Until recently I had never heard of the blanket octopus. It appeared in a news story where two local fishermen noticed one in the waters off the Yorke Peninsula. It was last reported to be seen in South Australian waters almost 30 years ago, so this was a rare sighting. To start with, the fisherman thought it was rubbish, a plastic bag floating in the water, but something made them look more closely and when they noticed the unique creature, they filmed the rare encounter.  

Intrigued, I researched the blanket octopus and discovered that it is usually found in tropical or sub-tropical waters. It is very rare and elusive, so there is not a lot known about the creature, but I found a few interesting facts online. 

• The female blanket octopus can grow up to two metres in length.  
• The blanket octopus is carnivorous, with a diet that consists mostly of smaller fish. It has an unusual method of hunting prey - it uses a tentacle ripped from toxic jellyfish as a weapon.  
• They live for 3-5 years and spend their lives floating in the open ocean.
• They swoop into deeper waters when threatened, their “blanket” or cape flowing behind them, making them appear larger and giving them a fast escape from predators.  

(Source: https://www.barrierreef.org/the-reef/animals/blanket-octopus) 

What an amazing creator God we have! When I heard about his amazing creature, my curiosity was piqued, and I was eager to find out more.  

Curiosity is the spark that ignites our desire to learn. It leads us to ask questions, seek answers, and open doors to new worlds of knowledge and experience. The joy of learning new things lies in the thrill of discovery and the satisfaction of gaining new knowledge. 

Yesterday and today, we welcomed parents into classrooms for our annual parent interviews. It is exciting to have the opportunity to share with parents the learning that is happening for our students. As you visited the classrooms and saw the evidence of learning I hope that your curiosity was ignited and that you were able to ask questions of your child and learn from them some of the things that they have been doing in class this year.  

It is exciting to see each of our students are on their own learning journey, one filled with amazing discoveries. I hope that as you spend time with your children this week, you find ways to ignite curiosity together - wherever you can find it.