What a busy start to Term 3.

I hope everyone is staying warm and dry in this sudden burst of Winter weather.

Last Friday we were able to farewell Mr Langford in style. A great reflection from students, the school council and staff on his time at Carrum. It was great for our students to say goodbye and well done to Kai and Meila on their wonderful speech on behalf of the students.

    
            

Our Junior School Council also organised Pyjama Day and chose this year to donate to Guide Dogs Australia. This dress up day is a particular favourite of Carrum staff, and I know many students told me they just came straight to school after getting out of bed. I wonder if it made the morning hustle a bit easier for some families? It was great to see our teachers in their stylish and matching PJs too.

The school has been a bit quieter at the start of the week as our P-2 and Yr 5/6 students have spent the last three days participating in their first week of the swimming program. This program is a government initiative so all students can receive quality swimming and water safety education so primary school students can have the opportunity to learn how to swim and develop lifelong skills in water safety to reduce their risk of drowning and injury. This is an essential skill particularly for Carrum students to have living in a Bayside suburb close to water.

Congratulations to our Prep students as tomorrow they will celebrate 100 days of school. What an achievement and how fast this year has flown for our young students. I know the teachers have been busy planning for this day and have some great activities planned. As parents you must also be feeling very proud!

This week we have had some of our staff participate in Professional Learning to upskill in our whole school programs. We aim to have all staff educated in the Orton-Gillingham (OG) training which is an explicit synthetic phonics program that underpins our literacy programme and the Berry Street Educational Model. Both these courses are quite intensive, and our teachers are trained over four days. Like our students our teachers are continually learning to improve their practise which impacts student outcomes.

We have had our save the date flyer in the newsletter recently for the school performance, as a reminder this is September 8^th and 9^th stay tuned for costume requirements and more communication about official times.

Finally, a huge shout out to our Teamkids educators. Yesterday was Out of School Hours Educators Day and we are so grateful for the wonderful programmes Teamkids provide and the amazing support Renee and Declan give to our school.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend

Cassie Kennedy

Mandarin @ Carrum Primary School – Term  3 Snapshot

Curriculum Overview – Term 3

Prep

Our Prep students have made a fantastic start to their new unit on Fruit! Through lots of repetition, movement, songs, visuals and play-based activities, students have been learning to recognise and say the names of seven different fruits in Mandarin. Throughout the term, they will also learn a catchy fruit song and practise asking and answering the question, "What is your favourite fruit?" in Mandarin.

Year 1 & 2

Year 1 and 2 students have been revisiting the numbers 1–10 in Mandarin through a range of fun and interactive activities. One of the class favourites has been our Monkey King card game, where students enthusiastically practised their number skills while working with their peers. The classroom has been filled with laughter, teamwork and lots of meaningful conversations as students negotiated the rules and encouraged one another. For the remainder of the term, students will begin a new unit on emotions and feelings, learning to recognise and describe different emotions in Mandarin while making connections to this term's Inquiry learning.
           

Year 3 & 4

Year 3 and 4 students have been practising our classroom learning expectations while using mini whiteboards to build confidence and participation. We have also revisited Chinese numbers and extended our counting skills all the way to 1,000. Students especially enjoyed creating their own Counting Fries craft, which combined creativity with number recognition and Chinese character writing in a fun, hands-on way.
 
 

Year 5 & 6

Our Year 5 and 6 students have been exploring the mathematical concept of experimental probability through the classic game of Rock, Paper, Scissors—all played in Mandarin! Students had great fun collecting and analysing class data to investigate which choice was the most popular. This engaging activity combined language learning with mathematics, giving students the opportunity to apply Mandarin in a meaningful and interactive context.
              

This week, our students are celebrating by exploring Australia's native plants and learning from the knowledge of First Nations Peoples.

Students will discover Bush Tomato, Wattleseed, Lemon myrtle, Saltbush, Warrigal greens, Tasmanian Pepperberry, and berry myrtle tea, learning where they grow, how they have been used for thousands of years, and how they are enjoyed in modern Australian cooking.

Through harvesting, tasting and cooking with native ingredients, students will deepen their understanding of caring for Country, sustainability, and the importance of respecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

 


Thank you for sharing your time, enthusiasm and kindness with our Year 3/4 students. Your support helps create meaningful hands-on learning experiences where students build confidence, develop new skills and discover the joy of growing, cooking and sharing food together. We couldn't do it without you!


The recipes are below for you to try at home
Bush Tomato Damper

Lemon Myrtle chicken tray bake
          
                 
Wattleseed apple crumble

Warrigal greens and cheese saltbush scrolls

As spring approaches, thousands of migratory shorebirds and seabirds return to Victoria from the Northern Hemisphere between August and October. These birds are an important part of our environment, but they also increase the risk of diseases such as H5N1 avian influenza (bird flu) entering Australia.

While the risk to people remains very low, bird flu can have serious consequences for poultry, including our much-loved school chickens. We all have an important role in helping keep them safe.

Over the past few weeks, we have noticed seagulls visiting our school every day to feed on food scraps left on the ground after recess and lunch. The more food that is left outside, the more wild birds are attracted to our school. Reducing the number of wild birds on our grounds is one simple way we can help protect our chickens.

How can we help?

Protect our chickens

• Please do not feed or encourage wild birds near the chicken enclosure.
• If you notice wild birds inside or around the chicken area, let a staff member know.

Support Nude Food

• Bring lunches with as little packaging as possible.
• Eat all your food where possible.
• Make sure no food is left on the ground after recess or lunch.

Keep our school clean

• Place all food scraps and rubbish in the correct bins.
• Help pick up any litter if you see it.

Respect wildlife

• Do not touch sick, injured or dead birds.
• Tell a staff member immediately if you find a sick or dead bird at school.

Practise good hygiene

• Wash your hands after being near animals and always before eating.

By keeping our school grounds clean and free of food scraps, we can discourage seagulls and other wild birds from visiting our school and reduce the chance of contact with our chickens.

Thank you for helping protect our animals, care for our environment and keep our school community safe.

• Threats
• Violence
• Rudeness
• Harassment
• Discriminatory and derogatory comments
• Aggression
• Intimidation
• Threatening gestures

Students in our Junior School and many 3-6 students have access to world leading literacy support online learning site Nessy.

We’d love for use of Nessy to be part of our student’s homework.

If your child has misplaced their Nessy login please let your child’s teacher know so they can pass on the information as it is a great tool to support learning.

Poster competition

Theme

• This year’s poster competition theme is - ‘Water Heroes: Make Every Drop Count’

Key dates

• Entries close: 5pm, Friday 11 September 2026
• Winners will be announced during National Water Week, 19 - 25 October 2026

Entry conditions

• Poster size must be A4 or A3
• Any medium, from paper to digital, can be used
• Any art material and digital technology can be used, including paint, textas, crayons, coloured pencils, collage materials, original photographs and digital graphics
• Image files should be in .JPG, .PDF or .PNG formats
• Uploaded files are limited to 20MB
• For primary and secondary school aged children, group artwork will NOT be accepted (only one child per artwork)
• For early learning/kindergarten both individual entries and collaborative entries will be accepted
• Each child/student/collaborative group can only enter once

Originality requirement

• All entries must be the original work of the child/student(s)
• Artwork created wholly or partially using generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools will not be accepted
• Minor editing (e.g. scanning or cropping) is permitted
• By submitting an entry, participants confirm the work is their own

We're excited to be partnering with Boxxi for an exclusive school ordering program. Our wonderful Carrum PS families and community are being offered discounted pricing and free shipping on Boxxi Maths Kits - the perfect way to support numeracy skills through play.

Each kit includes 100+ hands-on maths resources and manipulatives, plus one full year of downloadable maths activities designed for primary school children. The activities take just 5-15 minutes and make it easy for families to support maths confidence at home.

For every 10 kits sold, our school will receive a free kit to use at school. Thanks for helping us build confidence in maths at CPS!

Orders can be placed through this compasstix link, and kits will be delivered to the school in late August/early September.

Please see the attached file for further information or reach out to Kathryn Kenner with any questions.

Local Community Events, things to try and Sports Clubs

    



Piano Dynamics – Patterson Lakes 

Don’t miss this opportunity!!!   Start your children’s musical education today.

What better way than to improve self-esteem and showcase your child’s development than through music.  For younger children, playing the piano helps develop listening skills as well as coordination. Piano also improves cognitive and intellectual abilities such as memory, reading and maths skills.  I  am offering an introductory half price lesson to all new students who wish to develop their musical skills.  Certified  exams also offered.   I am a fully qualified teacher who has extensive experience in teaching all ages and levels.
Ring me now to organise your  introductory half price lesson.

Carolyn Rossis                                                                                                                                                          
Dip of Ed and Grad Dip of Music Toorak                                                                                                                           
Current children’s check and accrediated member of VMTA                  www.pianodynmics.com.au    [email protected]                                                                         (m) 0409 131 961

Students of all ages are tutored in private one-to-one lessons. Children are taught in a positive and nurturing environment. The tuition sessions are designed according to the student’s individual needs, which are regularly evaluated and form part of ongoing assessment. I tailor to the needs of each student, which is delivered in a positive learning environment designed to foster self-esteem and motivate students to achieve their full potential.  Students with special needs are also catered for.

The core work covers the following:

READING: To develop Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expanded Vocabulary.

WRITING: Examines the different genres and includes writing organisations for each genre, essay writing, spelling, punctuation, grammar and editing skills.

MATHEMATICS: Covers Numeracy & Algebra, Measurement & Geometry and Statistics & Probability

EXAM PREPARATIONS: These helps identify the student’s progress and help develop skills for NAPLAN, ICAS, scholarship and entrance exams

Carolyn Susan Rossis

Diploma of Education and Graduate Diploma of Music

Email:  [email protected]

Current children’s check and fully COVID vaccinated

(M) 0409 131 961