Spring Gully Primary School - Be Awesome

Engagement & Wellbeing

Respectful Relationships

This week in Prep Floyd, we have been learning about how we feel when we have something that we are afraid of, and what it looks like to be brave. We spoke about a time that we have been brave and then we drew a picture. 

Harmony Day Celebrations!

On Friday 24th March, students sat in the hub in a sea of orange to engage with the first event of the day. This was a special assembly including student speeches, a didgeridoo performance, an Auslan sign-along of “I am Australian” and the SGPS choir performance of “Everyone Belongs”. A huge congratulations to all of our speakers and performers on your contributions to the day. 

 

Students then participated in a range of rotation activities in their house groups where a wide range of cultures were explored and filled in the student passports as they went. Thank you so much to families for their contributions to these activities. 

 

This was followed after recess by a show stopping whole school surprise! SGPS was extremely lucky to welcome the Central Victorian Lion Team for a performance and the students were absolutely blown away by the energy and skill of the performers. Students especially enjoyed watching their very own classmate, Tas C, show off his skills inside the lion. 

SWPBS - Whole School Reward Day! 

On Wednesday 5th April Term 1, students received their whole school reward! All of our students have been working really hard to contribute to our whole school reward by continuing to display our School Values and follow our expectations. As a result of these awesome efforts we had a chipnic and icy pole event yesterday, where every single student received chips and icy pole at lunch or recess. What an incredible job our students have done! Congratulations!

 

How did students contribute to our Whole School Reward?

Once a class reaches a certain amount of stickers collaboratively (e.g. 100 for a                     Grade 5/6 classroom) then that class can peel a strip to reveal more of our GuGu                   mascot. This is displayed in the hub above the friendship seat (see picture below).

 

We have 4 levels of achievement and currently our students have reached Level 2. This means that all students received an icy-pole (Level 1) and also have a chipnic (Level 2) for lunch. 

ANZAC DAY ACTIVITIES 

Over the past weeks, students completed various activities to mark the upcoming ANZAC Day after the school holidays.

 

Prep students discussed an ANZAC Day Powerpoint and talked about the meaning and date of ANZAC Day. Preps talked about poppies, different military uniforms and listened to The Last Post with a minute silence  and an Anzac Spirit song. Students made poppy wreaths and also completed colouring in sheets for the Bendigo RSL and Legacy, given it is the 100th celebration of Legacy this year.

 

Grade1/2 students had the privilege of Warrant Office Class One Mr Joel Anderson who is a Senior Technical Advisor in the Australian Defence Force. Mr Anderson has been involved in the army since he was 17 years old and joined the Army as an infantry soldier. At 29 he transferred to the Regular Army as a Fitter Armourer. During his career he helped keep the 2000 Sydney Olympics safe, he was a peace keeper in East Timor, and went to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He is currently supporting the Australian Defence Force with maintaining and repairing weapons. Students also learned about the significance of ANZAC symbols with Mrs Hartney.

 

Grade 3/4 were privileged to have Mr Bill Clark give a class talk on ANZAC Day and the meaning of the ANZAC spirit. Mr Clark  is a retired medical electronics technician and gave 12 years service to the Army Reserve, driving trucks and training junior troops. He volunteered to go to South Vietnam with the Royal Australian Corps of Signals. His role was Operator Keyboard and Radio and Electronics technician. Mr Clark has a very  long and distinguished family Army service history and extensive war knowledge. Mr Clark has worked as a volunteer at the Bendigo Military Museum for the past 18 years and was recently awarded a medal at the Victorian RSL Hall of Fame for his research and project work. He has also had slides and photos accepted by the National War Museum in Canberra.  Mr Clark brought in numerous items for students to touch and view and students learned about Morse Code which Mr Clark demonstrated for us.

 

We thank Mr Clark and Mr Anderson very much for their time and effort to visit SGPS and hope that their class talks opened up conversations for students to be curious and chat with their families about their own  personal and family war history.

 

Grade 5/6 watched a Behind the News ANZAC Day program, discussing the history and meaning of ANZAC Day and the importance of the commemorative ceremony. Students completed an ANZAC Day quiz, read The Ode and held a minute of silence after The Last Post. After personal reflection time and class discussion, students created poster designs for the Bendigo RSL Legacy Competition. (All competition artwork from across the year levels has been sent to the President of the Bendigo RSL).

 

Mr Parkes also attended the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne with our SGPS School Leaders Emma M, Hunter A and Remy K yesterday. Melbourne Legacy, in cooperation with all Victorian Legacy Clubs, hold a Commemoration Ceremony for school students each year. Over the past few years the Bendigo Legacy Club, together with the Department of Education and the Catholic Education Office Sandhurst, have supported this event by providing free transport via buses for Bendigo primary school students. Check out Emma, Remy and Hunter's account of the day in Mr Parkes' section. 

 

For further information and photos, please see Year Level pages in this newsletter.

 

Emma Orr

Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge

The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge is now open and Spring Gully Primary School is excited to be participating. The PRC application offers a range of exciting features including:

  • access to a library catalogue (including book images and blurbs)
  • a modern user-friendly interface
  • rewarding students with badges as challenge milestones are achieved
  • the option for students to mark books as a favourite, give them a star rating or complete a book review

The Challenge is open to all Victorian children from birth to Year 10 in recognition of the importance of reading for literacy development. It is not a competition; but a personal challenge for children to read a set number of books by 8 September 2023.

 

Children from Prep to Year 2 are encouraged to read or ‘experience’ 30 books with their parents and teachers. Children from Year 3 to Year 10 are challenged to read 15 books.

 

All children who meet the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former Premiers.

 

To read the Premier’s letter to parents, view the booklist and for more information about the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, visit: https://www.vic.gov.au/premiers-reading-challenge 

 

You will be receiving a letter with more information about the Premiers Reading Challenge and the login details for your child/children, within the next week. 

 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to let me know!

 

Kind regards,

Madie

Madison.Floyd@education.vic.gov.au

 

Our SRC students have done a wonderful job planning, sharing and finalising our 2023 whole school project. After surveying their grades, we finalised 3 options. 

  1. Shade sails over the hub
  2. Lego lunchtime club
  3. Relaxation Zone in our school yard

Our classes went to vote for their favourite option and after counting votes, our SRC students are happy to announce option 3  - Relaxation Zone in our school yard is the winner.