As we draw towards the end of a busy first term, it is a perfect time to reflect on what we have achieved at school already this year. 

I've watched our new kindergarten children form friendships not only with each other, but with the older children in the school as well. I've watched some of our senior students show extreme compassion and kindness towards their younger peers, taking them under their wings and helping them build skills and confidence; in the playground and in the classroom. 

I've seen children who have never really used a skipping rope before perform tricks and little routines they have quickly learnt through lessons with the highly capable Mrs Parker. Not only has she taught these skills during PE lessons and lunch breaks, but she has been here early and left late almost every day she's been here, purely to turn ropes and pass on her expertise to our Bobs Farm children. Watching the excitement and sense of achievement on those little faces is one of the real highlights of my term so far. I cannot believe that I have been watching students of all ages doing roundoff cartwheels into a spinning rope, then keep skipping without missing a beat, and seeing children do Double Dutch with smiles almost as big as the ropes themselves! Such a delight! Talk about fun and fitness! 

In the classroom is where some really dynamic things have been occuring though. I've been visited by several kindergarten students this week who have ticked off their first learning goals; things like writing the numbers 1-10 or their names with a capital and lower case letters; things they couldn't do when they arrived here a few weeks ago. I've seen older children achieve their goals as well, such as learning to write in cursive handwriting, keeping accurate slope, size and shape of their letters, writing sentences with interesting adjectives, or even learning what the beat, dynamics and melody are in a piece of music. I've seen children learning how, in Aboriginal culture, we can determine a lot about the weather from the signs we see in nature, such as what is in bloom, and the animals we see. So many fascinating topics to explore at school!

Year 3 and 5 students have endured the odd technical difficulty to complete their NAPLAN assessments in writing, reading, conventions of language (grammar, punctuation and spelling) and numeracy. The children should be proud of how they applied themselves and gave it their best shot. That's all any of us can ever ask for. 

We're looking forward to celebrating some fun days to finish off the term, including our annual Easter picnic, culture session with Uncle Leigh and Renee, World Autism Awareness Day and even a special birthday for one of our staff. 🥳

Enjoy the end of term, everyone, and have a safe and happy holiday. 

Mrs B