Thank you to everyone who took the time to read such a long newsletter last week. I have had some wonderful feedback about some of the discussions we presented and I look forward to exploring these concepts further throughout the year. 

Year 5 / 6 Camp

Our students have participated in activities at an Adventure Camp this week called Action Challenge. It is located south of Mackay. They have camped in tents they had to erect and they have enjoyed many challenges including low ropes, flying fox, rafting and the Leap of Faith. For many students this is the first time they have been away from their families so that can be a challenge within itself. School camps are such a valuable experience for students where they can learn things about themselves they never realised and they can learn things about each other which can provide meaningful opportunities for bonding and relationship building. 

Science week

This week we have celebrated National Science week with the theme, ‘The Deep Blue’. Our Learning and Teaching Advisor, Aleesha Rockemer has coordinated with Louise Costanzo, our CSIRO Scientist in School to set up a fabulous Science Centre in the Year 5 & 6 classrooms while they were away. The students have had the opportunity to engage in activities that had them sorting animals that live in the ocean and animals that don’t. They have been able to identify the varying colours of the different depths of the ocean, they have observed what jellyfish look like and had an array or coral and shells to compare and analyse, even using some microscopes to identify very small details. The students learnt about SCUBA diving and had a fishing activity. We think that the success of this week’s activities will lead to us having a Science Centre every year for Science Week so the students can more deeply engage with the theme.