Principal Report
When summarising 2021 it would be easy to focus on the negatives that have been thrown our way. Even though we can’t ignore what we have all been through in the last two years, I’d like to focus on the positive things that have happened during the year.
I asked the team leaders at our school to share a few positive highlights for their grade level or program.
Elena Poiana our Prep Team Leader thought that attending the aquarium with the Preps- they were so well behaved, and we just snuck it in before we returned to lockdown! Having our 100th day of school celebration where the Preps (and Prep teachers) dressed up as 100 year olds! As well as returning to onsite learning after many stints of remote learning and seeing how seamlessly the Preps transitioned back into the classroom.
Summer Misaghian from Grade 1 informed me of the enthusiastic and focused way that all Grade 1 students participated in our school production. The creativity and imagination displayed when creating their helpful inventions this term. Along with the persistence, growth and joy all students have displayed in re-entering the classroom learning environment this term.
In Grade 2 Sheridan Dudley mentioned that their highlights have been returning to school and being in the classroom with the students, our fun filled week on Lego that we had in the classroom a couple of weeks ago and we’re looking forward to our end of year celebrations also being a highlight.
Kerensa Shugg said that returning to school from remote learning has been the biggest highlight for us in Grade 3. Seeing all of the happy, smiling faces of our children everyday has been wonderful. We have really enjoyed our inventions unit this term where we have designed and created unique inventions. We are all looking forward to our end of year celebrations and celebrating all of our successes and achievements that we have made this year.
Our Grade 4 Team Leader Mrs Anita Weidenbohm informed me that the kids have had fun making their own stop animations and making their own Christmas wrapping paper to wrap their Writer's Gift up with.
Marg de Jong glowingly spoke about the Grade 5 Camp; an absolute highlight for both students and teachers! Full of challenges, fun and positive team work. The movie excursion to Village Cinemas; a wonderful way to celebrate the end to our Grade 5 year and the resilience, flexibility and positivity of our students throughout both our 2021 remote learning and our 2022 Leadership process.
Jess Sutherland proudly mentioned that while there are many highlights that occur in the Grade 6 (considering that it is their last year at Oatlands) the standouts are the Swimming program at Casey Arc for 4 weeks, Graduation Bear Making, Coach Approach and even though it seems to be years ago that it occurred, the camp down at Wilsons Promontory is always a stand out.
Sarah James from the PE Department said the standout highlight in the PE department by far was our Dance Production. It was so wonderful to see our students unite to perform a collaborative dance. Every child gave their best efforts during the four weeks of rehearsals and to see their enjoyment on the day after the year that they've endured was priceless. Another highlight from earlier in the year was our Swimming Carnival for Grades 3-6 students. It was a glorious summer's day at Noble Park Swimming Pool. The students enjoyed competing for their house team and also had a blast getting a few turns on the giant water slide.
In Japanese Kendall Brown loved being able to finally celebrate the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games and learning some of the names of sporting events in Japanese. Having all Japanese students in Prep-3 participate in a Taiko drumming incursion learning about the skills of using the Taiko drums and bachi (wooden sticks) was also a great experience.
Being of an Italian background I was interested in hearing from Tania Marson who said that the Preps and Grade 1s making pizzas in Term 4. Grade 4, 5 and 6 students performed their Italian market plays. They were fabulous. They also learnt to conjugate a simple present tense verb and make a digital slide about themselves and their families and the Grade 2 and 3 students made a short text about clothing they liked.
The highlight for Art would definitely be the Art Show and the fact that the students have had the opportunity to visit it in the irregular classes and interact with it i.e. party games- class photo with hats they made themselves, Pin the Prin in his office, find the hidden real object on each of the tables, guess the teddy bear jar and find the hidden present on each of the tables, were mentioned by Di Derfi.
Kaylin Richards from Technology said that the Gr 4-6s have been using the 3D online program Tinkercad to create a prototype of their designs and see the process of it being printed out with the brand new 3D printers was awesome! The Grade 2s have also been trialling the more advanced coding program, Scratch. They were so excited to code using this version instead of Scratch Jnr, which they've used since Prep.
Finally, Scott Webster informed me that there were 3 topics that really interested the children in Grades 3 and 4...
BUOYANCY AND THE FIRST FLEET
Students enjoyed investigating the science of buoyancy in an historical context. Using the knowledge gained, students had a great time designing, building and testing their own fleet of ships.
SURFACE TENSION AND SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Students were enthusiastic about learning and using the Scientific Method. They devised a hypothesis, performed a fair test and recorded data to investigate whether varying the liquid would affect how many drops would fit onto a coin.
WATER AND FILTRATION
Students investigated types of water and their safety for consumption. This led into exploring water filtration and building and testing their own water filters which performed well enough to create clear water from brown water.
As you can see there have been lots of great things happening at this wonderful school of ours. Let’s hope that things run smoother in 2022 with less interruptions to our children’s learning and the year becomes our best ever!
John Armao
Assistant Principal
