From the Head of Junior School

As communicated earlier in the week, our Junior School students will return to face to face learning from October 5 which is in line with the new Government guidelines announced on Tuesday evening. We are fortunate to be a stand-alone campus which allows us to return earlier. While it is wonderful news, there will still be strict Covid-19 protocols in place. Students will need to be dropped off at their designated school gates by parents where they will be temperature checked. As there are landscaping works in progress the Vine St gate is closed. The following adjustments have been made:

Prep, 2, 3 and 4 students will enter and exit via the Thomas Block gates at the bottom of Mackenzie Street
Year 1, 5 and 6 students will enter and exit via the top MacKenzie St gate.

We ask that parents do not congregate in groups at the gates at drop off. In the afternoon we will have staggered pick up times.

Preps to Year 2 will finish at 3.00pm
Year 3 and 4 will finish at 3.15pm
Year 5 and 6 will finish at 3.30pm

Family pick up times will be determined by the oldest student. Younger siblings will be taken to meet the older siblings at their designated times.

The other operational information regarding assemblies, excursions, camps and end of year celebrations remains unchanged at this stage. We will provide further updates as new information is provided to us. It is our intention to provide as many of the events and opportunities as we can, provided it is safe to do so.

I know most of our students will be very eager to be back at school, back in class and back with their friends but there will also be some who might be a bit nervous about returning. Parents can assist their children through any anxieties in the following ways:

Positive Modelling – When we are nervous or anxious about an event or situation our children pick up on it, regardless of how well we think we are hiding it. If parents are feeling anxious about an aspect of school return then they should make contact with their class teacher to discuss the issue and work out a plan for return.
Prepare your child for what to expect – Routines for arriving at school and leaving in the afternoon are quite different now. It is helpful if children know what to expect before they arrive at school on the first day. Once they are at school and in the classroom the routines are much more familiar.
Getting back into a routine – Home schooling daily routines are most likely very different to the daily routines when children are attending school each day. Using the second week of the holiday period to return to the normal sleep routines will help when it is time to return to school. It is also a good time for children to organise uniforms, organise the equipment they need for school etc.
Talk about it – Having regular conversations with your children about how they are feeling is important. Listening to their thoughts and how they are expressing their emotions, reassuring them that those concerns are natural and that they will be assisted to overcome any difficulties is a much more effective approach than just telling them not to worry. It is also important to ensure that these conversations continue once they are back at school. Some helpful questions might be:
- What are you looking forward to at school?
- What might be hard going back to school?
- What did you enjoy at school today?
- Was there anything that was a bit difficult?
- Was there anything that you found helpful when it was hard?

Parents may be interested in the following video resources that are available to us as members of Michael Grose’s Parenting Ideas Schools program.

Managing Your Child’s Anxiety

Daily Lessons in Resilience

Developing a Resilience Mindset

Michael has also produced a free e-book aimed at assisting children to develop coping strategies that can be accessed from the following link: https://www.parentingideas.com.au/school/download/resource/3620

REPORTS AND PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS

Progress reports have been uploaded to Astra and are available for viewing from your Astra portal. Any parents having trouble accessing their child’s reports can contact our Reports Department for assistance through Reception Ph. 54413114 or ReportsDepartment@girton.vic.edu.au

Junior School Parent Teacher Interviews will be conducted by phone in Week 1 and 2 of Term 4. Booking information will be emailed to parents next week.

Mr Donald Thompson

Head of Junior School

Footy Colours Day

On Monday 7th September the students learning onsite celebrated Footy Colours Day in September. Students arrived at school dressed in their favourite footy gear and enjoyed some activities during sport in the afternoon. Gold coin donations were collated to ‘Buy a Virtual Meat Pie’ to raise money to support the 950 kids diagnosed with cancer each year.

Fight Cancer Foundation’s education support programs help kids with cancer keep up with school. They provide flexible, individual lesson plans that work around their illness and treatment and deliver a mix of face-to-face and online learning sessions.

Prep News

Camilla Christian brought along some fairy wings for all the Preps to play during remote learning onsite. The Prep students had a lovely time spreading their fairy magic.

Sahibnoor enjoying remote learning at home .

Year One News

Year One students have been studying mini-beasts and Spring. Their creativity in producing plays, videos, posters and models has been amazing.

Year Two Remote Learning

Students in Year 2 thought about all the things they were grateful for. They wrote these on paper and added them to their Gratitude Tree.

Year Three: Online Learning Reflection

Online Learning 2.O has been fabulous. The timetable is better because there is always literacy in the morning, math in between recess and lunch then specialist subjects in the afternoon. I prefer the new timetable because it is more understandable. I love that I know what to do before the day even starts and I appreciate how hard parents and teachers are working. Another good thing is that I get a longer recess and a hot meal. Yum! Another thing about Online Learning 2.O is that you can wear anything you want instead of the boring old long pants, long sleeve -shirt, tie and black shoes. Another positive is that I can concentrate more because the house is quiet most of the time (until my sister gets distracting).

On the other hand, a bad thing about online learning 2.O has been that I can’t play team sports and meet my friends face to face. I prefer to play footy with my friends at recess then play on the trampoline. I get bored in the house sometimes. Occasionally, we don’t get enough work from the specialist teachers and it takes time to contact them. It’s also very difficult to do music lessons and especially tuning my cello over Zoom. Another thing that is really annoying is when the internet drops out and then I can’t hear my teacher explaining what to do. I wish I could help my teachers more.

Overall, it’s not ideal but I am making the best of it.

Archer Yuen (3 Frew)

Year Four News

It has been very busy in Year 4. Cats, dogs, fish and lizards joined in our Literacy and Numeracy classes on Bring Your Pet to Zoom day. Khloe Barich and Sophie Mahony organised a fun disco. We were dancing on trampolines, couches and even some Mums joined in and showed us their dance moves. We participated in the Loddon Mallee Sumdog challenge. Sixty-three classes entered and 4M finished 4th. Charlotte Thomson finished 13th out of 620 students. This week Year 4 have been creating Super Heroes and writing comic strips. We have also been designing our own Google logos. It has been fun to be creative and use our imagination! We finished the term with some wellbeing sessions and talked about resilience and happiness. We made bounce back balls to remind us to be resilient and we talked about the little things, like cuddling our pets, that make us happy. We are all looking forward to holidays and returning to school in Term Four to see our friends.

Mrs Rachelle Fisher

Year Five Poems

MAGENTA

Magenta looks like raspberry jam glistening as I spread it across my toast.

Magenta sounds like steel drums shimmering through the night air.

Magenta smells sweet like tropical flowers in a summer breeze.

Magenta feels like the velvety soft grooves in my dog’s ears.

Magenta tastes like the sweet crunchiness of dragon fruit seeds on my tongue.

Magenta is upbeat and has a good sense of humour.

It is a happy colour.

Joshua Lim

BLUE

The sunny blue sky

reminds me of waves crashing into each other

I smell a hint of blue berry bubble gum flowing through the air

I feel fresh wet water fall on my hands

Going over the top with the whipped cream on my blue heaven milkshake

Blue makes me feel alive

Kyah Spiteri

WHITE

White looks like the purest white dove,

White sounds like roaring polar bears,

White smells like a candle burning brightly,

White feels like a feathery goose,

White tastes like marshmallows roasting over a fire,

White is special.

Natasha Eldridge

SHADOWS

Shadows Look Like The Deep Dark Depths Of The Sea At The Stroke Of Midnight.

Shadows sound like twigs snapping deep in the forest.

Shadows taste like the bitter ashes of a campfire.

Shadows feel like the jagged surface of broken quartz.

Shadows smell like smoke rising from an industrial factory.

Shadows feel depressing and miserable.

Nicholas Chong

BLUE

As I sink deep down into the icy-cold ocean,

All I can see is blue,

Blue sounds like the breeze,

On a chilly, winters day,

The fresh air smells like blue,

As I step out onto the verandah,

In my dreams, I fly up high, into the clouds,

They are so soft, all I feel is blue,

Blue tastes like blueberries,

Fresh out of the garden,

They are sweet, but tangy on my tongue,

As I lie down on the couch,

I shut my eyes closed,

I think about how I feel,

I am neither irritated nor am I upset,

I am calm and relaxed,

All I feel is blue.

Shanali Wickramasinghe

BLUE

Blue looks like an ocean sparkling in the sun,

Blue sounds like waves gently lapping the sand,

Blue smells like salty ships,

Blue feels like a wave gently lapping around your feet,

Blue tastes like refreshing like an ice block on a hot summers day,

Blue is like an exciting voyage.

Thomas Brain

LIGHT YELLOW

Light Yellow, looks like a refreshing glass of sparkling lemonade

Light Yellow, sounds like the soft, warm wind blowing in the summer air

Light Yellow, smells like bright, colourful sunflower blooming in Spring

Light Yellow, tastes like warm, buttery toast on a cold winter’s day

Light Yellow, feels like the cool breeze brushing my cheek

Light Yellow is calm and relaxing.

AQUAMARINE

Aquamarine, looks like the sparkling, tropical, crystal clear sea

Aquamarine, sounds like waves crashing into whitewash, rolling onto shore

Aquamarine, smells like the fresh salty sea water air

Aquamarine, feels like the wet and sandy ocean tickling my toes

Aquamarine, tastes like the creamiest mint chocolate ice-cream

Aquamarine, reminds me of bright colourful coral warming with multicoloured fish

Aquamarine is happy and joyful

Zarah Chimunda

Year Five: Chalk Messages of Hope

Shanali Wickramasinghe, Akshita Indulkar, Natasha Eldridge and Zarah Chimundafrom 5M decorated their footpaths to bring messages of joy or inspiration to others during the lockdown.

Year Six: Gratitude Week

Year Six students had a week of fun activities for 'Gratitude Week'. Activities included

Musical Monday
Super Talent Tuesday
Wacky Wednesday
Thankful Thursday
Physical Friday

ART

During this remote period of learning, in many year levels, we have integrated the ‘topic’ with the Literacy or General Studies work being taught in the classroom. Planning this involves researching art skills and artists to ensure a broad and balanced curriculum that works with the topic.

Year One has been studying Minibeasts so they used several techniques to make and draw some imaginary and real minibeasts. In order to see the progression in particular skill areas, they need to be revisited and built upon.

Year Three has been studying Australia, so for one component of the Art program in we looked at the work of May Gibbs ‘Snugglepot and Cuddlepie’. Students were asked to draw their version of The Bad Banksia Men, Mrs Snake and Mr Lizard. Often drawing is included in the design and planning stage. There will always be opportunities for students to experiment and explore techniques as well as producing a final piece or outcome.

The benefit of the fusion of arts with core content is important. Students can see greater benefits when art reflects life and makes knowledge, stories and facts come alive. Art can add an emotional and creative response, it can transform learning into creating to engage students. Art brings colour, life and interpretation to the class subjects, it provides a purpose to communicating knowledge to the world.

Mrs Nic James

Art Teacher

Music

Art and music lessons in the Junior school have been combined for some lessons. Students had to listen to selected music and paint or draw whatever the music inspired them to draw.

The results have been delightful.

Mrs Laura Dusseljee

Drama

The COVID–19 pandemic has forced what many thought would never happen in primary education: online classes extensively replacing traditional face-to-face teaching. But with challenge comes the opportunity to embrace change.

Drama in the Junior School at Girton has adapted to the challenge of keeping our students’ active learners during what could have become a very passive learning environment without the motivation of students. Through the dynamic learning platform of Astra, our students have proven the remote learning environment can be active, creative, and flexible.

Our students have embraced new opportunities and the challenges faced in a remote learning environment. Creativity and innovation is the cornerstone of embracing change and its challenges, and the future needs creative thinkers and resilient designers and artists to analyse and adapt. This year has been an opportunity for our students to develop those skills and become those thinkers, designers, and artists.

Here is a snapshot of some of the learning that took place over the last fortnight in Drama remote learning.

THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE - RADIO PLAY UPDATE

Reflecting upon the end of Term 2 where we rapidly pivoted to remote learning and committed to developing a Radio Play, I was very proud of how our students responded to the changing rehearsal environment, and their eagerness to take on this new and exciting purely acoustic performance opportunity.

The last few months have presented us with challenge and opportunity: challenge to function as an arts community in a very different space, and opportunity to find new ways to work together; challenge to rebuild our skills, and opportunity to strengthen our foundations; challenge to share our work in a meaningful way, and opportunity to share this work with a broader audience via a live-streamed performance.

There is much to look forward to next term. We are currently preparing a series of online and face-to-face rehearsals as we prepare the final stages of the radio play and put the pieces of the rehearsal puzzle together. Most significantly, we have our community to reconnect with when we return to learning onsite to share our hard work via a live-streamed performance of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Radio Play during Week 5, Term 4.

Rehearsals require students with a degree of skill and knowledge of their own piece of the puzzle coming together to listen to and respond to each other. One of the biggest challenges has been connecting remotely, building relationships with the performers through a screen, and acquiring energy during the Zoom rehearsals. Through these challenges, we have created understanding through shared experience. In this way, the whole became more than the sum of its parts, and it is this very human dynamic that we craved so much at this time. To quote one of our cast members, ‘I just can’t wait until we are all back together again, face-to-face at rehearsals.’ As of Week 2, our rehearsal program will re-commence face-to-face with renewed vigour and joy, and I can’t wait.

I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our Year 6 Radio Play Cast. While we don’t seek to dwell on what has been lost, it behoves us to recognise their contribution over this past term. Their commitment, patience, and perseverance with the radio play has been outstanding, and I am proud of their attitude and resilience.

For now, it is time to hang up the boots (just a little) during the school holidays and have a well-earned break! I look forward to welcoming the cast back at the beginning of next term.

We look forward to sharing the play with the Girton school community next term.

Mrs Catherine Stagg

Drama Teacher

VCE Music Performances