Principal's Report

Curriculum Day Learning

Whilst our students were enjoying a longer than usual weekend, our staff were at school last Friday taking part in an excellent professional learning day, focused on problem solving in Maths. As mentioned previously, Maths is a whole school priority this year, with staff professional learning at its heart.

In our last newsletter we shared how we were introducing the ‘Launch, Explore, Summarise’ model in Maths to increase engagement and to develop students’ problem solving skills.

The presenter, Hannah Marino, took the teachers through a ‘Launch, Explore, Summarise’ lesson, with a focus on building and applying reasoning, fluency, problem solving and understanding – to make sense of a problem.

The following Year 5 and 6 problem was presented.

• Work out the perimeter of a rectangle with an area of 30 cm squared.
• Can you find at least 3 possibilities?
• Can you find more than 3 possibilities? What do you notice about the perimeter of these shapes?

1. Hannah and the class (of teachers) read the problem together. 

Are there any clarifying questions? You can use square tiles to help if you want.

2. Students first try this task individually for five minutes, in what we call ‘sweaty brain time’. 

Whilst the students are attempting this task, the teacher would then ‘spotlight’ students – asking them to demonstrate and explain their thinking to the class. It was fascinating to discuss how learning opportunities exist and occur from the students attempting a problem by themselves, and by learning from each other. 

3. Questions to move the learning forward: 

What do you notice about the perimeter for each rectangle you create? (As the length halves the width doubles).

Can you find a quick way to calculate the perimeter?

What is happening to the dimensions of each rectangle in comparison to each other? (l x w)

4. These tasks are also supported by prompts, which can reinforce and extend students as required.

5. Summarise:

What can we summarise about rectangles with the same area? (perimeters varies).

How did you move to decimals? (what patterns do you notice?)

What is the formula to calculate area?

What is an efficient way to calculate perimeter? (L x 2) + (W x 2)

The ‘Launch, Explore, Summarise’ model supplements the more traditional ‘skill based’ lessons, where the teacher explicitly teaches the skill at the start of the lesson. We look forward to welcoming Hannah back to FPS next week as she continues with our Foundation students.

Mother’s Day & Special Person’s Breakfast

Thank you to everyone who attended our Mother’s & Special Person’s Breakfast a couple of weeks ago. As always, this event was well-attended, with our special people enjoying the opportunity to catch up with a coffee in one hand and a brekkie roll in the other. Thank you to the many parents who supported the event, ensuring that it ran smoothly and with a strong focus on sustainability. As well as being a community event, we also raised $700. A special mention to Brett McNeill for his coordination.

This year we ran the event at a different time, finishing at 9.30am. This change was made as feedback had indicated that 7:30 - 9am made it difficult for families to be here in enough time to enjoy the event. On behalf of the School Council, I would be interested in hearing any feedback on this change, or other considerations, by emailing me at paul.wallace@education.vic.gov.au. 

Staff Absences

We are at that time of year when students and staff get bugs, colds and all of those other nasty illnesses. We have had a higher than normal rate of staff absence and have been fortunate to be able to book replacement teachers in most instances. A friendly reminder to please keep your child home if they are unwell, for the health of everyone.

A Visitor

We have had a very curious visitor to our school grounds since the last newsletter. This delightful tawny frogmouth took some time out of its morning routine to say hello to students and visitors before school started. 

Despite the attention of the many onlookers, our tawny frogmouth seemed quite cool and calm. Wildlife Victoria were called, however our visitor decided that enough time had been spent by the monkey bars, and flew off for their next adventure.

Kiss & Go

We have three ‘Kiss & Go’ locations around FPS – on Wingrove St, Langridge St, and Fairfield Rd. If you are looking to park and get out of your vehicle, please read the signs and follow them accordingly.

School families have reported that vehicles are being parked and left unattended during drop-off time. Doing this renders the 'Kiss & Go' drop-off location unusable and dangerous as parents attempt to work around the parked cars. If you need to get out of your car, this is not the place for you.

Save the Date: Year Level Parent Nights

This year at FPS, we thought we would like to try something a little different to help strengthen community connections. As you know, we have celebrations that involve the whole school. We thought it would be worthwhile (and fun!) to hold year level get-togethers with parents/carers of children within each year level.

Thanks to the class liaisons who have reserved locations, set dates and sent out details! Make sure to put the following in your calendar:

• Foundation: Saturday 27 July, Moon Dog World, 7pm
• Year 1: Saturday 20 July, Terminus Hotel, 7pm
• Year 2: Friday 14 June, Grandview Hotel, 7pm
• Year 3: Saturday 15 June, Moon Dog World, 7pm
• Year 4: Friday 21 June, Welcome to Thornbury, 7pm
• Year 5: Friday 26 July, Grandview Hotel, 7pm

Mid-Term Assembly

We have our mid-term assembly at 9am on Friday – everyone is welcome. See you at the Fig Tree Courtyard.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

~ Paul Wallace, Principal