Foundation & 1

A big warm welcome to all families in F/1. We have started the year with nine Foundation children and seven Grade One students. It was wonderful to hear all the holiday adventures.

In Maths, we are investigating counting. We have been comparing sets of objects, working out who has more/less. Our Grade Ones are finding it’s much more efficient to count large sets of objects by grouping them in tens.

In Inquiry, we are learning lots about emotions and feelings. Our Foundation children received their special ‘Homework’ book. These have very short, sharp literacy-type activities that mirror what we are learning in English.

Reminders – The mobile dental van will be visiting Wedderburn College. This is a great opportunity to access this service. Please sign the permission slip that was sent home last week.

This year our School Nurse, Janice, will be conducting the Prep Health Assessments. An information package is in your child’s reader bag. Please sign the forms and return to the college.

Mrs Tanya Chalmers, Teacher

Year 1 & 2

A big welcome back to everyone! We are excited to welcome Quinn and Elizabeth to our room as well.

Thank you all for starting the school year in full school uniform and all belongings named.

I will be sending home a copy of our timetable for the year this week. This will include the library time so you are aware when books need to be sent back to school.

Also thank you to all parents for understanding that they are not able to enter the classroom or school grounds at present.

I can assure you all students have settled in well and start the day with a smile.

Just a reminder that we are back into bringing readers home every night. Can an adult please spend the time to sit, listen and discuss what your child has read and sign the reading diary. You may use the diary to communicate with me when needed.

Have a great week

Mrs Deirdre McKenzie, Teacher

Year 3 & 4

Welcome back to school for 2022! It was so wonderful to see so many bright and smiling faces return to school last week after the summer holidays. I am very excited to be teaching back at Wedderburn College this year and can’t wait to see what the year will bring in Grade 3/4.

This term we will be starting off with learning about Geography in Inquiry. Our focus is on learning about Africa and South America in comparison to Australia. Students will learn lots about using an atlas and reading maps.

In Maths our focus will begin with Number and Place Value. Students will be revising and learning new knowledge about recognising, modelling and representing numbers into the tens of thousands. They will have many opportunities provided to them to apply their current and new gained knowledge throughout the term.

In our Literacy lessons we have already started setting up expectations and routines around reading and writing in the classroom. This will continue with the students being provided the time to read and write every day. They will begin writing narratives shortly and going through the writing process. Daily reading practices will include shared reading opportunities and comprehension activities.

Below are some key reminders for all Grade 3’s and 4’s:

All students should be reading every night to an adult and recording their reading in their student diary (diaries will be checked regularly at school).
Hats are required to be worn throughout Term 1 and Term 4.
There will be swimming in P.E over the next few weeks, starting this Friday the 11th of February (students need to bring their bathers, towel, plastic bag, and goggles if required).

If you have any questions or queries, please don’t hesitate to contact me on laura.trembath@education.vic.gov.au

Miss Laura Trembath, Teacher

Year 5 & 6A

It has been a wonderful start to the year, meeting all of the spirited students in our classroom and seeing everyone’s smiling faces each morning. This year in Grade 5/6A, we welcome new staff member Miss Amanda Campbell and new student Destiny King, in Grade 5.

As we settle into our new roles of managing the Recycling, Rubbish Bins, Chooks, Sports Shed and more, we are keen to experience happy times with our favourite role of being class Buddies.

It was wonderful to meet all of our students over the three devoted testing days and hear about their holiday experiences. We are keen to learn more about the our students’ lives and experiences with family and friends.

So far for the year, we have begun spelling tasks, visited the library, completed some individualised testing to help us set learning goals and begun reading and analysing our class text “The Wild Robot” by Peter Brown.

We look forward to the year ahead!

Ms Jess Higgins and Miss Amanda Campbell, Classroom Teachers

Year 5/6B

Welcome to another busy, exciting year of learning! Mrs Turnbull and Mrs Postle are looking forward to building positive relationships with the students and families as well as fostering the love of learning.

A class timetable will be sent home this week, along with Dental Van forms.

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs Turnbull or Mrs Postle. Alternatively, write a note in the diary.

Mrs Carlie Turnbull and Mrs Maddison Postle, Classroom Teachers

Year 7

The Year 7s are beginning to adjust to life as ‘big’ secondary students. Our mornings have been somewhat chaotic, with a lot of information to go through and routines to establish.

Our week’s ‘grace’ in terms of not having all materials for class and hats on at recess and lunch, is coming to an end. In Homeroom, students were provided with a list of what was required for each class and have stuck this in their lockers. Some students are still forgetting their hat for recess, lunch and HPE. It is strongly recommended that students leave their hat in their lockers at the end of the school day, unless it is required to be Sun Smart when walking home or it needs to be washed.

Year 7s are participating in Swimming in HPE as part of the curriculum. The remaining dates for this are as follows:

Wednesday 9 February (1a and b)
Wednesday 16 February (1a and b)
Wednesday 23 February (1a and b).

Students require their hat, a drink bottle, bathers, a towel, dry underwear and deodorant for these lessons.

Year 7s who’s hair is shoulder length or longer are reminded to tie their hair back to avoid any potential head lice and also for safety reasons in subjects like Food Tech, Science and Textiles.

Our Year 7 ES Laura, is running the Breakfast Club this year and has structured a roster for Year 7 students to assist her in the running of this free program. This will be printed and put in our Homeroom.

Finally, as mentioned, the Year 7s are adjusting to how the secondary part of the College works and some mistakes have been made along the way. I want to acknowledge all students for displaying the College value of Resilience by viewing situations positively, and building and looking after new friendships. Keep up the good work!

I hope our positive start continues throughout the year.

Ms Kirsten Graham – Year 7 Homeroom Teacher

VCAL/VCE

What a fantastic start to the year we are having. The Year 11 and 12’s have settled into their classes and are working well. We are hopeful that COVID won’t prove to be too much of a problem and we won’t be affected by Remote Learning – crossing everything!

Already we have been busy in starting units of work, the VCAL students have been working with Robyn and most have placements to start work, some as early as next week. We have had students nominated to further leadership roles as House Captains and SRC.

Yesterday at the Whole School Assembly, our Year 12’s were presented with their Year 12 jumpers – a mark of respect for the year they are about to embark on and their stepping up into the leaders and role models of the school.

We also leave for the Year 12 camp on Wednesday to Ocean Grove, where we will be involved in a whole range of activities which will further bring this group together and reinforce the importance of the year ahead.

The Year 11’s will go on camp in the last week of this term.

The introduction of the Huddles has meant that we will be able to cover a lot more of the strategies for study and decisions about Career Pathways in a lot more depth, along with still having Pam from the LLEN visit once a fortnight.

Here are some photos of the fresh faces of the Year 12’s:

Mark Gretgrix Carol Woodman

VCAL Coordinator VCE Coordinator

PE

Welcome back!

As a Sports Faculty, we have a lot of exciting events coming up including House Swimming Sports, NCD Swimming Sports, NCD Triathlon and the Calder Hot Shots.

Our Swimming Sports are our first event of the year (Week 3 Friday). We are all very excited to see Mr Forrest and Mr Lockhart who will be swimming in the staff versus student relay for the first time. We look forward to seeing students dressed in house colours and participating in the events.

The school is offering…

One Free Lunch for each class if:

All students from a class attend the swimming sports
All students from that class are dressed in house colours

Two Free Lunches for each class if:

All students from a class attend the swimming sports
All students from that class are dressed in house colours
All students from the class participate in at least one event

House Captains

A big congratulations to the below students who have been elected as House Captains of our College.

Senior Ansett House Captains: Neve Nisbet and Zen Joyner

Senior Ansett Vice Captain: Joshua Lowe

Jacka House Captains: Eliza Turnbull and Samantha Arnup

Ben Pettifer & Emma Milne, PE Teachers

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 receive 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.

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Wedderburn Redbacks Football Returns