Learning and Teaching
Dear LPS families and friends,
Welcome back to another term focussed on learning, wellbeing, and our whole of school community.
In our classrooms
Celebration Day
During the last week of Term 2, we held our Celebration Morning to celebrate and showcase students’ learning from the term. While the focus was on Geography, students were eager to show families their classrooms, tubs, workbooks and seating arrangements. These simple acts demonstrated how meaningful it is for students to feel that their families are connected to the school. There was excitement across the whole school as students shared their learning and took families to other classrooms to see the learning progression. Thank you to teachers for preparing the students to share their learning and to families for joining us in this celebration.
Learning
School reports were published last term and we hope you have had the opportunity to reflect on them with your child. These reports are a valuable tool in helping you know where your child is with their learning and how they can continue to progress.
As mentioned at our last assembly, term three is always a favourite of mine. By this time, students have fully transitioned into their year level, and it’s wonderful to see their learning stamina grow and develop.
Following the Education Minister’s mandate that all Victorian students from Prep to Grade 2 will be taught using a systematic synthetic phonics approach, we are pleased to share that LPS has been using this method for several years. A component of this involves our students progressing through their individual reading goals using the SPARKLE kit as an assessment of the achievement of these goals. Students are assessed on their decoding skills, text comprehension, and fluency to accurately determine reading proficiency at each SPARKLE stage. Students who master Level 8 of SPARKLE are equipped with the necessary reading skills to tackle all types of texts, including those coveted chapter books. We will celebrate these students at our assemblies and have them sign the ‘LPS SPARKLE Honour Board’. Additionally, once students have passed any stage of SPARKLE, they will also sign the ‘LPS SPARKLE Honour Board’. We look forward to filling the board with the names of our ‘Sparkly Readers’.
Some of our students who have achieved Level 8
In our community
Grade 4 Kinder visit
Our grade 4 students continue to enjoy visits with kinder students at Murrindal Preschool. Some of our students shared their experiences:
“I enjoyed doing lots of different activities with the kinder kids, they were funny which made me feel happy.” -Asha
“I enjoyed seeing what the kinder kids do while at kinder, it reminded me of my time at kinder.” -Ava
“It was a lot of fun seeing how they reacted and how resilient they were. If they got tagged, they just continued to play without arguing whether or not they got tagged, we could probably learn from them.” -Archer
“We really enjoyed seeing and learning about how Buddies might be next year when we get our Prep buddies.”
It's wonderful to see our students embracing acts of kindness and building connections within our community. We are very proud of these young leaders!
In our staffroom
Our staff continue to learn and grow as educators to develop and refine their practice. This term, we are focusing on routines and conditions to provide a learning environment conducive to high-quality learning. We will trial new practices and determine what can be done to make us more consistent, maximise learning time, and ensure our classrooms are great places for learning.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Kristine Roose \ Assistant Principal, Learning & Teaching