Primaries The Primary school of De La Salle is a unique educational setting. Three mid to upper primary level classes are part of a large Catholic secondary college. This gives students many opportunities to do things they could not do in other primary school settings. Students begin their day with a religious education focus, followed by literacy and numeracy activities. The three classes present different areas of integrated curriculum which connect learning with life, and give students opportunities to work with different groups, at different levels. All classes attend the Fishbowl weekly for the “Mathletics” program, and participate in a variety of activities in the College library. Students are involved in weekly Music lessons, Drama, Art, Italian, Physical Education and French lessons. The “Rock and Water” program presented by Mr David Hale gives students skills in self-reliance and relationships. A highlight for the primaries has been the annual Year 5 “rocket program”, which culminates in a special day at Caulfield Racecourse, where students see their rocket launched by Mr Curran. Year 6 use the Arts and Technology facilities for woodwork and acrylics with Mr Tony
Havelock. After reading the text Time Flies Year 6 visited Canterbury Primary school, where the book was based. They were taken on a heritage tour of the school. They also attended the Stonnington Council’s tree planting day in East Malvern with Mr Troy Potter. Regular Primary assemblies were an opportunity to promote the success of different students in varied activities, and detail whole school events. All Primary staff continue to attend relevant Professional Development sessions during the year
to keep upto-date with the latest developments in curriculum The Primary classes took on the role of sponsoring a puppy from the Seeing Eye Dogs Australia program. This was a great example of promoting the Lasallian spirit in the wider community. Mr Tim Curran has continued to organise a high quality sports program. A highlight has been the round-robin days with Catholic primary schools in netball, soccer and T–ball. The senior netball team won the final at the netball round-robin in August. 16
Primary students participated in the College’s cross country and the annual swimming and athletics carnivals. Inter-school sport has given students an opportunity to participate in team games against Catholic primary schools in the region. In athletics, students had the opportunity to participate in different events at different levels. The three classes had a fantastic opportunity for outdoor learning in attending their annual camps in varied locations — Grade 6 (Jan Juc), Grade 5 (Yallourn) and Grade 4 (Phillip Island). We thank the Outdoor Education staff, Mr David Alexander, Mr Dave Ferguson, and assistant Mr Tyson Parker, for organizing challenging and creative camps. I would like to thank all staff associated with the Primary team for their expertise and creative teaching. The AFL trainees, Mr Stephen Muller and Mr Ben Humphrey, have been a great support to the primary sports program . I must thank Mr Tim Curran (Year 5) and Mr Terry Atkins (Year 4) for their support and participation in developing and promoting strong Lasallian values in the Primary classes in 2009. Mr Ray Leetham Grade 6 Class Teacher/Primary Coordinator
