A MESSAGE FROM OUR DEPUTY PRINCIPAL FOR UPPER PRIMARY
Year 6 Enrichment – Brisbane Online Writers
Six of our Year 6 students recently completed the Brisbane Online Writers course in their own time — an impressive commitment that reflects their dedication and passion for writing. The course focused on journalistic-style writing, offering students the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and creativity.
We’re thrilled to announce that three of our students — Quinn C, Ada, and Eden — have been selected to attend a week-long writers’ camp in August held at the Brisbane Ekka. Congratulations to all participants and especially to our successful students. This is a fantastic achievement and a well-deserved recognition of your talent, effort and perseverance. We are very proud of you! Thankyou to our teachers and teacher-aides also for their expertise in developing our talented students.
Year 5 Students Striking Gold with Colonial History!
What a vibrant and inspiring few weeks it has been for our Year 5 students as they’ve dived deep into their unit on Colonial Australia with a special focus on the fascinating Gold Rush era! With great enthusiasm and curiosity, students have been exploring how the gold rush shaped early Australia and changed the lives of individuals and communities forever.
In both their History and English lessons, students have taken on the role of young historians—posing insightful questions, researching from a variety of sources, and thoughtfully sequencing events to paint a clear picture of this significant period in Australia’s past. This rich inquiry learning has culminated in the writing of information reports, where students have demonstrated their growing skills in researching, organising and presenting information about early Australia. I have had the pleasure of reading some of these reports and I must say, what an impressive standard of work! The depth of understanding, clear and concise structure and expression of their ideas and concepts in the reports is a real credit to the students and our dedicated Year 5 teaching team.
A definite highlight of the unit was the Cairns Museum incursion last week, which brought history to life in the most exciting way. The team from the Cairns Museum set up a mock goldfield camp, complete with a mock campfire, shared lively and engaging stories from the gold rush days in Far North Queensland and even gave students the opportunity to try their luck at panning for gold. There was so much excitement and energy in the sessions and it was a delight to see our students so deeply immersed and eager to learn through hands-on experiences.
This integrated learning unit has not only developed important academic skills but also sparked a genuine love of history and a deeper appreciation of Australia's early colonial past. Well done to all of our Year 5 students and teachers for making this such a rich and rewarding learning journey!





Looking Ahead – Student Leadership 2025
As we look to the future, we’re excited to announce that next term we will begin the Student Leadership process for 2025. This is a special tradition at our school and an important opportunity for students to step forward and demonstrate the leadership qualities they have been developing over the past six years.
Students will be invited to nominate for formal leadership positions and will be guided through a process that encourages them to reflect on what it truly means to be a leader—both in action and attitude. While not every student may take on an official leadership role, every student has the opportunity to lead by example, model our school’s high standards, and contribute positively to our school community.
This process also complements our Year 5 HASS unit on democracy where students are learning about the values and principles that underpin decision-making in our school, our community and across the nation. It’s a wonderful way for students to see democratic values in action and understand how their voice can make a difference.
We’re very much looking forward to seeing many students express interest, get involved and show us just what fantastic young leaders they are becoming.
Assessment and Reporting
Over the past two weeks students have also been completing their end-of-semester assessments and they should be commended for their focus, persistence and positive attitude during this time. Our teaching team is incredibly proud of the growth and progress our students have shown across Year 4, Year 5, and Year 6. It’s a real joy to see their hard work reflected in their learning outcomes.
We’re now preparing report cards, and teachers are looking forward to sharing your child’s progress with you. This semester, the Department of Education has introduced a standardised criteria for reporting on both behaviour and effort across all Queensland schools. This ensures greater clarity and consistency for parents and students and provides a shared understanding across classes and year levels. We hope this helps support valuable conversations at home about learning, effort and growth.
Athletics Carnival – Next Week!
We’re also gearing up for one of the most anticipated events of the school year—our Yr 3-6 Athletics Carnival, taking place Friday. Students have been actively involved in trials and preparations and the excitement is certainly building. A big thank you goes to our wonderful PE teacher, Mrs Knight who has once again done a fantastic job organising the day and preparing the students. Thanks too, to our teachers and teacher-aides who supervise all the trials on the oval on Friday afternoons over the past three weeks.
To ensure your child has a successful and enjoyable day, please make sure they bring the following labelled items:
- A school hat
- Sunscreen
- A water bottle
- Their lunch (if not ordering from the tuckshop)
We’re really looking forward to a fun, energetic day filled with school spirit. The Athletics Carnival is always a wonderful community event and we love seeing so many of our parents coming along to cheer, support and share in their child’s sporting experiences.
Have a great week.
Kind regards,