GRAPEVINE
“When snow falls, nature listens.”
— Antoinette van Kleeff
spoke during the assembly, and the Class 4 students recited ‘Somebody’s Land’ by Adam Goodes and
Ellie Liang. While everyone sang ‘The river is flowing the students, led by Year 11s and 12s, placed origami representations of local plants, animals, and canoes that they had made with Year 12 student Saskia’s help. All students presented and participated exceptionally well, and the whole group created the perfect tone for the event.
Aunty Angela expressed that she was deeply moved by the occasion and extremely impressed with how the students conducted themselves and the respect and reverence they brought. Everyone should be extremely proud of their contributions to the assembly, which made it an occasion with such a positive impact.
Our teachers have expressed their gratitude to parents for the conversations at the interviews last week. It is an important part of our education that students know that there is a team of people with their best interests at heart.
This week, we again welcome Melanie Deefholts from ‘Developing the Self, Developing the World’. Melanie will be working with Classes 4-12 at school, and with parents in evening sessions, around healthy relationships with self and others, growing up, gender, and sexuality. She does this in an ageappropriate way with students and is a fabulous resource for parents. We hope you are/were able to attend these events.
2025 Parent Survey – Thank you to those who have completed the 2025 survey. The link has been resent this week, and we hope to reach a 75% response rate. The more parents we hear from, the more useful the data is for planning.
Finally, congratulations to all the students who competed in the Division cross-country, and to the 11 secondary students and 14 primary students who are going through to the Hume Region finals. This is a wonderful effort. It takes grit and determination to run for a distance, no matter who you are or how fast you go.
Warm regards,
Glenn Hood | PRINCIPAL
MORNING STAR Sandi Valerio
Morning Star children have enjoyed the late colouring of the trees as Autumn has now ended. We have sung songs of windy autumn days, sun warming us as we play under the Autumn trees, and little gnomes that work hard underground bringing the crystals to their king. The colours we have painted with have become rich, golds and reds as the leaves and sky have been in nature. We had a wonderful day with Aunty Angela last week and enjoyed the story of how the birds became coloured. The week finished with our first visit to the Prep room for reconciliation week. The kinder children made necklaces to take as gifts as we visited our neighbours and we received a gift in return, a lovely hand folded boat from our neighbours, the preps. King Winter now has arrived, we look forward to seeing what stories he may bring to us as we move towards our Winter festival.
ROSA MUNDI Jack Finegan
The Rosa Mundi young people are getting ready to welcome king winter into our routine. Staying warm inside by the fire each morning whilst we sing of the changing weather. We have spent the days keeping our hands busy making library bags, folding origami canoes and making combusta-bricks from recycled newspaper to help light our fire each morning. Outside we are turning over our garden beds and creating mountains in the sand pit, moving our body’s and keeping warm through physical activity.
CLASS 1 Samantha Charlotte
Class 1 have counted and grouped their way through the land of numbers, where they encountered Achmed, a Syrian trader on his way to Europe through India with his camels in tow. They learned about adding, giving, losing, giving away and sharing by hearing stories about Achmed’s experiences with cheeky monkeys, people who needed help and magical camels who complained about loads that were far too heavy! Students used pebbles and gems to grasp mathematical concepts, and enjoyed jumping down the extra large number line that has taken up residence on our classroom floor. Class 1 were solemn and respectful during the Reconciliation Action Week assembly, and all reflected that they enjoyed the singing and canoe placement. This week, we begin our Letters to Texts Main Lesson, wherein students return to the magical bushland to encounter animalthemed fairytales. They will be working on developing a deeper understanding of how we use language in different ways, including writing and reading. They will also be learning and preparing to perform in our class play, (24/6 at 4pm)!
CLASS 2 Liz Morrell
This term, Class 2 has journeyed deep into the imaginative realm of the Celtic story, The King of Ireland’s Son, preparing a class play that brings story, speech, and movement together in a living, artistic way. Each child has had the opportunity to step into character and speak with clarity and presence. The students have contributed to transforming the classroom into a mini theatre through painting sets, choosing props, and learning simple gestures and movement. The Class Play is a pedagogical tool that supports the growing child in many aspects of their development. The students move from imitation to expression; developing confidence, memory, rhythm, and cooperation. Speech work strengthens breath and articulation. The students have observed and been part of a shared artistic process with Leith bringing the dance, Danielle and High School students supporting with music and three Class 6 buddies included in the drama! The process of working toward a performance is such a learning experience for every child.
CLASS 3 Amy Burns
Class 3 have been exploring many ways of measuring time, from sundials to candle clocks, in the stars and in the phases of the moon, in the changing seasons and nature around them, as well as by reading clocks and calendars. They’ve acted as the hands and numbers on a giant classroom-sized clock to learn the role of the three brothers who live on the clock face: the hour-hand, the minute-hand and the second-hand, and have practiced using the terms ‘past’, ‘to’, ‘quarter’ and ‘half’ to describe what the time is. To finish this Main Lesson, students have begun work on a special project: a full year calendar!
CLASS 4 Julie Beer
Class 4 are now deep in rehearsal for our class play, largely written by the students, but we also took time out for a wonderful excursion to Gooram Falls. Guided by Daniel Kelton, we hunted for bush tucker and did lots of rock hopping. The excursion was topped off with a quick stop for lunch at Polly Mcquinns, followed by boomerang throwing at Strathbogie Reserve.
CLASS 5 Lou Pullar
Class 5 shared a magnificent Indian feast with family and friends last Thursday night before giving a wonderful performance of their play, Eklavya’s Sacrifice. The story is from the Mahabharata, an Indian epic told for thousands of years, about the rivalry of the Pandava and Kaurava families. We started with a basic script and the students added characters and dialogue to enliven the scenes and create additional parts, so that every student could act and help tell the story. Thank you to Abhi and Supriya who came in and assisted us with cultural elements and costumes as well as teaching us several mantras, which the students sang beautifully. Also to the Class 5 community for an incredible feast of delicious Indian food. Time is a river and this week our journey through ancient lands continues in Persia where we are hearing stories of good versus evil. The short Main Lesson has a literary focus as we learn about figurative devices like metaphors and similes such as Jemshid’s golden dagger and golden seal which represent tools from the beginnings of agriculture and irrigation. Innovations that helped Ancient Persian civilisation prosper.
CLASS 6 Clare Bennetts
Class 6 are learning about the life of the ancient Romans. So far, we have studied their engineering, especially the keystone of the arches, the integral component of Roman architecture that held up bridges, aqueducts, bath houses, amphitheaters and other quintessential Roman structures that spread across Europe 2000 years ago. We are now looking at how the empire spread; the superior logistics of their army, their leadership and government structures and their ability to take ideas from other countries and improve upon them. Many controversial and heated debates have come from discussing their patriarchal society. We look forward to projects being presented in Week 8!
YEAR 7 KATE HOOD
This Main Lesson started with an overarching idea of The Land of Life Processes where all systems attempt to work seamlessly together to create a land of harmony, growth, sense and efficiency. We studied the connection between respiring plants and respiring humans through learning about our lungs, heart, and introducing photosynthesis. Linking ideas of whole systems allowed us to introduce male and female reproductive systems, the ovulation cycle, and fetus growth and development. Students also unpacked their understanding of what constitutes wellbeing and then audited a week of their life, collecting data on exercise, sleep, screentime, mood, food intake, rest/downtime, and overall energy levels. This was an observational task, and the students compared their information with World Health Organization recommendations.
YEAR 8 Dion Hall
In this Main Lesson, students had the opportunity to deepen their understanding of how the body’s organs work together in harmony to respond to the world around them and sustain life. They began by examining our key sense organs of the eye and the ear and how their structure and function relate to the nature of sound and light. Along the way we explored stories like Helen Keller overcoming the loss of both sight and hearing at a young age, and conducted experiments into the nature of homeostasis and how our heart rate naturally stabilises post exercise.
YEAR 9 BRIONY DAVENPORT
There was a delayed start to for our new Main Lesson on Trigonometry, due to extensive illness in the group post the canoe trip. Despite this, we have now made a start on this ancient branch of mathematics, dating back over five thousand years, with applications in astronomy, navigation, and surveying. Students are refining their grasp of Pythagoras’ Theorem and have just been introduced to trigonometric ratios: sine, cosine and tangent. They are learning to apply these ratios to calculate unknown sides and angles in right-angled triangles, often chanting the mnemonic ‘SOH CAH TOA’. To wrap up the unit, students will construct a simple theodolite and use it to measure the heights of trees and buildings around the school grounds.”
YEAR 10 NICHOLAS KOSCHITZKE
In their Media Arts Main Lesson, Year 10 have been tasked with creating a shadow puppetry performance using folk tales from Japan and Siberia. Through this process has been a lot of designing and making of people, houses, animals and fairies and then engineering them to make limbs move and characters come to life. These stories will be presented to the primary school and are sure to entertain and delight.
YEAR 7 ART
Charlotte Dayman
MUSIC Celeste Cleason
In art, Year 7 students have been learning how to draw using the laws of one and two-point perspective. We began by learning about the horizon line and vanishing points, drawing cubes at, above and below the horizon line to show how the direction of the form changes based on where the object is placed in relation to the horizon line. Students have been using 2-point perspective to draw exterior buildings, with a focus on early Renaissance architecture.
Over the course of this term, IB Music students have been performing solo during secondary assembly. These beginning performances will eventually form part of their IB Presenting Music portfolio which requires students to submit 12 minutes of recorded performance with a focus on diversity of musical styles. So far, we have heard a Josef Suk violin piece, Leonard Bernstein’s America on piano, virtuoso guitarist Joe Satriani’s Midnight and a fingerstyle guitar version of musical theatre piece from Dear Evan Hansen. The students are honing their performance skills and developing deeper musical expression through their growing understanding of compositional devices and performance techniques. We are looking forward to hearing many more performances in the future.
PRIMARY CROSSC OUTRY
Amy Jewson
On 16 May, 19 determined primary students from MRSSK qualified for the Division Cross Country event in Yea, with 17 making it to the start line. The challenging course, filled with hills and sharp turns, pushed each runner to give their absolute best—many achieving personal milestones in endurance and perseverance. The morning was brisk, with students huddled under shelter and blankets, bracing against the chill before their races. Despite the cold, the spirit of sportsmanship and camaraderie was strong. One of the most inspiring aspects of the day was seeing MRSSK students cheering not only for their teammates but also for competitors from other schools, exemplifying the true essence of sportsmanship. A remarkable 12 runners from MRSSK qualified for the Regional event in Benalla—a fantastic achievement that reflects their effort and determination. Congratulations to all participants, and best of luck to those running in Benalla on June 15th.
COMMUNITY NOTICES
HELEN HAINES MP
I’m bringing my Mobile Office to Mansfield this Friday. I see it as an important part of my work to help the people in our communities with Federal government matters.
On Friday, 6 June I will be at Alex Pullin Stadium, 25 View Street Mansfield, from 3:30pm until 4:15pm.
I would be pleased to help you with:
• any issues you have with Commonwealth services, such as Medicare, Centrelink, NDIS, pensions and visas
• supporting grants for community projects
I’d also like to hear what issues are on your mind. As I make plans for representing Indi in the new term of Parliament, your ideas and concerns will help shape my work. Please RSVP via Humanitix. If you can’t make it, please email helen.haines.mp@aph.gov.au or call my office. I want to hear what’s important to you. Yours faithfully, Helen Haines MP Independent Federal Member for Indi
YEAR 11&12
Saskia Schultz
SECONDARY CROSSC OUTRY
Nicholas Koschitzke
Last Friday, 18 athletes from our secondary school took on the challenge of the Southern Ranges Cross Country in Yea. The day started off foggy and looked to be a cold and miserable event, but by the time we arrived at the course the sun was shining and everyone was ready to race. Unlike last year, the track was dry and very few puddles were to be seen. For the smallest school at the event, we certainly stamped our mark as fit and competitive, with 11 out of our 18 runners making it through to Hume and all runners represented our school fantastically. Congratulations to Jack, Jasper, Ben, Lexie, Ruby, Annella, Scarlet, Jarom, Colton, Declan, and Tom on their success and stay tuned for hopefully another positive report.
Last week, in preparation for the whole school Reconciliation Assembly, the secondary students each spent time making origami that was assigned by class. The Year 7s were chosen to fold a kestrel, known as Yugop in our local Taungurung tongue. The Year 8s folded water herons, known as Durdabul. The Year 9s folded the native river flower, floating primrose-willows, Wurniit bembit. The Year 10s did Sparrow hawks, Barriyt and the IB students made small fish, known as Dali. This collaborative paper craft was intended as an offering on our artistic rendition of the Delatite river, part of our gift for Auntie Angela a local Indigenous elder. The process of finding indigenous flora and fauna and their corresponding names enables us to grow our connection to the Taungurung land and language in a different way, learning from indigenous history while being present and connected to the land now.
Aria’s poem Dream Drawala (wild waters) that was shared at the close of assembly brought together and helped us share this growing understanding together aloud.
Willow and Will’s leading of the Mabo Day Assembly to close the week afforded an opportunity to connect with our shared national history and a local story about Wappan Station’s Ann Fraser Bon.
