Foundation – Year 6 Remote Learning & Onsite Supervision

For the third time this year, I have been very impressed with the way our Ormiston staff, students and school community have transitioned back to Remote Learning with confidence and determination to do their personal best despite not being onsite at Junior School.

It has been inspiring to see many members of the Ormiston community go above and beyond for others. I have seen and heard our community help others in need during this difficult time and many of our students continue to be there for others not only in their class, but in their year level. Our School values of Respect, Integrity, Commitment, Hope and Courage are evident in everything we do here at Ormiston, and I would encourage our community to continue to use these values during this lockdown period.

With over one week of Remote Learning completed, I would like to thank parents and extended family members for supporting our Remote Learning program. We have all got our fingers crossed that Foundation to Year 6 students will return to onsite learning next Wednesday 28 July.

During Remote Learning, we continue to have a group of students onsite to allow their parents to continue to work as essential workers within our community. Once again, an enormous Thank You to Lisa Williams our CGGS Swimming Coach for looking after this group of students during this difficult period. Lisa has been a wonderful support for this group for over the last 12-months and she has made a very positive impact on their learning.

As part of our continuous improvement plan at Ormiston, I encourage Foundation – Year 6 families to contact me via email, donohuep@cggs.vic.edu.au to provide feedback on the Remote Learning program. We are regularly making changes and any feedback is valuable for future planning.

Wishing all our Ormiston families a restful weekend.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School

Early Learning 3 Artists!

In Early Learning 3, we provide children with the time and opportunity to engage with different drawing tools and explore how these can be used to express their ideas, reflections and thinking. Drawing is one of the earliest forms of communication – a visual text that children develop. When children draw, they often talk and provide an explanation or narrative about their drawing. In the classroom, these words are documented by the child or the teacher through written language or audio recording. This is important because it creates a multimodal text: drawing, talking and writing – that is, visual, oral and aural. Whilst drawing provides opportunities for creativity and rich expression, talking and drawing together are powerful because the dialogue deepens the message and shows the increased complexity of the visual text – the drawing. As teachers, we value this dialogue because it demonstrates ‘thinking in action’ and provides opportunities for further understandings of the learner and the learning that is occurring. It also creates opportunities for the teacher to support and scaffold this learning, this means, the teacher can support and build on what the child knows and can do (Mackenzie, 2018).

Associate Professor Noella Mackenzie from Charles Sturt University believes that drawing promotes strong communication skills and young children learn to make sense of their world through drawing. Her research has explored the key relationships between drawing and talking, drawing and writing, and drawing, talking and writing.

If interested, you can listen to Professor Mackenzie talk about the importance of drawing in her conversation with Gareth Parker. The link is available here.

Angela Follacchio
Early Learning 3 Teacher

Early Learning 4 Full-Time – Strengthening their Sense of Identity

The children are strengthening their sense of identity as they move forward with a new term and prepare for their transition into Primary school.

“Identity is unique to each individual, and defines who people are, what shapes their interests and how they come to view the people and events around them (DET 2016, p. 18)”.

The sense of awareness of personal identity involves both self-expression and self-awareness. The children have worked on their personal identity and awareness of self, which can be summarised in the statement ‘I know who I am’.

It is rewarding to see the children’s sense of identity grow as they express themselves in the medium of Art. The children have used balls, hoops, music, puppets, paper mache, coloured blocks, drawing and painting to express their ideas.

The children have focused on expressing their ideas through creating three-dimensional models and structures. These tasks assist in the development of co-ordination, communication and collaboration. In the classroom, the children are surrounded with interesting three-dimensional objects, both large and small, to stimulate new ideas and develop their awareness of form and shape.

Ramila Sadikeen
Early Learning 4 Full-Time Teacher

Early Learning 4 Part-Time – Bucket Fillers

This term in Early Learning 4 Part-Time, we have been discussing ‘bucket filling’. Bucket filling refers to actions or words that show you care about someone. The ‘bucket’ represents your mental and emotional self. When your ‘bucket’ is full, you feel more confident, secure, patient and friendly. The metaphor of the ‘bucket’ is one that young children can easily relate to and understand. It easily explains to children how negatives actions and words can ‘dip’ from your ‘bucket’, but that positive actions and words have the opposite effect and will ‘fill’ it.

Azalea – “Bucket filling is when you care for someone when they are sad.”

Isabella – “If you say something mean, you are dipping their bucket. If you say, ‘I love you so much’, you are filling their bucket.”

Eugenie – “When someone says, ‘I don’t like you’, you are dipping bucket.”

Emilia – “When I play with Azalea and Aileen, it fills my bucket.”

Scarlett – “When mum says, ‘I love you,’ it fills my bucket.”

This term, the children are learning to notice when someone is filling their bucket. Each time they or the teacher observes bucket filling, we put a glass stone in our classroom bucket. At the end of each day, the children are encouraged to recall when someone filled their bucket. Then we count how many glass stones are in the bucket. Learning about ‘bucket filling’ relates to children’s sense of ‘identity’. Children will learn how to interact with others with care, empathy and respect. They will begin to empathise and express concern for others and reflect on their own actions and consider the consequences for others.

Lilian Bishop
Early Learning 4 Part-Time Teacher

Foundation – Year 6 Remote Learning & Onsite Supervision

Once again, I have been amazed at the smooth transition from face-to-face learning to remote learning by our Foundation – Year 6 students, class and specialist teachers. The continued use of our online learning platform Seesaw and the video conference tool of Zoom has worked extremely well and all stakeholders are very experienced with working with these new learning tools. After each remote learning period, as a Junior School we will take the opportunity to review our programs and improve them if needed for the future.

Additionally, I would like to thank our school community for having a growth mindset and doing their personal best throughout the circuit breaker lockdown. Many thanks to our students, parents, extended family members (this includes grandparents, uncles and aunties) for having-a-go at the remote learning at home. Also, a big Thank You to our Junior School teachers for implementing such a very creative, engaging and unique remote learning program for the fourth time!

Finally, during remote learning we still have a large group of students onsite to allow their parents to continue to work as essential workers within our community. An enormous Thank You to Lisa Williams our CGGS Swimming Coach for looking after this group of students over the last two weeks.

I encourage Foundation – Year 6 families to contact me via email on donohuep@cggs.vic.edu.au to give me some feedback in regard to the remote learning program your child participated in over the last two weeks.

It was wonderful to see so many smiling faces when our students came back to School this morning. There was lots of energy and catching-up to do with friends and the Junior School teachers could not wait to get back into their classrooms.

I wish all Ormiston families a safe long weekend. Do not forget it is a public holiday on Monday 14 June and the School will not be open. Early Learning 3 – Year 6 students are required to be back at School on Tuesday 15 June.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School

School Captain Prayer

I would like to share Chloe Lau’s Junior School Assembly prayer from a few weeks ago during Diversity Week. Chloe was able to express her own thoughts about diversity so clearly in her prayer, and it reminded our school community to always respect and appreciate the differences in each other. Here is Chloe’s prayer:

Dear God,

People in our school all come from different places, but that’s okay. Each one of us has different ways of reacting to the same situation, but that’s ok.

May you give us the love to respect everyone, no matter how many differences we have. Help us to learn to listen to others who may have a different background to us.

May you help us learn to create a world where all types of people are welcome. May you gift us with peace and harmony amongst all people throughout the world.

In Jesus’ name

Amen

Early Learning 3 – Positive Education – Being a Bucket Filler                                                                                                    

Positive education is a science informed framework for schools to encourage and support their students to flourish. It is made up of the domains of positive relationships, positive emotions, positive health, positive engagement, positive accomplishment and positive purpose. These domains are integral to student wellbeing and flourishing – feeling good: positive emotions and engaging experiences and doing good: functioning effectively, being connected, overcoming challenges. Keyes and Annas, 2009

During this term, the Early Learning 3 children were introduced to some of the concepts and language from Positive Education, in particular, that everyone has an invisible bucket. Through ongoing stories, songs and discussions, the children are developing an understanding about how their invisible bucket holds all their good thoughts and feelings about themselves; and how they feel happy and at their best when their bucket is full and overflowing. The children are discovering that when they choose to fill a person’s bucket, they in turn fill their own bucket too.

Recently, the children viewed a clip about being a bucket filler and participated in singing the associated song, Fill Your Bucket. This song focused on all the things the children can do throughout the day to fill someone’s bucket. If interested, this is the link to the Fill Your Bucket song. We also discussed ways we can fill another person’s bucket, for example, when we do or say something kind, take turns, smile, listen, include others, help and share.

Throughout the day, intentional teaching is used to explicitly teach and reinforce and highlight when children are being bucket fillers and the impact their words and actions have on themselves and their peers. At the end of the day, the children have some reflection time to think about who and what filled their bucket during the day, and they are encouraged to share their thoughts with the group.

Through teaching these valuable life skills, we’re providing the children with the capacity to learn effectively and build a strong foundation on which they can engage with and relate positively to their peers.

Angela Follacchio
Early Learning 3 Teacher

Early Learning 4 Full-Time –Celebrating Diversity Week & STEAM Program

Diversity & Reconciliation Weeks
‘Values and attitudes, understandings of community and individual, and ways of communicating and behaving, all impact on children’s sense of belonging and acceptance. When children experience acknowledgement of and respect for diversity, their sense of identity becomes stronger.’ – Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework.

Diversity Week led to Reconciliation Week with discussion and meaningful interactions with community members and elders. The EL4 children are experiencing a holistic curriculum with discussion, stories, songs and expression of art. They have engaged in examining their own identity and belonging by continuing to explore their own community.

In celebration of Diversity Week, the children were invited to dress in rainbow colours. This activity opened up the conversation of individual physical differences, the children identified what is similar and different in their physical appearance and created links to their place of birth. The different countries, languages and cultures are a rich source of information for the children to learn about. While exploring the backgrounds of others, the EL4 children were able to acknowledge the unique space the Wurundjeri people have within our School community. Murrundindi visited both classes via Zoom and the children discussed ‘Sorry Day’ and learned more about reconciliation.

The EL4 children also explored other traditional cultural events such as an Indian wedding and a Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon festival. The children were given an insight into these significant cultural events, enabling an appreciation of cultural differences and a strengthening respect for diversity.

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Maths) Program
This term, the EL4 children have continued to work with Penny Dumsday our STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Maths) Teacher. Mrs Dumsday assisted the children to learn more about our five senses and provided many different learning experiences. Additionally, Mrs Dumsday encouraged the children to ask questions, make connections with their prior knowledge and present ideas in relation to the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste.

As Ormiston is quieter than usual during remote learning for the Foundation – Year 6 students, the EL4 children have taken the time to enjoy the whole School yard with a purpose. Winter nature play has encouraged the children to look closely at the changes to the trees and to stay closely connected to nature which can be highly beneficial to student wellbeing.

Ramila Sadikeen
Early Learning 4 Full-Time Teacher

Early Learning 4 Part-Time – The Cycle of Nature

The cycle of nature continues on, regardless of what is happening in the news headlines or the stresses of the adult world. The children in Early Learning 4 Part-time have noticed and been curious about the seasonal changes that Autumn and Winter have brought. They share their observations and suggest theories about why particular things happen in nature.

We have practiced ‘mindfulness’ outside, using our senses to hear, feel and see the seasonal changes. Tuning into the sights and sounds of nature, draws children’s attention to the here and now and reduces stress and anxiety. Engaging all of their senses has encouraged the children to pay close attention to the small details.

The children have also used different art mediums to represent their Autumn and Winter observations. These have included drawing, sewing, collage and printmaking. Through visual art the children are learning to express their growing understandings about the world around them. Young children explore the arts with both a creative and scientific “eye”.  The artist in them seeks ways to express their ideas and the scientist wonders why things happen.

The children observed that some of the trees have started changing colour and are losing their leaves while others are not. They were introduced to the terms, deciduous trees and evergreen trees. They were encouraged to ‘wonder’ why some leaves change colour and fall from the deciduous trees.

Our STEAM Teacher, Penny Dumsday worked with the children to explore their wonderings about Autumn. Mrs Dumsday did a science experiment with the children to show them that leaves contain lots of different colours. They learnt that some trees draw the chlorophyll (which is the green pigment in leaves) back into the trunk to feed them over winter.

Every child learns differently – some prefer to observe, some listen, some engage actively, and others talk. With this in mind, it is important to provide multiple ways for children to engage in new learning. The three main ways that young children learn are auditory (listening), visually (pictures and images) and kinaesthetic (through doing). By engaging in a multi-faceted approach to learning, all children are able to understand and represent their learning.

Lilian Bishop
Early Learning 4 Part-Time Teacher

Year 4 – Exploring their Neighbourhood

Lockdown is always challenging but the Year 4 students still have lots to be thankful for. They have been exploring their neighbourhood on sensory walks to observe and appreciate nature. Leaves of different shapes and sizes have been collected resulting in the creation of gratitude trees.

Jasvindar Gill
Year 4 Class Teacher

Kanga Tennis Coaching Clinics

The last two Fridays there has been a lot of racquet movement from all of our students practicing their forehands, backhands and volleys on the Junior School tennis court.  The Kanga Tennis coaches – Annette, Tim and Dustin have delivered high energy and skilled-based clinic sessions to all our students from Early Learning 4 to Year 6.  Kanga tennis Coaching have been working with our Ormiston students for over 5 years and their experienced coaches do a fantastic job.

Kanga Tennis Coaching provide lessons every Tuesday and Thursday morning for our students at these times:

8.00am – 8.40am / Year 3, 4, 5 & 6

8.40am – 9.10am / Foundation, Year 1 & 2

9.10am – 9.40am / Early Learning 3 & 4

If families are interested in taking up tennis lessons at Ormiston in Term 2, please contact our Junior School Reception via email on junioradmin@cggs.vic.edu.au.

I wish all our Ormiston families a restful weekend.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School

Foundation Rabbits – Snowy, Fluffy, Rainbow and Cutie

For the past two weeks the Foundation students have been fortunate to have had four rabbits visit our classroom. The students quickly took to the rabbits and they became our much-loved pets for the time they were here. The students named the rabbits: Snowy, Fluffy, Rainbow and Cutie. They were responsible for filling the rabbits’ water bowls, ensuring they had fresh hay and even helping to clean their hutch from time to time. They also gave them an infinite supply of love, pats and cuddles. This was a great experience for the students to learn first-hand what living things need to survive and how people can help to care for other creatures.

“When the rabbits come out they can be a little bit scared. We need to be quiet to help them.” – Ting Xuan

“We have to be kind and gentle with them.” – Clara

“Carrots are a treat for rabbits, they don’t always eat carrots. Our rabbits eat hay and pellets.” – Angela

“Rabbits needs lots of care to make them happy.” – Bella

“You need to clean out their cage, even though it’s the worst job in the world.” – Joelle

“When we go in the circle to pat the rabbits we have to pat them with one hand.” – Eshaal

“If you scare them, they will hide.” – Theresa

“The rabbits are so soft and fluffy. I like to pat them.” – Chloe

“We got to teach the Year 1s about our rabbits.” – Rubyrose

“The rabbits are my favourite thing at school.” – Lena

Selena Reedman
Foundation Class Teacher

Year 1 – Healesville Sanctuary Excursion

Last week Year 1 took part in an excursion to Healesville Sanctuary as part of our Inquiry unit investigating the question “How do living things change, grow and survive?” Murrundindi (Head man of the Wurundjeri people) greeted us at the entrance and he spent the day showing us the Sanctuary and various exhibits. He showed the students some of the features of native flora in the area and explained how they were significant to the Wurundjeri people and animals. The students had a closer look at the kangaroo apple, lemon myrtle, manna gum, wild strawberries and various grasses used to weave baskets.

The Spirit of the Sky show gave the students the opportunity to view various birds of prey in flight and the koala, kangaroo, brolga, dingo and other exhibits allowed students to discuss some of each animal’s features, their habitats and some of their adaptions needed for them to survive. The teachers were impressed with the positivity and curiosity of the students, most of whom were experiencing their first excursion.

Angela Columbine
Year 1 Teacher

Year 5 PLAY Leadership Program

Last week the Year 5 students participated in the PLAY leadership training, run by Resilient Youth Australia. This full day workshop taught students how to facilitate safe and fun games for Ormiston students during recess and lunch.

The program is designed as a platform for students to have opportunities to support each other, practice positive values, take responsibility and develop their leadership abilities. It was an excellent opportunity for our Year 5 students to begin building their leadership skills before they take on their formal leadership role in Year 6.

Throughout the day, students learnt a variety of interactive PLAY games and how to introduce and facilitate the games effectively with other students without teacher guidance.

Some of the many games that students learnt and taught the Year 3 and 4 students were In and Out, Cat and Mouse, Domes and Dishes and Revolution.

Students relished the opportunity to develop their leadership skills and have fun together at the same time. Throughout the program, students learned the importance of giving clear instructions, working as team, listening to others and giving supportive feedback.

Asha from 5G commented, “I saw the world from a teacher’s point of view. One stand-out moment for me was when a student I was instructing was very shy to begin with, but over time she became more confident and engaged. I felt like I was achieving what I set out to do.”

We look forward to the Year 5 students consolidating their skills this term and then applying their skills to teach the PLAY games to the rest of the school community in Semester 2.

Emma Hinchliffe
Deputy Head of Junior School

Foundation – Year 6 English as an Additional Language (EAL) Information Session

On Wednesday, we hosted our very first parent information session for families whom English is their second language.  Our focus was to support families and to strengthen relationships between school and home, which ultimately leads to establishing true partnerships.

Together with Barbara Peng, our school interpreter and translator, we had parents discussing and asking questions regarding various topics. This included home learning, accessing reports on SEQTA and how to request interpreting services. Additionally, parents became familiar with their child’s learning and were able to converse in open discussions about the present curriculum. Our informal Q&A was led by parents and was an opportunity to meet and share. It was wonderful to see new and existing families having the opportunity to make reciprocated connections.

EAL parent information sessions in the future will be held in Term 2 and Term 4 each year and will range in topics relevant to current happenings. Thank you to those who attended, and I look forward to our next meeting in Term 4 later in the year.

Michelle May
Junior & Senior EAL Teacher

Book Clubs

Each week the Junior School Library offers two lunchtime Book Clubs for interested students in Years 3-6.

Wednesday sessions: all students from Years 3 & 4 are invited to attend Book Club with Mrs Spencer. These sessions are an opportunity for students to share stories and discuss recent reads and book recommendations with their peers in an enjoyable and relaxed environment. Students also participate in a variety of fun book related activities including Book Scavenger Hunts, designing an ideal bookshelf with all their favourite titles, and creating and colouring beautiful bookmarks.

Thursday sessions: Madison Kelly leads the Year 5 and 6 Book Club. Students in this group have enjoyed creating their own Zines on favourite topics and areas of interest. Zines are handmade photocopied books that students have made copies of to take home, as well as a copy for the school library collection. They have also been working hard to complete artwork and illustrations for the book they wrote together throughout the last year. It’s wonderful to see all the amazing and creative items that are produced from these sessons.

Sally Spencer
Junior School Library Teacher

Year 4 Prayer

Dear God

We thank you for giving each of us such incredible mothers and grandmothers.

They support us whenever we are in need, comfort us

when we are afraid and guide us on the right path encouraging us to be

the best versions of ourselves.  We bless those mothers who are

unwell, the mothers that are missing their loved ones, the mothers

who are courageously helping others and the mothers who are not

with us today.  We pray that every mother and grandmother has the

most special day this Sunday.

Amen

Written by Year 4Z & Helen Creed – School Chaplain

As we approach the end of Term 1, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all our Ormiston families for their continued support this year. I hope families are able to spend some quality time with family and friends throughout the Easter holiday break and I encourage our students to rest during this time to ensure they are ready for a very exciting and dynamic Term 2.

Welcome Back Event

The much anticipated annual Welcome Back Event finally came about last Friday. In previous years a similar event known as the Junior School Twilight Picnic was held during Term 1 and this has now been merged into the Welcome Back Event where families come along and take the opportunity to meet other families in a relaxed atmosphere.

With social distancing in mind, this year we divided our Junior School year levels into two sessions with the Early Learning 3 – Year 3 students from 5.00pm – 6.30pm and the Year 4 – 6 students from 7.00pm – 8.30pm. This strategy allowed for additional outdoor space for families to spread out across the campus. Also, it was great to see new families to Ormiston meet other families in their child’s year level.

I would like to thank Susannah Jepson and her Foundation Team for organising the event. Depending on the circumstances at the start of Term 2, we look forward to seeing more parents at Junior School throughout the year.

Foundation – Year 6 Easter Service at St Mark’s Church

It was a wonderful opportunity for the Foundation – Year 6 students to walk down to St Mark’s Church today to experience our annual Junior School Easter Service. As always, the Reverend Helen Creed took the special service and many students from different year levels took an active role in this important event. There were lots of songs and prayers and the story of Palm Sunday when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the Maundy Thursday Story and the story of Easter Sunday were explained to the Junior School. Our Principal, Mrs Dunwoody read out the Easter Greeting and our School Captains finished off the Service by saying the Lord’s prayer.

Foundation – Year 2 Swim Carnival

On Wednesday our Foundation – Year 2 students put on a swimming exhibition at the CGGS Aquatic Centre at Senior School. Each student actively participated in three events on the day and two of those events included the strokes of freestyle and backstroke. The overall standard of swimming during the morning was of a very high standard and each student must be congratulated for doing their own personal best.

Our students were representing their CGGS House – Lawrence, Singleton, Taylor and Schofield where house points were allocated throughout the carnival. Thank you to our Junior School Physical Education Teacher, Miss Liana Kitsou for organising the carnival and Ms Kitsou received a lot of support from Lisa Williams our Swim School Coordinator. Ms Williams’ team helped in the pool during each swimming event, and this enabled the event to run smoothly. Additionally, the Year 6 house leaders assisted on the day with the recording of results and thank you to Samantha Lovell, Selena Chen, Alexandra Bartnicki and Angel Li for their excellent work.

I wish everyone a happy and safe Easter and look forward to seeing everyone back at Ormiston for our first day of Term 2 on Tuesday 20 April 2021. 

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School

Early Learning 4 Full-Time

EL4 full time children are connected to the wider world. Our journey to connect to the wider world began with our class examining their own identity. The children were encouraged to look at themselves and describe what they look like. We used a variety of mediums to help the children feel safe and confident to express their thoughts and ideas.

Connecting to grandparents and parents was the most effective way to affirm the children’s identity and connect to the wider world as well. We had grandparents share aspects of their cultural roots along with Mums share their stories of childhood connections to India and to a kindergarten in China. Many similarities and differences were identified as we connected to our own lives.

Children grew in confidence to express themselves as they used puppets and a variety of new resources purchased to explore their environment. Their contribution to enrich their own play is embedded in their ability to sustain reciprocal relationships that are respectful, caring and fun.

What is beautiful about this journey of identity is the children’s capacity to embrace the richness of diversity and celebrate their own unique sense of self. It has been a very rewarding term where the children’s growth and development is intrinsic to their own sense identity.

Ramila Sadikeen
Early Learning 4 Full-Time Teacher

Year 1 Incursion

Last Tuesday, Mrs Sargood from the National Trust transformed the Year 1 classroom and gave the students a taste of what school and life was like over 150 years ago. The students dressed as children from the past and took part in lessons using a dip pen and ink, listened to stories of what life was like in the 1800s and learnt about rules and expectations, as well as the consequences given to children who were disobedient at school! The students viewed photographs and images of Queen Victoria, Rippon Lea historic estate and Sargood family who built and lived in Rippon Lea in 1868. This engaging incursion gave the students the opportunity to further develop and apply their knowledge of our Inquiry unit, where they are investigating the question: “How do events, stories and objects from the past help us to understand our present?”

The students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were keen to share some of their thoughts:

Isabella-Rose – I loved writing with ink.

Sofia – I enjoyed acting like a kid from over 100 years ago.

Olive – I loved it when Mrs. Sargood told us teachers would write silly names on the slate when they are being mean to kids. It was part of their punishment.

Evie – I found ink writing challenging, it was hard dip the pen in the ink and sometimes I had too much.

Nicole- I like the bell she used at the start of the lesson.

Olivia D. – I liked it when she showed us the black and white photos of her children.

Stephanie – Mrs. Sargood was very strict. She had 35 servants in her house.

Cathy – I liked the work Mrs. Sargood gave us.

Aryana – I enjoyed when Mrs. Sargood showed us pictures of her home in Rippon Lea and Queen Victoria.

Isabelle – I enjoyed going up the front and pretending to do the washing. 

Angela Columbine
Year 1 Class Teacher

Year 4-6 Digital Wellbeing & Technologies Parent Webinar

On Tuesday evening, a group of Year 4-6 parents joined our Head of Digital Learning – Micah Wilkins and I on Zoom to discuss the importance digital technologies and digital wellbeing within the home and school environments.

We revisited the Junior School Digital Wellbeing Guidelines (see image) and discussed how these could be implemented at home.

Parents also shared their own tips and experiences about using technologies with their children at home and we shared some examples of the ways in which our students are developing their digital literacy, citizenship skills and wellbeing at CGGS in both the Junior and Senior Schools. We hope to offer some on site opportunities for parents to have a go at using some of our technologies including our Spheros later in the year.

There was a strong interest from parents in the current screen time recommendations for children. There are currently no formal set time limits on this due to the proliferation of screens in our day to day lives these days, it is the quality and nature of the screen time that is most important. We encourage you to use the following recommendations from the Canadian Paediatric Society (2017) as a guide to develop good screen time habits at home.

Minimise screen time:
> Screen time for children younger than 2  years is not recommended.
> For children 2 to 5 years, limit routine or regular screen time to less than 1 hour per day.
> Ensure that sedentary screen time is not a routine part of child-care for children younger than 5 years.
> Maintain daily ‘screen-free’ times, especially for family meals and book-sharing.
> Avoid screens for at least 1 hour before bedtime, given the potential for melatonin-suppressing effects which can negatively impact on sleep.

Reduce the risks associated with screen time:
> Be present and engaged when screens are used and, whenever possible, co-view with children.
> Be aware of content and prioritise educational, age-appropriate and interactive programming.
> Use parenting strategies that teach self-regulation, calming and limit-setting.
> Conduct a self-assessment of current screen habits and develop a family media plan for when, how and where screens may (and may not) be used.
> Help children recognise and question advertising messages, stereotyping and other problematic content.
> Be reassured that there is no evidence to support introducing technology at an early age.

Adults should model healthy screen use:
> Choose healthy alternatives, such as reading, outdoor play and creative, hands-on activities.
> Turn off adult’s own devices at home during family time.
> Turn off screens when not in use and avoid background TV

This term in Year 4, we learnt all about Digital Citizenship and how to stay safe online. The students identified strategies for keeping themselves safe online such as: using age guidelines, keeping personal information private and how to deal with cyberbullying. This unit brought up many interesting class discussions around online etiquette and the responsibilities we have as digital citizens.

As a summative task, the students were placed into groups and took on the role as teacher by teaching the Year 3s about a specific topic related to digital citizenship. As a group, they planned, prepared resources and taught a mini-lesson for the students.

Here are some thoughts of what the Year 4s have learnt this term about Digital Citizenship:

“This term I learnt not to put your personal details online or you could get hacked” – Kathleen

“Something that I learnt this term is that even if a website looks trustworthy, it may not be” – Ruth

“I learnt how to stay safe online by asking a parent if that website is safe to go on” – Joyce

“I have learnt never to click on pop-ups that seem untrustworthy” – Ailey

Emma Hinchliffe
Deputy Head of Junior School

Year 4 – 6 Netball

The CGGS Junior School Netball Program commenced this term with many enthusiastic students wanting to partake in this team sport.

Year 2/3 Program – Thursday afternoon

The response to the program has been overwhelming currently with 43 registered players. The program is aimed at introducing the students to the game of netball teaching them the basic preparation skills in order to progress onto games.

Year 4 Opals – Friday afternoon

The Year 4 team participate on a Friday afternoon at the Boroondara Netball Association and currently have 9 registered players. So far, this team is undefeated although being a non- competitive competition, it is wonderful to see the smiles on their faces and most importantly having a lot of fun.

Year 5/6 Teams – Saturday

The Year 5/6 teams compete on Saturday mornings at the Boroondara Netball Association. We have entered one Year 5 team and two Year 6 teams. It has been a great start, although weather conditions were not favourable and commend the players for performing superbly in the rain and still managing to enjoy themselves.

We are still seeking additional players for the Year 6 teams so if your child is interested in joining any of the teams next term, please contact Kim Bailey at baileyk@cggs.vic.edu.au.

Kim Bailey
Netball Coordinator

Semester One Student Leadership Assembly

The opportunity to recognise our Year 6R school leaders and our new Student Council was very rewarding at our Semester One Leaders Assembly. The school community listened to our Principal Debbie Dunwoody speak about leadership and how she feels leaders should empower people around them by helping and supporting others through being a positive role model and giving everyone the opportunity to have-a-go. Mrs Dunwoody reminded our students that being a leader is not always an easy job, but it can be very rewarding.

Congratulations to the following Year 6R students:

Art: Melody Hu & Jasmine Li

Assembly & Events: Preesha Navaneetharaja & Anthea Vais

Technology/Digital: Natasha Oakley, Audrey Rees & Cosette Tsjin

Lawrence House:  Selena Chen

Schofield House:  Lexi Bartnicki

Singleton House:  Angel Li

Taylor House:  Samantha Lovell

Library:  Charlotte Chong, Aaliyah D’Rozario & Ashley Wang

Music: Emily Foo & Alina Johnson

School Captains:  Natasha Cameron & Chloe Lau

Sustainability:  Yuxin Chen, Chloris Ding & Charlie Russo

Social Service:  Elsa Cao & Natalie Knowles

Additionally, a number of Year 1 to Year 6 students were elected by their peers to represent them at our Semester One Student Council meetings this year. Congratulations to the following students:

Year 1: Akira Rajakulendran

Year 2: Alessandra Ronzani

Year 3L: Matilda Collins

Year 3R: Cynthia Li

Year 4G: Joyce Zhang

Year 4Z: Hanna Lindsay

Year 5G: Minaaz Kaur

Year 5S: Nicole Zhang

We wish these students all the best for Semester One and look forward to their contributions in the many weeks to come.

Swim Carnivals

It has been a very busy time for our swimmers at Ormiston. Over the last two weeks, they have competed in two Swim Carnivals and once again, our results have been outstanding.

North Balwyn District Swim Carnival

On Monday 25^th March, 16 CGGS students went to Boroondara Sports Complex to compete at the North Balwyn District Swimming Carnival. Throughout the day, many students performed personal best efforts in different events and as a result, we achieved third place overall against sixteen other schools. We came in third position without boys. We were easily the best performed school. This is the third year in a row that Ormiston has come in third place. Also, for the second year, Camberwell Girls won the trophy for the best performed Girls’ School. This trophy is currently located at Junior School Reception. Twelve swimmers qualified for the next stage at the Booroondara Division Swim Carnival.

Year 3 & 4
Joyce Zhang
Sienna Jack
Cecilia Yang
Ruth Whelan
Ailey Poon
Lauren Tang

Year 5
Olivia Yang
Jasmine Xie
Genevieve Khaw

Year 6
Scarlett Sim
Chanel Ghostine
Charlotte Lim

Jasmine Li
Emily Wong
Chloe Lau
Anthea Vais

Boroondara Divisional Swim Carnival

This week, the Boroondara Divisional Swimming Carnival was conducted at the Monash Aquatic and Recreation Pool Centre with some outstanding results for our 12 swimmers. At this competition, Camberwell Girls had their best-ever results. Congratulations to Cecilia Yang of Year 3, Olivia Yang of Year 5 and Jasmine Li in Year 6. These three students individually qualified for the next stage in their respective events. Also, Anthea Vais, Jasmine Xie, Genevieve Khaw and Olivia Yang qualified for their swimming relay. These 7 students will compete at the Eastern Metropolitan Primary Swimming Championships. Congratulations to these students who competed at the Boroondara Division level.

Year 3 & 4
Joyce Zhang
Cecilia Yang
Ruth Whelan
Ailey Poon

Year 5
Olivia Yang
Jasmine Xie
Genevieve Khaw

Year 6
Charlotte Lim
Jasmine Li
Emily Wong
Chloe Lau
Anthea Vais

I wish all our Ormiston families a restful weekend.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School

Fivedation Program

One of the very special things about CGGS is the nurturing environment that enables all of the girls to feel known by staff and students across the Junior School. ‘Fivedation’ plays a big part in helping our students form relationships with others at school.

The ‘Fivedation’ program, Year Five and Foundation buddies, is a highlight for both the Foundation students and the Year 5s alike. There is definitely an excited buzz in the air on days when they will be getting together. So far, the students have met their new buddy/ies and have been participating in some sessions designed to help them get to know each other. They will continue to meet regularly throughout the year, enabling lovely cross-year level friendships to develop. All of the buddies get such a lot out of this initiative and it is lovely to see the program beginning again with another new year.

Selena Reedman
Foundation Class Teacher

Year 1 – Unit of Inquiry

This term Year 1 students have been exploring the question “How do events, stories and objects from the past help us to understand our present?” The students developed their understanding of milestones and how they are significant events in a person’s life. Students then identified milestones that have occurred in their lives and made timelines, sequencing their events in order.

Murrundindi visited the class and shared his experiences, explaining that knowledge can be passed from generation to generation through the sharing of stories and dance. He explained about traditional cooking techniques and showed the students photos of homes and clothing from the past.

The students also compared objects from the past and present, and considered how they have changed over time. Some of the objects they viewed included: telephones, books, toys, snow skis, torch and candle stick, kettles and sports clothing. Students observed and discussed changes in the use of materials and design, safety features and how the object was powered. They realised that although many objects are still used in our world today, there have been a number of changes and improvements in terms of ease of use and safety.

Angela Columbine
Year 1 Class Teacher

Year 2 – Literacy Learning

This term in Year 2 we have been reading the book ‘Flat Stanley’. The girls loved the adventures that Stanley experienced throughout the story. This led us down the fascinating track of letter writing. We investigated as a class and found the Australia Post Pen Pal Club.

Through this Pen Pal Club, we were paired with another primary school in Australia to send and receive letters. We were lucky enough to be partnered with Chapman Primary School in the ACT.

This week the students began to construct their pen pal letters. Our students were very excited to start writing and learning about their new friends. Pen pal letter writing is a fun, creative and rewarding way for our students to practice literacy and communication. The students will be learning a range of skills including how to structure a letter and address an envelope. By doing so, students will create very special and meaningful letters using interesting language and questions. We are excited to see the Year 2 students build connections with students from a different school, learn about what their life is like and make friendships through the art of letter writing.

“I’m very excited to write a letter to my pen pal” – Annabelle

“I’m looking forward to seeing what my pen pal did on the holidays. I also want to know what her favourite colour is and her favourite subject” – Yui

“I’m excited to meet a new friend and send him letters” – Faye

Mikaela Stanaway
Year 2 Class Teacher

Year 3 – STEAM (Living and Non-Living)

Year 3 students have begun to investigate the key features of living and non-living things through a series of hands-on sessions with Ms Penny Dumsday. We started our exploration in one of the Senior School laboratories by drawing, labelling and classifying a variety of living and non-living specimens. Students have also chosen to plant cuttings and seeds in soil or place them in cups of water. They have made predictions about the changes they think will occur over the coming weeks.

“I predict that when the beans grow, they will grow from the tip of the seed.” – Ivy 3R

“I predict that the seeds will grow into a small eucalyptus tree.” – Maddie 3L

“I predict that the plant will continue to grow more and more roots.” – Rava 3R

“I predict that after watering the seeds they will start to grow.” – Amellia 3L

“I predict that the bean seeds will grow into beans.” – Angela W 3R

“I predict the beans will grow beautiful leaves or a flower.” – Sabrina 3L

“I predict that the Devil’s Ivy will turn brown.” – Khusshnaaz 3R

Rebecca Leondidis & Liz Ruffles
Year 3 Class Teachers

Student Leadership Assembly Prayer

I wanted to finish off today’s Junior School CamNews with sharing Year 6C Class Teacher Katrina Cheong’s prayer that she wrote and read out to the school community at last week’s Semester One Student Leadership Assembly. This prayer clearly reflects our School Values here at Camberwell Girls Grammar School with a strong focus on participation. I hope everyone enjoys reading it.

Dear God,

We thank you today for the many opportunities that we have available at our school to develop our skillset. From Art Club to Sports clubs, Book Club and Chess Club, Music ensembles, Speech & Drama, Coding Club, Sustainability Squad and Student Council – there really is something for everyone. We are very grateful for these opportunities and for all the people who are essential to making these programs run so smoothly throughout the year.

As we commence in these positions of leadership and the responsibilities that accompany them, help us to uphold ourselves with integrity. This means to live out the values we say we stand for. Please give us courage to be strong role models not just in our words, but through our actions – especially when no one is watching and when it might be difficult to do in front of our peers. Encourage us to think creatively and support us when the situation calls for us to be flexible. Help us to know it’s OK to make mistakes along the way and encourage us to learn from these and try again. Please support us to do our personal best and to know that it is when we work together as a team, that we grow in strength and in what we are able to achieve.

In Jesus’ name we pray,

Amen

Katrina Cheong
Year 6C Class Teacher