Assistant Principal

(Primary)

                                                                   Mrs Leanne Schulz

2022 Primary School Theme

What exciting events are happening in the final weeks of the school year? 

Busy End of Year 

It is hard to believe that we are nearly at the end of the school year.  

In the last week of school, there are special Christmas Chapel services run by Reverend Blakemore on the Monday (5 December), for Fairview at 9am and Cumberland at 10am. On the last Friday (9 December) of the school year, we will be having a final Fairview Assembly at 9am and a final Cumberland Assembly at 10am.  

During the Cumberland Assembly, students will be presented with Colour Awards. Parents will be notified if their child is an award recipient. Students can only receive one Cultural, Sport or Service Colour Award throughout their time in Cumberland. Many students applied for a Colour Award but not all will receive one. It depends on the student's application and details of all that the student has been involved with at the College. If a student does not receive one in Year 3 or  Year 4, they can apply again in Year 5 or Year 6. Parents are more than welcome to join the final assemblies. 

2023 Primary Captains 

Captain interviews for 2023 positions have been conducted throughout the term. It has been a long process as there was an overwhelming number of applications. Electing captains is extremely difficult with so many strong contenders. Emails will be sent home to the parents of successful applicants and the 2023 Captains will be announced at the final Assembly for the year. They will be officially inducted into the role and presented with their badge at the beginning of the new year. All students who applied were interviewed and conducted themselves confidently. Students are to be commended for writing their applications and showing a willingness to be a part of the Leadership Team. Each student should be proud of participating in this process, regardless of whether they are selected as a Captain for 2023. 

Fun Run 

Thank you to the Parents and Friends Association for organising such a fun event for families to enjoy! Thankfully, the weather held out and everyone got to enjoy the festivities on the day. Well done to the Prep teachers for getting slimed and providing us with some great entertainment!

Fairview Dance Party 

What an incredible turn-out!Fairview students were dressed to impress and had their dancing shoes on. Everyone had a wonderful time dancing, socialising, buying treats and glow sticks, and getting special balloons made. There were some great conga dance lines and some brilliant dance moves. It was fantastic to see the students enjoying themselves in a social setting outside of school hours. An enormous thank you goes to the parent volunteers for their hard work in organising this special event and also a special thanks to the teachers who volunteered their time to help supervise. 

Fairview Concerts 

Wow, what a week it has been! It has definitely been a climax for the Fairview students in preparation for the performances this week. 

This year’s theme for the Fairview Concert was ‘The Greatest Show’. This is such an appropriate theme for Fairview students as it was their first concert performance at Aitken after two years of not being able to have concerts. It is so rewarding to see the excitement of our students as they shine on stage for their families and friends. All the hard work and rehearsals are worth such treasured memories. 

With the expansion of the Primary school from two classes to three classes at each year level, many new friends have been made. Making sure that all new students to the College feel a sense of belonging and connectedness has been a priority. School connectedness enables students to feel valued and supported in their school environment and can have a positive influence on their social and emotional wellbeing. 

Staff and students have put much effort into the concert, as well as having a lot of fun along the way. A very big thank you goes to the Performing Arts staff; Ebony McCarthy (Primary Concert Co-ordinator), Jevon Scandrett, Natasha Radley, Donna Rowe-Campbell, Beth Thomson, Rezz Ufacikligil (Technical Manager) and Elise Zijai (Head of Performing Arts Faculty) for leading the way. Also, thank you to the Fairview Homeroom teachers for supporting the students and PA teachers to help prepare for the concert. 

Prep News

Mrs Natasha Radley (Prep AHOS)

The excitement of rehearsing for the Fairview Concert over the last couple of weeks has certainly been high! The students were very enthusiastic and practiced so hard for the concert. The teachers are so proud of them all. What a show it was! 

They still managed to fit a huge amount of learning into each week. This week the word of the week was 'wheel'. The students enjoyed doing a directed drawing of a monster truck. The concentration that went into these pictures was wonderful and it certainly shone through with the final product. What amazing artists we have in Prep. 

During Library on Tuesday, the students enjoyed a little furry friend visit them. Ms Capraro brought her cute dog in for a day. We don’t know who enjoyed it more - the children or dog. 

Year 1 and 2 News

Mr Jevon Scandrett (Year 1/2 AHOS)

Year 1 and 2 Fairview Concert 

It was incredible to witness the amazing performances from each of the Year 1 and  Year 2 classes at the Fairview concerts on Tuesday 22 November. For many students, this was their first time performing on stage in front of a large audience and I was incredibly proud of their efforts both on stage and during the rehearsal process. The concerts were a culmination of many weeks of hard work during Performing Arts lessons. Thank you to all families and friends who came to support the students. It is so wonderful to have these opportunities once again. Thank you also to the staff for their hard work backstage supervising the students and ensuring the smooth running of the concerts.

As always, your first point of contact should be your child’s homeroom teacher followed by me as the Assistant Head of School (Years 1 and 2). 

Year 3 and 4 News

Mrs Anne Adams (Year 3/4 AHOS)

YEAR 3

As part of studying living and non-living things and native animals, Year 3 students were involved in an excursion to the Zoo. With favourable albeit hot weather, the students roamed around the zoo and were involved in an educational session run by the zoo education specialists. A huge thank you to Mr Abou-Eid for organising the trip, and Mrs Touma and Ms Rowe-Campbell for leading their classes. Also, a big thank you to the parent volunteers:  Kym Pollifrone, Fleur Romeo, Samantha MacDonald, Carolyn Gurrisi and Angela Vlasakakis. You made things run smoothly and we could not have done it without you all. Here are some comments from students below.  

Sze Sze L

The Zoo was very interesting. We did an activity on some endangered animals.  Lots of people were so hot as we walked around the zoo.  We took lots of photos and had lots of fun. 

Henry F

My favourite animal at the Melbourne Zoo was the baboon because they had fat, red bottoms.  I enjoyed eating lunch with my friends and seeing the snakes. 

John D

My favourite animal at the Melbourne Zoo were the baboons because they were acting funny, going crazy and they had big red bottoms.  There were also enormous turtles which some of us thought were statues because they weren’t moving much.  It was really fun, and I enjoyed it very much. 

Heerat A

Three of my favourite animals at the Zoo were the ottos, giraffes and monkeys.  We also met a snake named Prince.  To cool off we ran under the fountain.   

Ayla E

The otter was so cute, and it made me laugh.  Although the tigers were sleeping, I still enjoyed seeing them because they are my favourite animals. 

YEAR 4

Students in Year 4 have been learning about the significance of Remembrance Day. All classes discussed and recognised the day with a minute’s silence in their classrooms. Here are some comments from the students.

Mason K 

In library, my classmates and I were making poppies for Remembrance Day which was on 11 November. It was really fun – they were red and purple. Red was for the people and purple was for the animals. Only got time to make a purple one. WE hav done a reading task on it too. I learnt about all of the wars -  Australian wars, World War 1 and 2, the Korean war and the Malayan emergency. I learnt that Word War 1 is AKA The Great War and that we do make poppies for animals. We watched two videos on Remembrance Day. It was fun! 

Eve T  

Remembrance Day honours the soldiers that fought for our land and rights. Remembrance Day is also a tribute to the members who sadly passed. We pay our deepest respects to the members of the armed forces. Remembrance Day is held on the 11 November. After World War I red poppies grew on the battlefields of France and Belgium, which is why we now wear poppies on this day. We have a minute of silence on Remembrance Day to respect the soldiers who passed. In the library, we made poppies to honour the members of the war. God bless the soldiers and everyone. 

Ruzgar B  

After World War I there were red poppies growing on the battlefields. On every 11th of November, at 11 o’clock we take a minute of silence for those who fought in the war. During our library lesson, we made poppies and I made two. We learnt about all the wars. We also learnt that if the soldiers didn’t have a name tag, the grave would have no name and they would be called ‘unknown soldiers’. 

Yasodha  S

Remembrance Day is the day we remember the soldiers who fought for our country in World War I. Poppies represent Remembrance Day. In Library, we made poppies, and we had a moment of silence at 11 o’clock because that was when the war had finished with the truce and to remember the ones who fought for Australia. Lest we forget. 

Year 5 and 6 News

Mr Nigel Keegan (Year 5/6 AHOS)

It has been a productive and enjoyable couple of weeks for our Year 5 and Year 6 students. Below are student highlights of recent learning. Keep up the great work, students!

Lexi M - 5A

I like writing my own poems. The limerick poems were my favourite because they are meant to be funny, and I like things that make me laugh!

Max V - 6P

Doing the singing for our Year Celebration Night was a highlight for me, and also being with our friends while practising.

Holly S - 5J

During PE we have been learning basketball, and I have enjoyed it because it is my favourite sport.

Baran A - 6P

I really enjoyed Anthony and Chris coming over and teaching Year 6 students new tennis skills and techniques during Friday Sport. 

 Claudia C - 6A

A highlight of mine during the last couple of weeks was practising our Year 6 Celebration song.

Darsh C - 6B

I like how I have been kept engaged with various activities such as Hockey for PE, making clay pots during visual arts, and the various assessment tasks.

Eliz H - 6P

I have enjoyed learning about all the different things related to puberty for Life Education, and having Jasmine come in and teach us.

Thimath B - 5A

We enjoyed learning about poetry and presenting the ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ rap at assembly. Everyone had a lot of fun dressing up and performing.

Moussa H - 6P

I really enjoyed Year 7 Orientation Day as we made new friends and we got to meet new people. And the sausage sizzle was delicious!

Funhelen Festival

On Thursday 1 December, Year 9 students are running the Funhelen Festival for the Junior School students as part of their Service Learning Project for Semester Two.

The day will be full of fun activities, such as sports competitions, a tug of war, fake tattoos, face painting, bracelet making, hair braiding, Lego building and much, much more. There will also be various food and drinks stalls, with a sausage sizzle, bake sale, popcorn, fairy floss, soft drinks and lollies for sale. 

With their teachers, students from the Junior School will visit Funhelen at the following times:  

• Years 1 and 2 – 11:50am to 12:20pm 
• Years 3 and 4 – 12:20pm to 12:50pm 
• Years 5 – 12:50pm to 1:20pm 

Food stalls and activities will range in cost from 50c to $2. We encourage Junior School students to bring $5 - $10 of silver and gold coins to school on Thursday 1 December to enable them to participate in the activities and possibly purchase food or drink. 

If you have any questions regarding this event, please contact Ms Jacky Armstrong, the Assistant Head of School for Year 9 – mpatchell@aitkencollege.edu.au 

Primary Assembly Roster

Parents are more than welcome to join us for Chapel and Assembly each week.

 Some Important Dates for Term 4