Specialists News

Sport/Phys Ed News 

State Cross Country

Congratulations to Hudson C (19th), Elke W (57th), and Sonny R (69th) on representing our school at the State Cross Country Championships in Melbourne last week. All three students performed exceptionally well, finishing in the top 70 of their respective age groups.

This was an outstanding achievement against the strongest runners from across Victoria on the particularly muddy and challenging Yarra Glen course. Their dedication, perseverance, and commitment to training have been exemplary, and we are incredibly proud of all they have accomplished.

Sandhurst Division Football

Congratulations to both our Senior Boys and Senior Girls Football teams, who represented the school with pride on Tuesday.

The Senior Girls enjoyed a particularly successful day, finishing at the top of their pool to earn a place in the Grand Final. Although they were defeated by a more experienced St Francis team, the girls should be incredibly proud of their efforts in finishing the competition as runners-up. For many of the players, this was their first experience of competitive football, yet they adapted quickly to both the rules and the pace of the game. Their determination, teamwork, and willingness to encourage one another was outstanding. It was a pleasure to coach such an enthusiastic, respectful, and well-behaved group of girls—well done to everyone involved!

The Senior Boys also had an excellent day, winning five of their six matches in what proved to be a very strong competition. Their only loss came against Maiden Gully, who went on to finish as the competition runners-up. Throughout the day, the boys displayed outstanding teamwork, strong attack on the ball, and great sportsmanship. They should be very proud of the way they represented the school. A big thank you to Mr Crawford for coaching the team.

Thank You, Parents Club

A heartfelt thank you to our wonderful Parents Club for their generous purchase of 30 new playing tops for our boys' and girls' sporting teams. This thoughtful contribution will benefit multiple teams across a range of sports for many years to come. We are incredibly grateful for their ongoing support and commitment to enriching opportunities for our students.

Spring Gully Primary School Auskick – Term 3 Program

Auskick is coming to Spring Gully PS in Term 3! This fun, after-school program is a great way for students to build footy skills, stay active, and connect with friends—all right here at school and organised by AFL Central Vic staff.

• Starts Wednesday 29 July for 4 weeks
• 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM (straight after school)
• School Bottom Oval
• $55 which includes a football to keep
• Ran by AFLCV staff
• Register (see Flyer attached) or click here: https://www.playhq.com/afl/register/2e17d8 

Auslan News

Welcome to Term 3 of Auslan lessons!

Grade Preps have started the term with some revision of Auslan signs for feelings, signing a Feelings Poem and signing along to The Scribble Spot song. 

This week we have started a new topic About Me/Describing Myself! The Preps have had a go at signing a couple of sentences about themselves, starting with introducing themselves in Auslan: “Hello, my name is…” 

I have shown the Preps how to fingerspell their own name however this is not formerly taught until Term 4. If your Prep child is interested in practising to fingerspell their name, feel free to print off the A-Z Fingerspelling Mat attached to the newsletter each week and have-a-go with them. Fingerspelling is fun and some students will be very keen to try it after being introduced to it in class this week.

Other sentences we have had a go at signing are: I am…years old, My favourite colour is…, and I love [animal name].

Grades 1-6s have all practised their Fingerspelling, and discussed some Do’s and Don’ts of Fingerspelling. We are trying to fingerspell the Auslan alphabet with greater accuracy and speed, but we are reminded that accuracy is more important than speed, so that we can be understood by a Deaf person when communicating through fingerspelling.

Grades 1-2s have also practised responding in Auslan to questions about their holidays. We have been revising signs from past topics, and using the Auslan games. The students seem to have really enjoyed playing the Auslan games, and drawing a mythical creature to sign using signs for comparing and describing animals! 😊

Grade 3-6’s learned about Handshapes in Set 4: Write, I-L-Y/Love, Small, Fist, Bent Gun/Laugh and Eight. They were able to identify some signs we know and some new signs that use each of these handshapes.

Grade 5-6s have enjoyed learning about Depicting Signs through an Auslan Storyteller Edan Chapman’s signed story of ‘Gorilla vs Banana Tree!’ Students then explored the use of Depicting Signs and practised applying some of the visual-spatial elements into a simple signed storybook.

All students have been reminded this week that even though it might appear basic to be learning the “alphabet” in Auslan, fingerspelling is a very important part of the Auslan language! This is because; if we are unsure of a sign in Auslan then we can get around the language barrier by fingerspelling the word we need, and then the signing conversation can continue!! As we know the A-Z alphabet now, our challenge is to become more fluent, and speedy at it! Keep practising at home. 😊

Mrs Riordan