Positive Climate for Learning

Armstrong Creek School's Global Impact!

Specialist - Art

In Art, students have been creating beautiful artwork using a variety of strategies and materials. 

Secondary School Learning Community

This year our very first Year 11 students have started their Foundation Level VCAL (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning) qualification.  This course will be completed over a 2 year period and at the end of 2022 they will leave Year 12 with a secondary school leavers certificate.  This certificate can open many doors for our students who can go on to employment, apprenticeships, traineeships and further study at TAFE.   As part of their course they are required to complete a unit called ‘Work Related Skills’ that teaches students what their role is as an employee, how they are to conduct themselves in the work place and what opportunities are available to them in various fields.  

The VCAL students had their first excursion last week into Geelong to visit ‘DAL’ and ‘Baked By Us’ to find out more about the hospitality industry and to chat with the managers of the businesses. They also learned how to read the bus timetable, pay for a MYKI card and travel on the bus safely into Geelong. Read further to see how two of our students enjoyed their experience.

“On Tuesday last week we went to Dal Café in Geelong. We caught the local bus number 55 from Warralilly to town. We then walked to the café. At Dal we met the trainer. She told us about safety signs in the café and what they mean. We learnt that you need training to use the meat and bread slicer. Dal and The Gordon run a program for people 18 years and older. This program teachers people about working in Hospitality. We also visited Baked By Us who run a similar program with cupcakes. For fun we visited Pop Cultcha and a music store. We discussed work placement opportunities for Term 2.  We had a good day.” - Dom and Olivia

Specialist - AUSLAN

Hello all, I hope you are keeping well. You may have noticed I am new to Armstrong Creek School and a lot of students may or may not have had access to Auslan. I have been very lucky to be part of this unique family to teach Auslan and wanted to say a big thank you for such a warm welcome from staff, students, parents and the community. You may be wondering what exactly is Auslan? Auslan stands for “Australian Sign Language.” Auslan is a contemporary visual-spatial language of an Australian linguistic minority group, the Australian Deaf community. Auslan is derived from British Sign Language (BSL) but is unique to Australia with its own grammar and lexicon (vocabulary). Auslan does not have a written form and is highly contextualized (i.e. the way it is signed depends on the context; situation or topic, you are discussing). There is no one universal sign language. Just as all countries have their own spoken language, they have their own sign languages. Even within Australia there are some signs which differ according to a person’s education, where they live and when they learnt to sign.

Aims of Auslan LOTE?

This study is designed to enable student to:- use Auslan to communicate with others; 

• Understand and appreciate the cultural contexts in which Auslan is used;
• Understand language as a system;
• Develop cognitive, learning and social skills;
• Apply Auslan to further study, training, leisure or future work;
• Use Auslan to meet the demands of different purposes, contexts and audiences;
• Understand the relationship between Deaf and hearing cultures.

For your interest, you can practice your alphabet with your family members & friends.

10 Fun reasons to learn Auslan

1. You can communicate underwater
2. Communicate through glass
3. Sign Language is 3-D language (glasses not needed)
4. You can sign with your mouthful
5. Sign language is a neat way to express yourself
6. You can communicate across a room without 
   shouting/also in noisy places
7. Enjoy a unique visual and spatial language
8. Chat at the movies without being rude
9. Get to know the wonderful Deaf community

And most of important all…....Sign Language brings together hearing impaired and deaf people.

Some of you may wonder why I don’t use my voice while I sign. Auslan is a natural language distinct from spoken or written English. Its grammar and vocabulary often do not have direct English equivalents. It is difficult to sign Auslan fluently while speaking English, as the word order is different, and there is often no direct sign-to-word equivalence. This is why it is not ideal to try and do both at the same time. 

Believe it or not, it is quicker to learn Auslan without voice.  I know this is a new experience for some parents/carers and acknowledge that this is also very new for Armstrong Creek School.  I will try my very best to adapt and to make this a fun learning experience and I am open to feedback along the way. 

Speaking of developing and extending on the Auslan learning, you may have noticed that there are a number of news programs that now include Auslan interpreters. I would strongly encourage you and your child(ren) to watch the ABC news every Sunday from 5 to 5:30. It has a high quality level of interpreter coverage of current affairs, sports, weather and at the end there is a deaf person signing some of the news in Auslan too. There is also “Sally and Possum” on ABC kids or iView. 

For those of you who are wondering how I have been going for the last 7 weeks, I can tell you that in each of my classes the students were incredible. We have covered the topics of colours, greetings and family vocabulary and with some classes, we have also worked on some fingerspelling. For the students it has been more of a ‘taste’ of Auslan and the setting of expectations in relation to the language and for me it was to see and give me an idea as to how I can plan to ensure fun learning experiences for the rest of the term. 

Here are some of photos from the last 7 weeks

Specialist - PE

To start the year students in grades Prep - 2 have had a strong emphasis on cooperative activities. Students have been playing games that put an emphasis on team building, communication and trust. Tactical problems relating to cooperation games have included communication, cooperation, teamwork, trust, and problem solving. The second half of the term has given us the opportunity to build a strong foundation of more complex motor skills. The students have combined motor skills and movement patterns during individual and group activities to challenge what they are already confident with. The children have had the opportunity to discuss why rules and procedures are important in creating a safe learning environment and have participated in activities that involve motor skills such as catching and throwing.

A similar focus in the middle and senior years of the school has seen the children start with a strong emphasis on cooperative activities. Students have been completing more complex challenges that put an emphasis on team building, communication and trust. The 3-6 children have had a strong focus on Striking and Fielding games, this has supported the 5-6 children in getting ready for their summer lightning premiership. The senior students have been doing a mix of Striking and Fielding games and Target Games. Golf has been a huge hit with the older students.

Specialist - Performing Arts

In Performing Arts over the past few weeks we have been focusing on Dance. 

The Prep students have been developing there movement skills and improvising movements. While the grade 1/2 students have been learning the musical theatre dance piece from ‘Shrek the musical’ called ‘What’s up Duloc?’. Where they have had to copy and repeat movements. The students from Grades 3-11 have been learning and working on a musical theatre piece from Hairspray, called ‘You can’t stop the beat’. In this piece the Grade 3/4 have been working towards learning movement sequences and choreography. The 5/6 students have taken the Hairspray dance and developed their understanding of dance elements and performance skills. Where the 7-11 students have been developing their technical skills and learning a range of new movements. This week students have started their Drama units and are looking forward to learning new skills and knowledge in Performing Arts. Congratulations to all students on successful dance unit over the past 6 weeks.