These activities included a tools and technology interactive session with Auntie Leanne in which the children chose articles they were curious about and Auntie Leanne explained their purpose through stories. There was damper making with wattle seeds and saltbush and some lemon myrtle tea accompanied by discussion of other native plant uses. In another activity, children were shown how to use lomandra to weave bracelets and then practised this skill using raffia. There were traditional Indigenous games, Sorry Day posters created with each class and all the children ended the day with traditional stories.

Our older groups heard and discussed Archie Roach’s story of his experience as part of the stolen generation and the entire day was a brilliant immersive experience of Aboriginal culture. Huge thanks to Auntie Leanne and also to Susan for a fabulous day.

As you all heard, the Children’s Voices for Reconciliation Event was postponed by Lane Cove Council but rehearsals are continuing in anticipation of a new date in June.

At School Meeting this week, Sam spoke about the AGM which had been held the previous night. Sam told everyone who the members of School Council are and told us that he will be coming to School Meeting regularly to help us all engage together on issues as they arise.

The 57th Annual General Meeting of Currambena Ltd

It was wonderful to have five people nominated for the three positions on Council! Thank you so much to everyone for their interest. At the AGM on Thursday night, Isa was reelected and new members, Steve and Marlesha were elected for two year terms. Continuing Council members are Nate, Pietro and Sam and the teacher representatives are Jess, Meg and Katrina with Wendy P co-opted. Of course, Olivia always attends Council meetings and usually Wendy H. as well but neither are voting members of the Council.

There was a brief Council meeting after the AGM at which the office bearers were appointed. Isa is taking the Chair, Marlesha will be Secretary and Pietro continues his excellent work as Treasurer. A brief summary of progress on the new school constitution was reported and some actions for next meeting were flagged. In addition, Council approved some extra hours of classroom assistant time to help cover supervision and student support.

The next Council meeting will be on Monday, 15th June. Everyone is welcome for the open part of the meeting.

Lane Cove Children’s Voices for Reconciliation new date

Lane Cove Council has set a new date for this event: Thursday 25th June 10:30 – 12pm. The children and guitarists are sounding terrific and will all be delighted to be part of this event.

¡Nueva estantería de libros en Español!

We are very excited to share that we now have a Spanish shelf in the School Library!

Families are warmly invited to come and borrow books in Spanish to enjoy at home. Reading is a wonderful way to support language learning, expand vocabulary, and discover Hispanic stories and culture together.

If you have any Spanish books at home that you no longer use and would like to donate, we would also greatly appreciate it. This will help us continue growing our Spanish collection for everyone to enjoy.

¡Muchas gracias! ”

Volunteer possibilities (all count as maintenance hours):

Please remember there are numerous other opportunities to be involved!

Canteen Roster (email canteen@currambena.org)

If you need more information about any of these, please speak with Olivia Monday to Thursday or Wendy P on Wednesday or Friday or email oliviam@currambena.nsw.edu.au or wendyp@currambena.nsw.edu.au

Next week…

Information Morning on Wednesday

Interviews for families applying to start in Primary next year.

Busy as always! Have a great week!

The post For the Whole School appeared first on Currambena.

In English, we continued our Carving Kingdoms unit, exploring tense and beginning to develop our characters. In Mathematics, we focused on integers and had lots of fun playing games to support our learning.

Tuesday’s wet weather meant our excursion to Tamborine Bay was relocated to school. As part of our National Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week learning, the children enjoyed learning about tools and technology from Aunty Leanne, participating in Traditional Indigenous Games, creating artworks, and making damper. A huge thank you to Pepper for supporting the group throughout the day.

We also continued our PIP presentations, with Kitty, Ella, Stella, Poppy, Ricky, Jasper and Ollie all sharing their projects. Congratulations to them all on their fantastic presentations. Our final group will be presenting next week, so please check the document in the class Google folder for presentation dates.

During Class Meeting, we updated the afternoon tea roster for the remainder of the term. While it is the children’s responsibility to remember and prepare afternoon tea on their allocated day, the schedule is also available in the class folder for families to access.

Next week, specialist sport will be held at the tennis courts. It is important that children come to school wearing sports shoes and bring both a hat and a drink bottle. Fingers crossed we won’t be rained out!

I hope you all have a lovely and relaxing weekend.

With love,
Meg

The post Meg’s Class: Term 2 Week 6 appeared first on Currambena.

This week we acknowledged Sorry Day. The day marks the beginning of Reconciliation Week and recognises the hurt caused by government policies that promoted the separation of Aboriginal children from their families and created the Stolen Generation. We welcomed Aunty Leanne to the school where she spent time with each group in a ‘Tools and Technology’ workshop. Other sessions included participation in Traditional Indigenous Games, damper making and weaving. At the end of the day, we watched a video of Archie Roach reading his book ‘They Took Them Away’. It was a very emotional way to finish the day, and I know from the reflections the children wrote, that they felt his sadness deeply.

We did some targeted work on division this week, recognising it as an inversion of multiplication – something we need to continue working on. As a science activity, we magnetised needles and made compasses by floating them on water, which integrated nicely with our unit on navigation. The children really enjoyed this hand-on activity and had a lot of fun experimenting with magnets.

The tadpoles continue to be a strong source of curiosity and we have now established a secondary eco-system that we are slowly transferring the tadpoles into. This new environment will cater to the tadpoles as they begin to grow legs and breath air.

On Thursday, we completed our position topic in maths and explored translating, reflecting and rotating shapes. We also practiced diagonal joins in cursive handwriting and continued working on our PIPs.

PIP presentations will be held on the afternoon of Tuesday June 30. The exact timing will be confirmed after the parent rep shares a preference survey and we receive the responses.

Tuesday sport next week is the beginning of our 4 weeks of tennis at Lane Cove Tennis Club. Children should wear appropriate shoes and may choose to bring their own racquet.

Just a reminder that, as we had to cancel the library on Monday afternoon (due to rain), you may have books that need to be returned directly from home.

Lastly, I’ve been impressed by a number of the children in the class who have recently stepped into roles that require some leadership skills. Ettie and Lucia, completely unprompted, are heading a committee of children who are interested in hosting a ‘Soup Day’ in term 3. Ezra (with Oli) confidently wrote and delivered the Acknowledgement of Country in front of the entire school on Sorry Day, and on Monday as no parent volunteers were available, Ash, Aidan, James, Ezra, Eli, Ettie, Lucia and Emma took turns to serve morning tea to the school. These are wonderful examples of children stepping up when they feel they are ready and testing out what it means to be an ‘elder’ in the school. At Currambena, leadership is not granted, imposed or won, but is a natural step children take for themselves, when they are ready.

Warm regards,
Jess and Susan

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I hope you’ve had a nice, ‘DRY’ weekend. It’s certainly been a wet week which unfortunately prevented us from having our Wingaru excursion down at Tambourine Bay last Tuesday. But it didn’t dampen our spirits, or the day, having it at school. It was an immersive experience which began with a warm welcome to Aunty Leanne (from Wingaru) and an Acknowledgement of Country. All classes rotated through activities which included playing Traditional Indigenous Games in classrooms using soft balls, marbles and sticks (as bats). We learnt the traditional name of the game, rules,a bit about the history and where it originated.

My group then joined Jess & Susan’s class to learn how to weave bracelets. We had a discussion about weaving and what Aboriginal people may have made using Lomandra grass which we have growing here at school. We watched a demonstration video and began the ‘weave’ using pipe cleaners and raffia. Children were challenged, engaged and focused. It was lovely to see such concentration and desire to continue to weave during their break times.

In the middle session we had a workshop with Aunty Leanne who showed us numerous things she brought with her which we all had a chance to touch, hold and smell. The children, respectfully, passed around a possum fur ball which would have been used to play games with. Hunting tools and sticks, carrying vessels, grinding implements and animal pelts.

In the afternoon, we made Damper with wattle seed and drank lemon myrtle tea. In the craft room, we spray painted “Sorry” banners – given it was National Sorry Day! At the end of the day we watched a video and listened to Archie Roach read his book AND sing his song: “They Took the Children Away”. Thanks to Susan for organising Auntie Leanne from Wingaru to come and out sourcing ALL the resources for other activities. It was such a great day!

It was sad we missed Voices for Reconciliation on Thursday but the day we had on Tuesday made the week!

Other things we managed to smash through included looking more into fractions and decimals, specifically, ordering and equivalent. The children are mostly, almost, finished writing and illustrating their Dreaming stories which I am most impressed with. There was a big emphasis placed on their handwriting throughout this process, and I am seeing much improvements and growth coming through in the writing of these stories.

Next Monday, we’re back to Lane Cove library, so please return all books.

And that’s about it!

Love, Sarah

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In our Conflict Resolution unit, we explored the idea of safe adults and created handprint maps to identify the trusted adults in our lives. We discussed how our warning signs can help us recognise when something doesn’t feel right and how important it is to talk to a safe adult about our feelings. The Chatterboxes also learned about Kids Helpline and how it can provide support whenever they need someone to talk to.

As part of our National Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week learning, we participated in a wonderful Wingaru incursion on Tuesday. Aunty Leanne, a Darug woman, shared her knowledge of traditional tools, technologies and culture. The Chatterboxes were excellent listeners, asked thoughtful questions and even recognised some of the musical instruments we have been exploring in class. We enjoyed making damper, tasting lemon myrtle tea, learning about local bush tucker, weaving beautiful bracelets and, when the sun finally appeared, playing traditional Indigenous games such as Paliwan and Edor.

In Science, our ‘Bright Lights and Big Sounds’ unit has moved on to exploring light energy and how it interacts with different materials. Through a range of experiments, we investigated reflection, refraction, absorption and dispersion. We also began our focus on narrative writing, exploring the stories Tiddalick the Frog and The Great Race. We discussed how narratives use problems to create tension before reaching a resolution, often sharing an important lesson or moral with the audience.

In Maths, we have begun exploring number lines and the jump strategy. We investigated where number lines can be found in everyday life and how they can help us solve increasingly complex addition and subtraction problems. This learning will support our upcoming work on place value.

A reminder that next Tuesday’s sport session will be held at the tennis courts next to the Diddy. Please ensure students bring a hat and water bottle, and let’s hope for some sunshine!

From,
Faith

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It has been a very inquisitive and curious week in the Axolotl class. Here is a summary of our learning this week:

• Tuesday – Wingaru Incursion. Aboriginal tools and technology with Aunty Leanne. Indigenous games with Joanna. Baking damper and tasting lemon myrtle tea with Susan. Making a ‘Sorry’ banner in the craft room. Weaving with raffia, supported by children from Jess’ class.
• Social skill focus – understanding and using the word ‘respect’. Aunty Leanne talked to the children about the importance of listening to others and giving everyone a turn to speak. We have reflected on this throughout the week.
• Reading and responding to stories such as; ‘Big rain coming’ by Katrina Germein and Bronwyn Bancroft, ‘Mad Magpie’ and ‘Kookoo Kookaburra’ by Gregg Dreise, and ‘Cooee Mittigar’ by Jasmine Seymour and Leanne Mulgo Watson.
• Exploring sound in Science and Technology, and listening to a variety of musical instruments. This included classical instruments, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music. The children are now designing their own musical instruments.
• Sustaining on Friday, helping to care for our school.
• Spanish on Wednesday – la comida (food).
• Music with Kim.
• Preparing and priming the tank, getting ready for our pet axolotl. Discussing the responsibilities involved in caring for a pet.
• Enjoying delicious Lebanese treats, shared by Solly. Solly talked to the class about celebrating Eid with his family.

Juniors (Early Stage 1)

• Soundwaves: e, h. Sentence writing.
• Mathematics – number patterns and forming groups.
• Literacy stations – group reading with Joanna, Soundwaves books, writing/tracing.
• Individual reading with a parent helper.

Elders (Stage 1)

• Soundwaves: l, ll.
• Mathematics – grouping and sharing. Multiplication and division problems.
• Literacy stations – group reading and comprehension/ extension with Joanna, Soundwaves books, sight word writing and sentences.
• Individual reading with a parent helper.

Next week we will continue our learning about protective behaviours. The children will discuss and name people who they trust and who help them to feel safe. They will explore ways to seek and ask for help when they feel uncomfortable or worried.

On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th June next week, I will be involved in parent interviews for next year’s cohort. Pepper will be here to teach our class, she has met the children before and is a very warm and trusted relief teacher. I will still be at the school of course, so I will pop by and check-in on the children regularly.

Over the next few weeks, the children will start creating their own musical instruments. We welcome recycled materials such as;

• Shoe/ tissue boxes and other small cardboard boxes
• Small plastic pots such as yogurt pots, with lids if possible.
• Kitchen paper rolls

Thank you, and have a lovely weekend,
Joanna

The post The Axolotls: Term 2 Week 6 appeared first on Currambena.

It has been another busy week in preschool, with a focus on community, routine excursions, Reconciliation Week and most importantly play.

This week we welcomed Maya, who joined us for her Year 10 work experience placement from Mosman High School. Maya was once a preschool child at Currambena and continued through the school until Year 6. It has been great to have her back in the preschool in a different role. She has been helpful, calm and engaged, and the children have enjoyed getting to know her throughout the week.

We have also been learning about Reconciliation Week and Sorry Day. Through stories, conversations and creative experiences, we have been introducing and revisiting ideas about First Nations peoples, Country, symbols, storytelling and history in age-appropriate ways. These experiences are part of our ongoing commitment to respectfully embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in the preschool program.

On Wednesday, we had our first routine excursion to Lane Cove Library for the year. The walk itself was an important part of the experience. Children practised staying with the group, listening to directions, crossing roads safely and moving together as a walking bus of educators and children. Some children needed additional support with this, and we will continue to practise these skills as the year progresses. At the library, the children
listened to stories, explored the children’s section and had the opportunity to borrow books.

We are also hoping to begin regular Monday visits to Kimberly Playground. Before this can happen, we still need some routine excursion permission forms returned for children in their second year of preschool. Once these are received, we will be able to begin planning these visits.

The invisibility masks made in the craft room on Thursday were a highlight and led to a lot of imaginative play back at preschool. Music was also enjoyed by many children, and our Friday picnic gave children another opportunity to join in with the wider Currambena community.

As always, children’s safety, rights and wellbeing remain the paramount consideration in our decisions and planning.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.

Warmly,
Katrina, Lisa, Meeta and Lida

The post Preschool News: Term 2 Week 6 appeared first on Currambena.

School Meeting this week was a long one, with, amongst other topics, a short animation film, information about Soup Day plans from Lucia and Ettie and a long discussion about keeping school agreements during TBU time. The meeting affirmed that all our School Agreements also apply during TBU time, in particular that folding PE mats should not be used on the timber slide. Crafty reminded everyone that a book of school agreements is
in the staff room if anyone ever needs to check something.

The last subject for the meeting was actually a rehearsal for the children who have chosen to participate in the Lane Cove Children’s Voices for Reconciliation event. This year we are singing “Brown Skin Baby” by Bob Randall. The guitarists played and the singing group performed beautifully. We are very proud of them already! The whole school then sang “Beds Are Burning” by Midnight Oil which is the theme song for this year’s Reconciliation Week.

Lane Cove Children’s Voices for Reconciliation event details
Date: Thursday, 28th May (next week, same day as our Currambena AGM)
Time: 10:30 until 12 or 12:30
Venue: The Canopy at Lane Cove (or the Council Chambers if raining)

Children performing please wear red, black and yellow clothing on the day. All attending please be prepared for all weather (raincoat, warm jumper, hat, water bottle etc). Parents are welcome to come along to support the group!

The 57th Annual General Meeting of Currambena Ltd

The AGM is this Thursday, 28th May at 6pm. We look forward to seeing you there. Don’t forget to bring your own bowl/mug and spoon for some warming soup whilst we meet. The AGM hears reports from Council and from our Coordinator and will also appoint auditors for the coming year.

It is exciting that we have five parents nominating for positions as parent representatives on Council. We have only three positions to fill and so there will also be an election at the AGM.

If you are unable to attend, and would like to vote, please pick up a proxy form from the office (or find it attached to the AGM invitation emailed previously) and return this to Mikee or Olivia in the office.

The 5 nominees are:

• Isabel Ramirez (Benji in Faith’s; current secretary of Council)
• Jessica Mukadana (Ellie in Preschool)
• Marlesha Boswell (Ollie in Faith’s)
• Stephen Collins (Eli in Jess/ Susan and Gabe in Preschool)
• Valentina Aurova (Quentin in Preschool)

Please be aware that there will be no social on the night of the AGM (as previously suggested in the annual calendar) but we will have two delicious pots of soup. Our whole school social will be closer to the end of the term and plans are already underway for a lovely evening of roasting marshmallows and some classic Currambena entertainment.

¡Nueva estantería de libros en Español!

We are very excited to share that we now have a Spanish shelf in the School Library! Families are warmly invited to come and borrow books in Spanish to enjoy at home. Reading is a wonderful way to support language learning, expand vocabulary, and discover Hispanic stories and culture together.

If you have any Spanish books at home that you no longer use and would like to donate, we would also greatly appreciate it. This will help us continue growing our Spanish collection for everyone to enjoy.

¡Muchas gracias! ”

Volunteer possibilities (all count as maintenance hours):

Please remember there are numerous other opportunities to be involved!

• School Social on 26th June
• Canteen Roster (email canteen@currambena.org)
• Maintenance Day on 31st May

If you need more information about any of these, please speak with Olivia Monday to Thursday or Wendy P on Wednesday or Friday or email oliviam@currambena.nsw.edu.au or wendyp@currambena.nsw.edu.au

Next week…

Tuesday 26th May Wingaru Excursion to Tambourine Bay – whole Primary. Timed to coincide with Reconciliation Week, all of the primary children will have a day of Indigenous learning activities, including a guided bush walk, a tools and technology session with Auntie Leanne and Indigenous games at Tambourine Bay, or at school in case of rain.

Thursday 28th Lane Cove Children’s Voices for Reconciliation event at The Canopy at 10:30am (see above for details)

Also the 57th Currambena AGM 6pm – 8pm at school – Bring your own mug/bowl and spoon for some soup.

The post For the Whole School appeared first on Currambena.

It has been another very busy week in our classroom!

With the fields wet and soggy from all the rain, we swapped our usual sport for a fantastic basketball session. A big thank you to Michael R for leading the group and helping us practise our passing and dribbling skills before finishing with a game.

The Axolotls also held a toy and bake sale to raise money for a class pet, an axolotl! Joanna asked if a few of our students could help run the stall, and the sale was a huge success. A big thank you to Stella, Alana, Grace, Liyan, Eden, Ayaan, Jojo and Ollie for their help. To find out more, make sure to read Joanna’s group section.

Poppy, Grace, Stella and Alana used their Megbucks to purchase “Teach a Lesson,” where they were responsible for pitching, planning and presenting their own lesson to the class. They chose to teach about emotions, exploring how we can experience more than one feeling at a time. This launched a creative activity where we invented and named our own mixed emotions.

On Thursday, we ventured to Town Hall to attend the Sydney Writers’ Festival. It was incredible to see and hear the children’s excitement around the authors and speakers. Many of the authors shared how their cultures and personal journeys inspired their writing. It was such a rich and inspiring experience in the middle of our creative writing unit, and there already seems to be plenty of motivation and inspiration flowing back in the classroom.

We have another exciting excursion coming up this week. Tuesday is Sorry Day, and the whole school will be travelling to Tambourine Bay for an on Country experience with a First Nations focus. Aunty Leanne, from the First Nations organisation Wingaru, will lead a Tools and Technology session. Students will also participate in traditional Indigenous games, an Indigenous plant bush walk, and a weaving session. If the weather is poor, the
day will move back to school.

Please ensure your child is appropriately dressed for a day outdoors and has their morning tea, lunch, hat and drink bottle packed.

A group of students have also volunteered to perform at the Lane Cove Voices for Reconciliation Concert on Thursday morning at 10:30am. If your child is performing, or if you would like to attend, please let me know, we would love families to join us for the walk to and from the event.

Looking forward to another busy and exciting week ahead!

With love,
Meg

The post Meg’s Class: Term 2 Week 5 appeared first on Currambena.

This week, our highlight was of course our excursion to the Writers Festival at the Sydney Town Hall. It was hosted by Mick Elliot and had a line-up of very impressive Australian authors including Kate Foster and Yxavel Magno Diño. They did a wonderful task of getting the children excited about their love of books, writing and storytelling. Dav Pilky (Dog Man) was of course a favourite, but I was very impressed by R.A Spratt and have bought her book, The Epically Awesome Odyssey, as told by Nanny Piggins to read to the class this term. It was a very inspiring but also a very busy day, with the children having to manage only very small opportunities to eat, go to the toilet and play. An exercise in delayed gratification and emotional regulation for some (including me!).

Unfortunately, Pottery Green Oval was closed by Lane Cove Council (due to rain) so frisbee couldn’t go ahead on Tuesday. But the children rallied (with Sarah’s class) to play an epic and very strategic game of Capture the Flag back at school.

In maths, we continued learning about fractions this week, working with mixed numerals and improper fractions.

We also learnt about the ship The Endeavour, which Captain Cook sailed around NZ and up the east coast of Australia. We discovered it was rebranded as the Lord Sandwich (II) and was eventually and deliberately scuttled by British forces during the American War of Independence.

It’s very important that, as we teach Australian history, perspectives of First Nations Peoples are heard and respected. The children are already very knowledgeable about some of the distressing parts of colonisation, but next week, being Reconciliation Week, we will look a little deeper into these themes (age appropriately of course).

On Tuesday, which is Sorry Day, we have a whole school excursion to Tambourine Bay. It will be an on Country experience with a First Nations focus. Aunty Leanne, from a First Nations organisation called Wingaru, will lead a Tools and Technology session. We will also run traditional Indigenous Games, an indigenous plants bush walk, and a weaving session. If the weather is bad, we’ll move the day back to school.

Please make sure your child is appropriately clothes for a day in the bush and has their morning tea, lunch and a drink bottle packed.

On Thursday, a group of children across a number of classes, including Kuru, Ettie and Lucia from our class ga e chosen to perform at the Lane Cove Children’s Voices for Reconciliation. If you have the time, you may want to pop up to the Canopy, to watch the event starting at 10:30am.

Warm wishes
Jess and Susan

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