Congratulations 

Congratulations to Kellie Keeffe who has been appointed as the substantive Deputy Principal at Monash Primary School. I would like to thank Kellie for her contribution to our school. Kellie has been integral to the implementation of SpellEx, supporting the PBL team and leading the senior school.  Kellie’s last day at Charles Weston School will be Friday 27 June. I am sure you will join me in congratulating and thanking her. Recruitment is currently under way to fill the Deputy Principal position that Kellie has been acting in and I hope to be able to update the community further on the outcome of this process by the end of term.

Reporting

Semester one reports for students in P-6 will be emailed out on Wednesday 2 July 2025.  

Learners who are still becoming proficient in English will receive an EAL/D report as part of their Semester two report. This term we have been working with the EAL/D team from the Education Support Office to make sure every teacher can support EAL/D learners in their class.  Please speak to your child’s teacher if you would like to know more information about your child’s progress in learning English.  Learning English takes time, and your child will progress at their own rate.  A strong knowledge of a first language helps learn a second langauge.  I encourage you to have a look at the Parent Factsheet ‘Using your home language with your child’ which is linked here. 

Over the past few weeks, our teaching staff have been working to complete the Term 2 reviews of Individual Learning Plans (ILPs). These reviews involve reflecting on each student’s progress, celebrating their achievements, and making any necessary adjustments to goals and support strategies to ensure their continued growth and success.   Families of students with ILPs will receive the updated plans shortly, and I encourage you to connect with your child’s teacher if you have any questions or would like to discuss the changes in more detail.

Student Led Conferences will be held in Week 1 Term 3.  Details on how to book a time for you and your child to meet with their teacher will be sent out before the end of term.

IB Learner Profile and Approaches to Learning

At CWSC we want to ensure students become learners who are prepared for the future, both academically and socially. The IB PYP Framework supports our teachers to facilitate this through the development of the Approaches to Learning (ATL) and the Learner Profile Attributes among students and the broader learning community. Over the last year through our Professional Learning Community, teachers have been focusing on growing their understanding and application of the ATL within teaching and learning.

This semester, student academic reports will represent the ATL in place of the Personal and Social Capabilities. Whilst these are quite similar, as an IB school we are required to report formally on the ATL. The skills that will be shown on reports will be: social skills, research skills, thinking skills, communication skills and self management skills. Within each of these are sub-skills, specific to each of the main skill eg thinking. These sub-skills will be represented on reports and are developmentally appropriate for each year level.

Teachers may also include a comment detailing how a student has performed a skill in a lesson or part of their learning.

At Charles Weston School we are committed to developing the IB Learner Profile attributes, empowering our students to be:

• Caring
• Principled
• Balanced
• Knowledgeable
• Thinkers
• Inquirers
• Communicators
• Reflective
• Open-Minded
• Risk-Takers

The learner profile supports students in developing international-mindedness and in taking action for positive change. Exercising their agency, students take ownership of their learning, express their ideas and opinions, and reflect on their development of the learner profile attributes.

The CWSC learning community supports and nurtures students in developing and demonstrating the attributes of the learner profile in ways that are relevant to the local context and appropriate for each student’s development stage. All members of our learning community play an important part in valuing, appreciating, demonstrating and celebrating the learner profile in action.

Our students have a range of opportunities to develop, demonstrate and reinforce attributes of the learner profile in the daily life of the CWSC learning community. For example, these opportunities arise:

• as part of the school curriculum—through the transdisciplinary units of inquiry and through subject-specific investigations
• through interactions in a variety of learning spaces—in their classroom, our library, music, drama and Japanese rooms, indoor hall and outdoor spaces
• through social interactions—break times, participating in sporting teams and interest groups/clubs and attending excursions such as museum visits, interschool sports events, camps
• through school events—assemblies, cultural days, sports days
• at home and in the wider community—interactions with family, friends, local businesses, sports clubs, interest groups.

Parent Communication with school

It is important to us that we work in partnership with parents and carers. 

We recognise however that it can often be difficult communicating with teachers because they have a very full timetable; and that parents and carers also have very busy lives.

We will always work to get back to your enquiries within a reasonable timeframe. We aim to do this within 3 working days. If your matter is urgent we will get back to you as quickly as possible.

Query and concerns communication steps

Step 1- Speak to your child’s classroom teacher.

You can contact the front office on 6142 0404 for a message to be passed onto your child’s teacher or email your child’s teacher using the format firstname.lastname@ed.act.edu.au

Step 2 - Discuss your query or concern with the relevant team leader.

You can email charles.weston@ed.act.edu.au for your email to be forwarded onto the correct person

Preschool and Kinder

• Karina Maciver

Years 1 and 2

• Marilyn Smith

Years 3 and 4

• Paul Campbell

Years 5 and 6

• Kellie Keeffe

Step 3 - Discuss your query or concern with the principal.

• Laurel Rodrigues

Have a lovely long weekend.

Kind Regards,

Laurel

School Calendar from Weeks 7-10

Week 7

Monday 9 June - King's Birthday - Public Holiday

Wednesday 11 June - Year 6 Learning Jounrey - 8:30-9:30am

Wednesday 11 June - Year Combined Band

Thursday 12 June - Year 3 Excursion - AWM

Friday 13 June - ACT Cross Country Championships

Week 8

Monday 16 June - Kenny Koala Visit - Preschool (PMKL & PMRP)

Tuesday 16 June - OzTag Clinics - Years 3-6

Wednesday 18 June - Kindy Health Checks

Wednesday 18 June - Year 3 Learning Journey

Wednesday 18 June - Year 5 Future Skills Excursion

Thursday 19 June - Kindy Health Checks

Thursday 19 June - Kenny Koala Visit - Preschool (PTKL & PTRP)

Thursday 19 June - OzTag Clinics - Years 3-4

Friday 20 June - Junior Assembly - (K-2) - Kind

Friday 20 June - Kindy Health Checks

Week 9

Tuesday 24 June - Musica Viva Performance

Wednesday 25 June - Preschool Learning Jounrey (PMKL & PTRP)

Friday 27 June - Preschool Learning Journey (PTKL & PTRP)

Friday 27 June - P&C Winter Disco

Week 10

Tuesday 1 July - Friday 4 July - NAIDOC Week

Wednesday 2 July - School Musical (Years 4-6) 

Friday 4 July - Dance Nation Performance

Job-a-like Professional Learning

Earlier this term, teachers from our school were part of the PYP Job-a-like sessions, where they either visited or hosted teachers in their same learning area to discuss Units of Inquiry, IB learning and problem solved best teaching practices. The main focus of the discussion was around how we teach and include the Approaches to Learning (ATL) in our everyday teaching practice. The ATL skills are: research, communication, thinking, social and self management. These will reported on in academic reports at the end of this term for the first time.

CWSC hosted the music and language teachers. Visiting teachers were very impressed with the learning environments our students have access to.

The pictures below are the language and music specialist teachers in their learning spaces.

Learning environments and ATL

Learning walls and environments are an integral part of of the PYP. Teachers and students co-create their learning walls to represent the learning that is happening in the classroom. 

The ATL are also being explicitly referred to in each lesson. Teachers clearly communicate the ATL which students will be focusing on and how they will be successful.

Helping children deal with conflict

If you’re looking for resources on helping your child deal with conflict, there are some great tips to check out at the Child Mind Institute, to help all kids thrive.   From relationships with siblings (when they won’t stop fighting), to supporting your child deal with the big feelings that come from conflict.  

There is also a video that provides a helpful overview on helping your child calm down by:

1. Naming the emotion (a simple skill that can make these big emotions a little less intense)
2. Validating their feelings – listening without judgement & not jumping in to fix straight away
3. Actively ignoring – withdraw attention from whining and arguing
4. Giving them positive attention: the most powerful tool that parents have in influencing behaviour
5. Providing clear expectations & consistent routines
6. Giving them clear options – “you can get ready for bed now and we can read a story together – or you can get ready for bed in 10 minutes and no story”.

You can read more and check out the video here.

All of us get frustrated sometime; it’s about finding ways to manage that without hurting ourselves or others. When we model describing our own feelings and how to manage them, children get a real-world example of what these strategies look like in practice. Lastly, setting aside a small amount of time every day to do something with your child that they chose, can help them manage stress at other points in the day.  Even if they are having a tough time at school, for example, they know they can look forward to a special time with their parent. Dr. Samar says, “It’s a time, no matter what happened that day, to reinforce that ‘I love you no matter what.’ ”

 Cheryl 

YEAR 3

Year 3 has the central idea of ‘Memories shape Australia.’ for our ‘Who We Are’ inquiry. We have been inquiring into the following two lines of inquiry and concepts. Here are some photographs of how we have been open-minded, thinkers while exploring these lines. 

Line 1: People who cause change affect how we see Australians. causation (cause and effect)

Line 2: Australians have different opinions about significant events, symbols and emblems. perspective (truth /opinion)

Our Text Study is the verse novel ‘The Riding Gallery’ by Sally Murphy and Martina Heiduczek. We have enjoyed learning about how verse novels are a mixture of a chapter book and a long poem. This is also historical fiction based on a real person, place and event. We used Britannica and Kiddle Facts as sources of information to take notes about St Kilda and World War 1 in response to our own questions. 

We also visualised the three characters and the riding gallery. We drew them and labelled them with our own metaphors and similes in order to describe the characters and the setting. 

Currently we are exploring the stereotyping of Anton in the story and how this led to the events at the end of the book. We will be writing a persuasive letter to Rory and his family to convince them to look beyond their prejudice of Anton as a German Australian and get to know the individual.   

In our Inquiry Maths Unit, we had looked at the right angles, acute angles and obtuse angels. We discussed what is bigger or smaller than a right angle to categorise them. We focused on finding angles in everyday life, and why it is important to have knowledge of the different types. 

Currently we are looking at Mapping. Students have created a map of their classroom in a birds eye view. They have also been given the opportunity to have a map of the school, and practise their skills using Keys/Legends. This week students will be following a map to find a hidden object, to familiarise themselves with using a map for navigation. 

YEAR 5

Literacy

In Year 5, students have been engaging their literacy skills through rich, cross-curricular learning experiences. One highlight has been exploring The Dark Emu constellation and using this knowledge to understand First Nations perspectives and ways of learning. By making connections between the night sky, land, and storytelling, students gained valuable insights into how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples observe, interpret, and pass on knowledge.

In writing, students have continued to develop their skills through a focus on procedural and persuasive texts. Year 5 have applied their learning from our How the World Works unit of inquiry by crafting persuasive texts linked to recent scientific discoveries. From immortal jellyfish to lab-grown mammoth meatballs, students were supported to construct logical arguments, enhanced with relevant research and persuasive language features. 

Numeracy

In Year 5 we have been looking at different strategies to solve multiplication questions such as the area model, doubling and the double/half strategies. We have also explored different strategies to estimate and check our answers to help us know if our answers are logical and likely.

We have looked at a wide range of vocabulary to help us understand and solve different maths worded questions, using this knowledge to help understand real world situations where we would be using our strategies and knowledge.

We will soon begin our learning on division strategies and the connection between multiplication and division.

How The World Works

This term for our How The World Works unit of inquiry, we have been exploring science concepts such as states of matter, light and animal adaptations. Students have been applying their Research and Social Skills when investigating concepts and working in groups to complete experiments. We identified the states of matter involved in making a balloon inflate with bi-carb soda and vinegar, and a demonstration of the Elephant’s Toothpaste experiment. We used Hodson light boxes to investigate the reflection and refraction of light with different shapes and identified sources of natural and artificial light around the school.

Students created fact files about the structural and behavioural adaptations of a particular animal. We then explored some modern scientific discoveries and ways that we can take action towards the Sustainable Development Goals. This knowledge will also relate to our upcoming Sharing The Planet unit exploring sustainable housing. 

I enjoyed the light box experiment when we could add colour and shapes to make a light ray look cool. - Neena

I learned what the three states of matter are. - Rhett 

I liked the fun experiments. - Mason K

I learned what an adaptation is. - Tanya

It has been a busy start to the term in the library.

In week 4, every student in the school participated in National Simultaneous Storytime by reading The Truck Cat by Deborah Frenkel and Danny Snell. It is a beautiful story of Yacoub, a new immigrant to Australia, who drives a truck around Australia and has a beautiful cat, call Tinka, who travels with him. One day, while chasing a butterfly, Tinka get separated from Yacoub. It is a moving story that can be accessed at many different levels. More than 2.2 million children in schools and homes around Australia and the world participated in this event. Students from all year levels contributed to a beautiful giant poster, which has now been displayed in the library. Our amazing preschool classes also painted some fabulous trucks and drew cats to travel on them.

Kindergarten have been really focusing on building our library routines. We have been learning some Auslan Key Sign to help us remember all of the steps of selecting and borrowing a library book. 

Ask them if they can show you the signs as you read the following 3 sentences (the underlined words are the ones that we use a particular Auslan sign for):

In our library, we walk to choose a book. 

Then, we sit down and read quietly.

When I hear the bell, I line up and wait with my book. 

All students across the school have learned this now. 

Year 1 have been continuing their exploration of incredible Australian illustrators. This term we have been reading books by Jess McGeachin and are learning to draw a bookshelf dragon this week. We will finish this unit by looking at the work of Cheryl Orsini.

Year 2 have been building their understanding of non-fiction (information) books. We have learned about how non-fiction books are grouped together by topic, being briefly introducedto the system designed by Melville Dewey. We are now learning about the different special features inside the books, like headings, text boxes, key words, captions and lots more. We will also practice using the table of contents or index to locate information and the glossary to learn the meaning of new words.

Year 3 are diving deep into the world of genres. They now understand that genres are a way of grouping books based on the type of story inside. We practiced our note-taking skills using mind maps and will be getting creative very soon to make a big display.

Year 4 have shown they really understand the language and text features of the graphic novel format. They will try their hand at illustrating a few paragraphs of text from “Pearly and Pig and the Great Hairy Beast” by Sue Whiting as a conclusion to the unit.

Year 5 have been learning about different note-taking styles and how hard it is to make notes when you are listening to someone speak. We are experimenting with different formats of note-taking in the hopes that we will find a style that suits our thinking and learning styles.

Year 6 have now got a much better understanding of what plagiarism and copyright are. We are learning how to avoid plagiarism and properly cite our sources and reference where the found an image from for assignments, using the acronym TASL (Title, Author/Artist, Source, Licence). They are aware of the different Creative Commons licences and are applying these to a Canva poster that will be displayed in the library.

Ways to support the CWSC Library

Please keep an eye out for any stray library books around your home and send them back to school with your child/ren. They will have a barcode sticker on the front cover.

A huge thank you to all families who have made a tax-deductible donation to the Library Trust Fund. These donations allow us to purchase new books for our library. 

Another way you can support our library and your child’s reading journey is by purchasing books for your home library through The Book Cow Book Club. You can browse this terms offerings and make a purchase at the following link and the books will be delivered to your child at school as soon as possible. 

Term 2 online catalogues can be found here: https://www.bookcow.com.au/schools

Purchases must be made here:  https://schools-bookcow.square.site/ 

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