Junior School update

Another busy two weeks have passed in the Junior School with our Year 3 and 5 students participating in the NAPLAN testing. We thank them for their hard work and positive approach to this challenging week. The excitement of the Junior School Showcase is definitely building, and we are looking forward to a wonderful evening of entertainment on Friday. Winter appears to have come early with some very chilly mornings. All students should now be in winter uniform and are reminded to wear navy socks or tights. Blazers should also be worn as the outermost garment to and from school.

JDC dismissal

In order to relieve some congestion at the Junior School gate, JDC students will now be dismissed at the main entrance of the JDC. Older siblings are asked to meet their sisters at the JDC. If this is not a convenient option, you may continue to collect your daughter/s from the gate. 

JDC Sustainability Inquiry

Students in the JDC have been busy learning about renewable energy sources and how we can become more sustainable by taking advantage of the Earth’s natural resources. Patrick Micelli, father of Lauren, reinforced to the students the importance of the 3Rs – reduce, reuse, recycle – through his presentation to students. With a focus on wind and solar energy, the girls then went on an adventure up to the third floor of Shelford, where they were able to see the School’s many solar panels. A collaborative project of planning and building a sustainable city is in the initial brainstorming stages, and the students made their own wind turbine, which will form the city’s wind farm. Like real engineers, the students needed to modify their wind turbine design, which proved to be an excellent lesson in problem solving and perseverance! We look forward to planning our city after guest speaker Maugan Bastone, father of Olive in Year 5, presents an overview of urban development.

Everything is matter!

During Science, Year 5 and 6 students have explored the states of matter this semester. They learnt about the properties of solids, liquids and gases and enjoyed role playing as particles! Using the STILE education app and CSIRO Double Helix, students created a model of the water cycle using a Ziploc bag, warm water and of course blue food dye. They worked in pairs to re-create the water cycle on their bags and to relate the steps in the cycle to the changes in state. For the remainder of the term students will explore reversible and irreversible changes through the context of cooking.

Digital Technologies

All Junior School students have a fortnightly DigiTech lesson with Mrs Thibou. As described in the Victorian Curriculum:

‘The Digital Technologies curriculum enables students to become confident and creative developers of digital solutions through the application of information systems and specific ways of thinking about problem solving.’ 

During this term, Year 4 students have enjoyed creating a creature for our Techno Jungle. They had to design and build a creature with a ‘special power’. LittleBits circuits were used to create the special power and students were asked to write a narrative describing their creature and its special powers.

CSIRO Bebras 2021

Bebras is an international initiative aiming to promote Informatics and Computational Thinking among students. The Bebras Challenge is open twice a year, for two weeks, in March and August–September. Shelford will participate in the second round next term. This is an optional competition that students from Years 3 to 6 may register for. Mrs Thibou and Miss Sidaway will run practice sessions Thursday lunchtimes in Term 3. We thank Sylvie M and her mum for bringing this exciting challenge to our attention.

‘This year in April I participated in Round 1 of the CSIRO Bebras Challenge, which tests computational thinking. I really enjoyed it because the problems were visual and for me it is easier to solve something when you can see it! I was very excited when I received a High Distinction. Overall, I think it was a very fun thing to do, and I am looking forward to Round 2! I highly recommend it.’ Sylvie Year 4

Congratulations on such a special achievement Sylvie!

Sarah McKenzie, Head of Junior Discovery Centre

Jacqui Sidaway, Head of Years 3–6