Dear CNPS families,

Semester 1 – done and dusted!  Student reports should be available in Sentral this afternoon, and students will have Learning Journals in their bags today (if not already sent home this week).  Can I please request, that the journals are kept in a safe location over the holidays – teachers and students spend many hours on these learning samples, and they make a great keepsake for years to come.  Please make some time to share your child’s journal over the holidays, and return to school in the first days of Term 3.

Some parents were lucky to witness the fabulous Grade 1 and 2 Weather Reports yesterday afternoon (with a recording available for those who couldn’t make it).  They were the cutest weather presenters I have ever seen, and the student-made maps of Australia were delightful!  Well done to the Grade 1/2 teachers, for facilitating this rich learning sequence. 

THANK YOU… 

• To the Bendigo Braves (via Cass, from the women’s team), for a donation of some basketballs in very good condition – very exciting addition to our playground equipment!

• To Nicole Turner, who donated the lovely plantings (and also for planting them!) in the garden bed near the Silver Banksia building.

• To Carys and friends, for spending some of their lunchtimes raking the last of the leaves.  Our entrances and paths look much nicer!

Hello from the Prep rooms!  

What an amazing first semester we have had full of bravery, curiosity and growth from every student.  We have sent your child’s learning journal home today, and we hope you enjoy going through them with your child and celebrating their achievements so far this year.   

The highlight of the week was Milo’s Birthday Party, an event we had all been eagerly anticipating!  We were impressed with the effort that everyone put into dressing up as one of Milo’s friends.  We were also proud of the bravery students showed when standing up and telling everyone at assembly the character they dressed up as. During the day we enjoyed going on a character hunt around the school, playing party games such as pass-the-parcel, musical chairs and bobs and statues and then sharing the amazing assortment of party food together, especially the yummy birthday cake. We thank you for supporting this memorable and fun event for the students.   

Next term, we are focusing on the Big Question “How and why do people celebrate?”  We look forward to hearing about the different ways your family celebrate special events in your family’s life.  If you have a unique way that you, a family member or friend could share with the class to add to this question, we would greatly appreciate your input. 

We hope you all have a safe and relaxing holiday with your family and look forward to seeing everyone back next term.  

Lauren and Nicole 

Art news

We have finished the term on a high with grades 3/4 visiting the Castlemaine Art Museum on Tuesday. Students had the opportunity to explore downstairs in the museum, learning about Castlemaine’s history as well as being guided by two volunteers upstairs in the ‘Stoneworks’ exhibition. Thank you to Bree Carr, Lindy Alexander and Nicole Turner for volunteering your time and thank you to Ash, Beck and Nicci for coming along too.

Grades 5/6 J and 5/6 HG participated in a live online lesson with the National Portrait Gallery in celebration of NADOC Week which starts next week. Presenting to the students was April Phillips, Wiradjuri-Scottish educator with ancestry from the Galari/Kalari peoples of regional NSW. April discussed the importance of NADOC Week and this year’s theme, ‘Keep the Fire Burning, Blak, Loud and Proud’. Students were shown some of the portraits of First Nations people from the gallery and participated in a little drawing activity.

If you are staying in town these holidays and are looking for an activity there is a great exhibition on at the Castlemaine Art Museum. The exhibition is designed for children aged 4-11 and includes sense-based installations that draw on touch, sound, vision, smell and taste to create an environment that is fun, engaging and activates children’s curiosity while connecting them to strategies and techniques that support resilience and wellbeing. It includes a variety of materials for play and is a space that children can spend time to explore their senses, feelings, thoughts, worries and hopes.

‘The Children’s Sensorium’ opens June 27th to August the 4th at Castlemaine Art Museum.