Oakleigh PS Newsletter

From the Principal

SCHOOL COUNCIL ELECTION RESULTS

The result of the School Council Elections that closed recently are as follows:

 

Parent Category

4 nominations for 4 positions

  • Jimmy Mastrandonakis –father of Nicholas
  • David Woodgate – father of Jared and Kynan
  • Betty Nikitas – mother of Angelique and Liam
  • Christine Talias – mother of Manni and Teoni

We still have a casual vacancy to fill which will be discussed and endorsed at the next School Council Meeting.

 

Our thanks are extended to these people for their willingness to stand for Council and to the outgoing Councillors Joe Kern and Kathy Rotter for their contribution to our school.

 

DET category

2 nominations for 2 positions

  • Bronwyn Orr
  • Michelle DiGiovanni

ICT COMPUTER LEASING UPDATE

Our computer leasing agreement expired at the beginning of this year. This gave us the opportunity to review the needs of each year level and ensure that the devices we purchased are current and will enhance our teaching and learning programs. Due to the rebuild we will no longer have a computer laboratory so teachers wanted the flexibility to run whole class and small group activities in their classroom.

 

The new leasing agreement includes the purchase of:

  • A class set of convertible smart tablets (touch screen and flip able keyboard) from Years 2 – 6 for each year level.
  • Large screen ACER think pads.
  • 15 x iPads for the Performing Arts Program which will be used in a variety of ways including musical composition.

The Technology Revolution

Since you were young technology has been expanding at an exponential rate. The smart phone in your pocket is more powerful than any computer that the government had access to 25 years ago. Technology has changed the way we live, communicate and also the way in which we teach and learn. We are so firmly entrenched in the digital age that there is not a single child in a primary school today who knows of a world without Google, iPhones and the World Wide Web.

 

For instance, in the last two years when our Prep students first used the desktops we had they kept touching the screen to access the apps and many had not used a mouse or keyboard.

 

Has the role of technology in classrooms changed? What role does technology play in today’s primary classroom?

Since the 1980s when computers first appeared in front of primary school students, they were used for a few core purposes: word processing, researching information, adding an audio-visual element to learning and playing ‘educational’ games. Computers were often seen as a separate subject and their use was not integrated into every classroom program as they are today.  Technology is no longer taught in computer labs but embedded in daily classroom routines. 

 

The Digital Technologies curriculum aims to ensure that students can:

  • design, create, manage and evaluate sustainable and innovative digital solutions to meet and redefine current and future needs
  • use computational thinking and the key concepts of abstraction; data collection, representation and interpretation; specification, algorithms and development to create digital solutions
  • apply systems thinking to monitor, analyse, predict and shape the interactions within and between information systems and the impact of these systems on individuals, societies, economies and environments
  • confidently use digital systems to efficiently and effectively automate the transformation of data into information and to creatively communicate ideas in a range of settings
  • apply protocols and legal practices that support safe, ethical and respectful communications and collaboration with known and unknown audiences.

We look forward to using these computers in the classrooms and am sure that they will enhance the teaching and learning programs.  They will also be used to showcase student learning at our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Expo which will be held in Term 3.

 

Michele Nolan

Principal