Primary News

The term is swiftly moving along, as we enter the down hill run to Easter. I can’t believe how time has flown by. Time flies when you are having fun and fun is what I can see being experienced across the Primary School at ACC, from the mountain bike track to the new ride-in cars in the ECC playground. We are blessed with the beautiful weather and we are making the most of the clear skies. We have many events coming up so please check the Sentral app for information and permission slips.

Value 

This fortnight we are focussing on the value of Humility. This is the second value of our CHRIST set of values. These stand for Courage, Humility, Respect, Initiative, Self Control and Trust. Humility can be lived out through helping others, caring for our school and saying sorry.

In the playground, I rewarded a group of students who were cleaning up the school before classes. As part of our sustainability program we have tongs and buckets for collecting waste. We learn how we are saving this plastic from blowing into Oyster Harbour catchment creeks and entering the ocean.  This is just one of the many ways we can all show humility.

The Bible says, "Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Colossians 3:12. 

Our CHRIST Value Award recipients for this month are….

Hunter Dowdell - Year 1 for Respect

Faith Week

We have a week leading up to Easter at our school that we call Faith Week. We focus during this time on learning God’s word and delving deeper into the meaning of Easter. Every class has activities across the week which highlight Faith Week. This culminates in a Faith Week assembly, to which you are all invited. This assembly will be led by our chaplain team. This year we will have some testimonies by children who have welcomed Christ into their lives and sing praise songs together as a school. There will also be a performance by our Choir led by Mr Peter Findlay. The assembly will be held in the undercover area of the new building. We will start at 2pm on Friday the 11th of April.

Playground

We have had fun in the playground, as the Mountain Bike track has opened for the year. The students on Track Tuesday have been adapting the track and re-designing jumps. Other students have brought rollerblades and roller skates along on Tuesday. We are very happy for this to happen as long as the students have helmets and knee and elbow pads if needed.

Mr Pirga and Mr De Lucia have cut up some logs from the large trees felled last year and these are providing a lot of curiosity amongst the children, who have discovered the beetles and bugs living under the bark. Soccer has just started in the playground as we head into the 2025 soccer season. In the Kindy and Pre-Primary garden the giant sunflowers have been harvested and the seeds picked out. Mr Gill, the trainee teacher, will teach life cycles through the germination of the seeds.

Surf Life Saving

The Year 5 and 6 students are honing their rescue skills and water confidence in readiness for the Surf Life Saving Carnival in Week 10. The students have been to both Middleton Beach and Emu Point this term, practising flag races, running through water, dolphin dives and recoveries. We are also excited to announce we will take a small group of students from these classes to the Interschool Swimming Carnival, later in the term.

Children’s University

We are very excited at ACC to announce our acceptance into the Children’s University program. It’s an innovative program designed to engage children and young people in exciting, out-of-school learning opportunities that aim to increase their chances for educational success. The program encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning and rewards them for doing so. 

The program collaborates with community and cultural institutions, supports the development of school-based clubs and activities, and offers a wide range of opportunities for parents and communities to get involved in the education of young people. 

At ACC we will choose 25 students to participate in this program. Parents and caregivers will be a big part of this program as the children collect passport stamps for out-of-school learning activities that they complete. The parents will play a big part in the 30 hours of learning. I will meet students regularly to review their progress and stamp passports. The program is partnered by the University of Western Australia which will host a graduation for the students at the Entertainment Centre at the end of the year. We will send out information for parents to express their interest in the program in the coming weeks. If you want to find out more about the program, the website address is https://cuaustralasia.com/

NAPLAN

It is that time of the year with Year 3 and 5 preparing for their NAPLAN tests. At ACC, we become very confident in completing standardised online tests and therefore NAPLAN is no great shock to our students. We complete biannual ACER tests in comprehension and numeracy that are very similar to NAPLAN. Parents can really help make a difference during these testing periods by ensuring a good night’s sleep, having a good breakfast and assisting the student in charging and bringing their iPad or Macbook. To make the testing period more pleasurable for the students we have many fun activities between tests. 

Reminders - A walking area excursion form will be in your Sentral App in the next week. Please respond for your child to walk to the beach or Good Life Garden.

Fluency Passages: Boosting Oral Reading Skills

At Australian Christian College, we are committed to improving our students’ oral reading fluency. Oral reading fluency refers to how many words a student can read per minute with accuracy and expression across a variety of passages.

To support this, students who scored below the 40th percentile in oral reading fluency assessment receive one-on-one assistance each morning. These students practice reading a fluency passage suited to their level for one minute. At the end of the minute, their words-per-minute (WPM) score is calculated by subtracting any errors from the total words read.

This week, our students made incredible progress, with an average increase of 26 WPM. Our top achiever saw an outstanding improvement of 71 WPM! Research shows that daily reading strengthens vocabulary, enhances comprehension and critical thinking, improves concentration and memory, supports writing skills, and boosts overall academic performance.

How Parents Can Help at Home: We encourage parents to support this program by promoting nightly reading and ensuring their child records their reading so we can celebrate their success at school. As an extra incentive, students receive a prize for every 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 nights of reading! For younger students (Pre-Primary to Year Two), practising sight words at home is also highly beneficial. Parents can find their child's sight words in the front of their yellow home reading journal. By reinforcing these words and partnering with us in daily reading, we can achieve even greater improvements in our students’ literacy skills. We are excited to see the impact of this program and look forward to celebrating even more student successes in the weeks ahead!

Year 6 Growth Camp

The Year 6 Growth Camp is a three-day camp at the Kennedy Camping Centre (Torbay) where students are given the opportunity to face challenges and experience growth. The activities during the camp are designed to strengthen the bond between classmates, build teamwork and leadership skills, and develop individual character all whilst enjoying the beautiful surroundings of the Great Southern. They will climb Castle Rock, swim at Cozy Corner and hike on the beach.

The Year 6 students are responsible for all the cooking during camp, a hands-on experience that not only helps them develop important life skills, such as meal planning, preparation, and teamwork, but also fosters a sense of independence and personal responsibility. This opportunity encourages them to take ownership of their tasks, work together efficiently, and gain confidence in their abilities. Through this process, students learn the value of cooperation, time management, and the satisfaction of contributing to the camp's success, making it a memorable and educational part of their Year 6 experience.

Year 6 is a crucial time for students to develop their leadership skills and begin transitioning to the higher expectations they'll encounter in high school. The Growth Camp plays a significant role in this transition, offering students valuable opportunities to take on leadership roles, build confidence, and prepare for the challenges ahead. 

New Coupes

We have received a grant from the Australia Independent School Association to buy 4 new ride in cars for the Early Childhood Centre. They are very popular. As part of this grant new playground equipment will be installed in the coming month. We are very grateful for these updates to our playground. Even our next year Kindy kids are trying them out!

Run Club

There has been a great turn out at Run Club on a Tuesday Morning at Collingwood Oval. The students are keenly training for the up and coming cross country season.