Teaching & Learning

Celebration of Learning

Thank you to all parents, carers, extended family members and special friends who attended the Celebration of Learning in the last week of last term. 

We trust that you were able to capture and enjoy some of the wonderful learning opportunities that our students at Buninyong and Scotsburn Campus engage in. 

The Celebration of Learning provides an excellent platform for students to showcase the work they take pride in and to celebrate the hard work they put in each day. A very big thank you  to Tracey and her team in the canteen for providing catering on the night.

Victorian High Ability Program

We are excited to announce the students selected for the Victorian High Ability Program (VHAP) for this term. 

This program is organised and delivered by the staff at Virtual Schools Victoria (VSV) for students who have been identified as excelling in the areas of English and Maths. 

These students join with other students from across the state to participate in weekly virtual learning sessions that help extend their thinking and teach new and complex skills. 

We wish our participating students all the best for the term of extension learning ahead.  Congratulations to the following students who are participating throughout Term 4 in the VHAP program:

Coco H (5/6JO)

Eilidh M (5/6DE)

Swimming Program 

The swimming program continues in week 4 (October 27-31) for all 5/6 classes. The event requires consent and payment via Compass and is currently visible for all 5/6 families. 

Any families that have a CSEF or SSB credit, may use the credit to pay for swimming.  Please contact the school office with any questions regarding the swimming program.

Phonics- information for parents and carers           

As many of our parents and carers will be aware, last year, the Victorian Department of Education released its statement regarding its position on the teaching of reading in P-2.  

This statement states that in the early years of school, the development of decoding skills is best developed through a program that includes a minimum of 25 minutes of daily explicit teaching of phonics and phonemic awareness using a systematic synthetic phonics approach. 

The statement also outlines the approach to teaching reading in the early years of school that is supported by the strongest evidence, implemented in many Victorian government schools that are achieving strong reading outcomes and will be expected to be implemented in all Victorian government primary and specialist schools commencing from 2025 with full implementation from the beginning of the 2027 school year.

At Buninyong Primary School, we provided professional development and training for all of our Prep- Year 2 teachers in 2023 in the teaching of systematic synthetic phonics which meant we were well and truly on the right path when this statement was released by DoE last year.

Our professional development in this area was provided by Sounds-Write. Sounds-Write have been delivering their high-quality training programme to thousands of education professionals for the last 20 years to prepare them to teach all children to read and write in the most efficient and effective way.

Sounds-Write also offers high quality resources and information for parents and carers that is available for free via their website. Resources include podcasts, along with a free online course to help your child read and write at home using strategies that align with the approach being used at school.

If these resources are of interest, they can be found on the Sounds-Write website here: Support for Parents and Carers - Sounds-Write

Additionally, if you have any questions or concerns regarding your child’s literacy progress, or are just curious about the approach mentioned above, please feel free to contact your child’s classroom teacher or Nicole Phillips (Assistant Principal- Teaching & Learning).