Firbank. Aspire. Achieve. - Firbank Grammar School

From the Head of Campus“Worry is like a rocking chair, it will give you something to do, but it won’t get youanywhere.” ~ UnknownBUILDING UPDATEThe construction of the Learning Hub moves to another critical, but exciting stage next week.The building company will commence the construction of the ‘Piazza Area’ and the surroundingpathways. Internally, the Learning Hub classrooms have had the plaster walls installed, andmany of you may have noticed that the brickwork has been completed. The major part of thebuilding and surrounding landscaping will be completed by the start of next term, with theanticipated ‘move in’ day in August.With the next critical stage commencing, it will mean that new temporary pathways will becreated in order to get to the Prep classrooms, Year 4, 5 and 6 classrooms and the SocialCentre. These will be in place for the fi nal four weeks of this term and we ask everyone to bepatient and very careful when using these pathways. Teachers will be supervising the studentswhen using the pathways to access the playground areas, and our priority will be to maintainsafety as we travel around the School grounds. Parents are also encouraged to ensure theyexercise caution during pick up and drop off times, as some of the pathways will be quite narrow.We thank everyone, especially the students and staff, for their patience during the next fourweeks. However, the end result will be a stunning new building, new pathways and a wonderfulpiazza area. Please refer to the map below for the new pathway points.NEWSLETTERJunior SchoolSandringhamCampus17 May 2013Firbank.Aspire.Achieve.HELPING HANDS INITIATIVELast Friday, the Social Service Leaders launched the ‘Sandy House Helping Hands’ initiative.The idea behind this initiative is to emphasise that helping our community is not just ‘raisingmoney’ for charities and organisations. It will encourage the students to look at ways they canhelp those in the community through their actions. It requires all students to take home a ‘helpinghand’ poster. Every child’s aim is to help their friends, family and/or community by doing fi vegood deeds. Once they have done these they are to write each of their deeds on the fi ngers ofthe helping hand and return it to School. They can add colour to their hand and decorate it if theywish, as long as the good deed is clearly visible. They have until Week 9 of this term to completethis challenge. These hands will then be put on the wall of the Social Centre.Parents are asked to contact the classroom teachers in the fi rst instance if you have anyquestions regarding the ‘Helping Hands’ initiative.

OSHCLUBOur school provides a very high quality outside school hours program run by OSHClub. Theprogram coordinator is Marion Cotter who has a background in education. Marion runs anexciting program for all ages. Cooking Club is a weekly event as well as specialised sportactivities run by professional trainers and coaches. The program is open from 7:30am-9:30amand 3:00pm-6:00pm Monday to Friday. Parents are eligible for a 50% rebate which is not meanstested. Marion can be contacted on the following number for any inquiries: 0412196945 or theOSHClub head office on 03 85649000.COMING EVENTSMonday, 20 MayTuesday, 21 MayWednesday, 22 MayThursday, 23 MayFriday, 24 MayYoga 8:00am, Music RoomAerobics Training, Lunchtime in Social CentreHouse Cross Country;Years 3 – 6, between 1:00pm-3:00pm at Spring St, ReserveTuesday lunchtime, Combo Group – Instrumental roomYear 3 & 4 After-School SportWednesday lunchtime; Guitar Ensemble – Specialist RoomYear 3-6 Choir – 8:00am, Music RoomAerobics Training, Lunchtime in Social CentreKarate lesson after school in Social CentreKelly Sport, after school, on OvalYear 5 & 6 After School SportWalk Safely to School Day8:00am; Sinfonia – Instrumental RoomNo Assembly due to the Cross Country Event on MondayYear 5&6 Interschool SportPat KennyFrom the Primary YearsProgram Co-ordinatorParent Helpers CourseThank you to the parents and grandparents who attended the four sessions of the ParentHelpers Course over the past month. The sessions were valuable in gaining an insight into howto support your own child with reading, writing, spelling and maths as well as how to supportclassroom teachers as you work with children in the classrooms. It was fantastic getting to knowyou and sharing ideas and thoughts whilst ensuring we are consistent in our approach whenworking with children.Words Their Way: Strategies to help your child at homeAll children are now familiar with word sorts and word sorting. As words come home, you maywish to use some of these strategies to assist your child when working with the feature withintheir words.• Help your child focus on words they are close to spelling correctly. If your child spells‘confident ‘like this (confadint), help them focus on the feature that they are close tounderstanding.• To help your child understand a new pattern of words, it is beneficial to work with words theyknow and then transfer it to unfamiliar words.• Help your child notice the patterns in words they read at home. Making connectionsbetween words on their lists and words they are reading will move the patterns into longtermmemory.• Help your child notice words that follow the feature of the week as well as words that “break”the rules - oddballs.• Children should sort their spelling words by the way they sound as well as the way theylook.• Help children proofread their writing for words they know how to spell. Proofreading is anexcellent way to help children understand the importance of spelling correctly.• Play games at home. Play lots of word games including word searches, hangman,crossword puzzles.

The students had lots of fun making and presenting theseto their classmates.Some of the models were very detailed and had innovativedevices including a solar hat and a beehive.Year 3 students have just started a new Unit of Inquiry – Where we are in place and time. Ourcentral idea is ‘People and events of the past have influenced our lives today’. The provocationfor this topic was a trip to the city. We visited the Chinese Museum where we had a guided tourand then we had an opportunity to walk the streets and explore China Town before eating adelicious lunch at a Chinese restaurant. The State Library was our final destination where weconducted a self guided tour through one of their current exhibitions. Being able to view NedKelly’s armour was an exciting experience for many children.YEAR 5Over the last few weeks the students have been continuing their own inquiries on a chosenaspect of conflict or peace. They presented their information to the group over Wednesday andThursday. The presentations were of a high level and the students clearly had developed deepunderstandings of their inquiries. Students are now completing this unit with self reflections ontheir inquiries and a summative assessment on the whole unit. They also had a ‘mini- expo’ toshowcase their ‘war and peace thinking key’ work. This was very impressive as the students hadbeen extremely creative with their products. Some items presented were movies, scratch games,posters and working models.In literacy, students have been completing their reading reflections using Edward de Bono’s SixThinking Hats. Students also used their knowledge of the unit on war and peace to write somepoetry. They revised some key features of poems and then tried to use these with their writing.The poems were very moving and powerful.Here are some examples of our poems:War PoemPeople are killing then dying,Children hurt we can hear them crying.Soldiers are dead,We breathe their bravery in the air.No one will smile ever again,Nothing is alive and there is no pride.If war is on, no one is hearted,This war should have never started.It isn’t fair, we need peace around the world,All creatures great and small,We need people alive with their pride.Help us send some guidance from aboveWe will remember those who fought in the war!Lest we forget.By Katerina

LEST WE FORGETWhere did the love go? ‘cause there’s none anymoreJust stop war, just stop war, we don’t need it at all.The ANZAC’s fought for love and peaceTheir families were crying saying “bring them back please.”They had a rough life, dodging bullets and bombsThey all just wanted to make it back home.There was blood and bodies lying around,While family and friends were safe and soundWe have to do something for themSo they will know everything that happened won’t happen again.On ANZAC Day and everyday we will remember them and say,Thank you thank you for risking your life,We will remember you forever in the morning and night.Lest We ForgetBy ClaireANZAC POEMIf a soldier shall fall,our people shall stand tall,they shall not be forgotteneven if their corpse shall reach rock bottom.We will not restBecause we serve the Australian crestour brave soldiers who fight in the fieldare honorable because they shall not yieldthey fight for what is right,their courage gives them might.However war still affects the world,soldiers will die,families will cry,bombers shall fly,but when will the horrors come to an end?Maybe , someday , this will become a world that we can mend.Lest we forgetBlake AllanWhat Is It For?A war is here, a country full of doubt,The anger,The hateAnd the things we must face.What is it for?The soldiers,The families that wept,What is it for?A gunshot here, a gunshot there, It’s UnfairTrenches being dug all in the mud, This is unnecessaryWhat is it for?People killing, People dying,Children hurt and you hear them crying.Peace, Peace is a place where everyone is free, you can hear the children laugh with glee.This is what we need.Happiness, Hope, dreams coming true and no more soldiers waiting in a queue.This is what we need.No-one worried, sad or brokePeace is full of regular blokes, not having to worry, they can relax and have a jokeTHE HORROR OF WAR NEEDS TO STOPLest We ForgetBy Portia PascuzziRemember

The soldiers who fought in the war are now gone, but we will remember them and will alwaysmourn.Remember the people who dropped dead in the war, and remember their loved ones who criedeven more.Remember the planes and the tanks and the drones, and remember the shaking of rattlingbones.The soldiers, full of anger and hate, now have no more love and no more mates.Remember the tanks causing mass destruction, and remember; war has no production.By Thomas Plant-ChaneyCPS UPDATEThe time is rapidly approaching when we head to America for Future Problem SolvingInternational Conference, from 6th to 9th June.Over the past 2 weeks we have been working hard.We have been:• Updating our scrapbook. This gives an overview of our entire project. It includes thingslike photos of us creating resources, finished products, boxing up resources, Skype callingand documentation of fundraisers, an insight into the communities we are working with, anintroduction to the electronic resources we have created and a reflection by each of us.• Reorganising our display board so that it shows how our project has evolved since theNationals last year. This includes a great deal of information about the two new communitieswe have invited to be a part of our literacy exchange.• Completing the “helping hands” table cloth to take with us to America. Through thisfundraising, we raised over $100. This went towards the postage of the resources weprepared. We sent boxes to Tjuntjuntjara, Yalata, Milyakburra and Angurugu. The table clothwith all of the Sandy House hands will be a part of our display at the conference.• Preparing a visual advertisement which highlights our vision and achievements.• Developing a design for team t-shirts to wear in America.In addition, we have been editing our blog and adding digital resources to our Google Drive sothat the communities can access them.We have also been Skyping and e-mailing the remote aboriginal communities so that we cancontinue to maintain our close relationship with the children that we are trying to help.It has been a busy and exciting few weeks and we again thank all members of Sandy Housecommunity for their support.Emily, Bella, Carien and JonnoMUSIC DEPARTMENTPYGMALIONA joint production between Firbank Grammar School and Brighton Grammar SchoolThursday 23 May – Saturday 25 May7.30 pm in the Centre for Creative Arts, Firbank Grammar SchoolThe delightful classic story of Eliza Dolittle and Professor Higgins is energetically brought tolife by our talented senior students in this wonderful production of “Pygmalion”. Gather familyand friends and come along and join in the ride as Eliza is transformed from cockney speakingCovent Garden flower girl into a poised and well spoken duchess, and falls in love with Freddy!Tickets will sell fast so order yours’ now so as not to miss out! Tickets are $25.00 for adults and$15.00 for students and concession and are available directly from the Senior School MusicOffice. To pre-order tickets, please complete the ticket flyer (see eNews) and return to the MusicOffice asap! Any queries regarding tickets, please call the Music Office on 9591 5151.OTHER

“THE GREAT GATSBY”It is going to be a night to remember at the SSPA big cocktail party “The Great Gatsby” comingup on Saturday, 1st June at 7pm at the West Brighton Club. We hope that parents from theSandringham House Campus can join us. Please book your tickets on the website : http://www.trybooking.com/CUOV. We expect the tickets to sell out fast. Let’s get all the Firbank parentstogether for a fabulous night!Toni ArmstrongSSPA Presidentsspa@firbank.vic.edu.auFIRBANKASSOCIATONThe next Firbank Association meeting will be held on Tuesday, 21st May at 6.30pm in the TurnerHouse SMAART Meeting Room.All members of the Firbank Community are invited to attend.The remaining dates for the Firbank Association meetings are:13th August19th November AGM followed by Ordinary MeetingFREE PARENT SEMINARWednesday 22 May - Bullying: Coping Skills for Children and ParentsMelissa Anderson, Director and tutor of Shine Academy for Girls and Longford and Fraser Academy for boys, will be speaking atBrighton Grammar School on Wednesday 22 May on the very important topic of bullying. Melissa will identify who the bullies are,why they may target your child and how to equip your children with the skills to be assertive and flourish in the playground and in life.Register for free with Melissa Anderson on 9596 8814 or info@shineacademy.com.au or see eNews for flyer.TERM PROGRAMSSome of the programs we are highlighting for Term 3 include:Junior Resilience and Confidence Masterclass for 5 and 6 year oldsMelissa Anderson will be commencing with her foundation program for 5 and 6 year old boys and girls on Saturdays, starting 20July in Term 3. Her warm and encouraging manner creates a class that is warm, encouraging, inspiring and in which cliques arenot allowed to form. In her class she will help children to discover the tools to help them build friendships, resilience, self-respect,develop manners, confidence to deal with bullies or speak publicly and generally how to prepare for and settle into school both sociallyand emotionally. Why not consider helping to establish these important life skills early for your 5 or 6 year olds by attending one ofMelissa’s classes? Contact Melissa on 9596 8814 for girls or 9596 0953 for boys or see the flyer attached.If you are looking for something other than these programs, why not have a look at the Sh@re website and see if there is somethingelse that appeals at www.share.vic.edu.au or contact Sonia Wagner for any other ideas or suggestions at swagner@brightongrammar.vic.edu.au