Primary Years, Tarneit

Ms Maria Denholm

SRC Leadership Forum

On Wednesday 24 April, the Primary Years leaders including the Ambassadors along with the House Sports and Arts leaders attended the SRC Forum organised by Federal Member for Lalor, Joanne Ryan.

The students travelled to Werribee Secondary College where they shared with leaders from other local schools how leadership works at Good News Lutheran College. Then as a group, they brainstormed issues that affected the Primary Years students and were tasked with coming up with a plan to take action on the issue. All of the group were in agreeance that the amount of rubbish in the yard was the most serious issue. Over the coming weeks, they will work further on their plan to solve this problem. Stay tuned for more information on the actions they take.

Small Primary Years Uniform Items

If you have some small sizes of the Primary Years uniform at home that you no longer need, the College are always after items that can be used in a variety of situations including toileting accidents. Please drop off at Front Office any socks, underwear, College shorts, pants or skorts in small sizes which you no longer need.

YouTube

Teachers have become aware of many students in the Primary Years who have their own YouTube channels and follow other YouTubers. Some of these students have been encouraging their classmates to ‘follow’ them and ‘like’ their channels. The College’s concern is not so much about the channels our students may create, but the ability to access other content which may not be appropriate for primary aged children. Parents are reminded that the age specified by YouTube for an account is 13.

Click below for an information sheet about YouTube for parents:

ParentsYoutubeFactsheet.pdf

School Absences

In Victoria, it is compulsory for children and young people aged 6–17 years to attend school. Parents are legally required to ensure their child attends school every day and to provide an explanation for their child's absence from school unless an exemption from attendance has been granted or an exception to their attendance applies.

Evidence shows that daily school attendance is important for young people to succeed in education and to ensure they don’t fall behind both socially and developmentally. Young people who regularly attend school and complete Year 12 or an equivalent qualification have better health and employment outcomes and enjoy higher incomes.

The law provides a framework for school’s attendance, exemptions and exceptions from attendance and parents’ obligations relating to ensuring attendance. The rules are not in place to punish students’ time away from school, which can be unavoidable. Instead, the laws are an effort to promote and improve student attendance across Victorian schools.

Unexplained or unapproved absences

The Education and Training Reform Act 2006 provides some examples of what a reasonable excuse is for the purposes of explaining a school absence and includes, amongst other considerations:

Illness and accidents;
Unforeseen and unexplained circumstances;
If the absence was a result of complying with another law;
The child is receiving distance education through a registered school;
The child id undertaking approved education, training and/or employment;
The child has been suspended or expelled; and
The child is attending or observing a religious event or obligation.

Taking your child for an extended holiday during school term, and what you can do to ensure that their learning needs are supported.

Generally, schools advise against planning a family holiday in term time. If you are planning an extended holiday advise the school principal in writing at least 2 weeks in advance of finalising any plans. The principal has the discretion to decide whether or not to approve the absence taking into account the student’s educational interests.

Due to the nature of the ongoing teaching of new content along with collaborative learning, it is not possible for primary teachers to provide individualised work for students on holiday which replicates what will be missed in the classroom.

If sufficient time is provided teachers may be able to ensure that any upcoming assessments are completed, but if they are missed along with a considerable amount of learning and associated work, this may impact a child’s ongoing academic results.

Mrs Maria Denholm

Head of Primary Years

Jump Rope for Heart

Get excited! We are starting Jump Rope for Heart!

Jump Rope for Heart is a fundraiser for the Heart Foundation. The students are encouraged to practice their skipping at school and at home for the next 6 weeks. Please read the attached information from Jump Rope for Heart that includes the link to start your child's fundraising. Let's get skipping.

Jump Rope for Heart_Parent/Guardian Info.pdf

Mrs Talita Zibell

Assistant Head of Primary Years

The Treatment of Water and How it Comes to our Homes

On Friday 3 May, a worker from Yarra River, Sundeep, visited our school and shared how water comes to our homes.

First, the water is collected by big bodies of water (the collection process in the water cycle). Then it goes through a pipe which leads to a treatment plant. Once it’s gone there, different processes clean the water and then the water is led to a storage facility. After that, once we turn our taps on, a mechanical process will occur and all the water will be let go. The water will let go in intense pressure because of the height of where the water comes from in the tower and the water will swiftly come to our taps. The process takes about a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 6 hours.

He also taught us how we can save our water for our future generations. A few ways are taking a shorter shower (2-3 minutes), when we brush our teeth we tur

n of our taps while we are brushing so it saves the water, another way is when we are taking a shower to get ready for something, always turn of the shower tap while applying soap. Also if you put something down the pipe of the tap, the water will be clogged in the pipe. But don’t worry because this is why we have plumbers in the world the plumber will replace your tap or your pipe and just like seeing a doctor when you are sick, the tap will be working again.

We were really happy to have Sudeep with us and he taught everyone in Year 4 some new knowledge about the 4th stage of the water cycle (collection).

By Vihaan Vakharia 4C and by Sartejpal Singh 4A

Prep's First Excursion

Students had a blast interacting in a range of different ways to play at MOPA (Museum of Art and Play). This linked in nicely with the Prep's new unit of inquiry “Where We Are In Place and Time” as students got to discover the many styles of play and used their social skills to share, take turns and work together. Some of the many play opportunities students got to engage in, included a reading room with interactive screens, a dance studio with costumes, a zoom room with racetracks, painting a real car, and a water station. The Prep students have used this experience to reflect and write a retell piece about their favourite activity from the excursion. We look forward to using our new knowledge and inquiring into the unit further over the coming term.

Ms Holly Cicino

Prep Teacher

Prep Mother's Day Picnic

In celebration of Mother's Day, Prep students hosted their mothers at school on Wednesday. They pampered mum with manicures and created bracelets, necklaces and drawings as special gifts. It is the sweet memories like these that makes Mother's Day so special!