Primary School News
Dear Families,'
It’s amazing how fast Term three is going. Usually it’s our quiet term; however, this year we have managed to fit in a few things to keep us busy.
We started the term by celebrating NAIDOC Week and continue to build on our understanding of Indigenous culture and History. Indigenous perspectives are a topic we keep returning to in the Primary school to ensure we cover it correctly, genuinely, and often.
The Class 4 to 6 Steiner students showcased their amazing talent through the String Orchestra concert in week two, and we all came together in week three to celebrate the Chinese Cultural Food Festival.
The Grade 5/6 students participated in Athletics Gala Day and had a great time. Over the last three years, we have run an extra sports period for our Grade 3 to 6 students, based on the Gala Day sports, to build their skills and stamina. Each learning community participates in 4 extra sessions per Term.
This year, we ran a gymnastics/tumbling program for Prep to Grade 2 students. While these activities are fun, they are also extremely important for this age group to further develop spatial awareness, crossing the midline of the body, balance, coordination, and flexibility.
Our Prep students have continued their Nature Detectives Wednesday outdoor program, learning about science and how to work as a group, go on an excursion, and look after nature.
Melbourne Victory has continued working with our students. This term, the Grade 3s and 4s have been participating in skill-based sessions on Fridays.
Soccer has been a hot topic at Collingwood, more than usual! Not only because of the World Cup, but it has also picked up in popularity this year. As a school, we are navigating this new, very busy game and trying to teach the appropriate skills for participating in these informal games. Usually on the oval, 3 to 4 games are played at the same time in the same space.
The students are doing an amazing job; however, as you can imagine, incidents do occur, especially when you have 50 to 60 students playing at the same time. The Melbourne Victory sessions with the Grade 5 & 6 students last semester and the Grade 3 & 4 students this semester have been part of our strategies to support the games, along with having an extra yard duty teacher on the Soccer field. We have ordered more Soccer goals in the hope that, if we divide the oval, the games won't interloop as much and will be easier.
The SRC students have come up with some rules around ‘soccer at Collingwood’ which have been revised by Mel. We have been holding mini assemblies with the students to discuss and support behaviour during the games, as well as having many classroom discussions.
Not having proper referees is one of the hardest parts, as the two sides tend to argue and disagree and usually only take their team's side. The easy option would be to stop soccer altogether, but we believe it’s important to support the students and keep working at it.
Every day, one or two students are pulled off the oval and given a ‘soccer ban’, and every day, many are reminded of the rules for playing soccer at school vs. on their sports teams outside.
The next few weeks we have so many exciting events coming up:
Book week- Please donate any books you have to Alina for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation
Book Week parade- Dress up as your favourite book character and join us at 9.15 am on the front oval for the Book parade.
Wear it Purple Day- To show safety and inclusion for our LGBTQIA community.
Swing into Spring- We are so excited to have the full event back. We can not run this amazing day without your help. Please speak to your class teachers/class carers or reach out to me, and keep an eye on Compass for further details on the help required.
Thank you.
Warmest regards,
Sormeh Afkari
Primary School Principal
Email: Sormeh.afkari@education.vic.gov.au
Primary Art
The Lorax – Remix
As part of the Art/Performing Arts program the main Primary School has been working with Hip Hop artist Izzy Brown writing Hip Hop songs to be used as part of the Main Primary School Production.
Keep this Date: 19th Thursday November
Main Primary School Painting
Prep students have been enjoying exploring nature. They were very excited to get to do spray painting. The class cannot wait to see what their artwork is going to look like when finished.
Angela Dionysopoulos
Primary Art/Performing Arts
Outside Hours School Care (OHSC) - Bookings Now Open for TheirCare
Dear Parents/Guardians,
We are pleased to announce that the booking calendar for Collingwood College TheirCare is now open.
To manage your bookings, kindly log in to your parent portal and access your booking calendar located at the bottom of your dashboard. Please ensure that your account is complete for the calendar to appear.
Additionally, we would like to provide you with an update regarding your payments and childcare subsidy.
Typically, we charge your out-of-pocket fees at the end of each week (in arrears). However, as Collingwood College TheirCare is a new service with us, there is a transition period for Centrelink to process the subsidy transfer.
Centrelink is currently in the process of transferring the service, and until this transition is complete, we are unable to determine the exact amount of out-of-pocket charges. Therefore, we anticipate commencing charges once Centrelink has processed the Child Care Subsidy (CCS).
Once the transition is finalised, you will receive a system-generated email prompting you to log into your Centrelink account (via MyGov) to confirm your details for the service, ensuring that the subsidy is correctly applied to your account.
We wanted to inform you of this process in advance, should you be expecting a direct debit or enrolment notice.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Support Team during office hours at 1300 072 410.
Warm regards,
The Team at TheirCare