What an amazingly busy Term 2 we have had this year! In the last week of term we had our annual Winter solstice Evening and it was great to see so many from our community relaxing, socialising and sharing stories over sausages, soup and hot chocolate. Our students were also very excited about their part in the evening as part of our lantern parade or in one of the musical performances.  It was a reminder again about eh fantastic community atmosphere we have here at Pender's. 

Some other highlights of the term were:

• fantastic inquiry units on "Living Things" that culminated in some wonderful parent presentations and community actions
• completion of our 4 yearly school review which gave us some terrific feedback on the school and also lots of ideas about where to head next
• preparation for a visit from a group of our Vietnamese Sister School students in July/August this year.
  
• annual whole school Italian Day held at the Venuti Club in Bulleen
  
• a visit and performance from Thornbury high School's senior stage band
  
• rehearsals and preparation for our participation in Thornbury High School's musical "Seussical" in early Term 3
  

A reminder too that NAIDOC Week falls during the school holidays and we would encourage you to participate in some of the many activities and events that are held to celebrate.   For some ideas have  a look at http://www.naidoc.org.au/
We hope you all have a restful holiday and we look forward to seeing you all back on Tuesday July 17th.  

What a great start to 2018 we have had here at Pender's!  Students' Inquiry presentations to families in the last week of term were a fantastic way to finish the term off and show parents and carers all of the fabulous inquiry learning students did this term. 

Some of the other highlights of the term were:

• Weekly Footsteps Dance  lessons that culminated in our end of term family dance presentation
• Our 41 brilliant new Foundation students starting school and so quickly becoming a fantastic addition to our Pender's Grove community.
  
• Completion of most of our end of 2017 school accessibility improvements
  
• Regular visits from our friends at Thornbury Kindergarten
  
• Good attendance at our 2019 Foundation experience program (pen afternoons and storytime sessions)
  
• Fantastic community support for our Batman By-Election polling booth food stalls
  
• Grade 3-6 Taskworks excursion to support the 3-6 Physical Science inquiry unit
  

We hope everyone had a great holiday and are looking forward to an even busier Term 2!

We can't believe that 2017 is nearly over - what a year it has been! Some of the amazing highlights for us had to be:

• tremendous learning across the school in all areas but in particular, the amazing curiosity that our students demonstrated in their Inquiry Units each term
• our whole school Italian Day excursion to the Venuti Club in Bulleen
• the Term 3 Writers' Festival including author visits and the publication of a whole school book
• wonderful efforts demonstrated by our students in sporting activities such as the Term 4 interschool Triathlon, circus skills program and the basketball round robin
• visits throughout the year by our local kinders and child care centres that develop tremendous relationships between students, carers and staff
• formalising of our sister school relationship with Doan Thi Diem School in Hanoi
• involvement of our Year 2-6 students in our 3 camps across the year
• major works in our school yard that will assist with accessibility and help us to be more SunSmart.
• further development of our Instrumental Music Program and another successful end of the year Soiree showcasing our students tremendous musical talents
• our fantastic community events organised by our community Events committee - the Kris Kringle Market, Monday Garden Parties and Winter Solstice Festival 

Thanks to everyone that has contributed to our amazing students' education this year and for making Pender's Grove Primary such a lovely place to be a part of.

Please note that if you interested in your child starting at Pender's in Foundation in 2018 our Foundation Experience program is on again in Term 1 2017. Please check out details on our Enrolment Information page.  If you are new to the area and are interested in a 2017 enrolment please email the school (via Contact Us) prior to the start of the 2017 school year.

Have safe and restful holiday and we will see you all in 2018!

What a busy term it was here at Pender's!  So much excitement with our bi-annual Writer's Festival where we were had a visit from author Sue Lawson who discussed her writing process, her books and ways in which we could all improve our own writing.  Combined with this was our yearly celebration of Book Week where students participated in a range of activities across the week culminating in our Book Parade in the hall with parents and carers.  Students had made their book week costumes and presentations as part of our weekly cross age programs.  

Another highlight of the term was our Grade 3/4 camp.  In early September 55 intrepid campers including staff and parents headed off for three days in beautiful (but chilly!) Marysville.  They participated a huge range of activities including the opes course, bike riding, cooking and the amazing rock climbing and abseiling walls!  

A fantastic result for the school was the increasing of our Out of School Care program to 45 places each day.  We have been working toward this over the last few months and it was great that our families will see the benefit of these extra places this year.  

Of course the classroom learning was, as always amazing!  Inquiry units focussing on Australian history (Grade 3-6) and the people who help us (Grade F-2) saw students present some fantastic work that was shared with other students and families at the culmination of the units.  

Term 3 also saw the start of Spring and our beautiful gardens are looking better every year and are greatly enjoyed by our students and community.  This year saw the  start of our weekly garden party on Monday afternoon.  A number of students and their families attend each Monday after assembly and undertake work in our gardens - planting, pruning, sweeping, planning new designs all whilst sharing delicious afternoon tea!  It's yet another wonderful example of the tremendous sense of community we have here at Pender's!

We are looking forward to an even bigger and better Term 4!

What a fantastically busy Term 2 we have had!  We have seen wonderful learning in classes with inquiry units focussed on Earth Science, plants and growing.  This was a wonderful fit for our inaugral mid winter Solstice Festival last week which saw a huge number of our families and students here at the school on Friday evening sharing soups and a BBQ and also participating in a spectacular lantern parade where much of the work creating lanterns was done as part of our weekly cross age activities.  Our inquiry unit in the F-2 Area also saw students planting in our new planter boxes in the playground with the help of our friends from Northland Bunnings.

We also saw the offical signing of our Memoradnum of Understanding with our new sister school, Doan Thi Diem Primary School in Hanoi.  We were honoured and delighted to have Mrs Hien and Mr Nguyen visit us at the school as part of the process. 

We have also seen a number of improvements works take place at th school over the term.  Paitning of our Specilist building is almost complete and we will also see our front fence gain a new coat of paint over the holidays. 

Two weeks ago it was great to see our whole school participate in a full day excursion to the Venuto club in Bulleen for our yearly Italian Day. Students spent the day cooking, dancing and playing and it is lovely to be part of  school community where our size means that we can take all of our students out together for a day! 

Thanks to all of our students and families for a wonderful term of learning and community and we wish you all a happy holiday!

School starts again for Term 3 on Monday July 17th!

Our grade 3-6 Area have been doing some amazing work this term as part of their Earth Sceince Inquiry Unit.  See below for some fantastic images of Earth models and also some amazing reseach work done via the use of QR codes!