Programs
Academic Extension Program (AEP) Years 1 – 6
At Aubin Grove Primary School, identified academically talented students in Years 1 – 6 are offered the opportunity to participate in challenging courses to further extend their learning. The explicit teaching of Creative and Critical Thinking Skills across the school ensures our students are well equipped to tackle their daily lessons and any open-ended tasks put to them.
The courses target many different learning areas such as Literacy, Numeracy, Science, Humanities and Social Sciences and Art.
Examples of these courses are:
Thinking Skills Course – Brainstrain
Do you like to stretch your brain? Do you want to have fun with your thinking? Luckily ALL AEP students will have this opportunity during Term 2. You will be taught Creative & Critical Thinking Skills and be given lots of opportunities to put them into practice. Independently, in pairs and in small groups, you will tackle open ended problems utilising these thinking skills. The course will culminate in a Challenge Day where teams of students will undertake a Tournament of Minds problem. This course will assist with the selection of the school’s Tournament of Minds teams.
Unsolved Mysteries – (Reading)
Do you love getting your teeth into a good mystery? Do you love reading? If you do then this is the course for you as it allows you to investigate both Fiction and Real Life Mysteries utilising a Detective Process where you collect data from various sources, discuss the reliability of the source, form a hypothesis on the mystery and then present this to your peers. You will work independently at times, and also in pairs and as part of a small group.
Write a Book in a Day – (Writing)
Are you up for a challenge? Do you like writing stories? Learn some great skills to be a successful writer and then take on an amazing challenge – To write a Book in a Day!! After a series of sessions to fine tune your writing skills you will form teams and on a set date you will be given some set requirements eg a character or a setting and then you get writing, illustrating, binding and publishing. It will be a long day – 8 am to 6pm with a celebratory tea afterwards to launch each team’s book.
Math Olympiad Competition – (Maths)
Students are taught key strategies needed to solve mathematical problems. They pull questions apart as a group and determine what process is needed and then what strategy to apply. They work through a series of problems first as a group, then in pairs and finally, independently. As part of the course students participate in the Maths Olympiad competition that requires them to solve, throughout Terms 2 & 3, a number of math problems. (5 different times)
Aubin Grove Environmental Energisers – (Science/S&E)
Are you concerned about global warming? Do you want to make a real difference? With other like-minded students develop an awareness program to educate the school community and implement good practice in our school. Work in partnership with a climate change scientist to learn about this.
NATA Young Scientists Award – (Science)
Do you love science? Do you like working with others in a team? Join the Aubin Grove Primary team to conduct an investigation of your team’s choice. You’ll be required to work together to complete the investigation and enter it into the NATA Young Scientists Award.
The Great Ocean Rescue – (Science/S&E)
The Great Ocean Rescue is a cooperative learning adventure for teams of four. You will complete four Rescue Missions (The Fishin’ Mission; The Case of the Pollution Pirates; Grief on the Reef; and the Leaky Bottom Mission ) in different trouble spots in the oceans. The missions are viewed on a computer where clues describing the trouble spot are given then together you have to work out the location of the problem. Next your team has to conduct tests, gather and analyse new information to complete the mission successfully.
Picture This- (English – Reading & Viewing)
The course lets you explore the works of Gary Crew and Steven Woolman in their picture storybooks “The Watertower”, “Caleb” and “Tagged”. All these books are challenging as their narrative is mysterious and characters intriguing. By interpreting both the visual and printed text you will engage in exciting and active investigations of the books. You will complete tasks as individuals, pairs and as groups to unravel the mysteries and meanings of the illustrations and text.
Aubin Grove BYOD 1:1 Program
BYOD iPad Program Years 4 to 6 Students
At Aubin Grove PS, we aim to provide an outstanding educational environment in which all students are successful learners. We place the needs of our students first and foremost at all times and strive to prepare them for the dynamic and challenging world in which they live. Making effective use of technology is increasingly vital in this changing world. iPad technologies have now advanced to create a powerful learning and production tool. The 1:1 iPad program will maximise the learning environment by allowing students to access content at a highly personalised level and empowering them to become drivers of their learning.
If you would like more thorough information regarding our iPad program, please click the following link. For information on purchasing and pricing, visit the Winthrop Portal.
Kids Matter
Kidsmatter is a whole school approach to children’s mental health and wellbeing for primary schools. It is a national initiative that aims to contribute to:
· Improving student wellbeing.
· Reducing mental health difficulties amongst students.
· Increasing support for students and their families experiencing mental health difficulties.
This approach can work either on it’s own, or as a framework to support a school’s existing programs. Developed in collaboration with beyondblue, the Australian Psychological Society, the Principals Australia Institute and the Department of Health and Aging, Kidsmatter provides the researched and proven methods, tools and support to help schools, parents and the wider community to develop happy and healthy children.
Through addressing four areas, known as components, Kidsmatter takes schools through a two to three cyclical process, in which they plan and take action using a comprehensive whole school approach to mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention. The four components are:
· Creating a positive school community.
· Social and emotional learning for students.
· Working with parents and carers.
· Helping children with mental health difficulties.
Dividing these key areas into four components is a way of making addressing student mental health a more manageable task and supports the schools to focus their efforts effectively. To read more about Kidsmatter and access the online resources available to the school community see the website:
Instrumental Music School Services – IMSS (formerly SIMS)
Aubin Grove Primary School is included in the Department of Education’s Instrumental Music School Services Program.
Year 5 & 6 students are selected for flute, brass (trumpet, trombone or baritone), classical guitar and clarinet. Further information can be found on the IMSS website.
Year 6 students have the option of joining the Atwell Area Band which rehearses weekly before school at Atwell College.
PEAC (Primary Extension & Challenge)
The Primary Extension and Challenge (PEAC) program provides part time extension for gifted and talented students in Years 5 and 6.
PEAC offers a range of courses that provide the most able students with opportunities for extension and enrichment work that is intellectually challenging.
All students across the state in government schools, who are in Year 4, have the opportunity to be assessed for suitability for the PEAC Program.
Students who are performing well at school are possible candidates for the program. There are some students in Year 4 whose potential is not so easily recognised. There may be students who are underachieving at school and there are some students who demonstrate certain skills and abilities more at home than at school.
Together, we ensure that all students who have potential for high academic performance are identified.
The testing for PEAC takes place at Aubin Grove Primary School during Term 3.
There are two tests: Verbal Reasoning and Mathematical Reasoning. Both of these assessments take 20 minutes to complete. The Department of Education and Training score the results electronically. Your child’s actual test results will remain confidential, the school will only be told who is and who isn’t eligible for the program.
Notification of success in gaining a placement into the PEAC program is provided to the school and then sent to parents later in Term 4.
If you have any questions about the PEAC selection process and future educational programs, please contact the school.
Chaplaincy
Our school is a participant in the In-School Chaplaincy Program in collaboration with the Department of Education and YouthCARE Chaplaincy.
This is a voluntary program that enables parents to have the choice as to whether they wish to have their child/children involved in any, or all, of the support services provided by the Chaplain.
The role of the chaplain is to build relationships with, and between, the school, students and their families to provide social-emotional support in a range of circumstances. Our Chaplain:
- Builds positive, productive relationships with students, families and staff;
- Offers pastoral care including social emotional support during times of duress including grief and loss;
- Is a mentor to students experiencing challenges involving behaviour, relationships and ;
- Offers input into spiritual and ‘the meaning of life’ questions when requested to do so by families;
- Acts as a positive role model;
- Provides a link between schools and local communities.
The school Chaplain works with teachers and the school leadership team to support students identified as requiring support. Once it is decided that a student should be referred to the Chaplain, parental permission is required before contact can be made.
Parents can also request the support of the Chaplain when they feel it may be needed. This request is made through a member of the school leadership team.
The Chaplain also conducts a small group program (Seasons for Growth) for students experiencing death, separation, divorce or other significant loss. The Seasons for Growth programs provide an opportunity for students to learn the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to understand and respond well to such experiences.
Languages – Japanese
The Japanese: Second Language program endeavours to provide students with essential communication skills, intercultural capabilities and an understanding of the role of language and culture in human communication. The learning of Japanese language begins in Pre-Primary and continues through to Year 6 accumulating in students being able to communicate through written, digital or spoken communication.
Units of work begin with greetings, self-introduction, colours and numbers, building the foundation for students to continue their learning through a range of vocabulary, based on real-life topics. Rich learning experiences are drawn from a range of resources including students’ personal interests, exposure to a range of texts and stimuli and use of new and emerging technology.
Provision of authentic experiences are provided through our Japanese Cultural Exchange Program, drama and music incursions, extra-curricular cooking classes, Bon Odori Dance Club and lunchtime Manga and Origami workshops.
“A second language is not about learning a language, it is about opening doors to another world.”
Music
All classes from Pre-Primary to Year 6 attend weekly one hour music lessons with Ms Souter-Robertson, Mrs Verbicks or Mrs Fourie. These lessons include singing, moving, playing a range of instruments, composing, improvising, listening, responding and using technologies.
Other musical opportunities include Junior Choir (Year 3) and Senior Choir (Year 4-6), performing at events including the WA Massed Choir Festival and Lakeland’s SHS Music Spectacular. Two lunchtime concerts are held each term, allowing students from Year 1–6 to share their talents. Students are selected from Year 5 & 6 to participate in the Holyoake DRUMBEAT Program and the Department of Education’s Instrumental Music School Services Program (Brass, Clarinet, Flute & Classical Guitar). Students are also able to join the school rock band, Grover, which rehearses weekly during lunchtimes and has performed at Open Night and lunchtime concerts.
Physical Education
Every week all students from PP to Year 6 are engaged in a 60 minute Physical education lesson which is facilitated by Mr Paparone, Mr Fritchley or Mr Holland. Over the school year we focus in learning key skills over a series of different sports to create a fun, supportive and rich physical education experience. Mr Fritchley and Mr Holland teach PP to Year 3 and their lessons are focused on developing fundamental movement skills across common movement types found on the sporting field. Mr Paparone teaches Year 3 to Year 6 and his role is to facilitate lessons where students can utilise the skills learnt in lower primary and bring them to game situations.
Throughout the year we organise various in school carnivals including Athletics and Cross Country. Our most capable students are also invited to attend interschool events such as Winter/Summer lightning carnivals, Cross Country and Athletics including jumps and throws. We also offer a sporting schools program 3 times a year where parents can nominate their child to attend four 60 minute sessions for free. Sports that will be offered this year will be AFL, Basketball, Hockey, Modcrosse, Tee Ball, Volleyball and more! There will be further surprises in store so feel free to subscribe to our page to keep updated about various programs that will be offered this year.
Art
The Visual Arts program allows students to explore their creativity whilst learning many art techniques, using a variety of media such as paint and textiles. Each lesson is based on an artist or an element of art. The students will also explore art throughout history and learn to reflect and respond to their own, and others artwork.
Tournament of Minds
At Aubin Grove Primary our students have shown themselves to be top problem solvers possessing the skills of perseverance, critical & creative thinking, effective time management and exceptional teamwork.
Aubin Grove Primary School has, in its short history, established a wonderful reputation in a challenging Australasian Pacific problem solving competition: Tournament of Minds. This competition requires a team of 7 students from Year 4 to Year 6 to combine all their talents and their high-level critical & creative thinking skills to solve an open-ended challenge. These can be in the disciplines of Engineering Mathematics; Language Literature, Science Technology or Social Science. Initially there is a regional competition where children have six weeks to devise a solution to a problem.
The top 3 – 5 scoring teams, from private and public school systems, across the state then progress to a State Final where they are given three hours to solve an open-ended challenge and present their solution to a panel of judges in the afternoon. They also complete a 5-minute spontaneous problem for a different panel of judges during the 3 hour period. The winner of the State Final then has the honour to represent WA in an Australasian Pacific Final which includes New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore as well as all the other States and Territories.
In our six-year involvement, Aubin Grove Primary School has been named one of the top three teams in the state for six years running. The school has won a State title 4 times and gone on to represent Western Australia in the Australasian Pacific Final. In 2016, a team of students won the Australasian Pacific Finals in the Language Literature division.
We are very proud of the students and the culture that has developed at the school in embracing challenge and the constant striving for excellence.
Visible Learning
At Aubin Grove our teaching and learning practices are underpinned by Visible Learning research.
Visible Learning is based on the work of Professor John Hattie (University of Melbourne) who, with his research team, have conducted over 1 000 meta analyses of 50 000 educational studies involving over 250 000 students worldwide to identify those instructional practices that work best.
Visible Learning is not another initiative to layer on top of other programs and priorities. It is a deliberate mindset that shifts our focus from what our teachers are teaching to what students are learning.
At Aubin Grove we are seeking to shift the focus from teaching to learning. By understanding how students learn best, and by knowing what qualities are evident in the most successful learners, we seek to ensure that our teaching practices (our pedagogy) support every student’s learning more effectively.
We know that there are many instructional practices and school initiatives that work. Hattie’s work though, tells us what works best! We then seek to implement what works best in our classrooms and across the entire school.
Visible Learning occurs when teachers see learning through the eyes of their students and help them to become their own teachers, or as we like to call them, assessment capable learners.
After careful consideration of Hattie’s effect sizes, and reflection of our own pedagogies at Aubin Grove, we have committed to supporting all students to become assessment capable learners. We do this by ensuring:
• Every lesson begins with a visible, clearly stated Learning Intention (LI) and Success Criteria (SC) that make the objective of the lesson, and what the students need to do to achieve it, explicit and clear to the children and their teacher.
• Students seek and act upon feedback provided by the teacher that is directly linked to the LI and SC.
• Each lesson contains a plenary that “ties up” the lesson by referencing the LI and SC. The plenary concludes each lesson but can also be a mid-lesson plenary to redirect students to the LI and SC.
• Students and teacher negotiate learning goals that are short to mid-term in length and which the students own. Each student’s goals are clearly visible to them and the student decides when to approach the teacher to demonstrate their achievement of their goal. Once agreed, the next goal is negotiated.
• We teach and model the importance of a growth mindset that enables our students to see mistakes as opportunities to learn and not reasons to give up.
Figure 1
Our goal is to support every one of our students to become visible learners. In order to do this we have developed the Aubin Grove Learner Qualities. These qualities drive our pedagogy and are explicitly taught to students. Teachers have adapted their pedagogy to ensure that the way they teach supports students to acquire these qualities.
We support our teachers to achieve this successfully by appointing and training key personnel to take on the role of Visible Learning Impact Coaches.
Our VL Impact Coaches, model, demonstrate, observe, provide targeted feedback, develop resources and facilitate professional learning at the individual, small group and whole staff.
Visible Learning research asks the question: What impacts student learning the most?
Our purpose is to ensure that every student is a successful learner and by knowing what impacts learning the most we are well placed to achieve our purpose.
Contact Us
Office: (08) 6174 6500
85 Camden Bvd
Aubin Grove WA 6164
