Scotsburn News 

Important Dates

We are certainly off to a great start! It was wonderful to see so many parents and friends at our first Scotsburn Assembly for the year on Friday, where we were able to share some of our important Learning to Learn work, as well as celebrate some student achievements. Congratulations to our first Bunjil Award winners for the year - Isla, Lincoln, Grace and Zelda. They have demonstrated terrific school values to kick off the year. 

At our assembly we presented some work and activities focusing on one of our school values of Kindness. Students identified how they can demonstrate kindness as well as pass their kindness on to others. This has certainly been evident by the way students have been playing and interacting in the yard. 

Thanks to everyone for their organisation with relocating to Buninyong today. We don’t have to do this too often, however it is comforting to know that we are now into a good routine should we have to enact our relocating procedures at short notice. Hopefully we don’t have too many more of these days across the year.

In Bernie’s section of the newsletter today, there is some more information regarding our Bushfire Preparedness policies and procedures, as well as a link to our process for managing bushfire risk at Scotsburn. Be sure to have a good read of this when you get a chance.

A big congratulations also must be given to Rhylee, who attended the Grade 6 Grip Leadership conference in Melbourne on Monday. This was such an amazing experience for Rhylee and being the sole Scotsburn attendee, she demonstrated amazing bravery and maturity to attend. Well done Rhylee!

Finally, if you haven’t already done so, be sure to check out, like and follow the new official Buninyong Primary School Facebook page. It is full of lots of great material, promoting all things Buninyong Primary School and Scotsburn. There will regularly be Scotsburn items on this page, including a recent post about our students creating their bush kitchen. Check it out!

www.facebook.com/BuninyongPrimarySchool

Family Groups - This Friday 2pm

We can’t wait to get back into Friday Family Groups this year, with us kicking off this Friday. A reminder that we will run these sessions this year from 2pm - 3:30pm, on weeks where we don’t have assemblies. 

For Term 1, we will have a cooking group, and a sustainability/team building group. Across the year, we will look to keep the cooking group consistent, with the second group rotating through different themes each term.

Below are our groups and schedule. It is a good idea to send a small container with your child during the weeks that they are cooking, as they may bring some yummy food home!

Meet and Greet Afternoon - Wednesday 21st February

This year, we have decided to run our Meet and Greet afternoon at Scotsburn a little differently. The reason for this being that with a new class structure, we would love to present lots of information about Scotsburn 2024 to our parent community in a structured and consistent way.

With this in mind, we have decided that we will run a parent forum for approximately 30 minutes, from 1:30pm. We would love all parents to be in attendance for this session, where we will present information about the year ahead at Scotsburn, including class structures, workshop models, spelling programs, take home reading, homework etc. We will also provide some time for a bit of Q and A. At the conclusion of this session, if parents have some specific information that they would like to share with their child’s teacher, they are still welcome to book a time after this.

We have organised for all Scotsburn staff to be at the forum, including Liz, Ana, Kirsty, Rachel and Jarrod. If you wish to have an individual booking with Liz or Rachel after the forum, these will be available back at the Buninyong campus. 

We would really love all parents to be in attendance for the forum. Weather permitting, we would also love to see parents and kids mingling for the afternoon, so feel free to bring a picnic rug and some afternoon tea!

Scotsburn Parent Volunteer Roster

As you are all aware, at Scotsburn we rely heavily on volunteers to help us run the programs that we do, and we love and appreciate all the support that we get. Please see below the link to the Term 1 Scotsburn volunteer roster. We would love as many parents as possible to sign up for a little or as much as you would like. If you haven’t volunteered with us before, we will be there to help along the way. If the document is not working for you, please come in and see us and we can add you to the list.

Please remember that we will need a copy of your Working With Children’s check if we don’t already have it on file.

Scotsburn Parent Volunteering 2024

Prep Interviews

Just a reminder that Preps have Wednesdays off for the month of February. This time off is to ensure that children have the chance to recharge mid-week as they settle into school. On these Wednesdays, each Prep student needs to come in for a mandated Prep Interview that takes approximately 45 minutes for an English and Numeracy assessment to gauge where each student’s point of need is. Please see Ana to lock in a time if this has not been done.  This interview only requires your child to be present. 

Arrival Time

8:45am is an ideal time to arrive at school, as the classrooms and playground are not supervised until then. If you are regularly requiring your child to be dropped off prior to this time, just a reminder that we do have before school care available at the Buninyong Campus. Students attending before school care at Buninyong are driven via bus to the Scotsburn campus before 9:00am. Feel free to catch up with any of the Scotsburn staff if you have any questions about your child’s morning drop off arrangements.

At Scotsburn, we want all students to be ready to start the day at 9am. If your child is absent on any given day, please ensure that you contact the Buninyong Primary School office to inform them, so as our role marking procedures are accurately updated.

Lunchtime Club

With us being hit with some warmer weather, Lunchtime club has swung back into action, busier than ever. We love seeing students using this space as a calming and cooperative option at lunchtimes.

SC1 Learning Snapshot

After such a successful couple of weeks of learning to learn, we have embarked on this week with positivity and enthusiasm to start our routine of English, Maths, and Integrated Studies.

In English, we have launched our spelling program at 9am every morning. Our spelling groups are streamlined across the campus, so every student has the opportunity to develop at their point of need. Students enjoy the routine and rigour these lessons present, and we are positive you will see your child’s spelling flourish.

In English, our focus is on decoding (sounding out words) and reading for information. This will be a huge focus throughout the year as we build fluency and confidence. 

Counting and data will be our major focus these next two weeks in Maths. Each day we visit other maths components as part of our review to allow students to visit and master these areas.

A huge thanks to you all for starting our home reading program with such enthusiasm. It was brilliant to check all diaries last week and see that all students had read at home. Thank you! If you have any questions in regard to home reading or homework, please feel free to come in and chat or send us an email.

Have a wonderful week.

Thanks, 

Ana and Kirsty

SC2 Learning Snapshot

Last week in SC2 we finished off our Learning to Learn work with some more work on our school values as well as playing some more cooperative games. With the theme of everyone having a go and supporting others, all students were motivated to get into the spirit of the games and have a laugh. Mr Rodgers even popped in to play a game with us!

This week sees SC2 settle into our regular learning routines of English, Maths and Integrated Studies. We have spent some time looking at the fluency of our reading as well as discussing the books that we read. We have also incorporated some handwriting practice into the week, which will be an ongoing focus throughout the year.

In Maths we have been exploring the concepts of length and units of measurement. Who knew that our classroom was 6.5 Lachy’s wide??!!

This week in our respectful Relationships session, we paired up with SC2 to look at coping strategies as well as being active listeners. Students participated in some imaginative and collaborative play, spending time listening and responding to each other as well as their teachers. It was such a good session!

A reminder that as part of homework this year in SC2, we will be having a big focus on home reading. All students from Grade 3 to 5 have a home reading diary that can be filled out each night. Grade 6s will receive a separate diary this week. Students can read a book that they have brought home from school, or can read one they have at home, as long as the book is of interest to them and at a level that they can read independently. Pop in and see me if you have any questions about this.

Have another amazing week everyone!

Jarrod and Liz

Specialist News

STEM 

In STEM this week SC1 has been focusing on animals and their young. This week saw students design and create a baby animal. Students in SC2 have begun exploring extreme environments and discussed how animals have adapted to live in these conditions. 

PE 

In Physical Education this week students have been revising the expectations. SC1 has been playing a range of minor games and have recently been exploring athletics. SC2 has been looking at heart rate. We have learnt that our heart rate increases when we partake in physical exercise. 

Please make sure that your child/children wear runners on Thursday and bring a water bottle for PE lessons. 

It has been a great start,

Rach Middlin

Staff Contacts

Mr Morgan: jarrod.morgan@education.vic.gov.au

Mrs Anderson: anastasia.anderson@education.vic.gov.au

Mrs Robinson: kirsty.bull@education.vic.gov.au

Mrs Morgan: elizabeth.morgan2@education.vic.gov.au

Ms Middlin: rachel.middlin@education.vic.gov.au

The Scotsburn Team