Primary News

Welcome back for Term Three. We hope you have all had a lovely opportunity to rest and enjoy some relaxation. This is another short term so teachers have already made contact and opened courses ahead of time for those who wished to get a head start on their studies. Please make sure that you contact teachers ahead of time if extensions are required for submissions.

It was lovely to welcome some new families as well as meet some of our regular attendees at the Scitech excursion last term. I was really impressed with the depth and originality of thought some of our students were able to display, as well as their willingness to work together with patience and kindness to solve questions and scenarios.

Our students are full of creativity and have a wide range of interests. Attached below are a few examples of their achievements:

Lexi Caldwell

We congratulate Lexi Caldwell from year six who took part in the Pony Club WA State Championships on the 19th, 20th and 21st May 2023, taking home 5th position in her class of 35 competitors. It was a great 3 days of meeting and competing against Pony Club competitors up to the age of 24 from all around the State.

Ruby Scott (Year 5) attended the 2023 Australian Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships where her hard work, talent and dedication to training paid off:

“Hello everybody, my name is Ruby and about a month ago I represented Western Australia at the Australian Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships!

Rhythmic gymnastics is a difficult type of gymnastics involving dance and apparatus

(ball, clubs, ribbon, hoop or rope). The dance gives you artistry points (the way you

engage with the judges, music and the audience). The use of apparatus gives you

technical points. About two months ago I was informed that I had qualified for the

Championships. To qualify you have to attend two competitions and achieve an average

score of 55 points in each. I was able to qualify with a score of 60 and 61. It was

satisfying to know that my years of training had paid off (I train eleven hours a week).

Competing in the Championships meant I had to fly to the Gold Coast in Queensland. The competition was held in a huge stadium in the Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre which was built for the Commonwealth Games. It was very nerve racking to walk out in front of a lot of people, but after I finished my first routine, it was quite easy to get my other three done. I was competing against people from Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and of course Western Australia. Each state had around six competitors. The competition went on for two days. I competed in freehand and hoop on the first day and ball and clubs on the second day. I wore a different leotard in each routine (I liked my hoop leotard the best!).

During my ball routine, my Grandpa waved at me from the audience and distracted me. This caused me to lose points because I mucked up a pivot (thanks Grandpa!). Overall I did myself proud and I am happy with my routines. I am very grateful that I had the support that I did and was able to achieve my dream!

A quick tip from me: Make sure that when you love something, you commit to it. Even in the hard times, remember that God is with you.

Thank you for reading this.

God bless,

Ruby Scott”

Katherine Redmond (Year 5) has been working hard on her Karate skills and her willingness to overcome her initial nervousness has paid off with outstanding results:

"[ Ki Ai – is a shout uttered when performing an attacking move; it also means ‘battle cry’ or ‘fighting spirit’ ]

From feeling nervous to winning a Gold Medal.

Dad noticed an Ad for “2 Free Lessons” at a local karate club one day while he was on Facebook. He and mum told me they thought it would be good fun, but I didn’t want to try it, because I was nervous. It was a new place with people I didn’t know.

The following week we went to the karate club, but Dad followed the wrong signs. When we walked into the room (which they call a Do Jo) the instructor told us we’d come to the wrong place.

Dad asked me if I wanted to try anyway or, go look for the right Do Jo and I said I wanted to find the right one. I was trying to get out of training because I felt very nervous.

We found the correct Do Jo which was only 2 minutes away, and as soon as we walked in the teacher told me to come straight in and start training and I’ve been training there for a year now.

I’ve passed four gradings. A grading is when you demonstrate a set of karate moves which we call a Kata, and our fighting skills.

On two gradings, I was awarded a Belt higher than I was being Graded for, which is called skipping a belt. Sometimes, we get to compete in Karate tournaments, and I’ve competed in three in the last year. In my first tournament I finished fourth in kata, and last in the fighting. We also competed in team kata which is where three people do a synchronised kata. Last month, I competed in my third tournament which was held in the Gold Netball Stadium here in WA. I competed with kids from different clubs all around Perth and won a Gold Medal in the fighting – we call this Kumite.

These two pictures show my gold medal and my last grading which was for my blue belt.

My next goal is to win a Gold Medal in my next tournament in July and hopefully, next year I will be part of the state team – to compete and represent our State in The State and the Nationals Championship Competitions."

Congratulations to these students who have set goals and worked hard to achieve them in areas outside of school. Have you set some goals for yourself for this semester? Goals don’t need to be huge, in fact small steps are always good but having a plan is important. Perhaps you want to spend more time practising music; engaging in your school work; building Lego projects; meeting new people or learning a new skill. I would love to hear from you about the goals you have set for yourself and the steps you have taken to achieve them.

Mrs Eaves