The Bee's Knees, Term 3, Week 6 2025

What's On ...

Student of the Week Awards

From the Junior School Principal

Always Learning, Always Improving

As a Junior School, we are always learning and improving, not only in the way we teach, but also in the systems and processes that guide our daily work. Just like in families, we don’t always get everything spot on, the first time. There are moments where we reflect, adjust, and try again. But it is in those very moments of reflection and refinement that true learning takes place, both for children and for us as educators.

Educational research reminds us of the importance of working within the “growth zone.” This is the space between what we already know and what stretches us just beyond our comfort zone. It is here that the most powerful learning happens. When we step into the growth zone, we develop resilience, problem-solving skills, and confidence. For our students, it is where curiosity meets challenge. For us as a teaching and leadership team, it is where improvement in practice and innovation in education are nurtured.

At Kelvin Grove, our scale and diversity bring many moving parts to consider. Being a large and complex school means coordinating people, systems, and priorities to ensure every child is seen, supported, and challenged. While this complexity can present challenges, it also provides access to a wide pool of expertise, resources, perspectives, and P-12 opportunity.

I would also like to sincerely thank our parents and carers for their support during the recent industrial action. We know that disruptions to routines can place additional demands on families, and we deeply appreciate your patience and understanding.

Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) negotiations are a normal part of departmental processes. They provide an important opportunity to ensure our teachers have the best possible working conditions, which in turn allows them to perform at their best for our students.

With just one term and five weeks left in the school year, time is precious. After factoring in pupil-free days, public holidays, and special events, the days available for learning are fewer than they seem. This makes it all the more important for students to remain focused so they can achieve the goals they have been working towards throughout the year. To support this, routines, quality sleep, and good nutrition play a vital role in helping children stay energised, resilient, and ready to learn.

Through it all, our focus remains clear: to provide the very best educational experience for each of our students. Every decision, every refinement of process, and every professional learning opportunity is guided by this commitment. Just as families grow together through shared learning and experiences, our Junior School continues to grow as a strong, connected, and forward-looking community.

Have an amazing evening.

Warm Regards,
Jordan Burke

From the Deputy Principal Prep-2

Our Learning:

We find ourselves half through what we know can be the busiest time of term! While we acknowledge the high levels of engagement from our students, and their willingness to deepen their learning of the years and terms before, it's important we as partners in their learning acknowledge the cognitive load this can go on to have on our young learners. Your young person may be coming home more tired than usual or finding it difficult to articulate how their day went. We always encourage our families to ask questions like “what did you learn about today” or “what was your favourite learning activity you did today?” to prompt the deep recollection of knowledge in an effort to retain it in their long-term memory.

Literacy Spotlight: Our very clever Prep staff have intertwined their writing focus with the immersive excursion to Lone Pine Sanctuary conducted earlier this term which saw all of our Prep students interact with Australian wildlife, learning all about their appearance, habitat and diet. I have had the pleasure of seeing them develop information reports on their selected animals since their excursion with an overwhelming love and admiration for Emu’s and Kangaroos from our littlest learners!

Events:

100 days of Prep: as detailed in our College Buzz Newsletter, in the early weeks of this term, our Prep students celebrated 100 Days of Prep with themed dress-ups, alongside a wholesome parade and an extra special cupcake at first lunch. It was so special to share the morning with our parents and carers and hope you and your students enjoyed the opportunity to connect and celebrate a big milestone.

 Our upcoming events:

Prep 2026 enrolment information sessions and meetings: are set and underway, with 2 more information sessions occurring in the later part of the year and our enrolment meetings happening in the later weeks of this term. The JS Principal and I are excited to meet our incoming students and their families in getting them ready for the best steps into Prep!

Book Week Celebrations: are occurring across week 6, with an extra special day on Friday where our students and staff may choose to dress as their favourite characters. Our wonderful Teacher Librarian, Ms Parslow, truly brings the magic of fiction and non-fiction into our college in creating meaningful events such as those in Book Week to encourage our learners to celebrate and continue their journey of reading.

Year 1 Spark Lab excursion: Parents and Carers would have received a Qparent notification a well as a SchoolZine communication in Week 6 detailing the Spark Lab Excursion their Year 1 learners are to be part of early in Term 4 in deepening their knowledge of science-based concepts covered across the year. The excursion will be nothing short of fun, engaging and exciting for our Year 1 cohort!

Sasha Hemsworth

From the Deputy Principal Year 3-5

All Thy Might Awards

I had the pleasure and privilege to hand out the All thy Might Awards to the Year 5s during the week.

These awards are given to students who have achieved excellent effort and behaviour results on their semester 1 report cards across all subject areas.

I always tell the Year 3 to 5 students that these are the most important awards because we may not all get As for academic achievement but we can always work hard and follow the school rules.

Well done to below students in Years 3-5 on your fantastic behaviour and effort in.

Years 3, 4 and 5 All Thy Might Award Winners

Year 5

In Visual Art with Ms Kingston, Year 5 students have been working on sensitive watercolour pencil drawings to illustrate Dorothea Mackellar’s poem ‘My Country’. They have honoured her words and beautifully captured our sweeping plains, jewel seas, and rugged mountain ranges. Well done, Year 5!

Year 4

Last week the students in 4S had to analyse and interpret shapes used in logos and designs. Each student had the opportunity to design a logo for Book week 2025.

Year 3 Physical Education

This term the Year 3s have been working on developing their catching and throwing skills using different shaped balls and then adapting and applying these skills along with game strategy in a game of End Zone.

These skills can be further developed at home by going at outside and passing and catching.

https://www.thephysicaleducator.com/games/endzones

Allan Tharenou

Year 4 Logo for Book Week 2025

Artwork by Toleen and Allison (5M), Suri and Nora (5FA), Ariana (5FE), and Leo and Adrian (5G).

From The Administration Team

Father's Day & R U OK? Day

Happy Father’s Day to all the wonderful dads in our KGSC community. We hope you enjoy a well-deserved break and get spoilt on Sunday, 7 September. Don’t forget, R U OK? Day is on Thursday, 11 September a simple check in with a child, friend, colleague or loved one can make a big difference. For support and resources, head to SchoolTV via the KGSC website. 

The Great Book Swap

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation works to provide books to babies and toddlers, mothers and school students who live in remote communities. This year the Indigenous literacy foundation aims to raise $300,000 to buy 30,000 new books for First Nations peoples living in remote areas.

To support this great cause, we will be running our annual Great Book Swap. You can help by donating books you no longer need for our book sale. Each book will earn you a point for your house, and books can be brought to the Junior School library until Friday Week 9.

The book sale itself runs from Wednesday to Friday of Week 10, with classes being taken up by either their classroom teacher or by Ms Parslow in library lesson time. Books will be on sale for $1 per book!

Raising Awareness for MEF2C Haploinsufficiency Syndrome (MCHS)

Eve and Finn are twins in Year 5 in our Junior School. Their 4 year old sister, Thea, has an extremely rare genetic condition called MEF2C Haploinsufficiency Syndrome (MCHS), which severely impacts her neurological and physical development.

To raise awareness of Thea’s condition and fund research into MCHS, Eve and Finn will be running the Bridge to Brisbane (10km) on 14 September 2025.

Finn and Eve’s family, together with the parents of another “Mefty” (the affectionate nickname for those with MCHS), established the MEF2C Foundation Australia, a registered charity focused on raising awareness, building community, and supporting research into MCHS. They also started the Mefties Run Club to promote running for the cause.

Eve and Finn will be running with their whole family including Thea, who’ll be joining in her pram.

Eve and Finn hope their run will help share Thea’s story with the communities they are part of, and they are so grateful for your support!

How our Junior School can support Eve, Finn and Thea:

Donate and support their run:

GoFundMe-Finn & Eve's Bridge to Brisbane Run

Learn more about MCHS and the Foundation:

MEF2C 

Follow the journey:

@meftiesrunclub on Instagram

Best Regards,

Anna & Janice 

From the P & C Association

🌟 P&C News & Updates 🌟

📦 SUBShop Update

We’ve had a few uniform deliveries go missing when sent directly to classrooms, so from now on online orders will no longer be delivered to JS classrooms. This way, we can make sure your items get to you safely, they can now be collected from the SUBshop, thank you for your understanding!

Back to school uniform fittings

If you want to get a head start on 2026 back to school, we have opened up the uniform fitting appointments, added in some late-night trading and an early bird discount!

🛍️ SUBshop Regular hours: Mon, Wed & Fri 8am–2pm | Tue & Thu 8am–11am
🌙 Late night trading: Mondays 3, 10 & 17 Nov until 6pm
🎉 Special offer: 5% off all full-priced uniform items (3–17 Nov)
📅 Holiday closure: 11 Dec – 18 Jan
🛍️ January trading hours: Extra days available for fittings, book now via SOBS to avoid the rush!

🌟 Big News from OSHC!
We’re thrilled to welcome Allie back as Service Manager after her maternity leave 🎉. The kids (and staff!) are so excited to see her smiling face again. A huge thank you to Tristan for leading the service over the past 12 months, your energy and care have been so appreciated.

🎬 Trivia Night – 23 August
The Junior School P&C is rolling out the red carpet for a night of Hollywood glamour and trivia fun! Grab your crew, channel your inner movie star, and get ready for laughs, surprises, and maybe even trivia fame. Tickets are selling fast — don’t miss out!

🌼 Spring Vacation Care
The Spring 2025 Vacation Care Program is finalised! Bookings open 7am, Monday 25 August, be quick to secure your spot.