Hello everyone,

It’s been another huge week in preschool with lots happening.

On Tuesday, we had our second orientation for new families joining us in 2025. The current preschool children were keen to perform for families, showing them the moves from this year’s concert and demonstrating what keen gymnasts they are.

A huge thank you to everyone for taking time out of your day and joining the children for the Annual Preschool Afternoon Tea on Thursday afternoon. It’s a really special event, and we were very proud of the children. They did an amazing job in organising the event, deciding what we should cook, making the food and, most importantly, greeting and looking after their loved ones. It was just gorgeous to see how excited and happy they were to serve their guests the fruits of their labour. They were all so patient in making sure their people were well taken care of before having something for themselves.

We had our last visit to Lane Cove Library on Wednesday; it was a lovely opportunity for the children to thank Chris, the librarian, for sharing stories with us this year. In addition to this, we had a whole school fire evacuation with the preschoolers quickly and competently assembling and leaving the school in record time!

Everyone who has a child making their transition to primary school next year has had a transition to school document completed. A copy of these has been sent to the schools’ children are attending, with a copy also placed on Storypark. If you haven’t already, please take the time to read your child’s document.

Lastly, thank you to Yukt’s family for the donation of lots of different things, thank you to the washing fairies and Luke Meakin, parent of Sienna, Zara and Eva in primary, for coming in regularly in the morning to blow and clean up the leaf litter around the school.

Love

Katrina, Lisa and Abi.

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Hi all,

The children loved our Aquarium visit, particularly the free play in the water park afterwards. Thanks to those that could make it and help out with supervision.

Thursday was another fun day with our morning at the pool and then playing in the park at pottery green oval.

This coming Monday will be orientation morning, where the children will begin to see their class for next year. They will meet their new peers and spend time with their new teacher.

Tuesday is beach day – buses will take us to Chinamans Beach. The children will need usual beach attire, lots of suncreen and wide brimmed hats. We will back to school for normal pick up time.

Wednesday will be our movie day, the children are free to dress up in pyjamas or anything they like. If you wanted to send some shared snacks in, please remember to check they are Nut Free (no traces).

Kind regards,

Vinnie

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Dear parents,

This week, we completed our reading and spelling program for the year. We also wrapped up our work on telling time, including learning about quarter past and quarter to the hour, and for some children, time to the minute.

Tuesday marked our final swimming session for the year, which we celebrated with an icy pole at Pottery Green. It was a beautiful afternoon spent enjoying free play and quality time with our friends from Amelia’s class.

The older children did a fantastic job presenting their final PIPs this week, and it was wonderful to reflect on the progress they’ve made since their first try in term 1. It was also a lot of fun watching the younger children share their first GIP about ‘Australian Birds’ with the group. I hope everyone had the chance to see a repeat demonstration at home using the slides I shared.

Monday will include an orientation morning when everyone will have a little bit of time with their group for next year. We’ll also reveal our Kris Kringles and exchange gifts. If you haven’t already left a wrapped gift at school, please make sure it comes on Monday morning.

On Monday afternoon, Ali (Janan’s dad) will be teaching the children all about construction and how the way buildings and architecture can be related to our very own brilliant bodies.

There has been a lot of clay and mud play happening in the playground this week. Beautiful, messy, child-led, multiage play. Such a gorgeous way to finish the year (and we can always let the rain clean it up over the summer break…)

Wishing you a lovely weekend, and I’ll see you all next week for our last few days together.

Jess

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Hi everyone,

The year has almost come to an end, so this week, we wrapped up most of our learning. We completed our phonics program and finished off time by looking at quarter past and quarter to. The children also presented their final PIP for the year, and the junior children showcased their first GIP as a whole group.

We also celebrated our final swimming session with ice blocks at Pottery Green and enjoyed a beautiful run around and play in the sun, along with Jess’ class.

Next Monday, the children will get to enjoy the morning session with their new class group for next year and get to know their classroom teacher and classroom space.

In the afternoon, our class will be sharing their Kris Kringle gifts with one another. If your child’s gifts have not been brought in yet, make sure they are wrapped and ready and brought in on Monday morning!

Please check your emails for more details about Beach Day happening on Tuesday 17th Dec. If you would like to support the class on the journey there and back please email me and we will travel on the bus there together. If you would like to join us at the beach you are more than welcome to meet us there!

Amelia

 

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Hi Everyone,

Short n sweet: Thankyou’s to Meg (teacher) and Sarah D for looking after the group while I was away for a few days this week. Thankyou also to Jennifer (Lexi’s mum) for supporting the children at the pool on Tuesday. Sounds like the days ran mostly smoothly. This week our group were joined by some of Wendy’s who didn’t go to Jervis Bay camp. They were given a list of things to go on with but they also joined in the planned activities. We had our final visit to the library, our final visit to the pool and our final lessons in Drama and Spanish. Reports from the above said teachers and children were that project presentations went really well with all but 1 presentation complete. I was sorry to have missed them. We had a lovely day on Thursday, card making. We talked about the gift of giving and looked at different ways to make cards.

Our final days next week will start on Monday with orientation morning. The school will welcome Meg Shaw as our new teacher (replacing Vinnie) along with some new families and children joining the school too. Tuesday we go to the beach for the day and will travel there and back on buses. Obviously, children will need all the usual sun, sea, sand and beach gear including a wide brimmed hat!!

A reminder regarding Kris Kringle gifts: These need to be in for Wednesday, 18th which is our last day together. The children have voted to go up the street to buy their lunch on this day and watch a movie. We will probably watch the Percy Jackson movie voted on for camp as we didn’t get to watch it due to the lack of internet on the farm.

There will be 1 final newsletter entry next week so I will save my farewells till then.

Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday!

Love, Sarah

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Our camp at Jervis Bay this past week was just wonderful. The weather was superb, the children were all fabulous campers and the parent helpers were amazing. Thank you so much to you all. Special thanks to Susan for coming as the second teacher and working so hard all week.

Some of the highlights:

  • watching the children getting their tents set up and looking after themselves and their gear
  • walking along the beach at dusk on the first night
  • helping duty groups to produce great meals for the group
  • swimming in the pristine water of Jervis Bay at Greenpatch
  • children snorkeling and seeing some amazing fish
  • exploring the rock platform at Bristol Point
  • walking along the beach to the Hole in the Wall
  • meeting Bernie Macleod again, Aboriginal Cultural Practitioner, who has a company called Djungga Kultural Tours. We met him at the Botanical Gardens and learned about Aboriginal culture, bush food and medicine and some Indigenous history of the Jervis Bay area. We then met members of his family and made damper around a campfire on Wednesday night
  • the Thursday night ceremony with so many parents there, listening to each of the leavers presenting their symbols and saying their goodbyes
  • hearing the depth and strength of the connections between the children in the things they said to each other
  • saying goodbye in a circle after packing up our tent village, everyone tired but happy

Enjoy the photos. I hope they give a sense of the enormous impact on the children’s confidence, independence and sense of community of a camp like this. It is so very special.

Love,
Wendy

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My Time At Currambena

.~ Preschool ~.
I don’t really remember much about preschool as I was only about three when I started but I do remember becoming really good friends with Evie. Another thing I remember is that one time Lilith, Evie and I drew inside the little blue tent before packaway and got in big trouble and we weren’t allowed to pack away together and we all burst into tears and looking back on that it was really funny.
I do remember having Scarlett as a buddy and also I had Alice as my buddy, I don’t remember much else about my buddies. I’m sure I bossed them around a lot, but they were really fun. The only other thing I remember is having Katrina, Michael and Chris as my teachers. Whenever I would get dropped off at Preschool, my mum would give me to Michael and he would take me down to the swing to make me feel better. I also remember my mum used to babysit Michael after my mum went to Currambena.

.~Kindergarten~.
I also don’t remember too much about kindergarten but I did become good friends with Rose and stayed friends with Evie and a few other people.
Kindergarten was really fun, learning my ABCs and how to read and write and Jess was a really fun good teacher.

.~Year 1& 2.~
In year one I was in a class with the people I’m in a class with now, mostly which was really fun. We had Rosie as a teacher then she left. She was a really great teacher and we all still miss her. Then we had Vinny for a while then Charles came in. I remember sitting next to Lilith and Rose and waiting for Charles to tell us if we were moving up to year two in Sarah’s or not but we all stayed back together and we all fell backwards with laughter and happiness, it was really funny.
Then for year two I think we still had Charles and then Covid 19 hit and we had online classes with Charles then after we finished year two he left.

.~ Year 3~.
I remember a lot more about year three. We started learning how to do a lot more things in year three and we did gratitude everyday. I really enjoyed that and Sarah M. was a really great teacher, especially when we did online learning. Most of my year three was taken up by Covid but a little bit was at school and that was good too. I became better friends with Rose and Evie and a lot of other people.

.~Year 4~.
In year four I was good friends with Evie and Rose and started to be friends with Tt and Zali towards the end. I started to learn cursive and do year five maths which I enjoyed a lot. I don’t really remember much about year four but I went on my first camp which was fun, it was at Mowbray Park farm. My teacher was Leesa but she left so we had Vinnie for the rest of the time in year four.

.~Year 5~.

Year five was probably one of my favourite years. I became good friends with Josh, Zali, Evie, Kai and Tt.

I loved all the harder work and sharing desks with people. I shared a desk with Ewan, Cooper and Evie at the beginning of the year and then Cooper cut my textbook so me and Evie moved and shared it with Zali. So last year we had this thing called banana wars so basically someone started it by putting a rotten banana on Evie’s and my desk, then Evie passed it on to someone else and so on. When Evie, Zali and I shared a desk we did this thing called toilet where Zali would sit in the middle of Evie’s and my chairs and we would say it was a toilet.
At Jervis Bay, Evie and Tt started this show. No details are needed but myself and a few other people were the main characters and the rest of the class just sat around in chairs watching us. ( If you know, you know.)

.~Year Six~.
So this is my last year and it’s been pretty great so far. By the time my time at Currambena is in the newsletter I will have already been to Jervis Bay and I’m sure it’s gonna be great. I embraced my friendships more than ever. As I write this, we are starting to write the play and start the year six project. This year we had a really nice student teacher called Meg and she taught us how to play water polo not in the water though. I also am still great friends with Josh, Tt, Evie and Zali and I’ve started to become closer with Mabel, Ariel and Puffin too. I love everything about Currambena and thank you for everything everyone has done for me, especially my friends and teachers ( credits at the bottom.)

-Overall-
Overall Currambena was definitely the school for me and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I wouldn’t be the person I am today if not for Currambena, my friends, teachers, and I will remember it for years to come.
I appreciate everything and I was so blessed to go to Currambena and I don’t know how to properly describe in words how much I’m going to miss it all. This is random but honestly, I think, all up, I had Vinnie as a teacher for longer than any other teacher except maybe preschool but if you add it up, it’s a lot.

Credits to: Zali, Evie, Tt, Puffin, Emme, Mabel, Wendy, Sarah, Leesa, Rosie, Jess, Michael, Katrina, Vinnie and Chris . -Special mention – to my POOKIE’S Puffy Wuffy and Joshy Woshy and Joshy Yoshy and Tt Wheety and Zali Barley and Evie Beevy and Ariel Wariel and Kitty Witty and Mabel Babe and WENDY BENDY and Faith Weafer the Greek Goddess and Emme the Egg Sheeran and Eva Beever and I’d just like to thank Tt and Beyonce.

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Zali for Newsletter

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Hello everyone,

We are rapidly coming to the end of the preschool year, only 8 more preschool days left for 2024! The children seem to be relishing their last days together.

Performing, music and dance have been a big part of our preschool day since the start of the year. We have so many confident performers. During the week we were delighted to observe many of the children incorporating music and performing into their play. Wedding dramatic play has made a resurgence and on Thursday during morning meeting most of preschool was involved in an impromptu dance off.  Abi’s been supporting the children’s interest in music by providing afternoon acapella performances. It’s wonderful to see how uninhibited many of the children are, joyfully standing in front of the group and confidently performing.

We are all looking forward to the annual Thank You Afternoon Tea this coming Thursday. Thank you to everyone that RSVPed. We’ve spent the last couple of weeks rehearsing how to greet and serve guests. We’ve begun cooking up a storm as well.

We sadly said goodbye to Anna on Friday as she finished in her position as Diploma trained Assistant. Thanking her for all her efforts while she was with us.

We’re all gearing up for lots more fun and frivolity as we wrap up the 2024 preschool!

Love

Katrina, Lisa, Abi and Anna

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