Year Prep - Year 2

Assistant Principal's Report

Junior School News

Welcome back to Week Eight! It's hard to believe how quickly this term has flown. Holidays will be upon us before we know it. It's even harder to believe that planning is now beginning for 2020! In the past two weeks we have had parent information sessions for prospective Prep enrolments next year as well as school tours. This does provide a wonderful opportunity to reflect though on all of the wonderful things that we are doing at Pakenham Springs and the initiatives that we have in place such as our SWPBS framework, Readers and Writers workshop models, new playgrounds and furniture, as well as our new and exciting Specialist subject areas. It makes me very proud to be able to speak of these during tours and information sessions and for our guests to see such focused learning occurring in all classrooms.

Preps this week have had a very special celebration taking place! As of this week, our Prep students have learned all letters and their corresponding sounds. This means that they have now met all of Milo the Monkey's special friends and Milo has been able to invite them all to his birthday party! If you are unsure what this means, please ask your child to explain. There has been much excitement throughout the whole Prep corridor, and especially on Wednesday when the students had their very own birthday party for Milo!  

Thursday was a particularly special day for students in Years One and Two as they participated in our Japanese incursion. This provided an opportunity for students to immerse themselves in Japanese culture. In the gymnasium, students participated in a martial arts session where they discussed the significance of martial arts within Japanese culture and also an opportunity to learn and practice some techniques. I would like to stress that this was strictly without any physical contact and there was a strong emphasis on martial arts being used for self-defence purposes.

In the old Performing Arts room, students completed a session of Japanese dance and music. Traditional Japanese music was played, and students had the opportunity to create some of their own using the drums provided. Students were thoroughly engaged throughout both sessions and appeared to learn a lot from our wonderful presenters. Thank You Ms Breadon for all of your hard work in organising such a wonderful day for our Year Ones and Twos!

Our regular learning programs have continued strongly as well, albeit with a lot of assessment tasks being completed in recent times as Teachers look to finalise student reports, ready for distribution in Week 10. Wednesday of next week (June 19th) is our next open afternoon and I would encourage all parents to pop in after 3:00 to have a look at the amazing learning that has been taking place. This open afternoon will have a particular emphasis on reading, and showcasing the work that the students have been doing, in light of us implementing the Readers Workshop model across the entire school this year. I look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.

Until next time, please take care and keep warm!

Regards

Danny Forster 

Assistant Principal in Junior School