Message from Director

As Term One draws to a close, it has been a joy to see our children settle in so confidently, building a strong sense of belonging within our ELC community. Throughout the term, we have witnessed meaningful moments of connection, collaboration, and curiosity, as children formed new friendships, explored their environments, and embraced each day with enthusiasm.

Guided by two of our HARK School Values, Respect and Kindness, the children have shown genuine care for one another and pride in their learning spaces. We are also deeply grateful to our families for their support during this important transition, helping to foster a sense of belonging and making the start of the year a positive experience for all children. It has been wonderful to see our ELC come together as such a supportive environment, where every child feels valued and heard.

This strong sense of community was beautifully reflected in our Easter Craft Mornings, a highlight of the term. The children had the opportunity to engage in creative expression while celebrating the joy and meaning of Easter alongside family and peers. As a special family event, it brought our community together in a warm and meaningful way.

We thank our families again for their ongoing support throughout Term One and wish everyone a restful and joyful Easter break. May this special time bring peace, renewal, and happiness to all.
 

Katarina Hills

Director of Early Learning Centre

Easter Traditions and Greek Learning in Banksia Class

Over the past few weeks, the Banksia class has been learning about Easter through stories and hands on experiences. They explored Clean Monday by making kites symbolising new beginnings, and created a clay Lady Lent, removing one leg each week to count down to Easter.

The children have also been learning about the meaning of the cross through discussions and craft, creating their own personalised crosses to take home.
In addition, they have been learning Greek songs, including Kalimera, the Days of the Week , Xaropa Ta Dio Mou Heria, and colours in Greek.

Patricia Keramidas

ELC Language Teacher

Eventful Term 1 in the Waratah Room!

We started the term in the Waratah room by exploring how sunflowers grow. Our children then drew and cut out sunflowers and used watercolours to colour them in. We also developed a growing interest in native Australian animals after reading the book The Wombat Stew. This then led to our children creating different native Australian animals using clay. Some of our children also made different items using this clay, including their families.
 

We also had our first Nature Walk of the term, and our children embraced the responsibility of walking safely on the roads to the park. We enjoyed reading one of our favourite books together before the children engaged in lots of collaborative play.

Dilshi Samarasekera

ELC Teacher

Discovering Sea Animals

Over the past two weeks, our children in Eucalypt have been exploring marine life. They were invited to draw sea creatures, using Commotion in the Ocean as inspiration. The children used sharpies to draw their chosen sea animals, such as jellyfish, octopus, angelfish, and turtles.

During the drawing process, the children closely observed the features of the sea creatures they selected. After completing their drawings, they explored how to use watercolours, learning how to dip their brushes in water, mix colours, and gently apply paint to their artwork. This activity provided opportunities for them to practise their pencil grip and build confidence using different art materials.

Throughout this experience, we explored a variety of sea life, including octopuses, sharks, and seashells. We look forward to continuing this exploration tomorrow as the children further deepen their curiosity about marine life

Andrea Kartika

ELC Teacher

Term One in Bluebells

What a brilliant beginning with Term One in the Bluebell Class, as new relationships were built through kindness, explorations and culture. Building connections and a sense of belonging in learning environments is central to our ELC philosophy, where relationships are viewed as the foundation of education. Through play, kindness, aspiration, and respect, children and educators have co-constructed meaningful experiences that nurture both social and intellectual growth.

This term our play and explorations have seen many wonderful learnings occur. Creating our ocean scenes through a layered approach, the children designed, then painted, pasted and finally drew ocean creatures to create a room mural of the depths below. Multiple skills were given the opportunity to develop during this exploration such as- fine motor skills, cognitive processing, investigations, problem solving and not to mention the wonderful group conversations that occurred as the children learnt of the broad range of creatures that lurk below. As everyone is celebrated in the Bluebell Classroom for their individual qualities, so too does their personal flair shine in our artwork, as they are all beautiful and unique, however when placed together, they form a collaborative scene which is a reminder of how we may be different but we all belong and are to be celebrated together. From the ocean our inquiry of belonging in the world saw discussions begin to emerge around all sea creatures and thanks to a visit from Seaweed Sally (an incursion on marine life) a megalodon! We then learnt that megalodons are extinct and just what that means and now our research now has the Bluebells diving into endangered animals and their habitats.

Aspiration has been a large part of term one as educators aim to promote and remind the children that they are capable, competent, and full of potential. Educators demonstrate this by holding high expectations and encouraging the children to pursue their interests and questions. When a child feels that their ideas matter, they become more engaged and connected to both the learning process and the people around them. With this in mind and linking back to our endangered animal explorations, the Bluebell are currently creating an animal kingdom! A collaborative piece, it has seen the children once again, researching, designing and reflecting on our animal kingdom and how animals belong in the world around us.

Within our Bluebell room, lies a deep sense for learning and this is evident in our Greek studies and explorations. Independence Day and the march was a source of pride and deep conversation as the class made their own Greek flags, again with individual flair and style. Hearing the band practice, excitement built as we waited for our lucky day to hear the band and they certainly didn’t disappoint! Our flags were waved wildly and Zito was heard as we marched along.
Thank you for a wonderful first term Bluebells, may term two bring greater learning, laughter and joy.

Bernadette Campbell

ELC Teacher