Foundation and Year 1

Last Tuesday, our young Paleontologist were extremely excited to discover 'fossils' in the sandpit. Dressed in lab coats and armed with shovels, paintbrushes, magnifying glasses, we carefully unearthed these 'dinosaur' bones and spent our afternoon piecing together the mystery!! Given what we now know about the sorts of teeth animals have and their diet, we have decided our creature was a plant lover. Special thanks to Nate Turnbull and family for providing these ancient relics!

We are really enjoying listening to information about Dinosaurs. We can't wait to make some dinosaurs out of boxes. If you do have any shoe or tissue boxes, please bring them in.

Remember to complete the 'homework sheet' and/or read each night. Don't forget to sign or write your child's book in their diary. Thanks.

Mrs. Tanya Chalmers, Teacher

Year 1/2

We have been learning about how to keep our teeth healthy so don’t be surprised if we are constantly asking to clean our teeth! We are also looking at the foods that keep our bodies healthy.

In Literacy we are revising nouns, verbs and adjectives. Making lists of these type of words at home can help us to remember which is which.

In Maths we are looking at fact families e.g. if you know 7+8=15 then you also know 8+7=15, 15-7=8 and 15-8=7

Last week we found fossils of plants and dinosaurs, we believe they are millions of years old! (ok… we really made them!)

Keep reading every night and have a great week.

Mrs. Deirdre McKenzie, Teacher

Year 3/4

Year 3/4 students have been learning to write persuasive texts and symmetry in maths. We have also been exploring symmetry in Aboriginal Art.

The students have been excited to complete reward data graphs with ‘Miss Generous’.

Dodgeball and Poison Ball have been a favourite activity in PE.

Year 3 completed Naplan testing last week.

Students are also encouraged to continue reading each night in order to earn their much anticipated reward at the end of the term.

Ms. Jessica Higgins, Teacher

Year 4/5

Congratulations to the Grade 5 students, who completed Naplan last week. I was very proud of the way the students planned, worked through questions, and completed tasks.

Thank you for completing your homework and support from home. The additional time on task, develops confidence, recall, fluency and processing speed.

In class, we have started to explore magnets, circuits, heat, energy and light. Next week, we also create PowerPoints as a visual way to show our learning.

Mrs. Carlie Turnbull, Teacher

Year 5/6

Can you believe it is already mid-point of Term 2.

In the Grade 5/6 room we have been as busy as ever. What a cracking effort we ALL made at Cross Country. (How much fun was it to run in the rain). We had excellent representation at the GRIP leadership day in Bendigo and the Year Fives completed Naplan.

It will be the end of the Term before we know it.

In English we are completing our persuasive writing essays and will be moving into debates, which I have no doubt will be engaging and exhilarating for all of our students. It will be challenging to keep the arguments logical and well-formed whilst ensuring our delivery is rousing and impassioned.

In this class, brain breaks are allowed. However, the idea behind brain breaks is a short pause to ensure we can reset and nourish our brains. Biscuits, chips, and other foods might not be the best for that. These can be foods saved for recess and lunch if necessary.

On a final note, we whole heartedly thank Mrs Norman for her time in the Grade 5/6 room and wish her all the best.

Ms Purkiss will be taking over for the rest of the term and into the future. Welcome to the class and the Wedderburn College School Community, Ms Purkiss.

Mrs. Annita Steel, Teacher

VCE City Visit

On Friday, 7th of May, VCE Food and Legal Studies students and their fabulous teacher, Mrs. Woodman, set off on an adventure down to Melbourne to visit the renowned Parliament House and then off to the bustling Queen Victoria marketplace for a culturally enhancing experience. We were hoping to look into the building blocks of what now stands as the city of modern Melbourne and how it has come to be - from Law & Parliament to Biodiversity and Sustainability!

We all woke up to an early start. We buckled up in the school bus and off we went to go get the other students from Berrimal and St Arnaud. Tunes blasting and excitement building, we all enjoyed the trip to the Sunbury train station. For some of us it was our first trip on a train. For others, what might have seemed to be the 100th time; but all the same, it was a relaxing and pleasant experience for all of us.

We got off the train at Parliament Station and started our trek through the lively streets of Melbourne in search of the Parliament House. With talented buskers, fancy fashion and all different types of food shops and restaurants, we found it. We walked up to the façade of the grand building and set to go inside when we stumbled upon a problem (like how we stumbled up the stairs!) It was unexpectedly closed to the public because of COVID and a miscommunication error.

But that didn’t stop us from having fun! We decided to get lunch.

This ‘trauma’ had sent us all into ravenous hunger. We stopped at an extremely admirable and classy restaurant, famous for its indulgent array of cuisine: Maccas! We had the choice to go to other fast-food restaurants too, like KFC and Hungry Jacks.

Once we were done, we went off to find out if the Supreme Court, and the other law and order courts were open, but no such luck.

We decided to go off to the Queen Victoria Markets. The Food Studies students went off to research the food, produce and sustainability side of the market while the Legal Studies kids examined the clothes, bits-and-bobs, gadgets and accessories: AKA shopping. We all had fun. The time almost went too fast. Because of this, Josh missed out on his hot jam doughnuts.

We all got back into one big group after our exploration and set off back home. We got on a few trams, walked a bit more and got to Southern Cross Station and got ready to get back on the train.

The whole trip was an amazing experience for us. Seeing architecture of a modern urban society, from the roof of the Southern Cross Station with its curvy inverted wooden paneling and windows, to the tiny shops laid into the cement and soul of Melbourne itself. All the shops were amazing. We enjoyed seeing them as we walked down the lanes and streets together.

We got home safely in the bus and were dropped off to our respective towns and pick up points. We would all like to give a big thanks to Mrs. Woodman for giving us the opportunity to experience such a great trip with our classmates; and of course, for shouting us all slushies!

Ayla Hartnell

VCAL & VCE

Welcome to the half way point of Term 2. Our Senior students have certainly been noticing that the level of assessments and SACs this week has been increasing, with the completion of units of study happening across all classes.

Year 11 Unit 1 Exams:

Year 11 VCE students will complete their Unit 1 classes at the end of Week 7, with their official examination week taking place in Week 8, between Monday 7 and Friday 11 June. All VCE students will be expected to sit an examination for each of their VCE classes here at Wedderburn College.

A timetable for Year 11 examinations will be released on Compass in the coming week.

Students are reminded to begin revising key content for their subjects and to use Edrolo as a support when studying in preparation for their exams.

General Achievement Test:

The GAT will take place on Wednesday 9 June for ALL VCE and VCAL students enrolled in a VCE or VCE VET 3-4 sequence.

If you are a Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) or Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) student enrolled in either of the following, you are required to undertake the GAT, unless you have an exemption from the VCAA (via your school principal):

• VCE Unit 3–4 sequence

• VCE VET Unit 3–4 sequence

Although the VCE (including VCE VET programs) gives you the flexibility to satisfactorily complete units without being assessed for levels of achievement in all or any graded assessments, you are still required to undertake the GAT.

The GAT is an essential part of the VCE assessment process. While it is important that you attempt the GAT, the test does not count directly towards your VCE. However, GAT results may play a very important part in determining your final assessments for the VCE.

GAT results are used to check that your VCE external assessments and school-based assessments have been accurately and fairly assessed. The GAT is used because its results are a good predictor of final assessment for VCE studies. If a student has done well in the GAT, they are likely to do well in their other assessments.

Students will meet together with our Senior Student Coordinators to discuss the GAT in more depth and to review the VCAA rules and regulations closer to the date.

Debutant Ball:

We look forward to our upcoming Debutant Ball with our Year 11 students on Friday 28 May. The event will take place in the KLC and we will once again prepare ourselves to be wowed by our students’ grace and poise on the dance floor.

Tickets have already sold out to this event and we look forward to seeing you all there.

Lunchtime Activities:

Big shout out to Emily, Macey, Finn and Isaac for running the lunchtime activities. The basketball and netball comps have been popular and it was great to see your resilience and initiative when plans had to deviate. We are looking forward to the next comp….

Great VCAL Happenings:

Fantastic to see our VCAL students out and about; not just doing great things at school, but getting involved within the community. VCAL have also visited Hard Hill participating in the production of Eucalyptus Oil and a drive out to participate in a Community Service activity, gardening at the Wedderburn Cemetery. The VCAL Café is underway and the customers are raving about the yummies being produced.

Cross Country:

It was fantastic to see the wonderful effort put in by the Senior students last Monday. Most came in house colours and ran or walked the distance – even in the rain. The VCAL students and staff produced a BBQ lunch, which warmed the cold bodies up.

At the NCD at St Arnaud, well done to the seniors who made it through. Congratulations on your efforts, but special congratulations to Isaac who placed 1st in the Senior Boys and Olivia who was Runner-up in the Senior Girls.

Mrs Lauren Barker and Mrs Carol Woodman

VCE & VCAL Coordinators

Math's Pathway

Congratulations to this fortnights Maths Pathway champions.

Maths Pathway
CLASS	HIGHEST STUDENT GROWTH
Year 5a	Leela with 300% (Cycle 5)
Year 5b	Ben and Aurelia with 233% (Cycle 5)
Year 6	Eli with 333% (Cycle 5)
Year 7	Keysya with 200% (Cycle 5)
Year 8	Kalais with 267% (Cycle 5)
Year 9	Junior, Nash and Declan with 133% (Cycle 4)
Year 10	Zen with 200% (Cycle 5)

Just a reminder that students achieving 100% growth rate each cycle is equivalent to one year’s growth achieved in the Mathematics curriculum.

Congratulations to Year 5b for achieving the highest average growth rate this cycle with 289% in cycle 4.

Miss Emma Milne

Maths Teacher

Compass

Don't wait for the end of semester to view your child's progress. Log in to Compass and view teacher feedback and feed forward at any time by checking out your child's Learning Tasks. Children also received regular (every 5 weeks) progress reports on their Organisation, Behaviour, Attitude to Learning and Work Completion. Learning Tasks and Reports can be found on you child's profile page.

Parents Association

Wedderburn College Parents Association

Debutante Ball