Teaching and Learning 

School Events

As the term starts to draw to a close, there have been a number of learning events taking place across the school. It is just another sign that we are getting back to some of the great habits that were happening prior to the pandemic to build high levels of engagement amongst the students. Some of the transitional events that have happened toward the end of term include:

• Prep Teddy Bear’s Picnic - The Teddy Bears' Picnic was an exciting first excursion for the Preps.. Students travelled by bus to the Scotsburn campus and were involved in co-operative games and literature response activities. They enjoyed a picnic lunch and play before returning to school by bus at 2 pm.
• Solar Boat Challenge - The Grade 5/6 students have been learning about buoyancy, solar energy and electrical circuitry as they plan and build the fastest solar boat. The Solar Boat Challenge will see the students race their boats against each other in a purpose built pool. This is a fabulous activity to see how students can cooperate and problem solve in a pressurised situation.
• Sell Sell Sell - The Grade 3/4 students have been building an understanding of persuasive advertising techniques to design and create breakfast cereal. This usually culminates in an expo at the end of term to showcase the advertising talents of our students.
• Grade 1/2 Authors - The Grade 1/2s have been working on becoming published authors which culminates in a book share day where they read the books created to younger students and provide feedback to each other.
• Grand Prix - Grade 6 students had the opportunity to participate in an exciting day at the 2023 Formula One Grand Prix. The day provided students with the opportunity to learn about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) in exciting ways. Some of the themes covered on the day and in the lead up included aerodynamics, design, drag, power, thrust and lift. This day also engaged the students in studying different techniques of marketing used by Formula One teams, which will be greatly beneficial for their key learning themes of money and economics, studied later in the year.
• GRIP Leadership Conference - This was an opt in event for Grade 6 students who travelled to Melbourne and spent the day listening to guest speakers to help sharpen and shape their leadership skills. This is always a wonderful day and one that stays with students for a very long time.

Student reflection

Last week 48 Grade 6 students went to the GRIP Leadership Conference in Melbourne.  We left Ballarat station at 7.00am and we were all very excited.  Once we arrived at the conference centre, we found out there were 217 other schools there as well.  The main message of the day was "Others First". As leaders we may need to do things that challenge us, but also choose to do the hard tasks.

We were allowed to make lots of noise and completed heaps of activities, however each activity had a strong meaning about leadership.

When we arrived back at Ballarat station, we had $10 to spend so most of us went to Woolworths and bought lollies.  Overall, we learnt about putting others first and how to be a great leader.

Written by Mariah & Nate

Planning Week

The second last week of most terms is a modified week for the students that allows our teaching teams to spend extended time together to reflect on the past term and extensively plan for the term ahead. It effectively means that students condense their specialist sessions into an allocated day during the week rather than having them spread out across the week.

Well done to the specialist staff for the organisation of this week and to the students who managed to deal with the modifications extremely well. 

One of the strengths of a multi-campus school is that we have opportunities to mix across the campuses. Usually this happens with the students but on this occasion, some teaching teams were able to spend their day at the Scotsburn campus engaged in data analysis, reflection and planning for the term ahead.

It is reassuring to know that we are now ready and raring to go from day 1 in Term 2 with lots of engaging and rich learning experiences for the students.

Author Study

We will be conducting another whole school Author Study in Week 1, Term 2. Our Author in focus will be Claire Saxby, an Australian author who has written many fiction and non-fiction books as well as poetry. All students will be reading and engaging in many of Claire’s books throughout the week, giving them the opportunity to discover the authors writing approaches and compare and contrast themes in books. We will be exploring the author’s background as well as making connections between the author’s books and their life. Author studies are a great way to spark enthusiasm for books, and a lifelong interest in reading and add some fun throughout the day! We look forward to sharing it all with you next term. 

Farewell

As this will be my last teaching and learning report for the newsletter, I thought I would take this opportunity to say thanks and farewell as I head off to Lucas PS for the remainder of the year. It was fabulous to be back at Buninyong PS this year, and as short as my return was, it was great to reconnect with the students, staff and parent community. 

I know Mrs Phillips will do a fabulous job in continuing to drive the learning culture across the school, as Acting Assistant Principal of Teaching and Learning. 

I wish everyone the best for the remainder of the school year, and I look forward to touching base from time to time, especially the 150 years celebration later in the year. 

Dave