Calwell Primary School eNewsletter

From the Principal

Dear Families,

Welcome to our Week 8 Newsletter. Our students and staff have been busy as usual with all the amazing extra curricular activities offered at Calwell. Year 2 students have completed their swimming program, Year 3/4 students attended a Soccer Gala Day last Wednesday, Students are participating in Golf Clinics, excursions and Year 5 and 6 students attended combined band practice.

Yesterday we had 4 other primary schools visit us for Year 6 combined band. The group really came together well and sounded amazing. The difference between last time and yesterday was incredible. All students have really grown in their skills and confidence. Congratulations to our Ukelele Bands.

Open Classrooms and Stay and Play

We are looking forward to welcoming parents and carers to our open classrooms afternoon next Wednesday 18^th September. Classrooms will be open from 2.15pm for students to give their parents a tour and share some of their learning and the space. Following this we will have games and activities available for our students to Stay and Play. This is an informal way for our students to share some of what they do at school with their families. If you cannot make it along to check out some learning and the classrooms and you would like to organise another time then please contact your child’s teacher.

Strong Foundations for future success – Phase One Implementation Plan available

The ACT Government has shared the Strong Foundations Phase One Implementation plan that outlines how we will implement the Strong Foundations reform program in all ACT public schools.

Strong Foundations is focused on achieving a system-wide approach to curriculum delivery, teaching, assessment, tiered supports, and professional learning, with a focus on improving literacy and numeracy outcomes.

From 2025 there will be:

new curriculum resources for schools with preschool to year 2 students
universal Year 1 Phonics Checks for all schools with Year 1 students – with some schools already underway
system-wide literacy and numeracy assessments.

We are also working with our school leaders to develop a system-wide approach to improve learning outcomes across all schools and ensure all staff are provided with the resources and professional learning they need.

You can read the Phase One Implementation Plan on the Education Website. The implementation of Strong Foundations is based on advice from the Literacy and Numeracy Education Expert Panel’s Final Report. The Final report is also available from the Education Website.

Clubs at Calwell Primary

Our Lunchtime and Recess Clubs are a really important part of our school wellbeing program for students. Each break time teachers run an activity which is open to all of our students to attend whenever they would like to. This means that students always have somewhere to go when they don’t feel like being on the playground or they would like to do something with their friends in a different setting. This also helps ease congestion on our busy playground and our students may even develop a new interest or skills. Each Monday, Wednesday and Friday we also have the Student Hub open. The hub is in the Indonesian room and is also open to any of students who need an alternative play space. Our students are able to self-refer to the hub and sometimes teachers will refer them.

Kind Regards

Ben Roberts
Principal

Principals Afternoon Tea

CARES

Gold Awards

Notes Home/Due & Dates to Remember

A reminder for parent's to please download the SZapp to view our Newsletters and upcoming events. If you access the calendar and click on the date on an excursion/incursion permission notes are attached to re-print if needed.

- Kindergarten National Arboretum excursion Thursday 12th September

- Market Day K-6 Friday 13th September

- Open Classrooms and Stay and Play Wednesday 18th September 2:15pm-4:00pm

- Last day of term 3 Friday 27th September

- Pupil free day Monday 14th October

- First Day of Term 4 Tuesday 15th October

Bendora

In English this term we have been busy writing persuasive pieces. We began by looking at persuasive devices, such as rhetorical questions, emotive language, modality, the rule of 3 and facts. Once we got the hang of these concepts and could use them in sentences, it was time to focus on paragraph structure. In persuasive writing we follow the PEEL paragraph structure: Point, Evidence, Explanation, Link. While practising this we looked at a variety of issues, writing short paragraphs on each topic. The topics included: plastic, fast fashion, energy drinks and the new ACT cat containment laws. Mr Roberts also received a stack of letters from 5/6D, unhappy with their lack of chairs at the previous assembly. Finally students chose their own topic, and completed a final piece.

For Inquiry this term we have been looking at places, the changes people make to the characteristics of the land and Indigenous techniques for caring for country. We are now embarking on an integration of geography and technology, where we are studying natural disasters, their causes and management and combining this with digital technologies. We are eventually going to create a radio-warning system with microbits, detecting changes in the environment through inputs to provide an early warning of impending natural disasters! A big thank you to Kent from the Academy of Future Skills for working with our teachers and students to help achieve this. The photos below show the students’ big smiles when they are working with the mirobits, and some of our learning about bushfires in art form.

Term 3 has been a time of rich and deep thinking around number concepts, especially the sometimes brain boggling idea that less than 1 can be expressed in different ways. We’ve been exploring the relationship between fractions and decimals through games and rich tasks that have allowed the students to explore how these concepts can be used in daily life. Some students explored the life of a baker and considered how many cakes should be baked for the slices needed by the cafes around town. Other students have been considering how fractions might be ordered and how to express fractions that are equivalent or that may be larger or smaller than others. We took a deep dive into angles and symmetry with much consideration given to how symmetry is needed to fly and will maintain our focus on less than 1 as we move into comparing how percentages may also be useful in coming weeks. To play a symmetry matching game with your child, scan the QR code!

This term junior and senior students are learning and practising basketball skills – dribbling, passing, and shooting and using these skills in modified games and games of basketball. K-6 students are currently participating in golf clinics run by coaches from Golf ACT. Our 3/4 students attended Tuggeranong soccer gala day last week and the had a great day enjoying themselves playing students from other schools.

This Friday our Year 6 students are excited to host their highly anticipated Market Day! Over the past term, they have worked diligently to develop their stalls, learning how to create budgets, complete online shopping and refine business skills that will help them assist customers and manage transactions.

The student only event will feature a wide variety of stalls including:

Tattoos
Hairspray stall
Biscuit making
Jelly cups
Obstacle course
Endurance and strength testing
Guessing lollies in a jar
Ice creams and spiders

To make the day even more exciting students who don’t use all their tickets will have the chance to enter a major prize draw. This event promises to be a fun and an educational experience for everyone involved, highlighting the creativity and teamwork of our Year 6 students!

PBL Fortnightly Focus

In Weeks 7 and 8 students have been actively working with their classroom teachers to explore conflict resolution in all school settings. This focus on Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) highlights our commitment to ensuring all students feel safe, respectful, and supported across the school.

Through engaging lessons and discussions, students have been learning strategies to manage feelings of frustration and anger—particularly how to respond before situations escalate physically. Teachers have been guiding students to move to different settings around the school to practise applying these strategies in real-life scenarios.

Key strategies introduced include:

Tell them to stop: Using words to assertively express discomfort or frustration.
Go to another activity: Redirecting energy by choosing a different activity to avoid conflict.
Talk it out: Finding a calm moment to communicate and resolve the issue with the other student.
Walk away: Taking a step back when anger starts to rise, preventing further escalation.
Ignore it: Recognising when a situation isn’t worth a response and moving on.
Seek help from the playground teacher: Approaching a teacher for support in handling difficult situations.

To reinforce these strategies our teachers have been focusing on consistent and positively phrased language. By embedding these phrases into everyday conversations, we’re helping students internalise important conflict resolution skills. Some examples include:

"We walk away when we are angry."
"We look for help on the playground when we have a problem."
"We take a deep breath and count to ten before trying to solve a problem on the playground."

This ongoing work in conflict resolution is part of our broader effort to foster a positive, respectful school culture where all students feel empowered to handle challenges with confidence and kindness.

PBL in Action

Jaida recently played her debut game for the Canberra Raiders an exciting milestone for her and the Calwell Primary community. In preparation our learning assistant Jodie, worked closely with a group of senior students to create a collaborative set of Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) expectations to support Jaida during her game. This project demonstrated the real-world impact of PBL, showing students how the principles of Safe, Respectful, and Learner can be applied beyond the classroom. The experience reinforced how these expectations guide behaviour not only at school but in everyday life, fostering a sense of community and support. Congratulations to Jaida!