Notices Sent Home this Week

NAPLAN sitting Advice to parents for Year 3 & 5 children with Individual Learning Plans
NAPLAN information for parents – eldest sibling in Year 3 & 5
Mothers’ Day Breakfast invitations – Piccino to Year 5
District Cross Country letters for qualifying students

School Photos Tomorrow

A reminder to families that we have school photos tomorrow. Please ensure that school shoes are polished, hair ties and ribbons are in school colours, earrings are plain gold or silver studs and that blazers are worn. Children have been reminded that the only badges to be worn on blazers are those that have been presented to students in Assembly. We are looking forward to capturing their enthusiastic smiles!

Mothers' Day Breakfast

We are hoping that all of our mothers received their Mothers’ Day Breakfast invitation this week (if you didn’t it may not have made it out of the school bag so please feel free to ring Nat tomorrow to confirm whether you are able to join us!)

Breakfast, for mums and kids, will take place from 8:30am – 9:00am at Myrniong. Berry and Young House families will gather in the Prep/Year One Open Area. Learmonth and Laidlaw families will gather in the Refectory where Assemblies are held.

Parents of Chamber Singers are then welcome to join us in the Music Room for an open rehearsal at 9:00am.

The Roxburgh Coffee van will be available in case you need something stronger than instant coffee for the day! We are looking forward to seeing you all and hope that you are spoilt on Sunday.

New Leaders!

It has been an exciting week at the Junior Campus, with the induction of our Year Five leaders. At this week’s Leadership Assembly, I shared a story ‘What Do You Do with an Idea’, with the students and I am looking forward to hearing the ideas that our new leaders have to share. Dr Hirst shared a powerful reminder of what great leaders do. Great leaders don’t tell you what to do - great leaders show you the way and how it’s done. Leadership is the chance to help others grow. He also shared the challenges of leadership: to be strong but not rude, be kind but not weak, be brave but not bully, be thoughtful but not lazy, be humble but not timid, be proud but not arrogant and be funny but not silly. Wonderful food for thought as our leaders take on their new roles.

Berry House Captains:

Will Merrin & Macey Sanders

Laidlaw House Captains:

Lachlan Rees & Charlotte Rowe

Learmonth House Captains:

Jock Barrie & Lily Bradbeer

Young House Captains:

Charlotte Millear & Lily Schroeder

Community Liaison Officers:

Tobe Adamson & Ella Churchill

Music Captains:

Lily Bradbeer & Lily Schroeder

Art Captains:

Gabriel Marshall & Gabriella Officer

Heads of SRC:

Chloe Baker & Sally Aitken

Red Cross Youth Presidents:

Charlotte Millear & Macey Sanders

Library Captains:

William Ingram & Harley Milich

ICT Captains:

Liam Baulch & Charlie Duver

Tournament of Minds Captain:

Luke Marshall

Athletics Captains &

Cross Country Captains:

Tyler Butcher & Natalie Featherston

Basketball Captains:

Sally Aitken & Christian te Boekhorst

Hockey Captains:

Archie Cameron & Thomas Stratmann

Football Captain:

Will Layley

Swimming Captain:

Luke Marshall

House Cross Country Report

In usual style, conditions for the Cross Country were chilly and blustery! However, we caught a break in the weather between heavy rain on Sunday and Tuesday and the children (well most) were excited to be outside running. Thank you very much to Mrs Patterson and Mr Dopheide and his team in setting up for the event. Mrs Povey and the newly appointed House and Athletics Captains had done a terrific job in preparing colour coded wrist tags ready for our runners, and streamlining our finish line and results organisation. A very big thank you to the terrific team of parents who stepped in to help out staff at the finish line!

I am delighted to announce our Age Group Champions (1st place 9 to 11 year old boys and girls) and students who placed 1st to 3rd in all age divisions:

5 & 6 year old girls: 1st Clara Calvert, 2nd Amelie Shrive

5 & 6 year old boys: 1st Joshua Noske, 2nd Finn Lawrance & 3rd Harley Willis

7 & 8 year old girls: 1st Laura Featherston, 2nd Sophie Hill & 3rd Molly Walker

7 & 8 year old boys: 1st Will Bourke, 2nd Darcy Fleetwood & 3rd Finley Hiscock

9 year old girls: 1st (Age Group Champion) Sophie Merrin, 2nd Olivia Rees & 3rd Annabel Calvert

9 year old boys: 1st (Age Group Champion) Ciaran Nelson, 2nd Jacob Butcher & 3rd Thomas O’Sullivan

10 year old girls: 1st (Age Group Champion) Olivia Mann, 2nd Meg Ogle & 3rd Lily Bradbeer

10 year old boys: 1st (Age Group Champion) Charlie Beggs, 2nd Luc Murphy & 3rd George Huf

11 year old girls: 1st (Age Group Champion) Natalie Featherston, 2nd Ella Churchill & 3rd Charlotte Millear

11 year old boys: 1st (Age Group Champion) Jock Barrie, 2nd Christian te Boekhorst & 3rd Tyler Butcher

Medals for the Age Group Champions and ribbons for place getters will be presented at next week’s assembly (Tuesday 10:20am in the Refectory) along with the announcement and presentation of the House Cross Country Cup.

Young House Service - Save the Date!

Our Young House Church Service will be held at the Uniting Church on Tuesday, 17th May, 10:15am at the Uniting Church. All family and friends are welcome to join us for this Service of Worship led by the Young House students under the guidance of Mrs Sharon Kelly.

Camp Brownlow Recipients

At last week’s Assembly I had the opportunity to present the long awaited for Year 5 Camp Brownlow medals. The medal was an initiative of Mr Stephen Nelson, when he was teaching Year 5 & 6 at Myrniong. The medal recognises those students who shine in the context of our Outdoor Education programmes. Each Year 5 student was asked to place three votes (3 points, 2 points and 1 point) to students who: enhanced their Outdoor Education experience; were seen to show determination in the face of adversity or a new challenge; contributed to the success of team or whole group achievements; were selfless and supported others; and/or gave their best and displayed a positive attitude throughout the camp. The students were asked to qualify the points that they were allocating with examples of the traits displayed with “I noticed” statements. As the class was split into two groups for the majority of the time, we decided to award one medal per group. The worthy recipients were Thomas Stratmann and Lily Schroeder. Well done Tom and Lily!

Student Achievement

It has been quite a week for Thomas Stratmann! He has received a letter and certificate from Write4Fun to inform him that his short story ‘America Against Britain’ has successfully been selected in a first round of judging and is now in the running for consideration for a prize. He also has the opportunity to have his short story published later this year in a book ‘Top Secret’!

Let's Talk Parenting Forum

A fabulous opportunity exists for parents, in the form of a free Regional Parenting Forum addressed by Andrew Fuller. Andrew is a highly respected clinical psychologist who works with schools, communities and parents both in Australia and internationally. He specialises in the wellbeing of young people and their families, and his address in Warrnambool is on Anxiety and Building Resilience in Children and Young People. The forum will be held on Wednesday, 15th June from 9:30am – 2:45pm (free child care is available). Book in quickly (Ph 5272 4741), as there are limited places! For further information see the flyer attached to this week’s newsletter.

The Virtues of the 'Whisper Phone' for Independent Reading

Anyone walking past the Year 3 and 5 classrooms may wonder why they are noticing children with plumbing materials pressed to their ears. The children are trialling two sets of new, home-made whisper phones. The following article extract comes from the Marygrove College, Master in the Art of Teaching webpage and was written by Colleen Cadjeux.

“Whisper phones are modelled after a telephone receiver, usually constructed out of simple piping materials that help young students hear themselves read during independent reading. Students can speak quietly, and the whisper phones work by amplifying their voices and directing the sounds to their ears. They are able to use the phones to listen to themselves read without disturbing other students. Why are “Whisper Phones” a Good Literacy Tool?

The whisper phone supports the acquisition of phonemic awareness by allowing the student to hear their own voice while reading. Students are also able to focus on blending, proper sound use, and fluency in the text.
Whisper phones, by presence and function, help improve both the student’s focus and attention. The voice funnelling and the simple presence of an additional tool for reading will help redirect a distracted reader.
Students are encouraged to whisper while reading, contributing to a reduction in classroom noise. If a student speaks in a normal volume it will be incredibly loud since the phone works to funnel the sound.
Students love these phones! They offer variety in a normal independent reading session, and students often like to hear themselves read. They even help the shy “read aloud” reader gain confidence by becoming accustomed to hearing his or her own voice. The phones are successful for a variety of ability levels, and help to support emerging readers' sound blending and more advanced readers' fluency.”

We have also found them to be a valuable tool for children when proofreading their work. Reading aloud to proofread slows a student down and helps them to pay closer attention to the text – reading what they have actually written rather than a version of what they ‘think’ they have written or intended to write.

Staff News

Congratulations to Bec, Matt and Chloe Cameron who welcomed a second daughter and a new sister into the world this week. We are looking forward to meeting Annie Willow Cameron.

Junior Basketball

Please make a special note in your diary that the U12 Semi Final is scheduled for Friday, 3rd of June. This is a Pupil Free Day allocated for staff reporting. If teams forfeit their Semi Final matches (due to absent players) they are unable to proceed to the Preliminary or Grand Finals.

Please refer to Sporting Fixture (Sports Page) for all basketball games and times for Friday 6th May and Monday 9th May.

Week Ahead

Monday, 9th May:

Mothers’ Day Breakfast at Myrniong 8:30am – 9:00am

Year One cooking experience at Senior Campus

Tuesday, 10th May:

NAPLAN tests for Year 3 & 5 (until lunchtime)

Wednesday, 11th May:

NAPLAN tests for Year 3 & 5 (until recess)

Immaginare Playgroup in the Art Room at 2pm

Final day to enter the Library ‘Reading Spot’ photo competition

Thursday, 12th May:

NAPLAN tests for Year 3 & 5 (until recess)

After School Chamber Singers rehearsal

Primary District Cross Country

Miss Ieva Hampson

Careers

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