bodies. They also looked at playgrounds around the world and how the design of a playground can depend on the space available and can also influence the amount of physical activity children do while on them. Their task was to design a playground that optimised the amount of physical activity a child would do. They needed to consider how interesting it was and what part of the body each piece of equipment would help. Some students made models and others used Makers Empire to showcase their design and explanation.

Under the Sea

Students have been learning about animals that live under the sea and recreated their learning in a multi media visual art piece. They have also started their unit of work on poetry with some acrostic poems using their names.

Lockdown Learning!

Langhorne Creek

During lock down I did lots of work on Google Classroom, including English, Maths, Cultural Studies and Geography. It was fun learning at home, but I am glad to be back at school and seeing my friends. - Molly

I had fun learning at home and doing our work on Google Classroom, Charli, Ella and I face timed doing 'Just Dance' for our PE activity. I am happy to be back at school because it is easier learning at school and hearing everyone's ideas. - Edie

Lock down was harder to do work without my teacher there. It was still fun, and I did lots of outdoor exercise like jumping on the trampoline. - Zerah

I liked spending time with my family during lockdown. I got my work done on Google Classroom and it was nice to see my friend's comments on there every day. - Layla

Milang

Maths learning during the morning and in the afternoons worked with Mrs Cook. Some students needed to be at school during the lockdown. They continued with their Literacy and observational drawing, sculpture art with oranges and created some models of Olympic sports. They also designed, made patterns and starting sewing their costumes for the Spring Concert.

Strathalbyn

This term started a little different for us all at school! While we’re used to coming to school and learning face to face we got to have an extra week learning at home with our parents! Some of us did learning online, some of us did learning in our books and some of us embraced the extra time and learnt how to cook, enjoy nature and most of all had fun!

Character in Room 7

In Room 7 we have been learning about Character. We are focusing in on the dimension around grit, tenacity, perseverance and resilience. We started with some individual cup stacking fun, timing ourselves and challenging ourselves with different stacking styles. We reflected on how failures, mistakes, and successes impacted our character and how we used grit, tenacity, perseverance and resilience to keep going and trying to improve rather than give up. Eventually our lesson morphed into a whole class challenge led by a few students to create an enormous cup stack. Not only did this exercise highlight the character of our students but their collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity! What a fun start to the day!

Banco in Room 6!

Despite the interruption of lockdown, the game of BANCO is in full swing in our classroom this term. The basic essence of the game is to give students a taste and understanding of adult life. It is a simulation of the world of work, where they will earn a salary for the work (learning) they do at school, pay rent for their learning space (desk) pay tax and if they wish, apply for class jobs to make more money. As with the adult world, there are bills to pay and fines pending! Literacy and mathematical skills are woven into the program.

We started last term, developing our own class currency by brainstorming names, finally voting on the name Pines. As the term progresses, we open a Craven and Gunn Store. We encourage saving, building on the understanding that to have money you must do something to get it. Money does not hide behind a wall, nor is it a card that produces as much as you want at a shop. Students will have Bank Books to keep track of their Banco account.

Details of this game are discussed in more depth with students during class meetings. It has become the focus of our Deep Learning topic this term. It becomes quite intricate when businesses are gradually introduced with students able to commence trading by firstly purchasing a Business Licence, which enables them to conduct a business such as cleaning, tidying or selling products they have made etc.

The game runs for the entire term and has been embraced enthusiastically by the class members. They are rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of making money to spend in the realm of our classroom. We will see how it pans out in coming weeks.

SAPSASA State Basketball Carnival

On Monday, 23rd August our Year 6 and 7 girls and boys basketball teams travelled to St Francis de Sales to compete in the SAPSASA State Basketball Carnival. This year schools were able to field separate Year 6 and 7 basketball teams, which gave the opportunity for more students to play in the carnival. Our pool was played at St Francis, where we came up against other Hills, Murray Bridge and Mallee teams.

Year 6 Girls

Our girls started the day strongly with wins over Littlehampton Primary School and St. Joseph’s - Murray Bridge. In the third game we came up against a very skilful St Francis de Sales team and suffered our first loss before going down to St Michael’s Lutheran School. We finished in third place for the day. A great result for our girls who shared the ball well and worked hard defensively. Well done ladies!

Year 6 Boys

Our Year 6 boys team WON the tournament!!

This sets up another full day of basketball for them. The boys raced out of the blocks recording convincing wins against St Michael’s, Karoonda, St Joseph’s - Murray Bridge and Littlehampton. Despite not being the biggest side there our boys were certainly the most skilful and team orientated side who won each game in convincing style.

Geocaching at Ashbourne

On Tuesday, 10th August as part of our Bush School program we had Cameron from Nature Play SA run a session with all students on Geocaching. The students used GPS trackers to locate 15 activities around the campus. The activities were connected to the Book Week books and nature. All students enjoyed this session. The older students displayed their leadership skills supporting the younger students.

Athletics Trials

During Week 4, 5 students Nick, Coyote, Edward, Hayden and Michaela took part in the athletics trials at the 7-12 campus. The students showed enthusiasm and resilience, they gave each event their best shot. The events they tried out at were high jump, ling jumps, 100, 200 and 800m running and discus.

Staff in the Spotlight

In Term 2, Weeks 9 and 10 and Term 3, Weeks 1-4, we had Gaby Taylor teaching in the Hakea class while Hannah Jenkins was Acting Wellbeing Leader at the Strathalbyn R-6 Campus. Gaby was quick to establish relationships with the students. We appreciated the commitment Gaby displayed during her 6 weeks at Ashbourne Campus. Gaby will return to Ashbourne in Week 7 to support Hakea class.

Over the past 7 weeks Kelli Manouge a pre-service teacher from Flinders University has been completing her 3rd year teaching placement in the Hakea class. Kelli has connected well to the students and staff. She has displayed care and compassion, whist developing her teaching skills.

SSO Week at Ashbourne

This week we would like to show our appreciation to the amazing, dedicated SSO staff we have at Ashbourne. The SSOs are valued members of the staff and our campus would not be able to operate in the manner it does without the support, care and dedication they offer to the students and staff daily. We would like to take this time to thank Leanne, Bibi, Tony, Jack, Bryn, Darcy, Lisa, Tammy, Emily and Steve. They each bring something unique to the campus and we are grateful for their commitment, passion and ability to bring the best out of each of our students, academically, socially and emotionally.

Acacia Class Update

This term the Acacia class have been inspired by the wattle that blooms in winter time. We have been practicing still life drawing and painting of the acacia trees in and around our school.

Despite the challenges of COVID this term, the Acacia Class generally have been busy and working hard. It was a highlight each day during lockdown to see those who could log on via Zoom (if the internet was working) each morning, and lovely to hear everyone sharing their different learning experiences.

Last week, the Acacia class earnt their 'special seed afternoon' through their hard work and commitment to their learning. They enjoyed watching Fantastic Mr Fox, after reading the book as a class with some treat foods. They are looking forward to resetting new goals to work towards for the remainder of this term.

During maths, we have been focussed on equations, what they are and making them balanced. In our literacy lessons, we have been focussed on writing sentences, ensuring they flow, make sense and are interesting with all the elements a sentence requires. We are looking forward to the remainder of our term!

STEM Day at Ashbourne

Ashbourne

On Thursday, 19th August Ashbourne held the Small Campus STEM day, all the students participated in a fun filled day where their learning was connected to food and how it is produced. The students participated in three activities throughout the day. In the first activity they investigated how damper was traditionally made by the Indigenous women from seeds and they had the opportunity to cook their own damper twisties on the fire using sticks collected from our scrub. Students learnt about dairy farming, how milk is produced and what dairy products are made from the milk. The students worked in groups to make their own butter from cream. The last activity was on fishing focusing on the commercial fishing industry. Students analyse the positives and negatives of different commercial fishing operations and considered how we could improve the industry’s sustainability from both an environmental and profitability perspective. After completing activities to understand the concept ‘bycatch’ students were challenged to develop an idea to reduce industry waste via bycatch.

The weather was perfect and it was lovely to see students interacting and playing with students from other campuses. All the staff were impressed with the Character, Collaboration and Critical thinking that students demonstrated throughout the day.

Grace made her own Aboriginal Ice Humpy all the way from Falls Creek!

Langhorne Creek

On Thursday, 19th August the students from Langhorne Creek and Milang gathered at Ashbourne Campus to join in with the STEM Day. A fantastic day was had by all. The students enjoyed learning about sustainable fishing and then invented their own designs in small groups. We were also fortunate enough to make damper and build our own huts. The other activity we did was making butter from cream. The weather was perfect and we would like to thank Ashbourne for a fantastic day.

Milang

Students absolutely loved their day at Ashbourne Campus for this years’ STEM Day. Based on the Science Week theme of Food Science they learnt about making butter, sustainable fishing and how to cook damper from acacia seeds.

How The Birds Got Their Colours

The Echidnas are studying Aboriginal Dreamtime stories and identifying the lessons for living in these stories.

In the Dreamtime story, How the Birds Got their Colours, Crow was the only bird that remained black as he didn’t help Dove who had been badly injured. The other birds received colours on their feathers as they had gathered around to support Dove until he got better.

If you want to know how the birds actually got splashed with colour, you will need to read or view this great Dreaming. In the meanwhile, remember that it’s important to help others in need, just as you would like to receive help when you need it.

We hope that you like the colourful birds that we drew and decorated.

Geology Rocks in the Kangas’ class!

Friday in the Kangas’ class is Science Day! Our focus for the first half of the term has been Geology and we have been learning how the earth’s surface has been shaped over time and is continually changing. We have been introduced to igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks and have discussed how the characteristics of rocks can help us determine what type of rock they are. The amazing thing about rocks is that they are always evolving and this is illustrated in the Rock Cycle. The processes of erosion, weathering, heat and pressure cause changes in the rock formation and an igneous rock, for example, can become a sedimentary rock! We found a great collection of rocks and in the photos, you can see us carefully examining our rocks to see if we can find any distinctive characteristics. We were looking for clues such as the formation of crystals, evidence of layers and if the rock was crumbly or very hard.

Growth and Development

Langhorne Creek

On Monday, we went to the 7-12 campus with other year 6 students from Milang. We did Growth and Development in the morning and then we had a PE lesson with Mr Blair, an orientation talk with Mrs Haylock, and an Agricultural lesson with Mrs Halling and then a tour where we met other teachers and SSOs. It was a really fun day and it was great to have a good look around the school. We are looking forward to our next transition in Week 10. - Taylor

Milang

Year 6 students joined Langhorne Creek Year 6s for a day at the Strathalbyn 7-12 Campus. This was to participate in a Growth and Development session as part of their Health Curriculum. They also got to participate in a PE lesson with Mr Blair and learn about the Agriculture Program. The Wellbeing Leader Ely took them for a lesson to support them with transition and knowing where to go around the campus. They also got to tour the fabulous robotics and technology rooms.

Learning to cook with Mrs Cook!

In Junior Primary Health with Mrs Cook we have been learning about how to prepare and cook fruit and vegetables. So far this term we have made fruit baskets from oranges and apples, soup and roast vegetables. Students have been learning how to peel and cut and of course enjoy the tasting afterwards!

Basketball

On Friday afternoons students have been enjoying some basketball coaching through the Sporting Schools programme and learning some new skills. So far we have had some great weather.

Sports Day Run Offs

We are in full preparation for our upcoming Sports Day!

All students in Years 3-6 gave it their all for a spot in the Sprints, Whole School Relay and as a Reserve.

Congratulations to everyone who participated, there were excellent displays of Character from all.

Poetry in Room 11

In Room 11 we have been looking at poetry, specifically free verse, and rhyme poems. Today we looked at onomatopoeia (words that spell out sounds, for example, “splash”, “bang” etc.). The students have been working really hard and have been writing amazing poems that include a lot of verbs, adjectives, different creatures, and are incredibly creative. They were asked to write at least two lines for a poem, it could be free verse or a rhyme poem, and come up with two different onomatopoeic words in their poems. The students could choose to write their poems about elephants, monkeys, or penguins. Here are six examples from the students:

Animal Study in Room 14

Room 14 students have been researching animals. They have learned to take notes and are now engaged in writing information reports from their notes. They are very enthusiastic and doing a great job!

Olympic Fever!

Langhorne Creek

During the Olympics, we did some research about different tourist attractions in Japan. We chose one and then drew it with the Australian mascot, the Boxing Kangaroo, visiting the particular attraction. They turned out really well and it was a fun art lesson. - Mack

Strathalbyn

In Weeks 1, 2 and 3 Rooms 26, 27 and 28 got into OLYMPIC FEVER!

During this time we saw students Collaborating together, Communicating positively and showing strength of Character to get the job done. On Friday, 6th of August we held our Year 2 Olympics. We had to make a few adjustments because of the weather but all in all it was a great day. We started with an Opening Ceremony to show off the mascots and uniforms and we sang the Australian Anthem. We then listened to the Olympic Oath and agreed to it. The students then competed in a range of traditional and non-traditional events. All students showed great Sportsmanship and had a lot of fun.

100 Days at School

The Reception Classes celebrated 100 Days of School on the second Friday of Term 3. The children had been recording the number of days they had been at school each morning using a tens frame to record this information. They really enjoyed being involved in the count down and became quite excited for our 100 Day celebration. We have even continued counting our days of school and are already up to 121.

On the 100th day the children had an opportunity to take a photo with our ‘Photo Booth’ holding up a sign and using props to celebrate this great milestone. Room 20, 30 and 31 moved around to each class in groups and participated in 100 Days celebration activities including making a crown, using 100 Planks to create something, creating a picture using the numerals of 1 0 0. The children also got to make a 100 Days Placemat where they collected ten of each food treats for their placemat which they were able to later eat! They collect 10 m&m’s, 10 Fruit Loops, 10 Nutrigrain, 10 Popcorns, 10 Skittles, 10 Choc Chips, 10 Cheerios, 10 mini marshmallows, 10 sultanas, and 10 Cheese & Bacon Balls. This was definitely a highlight for many as there were so many snacks for them to nibble on!

The children were super excited and had an amazing day celebrating!

Room 31

What a great day we had on Friday, 30th July for our 100 days at school. A little late due to lockdown but the children all had fun. Here are a few snapshots of our day. Congratulations!

A Blast from the Past 2021

On Wednesday in Week 4 the Year 1 classes dressed and acted as though we lived in the 1900s.

We were invited into our transformed classroom by Ms Pitt, whereby we sat in rows and used chalkboards. We started the morning with Jo (I mean the Headmistress) checking our hair, teeth, nails and shoes. As each adult entered our classroom, we stood to greet them with a curtsy and a tip of one’s hat. Through role play, we discussed how we arrived at school and what jobs our parents may have. There was much excitement to hear of Ms McInnes’ adventures on her way to school.

Miss Nikita taught us how to dance, this was one of our favourite activities. Outside we participated in a range of activities: using the wash board to wash clothes with a bar of soap, marbles, balancing a book on our heads, pins, hoop and stick, hopscotch, threading (like we were sewing) and ring toss.

After lunch we made butter in a jar with marbles. We kept shaking the jars until we formed butter. We sampled the butter on some homemade bread.

Mr F, equipped with his glorious top hat took us for Physical Education. We enjoyed skipping, particularly when Ms Pitt joined in. In teams, we had egg and spoon relays.

Ms Pitt thought we did a great job of being in character all day. What a fun day!

7-12 and R-6 Buddies – Inclusive Education

Every fortnight during Term 2 and 3 this year Room 20 have teamed up with Room 29 from the Strathalbyn R-6 campus for fun activities. During our regular Friday afternoon meet ups we either visit the primary school, or they come to us at the 7-12 campus. This has been a great opportunity for Room 20 students to develop their personal and social skills as well as mentoring skills. We have undertaken different activities including pizza making, shared reading, games and nature play. This has been a great experience for all students and one we plan on continuing in the future.

R U OK Day?

R U OK? Day, Thursday, 9th September was national day of action to remind everyone that every day is the day to ask your friends and family if they are ok. It is an important time for us to reflect on our wellbeing and the wellbeing of our family and friends. We all have struggles and we need to support each other and check in to make sure no one is going through the hard times alone. We at Ashbourne are teaching our students the importance of looking out for their family and friends and making time to listen and talk.

Book Week Celebrations

Ashbourne

On Tuesday, 24th August the Ashbourne students enjoyed the book week parade. This year’s theme was Old Worlds, New worlds, Other Worlds. It was lovely to see the students dressed up and enjoying talking about their favourite books and book characters. We had Princess Perfect, Dog Man, Ninja kid, Hermione, Pippi Longstockings, a fireman, policeman, ambulance officer, a dragon, a skeleton, The Gruffolo and a whole lot more.

Langhorne Creek

On Monday, 23rd August we held a Dress Up Parade at the campus, our visiting parents and grandparents enjoyed the many costumes that the students dressed up in. Many thanks to the parents who made the effort to support the students and make this such a colourful and imaginative parade.

The students spent the day in groups working with staff members on a story from the Children’s Book Council Shortlisted Books. They read the stories and followed with an activity relating to the book. There was Captain Cook hat making, feathered head dresses, Magoo the dog biscuit decorating, indigenous painting as well as other fantastic activities.

The day was lots of fun, with students working beautifully together in groups, and everyone went home happy and exhausted.

Milang

Our Book week activities were enjoyed by all the students who participated in three book themed activities. We were also visited by Author Jane Jolly and Illustrator Sally Heinrich. There were lots of great costumes which featured in this week’s Argus.

Strathalbyn

This year’s Book Week theme was Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds, which certainly gave great scope for dressing up on Parade day!

Our Book Week Parade was once again an outstanding success and we CAN beat COVID with a bit of lateral thinking, as parents lined the paths to watch the parade weave its way up out of the school, along the footpath and back in to the bus bay. So successful that some have suggested we do it this way every year so everyone can get a good look at the kids in the costumes.

Huge thankyous once again to parents who supported their kids with the dress ups.

Now…how are the Premier’s Reading Challenges going? Don’t forget to get your paperwork into your class teacher to be signed and sent off.

Jane Jolly Visit

We were very lucky to have author Jane Jolly come and read some of her books to both classes on Wednesday, 8th September. Jane is a local author as well as being a teacher at the Strathalbyn R-6 Campus. Jane read her newest book Star of Anise to the students and explained how she developed her story idea and how the illustrations were created. Jane also read One Step at a Time to the Acacia class and Limpopo Lullaby to the Hakea class, the children were very interested to hear where Jane got her ideas for the stories from real life world events. Jane does a great deal of research to ensure the books are accurate in retelling events and facts in her fiction stories.

Sally Heinrich Visiting Author

Ashbourne

Students in the Hakea class have been creating their own books and comics. They have even been making them at home and bringing them in to share. This has correlated beautifully with a visit from esteemed author Sally Heinrich on Friday. The students were excited to learn the process for illustrating a book and even got to see some of the original drawings from Papa Sky and the Lino prints from One Step at a Time.

Strathalbyn

Our visiting author/illustrator Sally Heinrich gave presentations to all classes and all campuses and was eagerly received. Classes loved her drawings, in which they directed Sally on what shape to use for the characters. A lot of fun and a lot of laughs in this part of the session.

Room 30 Bush School Visit

In Week 7 we had Room 30 from the Strathalbyn Campus visit us to participate in Bush School. Our students did an incredible job of teaching what they have learnt to the visiting students. We showed them how to make damper around the fire, nature painting and taught them some sensory awareness games. The visitors actively participated in philosophy circle and sit spot. We finished the day with a hilarious game of deer and cougar.

Mark Koolmatrie Visit on Bush Day

On Tuesday, 7th September Mark Koolmatrie a proud Ngarrindjeri man visited Ashbourne campus again. He welcomed us to country around the camp fire in the scrub by performing a traditional smoking ceremony. This ceremony wards off bad spirits and his message stick was passed around the welcome circle as everyone said their appreciation. Mark brought with him his family stick. He shared with us his families story as it has been painted on his stick. He asked our students to close their eyes and visualise their stick. Everyone went off to hunt for their stick to bring back to our campfire circle. As the students sanded their sticks back ready to paint, Mark yarned with us and shared some dreaming stories of the Blue Wren. We will continue to work on our sticks, and will begin painting them next week. We look forward to proudly sharing our sticks and our stories at our Week 5 assembly in Term 4 when Mark next visits us.

Animal Classifications with the Crocodiles

The Echidnas have been learning about animal classification. We gathered information about crocodiles and tabled this information.

Then we drew crocodiles. Some are cute and some look mean! We hope that you will enjoy our variety of crocs who are uniquely drawn.

Michael Roeger - Home Grown Hero

Michael Roeger’s amazing journey began on the 14th May 1988 when he was born in Adelaide. He grew up in Langhorne Creek and attended Langhorne Creek Primary School, as it was known then, from 1993 in Reception to 1999 in Year 6.

Michael Roeger was born with no hand or lower arm. This did not impact on his determination to succeed. He trained for years until he went to the 2008 Paralympics. He returned to Australia with no medals but was adamant to work harder and be successful. In 2012 Michael was one of the Australian top medal hopes but on the night before the men’s 800m T46 Michael was struck down by gastrointestinal bleeding. He pushed on, determined to make his family and friends proud but was forced to drop out of the race after just one lap of the London Stadium. In 2016, he won a bronze medal at the Rio Paralympics.

We all wished him luck at this year’s summer Paralympics when he came 6th. Unfortunately, Michael had a leg injury prior to the Olympics that hindered his preparation. He didn’t use this as an excuse and hopes he will be back to win a medal at the next Olympics. We sent Michael messages and he sent us a video back we were very grateful that he took the time to reply to us. We wish him luck for the next Paris Paralympics.

Good luck Michael Roeger! - Ella

Messages to Michael:

Great job Michael in your race, our town is all very proud of you and can’t wait for you to come back to The Creek soon for a visit. - Charli

Good job Michael, you did amazing, we are so proud of you. - Molly

Amazing job Michael, we all cheered you on as you finished. - Rachael

Well done Michael. - Braden

Great job Michael, you did great, we are all so proud of you! - Emma

Good job Michael you did so good. - Ollie

We are so proud of you Michael! You did a great job! - Gemma

Woolworths Land Care Grant

We have now planted over 50 native bush tucker plants around the school using the $1000 grant. Students have researched each plant, photographed it and located it on a mud map of the school. This will be made into a non-fiction book for our Library. We have purchased 5 new garden beds and soil which will be planted very soon. Watch this space!

Wear It Purple Day

We are excited this year to celebrate Wear it Purple Day. This is an opportunity to celebrate, support and create a safe community for young people and families and to open the conversation about identity, inclusion and diversity.

Principles of this day are to:

• Engage in age appropriate conversation with students around identity and difference
• Advocate and empower young people in our school community
• Celebrate and promote diversity and inclusion
• Raise awareness about gender identity and damaging social cultures
• Champion role models to support young people establish confidence to be who they are
• Supporting departmental and State Government commitments of education in the area of gender, acceptance, diversity and anti-bullying

The Strathalbyn R-6 Campus will celebrate this event on Friday the 24th of September and students are invited to wear purple, or a splash of purple to support this event.

On Safari with Room 12!

Here are some recounts written by Room 12 children.....

Yesterday, we went to Monarto. We went with Room 13 and I was in Mrs Thomas’ group. We went because we are researching animals in science. We went by bus. The first thing we did was to have our recess. I played chasey on the grass where there were heaps of emu poo. Next, we went on the bus tour where we saw lions, cheetahs, African Painted dogs, hyenas, giraffes, zebra, rhinoceroses, bison, deer and ostriches. My favourite was the cheetahs. I learned that the cheetah is the fastest land animal with four legs. After the bus tour, we had lunch. My dad packed me a yummy cheese sandwich. We played more chasey. After lunch, our group went on an exploring walk with John. I said that hearing sounds was one way to see what animals lived in that habitat. We saw three nests, two magpies and one small bird. We also saw a galah which was living in a hollow tree. Then we went to see the chimpanzees. The baby wanted the blanket, so he slapped his arm on the blanket. It was very funny. The day was very fun. – Matthew

On Tuesday our class and Room 13 went on an excursion to Monarto Safari Park at 9:15am. I was in Mr Simpson’s group with Elli and some other people. First, we went on a walk to find animal trails and animal homes. Then we found some holes and hollow rooted trees that are great homes for natural animals like snakes and lizards. Then we had lunch I had a wrap for lunch. After lunch we went on the bus and the first thing we saw was wild horses. Then we saw bison and deer. They were in the same enclosure. Then we saw other animals. Then we got off the bus and on our way back to get our bags we saw the meerkats and Mr Simpson took photos of our group and at the rhino. Lastly, we packed our bags and left. – Miah

Performing Arts Update

An update on all things Performing Arts!

At the end of Term 2, we gave you an update on how hard our Performing Arts Group had been working in preparation for a performance in Term 3, and ever since then, their dedication and willingness to try new things has not dwindled! Since then we have had dance workshops, recess and lunch time dance sessions, spent time creating props, singing, and practicing scripts all while trying to navigate the busy term that Term 3 is. Throughout all the difficulties with regulations on singing, camps, sickness and an approaching deadline, our students have continued to go above and beyond, week by week.

Performing Arts Group T-shirts

Each year, members of our Performing Arts Group are given a shirt to represent the time and effort that they have put into our group. This year our shirt has been designed by our ACEO Shaan Broadbent. Within her design, she has shown two contrasting skies – one during the day, and the other during night, as well as incorporating our local hills and rivers into the design. We are so lucky to have not only such a skilled talent as we have in Shaan, but to have our own design. Thank you Shaan!

Senior Rockers

This term has also seen our Senior Rockers working above and beyond our expectations to rehearse and show their incredible skill. With a range of instruments from Guitars, Bass guitars, Xylophones, Recorders, Drums and Keyboards, singers and more, students have been working on an arrangement of “Firework” by Katy Perry.

Welcome to the Starbooks Café!

As a part of our Book Week celebrations, Room 9 were guests to Starbooks Cafe. They enjoyed 'tasting' 6 genres of books from our library, whilst sipping on juice boxes and eating some yummy snacks. Students were reading genres they had never read before and now have some books they can't wait to borrow.

My favourite part was reading books I wouldn't choose in the library. - Leia

I liked reading lots of different genres of books. - Jack

My favourite part was eating the lollies. - Brock

My favourite genre was 'hot historical fiction'. - Nate

I got to read all types of books. - Jayden

I loved finding new types of books I can read. - Tabatha

Room 1 Illawonga Camp

Room 1 had a great time on camp this term! Especially loving the river boat ride and cave exploration. Some of us had never been on the river before so it was all very exciting. We learnt about the river and the animals that live in river environments and we got to catch some rays of sunshine on our faces as we drifted down the river, it was a great experience. Whilst we may not have had much sleep, we had a wonderful time and will remember it for years to come. We are so grateful to our amazing parent helpers and our beautiful Heidi for stepping in and camping with us.

Room 20 PACA

The children in Room 20 love our PACA (Play and Creative Activity) time.

The children were working on water colour painting, dominoes, Mobilo and building with Duplo.

We have been focusing on using our Six Global Competencies whilst enjoying our play. We are learning about Creativity and Collaboration in this PACA session.

A Visit from a Paralympian

On Thursday, 21st October our class was incredibly lucky to have a visit from dual Paralympian Tom O'Neill - Thorne. Tom spoke to us about his journey through all levels of sport and his experiences at World Cups and Olympics.

Tom took us for a basketball session in the gym and showed us some of the major differences between wheelchair basketball and the able bodied game. Tom has won a World Championship in South Korea and a bronze in German representing Australia. He spent 4 years living and playing basketball in Spain and absolutely loved taking the time to speak to our class.

Our resident wheelchair basketballer Alex was lucky enough to have an extra shoot around and score some tips from Tom who has been called the future of Australian Wheelchair basketball.

We can’t thank Tom and Casey enough for taking time out of their busy schedules to come and meet us, this is an experience we will remember forever.

Spring Concert and Art Exhibition

Last week of Term 3 we had our annual Spring Concert and Art Exhibition. It was well attended by all families who enjoyed watching each class do their bush dances, our ukulele ensemble, choir performance and the story of Ned Kelly and the Royal Commission. Students were also able to show their families the range of art work they have completed this year. Thanks to all the staff at Milang and music teacher Natalie Baker for their tremendous effort putting it all together, it was a brilliant night!

Following the Concert and Art Exhibition students wrote about their experiences.

When I arrived at the hall I felt really nervous and excited. I saw a lot of kids running around. I heard people talk about how excited they were. I smelt nothing. When it started I was so excited I went up on stage to get my costume on for the play (Ned Kelly and the Royal Commission). When I got up on stage I did my lines and after I was so happy I had done it. I was Ma Skillion, Ned Kelly’s sister and I had four lines I had to remember but I ended up knowing all the lines in the play. Then we did choir and I was even more scared for that. I went up on stage and I saw everyone looking at us I almost couldn’t do it but I did it and when I was done I was so relieved I had done it. At the end of the concert we went to the Art Exhibition. Then I said goodbye to all my friends and I went home. I am so grateful I did everything I had practiced. - Opal

My favourite dance was the Junior Primary dinosaurs. My second favourite was the magic show. - Dylan

When I arrived at the Institute I felt upbeat. I was the narrator and I remembered my lines. I am really grateful I could take my aunt to the Art Exhibition. - Timothy

After the concert my Mum dropped off Lydia and went home and had dinner. I had noodles and Milo and got ready for bed and went to sleep. - Carly

I am grateful that my Mum, Nan and Dadda (Grandpa) got to come. - Alea

After the concert I went to the Art exhibition. After the Art Exhibition I went home. - Troy

I was so happy after the Spring Concert that I could take my family to the Art Exhibition and my family was impressed with my Art Work. I was really grateful that my Dad and Mum could come. - Kaiden

I am very grateful my baby sister, Winter could come. Her favourite act was my class bush dance. - Erin

When I arrived at the hall I felt excited I saw so many people and there were so many people talking. My favourite things were the Ned Kelly play. And Dinosaur dance because it made me laugh. After the Spring Concert I had dinner and went to bed. I’m grateful for the Spring Concert. - Seth

When I arrived at the hall I felt excited. I was Jesse in the play. She is a police person. I had to remember the words. After I took my family to the Art Exhibition. I am grateful that my mum came. - Amity

After I showed my parents my art work. Then I went outside of the Institute and had a run around. I am grateful my family could come to the Spring Concert and Art Exhibition. - Dakota

I am grateful we didn’t video it and families could come and see kids enjoy themselves. - Natasha

Strath R-6 Sports Day – Friday, 17th September 2021

In Term 3 we held our annual Strathalbyn R-6 Campus Sports Day. The weather turned on a fantastic day for us which was thoroughly enjoyed by students and parents. We were extremely disappointed parents were unable to attend for a second consecutive year, but are extremely hopeful for some normality next year.

The day began in traditional fashion with some boisterous war cries and warm up health hustle. It’s always a great sight when the whole campus is participating and the events throughout the day lived up to the hype. The tabloid events were again run by our fantastic Year 10 Fit to Lead students. I would like to say a massive thankyou to Mark Nielsen and Anne Merritt for their assistance in making this happen. The after lunch program consisted of Tug of War, Whole School Relay and the hotly contested sprints. I might also mention the teachers continued their dominance of the Teachers, SSO and Students race.

The final standings were:

Congratulations to Dawson!

I would like to say a massive thankyou to Zara Lewis and Donna Prusa for their amazing support setting up the Junior Primary events and running the Whole School Relay.

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