Year 4 STEM classes with Ms Alyssa Flint on Fridays

Each Friday, Years 3 and 4 have a scheduled lesson guided by Ms Alyssa Flint. Ms Flint teaches Year 5 four days a week and her Fridays are dedicated to Years 3 and 4 STEM sessions.

To say the least, Years 3 and 4 classes love Fridays with a passion. Ms Flint delivers every session with flair, skill, passion and knowledge. This is in turn matched by students in their responses. They are heartily involved in every lesson and do not lose focus for a moment. Each student leaves the session wanting ‘more’ and counting the days until the next Friday. A hallmark of an outstanding teacher is to have the students highly engaged, enthralled and ‘wanting more’.

We trust parents have heard details about the sessions on Fridays at home. We certainly hear every detail and experience the raw enthusiasm at the conclusion of each session.

Ms Flint has a passion for Mathematics and all aspects of STEM. She is generously sharing her love of the subjects and the impact on our students is significant.

We eagerly look forward to having a dedicated STEM space in the new building. It is anticipated that this program will be extended from Prep to 6 and we cannot wait to observe our students reap the benefits and explore every opportunity available in the area of STEM.

The following comments are from just a few Year 4 students who experience a session each week.

STEM COMMENTS 4S

I love STEM because we learn new things like what is in the brain and what it does, we also play lots of fun games. I never knew that a MRI scan is the only x-ray you can get without any radiation and Miss Flint told me so now I know thanks to Miss Flint. We learnt about female scientists that have achieved amazing things throughout their lives.

Olivia Nagel (Year 4)

Every week we learn so much. We study different women scientists that did great things. It makes us think about what we can do in the future and what we can do now. I think STEM is so much fun. We are able to create things and it is a great way to finish a Friday afternoon.

Gemma Thorn (Year 4)

I enjoy STEM because we participate in a kind of creative new science. We have made our own brains and found out about female scientists and what they discovered. STEM makes my Friday.

Antonia Kallifidas (Year 4)

I really enjoyed the brain activity where we made the brain out of paper and playdough. It was really good fun to learn about the brain. I learnt the brain has different sides. I use both sides of mine.

Kenzie Forsyth (Year 4)

STEM is great. I always look forward to STEM in the afternoon. The teacher is nice and encourages me to learn. I love STEM. 

Jasmine Heritage-Nairne (Year 4)

I really like STEM because we learn a lot of new things and we are able to make things, for example: catapults.

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Every week we learn about a new female scientist. Ms Flint tells us what that scientist does and we all learn a lot. These scientists are all very interesting and Ms Flint just makes it so much fun. She can make something boring really fun.

We make lots of things and do lots of activities. We also play scientific games.

Ziqi Wang (Year 4)

STEM COMMENTS 4SB

I love how we do different things and we learn about the brain and different parts of the body. We talk about what is inside it and what it does. Making playdough brains was very cool.

Natalie Wang (Year 4)

I love it when we make things at STEM. We made a catapult and it popped everything out of a spoon. Mine did not pop out very far! We have learnt to think about STEM with these words: Imagine, Plan, Create, Improve, Present!

Xi (Selina) Yao (Year 4)

When we go to STEM, we look at women scientists who have made a big difference in the world. Mary Anning was a palaeontologist and she discovered fossils. This has helped us to learn so much about the past. She had such an interesting life.

Rafia Alqemzi (Year 4)

I love it when we make things in STEM. We have to be creative and really think about things. I often think about it later and remember it. We made catapults and I loved that because we made things fly.

Holly Jurgens (Year 4)

I liked it when Jacqui’s mother came to STEM. She did an MRI test on me once. She scanned my whole body. She talked about safety when you do scans. Jacqui’s mum probably likes STEM. My mum is a scientist too.

Emily Tulloch (Year 4)

Lunchtimes in the Barbreck Library

Each School day, the Barbreck Library, staffed by our Teacher Librarian, Mrs Victoria Baldacchino and Library Technician, Mrs Judy Hoole, is available and open for any Prep to Year 6 students who wish to spend time in the well resourced Barbreck Library. Activities in the spacious library, range from silent reading to Chess games, selected Board games and free drawing/research activities. Each lunchtime is busy and numbers attending range from 20-65.

The photograph below is just one example of students enjoying the wonderful opportunity at lunchtimes to relax and engage in reading in the Library, as another option to the playground. Mrs Judy Hoole, the Barbreck Library Tehnician snapped a candid photo of Rachel Carton (Year 4) happily reading to Prep students Anna Roosenburg and Camilla Thomas. It is always pleasing to observe students being actively engaged and enjoying literacy outside the classroom. We thank both Mrs Baldacchino and Mrs Hoole who have managed this offering over many years.

Rain or shine, lunchtime is always very busy in the Library.

Year 5 Camp

The other week, I had the unexpected pleasure and opportunity to join Year 5 students on camp. It was wonderful to witness our students wholly engaged, having such a great time along with the teachers, even in chilly conditions. It is such an important part of learning for our students. School camps are part of the holistic approach to education that encompasses; leadership, problem solving, personal development and social awareness, and physical challenge, along with putting into practice many of the skills and knowledge they learn throughout formal School programs.

The girls participated in many activities from archery and damper making and gained a sense of achievement after overcoming their nerves and taking on more daring activities, such as the flying fox and giant swing. The Year 5 students also furthered their understanding of nature through bush walks, environmental talks and opportunities interacting with native Australian animals.

The week finished on a high with all the girls coming together to play an active part in helping the environment in a tree planting activity. After an hour of planting, the girls took a moment to stand back and reflect on how they contributed and what they had achieved. This was a particularly proud and powerful moment for all the girls involved.

Dogs outside the School gates

Parents are respectfully advised that whilst we love dogs, we need to have them kept or tied up outside the entrance gates to Barbreck and Campbell House please.

Whilst we are aware that walking to school with the family dog is a positive and healthy activity, we have a number of students who are either very afraid of dogs or allergic to dog fur. A small number of parents are also similarly affected.

We have an increasing number of dogs being walked into the School grounds and on two occasions, dogs have walked (on leashes) into actual classrooms. We kindly ask parents to either say goodbye to your daughter at the School gate if you are walking the dog or if in Campbell House, please walk your son/daughter to the classroom after tying the dog to the front fence.

We fully anticipate that all families will appreciate the need for this request.