5-8 Community News
Dear Families/Caregivers,
Can you believe that we are already entering the pointy end of the term? Week 8! Where has the term gone?
A very big well done to all of our students who continue to show a level of commitment and respect to themselves as they demonstrate and conform to each SOLE pillar and expectation out in various communities.
This fortnight in TA, our learning from The Resilience Project has provided students with the opportunity to really focus on shifting their negative mindsets and developing positive mindsets. This was also linked to our 5-8 Community SOLE focus in the previous fortnight and supports the learning around ‘practising persistence’, aligned to our SOLE expectations. From observing the students, for some, mindsets are sometimes really hard to shift especially when they are fixated on the negative aspect, so to provide students with some strategies to shift their negative mindset and attitude into a positive has somewhat been challenging and that’s okay.
As staff, we promoted with the students, ways to shift their mindsets:
1. Look at each task from a positive and focus on the good things about the task.
2. Set a short SMART goal for each lesson. For example: ask three questions about the task, choose a seating location at the front of the room, make a start on the learning task and if it becomes difficult, seek out a teacher.
3. Do your best to stay attentive and remain self aware of your actions and your
overall goal/s. Seek support if you need too.
4. What ever is bothering you and/or causing you to have a negative mindset, assess the situation and look for a solution.
We celebrated ‘Harmony Week’ this week in the 5-8 Community by acknowledging the different cultures that are evident in our lives. We started with having each of the students unpack their own stories. Everyone has a story to share. It provided the students with the chance to undertake some self reflection but to also acknowledge those that they attend and share their school community with. We are blessed to have so many different cultures in our school which we can learn from, including:
* Filipino
* Ghanaian
* Italian
The theme for this year’s Harmony Week was to spread Vegemite. It has been encouraged to celebrate Australia’s diversity of cultures, languages and flavours by adding vegemite to so many different and untraditional Australian dishes, such as Vegemite Pho and Vegemite spaghetti. A big thank you to the 7-9 Partnerships for putting together the Vegemite scroll. Mr Poppa was really unsure how the Vegemite Spaghetti would have tasted.
In TA and across each space, we continue to use the 2023 Student Diary as an opportunity for students to practise Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness. There are some really good tools in the diary which encourages the students each day to record:
* Healthy Food intake
* Exercise minutes
* Hours of Sleep
Each day the journal presents students with a question and encourages them to think deeply about how they showcase gratitude, empathy and mindfulness on a daily basis. This week, the students have answered these questions from their journal:
* What’s one thing you are thankful for?
* What has made you feel excited?
* What is one mindfulness strategy you will apply to your day?
As staff in the 5- 8 Community, we ask you to please continue to have conversations with your children about attending a lunchtime activity, particularly if they are finding themselves bored and unmotivated in the schoolyard. We offer a lunchtime activity on the following days:
Monday - Tech Club
Tuesday - Indoor Soccer
Wednesday - Indoor Soccer
Thursday - Tech Club
Friday - Tech Club
Our poster is attached and can also be found in our community spaces. There are a number of activities that provide exceptional opportunities, further developing positive relationships/friendships but also creating a very safe space for our children.
As a 5-8 Community, our small SMART goals for the fortnight have been to:
- Continue to be organised: books, learning equipment, device, school journal etc.
- Get to each lesson on time, especially after each break
- Utilise brain breaks for their purpose. So much research supports student breaks for self-regulation
- Follow the teacher's direction
- Respect personal space and boundaries
- Provide appropriate feedback to our friends when necessary
7-9 Partnerships
There are so many different, yet engaging projects on the go at the moment for these students. Some of the students are really focused on developing their partnerships with the wider school community, but also working towards developing new partnerships with other communities. On Monday afternoon, we had three of our students, Kitty, Jayde and Imogen, visit the Tatura Museum. They wanted to further develop their content knowledge on World War II, aligned to their humanities studies.
Whilst this occurred, we had five Year 9 boys, Matt, Marley, Luca, Henry and Riley, visit ‘Fire Pits R Us’ to propose a design connected to World War I and II. The boys have designed an Anzac Day Fire Pit that they wish to build. Watch this space.
Other students are in the process of creating Anzac Day biscuits to deliver within the Kyabram Community, a way to not only show their respects to those who have served, but to also provide the Community with more awareness on remembering those who served our country, as we lead into Anzac Day in a few weeks time. I look forward to seeing these projects come to light. I have already been blown away by the students commitment to their individual projects on such a sensitive aspect of the curriculum.
The teaching of SOLE (Self, Others, Learning and Environment) in the 5-8 Community continues to provide students with ongoing opportunities to practise respect in various areas within the school. Our new SOLE matrix has some really good material that continues to be unpacked with the students.
Weeks 9 and 10 SOLE focus
Corey Carver and Anthony Poppa
5-8 Community Leaders
5/6E Croquet
TA 5/6E recently had a wonderful afternoon learning croquet with the ladies from the Kyabram Croquet Club. They really enjoyed the session and thanked their hosts for teaching them.
