Welcome back and we hope you had a fantastic break filled with joy and relaxation. As we start the new term, we are thrilled to welcome two new learners and Ms Sonali to our Nursery community. We are excited to embark on this learning journey together.

In Nursery, our curious and happy children have enthusiastically explored the learning space, eagerly delving into its many wonders. They have been busy exploring the concept of measurement and capacity through hands-on activities, getting their hands wet and their minds engaged. From comparing sizes to estimating lengths, their enthusiasm for learning knows no bounds. Phonics remains a cornerstone of our daily routine. Through engaging activities such as singing along to nursery rhymes, making voice sound patterns and listening games, the children are mastering phonetic sounds, paving the way for future reading success.

But that is not all - our learners have also taken on the responsibility of caring for our newest classroom members: our class snails! From building habitats to feeding and observing their behaviours, our learners have been fully immersed in this hands-on experience as part of our unit of inquiry, ‘Sharing the Planet’. It's been heartwarming to see their compassion and curiosity shine as they learn to nurture and understand these fascinating creatures.

As we embrace the start of this new term, we will continue to foster a spirit of curiosity, joy, and community. Here is to a term filled with endless possibilities and exciting adventures ahead.

It was wonderful to welcome our learners back to school to start off the last term of the school year, this year is going too quickly!  The children came back ready and excited to get back into the different groups that they connect and engage with, to get back into purposeful learning engagements both inside and outside the classroom.  

The children started the term off by sharing their Home Learning from the holidays which connects directly to our new unit of inquiry on Journeys.  The learners were asked to bring in any tickets, brochures, maps, or postcards that they may have collected while on holiday.  They presented their Home Learning to their classes and these items remain with us to be used as we delve into the lines of inquiry -  ‘What a journey is. The reasons for exploration, and tools we need to explore’.  We will be introducing a class bear to each class in the next few weeks, this new member of the class will have a key role in our inquiry, more on that soon!

Welcome to Term 4! We're also extending a warm welcome to the new families joining our vibrant Nexus community. It's been a wonderful beginning to the term, filled with the joy of forming new connections and reigniting friendships. We're thrilled to kick off our last term with a Unit of Inquiry that's all about celebrations, exploring the transdisciplinary theme of How we Express Ourselves the learners will inquire how "celebrations as a form of expression." Our learners will explore various celebrations, understanding their significance and the reasons behind them. This week, the learners dove into the world of celebrations through class rotations, each focusing on a different cherished celebration such as birthdays, Christmas, Deepavali, and Lunar New Year. They fully immersed themselves, gaining a revived appreciation of these occasions.

We're excited to share our learning journey with our families and showcase our achievements during this concluding term. With the excitement this term brings, we understand there may also be feelings of anxiety about the future. In the upcoming weeks, learners will engage in discussions with their homeroom teachers, expressing their curiosities about moving into Year 2. Topics such as friendships and transition days will be covered to help familiarise the learners with new environments, ensuring they feel confident and excited about what lies ahead.

Year 2 learners have jumped straight into Term 4 with enthusiasm. We introduced the How the world works unit of inquiry with a visit to the Secondary Science Mega Lab. Dr Fabio and Dr Garry led the learners through an engaging and hands-on introductory session to light. We then continued to spark the learners’ curiosity by reading Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beatty. The learners watched a short clip about a girl, a “Fairy Scientist” and became inspired to consider their passions and draw themselves as a scientist. They thought of the skills and attributes required to be a scientist. We look forward to developing these skills and attributes further as the unit progresses. 

This week Year 2 started the transition process to Year 3. We will be visiting the Year 3 hub on Level 7 every Thursday afternoon to become accustomed to the space and the movement. As the term progresses we will also visit the Level 5 cafeteria and Level 6 playdeck. The transition to Year 3 is a significant one and it is natural for learners to experience a combination of excitiment and nervousness. We are aiming to ease these nerves by visiting the Year 3 hub every week. The learners will not meet the Year 3 teachers at this time, as they have their own schedules to follow. The purpose of the visits is for the learners to familiarise themselves with the learning space. The Year 2 teachers will continue with the planned curriculum, just on Level 7 rather than Level 1.

Year 3 has hit the ground running! We are jumping into our Unit of Inquiry ‘Forces Change the Natural Environment' ready for our mini exhibition in Week 6. This will be a chance for learners to showcase their research on their chosen landform or natural phenomena. The mini exhibition is also a chance to celebrate the huge growth learners have made throughout the year, showcasing not only their research and writing skills, but also their confidence and passion for learning. 

As part of the prep work for this project, learners this week revised the forces of erosion, tectonic plates and weather/climates. Next, we will start the inquiry process by considering what they already know about their landform and what they still want to know. After that, learners will delve deeper into their project by viewing it through the Key Concepts of Form, Causation and Change. 

An Approach to Learning that we are also focusing on is Research. Learners will build in confidence and skill, navigating different online resources and books to understand their landform more deeply. 

It’s a very exciting time. Learners may also have time to build models to support their exhibition. This adds to the excitement and fun of this Unit of Inquiry!

It was a great pleasure a great pleasure to welcome our Year 4 learners back to school last week. It is difficult to believe that we are already two weeks in to our final term of this academic year. We started the term with 6 workshops in which learners explored more about specific 'simple machines'. Lots of practical experiments and design tasks were completed to investigate levers, pulleys, incline planes, gears, screws and wheels and axles. It was wonderful to see the learners' energy and enthusiasm as they applied their knowledge to practical tasks.  Now we are continuing to conduct experiments to find out more about the forces that act on simple machines. 

This term we are looking forward to the Hari Raya assembly this Friday and the Swim Fest in 4 weeks times.  We are also looking forward to our 'Care for Others Week'  during which the whole school will focus on ways to support our family members, our classmates and people in the wider community.  As the term progresses we will be participating in some transition activities to help prepare the learners for moving smoothly and confidently into their new classes in August. Alongside getting academically, socially and emotionally ready for the next step in our education, we are making the most of our time in Year 4.  Have a great term Year 4!

Welcome back to all of our learners and community. We hope you had a wonderful holiday break. Year 5 learners have come back rested, relaxed and have settled calmly into their learning routine. Term 4 is always a term of growth, progress and excitement, as the transition to Year 6 draws closer. 

Our current unit of inquiry How we Express Ourselves is providing many opportunities for learners to reflect on how they can promote awareness, using different features of persuasion. Over the last two weeks we have reflected on the 17 UN Global Goals and each learner has chosen a goal that they have a connection to or value more than others. Learners have used Pop Art as a medium for designing an image that spreads awareness and communicates their message. We are also beginning to learn about surrealism, as another way to provoke critical thinking in an imaginative way. 

Integrated with our unit of inquiry is Persuasive Writing. Year 5 learners have experienced a variety of tuning in activities that require them to choose a viewpoint and justify this with their own reasons and opinion. We will continue to focus on the different persuasive devices that writers use, to persuade others to agree with them. Some of these include repetition, exaggeration, rule of three, emotive language, modality, statistics and facts. 

Our unit of inquiry brochure was shared on seesaw this week. There are many activities that can be done at home with your child. We have also asked for any parent experts to please contact us, as your expertise would be highly valued. 

We look forward to an action packed term, filled with creativity and celebrations. 

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We are delighted to share that our new term has kicked off with great enthusiasm as we work towards our PYP exhibition. The upcoming weeks promise to be an exciting journey of exploration and learning.

We are also extremely grateful for those who were able to attend our Exhibition Kickoff on Tuesday, April 9. This event provided an excellent opportunity for everyone to gain an insight into the essence of our exhibition. Mrs. Fiona Lewis, Primary Principal, Mr. Paul Rimmer, Deputy Principal, and PYP Coordinator, alongside Karsten from Year 7, shared with us their insights and experiences to help us move forward.

Our Year 6 learners are ready to go. To support this,  we invite you to consider signing up for our Parent Expert Wall, where you can showcase your skills and passions. This will enable learners to access the wide range of expertise within our community. Your participation may result in a request for your valuable advice or input as our learners delve deeper into their inquiries.

The link to the Parent Expert Wall slide is HERE.

We look forward to working with you as we support all of the learners on their personal learning journeys.

Warm regards,

The Year 6 Team