From the Principal

We are back tomorrow! Yeah!  We cannot wait to see you all.

Thank you to all during this time of lockdown

The last two weeks have been a challenge for everyone.  The disappointment of another lockdown and the cold, wet weather has certainly challenged us all.  I want to thank our entire parent community for supporting your children to work online while many of you are also working remotely; our staff for jumping back into remote learning so smoothly and seamlessly; and our students for applying themselves to the tasks at hand, getting back into Google Classroom, joining Webex meetings and submitting their work.   Everyone has done an amazing job.  I do want to reach out to families who may be finding things tough during this time and encourage you to make contact with me, or our Chaplain, Marg, for a cup of coffee and a chat  or the opportunity to connect to the wider community supports.

Storm damage

The severe weather on Wednesday night knocked down a number of trees and created some damage to the sports shed, fences and gates.  After a  quick phone call to log the damage we are pleased to report that the tree branches have been removed and we are waiting for some repairs.  We hope that you have all managed to escape too much damage and your power supplies are secure.  

Curriculum Day - Tuesday 15 June

Next Tuesday, 15 June, is a Curriculum Day.  This means no students at school, and no remote learning activities on this day.  All staff are working with numeracy consultant, Margarita Breed, to delve into the teaching of multiplication, division and thinking multiplicatively.  

Camp Australia are offering a full day of activities here at school for any registered students.  They are asking that families book in as soon as possible (before the close of the day tomorrow, Friday) so they can make arrangements for supervision.  Should there be no, or very few, students booked in, the supervision day will not go ahead and they will notify families on Friday late in the day.

Photos of our school

After our working bee the other week, one of our very talented parents, Hayleigh, raced back to school with her camera to capture the afternoon light and our school buildings and grounds.  I have used one of her lovely photos as the new banner on the newsletter. Thank you Hayleigh.  Here a couple of photos for you to enjoy:

Reports & Three-Way Conferences

On Friday 18 June, Semester 1 reports will be uploaded onto Compass for families to read. Hard copies of reports will also be sent home with students on that day. Following the receipt of the reports we will be holding our Three-Way Conferences with parents, students and teachers.  This is a great opportunity to hear about the learning for the first half of the year and to discuss goals for the remainder of the year.  Parents will be invited to select times to meet via a Compass email.  

There are a few adjustments to the planned schedule of Conferences:

• Grade 2MT will be having their interviews on Tuesday 22 June and Wednesday 23 June.
• Grade 4L will be having their interviews in on Monday 2 August and Tuesday 3 August.
• Our families who require interpreters will be having interviews on Tuesday 13 July or Thursday 15 July
• All other classes will have interviews at the scheduled times.

If we will need to flip these meetings to remote access via Webex, we will provide a link to the meeting for your family.

Grade 5/6 Experiments

Our science experiments just keep getting better! The latest in a string of experiments looking at the different properties of substances, was the creation of their very own lava lamp! Students have been looking at the different compounds of solids, liquids and gases, and the physical and chemical changes that occur when these substances are mixed together. In this experiment, students used oil, water, food colouring and Alka-Seltzer tablets to create their very own lava lamp! They watched as the addition of the tablet caused a chemical change in their solution, and with the use of some lamps, turned their reactions into a sight not to be missed.

Grade 4HS Expressionism

As part of the Grade 4 Inquiry, 'How we express ourselves,' we have been discussing how colour is associated with a person's emotions.  4HS studied the painting 'Down on His Luck' By Frederick McCubbin.  This painting depicts a disheartened swagman sitting in the Australian bush unlucky to find gold.  After lots of discussion, the students used watercolours to paint their own picture depicting emotions that were strong to them about an event of their choice.

House Athletics - Thursday 5 August

The whole school House Athletics day is fast approaching.  On Thursday 5 August our whole school head down to Proclamation Park for a day of running, jumping, throwing. Students compete for House points and the trophy at the end, while place getters go on to represent the school at higher levels of competition.  This day requires a huge contingent of volunteers to manage individual events, score, marshal students etc... Please add this date to your diary now so you can come along and support the event in one of the many ways possible.  A quick email to Fiona Pumpa (fiona.pumpa@education.vic.gov.au) will have you signed up in a jiffy.  

Grade 5/6

Google Classroom has been a hive of activity over the past few weeks with our senior students adapting well through the transition back to the online platform. In mathematics this past week, students have been looking at Area. They have been measuring different objects, visually representing a meter square space and researching how big a hectare is. This is all part of a chicken investigation to understand just how much space ‘free range chickens’ actually get.

Grade 3

Students  have been looking at haiku and acrostic poems.

Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry made of short, unrhymed lines that evoke natural imagery. 

Line 1 5 syllables

Line 2  7 syllables

Line 3   5 syllables

As part of our inquiry unit titled ‘How We Express Ourselves,’ the students in Grade 3 were required to create a sculpture using a wide variety of art supplies and recyclable material. Our class have explored a few examples of sculptures around the world, such as the Statue of Liberty, and how sculptures and art express emotion. 

Last week students were asked to help out in the kitchen and to take a photo. It was great to see so many students helping their parents in the kitchen.