WHEELERS HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL

Assistant Principal's Report

Leasyl Richards - Curriculum

23rd August 

AUTHOR VISIT

As part of our Book Week celebrations we invited Oliver Phommavanh, an engaging and inspiring author to chat with our Year 3-6 students.

Oliver’s humour, energy and storytelling certainly appealed to tour students. He discussed his life growing up in a Thai family, his passion for dinosaurs, soft toys and gaming, and his family who provide him with ideas for his stories. 

Our students laughed their way through the presentation and left the Library inspired to continue their own writing journey. Oliver explained to the students the first place he looks for ideas is his friends and family and his students (Oliver is a former primary school teacher). His message to the students to help them with their writing was to read –lots!

Oliver has eight books

  • Thai-riffic
  • Con-nerd
  • Punchlines
  • The Other Christy
  • Thai-no-mite
  • Natural Born Loser
  • Don’t Follow Vee
  • Super Con-nerd

We do have these titles in the school library but they can also be purchased through book shops.

 

 

 

TOURNAMENT OF MINDS

 Last Sunday I headed to Deakin University to watch our Tournament of Minds team compete against other schools. Tournament of Minds is a wonderful opportunity for ur students to develop team work, think creatively and problem solve. Teams of seven students are given two problems on the day- the first is a spontaneous problem requiring them to demonstrate team work, think outside the box and think on the spot. The second problem is a pre-planned problem that allows the students to showcase their ability to tell a story incorporating many elements. 

A huge amount of work has gone into preparing and guiding the TOM team.  Thank you to two of our amazing teachers – Lexi Smith and Emma Roughton.

Thanks also to the parent who also made the commitment to TOM. From the smiles on the parents’ faces at the end of the performance I know they were as proud of their children as I was!

Congratulations to the team members Chloe, Zac, Tara, Isha, Amber, Elaine and  Jocelyn    

Watching the team work together and seeing their vision come to life over the last few weeks was very impressive. I felt incredibly proud of the students and they wonderful way their represented WHPS.

 

STEM

Earlier this year we were lucky to receive a Maker Grant which enabled us to purchase some STEM resources.

Last week some of our Year 5 students had a chance to use some of these new resources. Their task was to create a fairground attraction.  Walking into the room I could see the excitement, creativity, teamwork concentration and enjoyment in the task.  It was wonderful to see students so engaged in the task.  It made me wish I could go back to being a primary school aged child so I could get to do the cool stuff they were doing.  Well done to the Year 5 students and to Mr Stockton and Miss Mason on creating  such a great session highlighting so many 21st century learning skills.

 

 

 

Leasyl Richards

richards.leasyl.a@edumail.vic.gov.au