May 30: Thank you to our Music teacher, Lucy, for arranging a visit by OzOpera to perform 'The Barber of Seville'. The children loved listening to the story of Figaro, the resourceful barber, who cleverly solves everyone's romantic problems (whilst also ensuring that he gets well paid for his troubles). Our many budding opera stars also enjoyed re-enacting the story at the end of the show! The annual performance by OzOpera is one of the highlights of our music program, and is a wonderful introduction to some of the world's most popular operas.

We are absolutely delighted to hear that our Giant Rainbow Serpent has been spotted in Alpurrurulam in the Northern Territory! The 40 meter-long serpent was made during Harmony Day in Term 1, and included photos and artwork from all our students. It was then sent over 2,000 kms to the community school in Alpurrurulam, where Rod's parents are teachers. See our May 24 newsletter for more details and photos. Thank you to Rod (5/6R) and his parents for organising this unique activity.

May 21-29: Our chickens have hatched! Welcome to Cheeky, Chicken Little, Chris, Cutey, Daniel, Luke, Max, Mo and Stewart, who are being well looked after by the Prep/1 grades.

May 24: Our gymnastics program, run by the Australian School Gymnastics Organisation, is continuing throughout term 2. The program is extremely popular with the children, and many are now quite expert at cartwheels, handstands, rolls and flips. Today we were able to take advantage of the fine autumn weather and have our classes outside on the turf.

May 16 and 23: There is always great excitement when members of the Fire Brigade come to visit for our annual Fire Education program! The firemen met first with the Preps, who learnt about good fires and bad fires, the importance of having a home fire escape plan and how to behave in a fire (stop, drop, cover and roll, and crawl low in smoke). The children were later given a tour of the Fire Truck and had a turn with the fire hose! The Grade 6 students also met with the firemen to review their fire safety knowledge and to learn more about principles of fire (dangers and impact of fire development) and home fire safety (home fire escape plans etc).

May 16: The safety theme of the day continued for the Preps, with an afternoon program of Responsible Pet Education. Sheldon the dog (and his owner) met with the children to demonstrate how to behave when meeting a new dog, and how to be safe around strange or aggressive dogs. This is an important program for young children, who are often keen to pet and play with animals they see in parks or on the street.

May 9: Each grade spent time today with Shane Charles, who shared stories and music from indigenous Australia with us. The children particularly enjoyed moving and dancing as different Australian animals, and trying to make any sound at all come from a didgeridoo!

May 9: It is always a pleasure to welcome family and friends to our school. The children hosted a Friends Morning Tea today, with each child inviting a family member or friend to visit their class and stay for morning tea. Thanks to all the families and friends who brought a plate of food to share - it was all completely delicious!

May 9-11: Our library was overflowing with eager readers during our annual Book Fair. Thank you to all the teachers and parents who helped to make this our most successful Fair to date. We raised almost $1000 for the library, so look out for many fantastic new books arriving over the next few weeks.

May 4: Curriculum Day. The teachers spent the day learning about the new student report format and the online reporting system. The new reports will be used from mid-year. More information about the reports and new letter-grades will be available in the newsletter.