Principal Team Report

Junior School Sports Carnival (save the date)

Please note that the Junior House School Sports Carnival will now be held on Thursday 21 November.  Please note this date in your diaries and that all students are encouraged to wear house colours (house coloured t-shirts available at the uniform shop).  As always, parents and family members are encouraged to attend.

2019 China Learning Exchange

This year's China Learning Exchange touring party of 13 Year 5/6 students, myself, Darien Hunte and Amy Shen are heading off to China on Monday. This year's trip will include a visit to various sites in Shanghai and a week-long immersion at our sister school in Beijing, Fuxue Hutong Primary School. During this time, assistant principals, Ben Zonca and Shaz Bailey willbe the acting principals.  They can be reached via the office as required.

Commemorative Family Path Update

Thank you to all families members and staff that have purchased personalised pavers as part of the school's Commemorative Family Path initiative.  I am delighted to inform the community that works on the path will commence late in October.

As part of of this project, the school has applied for a grant via the Depart of Education's 'Inclusive Schools Fund'. If successful, we hope to transform our native garden into a Sensory and Reflective Garden (see plan below).  We were encouraged to apply for this grant by our local member, John Kennedy, who has written a letter of support for our application.  Thank you to Andrea Clements (our garden specialist) all of the staff, parents and students that contributed content and letters of support for our grant application.  We will find out in December if we have been successful and any updates will be shared with the community.

National Science Week @ ASPS

Last week Auburn South Primary School celebrated our very own Science Week. There were different learning activities that our students engaged in, creating many wonders and questions. 

In Prep, they saved their apple and mandarin seeds. They knew that plants need soil, water, and sunlight. Their classroom is always hot and sunny in the afternoon so their theory was that they would have enough sunlight in their classroom for their seeds to grow. They planted their seeds and have waited two weeks with no luck yet. As a class they decided that they would move their pot outside into the sunshine, and made a sign to encourage other people to not touch their pot, allowing their plants to grow!

In Year 1, the students rotated through each Year 1 classroom to take part in a different science activity. They focused on the 50th anniversary of the moon landing in each of the sessions. The four activities were rocketry (creating their own Apollo 11 rocket), creating a moon collage using aluminium foil, story writing with space characters and drama/illustrating their own moon information book.

Over in Year 2, students continued to look at different materials and states of matter, aligning with their unit of inquiry on How the world works. They created an experiment with jelly, with variables such as water temperature, refrigeration and applying heat, to see what would happen. This led to a discussion around chemical and physical changes. Students also made playdough, again playing with variables and predicting what would happen to the different materials when they were mixed together.

Connecting to their previous unit of inquiry about scientific investigation of forces, the Year 3s planned a range of experiments to explore gravity. Students either made a paper rocket or used magnets and paper clips to ‘defy’ gravity. They planned, predicted and recorded their results in their science notebooks.  

In Year 4, students revisited their broad bean experiments and reflected on the best conditions for growth.

“Broad beans don't necessarily need light to grow but they will grow better if they get light. It would be better to grow them in a garden bed with soil and mulch, and in a safe place such as at home or the kitchen garden. It is important to remember to make sure nobody runs over them and make sure they have enough water and sun to grow” (Liliana Perovic).

In Year 5, the students were learning about the technology and the application of 3D printing. Over three lessons, the Year 5s built a snowman, designed boats and train stations, and finally created their own designs on paper, which their partner had to copy on TINKERCAD. 

Motivated by images of the drinking water conditions from a small village in Kenya, the Year 6s were inquirers when thinking of a solution for dirty water. They used a range of materials to design filters that removed as much ‘dirt’ as possible. 

Along with all of this, we also had students from Auburn High School come to Auburn South during lunch times and share a variety of different experiments. These experiments were all hands on and allowed our students to predict what would happen before the experiment was conducted. 

National eSmart Awareness Week

Last Friday, our school hosted the national launch of eSmart Awareness Week, an initiative developed by national children';s charity, The Alannah and Madeleine Foundation. eSmart's mission is to reduce online harm to children while creating awareness, solutions and ideas about cyber safety while educating and empowering Australians to be safe online.  As part of the launch the school hosted the visit of the Federal Treasurer, the Hon. Josh Frydenberg MP and the Minister for Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon. Paul Fletcher MP. The CEO of the Alannah and Madeleine Foundation, Lesley Podesta and other key contributors were also in attendance.  The school also had the opportunity to promote national eSmart Week via a short story in the Herald Sun (see below).

Thanks are extended to a small group of Year 5 and 6 students who participated in the launch with a couple of students enjoying the opportunity to be interviewed by reporters from Channel 10! 

As part of the school's ongoing commitment to Cyber Safety and the promotion of positive and respectful relationships, All students from across the school will be completing the online Digital Licence and students from Years 3-6 will be involved in a program run by the Cyber Safety Project.  These workshops will be held on Monday 18 November.  There will be a small charge for each student to cover the cost of both the Cyber Safety Project and Digital Licence programs.

Student News: Football Premiership for Auburn South students

Congratulations to the  following Year 5/6 boys who were in the u12 Newtons football team at Glen Iris Gladiators. The team  won the 1st back to back football premierships in Glen Iris Gladiators history, winning in both 2018 and 2019. Congratulations to:

Oscar Armstrong

Luka Nomakoudis

Dan Coshutt

James Dunlop

Adam Rixon (not pictured)

Louie Harrison 

Angus Robinson

All of the boys trained incredibly hard through rain, hail and cold winter nights, and all deserve this amazing achievement.

Disco Ticketing Reminder

Don't forget to purchase your tickets for our upcoming School Disco via Flexischools (no cash sales).