The Beacon 

Principal Message

Message from the College Acting Principal

Dear Parents and Carers, 

 

We are half way through Term 2 and there are lots of wonderful things happening in our College.

This term we have launched the ‘Compass’ parent portal. All parents and carers should have received a letter in the mail with their individual log in details. Compass is a web based system that is accessible in any web browser or by using the Compass school manager app on mobile devices. To access our parent portal go to our school website www.tarneitcollege.vic.edu.au and follow the links or head directly to the portal URL address https://tarneitcollege-vic.compass.education  

 

The parent portal allows parents to:

  • monitor their child’s attendance, and enter in explanations for late arrivals or absences.
  • download and view their child’s semester reports.
  • receive news items relating to the school and individual year levels.
  • view their students timetable.

Next term we will be releasing the Compass pay module which enables parents to make payments and give permission for camps, excursions and incursions through the parent portal. We believe this will support our parents by streamlining the administration process. More information will be sent home throughout this term.

 

A reminder that our College grounds are supervised by school staff from 8:45am until 3:30pm. Outside of these hours, school staff will not be available to supervise students. We ask all parents and carers to pick up their children by 3:30pm each day, unless they are attending an extra-curricular club or activity. Families are encouraged to contact Big Childcare on 8682 9400 or refer to https://bigchildcare.com/howto/ for more information about the before and after school care facilities available to our school community.

 

We would like to congratulate all students involved in the Tarneit Robo Titans who attended the R.E.A.L excursion last week. Students in this team were awarded a prize for showing gracious professionalism as a result of their support and encouragement of each other. They also helped students from another school with their project. Well done to everyone involved and a big thank you to Miss Dellios and Miss Rados for organising our students involvement in the wonderful event!

 

Last week our fantastic Prep students attended school early to share a healthy breakfast with their teachers and peers. Well done to all the students involved, it was lovely to see you using your manners and trying different foods. The Prep breakfast is the first step in our College Camping strategy. Next year in Year 1 the students will stay late, in year 2 they will sleep over at school, all before attending an overnight camp in Year 3.

 

On Saturday 14 September a number of our students are involved in this year’s Victorian State School Spectacular: Made of Stars. This is a 3 hour live show, involving music, dance, skateboarding and circus acts and is performed at Melbourne Arena. This year Tarneit P-9 College is involved with:

  • Neema (Year 9 student) performing as a principal vocalist
  • 16 students in the Mass Dance
  • 17 students in the Mass Choir
  • 2 students in Year 8 have joined the backstage crew
  • 15 students are performing for Wikitoria

Tickets go on sale at 9am Wednesday 12 June through ticketek

 

Kind Regards

Paris Spencer

Acting College Principal

Messages from Assistant Principals

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Preps

In Reading and Writing, our Prep students are currently exploring where authors might get their ideas from and how to write a story using their own experience. Prep students are also hard at work in Investigations, learning about their past, their present and what their future might hold. They have been learning about what cultural celebrations are and how this links to the past, present and future. Preps have been exploring problem solving strategies to continue building their resilience and solving small problems on their own. Last week, our Prep students came in to school early and had breakfast together. It was a wonderful morning and all our students thoroughly enjoyed getting their own breakfast and spending time together. Our students continue to amaze us with how well they have settled in to their first year of school.

 

Year 1

In Year 1, students are focusing on non-fiction in reading and writing. They are learning about the features of non-fiction texts and having a go at including them in their animal books. In maths they are learning about time and how to read ‘o’clock’ and ‘half past’ time on both analogue and digital clocks. Year 1 students are also continuing their work on building their resilience by discussing problem solving skills and coping strategies. All Year 1's had a wonderful time at the Werribee Mansion, as part of the investigations unit on past and present life. In particular, students loved playing with the old fashion toys in the toy room and having a go at doing the washing in the laundry - let’s hope they offer to do the washing at home now! 

 

Year 2

This Term, Year 2 students have been very busy! Our first group of students have participated in the swimming program at Aqua Pulse and our second group will be attending in Week 9. It is always an exciting and very important time learning at their different swimming levels, as students absolutely love the program. In Mathematics, Year 2’s have been working on their Place Value goals. In Reading and Writing, Year 2’s have explored the features of Non-fiction texts and are publishing our own mini book. We have been learning about what empathy is and how we can show empathy towards others. We have been looking at different spelling patterns and the meaning of words in Word Study, Word Learning and Vocabulary. Finally, in Investigations, Year 2’s have been researching technology in the past and how it has changed overtime. We are looking forward to sharing samples of student learning in our portfolios, which will be sent home at the end of this term.

 

Matthew Naudi 

Assistant Principal Prep - Year 2

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

We would like to encourage parents to talk to their students about their learning. We understand that sometimes the question ‘How was your day?’ or 'What did you learn today?' brings about the responses ‘good’ or ‘nothing’. Perhaps you could try asking about specific subjects in the day and to help, I have given you below an understanding of the work that is being completed.

 

Year 3

English has had a focus on Persuasive texts this term in both reading and writing, where students have been able to identify persuasive devices and express their own opinions. Students have become very successful in sharing these opinions and the reasoning behind this. Maths has had a focus on Addition strategies and problem solving. Students have been able to use a variety of strategies to solve problems and proudly explain their thinking around this. Investigations has focused on Geography, more specifically, Australia and neighbouring countries. Students have been comparing Australia and Africa in aspects such as climate, vegetation and animals. Students have practiced using digital technology to research these aspects and find out information for themselves, while building on their note taking skills.

 

Year 4

The students have been reading a wide selection of 'just right' texts, poems and persuasive texts as well as creating their own poetry booklets focusing on 3 poetry types (Cinquain, Diamante and free verse). Students have also been creating their own persuasive advertisements with an aim of including persuasive devices such as rhetorical questions, hyperbole and repetition. They are learning about measurement and stats and probability through gathering measurement data then creating graphs to visually display their data. The students explored scenarios that had strong emotional responses and then discussed and applied coping strategies that best suited them. They also learnt about problem solving skills and how this can improve you as a young learner.

 

Mark Zahra

Assistant Principal Years 3-4

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

We have had a lot of great learning happening in the Middle Years these past few weeks.

In Maths in Year 5, students have had a chance to build their own business. This included important life skills such creating a financial plan, requesting a loan from their teacher, selling their products and services to other students, creating advertisements for their product and reflecting on their profits and losses at the end of the unit.

 

Also, as part of English, all students participated in delivering a persuasive speech. Students had to speak in front of the class and convince them to agree with their topic of persuasion. They demonstrated excellent pride in their learning and all students provided great encouragement and feedback to help build confidence in speaking in front of an audience.

 

In Year 6 as part of the RRRR curriculum, students have been learning about National Sorry Day. They created a class wall of wanderings and questions they had about this day which have created some fantastic discussions in the classroom.

 

If you would like to find out about all the other learning that is happening in your child’s classroom and how you can support their learning at home, please feel free to call into their classroom before or after school and speak to their teacher.

A reminder for some upcoming events this term:

  • Athletics Carnival is on June 12 for Yeas 5 & 6 cohorts
  • Year 5 camp in Alexandra is in Week 9.

Barry Devlin

Assistant Principal Years 5-6

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Our secondary students have had a busy and extremely productive Term 2 so far. As they arrive closer to the end of the semester and therefore closer to exam time, our Year 7 students have been familiarising themselves with exam revision strategies and the most effective ways in recalling information in English and Mathematics.

 

Our Year 8 students have been completing a range of assessment pieces across all subjects and as they prepare for 4 different exams for the first time, they have also been experimenting with a range of exam revision strategies. Our Year 9 students have also had a range of assessment tasks both in the classroom and for homework completion. They have also completed their online careers assessment as they prepare for Year 10 subject selection at the end of this term.

 

Outside the classroom, our secondary students took part in the District Cross Country event with 12 of our students making the next stage of competition, which will take place later next term. A small group of our Year 9 students took part in the Wynspeak Public speaking competition with Khushi (9B) finishing first and making the next stage of the competition also.