Good luck to all of the swimmers representing our school on Thursday at Jellie Park in the zone swimming sports. These students have achieved amazingly well to reach this level and we hope they have a great time.

While we have always encouraged the students to drink plenty of water throughout the day, and to eat regularly, we have decided to make drinking water regularly throughout the day a focus for all students. During each transition time (when we swap from one learning activity to the next - music to maths, reading to writing), we are going to ask the students to have a drink of water. We have talked about the benefits of drinking lots of water, from hydrating our brain and muscles, to flushing out any toxins, so the students understand the importance of drinking water. Hopefully you will notice your child's water bottle returning home empty, or having been refilled during the day!

Along with encouraging drinking more water, starting from Monday we will be offering a chance for a fresh fruit or vegetable snack at 9:35am. 9:35 is the transition time from our Cool Curriculum Classes (library, music, PE, drama and coding) to maths. On the way to maths the children will be asked to have a drink of water, and then they have the option of grabbing a piece of fresh fruit or vegetable. When they get to maths there may be a maths picture book to listen to, a puzzle to be worked out on the teaching station screen or a maths video clip to watch, while they are munching. Ideally the fruit should be able to be eaten within five minutes. We think that having a healthy snack at this time will revitalise the students, and will promote further focus. This healthy snack will be optional, and restricted to only fresh fruit or vegetables.

Examples of fresh fruit and vegetables - carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, a mandarin, grapes, a kiwifruit, a banana, an apple, pear, celery sticks or any fruit cut up and in a container, such as melon, pineapple, orange etc.

On Friday afternoons, we have been providing activities and opportunities for the students to learn through play. This type of learning is a significant part of the Year 0-4 teams' programmes, and we are dabbling in it on Friday afternoons. During this time the students have lots of choice, and choose where, with whom and what they play or play with. Usually there is lots of creativity, collaboration, problem solving and imaginative play involved, which is fabulous to see. Some of the opportunities for the students involve woodwork and water play outside. We would love to expand our equipment and tools, with these two activities particularly. If you have any spare tools, pipes to run water through, buckets, watering cans, bubble wands, a water table, or anything which could be used for creating or making - material off cuts, wool, wood, nails, screws, we would be forever grateful. If you are able to help out with any supplies, please pop them into the hub to any of the teachers.

On Monday and Wednesday afternoons we have been looking at innovation, what this means, the difference between innovation and invention, and how innovation has changed many everyday objects. We have also been looking at making innovations to an object, and eventually, this will all lead to the students coming up with their own innovative ideas. During this time there has been lots of collaboration, lots of research, looking at innovations and innovative people.