At the end of last year, our Year 3 students presented the results of their Unit of Inquiry project to our Principal Mrs Dunwoody and myself. The Year 3 project the students completed was for a yarning circle to be built in the middle of our Ormiston playground. A yarning circle is an important process that our Indigenous people use to learn more about each other. The circle is an excellent way to respect each other and share knowledge while building caring and trusting relationships between people from different cultural backgrounds.
Additionally, an important feature of a yarning circle is that all people are encouraged to actively listen to other’s views and everyone within the circle is considered equal, without a hierarchy. Put simply, these circles can be a safe place for all to speak without judgement. Over the coming weeks in Term 3, Ormiston will begin to learn more about a yarning circle, how it works and how we can use it at school.
Finally, I would like to thank last year’s Year 3 Class Teacher Liz Warren and her students for putting together such a comprehensive yarning circle plan. I also would like to thank our Head Gardener, Martin Conlon for building the yarning circle guided by the Year 3 plan. Ormiston is very excited and proud of this new feature in our playground and look forward to our school community using it for many years to come.
Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School
This term, Year 1 students are developing their knowledge of how objects move and change as part of their STEAM and Inquiry unit. Ms. Dumsday discussed the properties of various materials with the children and explored different terms that can be used to describe different materials, such as malleable, hard, flexible, sharp and transparent.
The students were challenged to create a three-dimensional sculpture out of a range of materials. As they explored, they discussed the different properties of the materials they were using and how they were able to change some properties such as shape, colour and size. They used pliers to bend wire and different tools to manipulate and change a variety of materials.
Some students were keen to share their thoughts:
Michelle – I can make a lollipop by twisting the tissue paper.
Clare – I made a butterfly and rainbow. I used playdough and rolled it.
Lyra – I used plasticine and shaped It into a sphere. I enjoyed cutting the straws.
Sarika – I created a wind spinner. I used plasticine and wire and for decorations, buttons and beads. I enjoyed making it.
Audrey – I made two birthday cakes connected to each other. I used straws at the ends and pipe cleaners were like the flame. The yellow and blue plasticine were the cake.
Lilian – I made a person house, and I joined playdough, wire and piper cleaners. I used pliers to bend the wire.
Harriet – I made a monster and used the hard playdough for the eyes and shield. I also used the pipe cleaners to make a ribbon and its teeth. I also made a candy squishie out of playdough and cellophane. I thought it was very good.
Angela Columbine
Year 1 Classroom Teacher
Penny Dumsday
STEAM Teacher
At the end of last term, Year 2 students concluded their reading and inquiry unit on Space. The students have been learning about the impact of the Sun, Moon and stars on Earth and the conditions and characteristics of Earth that enable humans live on it. Students participated in practical STEAM lessons with Penny Dumsday to further consolidate their understanding of how the Earth rotates and the impact of the Sun on our planet.
Later in the term, through Single Paragraph Outlines (SPOs), students learnt about the different planets in our solar system and took notes as supporting details to understand the key characteristics. This helped them form knowledge of what to include in their Solar System Models. Through interdisciplinary skills (painting and mixing colours), students over the last two weeks of Term 2, each created a model of our Solar System. Students used recycled paper box lids, skewers and toothpicks, paper clay and Styrofoam balls to create their replicas.
Once they had completed their planets, the students learnt about Haiku poems and how to create them. They then used their SPOs to assist them in creating Haikus about planets in our Solar System. The students stuck these on the side of their Solar System models, completing an incredible unit where they were engaged and enthusiastic about their learning and achievements.
Peter Sartori
Year 2 Classroom Teacher
Student voice and agency in learning are a core part of our programs at Ormiston. The Kew Future Leaders Speech Competition, offered to Year 6 students in Term 2, was an authentic opportunity for student voice. Ten passionate Year 6 students made the decision to participate in the competition, which was organised and adjudicated by Jess Wilson MP, Member for Kew. The competition required students to prepare and present a 3-minute speech to express their vision for the future. Students were supported by Year 6 teacher, Mrs Margaret Hall, to develop their speeches by focussing on an issue, identifying its cause, how it could be resolved and how their actions would be in line with the values of the local community.
Congratulations to all our Year 6 participants: Miah, Ada, Kaylee, Ivy, Lucy, Gloria, Stephanie, Angel and Nellie. Each of these students presented well-researched speeches and spoke eloquently and passionately about their chosen issue and action plan. Some examples of issues students spoke about included, getting teenagers active and away from screens by making local playgrounds more attractive and appropriate to teenagers, designing accessible programs to encourage solar panel use, sustainable resourcing programs for the sharing of food and educational resources.
We are incredibly proud of all participants and are excited for our winner, Kaylee and runners up Gloria and Stephanie. Kaylee has been invited to represent CGGS at the final stage of the interschool competition at Victoria’s Parliament House at the end of this term.
Emma Hinchliffe
Deputy Head of Junior School
Last term Year 3 explored how understanding the importance of Country can enrich our lives as Australians. To conclude our unit of learning, we visited Currawong Bush Park. On arrival, we read our Acknowledgement of Country and listened to the sounds of nature around us.
We followed the Big Busy Bushland track and learnt about the wildlife that makes up this area with a particular focus on the interrelationships between plants, people and animals. We learnt about how the Wurundjeri people relied on the bush for survival, and the important role the Red Stringybark tree played for them. This tree was used by Indigenous people to line their shelters, as well as to make string for baskets, bags and fishing nets. During our walk we were lucky to see a mob of Marram (kangaroos) and lots of birds. We could hear Waa, the crow, and Gurrng-Gurrng, the kookaburra, calling from the treetops.
After our walk, we sat in a Yarning Circle and re-read ‘Finding our Heart’ by Thomas Mayor. We focused on the final page of the book which asks, ‘Will you help find the heart of the nation?’. After sharing different ideas about how we can celebrate and support First Nation’s culture, each Year 3 student completed a pledge. Their pledges explained how they will help to find the heart of the nation.
I commit to helping find the heart of our nation by …
Learning more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island language.
Crystal
Acknowledging the traditional owners.
Alina
Sharing language.
Sia
Learning more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Lena
Taking care of nature.
Alex
Experiencing traditional Aboriginal activities.
Angela
Sharing Aboriginal stories.
Caroline
Always respecting Aboriginal people and helping them when they need help.
Charlotte
Learning Woiwurrung language and sharing the words with others.
Theia
Liz Warren
Year 3 Classroom Teacher
