Principal Update
Shane Wilkie
Welcome to week 10 and the last couple of days before the winter holiday break. I hope you can use the next couple of weeks to connect as families, and students get the opportunity to recharge for the final half of the year. I will be spending the holidays in Melbourne doing a few snow dances in the hope of encouraging some snow to the alpine region so that our Year 5/6 students attending Ski Camp in Week 2 of Term 3 have a suitable base for carving down Mount Buller.
Last Day of Term Arrangements:
A reminder that on Friday 26 June school will finish at 2:30pm. Assembly will be at 2.00pm.
Furthermore, the Department of Education has provided some guidance on making the Socceroos final group stage match available.
The Socceroos play Paraguay in their last World Cup group game on the last day of term this week at noon.
While screening of the game is a matter for each school, schools are encouraged to make the game available to all or interested students, contingent on available facilities and staffing considerations.
Schools that choose to screen the game should communicate with parents and carers arrangements for the last day of Term 2.
Friday 26 June Daily Schedule.
9:00-11:00: Normal class lessons
11:00-11:30: Recess
11:30-12:00: Normal class lessons
12:00-1:00pm: Socceroos match available in selected classrooms
1:00-2:00pm: Lunch and playtime – students may continue watching the game supervised in the senior library
2:00-2:25pm: Assembly
2:30pm: Early dismissal
The Forgetting Curve:
As we head into the holiday period, I wanted to share some further information about the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0 (VTLM 2.0) and Retrieval Practices. It is not a surprise that many students will return from their holidays having forgotten certain things from school. This is in fact completely normal and supported by research.
The reality of learning is that much of what we learn is forgotten. If new learning is not reviewed, revised and used then it will be forgotten, and this is assuming it was understood in the first place. The diagram below shows how easy it is to forget something if it is not reviewed and revised. The old phrase, ‘Use it or lose it’ holds true in this case.
So, what does this mean in the classroom? At APS we are developing a systematic spiralling curriculum across English and Mathematics that ensures newly taught concepts are reviewed through Daily Reviews. A Daily Review is designed to be a quick 5–10-minute review of previously taught content. The Daily Review will include quick activities and tasks that allow students to retrieve previously taught content from their long-term memory and use it. The Daily Review is structured to include learning from the previous day, the previous week, the previous unit and the previous term; ensuring students are drawing upon concepts in their long-term memory and reviewing and using it at appropriately space intervals.
Lost Property:
Tomorrow a team of Year 6 students will be sorting through the mountain of lost property. They will endeavour to get all named lost property back to the owners. However, there will be some remaining pieces laid out in the quadrangle. Please review the final lost items or remind your child to do this by Friday morning as any remaining items will be sorted into second-hand, charity, and items for rubbish.
Report Cards: REMINDER
Semester One Reports were published via Compass on Friday 19 June. An electronic copy of your child’s report is available for you to view online now and download as required from Compass. If you wish to receive a hard copy of the report, please contact your child’s class teacher. We recommend families sharing the report with their child, celebrating their achievements, and positively discussing the next learning steps. If you have any questions regarding your child’s report, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher.
Have a great school holiday period.
Shane Wilkie
Principal