Early Years Learning Centre Leader’s Report

Welcome to term 2 Early Years and what a busy and exciting term it will be. All classes have made a great start this week to their new inquiries. PLT 1 are working on the Garden and looking at ‘What creatures live in the garden?’ It has already been great fun to find some creepy crawlies outside. PLT 2 are looking at ‘How do we use our bodies?’ and there are some great life size body posters displayed in the classrooms. PLT 3 are looking at ‘What is a predator and what are its prey?’ and the iPad has given some excellent information and experiences so far. Friday next week will be our ANZAC ceremony and students are learning about this important day in their classrooms. Next week we will be making some poppy crafts and reading some texts which tell us more about ANZAC day. In week 3 the Early Years students will have a Wild Action Incursion at school and will have the opportunity to see and interact with some wonderful Australian wildlife. We have had some excellent wild action incursions in previous years and anticipate a fun day for all. Information notices will come home with students closer to the day. Caitriona Harkin ,Early Years Team Leader

Groups 5, 6, 7 & 13 EY PLT 2 have made a great start to their inquiry this week. Our big question is "What can our bodies do?". The students have been tracing around the outlines of their bodies and naming the different parts. We have been doing lots of dancing to songs such as Elmo slide and heads shoulders, knees

and toes, so we can explore how our bodies move. In Maths we are learning about shape. Students have been sorting, building, matching and creating books about shapes. In English

we have been learning about characters and setting and using ALDs to assist us during reading. In writing we have been focusing on typing, matching and making the new words in our stories and some students have been learning Kung Fu punctuation!

This will be a very busy and exciting term and we are looking forward to the term ahead!

Learning Centre Leaders’ Newsletter 15th April 2016

25th April: Anzac Day public holiday—no students @ school

Welcome back to Term 2! I hope that everyone had a very relaxing and enjoyable break. We have a very busy term ahead of us and all of our staff are looking forward to the teaching and learning opportunities we will have with our students. This term the Middle Years classes will be focusing on Geography for their Inquiry unit. Classes will be exploring where we live and our place in the world. Some classes will look at what they can see in their immediate surroundings whilst others will explore the country of Australia and the world we live in. This is a great opportunity for parents to share with their students where they grew up and how our world has evolved and changed over time. If you have a map at home it would be great for parents to show students where they live in Australia and compare this to other parts of the country. This term Group 20 will continue with their VU Swimming program every Tuesday. Students have been enjoying the opportunity to improve their swimming skills with Victoria University pre-service teachers at the Footscray campus. Groups 22 – 25 are also enjoying their Wednesday Adaptive Sports program at Victoria University where they meet new people and are involved in collaborative sporting activities.

During Week 5 the Middle Years students will be visiting the Life Education Van at school. This is a fun, engaging and interactive learning opportunity that provides practical life skills for students. Consent forms and information will be sent home in the next couple of weeks. Have an enjoyable Term 2!

Alison Balchan, Middle Years Team Leader

Multimedia Learning Centre

Middle Years Team Leader

Groups 10, 11, 18, & 19 The new term has started off well and we have picked up where we left off last term with our learning. We have began our new inquiry which is “What can I hear, see and do around the community?” We have focused this week on seeing and hearing and will move on to “doing” very soon. With our new inquiry we will be going on many field trips to expose all the students to different environments around our community. In English we have been reading the book “Spots first walk” where students have been focusing on the key words of “do,” “see” and “hear.” The book has been transferred into numeracy where we have focused on direction through Spot and his positioning. We are all looking

forward to an a term full of exciting

learning experiences and

excursions.

Daniel, Erin, Chloe, Tim, Kay, Amy, Dean, Krystal,

Marg.

Groups 22, 23, 24 & 25 Welcome back and we hope that parents and guardians enjoyed the students' Term 1 ePortfolios. But now we are very excited for Term 2. This term we shift our inquiry from History to Geography and explore Australia's beautiful landscape while answering, "What are some important sites in Australia?". Term 2 routinely proves to be an exciting and eventful term. It's a term in which

students really settle in their classes and work towards making noticeable progress toward achieving their planned learning goals. Please be reminded that near the end of this term, Mid-Year Reports are sent home and we will be supporting any feedback and responding to any questions or comments at that stage. Until then, buckle up and get ready for the 'ride'. We sure are!

Benita, Ritu, Anthony and Tyler

with Katie, Sharon, Belinda and Kylie

Groups 20, 39, 40, 41 & 42 It has been a great start to our new term. The students have come back very refreshed and keen to learn after the holidays. Our focus in the first week has been commencing our new unit on "What are the different places in our community". To get students thinking about this we have explored places within the school and did a scavenger hunt to find different locations using visual and text clues. To tie in with the unit we also read a fun book called "Splat the Cat and the Cool School Trip". In this book Splat is excited to go to the zoo to see penguins which follow him home. We hid penguins throughout the playground and students worked in teams to find them using clues that practiced describing locations and using positional language. In literacy we have also been practicing writing words connected to our unit. Finally we also wrote recounts describing what we did in the holidays. in maths we have been practicing adding using strategies such as number lines in addition to using sequential language to describe events such as first, then, after and finally. We are all looking forward to a fun term with lots of learning opportunities.

Anna, Carmen, Kerstin, Vanitha, Sonja, Keryn, Andrew, Dorothy, Derek, Mel, Pamela and Emily

Bethany Road Campus It was fantastic to see students back at school this week, many with their new haircuts! Everyone looked very swish. The garden beds have flourished over the holiday period and the students’ produce is really taking off. Students in BRC1 and BRC3 have really enjoyed coming back to school to see that their hard work in the garden had paid off. This term the Year 10’s will be travel training every Friday. The Year 8 and 9 students will be participating in an ANZAC Day ceremony with the Grange on Friday the 22nd. Throughout terms 2 and 3 we will be introducing lunchtime programs for students. There will be AFL Supercoach on Thursday, Art and Craft on Friday’s, Minecraft on Tuesday’s and karaoke on Wednesday’s. Students are more than welcome to come along to any of these activities. Breakfast club will also be back on in Term 2 on Thursday mornings 8:30 – 9am. Term 2 at BRC is going to be busy. Some key dates for the diary include:

April 26th Metro safety talk for all students at 9:30am May 5th Year 10’s Keys please program May 9th School photos at BRC May 12th CPR training for all students June 16th Year 10 Parent info evening June 17th School reports sent home June 20-24th Parent Teacher Interview week

Please keep an eye out for our Term 2 Parent Calendar, which students will be bringing home at the start of week 2. Danielle Barclay Acting BRC Campus Leader

News from Aisling…

Welcome to term 2! The Year 8 and 9 students at BRC have settled back very well. The term ahead is to be a very productive one. The students are continuing with the iEarn “Water is Life Project”. This week they travelled to the Werribee Water Treatment Plant to learn about the importance of this facility. A guest speaker from Melbourne University is coming to speak to the students about access to clean water in our local area. Rob King the co-ordinator of the project is visiting in week 4.

Students will present their learning to Rob and get feedback in order to ensure the project is completed for Action Day (week 11 of this term). The students will continue to blog about their learning on the wiki space. They are collaborating with students in America, Taiwan and Uganda. The students are really enjoying giving and receiving feedback on the projects. The maths the focus for this term is Financial Mathematics. Students will engage in authentic real life experiences to develop their awareness of money.

Passion Projects ran on Monday. Students will continue with the Passion Project they chose in term 1. The Kitchen Garden Program is up and running. Students grew salad ingredients at the end of term 1. They are going to make Chicken Caesar salad next week with the fresh produce. Yum! Aisling O’Hora

Later Years Warringa Campus Welcome back to Term 2 everyone! We all hope you had a nice and relaxing school holidays. The students in Later Years have jumped straight back into working extremely hard. A section of the students have begun to run the school canteen program on a Thursday. This week the students became familiar with the program and how it will run, doing a test run in the Later Years section with the intention of opening the canteen to the whole school next week. The students have also begun their new round of elective programs. The classes on offer are Sport/Fitness, Science, Jewellery Making and Cooking. Students have self-selected which elective they want to participate in and we look forward to the students engaging with different teachers and groups of students during these classes. Our Inquiry for this term is focused around Geography. The big question is ‘What is in our community?’ The students will be exploring our local school community, looking to identify and explore different locations, identifying the expectations of these places, who they will find there, what they could do there and for some students, looking at creating maps and giving directions on how to get there. We are aiming to build students’ skills within the community and their independence in participating in places beyond the school gate. We look forward to an extremely busy term! Sean, Katie, Steph, Manny, Dean, Daniel, Carolyn, Bronwyn and Zoe

Cayleys Road Campus Welcome back to term 2 everyone. It has been great to hear about all the exciting things students and staff got up to over the holidays. This term becomes a busy time for students and parents in Year 12 who will be making funding applications, visiting services and aiming to make a decision about where to next year by the end of term. Thank you to those parents who are returning their application forms. This term we are having a student run canteen on Wednesdays. Please encourage your child to use this opportunity to make an order - perhaps write their order or their name, and count out the money. If you child is off campus Monday and Tuesday, get them to text or email their order through. These are all excellent hands on learning opportunity for literacy and numeracy. As we are now moving into the wetter months, it would be helpful if your child has a spare pair of work shoes or rubber boots if they are in the "chickens " or horticulture program. These can be kept in their locker. Also we do use aprons in crafts or mosaics but if you prefer your child to cover their clothes further, perhaps send in an old shirt. Many thanks. Monica and the team at Cayleys......

VCAL News… Welcome back to Term 2. This term brings an exciting array of work experience academic and personal development opportunities for out VCAL students. As we come into the winter months it's important that students are looking after their health, eating well, getting enough sleep and coming to school wearing appropriate clothing for the cooler weather. Students are aware they need to maintain their attendance to achieve the hours required in all of their VCAL subjects: 80% attendance is required in all VET courses. Students, Parents and Carers are reminded to contact staff in the event of a student being absent. Students are also reminded they are to board and exit the train from their identified stations. We are looking forward to a busy and productive Term.

Important Dates Careers:

May 2nd Year 12 Parent Tour of Post School Options.

this tour is with Nancy.

May 16th Year 12 Interact Tour with Nancy and Carol.

Personal Development SPORTS:

May 18th Year 12 Surfing 1 day those students who

completed the swimming program in Term 1

May 19th All students Sailing.

April 19th Year 11 Swimming program for 4 weeks.

Safety first for our VCAL city bikers

Four of our students are

having the opportunity to

complete a Certificate 3 in

Horticultural. This is a first for our

school

Year 12s getting serious about

their Post School Options

Students presented their numeracy

findings to the class. Becoming confident

in speaking to a group will assist our students when they

are required to participate in interviews.

Active listening at a VET class.

WARRINGA PARK SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR

Tuesday 19th April —Friday 22nd April

Family and friends welcome

9am —3pm

In room 37

Payment for books

cash, cheque (payable to Warringa park) or credit card

Compass Portal for Parents Warringa Park now uses Compass as our Parent Portal / Communication system Using Compass allows you to access up-to-date and meaningful information about our school and your child’s progress. Initially Compass will be used for

Monitor your child’s attendance, and enter approval for absence or lateness Communicate with your child’s teachers, and update your family contact details View your child’s timetable and the school calendar Download and view your child’s progress and semester reports Update your Mobile Number and Email address to ensure that the school can contact you. SMS alerts for School Closures / Emergency Situations

If you received your username / password during the meet the teacher night or have received it via post, there is nothing more you need to do. Simply log in and you will be right to go. If you have not received this information and would like to log in, please go to http://helpdesk.warringapark.vic.edu.au/open.php and select Parent Compass Request Form. Due to privacy concerns we will only contact you via the email address / phone number you have on file. If you need to change this, please contact reception directly. If you have any questions, feel free to contact the school and ask for IT.

Warringa updates! Dates for the diary: Term 2: 11th April—24th June 2016 22nd April: Anzac Day Ceremony 25th April: Anzac Day public holiday 2nd May: SRC Mother’s Day event 9th May: School Photos Bethany Road Campus 9th May: School Photos Cayleys Road Campus 11th May: School Photos Warringa Park School 13th May: Jump Rope for Heart 16th May: Education week, School Council 23rd May: Dental Program 27th May: Curriculum Day: No students at school 13th June: Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday 17th June: Reports sent home 24th June: Whole School Assembly & 2:30pm early dismissal

School Tour Dates:

Prep/Early Years 21st April, 26th May, 21st July, 25th August, 15th September, 20th October, 17th November

Middle Years 19th May, 2nd June, 28th July, 1st September, 27th October, 24th November