General Information & Reminders

Year 6 Teaching Team

• 6A - Stuart Macdermid
• 6B - Max Attwood
• 6C - Sharon Dowling (M, T, W) & Jess Gazzo (Th, Fr)

Memory Books

• A memory book is a student's reflection of learning and experiences at primary school. Each student will write their reflections at school, which will be proofread by their teacher. Students will need to locate other items at home, such as grade and individual photos, certificates, sports ribbons, etc.
• We recommend that a 30 cm x 30 cm scrapbook album be used. These books have plastic inserts where writing reflections and images can be mounted on coloured paper and inserted. A4 display folders have been used in the past and they are disappointing for the students and families because they do not present well.
• Families may want to find and purchase these albums in advance, but students will not need to bring them to school before week 8 (Mon 20 Nov). Some students also like to use coloured/patterned paper backgrounds, lettering and stickers. 
• Try to avoid self-adhesive pages (photo album) as they can be troublesome with bulky artifacts (sports ribbons, bulky stickers) and they don't allow students to choose their background colour.
• The following photos are examples of scrapbook albums (30 x 30 cm) with plastic pocket inserts. Extra pages can be purchased if needed. Students will need a minimum of 8 inserts. (The Lincraft albums don't appear to come with the plastic insert pages, so perhaps order the refills as well.) Some albums also come with a photo insert on the front cover. Lincraft and Spotlight seem to be the best places to find these albums instore and online. There are also many scrapbooking websites that sell these albums.

Homework

Maths

• Maths homework will be given on a Monday (Google Classroom) and will be due the following Monday. 
• How can you help with the maths homework? Suggestions: Ensure your child has a suitable desk space to complete the maths homework. Ask your child to show you the task/s. If they are confused (and you are too) encourage them to ask for help at school, or to ask a friend. Ask them to show their working out as a way of justifying their answers. If they record the answers only, ask them how they know the answers are correct. 
• Maths tasks will usually involve completing the work on paper and taking a photo of the work to be handed in to Google Classroom.

Reading

• For reading homework (student have chosen their books), the students have allocated their chapters to read in five parts, one part per week. They will also complete a response sheet about the reading and this will be due on days determined by each classroom teacher (typically a Monday). They will use their homework notes to complete a reading response during class time. We strongly recommend that this reading homework be done at a desk/table and not in bed before going to sleep.  Students need to take their time and think deeply about their book, making detailed notes. Not all of the 8 sections need to be completed because different books require different responses (minimum of 3).
• HPS has a new online library which all students (with their own username and password) can access for personal reading at - https://hamptonps.eplatform.co/. There is a great range of books, fiction and non-fiction, for all ages up to teens. Please be aware that some of the teens books might need some discretion from you if your child is sensitive to older concepts (e.g. Hunger Games). Two digital books can be borrowed for 2 weeks, as well as the 4 books that can be borrowed from the HPS library.
• How can you help with the reading homework? Suggestions: Show interest in the book your child is reading. Ask your child to summarise what they have read and to explain to you the responses they have recorded. Could they elaborate, if very little is written?

Preparation for Year 7

• It is highly recommended that students set up a homework schedule so that homework tasks are not left to the last few nights. This is an important organisational skill necessary for a successful transition to secondary school.
• We expect students to check and edit their work, to the best of their ability, before submitting tasks.

iPads

We ask that only school apps be visible on the home screen of a student's iPad. Other home/ game-related apps should be in a folder on another screen. It's very tempting, but please do not message your child during school time. Students are not permitted to message during a school day, consistent with the Department of Education's statewide policy. If you want to pass on a message to your child, this should be done through the main office.