Dear Families,

Thank you to the many families who came into school on Tuesday afternoon for open classrooms and a check in with their child’s teacher. The afternoon was a busy one and also gave families the chance to try out some sports activities in the school gym, have afternoon tea in the school hall and to attend our Book Fair in the school library.  Progress Reports were given out for students to provide an update on how their classroom learning is progressing and their work habits.  If you couldn’t get in to open afternoon, then your child’s progress report will be sent home with them this week.  

With our focus on reading, the Book Fair has provided lots of opportunities this week for students to look at different types of books and to think about how important stories and information texts are to them.  So many students were keen to share which books they like to read and to share what their favourite books are about. Thanks to Nicole our Library Tech who also had the library open before and after school and until 7pm on Wednesday night for Book Fair. 

Our Year 6 classes have been enjoying going to Brighton High on a Thursday afternoon to find out more about the learning spaces and opportunities that are provided in a high school environment. These excursions are the start of their transition experience to support them to feel comfortable at high school, to know some key faces on staff for next year and to familiarise themselves with the school layout. Students have returned to school sharing that they have appreciated being able to visit the high school with their own class and their own teacher going with them. They have also shared that making pizza on their visit was a big bonus!

A reminder that our Year 3- 6 Swimming Trials are on next Friday 19^th September at the Clarence Aquatic Centre. Students who are in trials will have received a letter for home. If you are unsure if your child will be attending, please call the School Office or contact their child’s class teacher.

Over the next week Mr Slade, as head of Positive Behaviour Support at our school, will be holding celebrations with students who have collected enough Golden Tickets this year to earn a Bronze, Silver or Gold Certificate. There are many students who have shown our values consistently and who will be coming along to these celebrations. We look forward to sharing the names of all these students in our next newsletter.

Sonya Plunkett-Smith

Principal

Students are supervised between 8:30am and 2:50pm each day, Monday - Friday.

Selected students from Grade 3-4s took part in the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee contest in August 2025. Students were given 30 words to spell and every child did a wonderful job spelling out a range of words with different spelling patterns. Students were to spell words on a laptop with headphones on and had to type out the spelling. It was amazing to see all selected students give it a go.

The following students took part in the competition:

3/4 Brimblecombe:  Bonnie C, Nora S, Patrick D (Class Champion) and Tomek O

3-4 Iyer:  Braxton S, Cassie M, Ella T, Lily R and Josh W (Class Champion)

3/4 Mika:  Brodyn T, Ethan T, Ivy P (Class Champion), Maxwell G, Nikyah C and Saxon D 

Josh W from 3-4 Iyer and Patrick D from 3-4 Brimblecombe were successful going to the next level, which is the statewide competition, held between September 1^st to September 5^th, 2025.

Rakhee Iyer

Grade 3-4 Teacher

In Grade 3-4 Iyer, we have been reading and analysing the novel ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ by Michael Morpurgo. The story leads us to Kenuske’s cave (read the book if you want to know more!!) and as a class we created our artists’ impressions of Kensuke’s cave based on the description provided by the author. I read the piece of description as the students drew line by line. It was lovely to see the students use their imagination and create art pieces to match the description of the cave as written by the author.

Rakhee Iyer

Grade 3-4 Teacher

In Kinder Lee this term we have been exploring living things and what they need to survive and thrive. We have been visited by Hudson B’s guinea pig, Clyde and then visited again by some baby guinea pigs after Clyde became a dad! We have been able to see that living things grow and change, need food, water and air to survive and that living things move on their own.

You may have noticed some changes in the way we’re teaching reading in our school. These changes are part of a statewide commitment to ensure every student develops strong reading skills that will support them throughout school and beyond.

Learning to read is a skill that must be taught—it's not something we’re born knowing how to do. That’s why our teachers are using high-quality, evidence-based strategies to help every child become a confident reader.

Our students are learning to read through structured and explicit literacy teaching. This means they are building foundational literacy skills step by step, with each new skill reinforcing the last. This approach helps students grow into capable, independent readers.

In upcoming newsletters, we will share the learning that is already happening in our classrooms through Oral Language, UFLI, Word Origins and Fluency.

We’re proud to be part of this statewide effort to provide structured literacy lessons that are proven to work. Thank you for your ongoing support as we help every student succeed.

Cariss Rollins

Instructional Specialist

Dates to Remember