Primary

                                                                   Mrs Leanne Schulz

Assistant Principal (Primary)

School Wide Positive Behaviour Support Framework 

At the beginning of a school year, teachers establish routines and processes so that students are very clear about expectations regarding learning and behaviour. Teachers focus on building positive relationships with students and developing a safe, supportive, and collaborative learning environment. A College initiative this year has been launching our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support Framework with the students. In the Primary school this involved explicit teaching focusing on the Positive Expectation Matrix which outlines the behaviours that we expect of all students. The Expectation Matrix is based on the College values and the three areas of Respect, Responsibility and Learning. 

More information regarding this framework will be emailed to families in the coming weeks.

KABOOM Incursion 

To celebrate our wonderful start to the school year, our House co-ordinator, Mrs Jamie Mariner, organised an incursion ‘KABOOM’ for Prep to Year 6 students to enjoy. This involved mixed teams of students rotating around an array of interesting and challenging tabloid events.

KABOOM by Mia P and Akshaj M (Primary School Captains)

On Thursday, 16 February, all Aitken College Primary students were fortunate enough to experience a joy filled "Kaboom Sports day".  Kaboom is a sports focus program where students participate in events such as mini golf, soccer targets, catapulting, fitness wheel, parachuting and many more. 

In the school Arena, an amusing yet challenging obstacle course of 12 posts/activities was set up. With Year 6 students leading groups, the younger students were guided, encouraged and supported  throughout these activities. All students had  a fantastic day away from the classroom. The Preps had a great start to their school journey getting involved in fun activities with all primary students. The lively atmosphere was full of excitement, delighted faces, smiles and laughter. Not only the students, it seemed like teachers had a blast too as dancing with teachers was some of the students' favourite warm-up activities. 

We are very thankful to all the Primary teachers for organising such an enjoyable event. To end a beautiful sunny day, zooper-doopers from Mrs Schulz was the "Cherry on the top". 

Wow, what a memorable day! 

Buddies

The buddy system helps to foster a nurturing environment where the older students care for the younger students, and students from different ages get to know each other. The Preps and Year 6 students had their first session with their buddy this week! It was very exciting for the students to work together and to begin forming positive relationships. Some of the Year 5 and Year 1 classes have also begun meeting their new buddies.

Fairview and Cumberland Chapel and Assembly 

Fairview Chapel and Assembly are held every Monday from 9.00am to 9.30am and Cumberland Chapel and Assembly are held every Monday from 10.00am to 10.30am. Parents are most welcome to join us. 

Term 1 Assembly Roster 

Parent Information Evenings

Thank you to all the families who joined us on Zoom for the Fairview and Cumberland Parent Information evenings. We had great numbers attend and hope you found the evenings informative.  

Here are some tips about using language that will help your child build independence and resilience. 

‘Language for Building Independence and developing resilience’ by Michael Grose (one of Australia’s leading parenting experts and educational writers)

‘Independence-building is vitally important for parents. It’s the pathway to children’s competency, confidence and creativity and the short cut to resilience and real learning. We’ve gradually retreated from this approach over recent generations much to our children’s detriment. It’s time to help kids reclaim their independence. Getting our language right is a good place to start as family change always begins with shared language.’ 

1. Goal: Independence 

“Never regularly do for a child the things a child can do for him or herself”  

2. Goal: Self-help 

 “Is this something you can do?” 

3. Goal: Contribution 

“Have you checked the help roster today?”  

4. Goal: Decision-making 

 “Which of these two would you prefer?” 

5. Goal: Problem-solving 

 “How can you make this happen?” 

6. Goal: Reliability 

“We rely on you to do this?”  

7. Goal: Self-sufficiency 

“What can you learn for next time?”  

8. Goal: Emotional intelligence 

“How do you feel about this?”  

9. Goal: Accountability 

“When you muck up, you make up?” 

10. Goal: Restoring relationships 

“How will you fix this?”  

11. Goal: Integrity 

 “You need to do what’s right, not what’s easy.”  

12.Goal: Positive risk-taking 

 “Let’s find a way to make this happen.”

Open Afternoons  

It was heart-warming to see the enthusiastic parents come to the Fairview Open afternoon to enjoy visiting the classrooms and socialising with teachers and other families. We had a very full house and many families also got to tour around the new Cumberland building including the shared Visual Arts, STEM, and Performing Arts specialist teaching spaces. 

We look forward to seeing Cumberland families attend the Cumberland Open Afternoon next Wednesday 1 March (3.15pm - 4pm). Details of the event will be sent to parents.

Reminders 

• Each child is required to have a named bottle of water at school. 
• When packing a lunch box, we encourage you to attempt to eliminate the need for any plastic wrappers around food. It is important to include healthy snacks, including fruit and vegetables, and avoid snacks high in sugar or salt. NUDE Food is a priority. 
• Your child must bring their hat to school every day otherwise they may have to miss out on playing. 
• It is also advised that your child bring a small tube/bottle of sunscreen. Please ensure that they have sunscreen on before they arrive to school. 
• It is also compulsory that hair is tied back, at all times. If the hair is long enough to be tied back, it must be tied in a bottle green or navy hair tie.  
• Prep and Year 1 children are required to bring a spare change of underwear, socks and trackpants/shorts (blue or green) to school.  
• Jewellery is not permitted, except for a small stud or sleeper. 
• Smart phones must not be used to communicate with parents during the school day; it is preferrable that Primary students do not wear a smart phone as they are expensive, and there is a temptation for students to ring parents rather than sort problems out at school (this does not help build independence or resilience). 
• If you plan to bring birthday treats to school for your child, speak to the Homeroom teacher before you prepare a treat. A bag of lollypops is sufficient so please do not prepare elaborate individual lolly bags or gifts for students as this creates a level of unwanted competition.

Mrs Natasha Radley (Head of Year Prep) 

The Prep students have spent the past three weeks settling in and establishing routines and friendships. They have been navigating their way through the classroom and playground and enjoyed using the brand new Art room for their lessons. Each student should be congratulated on such an amazing transition into school life. Prep is a huge step from Kinder. When you think about the size of Aitken College compared to kindergarten and how many other students are around, the children have been amazing and the teachers are so proud of them for trying their best. 

It is very common for children to come home and say they have done nothing all day. Rest assured, they have worked their little brains so hard all day with new learning, that by the time they get home they are too tired to think about it. You could start a conversation by asking your child about two new things they learnt or did, or start the conversation yourself by saying two things you did during the day. This can make the question less open-ended and result in more conversation.

The Prep team are looking forward to making new memories with the students for the rest of the year.

Mr Jevon Scandrett (Head of Year 1 & 2) 

Year 1 and Year 2 students have had a wonderful start to Term 1 2023! 

As a primary school, we have been looking at positive behaviour with the students by investigating how respect, responsibility and learning can contribute to create a constructive culture in and out of the classroom. 

Students have discussed what makes a great classmate and a great classroom, as well as respectful relationships and how to be a successful learner. Positive behaviour will continue to be a part of our classroom and school culture throughout the year. I encourage families to continue this dialogue at home with your children. Some questions you may ask your child could include:

• Tell me some ways that you were a good classmate today? 
• What was something interesting that you did today that you would like to tell us about? 
• What could you do tomorrow to be a good friend to someone in your class? 

Kaboom Tabloid Sports

As a celebration for a positive start to 2023, primary students were treated to a fun session of tabloid sports with Kaboom. Year 1 and Year 2 students enjoyed working in mixed aged groups and getting to know other students from across the year levels. 

Should you have any questions or concerns, your first point of call should always be your child’s classroom teacher followed by me as the Head of Year 1 and 2. 

I look forward to a wonderful term with students, staff and families! 

Mrs Anne Adams (Head of Year 3 & 4) 

We have hit the ground running in Cumberland with exploratory learning and special events like the Kaboom sports day. Congratulations to the Class Captains and Sustainability Leaders. I know that you will set an example for your year level. Here are some comments from some of our class leadership teams.

In Year 3 we are learning about comprehension in reading. We have been reading a text and then learning how to answer the questions. We try and find the answer in the text and then decide the answers from the choices we have. We are learning how to choose the right answer when we look at multiple choice answers. Leo O - 3W

We enjoyed Kaboom tabloid sports. I am in Cameron. The students dressed up and put their house colours in their hair. There were different sporting activities we could do. My favourite one was the catapult. Someone catapulted their fruit over the fence! Amelia O - 3W

My favourite activity from Kaboom tabloid sports was soccer. We had to kick the balls through the goals. I kicked six goals. Myron D - 3T 

I love Visual Art. We are decorating bags for our art smocks. Mine has a rock and roll theme. I drew an electric guitar and drew a lightening bolt through my name. I love rock and roll. My favourite song is ‘Barracuda’ by Rachel Bloom. Alia N - 3T 

I love Mathematics. We are learning about odd and even numbers. We sorted out the odd and even numbers and put them in order. 2,4,6,8,10 is even. 1,3,5,7,9 is odd. We have also been learning about addition and subtraction. Nikolai M - 3A

As Sustainability Leaders, Rian and I have to look after the environment. We need to take care of the litter. We will attend meetings and decide how to do this around the school. Charlotte M - 3A 

Year 4 

In Drama, we have been doing some miming games. We have been making shapes with our bodies. We are in small groups and make small machines. My favourite was when we made the popcorn machine. Emelia had to be the popcorn. Saige R - 4S

At Kaboom, we had a rainbow parachute with rubber chickens on it. We had to lift the parachute up to get the chickens to fall through the hole. I really enjoyed it. Jack J - 4S

In Mathematics we have been learning place value using MAB blocks to rename numbers. I made 4261 out of blocks. There are 4 thousands, 2 hundreds, 6 tens and 1 ones. Zynah J - 4R 

At Kaboom, the games were fun. In the warm-ups, the teachers had to dance. Mrs Touma was the best dancer. My favourite was the tennis paddles with the pom poms. We had to keep them in the air and hit them to my partner, Luca. Anirudh J - 4R 

In Integrated Studies, we are growing Mung beans. We put them in a jar, added cotton balls and water. We will watch them grow and will measure them. Ruby G - 4M 

At Kaboom, we moved around the activities. We played ‘Foxtail’. This is where you have to throw the ball and get it in the hoop. I got three in the hoop. Our group had all different ages. I helped the preps because they didn’t quite know what to do. Vinay K - 4M

Mr Nigel Keegan (Head of Year 5 & 6)

It is has been an exciting start to the year with so many brilliant experiences and opportunities already. Our incredible new building has certainly added to the excitement and offers so much potential for student learning - we love this new learning space! There has been much collaboration around positive classroom culture, expectations, and routines, and new areas of study are well underway. 

Friday sport is always a weekly highlight and we have completed our second round of the interschool sport competition with our teams already demonstrating great involvement, team spirit and sportsmanship. Year 6 students had their first session with their Prep Buddies which is always greatly anticipated. 

Our Year 5 students experienced the sights, sounds, and smells of early Colonial Life at Sovereign Hill this week. Students toured an underground mine, investigated stories of Gold Rush Migrants, made candles, did some old school bowling, ate too many hard-boiled lollies, and despite their best efforts panning for gold, there were no significant finds to report. However, some of our lucky students got to feel what approximately a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of gold feels like! 

If these first few weeks are an indication of the year ahead, we are in for a great one!

‘I liked how Sovereign Hill is set in the olden days and there is no technology.’ – Jordan B.

‘I loved the mine tour. It was scary but also a very awesome experience. l loved it!’ - Mason C.

‘I loved the whole experience but what I loved the most was the outfits, the horse carriages, and the shops! - Millie SB.

‘My favourite thing about Sovereign Hill was getting to see how things were in the olden days.’ – Lyla B.

‘I liked all the activities at Sovereign Hill, but my favourite activity was gold panning because I found gold!’ - Novak G.

‘All the activities were fun, but my favourite was when we got to learn about the miners in the 1850s.’ - Dana J.

‘I enjoyed the mine tour because it was really dark and fun, and the gold pour because they made a real gold bar.’ - Samarth S.

‘I enjoyed the whole experience because it was really fun and I was with my friends and because I learnt a lot of new things!’ - Yasodha SN.

‘I enjoyed the whole experience because I like candy apples and love old fashioned dresses, horses and also gold!’ - Stuti J.

Semester 1 Leadership Positions

Congratulations to the following students for being awarded a leadership position for Semester 1: 

SEMESTER 1 CLASS CAPTAINS

SEMESTER 1 SUSTAINABILITY LEADERS

LIBRARY MONITORS