This term has been full of exciting learning opportunities and experiences for our Grade 4/5 students. A special highlight was our ANZAC Day learning, where students created a class wreath featuring personal poppies to honour and remember those who have served our country. Students showed great respect and understanding while reflecting on the importance of remembrance and gratitude.

Students from Grades 3-6 at Birregurra Primary School also performed exceptionally well in the school and Polwarth Cross Country division, with several students from our Grade 4/5 class advancing to the Colac Cross Country division. Many runners were successful on the day and will now have the opportunity to progress to the Greater Western Region Cross Country event in Warrnambool. We are incredibly proud of their determination, perseverance and sportsmanship.

This term we have also begun our school swimming lessons. Each Friday, students travel to Bluewater in Colac to participate in both practical and theory-based lessons focused on water safety. 

In English, students have been strengthening their word recognition and morphological knowledge by identifying prefixes, suffixes and base morphemes through daily review activities. Fluency reading sessions continue to support students in building confidence, expression and comprehension, with students enjoying the challenge of achieving new word targets.

Our class novel study is The Grandest Bookshop in the World by Amelia Mellor. Students are thoroughly enjoying this historical fiction text and have been exploring character development and key story events. In writing, students have focused on sentence-level skills, including varying sentence openings, building sentence structure and using conjunctions effectively to enhance their writing.

In Mathematics, students have continued developing their fluency through Daily Review sessions and the use of ICT platforms such as Times Tables Rock Stars to practise multiplication facts. So far this term, students have explored Statistics and Probability and are currently completing their Angles unit. During lessons, students regularly respond to rapid-fire questions using mini whiteboards and hand gestures, helping to build confidence and strengthen understanding before independent learning tasks.

Inquiry learning this term has focused on Australian History, with students exploring important people, events and perspectives from Australia’s past. In Respectful Relationships, students have been learning about positive coping techniques and strategies to support their wellbeing and emotional resilience.

Overall, it has been a positive and productive term, with students continuing to demonstrate enthusiasm, persistence and a strong commitment to their learning while building positive relationships with their peers.

- Miss Dillion