LEARNING AND TEACHING
Learning Support at St Andrews
Learning Support has continued to support staff and students this term in a variety of ways.
This term we have conducted all the Primary and Secondary Student Support Group (SSG) meetings. These meetings replace the normal Parent Teacher Interview meetings. Thank you to parents for engaging with us in this capacity.
We hope to run the ‘Autism Spectrum Parent Support Group’ as a face-to-face meeting on Wednesday 11th May at 9am. Further details will be emailed to all parents' early next term. If you have a child on the spectrum and would like to be part of this group, you are most welcome.
Focus on Working Memory
I recently attended an online professional development on working memory. Here is a little bit of that helpful information:
Working memory is the capacity to store information in your mind for a very brief period of time (seconds) while manipulating or using it in a cognitively demanding task. If we do not pay attention to what is being held in working memory, we lose the information.
Working memory is used for:
- selecting the information to be worked with, resisting distractions
- holding on to prioritised information, maintaining attention
- keeping sequences of information in mind
- complex thinking e.g. reading comprehension, written expression
- planning, organising and problem solving
Supporting the Brain:
Things you can do to support working memory and maximise brain health:
- getting enough quality sleep
- maintaining a healthy diet, limiting junk food
- drinking enough water
- doing aerobic exercise
- replacing screen viewing with card and board games, chess, Lego building, cooking, playing a musical instrument, drawing from memory
- allocating a time-off period for electronic devices
- discussing/questioning what has been read
- doing mental exercises like sequence recall, focusing attention
Working memory is crucial to learning and these simple things can have a huge impact!
If you have any questions or concerns about your child, you are always welcome to contact one of the Learning Support teachers:
- Shirley Gillie – Head of Learning Support sgillie@standrews.vic.edu.au
- Kerryn Terrington – Learning Support Teacher – Secondary kterrington@standrews.vic.edu.au
Blessings
The Learning Support Teachers
E3 – Engage, Enrich, Empower.
OARS Global Challenge in Mathematics, Reading and Science
Selected students from Year 4, 6 and 8 had the opportunity to sit the Global Challenge in Week 8. Congratulations to our students for their efforts – individual results have been sent out; the final results and international placings will be published in early May.
Upcoming Competition – Computational and Algorithmic Thinking:
The Computational and Algorithmic Thinking (CAT) competition is a one-hour problem-solving competition designed to encourage student curiosity and promote multiple modes of thinking. The CAT has four divisions: Upper Primary (Years 5–6), Junior (Years 7–8), Intermediate (Years 9–10) and Senior (Years 11–12)
Date: May 4 to 6
Cost: $7.50
Entries close: April 29th
If you are interested in your child entering this competition, please email me kterrington@standrews.vic.edu.au
Oceanography(selected students from Year 3 to 6)
God has created an amazing world with so much variation. As we look at how well suited organisms are to their environment, we can be confident in God’s care and provision for us. (Matthew 6: 25-29)
This term students have been learning about marine ecosystems; producers, consumers and decomposers as well as food chains and webs. Next term we look at adaptations and build on this knowledge to design our own fish that could survive in one of the marine ecosystems. I look forward to seeing the results!
Year 4 to 6 E3 Week Workshops
On Monday through Wednesday (March 28 – 30) all Year 4, 5 and 6 students were involved in a series of enrichment workshops. The focus was Literacy, Humanities and The Arts.
Students chose from a range of workshops, including Poet’s Corner, Needle Felted Animals, History artifacts (or Mrs Jones’ Museum Workshop), YouTube Creators, Amazing Race, Write like Dr Seuss, Music and Song Writing, Puppetry, Illustrate your Story, Writer’s workshop, the Great Debate and Literacy Games.
There are so many highlights and wonderful products that came out of the workshops. Beautiful worship songs, heartfelt poetry and fun felt animals to name a few. If you’d like to see some more of the products, have a look at the hub pages : ~ the hub ~ - Year 4 to 6 Enrichment Week Term 1 2022 (standrews.vic.edu.au).
Thank you for the dedication and preparation of all staff involved. Your efforts made the three days a great learning experience for all our Year 4 to 6 students.
Kerryn Terrington
Learning Support Teacher
Learning and Teaching - 2022
I would like to express my thanks to all teachers and students for their work during Term 1. It has been a long time since we have been able to have a full term without interruption due to lockdowns. We are truly thankful to God for His provision and for the ongoing support of our College families.
There have been lots of wonderful learning experiences for students throughout this term and I have been encouraged to see so many of them recorded in our Newsletter. In particular, I want to thank Mrs Terrington (E3 – Engage, Enrich, Empower Coordinator) for organising the recent Year 4 – 6 Enrichment activities, and for the amazing staff who provided such a wide array of interesting experiences in English, Humanities and The Arts.
During Term 3 we are planning for a similar program of Enrichment activities in Mathematics, Science and Technology.
NAPLAN Online 2022
On Thursday 24th March students in Year 3, 5 ,7 and 9 participated in the NAPLAN Coordinated Practice Test (CPT) so that they were able to become familiar with the NAPLAN Online format.
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) have indicated that the CPT was a success and have sent a letter of thanks to the College in recognition of our participation.
If parents would like their child to access further domain specific familiarisation, ACARA has provided a public demonstration website. The suite consists of mini-tests covering all domains for each NAPLAN year level. The demonstration site can be found at: https://nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site
ICAS and AMC Academic Competitions
In 2022 students will, once again, have opportunity to participate in the ICAS and AMC Academic Competitions. Further information regarding registrations for ICAS Digital Technologies, English, Science and Spelling Bee will be made available early in Term 2.
My School Website
The My School Website has recently been updated to include NAPLAN data for the 2021 school year in the areas of student results and student progress.
The table below shows the average student results at St Andrews for 2021 summary of the average score for students. Also included is an explanation of the colour coding used to compare with students of a similar background.
Across all of the learning domains, the results from 2021 are very pleasing and indicate that students at St Andrews are performing to a high level.
For context, the table below gives a graphical representation of the bands, scaled scores and relevant year levels.
Study Advice – Secondary School
As part of our commitment to providing Secondary School students with resources to assist them in their studies, the College maintains a subscription to the “Study Skills Handbook.” Students, and parents, can access these resources via the link below.
Website: www.studyskillshandbook.com.au
Username: standrewsvic
Password: 130success
The April Study Tip – Read the article below on “Managing Perfectionism” gives some really useful advice for students.
Mathematical Problem Solving
Congratulations to Anastasya Halim (parent) and Connor Xu (Year 7 student) for their solutions to the Mathematical Problem Solving question that was published in the last Newsletter.
What is the mathematics inside this task?
a) Find the area of each colour
A: Blue 40, Black 20, Brown 20, Yellow 18, White 2
b) What do you notice?
A: Blue has the largest area and this is equivalent to the sum of Black and Brown. Black and Brown each have an area equal to the sum of Yellow and White. Black initially looks like it has a greater area than Brown but they are, in fact, the same area. Yellow initially appears to have a greater area than Black but is actually less.
April Challenge – Crosses
Arrange the digits 1 – 9 in the grid below so that the sum of the digits in both directions is the same.
a) How many solutions are there in total? Explain.
b) Explain, with reasons, how you know that you have found them all?
Parents and students are encouraged to send solutions through to mswanborough@standrews.vic.edu.au.
Solutions will be published next newsletter, with one solution earning the author a voucher at the College Taste n’ See Café.
Michael Swanborough
Deputy Principal - Head of Learning and Teaching