Chris Chant - Principal

Over the last few weeks there have been many changes in how we have presented learning, what we have been able to do as we live our lives in lockdown and now with a reduced number of COVID cases we are all hoping that many of the current restrictions can be safely removed and we can gain some renewed independence, freedom and return to a normal routine. Great news that the lockdown will be changed to the third stage for those families and friends who are in regional Victoria. This is a positive step and gives us all some hope that the metropolitan arrangements can soon be adjusted in a similar fashion.

This is a reminder that on Friday, the term ends at the early time of 2.30 pm.

On our school website we have attached a Daily Challenges matrix to the Remote Learning tab. These ideas may help students and families through the upcoming holidays and are a series of suggestions that your children may enjoy doing while on their school break.

School returns for the start of Term 4 on October 5th. The Remote and Flexible Learning program will continue for all students in this first week of term. From October 12th our Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 classes will be back to school.

‘Transition Back to School’ Conferences for Prep – Year 2 families are being held in the first week of Term 4. The appointment schedules are booked via Compass. Bookings will close Friday 18th September at 12.00 pm.

On Friday each class will meet with their teacher online and share a final opportunity together for the term to celebrate everything that they have achieved together during Term 3. Keep an eye out for a special surprise from the staff on Friday!

Parents are asked to communicate any issues with the school in a proactive and positive manner. It is important these steps are followed so we can work collaboratively to address any concerns. Families also need to work with the school around issues because this relationship is a partnership.

Class related matters should be directed to the teachers involved.
Wellbeing issues are raised with the teacher then managed through a school based process.
Attendances continue to be marked on Compass and families need to report student absences using the established process.
Compass is our preferred messaging system to parents and the wider community.
Finance matters are raised with the office and managed confidentially and by a member of the school leadership team.
Newsletters come out twice per week.
Parent convenors support class groups with information sharing and the ability to answer specific questions promptly using WhatsApp. This platform is not a space to be critical of the school, you need to raise these concerns directly with the school.
We maintain a fantastic web page that is regularly updated.

We have scheduled photo day for Tuesday 10th November. Further information will be forthcoming closer to the date.

Please remind your children that the E-Book online library is available for them to use at any time throughout the term but also can be accessed from home during the upcoming holidays. We have recently added some extra French books to the collection.

Prep enrolments for next year continue to grow. The media commentary around families wanting to complete an additional Kinder year has complicated the process. We support and understand family circumstances and ask anyone with concerns to contact us and discuss the plans for next year. We are planning for and expecting the normal numbers of students into our school for 2021. At this point we have enrolled many more Preps than at the same time last year!

The Key Experience Levy refund process continues. We can only electronically refund your levy into a nominated bank account so we need those for the process to continue. Many thanks to the families who have opted to make a donation to the school as part of this process. All donated funds are being allocated to the Technology program that has been providing the additional devices for the remote and flexible learning program.

From the CJC Numeracy Team.

Anne Hostein - Curriculum Leader

Good afternoon,

On this sunny, Spring Melbourne day, I reflect on what makes learning life-worthy. What makes our students ‘tick’ and what strategies can we put into place in our schools to ensure that students are transferring their knowledge across disciplines and into the 21st century.

If we look at key concepts, or ‘big ideas’ our teaching and learning programs can be delivered in a much more authentic, life-worthy way. Concepts are timeless and universal. They enable students to connect their thinking and learning. In a school such as Caulfield Junior College, which prides itself on its binational program, concepts are a wonderful to engage with, and explore the Victorian and French curricula and can assist in the delivery of key content. This little video highlights ‘concept’ based learning in a nutshell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdXH53EorFo&feature=youtu.be

Leora Heitlinger - Literacy Learning Specialist

Good afternoon everybody,

I hope you have been enjoying the Spring weather.

On a recent afternoon, a handful of us, including 2 student teachers and 4 Binome teachers, attended a PD presented by SEVR. In this session we discussed the ‘Big 6’ (oral language, phonics, phonological awareness, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary). We also discussed the support of students’ development of these skills across F-6 in a remote learning environment.

I would like to share this with you over the next few newsletters.

This week’s focus will be on Oral language.

History Of the ‘Big 6’

The National Inquiry into the Teaching of Reading (Rowe, 2005) concluded that “all students learn best when teachers adopt an integrated approach to reading that explicitly teaches phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary knowledge and comprehension”.

Further research by Konza (2014) advocated for the inclusion of Oral language creating the ‘Big 6”. Australian Journal of Teacher Education

ORAL LANGUAGE DEFINITION

Oral Language is the system through which we use spoken words to express knowledge, ideas and feelings. Oral language is made up of at least five key components: phonological skills, pragmatics, syntax, morphological skills and vocabulary (also referred to as semantics).

Oral language involves expressive and receptive skills. Expressive and receptive oral language are often referred to as ‘speaking and listening”.

Expressive language encompasses the words and actions used to convey meaning, including tone, volume, pauses and inflections.

Receptive language is the understanding of language expressed by others.

HOW DOES ORAL LANGUAGE RELATE TO READING?

When students are successful, they…

-can share their comprehension of a text through spoken language and interpret messages conveyed by others.

-can expand and control sentence structure when speaking.

-can self-monitor when reading and identify when a sentence does not make sense.

When students have difficulties, they…

-may not notice that their reading does not make sense.

-may not be able to articulate their thinking and comprehension of a text.

-may not use language structure clues(syntax) to read new words.

-may have a limited vocabulary.

TEACHING TIPS

Treat students as conversationalists.

Create rich opportunities for students to interact with the teacher and each other in meaningful contexts. This may include:

Reducing teacher talk in the classroom
Discussing lesson topics, instructions and shared class experiences
Discussing how students think, learn and use languages
Introducing and practising protocols for small group or pair conversations
Giving students time to think and formulate what they are going to say
Providing sentence or question stems and prompts to help students compose their speech

Games to play at home

Caulfield Junior College Newsletter

Honesty, Empathy, Respect, Optimism.

Remote and Flexible Learning - Term 3. Issue 16 · 15 Sep 2020

In this issue