Weetangera Primary School Newsletter | Week 7, Term 2 2025

From Mel

There’s always so much going on in a school, and this term has been no different. Even with two 4-day weeks recently, we have still been busy, with combined band rehearsals (year 5), excursions to the zoo (year 1), amazing assemblies (Yirris and Year 2), ACT Cross Country and some fascinating learning in our global concept of Interconnectedness, right across the school.

You may have heard your children talking about Global Concepts. These are the overarching concepts that tie learning together in curriculum areas like HASS (Humanities and Social Sciences), Languages, Health and PE, Science, Technology and The Arts, as well as elements of English and Mathematics. All of our classes work in the same global concept area around the same time, but how it connects to the learning looks different for each year level. At the moment, our global concept is Interconnectedness, and it’s amazing how the learning across the school changes within this concept, guided by both the curriculum and the students’ interests and questions. Here are some of the essential questions our students are exploring at the moment:

Preschool

Who do you have connections with?

Kindergarten:

How do living things communicate?

Year 1:

How can we support the survival of all living creatures?

Year 2:

How do we experience sound?

Small Group:

How are things connected through forces and energy?

Year 3:

How are people and places in our region connected?

Year 4:

How do we experience the environment?

Year 5/6:

Why do people migrate?

If you’re as intrigued as I am about this learning, there are lots of ways you can find out more. Our assemblies, held each week on a Friday, are a fantastic showcase of the learning that happens based on these global concepts. It’s a great way to see just what’s been happening in the classroom. You’ll also see Seesaw posts, updates in the newsletter below, and in our Galleries of Learning next term our students will be every excited to share lots of learning with you. In the meantime, asking what the most interesting things they are learning about in their global concept is a good way to start a conversation.

Recently we held the ‘Wear your footy colours’ fundraiser, led by our school SRC. Thanks to the generosity of our community we raised $483.25, which will be donated to support an ex-student of WPS who was involved in an accident earlier this year. 

Finally, you may have noticed a very big wire teapot appear in our playground. WPS was given this interesting item as part of the “ACT Healthy Waterways” initiative. The teapot is designed to help us collect leaf litter and give it a place to break down so that it doesn’t end up in ACT waterways. The leaves that we collect there from the many trees in our playground will break down and become wonderful fertiliser to put back into our gardens. The students are very interested and have already started filling it up with leaves. I love their excitement about sustainability and keeping the environment healthy.

Have a fantastic week. I hope you can stay warm!

Regards,

Mel

Melanie.Bezear@ed.act.edu.au

Save the date - Year 6 Photo

The Year 6 photo will be taken on Friday 27 June 2025 between 10.00am and 10.45am.

Please note we will not be able to re-schedule the photo session if  students miss the photo on the day.

What's Happening in the Tree Frogs

Kindergarten Tree Frogs - Author Visit, Ocean Adventures and Mysterious Packages!

As part of the Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge that Weetangera Primary School is currently taking part in, the kindergarten cohort were very lucky to have a special visit from internationally published and local children’s author, Amelia Tonta! Amelia delighted us with a range of her picture books, including Book Chook, Neil the Amazing Sea Cucumber, Jeff Girafee - The Great Escape , and her latest story, Lucky. Her fabulous and funny storytelling had us all thoroughly entertained, and we especially enjoyed hearing about her love of reading and how she creates her wonderful stories.

In line with our current Global Concept of Interconnectedness, we used Neil, the Amazing Sea Cucumber to explore other living things that might live in the ocean alongside sea cucumbers. Inspired by the story, we used craft materials to create our own sea creatures and ocean plants. These were combined into a large and colourful collage, proudly displayed at the entrance of kindy to welcome Amelia. She was very impressed by our creations!

It was a joyful and inspiring visit that left us buzzing with ideas and excitement about books and writing, leading us into flourishing daily writing sessions. The Tree Frogs have been enthusiastically creating their own sentences, sharing ideas with class mates, and building confidence as young authors.

Following on from our focus on Interconnectedness, our inquiry has naturally shifted into exploring the connection between products, services, and environments. We’ve been curious investigators, learning about how packages travel from one place to another and what kinds of materials are used to keep items safe during delivery.

To spark our thinking, some mysterious packages have been arriving in the kindergarten unit the past week! With great excitement (and a bit of a surprise), we discovered the last delivery contained broken eggs. This unexpected discovery led to some fantastic discussions and impressive writing as students shared their theories on why the eggs may have broken and how the packaging could have been improved.

I’m proud of the thoughtful connections they’ve made between storytelling, real-world problem solving and our big idea of Interconnectedness!

Hayley Dix

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What's Happening in the Toucans

 Term 2 – Exploring Sound and Interconnectedness

This term, the Year 2 Toucans have been buzzing with excitement as we explored the global concept of interconnectedness through our Science unit on Sound Energy. We have been busy investigating how sound is created, how it travels, and how it connects people through stories, music and emotion.

We tuned into onomatopoeia by listening to and reading a variety of engaging poems. Inspired by the rhythm and sound, students created their own imaginative poems full of bangs, crashes, splashes and pops! It was a wonderful way to explore how sound can bring words to life.

Our learning extended into the world of film and storytelling, where we discovered the important role sound plays in movies. We were especially fascinated by Foley artists—the people who create all the sound effects in films! After watching a short film, the students retold the story both in writing and by creating a storyboard.

Using an app called Vidz, each student added their storyboard slides and then used Chromebooks to record their own sound effects and narrate the story. From footsteps and rainstorms to clanging pots and magical twinkles, the Toucans had so much fun experimenting with sound and technology to bring their stories to life.

This term has been a joyful blend of science, literacy, technology and the arts—all connected by the power of sound. Well done, Toucans!

Shelly Murdoch 

Here is a link to some of the exciting foley storyboards. 

What's Happening in the The Flames

- Minds exploding with knowledge

5/6CH have been very busy working on their mindful assessment for the Global Concept, Harmony. This task is bringing together the connections we have made while exploring our learning intentions:

How do Earth's changes affect the way people interact with the land?

How does the information that we have about harmony in environments and communities impact the solutions created to support harmonious living?

How do we determine importance and summarise in our own words?

Step One – The Location

Students had to decide where in the world they wanted to live. Some of the locations chosen include:

• Lukas - Gold Coast
• Callum - Tasmania
• Naomi - Jamaica
• Eli – San Fernando
• Penny - Hawaii
• Francis – Tokyo
• Abrish - Toronto
• Wil - Ethiopia

Step Two - Research

It was time to do some research, looking at these focus questions:

• What natural disasters have occurred in your location?
• What are the characteristics of these natural disasters?
• Describe the factors that caused these natural disasters? How?
• Describe the human responses in this location. Remember to think about education, procedures, use of land and building designs.

Step Three – Turning our key words into paragraphs

Natural disasters are everywhere, the world has different disasters depending on where they are in the world. Hokkaido has many such as tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods and typhoons, the list goes on. They sit on both the Ring of Fire; it’s a wonky circle with volcanoes on the line of the ring. By Aiko

The natural disasters in Tokyo are really bad. They are non-stop and horrible, and the worst part is that there are over 1,000 each year, the biggest fire in Tokyo ever was the Great Meraki Fire in 1657 killing 100,000 people. The biggest Tsunami was the 2011. The Tohoku earthquake that caused a big tsunami to come to the beach within 30 minutes, the earthquake was a 9.1 and the tsunami was 30 metres tall. By Ananya

Mudslides occur very often in the Yen Bai highlands that have lots of rainfall. They happen when the ground absorbs too much rain on a slope and becomes unstable. If people are in the path of it, they can be swept away. Mudslides can also tear down homes and also travel for kilometres before losing energy. By Andrew

Seoul, South Korea, has experienced many different and dangerous natural disasters. Like a lot of places, most of these natural disasters occur because of climate change with rising temperatures, rising sea levels and more extreme weather events. Some of those weather events include a giant snowstorm with flights cancelled and roads closed, flooding causing property damage and as of 17 July 2023 at least 40 people have lost their lives due to floods in Seoul. But to know more about these natural disasters we need to know their characteristics. By Harriet

Floods in Rome. Typically, this is the most likely natural disaster to occur in the state, though there are a few others. They are formed by an unusually large amount of water flowing from its normal course (Aka: Rivers, beaches). This water then goes onto dry land, and the ground would be hard so the water wouldn’t sink it, which it’s what it typically does. This is what happens when there's sudden amounts of water from heavy rainfall over dry land, like a desert. The response is the same for (mostly) everywhere. Seek higher ground and if it gets worse, evacuate. Put your safety first. Turn off any electricity utilities. By Ava

Russia is located on the Ring of Fire, which is why it gets so many natural disasters, one of them being earthquakes. The Ring of Fire is located on the edges of many tectonic plates which when they shift cause an earthquake or several different natural disasters. Due to these natural disasters lots of people who live near or in Kamchatka are a bit concerned, so that's why they have many responses to help with being worried. By Sasha

Step Four – Analysing the Data

Students created graphs on weather data. The graphs on display have been created by Daniel, Henry, Phoebe and Ashton.

They used these questions to guide their analysing:

• Describe the relationships you see in the graph,
• What factors could contribute to this?
• Describe the characteristics of the location.
• How are these characteristics reflected in the data?
• How would this impact the choices people make when living there?
• What other conclusions can you make?

New Orleans is in the northern hemisphere which is closer to the equator and Christchurch is in the southern hemisphere. They have different weather patterns.  By Lachy

I see that Cusco’s maximum temperature and minimum temperature are quite balanced, while Tokyo’s jump in the summer and come down in the winter. By Archie

That in December LA’s minimum and Hobart's minimum are almost the same. In March Hobart's and LA’s max are basically the same as each other. By Audrina

Step Five – Features of your plot

Students used their extensive research to write a submission, justifying their plans and design choices for their plot of land and house. They had to think about:

• Protection during natural disasters
• Prevention from natural disasters
• Sustainable features (water and energy sources)
• Crops and animals
• Property design choices
• House design choices

The house will be built on stilts with more support in case a flash flood hits. The water will go under. There will also be an underground bunker so if a cyclone hits nothing will happen to everyone. There will be sprinkers in the roof to help put out fires. By Sam

The house will have triple glazed windows. These windows have three panels. This is useful for places that are hot and cold, in this case Frankfurt. Each panel blocks of a layer of heat or coll air, making the temperature warmer or cooler inside. The house will also have a pitched roof as it is good for when it snows or rains. By George

The house will have a wedged roof so the rain will fall into the rous. There will be solar panels because it is sustanable. There will be a water tank to catch some of the water from the roof. There will also be an underground bunker for safety during earthquakes. By Vincent

If you have a house on a mountain and on stilts the flood water will be too low to reach you. Having supports and stilts going underground will make the house more stable in case of an earthquake. Having a house made out of strong material will also help. By Isla

Corinne Hannan

What's Happening in the Cyclones

Term two has been a busy and productive time in the Year 5/6 cohort. Below are some of the tasks we have been working on in class as well as some extra-curricular activities that have taken place.

Year 6 Combined Concert

At the Year 6 combined concert there was three school bands playing at Weetangera: Hawker, Fraser and Weetangera. Each band was playing together while most of the school was sitting on the floor watching. Weetangera was the only brass band there; and the other schools were both woodwind bands. I was playing in the middle with the other trumpeters so I got to see and hear most of the other instruments clearly.

We played a variety of songs; some being famous! We played Smuggler’s Cove, Fire’s Edge, Star Wars, The Rainbow Connection, Cuban Sun and Tequila. Towards the end of the concert each instrument group was asked to show their instruments above their heads and play their first note to the audience. In the end the concert was really fun and it felt super nerve-racking but really good to play in front of an audience. - Saxon H

Athletics Carnival

The Athletics Carnival was held on Friday 30 May. The carnival was for year 2 and above and it was really fun. When we arrived at school in the morning we went on a bus to the track in Woden, different from the track we go to every other year. Our class 5/6 EM went with Miss Mass and Mademoiselle S on the party bus but I didn't go on the party bus. I went in a separate bus because I was going to be running the 800m.

When we arrived at the track we were split into house groups, Emerald and Topaz next to each other, Sapphire (the best house) next to Amethyst. Sapphire and Amethyst had shade, but we also had wasps underneath our seats. Once we placed our bags down the people running the 800m started going with their age groups. After the 800m we got a quick break then went with Dan to our houses to make chants and to do egg and spoon races. Sapphire took all 25 house points which was amazing. We also made a new chant and it went like this. “Mirror Mirror on the wall who’s the greatest of them all Sapphire do you say yes yes yes, yay yay yay.”

Once the rotation was finished we did long jump, It was fun but I forgot to take my watch off before jumping both of my jumps and it got a ton of sand in it. Once the long jump finished we had a break and we were able to go to the canteen. Then we went to the sprints, first we did 200m then after that we did the 100m and then we had a quick break to have a drink.

We did javelin throwing and then captain ball and some quick games. We had lunch break and I had some Pringles and an Up and Go. Afterwards we did shotput in which I did not do that well. Once shot put was done we started cleaning the areas in which we were sitting, as I wrote earlier Sapphire and Amethyst had wasps underneath our area so we couldn’t clean it that well. The teachers who were telling us to clean our areas understood and said we don’t have to worry that much about it. On the way back we got the party bus again and the music was so loud that you could see the windows vibrating. I saw a few people trying to sleep without success. Once we came back we did a few iconic dances while we waited for the bell including the macarena. - Muz A

On the 30th May Weetangera School went to Woden Park Athletics Track for our athletics carnival. I was on the party bus (which is just the bus with a speaker playing) and I sat next to April. When we got there first was the  800m which I did not do but cheered on friends and my house. Next we went into rotations, my group did the games first. There were relays, tunnel ball and captain ball. Then we did  the long jump, it was so exciting and fun. Next we had recess for about five minutes and after this we had turbo javelin and I came 1st! We then had to do the  200m sprint and I came fourth, right after this we had to do the 100m sprint then it was lunch time for about ten minutes and last but least shot put! Yay! We got to do three throws! Sadly we had to go back to school and I almost shed a tear. But I was on the party bus for the second time and it was even better because I sat next to my best friend Tahlia! - Sarah T

Two weeks ago Year 2 and up went to the athletics carnival. When we got there, it looked so much different than all the previous years because instead of going to Charnwood we went to Woden. So we were surprised to find that instead of having to sit on an uncomfy mat that had sticks and rocks under it, we got to sit on chairs. The people who were doing the 800m race went on the first bus. We put our bags on a stand chair next to our friends and waited till it was our turn to do the 800m race.

When Mel called the 12 years up to the marshalling area we took all of our warm clothes off and started making our way to the starting line. By the time 800m was done, everyone else had got here. The first event for 12 years was shot put. We got a 3kg shot put and we had to push it as far as possible before it landed on the grass. Before we started doing shot put, a teacher showed us the technique to make sure we did it right. 

At the athletics carnival, there was a canteen but we weren’t allowed to get anything until the first race. Some people got back from a race thinking the canteen was a good idea before realising that the line went to the car park. The next event we had were some novelty events. For the first event we had an egg and spoon race (which was actually a tennis racquet and ping pong ball race) and we had a bunch of challenges to make it difficult to keep the ball on the racquet.  The next novelty event was one where everyone got in their house group and each group tried to make their own chant. Each group got two buckets and two rulers. All of the groups used their buckets as drums as the others in their group did something else. I personally liked that event because you had to be creative and you had to work as a team. After that we went back to the stands to have a rest. After those two novelty events, we now had long jump.

After our rest and when Mel called the 12 years up, we went up to the long jump which was only 10m away. The long jump pit was good because the sand was nice and soft but when we went to Charnwood the sand was hard and it hurt to land on. Everybody lined up next to the long jump pit in the order that the teacher told us. The first person went, then the next until everyone had three turns. Long jump was fun because you had to jump as far as possible but you got to land on soft sand. The only annoying thing about it was that by the end, your shoes have become a sand pool. Next we went back to the stands.

Now we had more novelty events. The first novelty event we did was a relay race with bean bags and we had different kinds of jumps or skips that we had to do. One of the challenges was that we had to throw the bag up then catch it again at least five times before we passed it to the next person on the other end. After that we did a different novelty event which was turbo javelin. Turbo jav is kind of like Olympic javelin but it's not metal and it's ten times shorter. We made groups and took turns throwing as far as we could. Not to brag but I was always the one that threw the furthest! Lastly, the final event we did was the 100 and 200m sprints. We did the 100m first. We all ran as fast as our legs could carry us on both races. The track was synthetic so it was easier to run on than the grass at Charnwood. The Athletics carnival was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it. - Ben

The athletics carnival was fun. We did long jump, 100m sprint, 200m sprint and 800m races. The weather was perfect throughout the athletics carnival. After all of the 800m races my first age group activity was the long jump. We all took two turns, on my first jump I almost died, on my second jump I got a good landing. Our second activity was the 100m sprint. I went on the track and when the starting gun went off I was running fast like Usain Bolt. I didn’t come first or last, I felt good after the race and I felt like I was going to go faster in the 200m sprint. I was watching the other 10 year olds in the 100m sprint while taking a break for the 200m.

After taking a little break I got ready for my 200m sprint. I practiced my starting run, when I got on the track the starting gun went off and I was bolting faster than I've ever been. After the race I felt dizzy and a bit sick but I recovered before the next activity. There were so many other activities, they were so fun that it made me want to have an athletics carnival two times in one term. If you didn’t go to the WPS athletics carnival, I suggest you go instead of staying home playing video games! - Elijah M

Rotations

This term we had many great activities, out of all my favourite part of the year was rotations.

During rotations, we had PE with Mr Beltrame, Music with Ms Masling, French with Mademoiselle S and Digital Technology with Tim.

In PE we have been doing sports clinics, first we did rugby clinics then we moved on to basketball.

We did rugby clinics for two weeks and we worked on drills for reactions and passing, one consisting of a drill where two players stood on opposing sides of the cone. Then with the cone on the floor we would have to touch the body parts that the instructor said. Then he would yell “Cone” and we would have to grab the cone. Then we did basketball clinics, in these sessions we did many drills over three weeks such as passing, dribbling and shooting. 

In French we learnt about introducing our family, our age and names e.g saying her/his name is. 

For example, talking about introducing myself I'd say, “Bonjour, je m'appelle Jack. J’ai dix ans, j’ai une sœur, un père, une mère. Je n’ai pas un frère ” That translates to “Hello my name is Jack. I am 10 years old, I have a sister, a father, a mother. I don’t have a brother.”

In music we have been learning about the texture and layers of sound in music. We have done a task where we first did the definition of different music terms that we had learnt about, then the next step was to choose a school appropriate song and analyse the layers of sound. My favourite part was when we got to create our own instruments, I made a triano which was a mix of a trumpet and a piano. I chose to make it sound like a trumpet but a bit more soft and calm like a french horn of sorts.

In digital tech we first made a website talking about the United Nations problems and how we would fix them. I was in a group with Jensen and we chose to do life below water, we made a fundraiser for helping to produce a robot that cleans up the rubbish and you’d buy a t-shirt to support the cause. Then we moved on to make a healthy dinner party. I was in a group with Jensen and Eman, we had a dinner party about a Christmas dinner inviting celebrities. We had to create a 3 course meal with 3 sides with the mains. I chose to have a turkey as my main dish, my dessert was chia pudding with seasonal berries. 

Overall, I have learned a lot this term doing a fun range of physical activities, speaking different languages, exploring music and working with my classmates in digital tech.  - Jack D

Maths

The most ‘exciting day in the world’ the math assessment. Last Friday Mr McRae said we are going to do this maths. This math lesson is going to be so fun, it is going to be the best maths lesson in Weetangera history.

Everyone was excited, during recess they would only play for 5 minutes and then get in line. When the bell went and Mr McRae got outside, everyone got in a straight line and didn't even talk. When we went into the classroom everyone got their pencil out and listened.  When Mr McRae handed out the sheets everyone was shocked with disbelief as they thought it was on Chromebooks where you play whatever maths game you want. 

Everyone was writing and thinking, solving and daydreaming and then… finally the assessment was over!!! and then we did a Kahoot. Now that’s more exciting than a math assessment on a Friday right? Everyone was happy and relieved and not worried about doing that maths lesson again. - Aguaar D

Barrumbi Kids

Every week 5/6 EM Read The Barrumbi Kids, The Barrumbi Kids is a book about two kids in year 7 named Dale and Tomias. After we read a chapter 5/6 EM normally do a chapter summary, a chapter summary is where we write what happened in the chapter! We did a pencil and paper version and an electronic version, then to fill the sheet in you had to write about the characters perspective, what you learnt, interconnectedness between characters and land and when we did that you had to write down some vocabulary. I love the Barrumbi Kids, and I hope you have learnt about what we do in school! - April M

Barrumbi Kids

During semester one we have beer reading a book called Barrumbi Kids written by Leonie Norrington a proud indigenous woman. She grew up in a remote town in Arnhem Land and she is the third out of nine children in her family. She wrote the book ‘Barrumbi Kids’ in 2002. 

The Barrumbi Kids is a children’s book based in a remote Northern Territory town called Long Hole Community. The story starts off with two main characters, Dale whose grandfather was the first white  person to settle in the Long Hole community, there’s also a boy named Tomias who is Dale’s best friend whose family has lived in the ‘Long Hole Community’ for many generations.

They go to Long Hole School and their Principal is Mr Turner. They are taught by Miss Wilson and they are in Year 7 which means next year they go to boarding school. At their school there is a bully called Gordon Armstrong, he is mean to both Dale and Tomias and recently moved to the Long Hole Community with his dad Mr Armstrong. The book also used lots of Aboriginal and first nations words like Gun-yemi meaning shame or embarrasment, Gulubarn meaning a Black Flying Fox also known as a pteropus alecto and Gomedau meaning a Long Neck Turtle also known as a chelodina rugosa. 

The Barrumbi Kids is an amazing book that showcases and teaches us about Aboriginal culture and language. The different chapters are easy to read and are very interesting, they focus on different characters, places and events. I really enjoy reading Barrumbi Kids and like reading it as a class because we get to read out loud and it is really fun. I recommend reading this book and I hope you enjoy it. - Tahlia H

Belconnen Cross Country

When I got to Stromlo it was freezing. I didn't know how to survive running in the cold. I just made it out of the car in the cold breeze and I shivered. I saw the Weetangera tent and I went and marked my name off the roll then I saw my friend Louisa, we spent most of the day together but then they called the 11 year olds to the track to show them the course. Louisa and I ran a bit to warm up. Our race was last so it didn’t matter if we wasted our energy, we still had hours.

The first race was the ten’s and we cheered on Weetangera,we did so well. Next was the eights, that was my sister's race and I cheered her on. Weetangera managed to qualify two people, that was so good. The race kept on going, cheering and cheering and then it was our race, yes, finally after waiting hours!

First we did some warm ups. It still didn’t help the fact that I was going to be racing against 100 people. When we got to the starting line I could see my friends but now it was time to focus. An old man stepped on to a large platform and said “ready set" and I heard a big boom that meant the start. I managed to keep a steady pace while we were running. All the girls went a different way, that got me in first place not for long. We ran to the biggest hill in the whole track. Now at this point I didn’t want to run but i finished and I came 30th which was pretty good. - Mila P

Basketball Clinics

Just like any Thursday we have rotations which is four things we do in one day- French, music, digital tech and PE. In PE we do basketball clinics, I love basketball clinics because it teaches me new skills and shows me the proper technique. I was already amazing at basketball so the clinics weren't that hard but I still didn't get it in the hoop every time. Most of the time we would split into two groups and do relays. Both teams would have a basketball and the coach would go 3 2 1 GO and both teams would race bouncing the ball up and down while running at high speed. After going through an obstacle course they would try and get it in the hoop, each team would get three goes to shoot the ball in the hoop. If they get it they run and give the ball to the next person but if they don't get the ball in the hoop they will try two more times and if don’t get in they will just pass it to the next person.

After relays we would play a game, my favourite game to play is golden child. To play golden child we split in to two groups. Group one will line up in front of the basketball hoop and group two will line up on top of the line that goes around the basketball court. At the end of group two’s line will be the goldenchild group, one will try and shoot the ball into the hoop while group one is shooting into the hoop. Group two is running around the basketball court till they get to their line again but if group two is running and group one gets the hoop the person running from group two will have to stop and that's where the golden child comes in. When it’s the golden child's turn she or he runs just like anyone else but when the golden child comes upon anyone else from group two that person jumps up and runs with him or her. If someone from group one makes a shot while the golden child is running team one wins because they got the golden child out but if the golden child makes it with all their teammates then team one wins. That’s how you play golden child! - Victoria L

Photography

Photography is an independent subject where you take photos with your Chromebook. The main elements in Photography were line and shape emotion, and perspective. Taking photos of the outside world made me notice small details I wouldn't have realised, as an example near the spider

web on the log there is painted hand prints, something small I hadn't realized till Photography. Photography was a great way to communicate with my friends because we were together taking photos and explaining how the photographs we took made us feel. Sometimes in photography I had no ideas, in my head it was empty but to get ideas I imagine the outside world is wonderful, there's too much for you to forget. My favourite part of photography was adding a touch of your own glitter on your favourite image you took with Canva. Photography was a fun experience, more fun than I thought, taking photos of the sky or long trees can make you feel calm and make the experience better! - Zita

Photography

In photography we were taking photos and we looked at some of the winning photos from a website for fun and to get a bit of an understanding of what we were going to do. At the start of the lesson after looking at the photos we had to figure out three words using clues and the words were perspective, meaning and emotion, line and shape and these words were important for the lesson. 

After we figured out the words we got to take photos with our Chromebooks, we had to take four photos for each category and we had to put the photos in slides and explain how they show line and shape or any of the other categories. After that we needed to hand the slides in and then we had to work on taking more photos. We also wanted to get close up or far away for the photo to make it more realistic.

After we had taken more photos, we edited them on Canva and we had to use filters and we blurred things or added colours then we put our original photo and the edited one and we compared them. We had to write how we edited the photo, then we needed to hand it in and after that we did a slide where you explained how you showed the three categories. Finally, we had to answer questions for the photo and we named our photos, mine was called Folcoe the Ground.

I loved photography, it was fun and a bit hard but you should always have a go. Below is my photo that I took and edited and also my original.-  Nila O

Global Concept: Harmony

This year we are focusing on the topic of Harmony. We have looked at natural disasters and how it impacts the earth's surface. The natural disasters we looked at were cyclones, earthquakes and floods. We also looked at graphs that link to harmony. We looked at the average rainfall and temperature for each month of 2024 and made a graph with pencil and paper. We got our information from BOM, It was fun finding information on a website and exploring. I understood it really well when the teacher explained how to use the website, it was like my brain knew it before on how I remembered it. After we made a graph from paper and pencil we moved on to digital. We went on Google Sheets to make a digital copy which was so fun. Earthquakes were a confusing topic for me before but as we learnt it as a class I felt a sense of realisation on how bad Earthquakes are. As a class we watched videos on earthquakes and took notes to get a better understanding. We read an earthquake book by Jackie French and it was really informative. Reading that book was like understanding the world conflict. 

As we learnt more and read some more I got a better understanding of how earthquakes work. I learnt three types of earthquakes, which I know would be helpful in the future. First divergent, then transform and convergent. Convergent is when two tectonic plates overlap each other, transform is when two plates move past each other in opposite directions and divergent is when the two plates move away from each other. Now, can you guess which one is most dangerous and the least dangerous? Well, it depends where the earthquake happens and if the place is prepared for an earthquake but usually the convergent movement is the most dangerous out of them all and the least dangerous one is divergent so that just leaves transform in the middle. We made models of the tectonic plates and we took a picture of the movement and posted it on Seesaw. The models were really fun to make into squares, the models were made out of silicone and clay so that we could bond it into a replica of a tectonic plate, It was like being a builder and building things. I really enjoyed learning about earthquakes and how tectonic plates move, I look forward to more fun Harmony activities in the future. I think that harmony might become my best subject. - Ariam

Year 5 Combined Band

On the 10th of June 2025 the Weetangera Year 5 band went to Giralang Primary School with Macquarie Primary for a band excursion. First I arrived at school and when I got there we had to put our instruments in the new hall. I am a percussionist which is a person who plays all the drums. Then we got to go back outside and play when the bell rang. We had to meet Miss Mas in the hall. We had to get all our instruments and some extra things (stands, percussion things etc).

We all got on the bus filling from the back. Jack D, Darda, Francis, Zahara and I all sat at the back. First we arrived at Macquarie Primary School and they got on at the front of the bus. When we got to the school everyone except percussion people got arranged while all the percussion set up their instruments, first we did our 5 note scale to warm up for the day.

Then we played a piece (a song or tune) called donkey round. I was on the bass drum which is a very boomy drum. After doing a few times we all split up into groups of instruments. I went with the other percussionists to the sustainability room to practice the percussion instruments. On the snare we practiced types of playing bars (a chunk of music) for a while we learnt single stroke roll, double stroke roll and a paradiddle then we practiced something on the cymbal where you had to start quiet and end loud and it sounded really cool.

Then every instrument came back together and played one final piece that was called power rock which included two famous songs. We Will Rock You and Another One Bites the Dust. Then we packed up and went back to school. - Jensen I

Falling in Spring by Senudi G

Bright Leaf by Zita J

The Gradient In The Fence by April M

Erwin McRae

Congratulations Weetangera Volleyball Team

The Weetangera Volleyball Team entered two teams in the OzSpike Junior Volleyball Tournament at Lyneham on Saturday 31st May.

The coaches who train our students at school each week are elite athletes from the Australian Women’s Volleyball Team and it was great to have them coaching at the tournament.  We were fortunate to have former Weetangera students who are now current ACT Junior representative players involved in refereeing the matches.

With families braving the cold and cheering on from the sidelines, Weetangera came away with a mix of wins, losses and draws and great team spirit was displayed by all students!

Congratulations to all the Year 3,4,5 and 6 students who represented the school!

Library News

Scholastic Book Club Issue 4 is now available and orders are due by 23 June 2025.

Spare catalogues are available at the front office and library or you can view at ISSUE PREVIEW | Scholastic Australia

SORA SWEET READS 12 May – 25 August, 2025

OverDrive’s annual reading program, Sora Sweet Reads, is designed to encourage students to keep reading all year long. They’re offering a collection of free, simultaneous-use ebooks (and select audiobooks) for primary and secondary school students. These titles are prominently displayed in Sora so it’s easy for students to find their next sweet read.

To borrow e-books and audio books visit https://soraapp.com  or download the free Sora app for android or IOS. Students can also access SORA through the digital backpack.

To access click on Find My School and select ACT Education and Training Directorate, then sign in using your school credentials. (student ID and password)

Once logged in students can access 100s of e-books and audiobooks on almost any device.

Christian Education in Schools

Christian Education in Schools volunteers will provide a session on Weetangera PS on Monday 30 June. This session will be provided only to students that have opted in via the permission note. Please visit the school front office to get a copy of the permission form.

2025 Uniform Price List

Workin' Gear Schools is the new uniform supplier for Weetangera Primary School. New uniforms with the new SPW logo can be ordered using the link. Students are still able to wear uniforms with the old WPS logo. There are still limited sizes available for sale at the front office. Please contact the school after 22 January to organise a time to purchase these. 

P&C Update

It’s time to book your tickets for the school movie night!

🎥 Despicable Me 4
⏰ Friday June 27, 5:15 arrival for a 5:45 movie
💵 Just $10 per ticket, bring extra money for food and snack purchases
To buy your tickets, jump on Flexischools and click on the “movie night”. See you there!

We’re excited to announce that Georgina Quinn will be our new canteen manager. Georgina has been working as one of our canteen assistants since the start of the year, and we’re now looking for her new assistant!

🌟 Job Opportunity at Weetangera Primary School Canteen! 🌟
We’re on the lookout for a friendly, reliable Canteen Assistant to help bring healthy food and happy vibes to our students and staff!
🍎 Casual role, 1 day per week, with possibility of extension
🥪 Food prep, stock checks, lunch deliveries
💵 $32.50/hr + super
👶 Must enjoy working with kids
Come be part of a warm, community-focused team where your work truly makes a difference.
Apply now!
📅 Applications open now | Email weetangera.pc.treasurer@gmail.com for more information

Canteen News

Parent Portal at Weetangera

News Flash! Our school calendar is now available through the parent portal. Please keep an eye out for upcoming events. 

Parent Portal is a secure online platform to share information between parents and carers and their student’s teachers. It’s available via a web browser and a mobile app.

Parent Portal has been rolled out across all ACT public schools and allows parents to:

• notify the school when their child is sick or to explain an absence
• book parent-teacher interviews (coming soon to WPS)
• receive academic reports
• receive the school newsletter
  
• make payments
• access the school calendar and their child’s student timetable  (coming soon to WPS)
• update their contact details.

One of the many benefits of the Parent Portal is that it is used by all ACT public schools from preschool through to year 12, so there will be no need to use a different system as children change schools during their public-school journey.

If you have children attending other public schools, you don’t need to sign up to the system twice.

Parent Portal is linked to the Student Administration System (SAS) used by the ACT Education Directorate for administering student data at ACT public schools.

How to register for Parent Portal

1. Sign up for an ACT Digital Account if you do not already have one. This is an important step in securely verifying the identity of parents and carers. It will not be possible to set up an account without undertaking this step. Detailed instructions including identification documents required to verify your account are listed on the Education Directorate's website in the Frequently Asked Questions.
2. You will be sent an access key (code) and a Parent Portal registration link specific to Weetangera Primary School via email to enable you to link your ACT Digital Account to your child’s records.

Sentral for Parents app

The Sentral for Parents app is the mobile app version of Parent Portal. You can access Parent Portal through the Sentral for Parents app, or using a web browser on your computer, mobile phone or tablet.

You can download the Sentral for Parents app for free from the App Store or Google Play Store.

Parent Portal – Changes to ACT Digital Account ID requirements

The ID requirements for accessing Parent Portal have changed to make it easier to register your account.

If you have had trouble signing up to Parent Portal because of the ID requirements, we invite you to try again.

To access Parent Portal, you need to verify your identity via the ACT Digital Account. Previously you needed two forms of accepted ID and now you only need one. To register, use the Parent Portal access link and create or log in to your ACT Digital Account.

Please contact the front office via Email: info@weetangeraps.act.edu.au if you haven’t received an access key.

Communication at Weetangera

Community Notices