Other Important Dates

PPLC1 News

Our Top Ten Maths program has been a real game changer in the grade 5 and 6 area of the school. Our students have been having excellent hands-on learning experiences that are practical, engaging and colourful! In the past two weeks students have been learning about weight and capacity. In exploring weight, our students have made scales out of cups and coat hangers, competing against one another to have the heavier cup. In capacity we started focusing on language words such as empty and full.

PPLC2 News

Room 33 has had an amazing start to the new school year! Everyone has settled into our new area of the school and has enjoyed exploring the YAC and making new friends. In Literacy, we have been exploring letters and the sounds they make. In Numeracy, we have been learning about measurement by cooking every week. So far, we have made golf balls, banana oatmeal cookies and chocolate biscuits, they were all delicious! Room 33 are really excited about Easter coming up and all the activities leading up to it!

PPLC3 News

Room 10 celebrating St Patrick’s Day and the class doing Car Park math's activity.

Room 16 Enjoying the Sensory Gym this week.

PPLC4 (Early Years) News

Last week in PPLC4, we welcomed a new friend into the early year’s classrooms. The PBIS monkey joins us each Wednesday to help us decide the winners of our PBIS draw. Educators model and explicitly teach the school’s values of Respect, Safety and Responsibility to students during everyday interactions and lessons. Educators then give positive behaviour tickets to students who demonstrate the school’s values during the week, either independently or with assistance from staff. When the PBIS monkey draws out a ticket, that student then chooses a small toy from the prize box to take home as a reward. It is great to see the students engaged in our PBIS learning as they learn to navigate school life.

Below is a photo of the PBIS monkey and Deacon choosing a toy from the prize box.

News from the Middle School - Recess and lunch breaks.

For the first time in many years all Middle School students are having outside play together. Across two spaces, we have two breaks per day totaling one hour where every student in the Middle School has the opportunity to socialise, and play together. We have seen such joy out in the playgrounds over the first 8 weeks of term. From games of tag, to trampoline fun, and serious chats, students have had the opportunity to socialise with peers they would normally miss out on seeing because they are in different classes. It no longer seems like such a big hurdle being in separate classes because students have plenty of time to hang out at recess and lunch breaks.

This joint play time has also helped staff get to know all students across the Middle School, providing a wholistic approach in supporting students of all year levels.

Students Vs Staff soccer matches have also become a regular feature at play times.

In the Senior School, we have completed the election process for our 2022 Student Leadership Group. Joining our School Captains, Bailey and Jasmine and Vice-Captains Braiyden and Shakira are our class captains. Our Class Captains are as follows:

Room 2: Bianca G and Jack L-B
Room 3: Michael H and Kade H
Room 4: Dylan L and Brendan C
Room 5: Eric M, Bron S and Lily T
Room 6: Josh T and Alanah H
Room 7: Billiska L and Dennis C
Room 8: Luke W, Elizabeth M and Josh B
Room 9: Geffrey H-V and Dakota B
Room 10: Josh B and Zasz H
Room 16: Mikayla P
 
Last Friday the campus held an evacuation drill. Everyone present on the day was required to walk out and assemble near where the buses stop. The staff and students did a fabulous job of walking and waiting in an orderly fashion. The whole process was completed in a timely manner and students were then taken back to their class.
 
We have a number of VET courses that are delivered internally at the FARM by staff. In Sport and Recreation, the students have been working way on their knowledge evidence for their units of competency for this year. They have been working on units such as Work Effectively in Sport, Fitness and Recreation Environments, Managing Personal Stress in the Workplace and Maintaining Sport, Fitness and Recreation Industry Knowledge. Students have been submitting work pieces including workplace role play scenarios, maintaining a work/life balance project, representing how people show stress in different ways and a multitude of assessment questions!

In Retail, students from SPLC1 and 2 have been very busy sorting through all the donations of clothing and other items; this has been a tremendous help. The students are recognizing items of clothing that are to be washed, folded, and hung on the clothes rack or made into rags. They help with the washing, by soring the loads of clothing into whites, darks, and colours, and then operate the washing machine. Following on from this, they hang the items on the line to dry. The students are also required to complete theory work (book work); working together on the retail units. They have role plays, group discussions, and brainstorm shop ideas. Students have also been over to where the FARM Retail Store will be located to discuss the floor plan and talk about shop items they will need. In VET Retail the students have been learning about good customer service. This includes how to give a good experience to shoppers, so they will return to the shop. The students are also building an understanding of the importance of being polite, knowing our store layout, where stock is and being helpful.

The students from Kitchen Operations (Hospitality), have been off to a busy start this year. First year students are focusing on food safety, hygiene and teamwork. Second year students are focusing on cookery skills and teamwork. As a full team they are developing menus and preparing meals to be sold from the Café. Outside catering orders are starting to come in and this week they are catering for 70 staff from Frankston Special Developmental School and Blackwood Specialist School. Students will be cooking lunch and morning tea for the group. This will then be packaged up and sent to Blackwood on Friday morning.
 
In Certificate I Life Skills the current units of focus include: Provide Laundry Service, Provide Nursery Plant Care, and Developing Positive Self Esteem & Self Image. The students work as a group to complete activities around the FARM Campus in accordance with the units. The group also breaks into small groups for a therapeutic music experience with Amy called ‘Junk Band’. The students are very active in mind and body - and thoroughly enjoying their learning! The students from the high support room also engage with Amy once a week in a program called ‘Colour Music’. The students enjoy selecting colours and then playing their song on a keyboard.

Project Ready is a Certificate II in active volunteering. This group of students focus on job appropriateness and personal ambition for their life after school. As Project Ready is entering their second week, they are planning for the students to be able to partake in community opportunities and focus on learnings outside of the school environment. The program features a student driven project in which this group of students have chosen “Recranked”.

In Visual Arts, students have been working on two units: 'Making and Creating Simple Creative Artworks' and 'Source Information Relevant to my Practice'. They are working on entries to National Youth Week Art Exhibition.

On Wednesday night we held our annually Post-School Expo. The Multipurpose Room (Brown Building) was buzzing with excitement with students and their families chatting about their options. The show bags were a hit, and everyone walked away with a lot of valuable information. A big thank you to Loretta, our work experience and careers coordinator for organising the event. If you have any questions following on from it, please contact Loretta.
 
Thanks,
All the staff from the Senior School
 
Photo 1: Rosie selecting colours for her song.
Photo 2: The students from Sport and Rec (SPLC1) playing cricket.
Photo 3: Matthew and Dennis at the Post-School Expo.
Photo 4: The FARM Campus assembling for the Evacuation Drill.