Specialists News

Sport/Phys Ed News

Swimming Program

Our Swimming Program will be held during this term at the Peter Krenz Leisure Centre, Eaglehawk on the following dates:

GROUP 1   - Week 8      

 GROUP 2 - Week 9

The students will complete five sessions with a fully qualified Austswim teacher from the Leisure Centre. Each session will be of 40 minutes duration. As this program forms part of the Health and Physical Education curriculum, it is important for all students to attend and take part in the lessons. 

The cost of the Program is $35.00 per student. The school has been able to secure a ‘Swimming in Schools’ grant again this year which has helped to reduce the cost. With bus, pool hire and the cost of instruction, the swimming program would normally cost approx. $68.00 per student without this funding. Further information about our Swimming Program (including payment/consent) is available on Compass.

In order to place students in swimming groups appropriate to their level, all NEW students to Spring Gully PS in 2024 (including all Prep students) will receive a skill competence assessment checklist. We ask parents/carers to complete, as accurately as they can, this form and return it to school as soon as possible so that we can start to organise the groups. Students who completed the swimming program in 2023 do not need to complete this form as they have already been placed in a group based on this year’s results. All students will be assessed by the instructors during the first lesson and placed accordingly.

State Athletics Championships

Congratulations to the following students who represented the school to the State Athletics final at the Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne last Wednesday:

Jed H - 9/10 Years Boys High Jump

Max H - 9/10 Years Boys 100m & 200m

Archie C - 12/13 Years Boys Hurdles

Emma A - 12/13 Years Girls 100m

As expected, the standard of athletics was extremely high and our students competed with great distinction, all recording personal best times/jumps.

They should all be very proud of their achievements.

Auslan News

This week in Auslan, the Grade Preps have been focused on learning the Auslan Fingerspelling Alphabet A-Z so they can start Fingerspelling their names. They have been learning to introduce themselves, by signing: “Hello, my name (is) what…? [Fingerspell Name].” Grade Preps are bringing home their names in Auslan Fingerspelling to practise signing with their families and to be able to introduce themselves in Auslan. See the photos below of some Grade Preps practising with a partner during class this week.

Grades 1-2s have been signing an Auslan Rap Song to continue learning the meanings of HOLM +NMF: Handshape, Orientation, Location, Movement, and Non-Manual Functions. Under their new topic About Me, Grade 1-2s have been revising some signs to ask information about others and reply, giving information about themselves, including: like, love, have, giving your age, birthday, favourite, sports, colours, seasons, and animals. 

Grade 3-4s have started a new topic on Professions, learning signs including: Teacher, Doctor, Nurse, Firefighter, Dentist, Police Officer, Chef, Hairdresser, Astronaut, Pilot, Postman, Vet, Mechanic, Soldier, Artist, Farmer, Musician, Photographer, Singer, Carpenter, Scientist, Worker, Waiter, Sailor, Business Person, Sports Person and Builder. The Grade 3-4s are making PowerPoint Presentations to practise signing to their peers.

Grade 5-6s have been revising the components of HOLM +NMF and their definitions, which are an integral part of Auslan sign grammar. As Auslan is a visual language, the grammatical structure is different to English, and HOLM +NMF (Handshapes, Orientation, Location, Movement, and Non-Manual Functions) are very important in helping us to sign more accurately. The Grade 5-6s are currently working on a mini research project on the History of Auslan, covering the origins of Auslan, the importance of Handshapes, HOLM +NMF, and why Professor Trevor Johnson is such an important figure in the Deaf community. The Grade 5-6s are continuing to practise their short, personalised Script for their Auslan Learning Task, and are encouraged to continue to do some extra practise at home, however this is optional.

Mrs Riordan.

Choir Update

A huge congratulations to the fabulous SGPS Choir on another successful year! We would like to advise that there will be no choir rehearsals for the last 5 weeks of Term 4, with Mrs Hamilton commencing her Maternity Leave at the end of this week. Thank you to all the wonderful choir students for their commitment and dedication to the many rehearsals and performances this year.