Specialist News
DISTRICT SWIMMING TRIALS
For 26 of our students it has been an early start for them and their families over the last few Wednesday mornings, completing swimming trials and training at Harold Holt Swimming Centre. This year has been particularly impressive with the amount of students coming along to the trials and then keen to keep practising afterwards. In total we have had three morning sessions and our students are all prepared for this Friday’s District Event at GESAC. We are all very excited and we will certainly let you know how they go! Good luck to all those students involved and a massive thanks to the parents for supporting this practice whether that’s dropping students off, taking them to school or time keeping and recording.
P.E. UPDATES
We’ve had a great start to the ‘Olympics’ year and becoming settled in our routines and our class set expectations following our PBS values of respect, pride and safety. In line with school behaviour expectations, each class has set specific P.E expectations of what we like to see, hear and do in P.E under the subheadings of respect, pride and safety.
So far, in Grade 3-6’s students have extended their understanding of ‘game concepts’ and the ‘cement’ of any game; sportsmanship and teamwork. We have played a new game called ‘hula hut’ which has been enjoyed to demonstrate this understanding. Next up, is our invasion games unit which we explore to the end of the term, what are invasion games? What are the tactics involved in invasion games?
In Foundation, we have learned our routines in P.E. understanding boundaries and responding to the whistle and starting to use equipment safely. We move onto our first fundamental movement skill of overarm throwing very soon. In Years 1/2 we have reminded ourselves of our routines, worked cooperatively in our new classes and now begin our throwing and catching unit. This week we have been introduced to ‘spikeball’ to practise catching the ball on the move.
To keep up to date with all P.E. happenings, please refer to students' Seesaw accounts, the P.E. blog on the school website, Compass, the newsletter and the board as your enter the Barrbunin where all the year’s happenings are located.
Looking forward to a great movement year!
Miss Jo
NEWS FROM THE ART ROOM
The last few weeks in Art have been focused on establishing routines and creative practices, in addition to studying some new artists. In line with the Year 1/2 inquiry, students are completing a study on local artist Howard Arkley, investigating his iconic interpretation of suburban life in Melbourne. His vibrantly coloured ‘cartoon-ish’ style air brushed artworks are proving to be very inspiring to student’s own art making. Below are some examples of students working on their own Howard Arkley inspired Flinders Street Station painting.
Howard Arkley
Suburban Exterior - 1993
You may have noticed some ants have appeared on the door of the art room and an unusual looking clock. Well, the Year 3/4s are delving into the intricate mind of Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali. They have had some incredible discussions so far about Dali’s work and will use The Elephants (1948) to begin creating their own surrealist style water colour artwork. Miss Zoe was fortunate to travel to Dali’s museum and house when she was in Barcelona a few years ago. It took her understanding and appreciation of Dali to a whole new level. Miss Zoe is loving the surreal drawings that are developing in the art classes this week!
Salvador Dali
The Elephants - 1948
Oil Canvas
The Year 5/6s never cease to amaze with their remarkable approach to artistic and creative practice. They have looked to Mysterious Al as inspiration for a ceramic mask making project, investigating his approach to the subject matter. Miss Zoe was so impressed with this work that she reached out to Mysterious Al via social media and he wrote to the students and reposted some of the works on his Instagram stating:
“BIG UP to the year 5&6 at Ripponlea Primary School for these banging artworks! One of my absolute favourite things about making art is when it inspires others to make it too…”
Thanks Mysterious Al for the wonderful feedback to the students! It’s nice to be recognised by the community in support for art and creativity. Keep up the great work student artists!
On another note, during the holidays Miss Zoe saw some incredible exhibitions including of course the Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring at NGV (actually she has now seen it twice), a fantastic exhibition from contemporary sculptor, Cornelia Parker, visited the White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney, the Japan Super Natural at AGNSW and an had her first VR experience at Heide Museum of Modern Art. Miss Zoe is feeling incredibly inspired to share her love for art in 2020.
Finally, in line with Valentine’s Day on 14th February, Miss Zoe challenged the 5/6 students to write a love letter to the planet and illustrate with an art work. It was a reminder to students to reflect on all the wonderful things in our life to be grateful for at what is presenting to be a challenging time. We love these works.
