Myrniong - ELC to Yr 6

RLP 6.1

A big thank you to our College community for working together and supporting our students and each other. 

Continuous lockdown has given us the opportunity to focus on the importance of our school values. 

Respect can be shown in the way we treat each other, not only while online but also within our families. It doesn’t cost anything or take up much of your time to be kind to others, listen well and use your manners. This is a very easy way to help you, and those around you, to have a good day.

Optimism requires us to look on the bright side of life. Whilst that can be hard at times, there is always hope. Even though we don’t know when, lockdown will end. What can you do in the meantime to stay connected with your friends and family?  Read “Around the Classrooms” to see what others are doing.

Compassion can be shown, by all, to all. Being considerate of others within your classrooms and at home is vitally important as everyone is coping with different challenges and doing tasks they have never before been expected to do. Being kind and helpful is something so easy for everyone of us to offer to others.

Gratitude is taking time to pause and acknowledge everything we have in our lives. Think about what you have and what you can do, not what you don’t have and what you can’t do. You might like to make a list of everything good that you can think of. You might be surprised just how long that list is once you get started.

Resilience is the way we deal with life’s ups and downs. It is how we understand and manage our emotions. For some there are some new emotions that we may not have felt before and that is okay. You are surrounded by many caring people who are there to support you. Sometimes you might need someone to talk to, someone to play a game with you, or read you a story. Others would like to share a bike ride or a walk. Whatever you need or choose to do, remember you have people you can rely on. We are fortunate to be a part of such a caring community.

A message from your Junior School leaders:

Hello everyone, 

I hope you are doing well. Lockdown can be hard at times. We will eventually get out of it. I am trying to focus on the good things. I can sleep in. I can have a hot chocolate while doing maths. I can spend time with my family. I can help with farm work.

We are all in this together and we will see each other soon.

Rupert

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all doing fabulously as you all deserve to be! Remember if you get bored you can do a brain break or even listening to music helps me focus so I can sing along and work! Have a spectacular week!

Amelia

Around the Classrooms

Year 1 – ‘Paper Bag Book Reports’

The Year 1s have created ‘Paper Bag Book Reports’ for Book Week using the Flipgrid app. They collected items from around the house which related to their story.  They then wrote a short script and were given two minutes recording time to retell the story using their props. 

Year 1 students were asked to create a hug, or something similar for their ‘Send a hug’project.  They then sent their ‘hug’ in the mail to a friend or relative that they hadn’t been able to see.  They were requested to use whatever materials they had at home or simply write a letter and decorate it. 😊

This poem accompanied the “hugs”. 

“I miss you when you’re far away.

I’d love to see you every day.

But since I can’t come over to play,

I’m mailing you a hug today.

So although it might be quite a sight,

wrap my arms around you tight. 

Repeat daily to keep your smile bright,

until we get to reunite!”

Year 2: Carecrows

To bring a bit of fun and happiness to lockdown and some positivity to the community, the Year 2 students built Carecrows to stand in their yard. Their whole family were invited to be involved in the building of their Carecrow. Students used things from around the house such as rags or leaves from the garden.  Their brief was to ‘reduce, reuse, and recycle’ existing materials that they had at home.  Carecrows could be any size, shape or design.  They could be based on a character, sportsperson etc.

Once they built their Carecrows, students were asked to take a picture of it (including themselves if they chose) and email it to Miss Brabham.  Carecrow photos were then shared within the school community.  Reverend Peter Cook came and collected photos of them to share with the Residents at the The Grange Hostel. 

Year 3 - Themes

Year 3 start every day with a different theme that they can dress up to, bring something to share or even put it on their background. This has been a great way to maintain connections with their classmates, have their own moment to share or shine and to start each day in a positive way. On Workout Wednesday we had someone running on the tread mill.  Mango Monday was the perfect excuse to bring a smoothie to class and Toffee Apple Tuesday inspired the cooking of toffees.

They have been working on Geography projects about Australia’s Neighbours and what it is like to live in another country not far from ours. They have also been taking part in The Great Pet Debate, trying to convince us that their pet would be the best one to own. They have used Flipgrid for us to view and vote.

Year 5 - Biographies

In literacy we have been learning to write biographies. The children have just completed a biography on their favourite celebrity using the Sway app.  This was the Year 5 students first introduction to Sway and they have proven to be absolute superstars at using it already.

Outside of the classroom we have been making and sharing joke videos to boost wellbeing.

Hats On – First Day Of Spring

A reminder that as well as being the first day of Spring, September 1st is “Hats on Day” as referred to by the SunSmart Victoria guidelines. 

Hockey 7s

It was a fun day down at Pedrina Park. I  loved playing there, even though the plovers loved to swoop us when we went anywhere near their nest, (which was hard because it was right near our tent)!  Although there were no all-girl teams in our first round of games, I quiet enjoyed playing against mixed teams and all boy teams. 

It was fun working as a team with girls from Year 3 to Year 6.  I played as a defender up the back but mostly enjoyed coming forward.  I think all the girls were excited to be a part of this event and we all appreciate how lucky we were to be able to participate.

Due to there being no other ‘all girl’ teams, we automatically went through to Dimboola but unfortunately there was no ‘all girls’ teams there either, which means we are extremely lucky to go straight through to state! I was very happy to hear that the boys’ team is through to state also. 

The day after this competition, we went into lockdown and RLP 6.1 which means we possibly won’t get to play state, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

I would like to thank Mr Nelson and Mr Heath Templeton for coaching my team and Mr Dave Merrin for coaching the boys’ team. 

By Phoebe Alexander 

Tournament Of Minds

During Term Three, Myrniong students have once again been involved in the Tournament of the Minds (TOM), which is a student-driven problem-solving program for teams of students who work together to solve a demanding, open-ended challenge. This year we had two teams competing, one in Year 5 and one in Year 6. 

The Year 5 team included Amelie Shrive, Maggie Mercer, Lachlan Reid, Frederick Milne, Lucas Rouse, Oscar Hawthorne and Archie Malseed. The Year 6 team members were Sophie Hill, Amelia Bradbeer, Marianna Novikov, Molly Walker, Alison Foster, Chase Tosetti and William Templeton. 

The students worked together as a team, both at school and through Teams on their chosen challenge which explored a global issue through the perspectives of four different significant people over time. This year, the challenge was further complicated by three periods of remote learning which meant that some students struggled with internet access during meetings and other teams were unable to access to props, costumes, backdrops and other key components of their performances. They responded incredibly positively to these challenges, creating digital backgrounds in place of physical, taking on new roles unexpectedly during performances and teaching each other new skills during Teams meetings to try and overcome these challenges.

Following the digital submission of their entries last week, judging took place on Saturday 28 August and both teams received very positive feedback.

The Year 6 team is to be congratulated for winning First Place in the Geelong Region for their challenge division. This means that they will now move on to the State Final on Sunday 12 September. 

Congratulations to both teams for their dedication and persistence in the face of many challenges. They really demonstrated significant improvement in their teamwork throughout the challenge process. 

Here are some of their thoughts about the TOM experience:

“My experience from TOM this year is that you need to be flexible and ready for somebody to glitch out because we were filming on Teams which made it trickier. Yet it also opens up many opportunities to show leadership and resilience.”

Amelia Bradbeer

“TOM was an amazing experience that I will cherish forever and I am so happy that I got to do it in Years 5 and 6 because teamwork really does pay off and this time we made it. I think our team was very compassionate right from the get-go.  There was never a dull moment.  Despite having to change topics and characters, we never had any doubt and we kept pushing to the end.” 

Alison Foster 

“TOM was really fun, but the fact that we weren't able to access our soundtrack or costumes which we worked really hard on was very frustrating.”

Frederick Milne

Early Childhood Educators Day

Wednesday 1 September was National Early Childhood Educators Day and I want to acknowledge the wonderful work that our early childhood educators do at our Early Learning Centre.  We are so lucky to have such a fantastic team of dedicated professionals in Gabbi Bensch, Katrina Bull, Bernadine Kelvy and more recently Silvina Werner.  I know that our littlest learners benefit every single day from the work that they do.  Thank you for making a difference in the lives of our youngest students.

Mrs Frances O'Brien

Director – Early Learning Centre

Mrs Bernadette Milich

Acting Head of Junior School