Primary Sport

Playtime Play

Children have always looked forward to playtimes at school. Play is how ‘children explore, discover, fail, succeed, socialise and flourish. Play also allows children to develop skills like creativity, innovation, teamwork, focus, resilience, expressiveness, empathy, concentration, and executive function’ (Let the Children Play – Pasi Sahlberg and William Doyle). Over the past 18 months, the PVCC primary team has sought to invigorate, and revitalise, play in the Early Years and Junior playgrounds.

 The photos displayed were taken on Tuesday 14 November, when I was on yard duty in the Junior playground. As I walked the yard I marvelled at the diversity of play; mixed gender, mixed age, different play spaces (i.e., playground, oval, basketball courts, Ga-Ga pits etc.) – everything we’ve aimed for with our students.. We have a Sports and Recreation Shed where, at lunchtimes, students can borrow a range of sport/recreation equipment such as cricket sets, various balls, yo-yo’s, Uno cards, skipping ropes, tennis racquets, and we often set up the tennis and/or volleyball net for large scale play. 

The Sports and Recreation Shed is overseen by Year 5/6 student volunteers and is a magnificent testament to student cooperation and agency.

Supported play, with staff oversight and encouragement, will continue to be an emphasis in the primary yards.

Sun Smart

Each school, in Victoria, has a responsibility to adhere to Sun Protection policies. All primary schools, in Victoria, mandate the wearing of appropriate broad brimmed hats, especially during Terms 1 and 4, and encourage the wearing of hats at other times to protect the students from the damaging influence of the sun and ultraviolet rays.

PVCC is no different and it is expected that all students wear a college broad-brimmed hat at these times during PE/Sport sessions, and at playtimes. There are regular primary students without a hat and unfortunately, in this instance, they miss out on either outdoor PE lessons, or play that is not undercover which limits many play options. It is also common to see students wearing a hat that is too large for their head – this causes significant frustration for the child as they attempt to participate in play whilst holding onto their hat or having to pick it up when it falls off.

Families are encouraged to purchase the college hat that can be adjusted with a toggle, so the hat fits properly on the student's head, especially before the beginning of the next school year.

I also encourage families to download the Sunsmart app onto their phone, or child’s device, and set an alert each morning to receive a notification of the days expected UV rating. Experts suggest that a UV rating over 3 requires appropriate sun protection measures.

The link to the article expands on this further.

Do I need sunscreen on a day with extreme UV levels if it's cloudy? › Ask an Expert (ABC Science)

Years 5 & 6 Swimming

The Year 5 and 6 students have recently completed a 5-week block of swimming lessons.

The college is grateful to Kingswim, Mernda, for the exemplary program they ran for our students.

Our students had a wide range of swimming capabilities, and Kingswim catered magnificently for the different swimming learning needs of the entire cohort of students.

Please see the Kingswim advertisement in the Community Notices section of this newsletter for their upcoming intensive holiday swimming program and be sure to consider this swim school if you are looking for a swim centre for your child’s swimming lessons in term 1 next year. PVCC encourages families to utilise swimming lessons; swimming skills are vital life skills and make water play much safer for children.

Overall, the students were very busy within their weekly lessons, and had fun as well.

Junior Primary Term 4 Inter-School Sport

What a wonderful term of summer inter-school sports it has been!

The Year 5/6 students participated in one of the following sports: basketball, rounders, Hot Shots tennis, volleyball and cricket.

Rounders is similar in concept to softball except a mini wooden bat (like a mini cricket bat) and a tennis ball are used.

Cricket is a modified version called Cricket Blast (Play Cricket) and requires no protective equipment, does not use a hard ball, and each player gets a bowl, bat and keeps wicket throughout the game.

Hot Shot tennis is also modified using a softer tennis ball, and reduced tension racquets, which allows play to occur on a smaller court.

All of these modifications are generated to enhance participation and enjoyment for primary age students.

Remembering that we play against much larger schools within our district, PVCC has proven to be tough opponents this term.

Although basketball hasn’t had a win, the boy’s team has had a number of losses of less than 10 points, including a 1-point loss to the top team, Greenhills PS. The girls also had a narrow 2-point loss to Apollo Parkways PS.

Rounders have had no wins this term however it is apparent that the girls have developed increasing confidence and game strategy.

Volleyball girls have had two wins, and a draw, and volleyball boys had their first win of the term last week.

Cricket has had one win and has also shown signs of increasing game strategy and improved bowling. Pleasingly, our cricket squad has four girls within it.

Hot Shots tennis, boys and girls teams, have had two wins each and a number of very narrow losses.

I congratulate the students for their persistence, and growth mindset, within their chosen sport, and thank our staff for their diligent coaching and management.

Hotshot Tennis

This term, for Inter School Sport, I played Hot Shots tennis and it was very enjoyable. We were amazingly coached by Mrs Bezemer as our coach on Friday, and Mrs Michler on Tuesday. I really enjoyed playing Hot Shots because it was so much fun playing against other schools. Although we had some tough competition we did well. We lost a couple of matches however we also won a couple of matches and overall, it was a great season. Well done to my teammates for always trying their best and giving it their all! 

Eve H – 6BM

My name is Aditri and this term I played Rounders. Rounders is an all-girls sport for inter school sport. Rounders is fun, exciting, striking and fielding team game. In rounders there are two teams. First, the pitcher from the fielding team will bowl, and the other team will hit the ball. The fielding team will then catch the ball and try to get the batting team out. If three people get out from the batting team, then the fielding team becomes the batting team. When I first played rounders the instant I hit the ball with the bat I knew that I would love this game. Every Tuesday I always feel tired and not wanting to go to school but the fact that I get to do rounders training gets me up and going. Our rounders training sessions are AWESOME. On Fridays we play other schools and as a team we try our best and most importantly try to have fun.  

Aditri S – 5N