Newsletter 18 June

From the Principal

It takes a village to raise a child … and what a wonderful village we have!

I’m reminded of this quote, said to come from the Nigerian Igbo culture as I reflect on all the different things going on in our school and the many different groups and organisations that support our students in their learning.

The first thing I would like to share with you is that we’ve been building an understanding of culture and diversity one afternoon a week in Prep with a number of parents and community members coming in and sharing a story in their native language. The children have been enthralled to listen to the language, to connect with the emotion of the stories and to consider the culture from which the stories come. Come up to the prep room and see the developing display just outside the classroom door.

We have also had Family Planning in our school this week supporting student learning with the growing up program. Facilitated by an experienced team of educators, the program explores relationships, sexuality and protective behaviours at an age appropriate, developmentally sequential level. Growing Up educators encourage children to talk with their families and other trusted adults – we can’t thank Family Planning enough for their ongoing help and support.

PaKT (Parents and Kids Together) is a fun program for children aged 6-12 years and their parents/carers, delivered over 7 sessions, running again this term. Participants work together at school to create something special together, mainly from recycled materials. The group is facilitated to emphasise individual and family strengths and to promote strong relationships as they set goals, plan, make and reflect on their projects in a way that emphasises connection. Our kids LOVE PaKT and it’s so good to see so many families make the time.

And there’s still more - over the last couple of weeks, students have participated in AFL sessions as part of the Sporting Schools Program. Activities are adapted to suit student ability and are coach delivered at Springfield in an attempt to introduce children to AFL – one of the biggest sports in the country! The weather hasn’t been particularly kind for these sessions; students have been outside in the cold and unfortunately on the netball court because of the really wet oval – but still the participation has been excellent! Sporting Schools is a wonderful opportunity to supplement our PE program, and we intend on making more use of this opportunity in the future with other sports.

And we couldn’t do lunches without the help of the School Food Matters team and Nietta and Kate. These are the people that ensure our food gets to us on time so Kate and her helpers can have lunch prepared and ready to go. Lunches have been an incredible success in our school. Not only are children getting something warm and nice for lunch, they’re learning about healthy eating and enjoying being a part of a very positive school experience. It’s great to see so many students eating our school lunches. You probably wouldn’t be surprised to know that a lot of our staff eat it too!

There is more I could mention, OT’s that come in and support students, parents and community members that take small groups at lunch time and for Friday Fun, the support we receive for children to participate in Swimming and Water Safety, Winter Sports … it could take forever!

So, what about you? What do you have to contribute to your child’s school?

Tomorrow afternoon, Thursday, June 19, you are invited to join us in the Move Well Eat Well room from 3-3:30pm for coffee and a biscuit. We’re interested in hearing your views on the school, what happens in it and how you think we could improve. An outcome of tomorrow's meeting will hopefully be that we put our School Association back together – a formal committee that works with the principal to make your child’s learning experience is the best it can be. Please come along, coffee and a biscuit available, childcare provided 😊.

Nadine Davey

Principal

Visiting Author

On Tuesday June 17, we were lucky to be joined by former Springfield Gardens Primary School Teacher and now author, Brooke Toppin. Brooke recently published her first book, “Allan Finds His Wings”, a story about perseverance, overcoming challenges and the power of friendship. Allan, a Cockatiel, is unable to fly, until a chance encounter with a friendly pilot, sees him with an opportunity to realise his dream.

We invited Brooke in to read her story with our Kinder, Prep, 1/2s and even some students who Mrs Toppin taught previously! After we listened to the story, we asked some questions about the book and how she came to write it. We really enjoyed the opportunity to meet the author, especially one with such a great connection to Springfield.

PE

In PE students in Kinder – Year 2 have been participating in activities that focus on gross motor skills such as throwing, catching and hopping. These activities have included obstacle courses and using different kinds of balls and other objects to throw and catch. Students in years 3-6 have participated in basketball activities as well as games that work on teamwork.

Art

This term there has been a focus on experimenting with materials, and using pastels, watercolours and paints in different ways.

The 1/2 classes created images that were inspired by gum leaves, using layers of watercolour. They started by painting a base layer in watercolours, then once dry, drew on the shape of the leaves. They then painted a second layer of watercolours around the leaves, meaning that their base layer was only visible inside the leaves.

The 5/6s also made artworks showing leaves. However, they needed to make two or three paintings that would be viewed together. The 5/6s also backed their work, choosing the order in which their works would be displayed.

This term the 4/5s have been experimenting with mixed media. They have created images of lava lamps, using oil pastels to colour in the lamp and the background, then using liquid watercolours to fill in the lava part of the lamp. They did this by applying water to the area, then dripping the watercolours onto the wet paper, and letting them mix into each other.

Artwork from each class is currently displayed in the corridors around the Art Room.

French

In French we have been learning new vocabulary around common clothing items. We had a lot of fun playing a dress up game to practice these words. We also used our creativity to become fashion designers. We chose clothing items to create a collaged outfit for ourselves. Once we coloured in our items, we added words which combined our knowledge of French colour and clothing vocabulary. We learned how in French the adjectives come after the noun which is very different to the English language.