Our Learning in Year 6 Maroon
This term has been an exciting journey for 6 Maroon, filled with many learning experiences and achievements. Highlights include the Mission Week Markets, where students showcased their leadership through well-organised and creative activities; the highly anticipated Mary Poppins Musical, which involved the entire school in a wonderful celebration of the arts; the engaging Carroll College STEM Program, which sparked curiosity; and the beautifully presented Remembrance Day Liturgy, where students demonstrated respect and reflection. Most importantly, the significant learning growth within our classroom has been exciting in preparing the students for the next chapter into high school.

New Class Member
Welcome, Adeline, to the St. Mary’s family. We hope you enjoy your learning journey with us and make wonderful memories. 

Adeline: St Mary's has made me feel safe, there are fun games at lunch and the teachers are lovely.

Religion
This term in Religion, our students have been delving into the concept of justice through the topic “Why Does Justice Begin With Me?” They have explored the meaning of justice and Just Leadership while reflecting on why the responsibility for justice starts with each individual. As part of their learning, students have been investigating God’s dream for a just world. They have listened to the story of God’s Dream and considered how this vision has been communicated with humanity throughout history. The prophet Micah, a key figure from the Old Testament, has been central to their study, particularly his message to “act justly,” “love tenderly,” and “walk humbly.” In groups of three, students are using the Jigsaw Strategy to examine these key phrases. Each group will contribute their insights and understanding, and we look forward to listening to their presentations next week.

Poppi, Felicity, Madison
The three of us have loved making our posters and learning about how to follow in God’s footsteps in an enjoyable way. We think it is important to walk humbly, love tenderly and act justly every day.  

English
From Monday to Thursday, the students have been actively engaged in their Mastery Groups, focusing on enhancing their reading skills. It’s been wonderful to see the significant growth they’ve achieved in key areas such as comprehension, fluency, pace, inference abilities, and identifying the main idea in texts. We have also read the first five chapters of our class novel, Can You See Me. The students have been highly engaged with the story, drawing meaningful connections to their own experiences as they prepare for the transition to high school. We have also explored literary devices and unpacked key vocabulary words like contemplate and suspicious. In addition, the students have been perfecting their sentence structure, ensuring their writing is both coherent and entertaining for their audience. Their efforts have been impressive, and their progress continues to shine.

Liam: Reading fluency has been really fun trying to beat my PB. I can read 246 words in 1 minute. I am proud of my improvements. 

Finn: I like english and I am enjoying our class novel. I also enjoy writing as it can take you to different places with your thinking.

Mathematics
In mathematics, the students have been working incredibly hard to enhance their division and multiplication skills, focusing on both accuracy and speed. Each morning, they tackle around 50 problems within a 3-minute time frame. Impressively, most of the class can now complete this challenge in under a minute! Alongside this, the students have been learning about divisible numbers and exploring rules for determining divisibility by 2, 5, 10, 3, 6, 9, 4, and 8. To deepen their understanding, they have created and used a decision tree to test if a number is divisible by 2, 5, and/or 10.

Patience: I like mathematics because I like doing speed maths each morning, I have improved my times and it gets me started for the day.

Leo: I have made lots of improvements with my Mathematics, I really enjoy speed maths and learning about quadrilaterals. 

Science
This term in science, the topic is Physical Sciences, which involves the study of energy and how it can move and change form. The unit focuses on the concept that "electrical energy can be transferred and transformed in electrical circuits and can be generated from a range of sources." The students have been exploring key ideas such as Generating Electrical Energy, Energy Transformation, and Electrical Energy Transfer. Additionally, a group of students had the opportunity to participate in STEM lessons at Carroll College, where they learnt about the topics forensic science and the engineering behind rocket construction. This hands-on experience was both engaging and educational, providing students with an exciting glimpse into what science might look like in high school.

Lucy: I liked working out the crime scene lesson and winning the most aesthetically pleasing award for my rocket.

Blake: I enjoyed the STEM program and designing and my rocket. The Physics unit this term is really good too.

The Arts
This term, Mary Poppins, our whole school musical, has been a major focus of our learning. Our class is overflowing with talent, with students taking on lead roles, singing, and dancing their hearts out. The musical was a spectacular event, and every student shone like a star! In addition to our musical preparations, we’ve also been working on line art projects. As part of this, the students created stunning poppy artworks for Remembrance Day.

Jaykob: My most enjoyable art piece I have created in the front cover to my art portfolio where I was able to have free choice on my designs and creativity.

Melody: I loved performing Mary Poppins in my costume and wearing makeup, I felt like I was Mary Poppins herself. 

Physical Education
This term in Physical Education, the focus has been on the topic, "How can I use tactics to be successful in games?" Students have been testing, applying, and combining various tactics by incorporating movement, space, time, equipment, and rules to improve their chances of success in territory games. They have been performing and refining movement skills and sequences to solve game-based problems, with examples including netball, volleyball, and capture the flag. This has helped students develop teamwork and strategic thinking making each session both engaging and educational.

Nathan: I enjoyed playing netball with my mates and playing goal shooter. 

Swimming Program
Our annual swimming program on Fridays has been a wonderful success. Every child in our class has participated each week, and all students have shown great improvement. The more confident swimmers have been incredibly supportive and encouraging to their peers. Throughout the program, students have been learning about water safety and why it is so important to be safe and confident around water. This has not only enhanced their swimming skills but also equipped them with valuable knowledge.

Sophie: I like doing lessons with my friends and swimming fast laps. 

Callum: It’s been fun enjoying the water with my friends.

Ms Allison Lock
Teacher 6 Maroon