News Flash

College has just won the Girls & Boys Junior State Hockey Championships!

Notices Sent Home

Grampians Retreat – Years 1 & 2

NAPLAN results – Years 3 & 5

Week Ahead

Monday, September 16th

- Year 2 Class Assembly at 2.30pm

- NAPLAN parent meeting at 5.00pm - Junior School Meeting Room

- AMEB Exams for selected strings players

Tuesday, September 17th

- ICAS English exam for selected students

Wednesday, September 18th

- Prep to Year 3 Reggio excursion to Lake Hamilton-11.20am to 1.00pm

- Year 6 Canberra Camp 2nd instalment due

Thursday, September 19th

- Young House ‘multicultural lunch’-12.40 pm

- HDSA Football Round Robin – selected Year 5 & 6 students 2.30pm – 5.00pm

Friday, September 20th

- ‘Magic of Myrniong’ - Footy Colours Day

- Early finish at 2.15pm

- Year 5 and 6 students attending Senior School House Music - 2.30pm dismissal from Senior Campus

2019 Naplan Results

Year 3 and Year 5 parents will receive their child’s 2019 NAPLAN results on Friday. An accompanying letter from the class teachers, Mrs Bernadette Milich and Mr Graham Lewis, will compare the NAPLAN test results with 2019 class work. A parent meeting will be held on Monday, September 16th at 5.00pm in the Junior School Meeting Room. All Year 3 and 5 parents are welcome. We will outline the 2019 NAPLAN testing and how to properly interpret the results. Parent questions will be welcomed.

House Music

Congratulations to Young House for winning the 2019 Junior School House Music competition. The theme this year was ‘Food’. All four Houses sang the classic ‘Food, Glorious Food’ from the musical ‘Oliver’ and then a selected song. Young House outpointed the opposition with their rendition of ‘On Top of Spaghetti.’ Adjudicator Ms Denise Fenwick was impressed with the Italian words infused into the Young House song.

Bebras Results

The results for the second ‘Bebras’ challenge are in. ‘Bebras’ is a computational thinking challenge run by the CSIRO. Students in Years 3 to 6 work in teams to complete a series of online challenges, in a 45 minute time frame. The following students will be presented with their certificates at Assembly on Monday, September 16th -2.30pm:

Merits - Oscar Hawthorne, Will Sweeney, Charlie Hindhaugh, George Nicholls, Lucas Rouse, Lachlan Reid, Harry Brown, Ben Walker, Tiago Gaio, Justin Hawker, Daniel Hillam, Tom Hill, Sacha Laidlaw, Olivia Rees, Austin Mayfield, Tom O’Sullivan, Jock Nicholls, Harry Austin, Sam Tonissen, Max Hindhaugh, Will Baker, Will Bourke, Harriet Nicholls, Isla Reilly, Belle Wallis, Sarah Crowle, Sophie Spence, Hugh Stratmann, Dougal White, Matilda Whitehead and Sophie Whitehead,

Credits - Frederick Milne, Kierun McClure, Chloe Headlam, Sophie Merrin, Ava Schroeder, Zoe Addinsall and Annabel O’Toole

High Distinctions - Miranda Page and Emma Donovan

Year 6 Push Cart Challenge

On Wednesday, September 4th, Miss Ross, Mr Palmer and the Year 6 students headed for the Buckley Swamp Go Kart Track to complete their Inquiry unit – ‘Push Cart Challenge’. They spent the afternoon racing their push carts around the competition track. During Terms Two and Three, the students worked in groups to source recycled materials and construct their push carts. Despite the wet conditions and a slightly bogged school bus, the race day was a rich assessment task enjoyed by all.

Reggio Excursion

To wrap up Semester One’s Inquiry unit, “Living things / Weather”, Prep to Year 3 students will visit Lake Hamilton on Wednesday between 11.20 am and 1.00 pm. Students should wear their PE uniform for the day and bring a packed lunch. The provocation for next term’s Inquiry unit is “Moving things”.

Hockey - Preliminary Finals

On Saturday, College Bandicoots went down 2-1 to Demons in the Division 4 Preliminary Final at a cold and windy Pedrina Park. The match was a terrific contest, with both teams giving their all throughout the 60 minutes. William Baker equalised early in the second half, with a well taken goal on the left wing. Demons scored the winner with 10 minutes remaining in the contest. Best for Bandicoots were Chloe Headlam, Sophie Merrin, goalie Jake Butcher and Izzi Adamson. Congratulations to coach Mr David Merrin, manager Ms Valetta Bolton and the Bandicoots team on a fabulous season. The team played with great spirit and displayed outstanding sportsmanship.

Stephen Nelson

Head of Junior School

Early Learning Centre

We focus much of our time and discussion around a child’s readiness for school, but it is equally, if not more, important to consider your child’s readiness for our four year old Early Learning Centre program, which we call Piccino. Readiness for Piccino sets your child up for a successful transition to school. Here are a few things to consider when looking at your child’s enrolment into our Piccino program.

First and foremost, your child must turn four on or before 30th April in the year they commence with us in our Piccino program.

It is important, however, that families carefully consider whether their child is ready for Piccino as this year prior to school is a very important year for children’s growth and development. If children are not ready to learn within our Piccino program and in a large group environment, with specialist classes and many daily transitions, then they will not get the most out of their Piccino experience.

It is not the case that children who are less mature will automatically be able to access two years of funded four-year-old kindergarten. An assessment needs to take place during the child’s year with us and there are eligibility criteria which the child needs to meet. If your child does not meet the criteria, then they will be ineligible for a second funded year. If they are not ready for school, then other options may need to be considered.

We want to see children thrive in their Piccino year and be confident that they are ready to start more formal learning at school. Over the years, we have seen many children start our Piccolo (ELC3) too early, then move into our Piccino program emotionally younger and more immature than their peers and barely cope with the environment, program, long days, specialist classes and expectations. In those cases, a second year of Piccolo (ELC3) is highly recommended and sets your child up to flourish and thrive as they grow and make the transition to Piccino and then onto school seamlessly and very positively. We see no disadvantage when children start Piccino a little later. In fact, the longer you give your child to mature the more prepared they will be and the more they will grow and thrive.

We know all children grow and develop in their own time, but it is worth considering the above as you make important decisions about your child’s early learning. If you have any questions, then please contact me.

15 Hours of Three Year Old Kintergarten

Please find attached to this newsletter information from the Department of Education and Training on the roll out of 15 hours of three year old kindergarten.

Out of School Hours Care

Please note that on Friday 20th September, the last day of Term Three, our OSHC service will close at 4:30pm. Please make a note in your diary if your child will be using OSHC on this day.

We also ask that parents reconfirm their OSHC needs for Term Four. Casual bookings are available but must be booked the day before required. Please note that our before school care commences at 8:00am and our after school care closes at 5:30pm.

Frances O’Brien

Early Learning Centre Director

Dates to Remember