CREATIVE ARTS DRAMA

YEAR 3 PUPPETS COME TO LIFE !!

Students Begin Their Drama Unit with Dialogue, Improvisation, and Puppetry.

This Term, our drama students are excited to begin a brand-new unit focused on the fundamentals of dialogue, improvisation, and scriptwriting, with the help of some very creative puppets. To begin the unit, students are designing and building their own puppet characters. Each student is crafting a unique character that will help them explore how voice, movement, and dialogue bring a story to life. This puppetry unit offers students a fun and imaginative way to begin understanding how actors and writers work together to tell stories on stage. We’re looking forward to seeing where their characters—and creativity—take them next.

MATHS ENRICHMENT UPDATE

Round 3 of the Maths Explorer and Maths Olympiad Competitions was held last week. The students are to be commended on their perseverance and resilience when completing the papers, as the questions are very challenging.

Congratulations to the following students, who were the top performers in Round 3.

Maths Explorer (Years 3 and 4):

Maths Olympiad (Years 5 and 6):

Round 4 - The Final Round will take place on Friday, 12th September 2025 - Week 8

For the first time, St Peter’s is participating in the ‘Write a Book in a Day’ Competition, Australia’s most inspiring writing competition!

Write a Book in a Day is the ultimate test of teamwork, challenging writers to create something great within a 9 to 12 hour period. Prizes and awards are up for grabs for state and national winners, while there is also a need to fundraise in the lead-up to childhood cancer research. Our fundraising will be linked with ‘Footy Colours’ Day on Friday, 19th September, Week 9.

Teams of 5-10 participants choose any day between 1 May and 30 September to write and illustrate an entire book. Each team will be given unique parameters for their story for their chosen writing day, ensuring that no one gets a head start! Our school is participating on Tuesday 9th September 2025 in Week 8. We will be creating a team of 10 students, and students will be chosen based on their effort, attitude and results in class. Each student interested in being a part of this team will complete a Nomination Form (given out by their class teacher) in Week 4 and is asked to submit this to Mrs Tarbox by the end of Week 4.

Every book submitted will also be made available for free to kids in hospitals around Australia, potentially changing a child’s day in hospital, while funds raised will work to get them out of hospital and back in the classroom sooner. 

All books submitted will be assessed by a talented team of judges, and there are prizes on offer throughout the competition. Winners of the ‘Best Overall Book’ and ‘Best Illustrations’ prizes will be chosen from each state, as well as nationally, at the end of the competition.

More information to come, once the nominations have been received and the team, finalised.

Briody Tarbox

Year 3 Teacher and Enrichment Team

UPDATED HOMEWORK POLICY

A FOCUS ON READING

We are pleased to share that our school’s Homework Policy has been updated and now available on our website. At the heart of this policy is a renewed emphasis on the importance of daily reading.

Research consistently shows that when adults read aloud to children and engage them in meaningful discussions about the text, it leads to significant improvements in vocabulary. These "dialogic read-alouds" have been found to produce moderate-to-large immediate gains in vocabulary knowledge, which is one of the strongest predictors of reading comprehension.

We also recognise and value the importance of family time and the extracurricular activities students participate in after school. Our focused approach to homework is centred around reading, designed to support this balance, while still promoting academic growth.

Key Highlights of the Updated Policy:

• Daily reading for a minimum of 4 days per week is compulsory for all students.
• Parents are required to sign their child’s homework reading diary.
• Kindergarten to Year 2: Compulsory reading recorded in the diary.
• Years 3 to 6: Compulsory daily reading, with optional additional homework activities.
• Teachers will review and acknowledge reading diaries at least once per week.
• Families will be contacted via email or phone if students miss homework expectations for two consecutive weeks.
• While homework is strongly encouraged, it is not punitive. Students may be supported with time during the school day to complete reading tasks when needed.
  

We value the important role families play in supporting learning at home and appreciate your partnership in fostering strong reading habits. Please visit our website to review the policy in its entirety.

PEER SUPPORT

Today we commenced Peer Support. The whole school participates for 30 minutes each week, for 6 weeks. Year 6 Peer Leaders facilitate a group of younger students, who work together on several structured activities. Each teacher will supervise 2-3 groups in a room.

We are running a module called Living Positively - helping explore the concept of optimism. The first enables children to get to know everyone in group, agree how to work well together, and cooperate. They also begin to think about what it means to be optimistic. We encourage you to talk to your child about Peer Support every week, as it helps reinforce concepts learned. Peer Support is from 1.00pm to 1.30pm each Friday please avoid making appointments for your child during this time.

PROUDLY SUPPORTING BULLYING NO WAY:

NATIONAL WEEK OF ACTION

In line with our PBS value of Being Like Jesus, this year St Peter’s will be participating in the Bullying No Way: National week of action, 11 to 15 August 2025.

Bullying No Way Week is a commitment being made by thousands of schools and supporters across the country. It provides an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to bullying prevention. It gives us an opportunity to connect with students, staff and school communities to implement workable solutions to prevent bullying.

The theme for this year's campaign is Be Bold. Be Kind. Speak Up.

It takes a community to be brave and address bullying behaviours, within and beyond the school gate.

Students can be bold, kind and speak up to support others being bullied. While trusted adults are there to support children and young people learn how to be kind to each other and report bullying.

This Bullying No Way Week, we’re asking you to be bold and say something, be kind and support someone and be proud to speak up against bullying.

For more information about Bullying No Way Week and bullying prevention, visit the Bullying No Way website.

During the week we will be engaging students in meaningful discussions and activities aimed at promoting empathy, understanding and respect for diversity. We encourage families to take this opportunity to have open and honest conversations with your child about the impact of bullying and what they can do if they need support.

You can visit the Bullying No Way website for tips around how to have this discussion.

Purple is the Bullying No Way hero colour. It represents peace, strength and empowerment to take a stand against bullying behaviour.  Students are invited to wear purple on Friday, 15th August to help us raise awareness for this important initiative.

FRIDAY 15TH AUGUST - WEAR PURPLE