From the Deputy's desk

Getting to know them

One of the joys of being in a central school is that teachers can interact with students from different areas of the school that they don't normally frequent. Usually, teacher training is limited to K-6 generalist teaching or specialist secondary teaching in a couple of areas, and you may not get the chance to try working in another subject, faculty, year group or school, depending on where you are working. 

In my case, I trained (forever ago) as a secondary home economics teacher, which today would be a food technology and a textiles technology teacher - or 'Stitching and Stirring' as I like to call it! I have also added some special education training in recent years. 

So, I was delighted to have the chance this week to work with both the Kindy class and the Yindyamarra class and help them to develop some cooking skills in our kitchen. It is so important that we teach our children how to make healthy food from scratch so that they are not dependent on premade foods with unknown ingredients including additives that may have an impact on behaviour. 

Our Kindy class made damper, which they shaped into the initial of their first name, so we included literacy in our learning. They also learnt the technique to 'rub in', which is where they used their fingertips to push the flour through the butter. This helps to continue to develop fine motor skills, as did mixing the water into the dough, kneading it and then rolling it into a sausage shape to create their initial. I hope the children enjoyed eating their damper initial as much as they enjoyed making it. 

The Yindy class had a numeracy lesson with me in the kitchen, where they made cheese and tomato sandwiches. After learning to spread butter on their bread, using careful knife skills, they created a sandwich with layers of cheese and tomato. The first numeracy challenge was to cut the sandwich in half, and then into quarters before enjoying it. A second challenge was to use more cheese slices to try to find other ways to cut the cheese in half. The Yindy class also practised setting the table with knife, fork and spoon. All the students worked cooperatively in the kitchen and pitched in to get washing up done, as well as sweeping the floor and wiping down tables. 

As we head into the holidays, I encourage all families to enjoy teaching their children about the joys of cooking foods from scratch, helping them to read recipes and measure ingredients and finally to sit at the table to share, chat, laugh and relax. 

Wishing all our students a wonderful winter break and looking forward to seeing you all back at school on Tuesday 13 July 2021.

​Ms Chris Hawkins

Deputy Principal (Acting)