Junior School News

From the Head of Junior School

As we move into the final two weeks of remote learning before the term break, I want to thank our parents, students and teachers for the enormous efforts that they have been putting in to ensure a successful learning environment for our children. This week saw classes completing their planned work while also competing in the Zoomlympics each morning while many students also sent in videos or performed live for the Junior School Girton’s Got Talent.  

We understand that different households have differing capacities to support students daily. What works for some families may not work for others. We have had some families reach out to let us know that their children are struggling to complete all the work or are finding daily Zoom lessons overwhelming. Firstly, our staff are here to support all our students wherever we can. While we can’t have our students here face to face, we are able to support in other ways, whether that is through email, individual phone calls or small group or one to one Zooms. Our classroom teachers are available every day via Zoom. The first learning session starts at 8:45am and breaks at 10:45am. The second session resumes at 11:00am and breaks at 12:15pm. Each class also has two afternoon sessions with Specialist teachers, one at 1:15pm and the second at 2:15pm. During each of these sessions teachers are available to assist students with their work. While it is not the same as having access to your teacher in class, it does provide daily support that is in line with a normal daily timetable. 

Where students are finding either the work or the daily Zoom sessions overwhelming, we ask that parents make the decision to modify or reduce either the work or the sessions. If children are overly tired or rundown it is quite acceptable for parents to give them a day or an afternoon away from Zoom or to reduce the work expectation for that day. It is no different to your child being tired or unwell during face to face learning. If parents do decide to give their child a day away from the screens, or schoolwork generally, we just ask that you notify the class teacher via email. As was the case during last year‘s extended lockdown, we are asking that you do what you can, when you can.

Mr Donald Thompson

Head of Junior School

Camps

Year Two

While nothing has been confirmed with regards to the length of the lockdown for regional areas, we are assuming that the camp will not be able to proceed as planned on September 17. If there is a change in the current direction of the lockdown and restrictions ease to the point where the camp is allowed, we will proceed with our original date. We are in contact with Camp Kookaburra with regards to their covid safety procedures and have found that their covid protocols are rigorous. We are also communicating with Camp Kookaburra regarding alternative dates later in the year so that our Year 2 students might still experience an overnight camp this year. 

Year Three

We are discussing alternate dates with Camp Sunnystones for later in the year so that our students can still enjoy a camp experience. We are also investigating alternative camp sites if Camp Sunnystones is not available. Unfortunately, many of the school camps are booked out years in advance but we will work hard to try and fit in a camp experience for our Year 3 students.

Year Four and Five

We are still planning for our Year 4 and 5 students to attend camp in Week 1 of Term 4. We will of course adjust the plans based on restrictions as we get closer to the dates. Should we not be able to progress with the camps in Week 1 we will try and seek an alternative date and, if necessary, alternative sites. More information will be emailed out during the Term 3 break once we have a clearer idea of the restrictions.

Prep Developmental Play

Preparatory students enjoy developmental play every Friday afternoon and we managed to squeeze in a session just before lockdown.  This is a wonderful opportunity for children to learn through social, physical, emotional and cognitive play.  Play is an important and powerful activity.  Children get to use their imagination with dress-ups, building blocks, figurines, playdough, drawing and much more.

Year Two Poems

Year Two students constructed some wonderful poems this week. Some of the formats included:

A diamante poem is a poem that is written in the shape of a diamond. It can be written based on a topic of interest, or an object or person.

A diamante poem is made up of seven lines. Each line has a set structure which creates the shape of the diamond which this poem is well known for.

Cinquain poems are a verse of five lines that do not need to rhyme. Each line of the poem contains descriptive words and phrases to create images of a topic or object for the reader.

Year Two Art

Year Two this week looked at the story and illustrations of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. The students listed all the things they could that make a wild thing WILD. 

They created some fabulous Wild Things!

Year Two Strings

Some of our youngest instrumentalists have been able to continue their learning through video tutorials at home. They have been working hard on perfecting their bow hold and posture as well as learning to read the notes on the music stave. Although we haven’t been able to perform this year the students have had the opportunity to submit video recordings of their playing at home. This keeps them in touch with their teacher and allows them to get feedback on their playing.

Mrs Cally Bartlett

Year Three M Poems

The students in 3M looked at an image and wrote some wonderful poems using the five senses to describe the image.

Year Four Art

The Year Four Art class this week looked at some of the work of Vincent Van Gogh. Before the class, students surprised me with a virtual background of a self-portrait of  Van Gogh. Later they came back to zoom wearing berets! 

During the lesson, they discussed how the paintings made them feel. The students noticed how he used the paint to make swirling brushstrokes of colour. The painting they looked at in particular was ‘The Bedroom’ They noticed that the room had been carefully curated with his own work on the walls above his bed and how the rules of perspective had not been applied. Students were then asked to draw a room in their house.

Year Four M Remote Learning

We have had lots of fun in 4M celebrating Xavier’s birthday and Book Week. We all dressed up in our Book Week costumes and did a Virtual Parade on Zoom.  Some people were really hard to recognise. Everyone went to a lot of effort. Each day we had a Book Week Challenge. We played Book Week Bingo and had to do things like read to a pet and read in the bath. We had fun taking a “Shelfie” of all our favourite books.  Zoooooom Olympics was exciting. It was great to get up and run around during the Treasure Hunt. Some of us found Easter eggs we forgot we still had! We miss being in the classroom but we are having lots of fun and doing different activities while we are home.

Virtual Art Excursion to The Bendigo Art Gallery

Brett Whiteley – Drawing is Everything

Today in art, a guest speaker from the Bendigo Art Gallery came to our zoom and told us about a new exhibition, the Brett Whiteley exhibition. It has been transported all the way from a Sydney art gallery. Her name was Margot Feast. It was amazing to hear all the information and how he drew his work using ink, pencil and sometimes charcoal. 

He did paintings too, but the exhibition is mostly drawings. Margot also talked about how he used tone to create a realistic image. She also told us that we can go visit and look at his studio in Lavender Bay, Sydney, the way it was left from when he died. It still has all his paints out and shows a painting he was working on before his death. His wife used to model for him too. 

As our activity, we drew an animal with our non-dominant hand. It was super fun and showed us how not to take for granted what we can do. There were some great laughs and at least for me, my non-dominant hand pictures came out better than my dominant hand! Overall, we had an amazing art lesson and thank you Mrs James for organising it.

Zarah Chimunda (6 Riley)

Girton's Got Talent

6M Girton’s Got Talent

Here it is the one and only 6M Girton’s Got Talent! Five brave and talented people got up and showed a unique skill. For example, Harshil showed us how well he can rap and Hamish told us his hilarious jokes. Ariya wrote her own song and performed it to the class. Stephanie C showed us how amazing she is on the piano and Kira showed us her brilliant magic tricks which amazed us all!

Overall it was a splendid experience for both the audience and the performers. I believe everyone in 6M thoroughly enjoyed Girton’s Got Talent!! Congratulations to Kira who won the 6M auditions and will compete in the Year 6 GGT.

Harshil Balraj (6 Riley)

Brandon Tuohy (6 Frew)

Bookweek

Bookweek this year was celebrated remote style – students dressed up in their bookweek costume at home and paraded via zoom to their class.  Preps dressed up for book week and had a great time looking at each other's costumes and books.  Mr Robertson dressed up as a dragon and read a dragon story. Mrs Polidano received some fantastic photos and set up a great slideshow on the Library Astra page of everyone’s favourite book character.   Classes also did some great activities during their remote learning such as: Bookweek Bingo, Bookweek Bookmarks,  Bookweek Writing pieces and much more. 

https://astra.girton.vic.edu.au/homepage/1255 

Teacher Assistant Week

This week celebrates Teacher Assistance Appreciation Week.  We are fortunate to have many fantastic teacher assistants in the Junior School ranging from those that work with specific children to those who work with whole classes.  Our teaching staff would like to take this opportunity to thank the Teacher Assistants for their hard work and dedication to helping our Junior School students.   The students showed their appreciation by making lovely cards or sending them an email across the week. 

Mrs Brooks is the kindest Aide I’ve ever had. Mrs Brooks is patient and is always looking out for me.  She makes me feel understood and cared for and safe.  Mrs Brooks gives me the time I need to do my work and she's very supportive.  She gives me cuddles when I need them and she makes me feel understood and loved.  Mrs Brooks is very uplifting when I'm feeling sad.  I feel like Mrs Brooks really understands me. 

Regards,

Jackson