I know I say this every newsletter, but I truly cannot believe how quickly each week is passing. I find myself writing Week Four’s article feeling like Week Two was only yesterday!

Today on campus, we celebrated the global initiative Mission Nutrition. Our students engaged with great enthusiasm and curiosity, exploring the best foods to fuel their bodies for sustained energy, and learning that some foods are not always as healthy or sustainable as they may first appear. While parts of the day still included bookwork, students embraced the opportunity to collaborate and learn more about healthy lifestyle habits they can apply in their daily lives. Thank you to Mrs. Brown for the delicious smoothies at recess, and to Miss Emily and the mums for preparing an amazing healthy lunch for both students and staff.

Next week, our Year 12 students; Carlos, Renzo and Taani; will sit their Semester One ATAR examinations. Studying ATAR subjects can be incredibly rewarding, but also challenging and, at times, stressful for both students and families. Our focus is to care for and support them, encouraging them to do their best while maintaining balance. It is a fine line between striving for success and managing stress, and we are here to support every step of the way.

Across the rest of the school, students will also be submitting mid-term assessments. Like our Year 12s, meeting deadlines and producing quality work can sometimes feel demanding. While results may not always match expectations, and at times may exceed them, I encourage all students to continue aiming high and focusing on improvement. Even a one percent gain from a previous effort is progress worth celebrating.

To support success, we continue to refer to the Learning2Learn framework. Being organised through daily planning, monitoring due dates, and creating effective learning spaces are key. Importantly, booking tutorials remains one of the most valuable ways for students to gain clarity, direction, and feedback from their teachers.

Today we farewell Mrs. R-T, who concludes nine and a half years of dedicated service at OSG. During her time here, she has taught every child at our Southern Campus and has shown immense care, commitment and support to our students and families. We thank her sincerely and wish her all the very best in her next chapter.

As one chapter closes, another begins. We are pleased to welcome Mrs. Catherine Hodgkinson, will join our team in Week Six as our new Primary Teacher. Mrs. Hodgkinson brings a wealth of knowledge and experience and is looking forward to becoming part of our community.

From Week Six, Mrs. Hodgkinson will work Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

For next week, primary classes will be covered as follows:

Monday and Tuesday: Mrs. Earnshaw

Wednesday and Thursday: Mrs. Tompkin

Friday: Mrs. Labuschagne

Thank you for understanding and support during this transition. We look forward to welcoming Mrs. Hodgkinson and know she will continue to bring out the best in our students.

Have a wonderful weekend, and as always, please reach out to your child’s teacher, our administration team, or myself if you have any questions or concerns.

Last term, OneSchool Global launched Precious Cargo, a new global safety campaign for all volunteer bus drivers.

The campaign includes a powerful safety film that highlights the responsibility our drivers carry every day and reinforces key expectations around seatbelts, fatigue, distractions, speed, and substances.

Our drivers play a vital role in keeping students safe, and this campaign supports them with clear, consistent safety standards across all 20 countries in our network.

Families are welcome to view the film here:

Precious Cargo | Driver Safety Film

Please note, aspects of this film may be confronting.

For our students, please remember the important role that you play as a passenger on our buses.

Here are a few simple ways you can make a real difference:

* Wear your seatbelt properly every time you’re on the bus

* Stay seated while the bus is moving

* Keep noise at a reasonable level so your driver can concentrate

* Avoid distracting the driver – their focus keeps everyone safe

* Look out for each other when getting on and off the bus

Sadly, this is the last week that the Primary students will have Mrs R-T in the classroom. Mrs R-T has been with the campus for 9.5 years, and every single student at school has been taught by her in their primary years. I’m certain they will remember her with fondness for the rest of their lives! The students enjoyed a class party with her on Thursday to say goodbye.

This week in we have been delving more into our scientific understanding of the states of matter. In particular, we have enjoyed our hands-on experiments to produce gas. Coke and Mentos lollies were an explosive success, and bicarb and vinegar also had the students bubbling over with excitement! Interestingly, the Mentos and Coke reaction is almost entirely a physical reaction (called nucleation) rather than a chemical reaction, whereas the bicarb and vinegar are a chemical reaction.

Thanks to all parents and students for remembering to bring Student Planners to school each day. It’s wonderful to see the students stepping up and taking on responsibility for organizing their learning. Setting these habits in primary school will help them as they become more self-directed in secondary studies.

We also enjoyed the athletics day, where our students all performed well and had a lot of fun, which is the most important part!

We all wish Mrs R-T all success in her ventures beyond our campus, and we thank her very much for her many years of instilling education, values, and fun into Southern primary students!

Mrs Anita Earnshaw
Primary Teacher

For this term, most food students have been investigating and trialling exciting concepts. They are continuing to strengthen their health and safety knowledge and develop their skills in the kitchen.

The Year 9/10s are researching the production of locally sourced food in a course entitled - “Farm to Fork”. They have selected a product, chosen, and tested a recipe to showcase it. Now they will create a mini documentary to show the origins of their dish and the local ingredients. They will use captions, notes, and visuals that educate and connect with their audience. Their practical lesson was a whirl of chopping, stirring, testing, and photographing so that they had an abundant supply of information for their mini documentary.

This term, The Year 8 cooking class is focussing on selecting and promoting a “Use it up” recipe. Here they are choosing a food item that would usually be thrown out - this could be bread, fruit, vegetables… Once they have made their choice, students will design a recipe card, promotional leaflet or video that will discourage food waste. Students have made banana bread, sliders, chicken noodle soup, sausage pasta - all with food that could have been wasted in the household kitchen.

Year 7s are working on making muffins. They have tried sweet and savoury ones and are focussed on not only making a good-looking muffin but also on creative plating so that their muffin can be presented in an appealing manner. For their final muffin there is a surprise twist as the ‘wheel’ will decide the choice of muffin to be made.

Please regularly check the School Calendar in Sentral, as these can be subject to change.

If you have any queries or concerns about anything happening in the school, please feel free to email admin.southern@au.oneschoolglobal.com.

Remember to be regularly accessing Canvas and Sentral via the Streamline App to view your students' grades and any calendar events in the future.