School Development Day

A School Development Day will be held on Friday June 2.

The decision was deliberately made by the School Board to coincide with the WA Day long weekend to enable families to take a four-day break.

Aubin Grove teachers will spend the day continuing their professional development on visible learning, which will include a guest speaker from Melbourne talking about how to provide effective feedback to students in the context of their learning roles.

Lapathon and Cross Country

The biennial lapathon will be held for all students next week.

On Tuesday May 16, Years 3-6 students along with Kindy Group A students will run on the school oval for 30 minutes starting at 11.30am.

Students from Pre-primary to Year 2 and Kindy Group B will then participate on Thursday May 18, again running for 30 minutes starting at 11.30am.

The lapathon is a major fundraiser for the P&C through students gaining sponsorship, whether it is a per lap or overall amount.

Students from Years 3-6 will also participate in the school cross-country next Friday May 19.

Fume Free Fridays

Every Friday will now be regarded as Fume Free Friday at Aubin Grove.

While a reward of a cold Milo on arrival at school will be reserved for one Friday each term, students and carers are being encouraged to take advantage of the health and social benefits that can be gained from walking or riding to school at least once a week.

The move should also help to ease carpark congestion on Friday mornings.

School upgrades

While students enjoyed a well-deserved break over the school holidays, a number of improvements were made to the school in time for their return for Term 2.

The biggest and most-anticipated change was the upgrade of the library, which has been months in planning and with its new furniture and layout has transformed the space into a more flexible, effective and student-friendly environment.

New filtered water fountains have been installed at each learning community, which are complete with bottle fillers to make topping up water bottles quicker and easier, while the number of urinals available in the student male toilets was doubled from four to eight.

The carpet in four classrooms was replaced, while a new art room courtyard enclosure is nearing completion. This will be used as a small group teaching area for instrumental music, and also as a green screen for filming and IT projects.

Modifications were also made in the school carparks, including the installation of bollards in the Lyon Road carpark to prevent illegal and dangerous parking.

A lane has also been marked through the middle of the Camden Boulevard carpark to ensure cars flow through to the kiss and drop crossing in a single file, as vehicles attempting to overtake within the carpark put children getting in and out of cars at risk.

 

Girls Soccer Tournament

A big congratulations to the Year 4, 5 and 6 girls who participated in the Girls Pro Football Training Cup last Friday.

The girls have been training hard every Monday and Wednesday including over the school holidays and all the hard work has paid off.

The school took two teams of 28 students to compete in the competition at Beale Park, Spearwood, and each team played five 30-minute games.

The Aubin Grove A team went unbeaten throughout the competition and didn’t concede a goal, making them the winners of the Pro Football Training Cup for the southern region.

Year 6 student Megan Bell won the Most Valuable Player award for the competition and many Aubin Grove girls were identified and asked to trial for the John Curtin’s soccer program.

The A team faces their next challenge tonight when they compete against the winners and runners-up from the other regions, once again at Beale Park.

Pre-primary teacher Brittany Woodfin, who coaches the girls along with Year 6 teacher Emanuel Ribeiro, said the Aubin Grove B team should also be commended for their team effort and spirit.

Many of the girls had never played soccer before and Miss Woodfin said it was uplifting to watch their ‘never give up’ attitude as they took on some very tough opponents.

She said both sides showed fantastic sportsmanship throughout the day.

“We are proud of all the girls and wish the A team the best of luck for their finals,” she said.

Anzac Day service

With Anzac Day falling on the school holidays, a moving ceremony to mark the national day of remembrance was held for students from years 3-6 on the last day of Term 1.

Then in Week 1 of this term Aubin Grove was represented by the Year 6 leaders at the RSL City of Cockburn Youth Anzac Parade and Service.

The students, along with many other schools from the Cockburn district, marched from the City of Cockburn offices down Spearwood Avenue and into the RSL Memorial Park, where an Anzac youth service was held.

Year 6 teacher Mel Cross said the students were led by the City’s Pipe Band, 10th Light Horse Re-enactment Group and the WA Police.

“The students were supplied with Australian flags to wave along the march, and our head boy and head girl laid a wreath on behalf of our school,” she said.

“It was a great morning and another example of our students being leaders in the greater community as well as at school.”

Academic Extension Program

Years 4 – 6

Recently all children in Years 4 and Year 6, plus new students in Year 5, completed two assessments to assist in determining whether they were to be included in the school’s Academic Extension Program (AEP) this year. The students were assessed on both their Creative and Critical Thinking Skills via a school-based assessment tool.

Those children who scored highly in one or both of these assessments and in the Literacy and Numeracy profiling assessments conducted at the beginning of Term 1 are eligible to participate in AEP this year. The students’ previous NAPLAN results are also taken into consideration when determining the AEP cohort.

Letters have been sent home to the Year 4 to 6 students who will be part of the AEP cohort for 2017. There are a number of children who have participated in the AEP Program in the past whose results in the various assessments do not meet the cutoff to be included in AEP this year. Please note that AEP is a withdrawal program for students who are excelling in their class work and are demonstrating a need for extra rigor and challenge.

Students who are working at an above average level with their class work will be receiving extension activities in their daily work in class.

If you have any questions regarding the Academic Extension Program for Years 4 to 6 students please contact Mrs Smith at school.

Year 1 – 3 Enrichment Program

Students in Years 1 – 3  who are exceptionally academically capable will be included in an enrichment program. Teachers have completed a checklist for Gifted and Talented characteristics on their students plus results from first term’s literacy and numeracy assessments and children’s general level of thinking to help determine the makeup of the Year 1 – 3 AEP cohort.

This program is a less formal, more fluid support program with children being included in the AEP lessons that suit their particular strengths and talents.

This means they will not automatically be coming out of their class for all AEP sessions throughout the year.

Constable Care visit

Students from years 1-4 were fortunate to have a very special incursion at the end of last term.

The students attended sessions performed by the Constable Care Child Safety Foundation, which uses puppet shows and theatre to cover a range of important information such as how to identify an emergency; the right phone numbers to use in a range of situations; the importance of feeling safe; and to never touch needles.

Kindy Busy Bee

In the last week of Term One the Kindy team organised a mini busy bee to help make resources for the students’ letters and sounds program.

Kindy teacher Hannah Dempster said the alphabet resources that were created during the session would be used as an integral part of the Kindy’s literacy programs.

Mrs Dempster said they were extremely grateful to Nichola Whyte, Nicole Spicer, Lynne Suttie, Lisa Bright, Gel Tarka, Tara Lalor and Sarah Springett for helping.

“We really appreciated their time and effort,” she said.