Nerae Preece Principal

From the Principal’s Seat

I can imagine, like me, you are anticipating the announcements on Sunday that help us understand how we are going to move from stage 4 restrictions. If there is one thing that I have discovered over the past 6 months, it’s that a school is a lonely place without its learners and the community. I am hoping that we can have all of your amazing children back onsite next term. Of course we will keep you informed as soon as we know more.

On another note, it is 3 way interview time over the next 2 weeks of term. This is a great opportunity for your family to reflect on all of the learning that has been happening over the past two terms. As you may be aware there has been a GoogleForm (click here to start the form) created to start the journey of reflection. We are really keen to see what your observations have been around your child’s learning. Our 3 way interviews will be a chance to share successes and identify areas for improvement, at the end of this, your child will have some goals to work on for term 4. Have you booked a time on Sentral yet? They close next Friday 11th September by the end of the day. Click here to book an appointment.

There are going to be some questions that you might have, so I am using this space here to answer a few of the questions we have had so far…

Will my child repeat this year?

It has been made very clear by DET that students will be moving onto their next sequential year. These days it is pretty rare that students get “kept down”, even early childhood settings are advised to move students along.

We know from research that repeating a year is not the most effective way to support a child in their learning. It often pulls the student away from their peer group (having friends and feeling connected is an important factor in our school experience). It affects the child’s self-esteem as a learner, as they know they have had to repeat a year (self-esteem and our perception of ourselves is another important factor that affects our learning).

So our plan is not to have any child repeat, they will move forward with their peers. To help any child that is 12 months behind in English and/or maths, we will be using Individual Education Plans (IEP’s) to set goals and support the child with catching up in these areas. We will also carefully select students for intervention programs such as Reading to Read, Quicksmart, Minilit and Multilit.

How are you going to catch up on everything my child was supposed to learn this year?

Admittedly our second term this year we spent time learning how to work in the remote space with you. We did revise a lot of concepts that our students had worked on earlier in the year. Interestingly term 2 helped us uncover how your child was growing in the learning capabilities. In third term the planned learning continued with momentum, and the plan is to continue this in term 4. At the end of every term we audit the curriculum that was covered in that term and look to what needs to be covered in the next term. These good practices will continue.

We will also be completing our benchmarking assessments early in term 4 to provide an additional form of data to help us determine whether we are on track with our judgements for our students. This will also help us feed information onto the teachers that work with your child next year, so they know exactly where to help your child.

What about all of the rites of passage that my child has missed this year?

I completely understand how you feel… With a grade 6 student that had grand plans to lead within the school, and the uncertainty of seeing their friends that are moving onto different high schools, and a grade 2 student that will miss out on the grade 2 sleepover, there has been a bit of disappointment.

We are going to create some new traditions and modify some old ones. Sure, we may not have the annual Big Day Out at Luna Park this year, but I am pretty sure our Grade 6 students might be creative in suggesting ideas that will help them celebrate. Graduation? I am sure we will capture a moment in time for our kids to help them remember their time in Primary School, and we will work out a way that parents can virtually witness it. The Leavers assembly may not have a guard of honour made by our grade 5 students, but I am sure we can work out a way.

We haven’t forgotten how special these moments are for our kids and we will do our best to create a special experience. Their experience.

I do know one thing. Geez I’m glad we got our camps in for term 1!

As we move into this time of reflection, take the time to think about all of the amazing ways you have adapted and grown as a family through this pandemic. Sure things may not be perfect, but I am sure you have made things work for your family. I am so grateful to all of you, for being patient, showing care and support as we navigated new learning spaces and for being an important part of our community.Thank you

Nerae Preece

Principal

3 Way interview form

Hello Badger Creek Families,

Just letting everyone know 3 way interviews can now be scheduled on Sentral.

Please find the link below for the Sentral booking:

https://sentral.badgerps.vic.edu.au/interviews/bookings/12

Please also find a link below in regards to the 3 way interview form to also be filled out.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Ho-WiVgdyliFkbYi0GfpayjH-YjLzu-6eUSMLkByM9A/edit

These interviews will all be scheduled via Webex in your teachers’ Webex room (link is on the blog pages) unless otherwise organized with your teacher.

If you do have any issues with booking an interview please do not hesitate to contact the office.

Regards,

BCPS.

3D printing challenge

OPTIONAL STEAM CHALLENGE

Hello Grade 3-6’s. We are having an optional STEAM challenge to grow your brain!

Your challenge is to use tinkercad.com to design something to be 3D printed.

SPECS:

Your item must be equivalent to 5cm x 5cm x 5cm or smaller. (3D filament is expensive)
You must design it yourself (pre-prepared designs on the internet do not grow your brain!)
We can print in black or white plastic

Step 1: Dream – what would you like to 3D print? Plan it, draw it, perhaps make it out of playdough to work out your measurements. If you need some ideas this website has 150 ideas to 3D print.

http://www.edutechpost.com/cool-3d-printing-ideas-150-useful-things-to-3d-print/

For extra inspiration watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFvyoa2RIRQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gBP2BbalNM

Step 2: Learn how to use Tinkercad. This is challenging. Remember the learning pit…

Go to https://www.tinkercad.com/learn/designs

To learn the program you may join my class – please send me an email and I will add you to the class and give you the code.

Edwina.whiteside@education.vic.gov.au

You can also start your own account with your parents or guardian’s permission. (This means you will need to register your own information)

If you have any questions you can visit Mrs Whiteside’s webex room on Fridays 1.30 – 2.30 and we will explore your questions together. https://eduvic.webex.com/meet/whiteside.edwina.e

Step 3: Design something.

Step 4: Send your design to Mrs Whiteside by email Edwina.whiteside@education.vic.gov.au and it will be printed for you and put on display in the office.

MUSIC NEWS

Greetings to our Wonderful School Community,

We have been so busy in music this week. Our Junior School have been making soundscapes to go with the Michael Rosen story, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. Students were asked to create sounds for each of the events that the family had to go through to find the bear. I was so amazed by the innovative ideas the students came up with to make their sounds. We had a slinky to make the sound of grass, a glue stuck for mud, pebbles for a river and a piano for a forest! Brilliant! Well done Junior School. You can see a couple of soundscapes here.

Have a great week and enjoy the sunshine,

Ms Legg

Music Teacher

Annabelle Kookaburra Snake

We’re Going On a Bear Hunt: Soundscape by Vedra

Ode To Joy: Paige

THIS WEEK IN P.E

Hi Badger Creek Community

This week we in Physical Education, our junior students have started focusing and learning striking skills. Striking skills, including the two handed side arm strike and forehand strike, are skills needed in preparation for participation into sports and activities including Baseball, softball, cricket and tennis.

Students enjoyed participating in these skills and being creative in finding and producing their own equipment to participate in this week’s sessions.

Our senior students have started to focus on a Net and Wall sports unit. Net/Wall Games are activities in which players send an object towards a court or target area that an opponent is defending. The aim is to cause the object to land in the target area while making it difficult for the opponent to return the object.

Students were involved in modified activities and will continue to be exposed to different Net/wall sports including Volleyball, Badminton and tennis in preparation when we expand on this unit in term 4.

National HEALTH AND PE DAY

This week on Wednesday, it was National Health & Physical Education Day. The theme of HPE day in 2020 is Good for Children, Good for Schools and Good for Communities.

Let’s take this opportunity to be physically active in as many different ways as possible! Get outside and get involved in a range of different physical activities and games.

Did you know…..

Australian school children rank among the worst in the world when it comes to their physical activity levels.

8 in 10 children and young people are not active enough for good heart health.

That’s why National Health and Physical Education (HPE) Day has been designed to raise awareness of, and advocate for, a greater focus of HPE in our schools. All children should be aiming to be physically active for 60 minutes every day!

‘For Children and Young People (5 to 17 years), being physically active every day can have:

Social benefits like helping to develop cooperation and teamwork skills.
Emotional and intellectual benefits such as help with management of anxiety and stress and improved concentration.
Health benefits such as improved physical fitness, including coordination and movement skills and strong muscles and bones.’
‘Regular physical activity is a good way to help prevent or manage mild anxiety and depression. Keeping active can help you stay physically fit and mentally healthy

For more information, Click the link below Health and PE day. www.hpeday.com.au

THIS WEEK IN ART

Hello Badger Creek Community,

This week in art students have been exploring the artist Henri Matisse. In his later years while confined to his bed and wheelchair, he drew on the walls with his pencil attached to a long stick. As a warm-up activity our students explored Matisse’s creative methods and tried drawing from some unusual positions. They tried lying on their backs and drawing above their heads. They attached their pencils to a long stick, and drew from a chair onto paper on the floor. Lots of fun was had with some interesting results!

Our Juniors recreated Matisse’s artwork The Goldfish, focusing on how to use an ellipse to make a shape (two dimensional) into a form (three dimensional) to create their fish bowl. They used bright colours in their artwork to replicate Matisse’s love for bright, contrasting colours.

Our Seniors explored the work of Matisse during his Cut-Out period. They created vivid and expressive compositions by cutting out a range of organic and geometric shapes from coloured paper before overlapping and cropping them off their page. They used complimentary colours to make some shapes pop and standout from one another.

Have a look through the student gallery to see some of their fantastic artworks! Have a great week everyone.

Vanessa Imberger

Art Teacher

Around the Year Levels

IN PREP THIS WEEK

This week in Maths we had great FUN in our WebEx sessions. We were practising our subistising skills.

The Preps played BINGO with teen numbers. They had to use their knowledge of tens frames and counting on.

We had so many WINNERS!!!

IN GRADE 1 / 2 THIS WEEK

This week we have been reflecting on ourselves as learners. We have looked back at this terms work to choose two areas of our learning that we are proud of and one learning goal to work on next term. We are looking forward to sharing our students strengths and goals with parents during three-way interviews in week eight and nine. Speaking of which, have you booked a time yet?

In Maths, we have been exploring discussing chance and probability. What is the likelihood of Melbourne hosting the AFL grand final? Sadly, it’s impossible! However, it is likely to return to the MCG next year.

We are off to Africa next week, gathering information about Kenya to add to our passports. I wonder what animals we will see there?

On Wednesday we celebrated Indigenous Literacy day where we shared some dreamtime stories and wrote reflections about them. Tiddlelick the Frog was very popular. Here are some lovely work samples from Pearl and Marlee.

IN GRADE 3 / 4 THIS WEEK

This week in 3/4 we have been continuing our work on fractions in Numeracy and we having been working on Writer’s voice in Literacy. This week in Inquiry students have been continuing their research on a chosen African country. Awesome work 3/4s!

Kind regards,

The 3/4 Team

IN GRADE 5 / 6 THIS WEEK

It’s been a big week in 5/6, with students digging into text features found in non-fiction texts, such as maps, graphs, captions and labelled diagrams. By analysing how author’s use text features to convey information in a range of ways, our students have been formulating a plan to effectively incorporate these into their Inquiry projects. Spelling looked at some rules relating to using single or double consonants, particularly when adding suffixes. Our students assessed the strengths and weaknesses of various modes of presentation in writing sessions, to allow them to decide how to present their Inquiry project. Like the rest of the school, our week in maths kicked off with the numeracy CAT, which allowed students to demonstrate their broad thinking around numbers. This has then fed into our new topic exploring decimal number place value. We’re so proud of the persistence we’re seeing from our 5/6 students, as they maintain a positive approach to their emote learning. Keep it up, kids!

Sean’s garden philosophies

The Gardener’s Footsteps

“The best fertilizer is the gardener’s footsteps”. I love this oft quoted Chinese proverb. I use it when I feel the need to justify the countless hours I spend pottering around in the garden when I should be doing other things like washing the dishes or vacuuming.

My grandmother was a keen gardener, and she liked to use the proverb “a stitch in time saves nine”. And yes, she also loved to sew. My grandfather liked to say “nip it in the bud”, and “one year’s seeds, seven years weeds”. He was an amazing gardener and lived in an era when iceberg lettuce was all the rage. My father would often say “prevention is better than cure”, and although he said it to deter my sisters and I from playing in the rain, I think it is equally relevant in a gardening sense.

I am a big fan of proverbs that inspire immediate action, and immediate action is often required in the garden to prevent things from getting out of hand. Like the arrival of a few aphids, which you know will soon blow out to thousands, and result in your plants literally having the life sucked out of them. Or a few spots of rust, or signs of a fungal disease which could very quickly take over those beautiful tomato vines you’ve been lovingly tending to.

Which brings me back to the Chinese proverb; “the best fertilizer is the gardener’s footsteps”. The more time we spend in the garden – pottering and poking around, inspecting the soil and plants, and closely observing everything that’s going on – the more we become attuned to the needs of the plants, and the better we become at tending to those needs. Over time you will develop a keen eye and astute observation skills, and when these qualities are coupled with the hard facts of gardening knowledge and know-how, a cornucopia of delicious and nutritious food is sure to ensue.

To ensure that all of these thoughts and observations, these discoveries, this knowledge and this wisdom doesn’t get lost with time, try recording it all in a garden diary. With so much going on in the garden, I find it difficult to remember what happens from season to season. Like the type of lettuce that I have had the most success with, which variety of snow-pea provided the best yield, how early in the season I can sow my basil and tomato seeds, and when the first signs of downy mildew appeared on the zucchini plants. Recording the timing of flowering and fruit set, when seeds germinated most readily, or when lime or fertilizer or compost was added to the soil. When aphids first appeared, or when the last bean, zucchini or tomato was picked. Or when certain plants burst into life, or came to the end of their time in the garden with the change of the seasons. All this is incredibly valuable information and will go a long way to making you a better gardener.

There are so many reasons to hang out in the garden, and many of them will benefit you as much as the garden itself. Enjoy the magic!

Celebration Section

Here at Badger Creek we have so many amazing and talented students.

Even during this difficult time we have seen so many creative activities come to life.

We have decided these creations are far to good not to sure with the community.

If you would like to upload your special creations please make sure you do so on the remote learning blog in the ‘Share Your Celebrations!’ section.

SCHOOL NEWS

Just letting you know issue 6 of the scholastic book club is now available.

Please see link below for all details:

https://www.scholastic.com.au/media/5667/bc-620.pdf

School uniform orders:

Please find below the link for the school uniform orders.

http://www.aplusschoolwear.com.au/SearchResult.aspx?Labels=BADGER%20CREEK

All orders are to be completed through the website.