December 19: Our last day of school for 2008! We hope that you all have a happy and safe holiday, and look forward to another wonderful year at Brunswick South in 2009.

December 18: Our final school event for the year was a Chamber Orchestra performance by our violin students, accompanied by teachers David and Andy P and past student Shona. The entire school was treated to a brilliant show that really highlighted the children's passion for music. Thanks to David for his excellent teaching and to our talented students for sharing their music with us.

December 16: We said farewell to our Grade 6 class his evening at a Graduation Dinner for the students, their teachers and families. The children all looked so grown-up and spoke with great maturity, humour and sincerity about their time at primary school. We wish them all the best as they move into secondary schooling and thank them for their contribution to Brunswick South over the last seven years. Goodbye Alex, Connor, Daniel, Ella, Emily, Farah, Jana, Joel, Kiki, Lara, Lauren, Mitchell, Natasha and Sian!

December 12 and 15: The end of the school year is almost here! To celebrate a happy and successful 2008, the Prep-2 children enjoyed a sit-down, catered lunch in the hall at school, while the Grade 3-6 classes shared a pizza lunch at Princes Park. Both celebrations were very enjoyable and a lovely way to share time with friends before the holidays begin.

December 11: The Grade 6 class celebrated the end of their primary schooling with a fantastic Big Day Out. The day started with a Big Breakfast in Clifton Hill. Then it was off to Northcote for ten-pin bowling, followed by an afternoon swim.  The day ended at Don Bosco youth centre, where the children still had enough energy to jump on the trampolines and play table tennis and pool! Everyone had a great time and really enjoyed spending a fun day together before the end of the year.

December 8: As part of their unit of work about "Caring", the Grade 2 children visited the Collingwood Children's Farm to learn about the care of animals and the environment. They had a great time meeting and feeding the various animals, milking the cow, exploring the extensive vegetable garden and helping out with farm chores. It was a wonderful learning experience! Thanks to Ursula and Andy P (the Grade 2 teachers) for arranging the visit.

December 2-4: Grades 4-6 students from Brunswick South, Port Melbourne and Tungamah primary schools celebrated the end of their year-long joint Forensic Science project with a three-day festival of crime (and fun)! The highlight of the festival was the presentation by each school of the crimes and clues that they had created during the project. The children were very excited as they tried to solve The Case of the Altered Assessment, The Case of the Stolen Bike and The Case of the Poisoned Cake! There was also a forensic treasure hunt and a range of code breaking activities, previews from the Grade 5/6 movie "A Crime in Time" and a marvellous game of cross-school cricket. The project has been an outstanding success, both in terms of student engagement and learning and in terms of the close links forged between the three schools, which will continue into the future. Thanks again to Jenny (5/6J) for winning the project grant and managing the project and to all the teachers and students from the three schools for being such clever detectives.