If children feel safe, they can take risks, ask questions, make mistakes, learn to trust, share their feelings, and grow. Alfie Kohn

Term 3 is an exciting time for teachers as we often see students’ learning blossom as they gain greater independence. Students have a greater sense of belonging and security as classroom routines and expectations are more familiar. They are generally more confident to take greater risks in their learning. Teachers often give students greater responsibility for their learning and the outcomes achieved. In your conversations at home, why not ask your child about the skills, knowledge, and understanding they have gained because of their day at school.

Over the past few weeks, selected students from Years 3 to 5 have competed in the annual Maths Games Day run by the Mathematical Association of Victoria. These competitions see students compete against schools from across the state to develop their mathematical talents and thinking skills in a setting where Maths is regarded as fun and worthwhile while working with like-minded students from a diverse range of schools and getting excited about Maths! It was marvellous to see all three teams place in this year’s competitions, the first time Oxley has placed since 2013! Year 5 placed 2nd, Year 4 placed 3rd, while Year 3 won, which is an Oxley first. Well done, Year 3! We wish our Year 6 team all the best as they compete on 9 September. I’m sure they will make us proud! Thank you to all the parents and teachers for making this fabulous learning opportunity possible.

The countdown has begun! With less than two weeks to our Junior School Musical, Madagascar JR., our Junior School classes are enthusiastically rehearsing their item, finalising costumes, and promoting the musical to their family and friends. Limited tickets are still available for both performances on Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 September. Please book online at https://www.trybooking.com/events/. We look forward to seeing all our students on stage using the gifts and talents God has given them to make this a memorable night for our Junior School community.

A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society. Billy Graham

Next weekend we have the privilege of celebrating the fathers in our lives. Our Year 3 students are busy preparing for the annual Father’s Day Stall, to be held on Wednesday 31 August. For further information, please see the email that was sent out last Tuesday. Sssshhhhh – don’t tell Dad!

After two years of lockdowns, we are excited to announce our annual Year 3 to 6 Basketball Competition will be held on the last day of term, Friday 16 September. The students have been training with their senior coaches and are keen to take to the court and have fun. Parents are invited to join us in the Stadium to help cheer on our players. On arrival at the Stadium, we ask that all visitors sign in. Sign in will be available from 9.40am, with games being played from 10.00am to 2.00pm.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:25

Amy Liddle

Head of Junior School

What Did You Do at School Today?

Prep

We have had a few busy weeks during Integrated Studies. This term our overarching theme is The Bridge and Beyond. Through a variety of tasks, we are discovering the different properties of a range of materials and the different ways materials can be used. So far, we have made a goat out of air clay, a boat out of aluminium foil to carry a toy across water and a wood creation using icy pole sticks. I wonder what we will discover and make next!

Year 1

We are super excited to design and build our own shadow puppet theatre, which we will use to perform a play. During Integrated Studies, we have enjoyed exploring ways to make sound using different materials and will use this knowledge in our performance. Using the melody maker program to create sound effects on the iPads was a real hit! We can’t wait to use our shadow puppet theatre and show off our new skills.

Year 2

Wow! We have had a few fantastic weeks! In Writing, we have been learning to write procedures. We discovered that it is important to use bossy verbs and precise language. This ensures our instructions are clear and easy to follow. As part of our Integrated Studies unit Light and Sound, we have been exploring making instruments and puppets using a variety of materials. Did you know that aluminium foil can be used to create the sound of crackling fire?! We are looking forward to using these skills to produce a puppet show with our peers.

Year 3

On Friday 5 August, eight Year 3 students represented Oxley at the Year 3 Maths Games Day run by the Mathematics Association of Victoria. Students competed in three rounds against other schools from all over Victoria. Activities consisted of tricky worded problems, strategic games and finished off with a Maths relay. Well done to all the participants for competing and a special congratulations to Team 1 for winning the overall competition.

Ahoy there! On Monday 15 August, students in Year 3 went back in time to become sailors aboard the Polly Woodside. We stepped lively aboard a real nineteenth-century tall ship and into the lives of the sailors who lived and worked aboard. Students experienced firsthand some of the jobs the sailors may have done who lived and worked aboard tall ships.

Year 4

With momentous joy and pride, we want to acknowledge the incredible Year 4 student mathematicians who ventured into the city to compete in the Year 4 Maths Games Day. A very special shout-out to Benjamin, Izzy, Jacky, Jeremy, Jocelyn, Lachie W, Lynn, and Olivia! Our students competed against over 30 teams from elite schools across Melbourne and one of our teams placed third! Congratulations to Jeremy, who received an award for placing third in extremely fast mathematical recall skills. Our students worked beautifully as a team, collaborating and reflecting a humble and hardworking approach to all tasks on the day. Congratulations to these outstanding students for their efforts, and a massive thank you to our families for supporting their children to attend.

Year 5

What an amazing week it has been in Year 5. We have experienced a sense of awe and wonder so many times. We discovered that a feather and a bowling ball fall at the same speed in the absence of gravity. To explore this further, we changed the properties of a sheet of paper so that it fell to the ground faster. Great excitement filled our classes when we created balloon rockets that carried paper clips. Some of our rockets reached the top banister of the Upper Primary Building after starting at ground level! Through exploring multiplication strategies, we discovered different ways to solve the same problem. This allowed us all to solve multiplication problems efficiently and effectively.

Year 6

Term 3 has been packed with fun over the last few weeks. In Science, we have LOVED learning about air resistance and building our balloon-powered rockets, which we carefully designed to launch from Earth (ground) to Mars (ceiling). We have enjoyed learning how to code using the computer program Scratch, where we have been making an exciting quiz and presentation about the wondrous discoveries, we have made about our world this term. In Writing, we have just finished publishing our procedures and presented them in various creative ways. We are excited to welcome Jasmine Jones back from her adventures in sport and want to congratulate her for the amazing achievements. We have been practising hard for our upcoming musical, Madagascar Jnr. We cannot wait to show you our singing and dancing talents!

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