Education News

Changes to digital device use  

From 2027, the Victorian Government is introducing changes to the use of digital devices for students from Prep to Grade 6. 

Under the new guidelines, schools:

• will no longer invite families to purchase or bring their own digital devices to use at school for Prep to Grade 6

• will follow new recommended digital device times, including minimal device time for Prep to Grade 2; and a maximum of 90 minutes per day for grades 3 to 6.

   

These changes are intended to support families by reducing cost-of-living pressures. They will also support students by reducing screen-time which can reduce the risk of eye strain, sedentary behaviour, and reduced peer interaction. These reforms complement Victoria’s nation-leading mobile phone restrictions, ensuring an integrated approach to addressing digital distraction and the inappropriate use of technology.

What this means for our school

As you know, we already provide school-owned digital devices for student learning, so there is no impact on our school’s BYOD programs. 

Students with disability who use a digital device as a reasonable adjustment are exempt from these changes. 

These changes are intended to support families with cost-of-living pressures and reduce student screen time.

You can read more about the changes on the department’s website: Digital Learning: Policy

Y3 and Y4 News

Literacy

Middle School students have started their Writing Sprint, focusing on sentence fluency and word choice as part of the six traits of writing. They are also using the Sounds Write phonics program alongside Sound Waves to strengthen spelling and reading skills, with all literacy learning connected to our Geography topic on Australia.

Maths

In Maths, students are working in mixed-ability groups across Years 3 and 4 to explore fractions. This approach allows students to collaborate, share strategies and learn at their individual point of need.

Inquiry

Our Inquiry unit, Around Australia and Geography, has students learning about states, territories, landmarks and neighbouring countries. Students have been linking this knowledge to their reading and writing tasks in engaging ways.

Life Education

During Life Education sessions, students have been learning about making healthy choices, understanding emotions and showing empathy in their daily interactions.

Foundation News

It’s hard to believe that we are more than halfway through Term Four and our Foundation students have been busier than ever. In our core learning areas, they have continued to work hard to increase their knowledge and understanding of key concepts. 

In Mathematics they have begun to explore multiplicative thinking through the practical exploration of sharing items whilst also extending their knowledge of number through regular differentiated “toolbox” activities. During the Literacy block they have been increasing their segmenting and blending skills and applying these to the reading of decodable texts, improving their spelling through explicit teaching and regular “quick quizzes”, refining their handwriting, extending their vocabularies (word of the week) and their knowledge of sentence structure.

Our Guided Inquiry project for Term Four has focused on science learning about animals’ characteristics, needs, habitats etc. Early in the term the students enjoyed a highly valuable learning experience at the Moonlit Sanctuary where they were introduced to many of Australia’s amazing native animals. This learning experience will be built upon over the coming weeks and will conclude with a visit from one of our parents (Christie O’Neill) who will be providing them with a hands-on investigation of min beasts and their environments.

In Spanish students have been consolidating their knowledge of colour, number and greeting words. The new focus for this term is to learn parts of the body so that they can sing a very famous action song (Cabeza, ombros, rodillas, pies or in English heads, shoulders, knees and toes). They have been introduced to the Mexican festival “Day of the Dead” and will be exploring other Spanish festivals later in the term.