Photo of the Week Term 4 Week 2

Posted on October 14, 2021 by Newsletter Editor

NL SarahT4W2 2021 Emilie's Day 2

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Julianna Term 4 Week 2

Posted on October 14, 2021 by juliannam

Hi Everyone,

How exciting it is going to be, to see kids back at Currambena next week!

No doubt you have all thoroughly read the documents emailed out from your class teachers with information on your return.

Over the school holidays a few things were happening at Currambena. All the gutters were thoroughly cleaned on all the buildings, the Air Conditioner units in all rooms had a full service and clean, Co2 meters were ordered for all the classrooms with an expected arrival next week, all the gardens and potted plants around the school were fertilized, and Eric our cleaner came in and did a big sweep around the school. The server had a glitch so we managed to get Duncan (our IT guy) in and a few hours were spent getting everything up and running again before school started again. Phew! The usual admin stuff was then kept ticking over.

Thank you to Eric, our cleaner, for the big sweep last week. What a difference, the school was looking very messy!

On Coordination Day, we managed to complete our physical component of the CPR training. All the apparatus was dropped at the gate in the morning. We brought it down to the room and our trainer was able to support us through the exercise via Zoom in two 1-hour sessions of four people each.

Please look out for an email from Chris about the possibility of you coming to do some cleaning around the school this weekend!

Have a lovely weekend

Cheers Julianna

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Preschool News Term 4 Week 2

Posted on October 14, 2021 by katrinaa

Hello everyone,

We’ve continued to welcome children and their families back to preschool, making it a busy and joyful last 2 weeks, just the way a preschool should be! Everyone’s been so excited, the children just can’t seem to get enough of each other. We’ve been so proud of how welcoming the children that have been attending preschool throughout the lockdown have been with the children returning to preschool over the last couple of weeks. Quickly bringing the children up to date on what’s been happening while they’ve been away.

We know that parents and children alike are experiencing a gamut of emotions about returning to preschool. For many children there has been such a huge gap from when they were last at preschool, and, it may perhaps feel like your child is starting all over again.  Parents may also feel apprehensive about saying goodbye at the gate and not being able to enter the school grounds and help children settle into the day. Michael, Lisa, and I are aware of this and will ensure we support each and every child in settling into their day with us. As communication at the gate will be difficult due to the current restrictions, please don’t hesitate to contact me via email with any important information you’d like to pass on.

We’re ensuring that the preschool is well ventilated and have had a CO2 monitor operating at all times staff and children are in the preschool space. We’re very fortunate to have such a big classroom, especially considering the wet weather this week. I’ve noticed that the highest PPM reading we’ve had has been around 560, under the recommended level of 800. We’re doing lots of handwashing and hand sanitiser and making sure the room is well ventilated, so please make sure you still pack warm clothes for your child as we’re still experiencing some cold mornings and days.

A very important reminder that from Monday all preschool children will need to be picked up by 2:45 pm. We’ll have the sign-in/out table out the front of the school from 2:30 pm and will begin to bring children to the gate from 2:30 pm as we see parents arrive. To avoid congestion we’ll be bringing your child/ren to you as you arrive as we need to make sure the area is clear by 2:45 pm to ensure primary parents have room to adequately distance themselves from each other.

We’re really looking forward to more children’s safe return to preschool next week.

Love,

Katrina, Michael and Lisa

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From Jess Term 2 Week 2

Posted on October 14, 2021 by Jess

Dear Parents,

I’m looking forward with a lot of anticipation to welcoming back all the children on Monday. Zoom and Google Classroom have been a wonderful way to keep us all connected, but they are by no means an adequate replacement for the real thing! Please take some time to read through the documents that I emailed to you this morning and reach out if you have any questions. I’ve also included the slide presentation from this morning’s Zoom on our Google Classroom that you may wish to go through again with your child before Monday. It will support your child to think ahead to being back at school and to consider the things that will be the same and the things that might be a little bit different when they return.

These last two weeks, with Emma’s class, we have been developing ideas about point of view to support children as they transition back to a classroom and school community. Through the books “Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley” by Aaron Blabey and “Voices in the Park” by Anthony Browne, we have considered how good friends can be very different and see things in different ways. These ideas of difference and perspective will help support the children as they transition back to a larger school community requiring more intense communication, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills.

Abi’s wonderful music and puppetry video also beautifully supports these ideas of friendship and difference and I’m sure your children had a lot of fun meeting Doug and Marjorie today. Maybe one day we’ll meet them in real life…

Thank you again for your support over the last 12 weeks of remote learning. I feel very lucky to have such a wonderful community of parents.

Jess xx

 

 

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Emma’s Class Week 2 Term 4

Posted on October 14, 2021 by emmab

Dear Parents,

At last the great day looks like it’s finally upon us.  I am really looking forward to seeing the children next week and discovering all over again the joys of play and seeing where the tide takes us every day. While I am so grateful for the digital platforms that have allowed us to keep the learning going and stay connected, I’ve really missed the interactions between everyone that forms the basis of the ‘real’ classroom environment.

This morning on Zoom the class learnt a little about the things that will be different next week when we return to school. It all seems a bit ‘unreal’ at the moment and I think we won’t know how the new (but temporary) normal will feel until we experience it. Please go through the documents that I emailed yesterday regarding our return to school to familiarise yourself with the procedures we have been busily working on to make things at school run as safely and smoothly as possible.

Last week, we began a new shared topic with Jess’ class called ‘Who Are We’? This unit is all about the consideration and celebration of different perspectives. We began by marvelling at how looking at objects from different perspectives can completely change how we perceive it. Check out some of the great collages the children made! This week we moved on to how people can have different perspectives, often of the same situation, through activities based on ‘Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley’ by Aaron Blabey and ‘Voices in the Park’ by Anthony Browne. Abi (Hazel’s mum) created a wonderful video for the children at Currambena incorporating music and puppetry that also provided some wonderful stimulus for further thought about how friends can be different. I wonder if we’ll be able to meet Doug and Marjorie one day?

As I have expressed many times over the last few months, thank you again for all that you’ve done to facilitate your child’s learning while we’ve been online. Let’s get this party started!

Emma

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Sarah’s Class Week 2 Term 4

Posted on October 14, 2021 by sarahm

“Calling occupants of interplanetary, most extraordinary craft….”

Welcome to Term 4 everybody and to the last part of this chapter which has been a most extraordinary journey through this space. Our start to the term is rather bittersweet – tasting the delight of knowing we are returning to our school but then having to stick with Zoom and Google Classroom for one extra week more than some of the other classes. I think everybody is well and truly over the disconnect and I can’t wait to have all the children here in person again. I also understand the transition to full-time learning (at school) may not be without its challenges. I imagine there will be the need for many discussions on cohabiting our class space again and revision of some of the social/emotional topics we usually begin a year talking about. With that in mind, our first week together will be structured to include a large amount of choice, free play, socialising, and 1:1 catch-up chats with me. During these chats I will endeavour to go through all the children’s books and work they completed while at home and discuss where they experienced difficulties and/or missed out on getting complete. There’ll be no time to go over some of the things missed this year but at least it gives me information to pass on to Leesa about those moving to her class next year. On this topic: now that the teachers are all teaching face to face (mask to mask) we will be discussing the structure of our class groups and how they will look for next year, and as soon as the picture is clear, you will be informed.

As you are probably aware, we are delving deeper into our universe for the first part of this term and will be researching areas of Earth and Space. We have also begun looking at 2D & 3D shapes. Thankyou so much to Meggan (Josh Shave’s mum) who did an online YOGA class with us on Monday morning. It was so gorgeous seeing legs and arms flailing across the screen before me and I thought it was a lovely way to start our week. Meggan will be doing another class next Monday with us if any of you are keen to join. Also, we had a delightful video made by Abi (Hazel and Pepper’s mum) to watch. From her home, Abi filmed and presented music, song, pitch, rhythm, and rhyme, all the while supported by two puppets she created herself. Thankyou to both parents for your time, expertise, and contribution to our Google Classrooms.

Last week in craft the children created drawings and/or pastels inspired by Jean Miro, and this week their focus was drawing Surrealist self portraits inspired by Frida Kahlo. Crafty has done an amazing job at presenting music and art to the children this term and it is wonderful to be seeing some of the children’s spaces at home adorned with their art creations.

So that’s us for the week. Wishing you a wonderfully free weekend!

Love, Sarah

 

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Leesa’s Class Term 4 Week 2

Posted on October 14, 2021 by leesaj

Welcome to term 4 and not long before the children return to school on the 25th of October. An email was sent out today to give you information about drop offs, pick ups, and other measures put in place to keep everyone safe. Over the next week, could you speak to your child about these changes so that they’re aware before returning. I’ll speak to the children about this closer to the time and on the first day of return.

We’ve started the term completing Mathematics activities on Mass. The children have revised how many grams are in a kilogram, the basic fractions of kilograms, and converting between grams and kilograms.

This term one of the topics we’re looking at is poetry. The children have explored alliteration through tongue twisters, a poem, and ice-cream flavours over the last two weeks. On Wednesday the children read a poem and highlighted the rhyming words contained in it.

Our Science topic this term is on Earth and Space. This week the children were involved in writing down the different things that occur during the day and night and answering some true and false questions about the Sun. Throughout the term we’ll explore the relationship between the Sun, Moon and Earth.

To celebrate Earth Science Week, the children had the opportunity to watch a webinar on working with water, run by Fizzics Education. The session explored floating, sinking, buoyancy, density, and everything to do with water.

This week the children were involved in a maze challenge. The children made decisions about how they wanted to construct their maze, either by drawing or building. Lots of amazing mazes have been completed.

Over the last two days the children have participated in an eSafe session on online boundaries, ‘It’s ok to say no’. It was run by the eSafety Commissioner for Wellbeing Week. Several scenarios were given with questions for the children to answer. These questions included what reactions someone might have to boundaries, setting boundaries or rules, and what does permission or consent mean.

Thank you to Abi (Hazel and Pepper’s mum) for creating a video to teach music concepts through puppets for our Google Classrooms.

That’s it for this week. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Leesa x

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Wendy’s Group Week 2 Term 4

Posted on October 14, 2021 by wendyp

Hi everyone!

I can’t wait to see the children all back in the classroom next week! It has been a very, very long time since we were together and I know Monday is going to feel like a party day!!

I know they probably seem weeks ago now, but I hope you all had relaxing and energising breaks over the holidays. One very special event during the holidays was the Summerhill Festival of Childhood, celebrating Summerhill school’s 100th birthday. The very inspiring international community of educators joined Zoe and Henry for five days of online discussion and presentations from schools and individuals around the world, all passionate about student choice and empowerment in their learning. Four of our students presented at this amazing event. Read more about it elsewhere in this newsletter.

Our group has been working really well this past week… possibly because we all know this online version of Currambena is coming to an end soon, hopefully never to be repeated! We are studying the solar system and have done some research and comparisons of planet statistics and learned about indigenous astronomers.

We are also looking at different media and the positives and negatives of, for example, music as a medium for story-telling. We are also viewing short films and writing reviews.

In Maths we are looking at angles and also at the measurement of time….

Textbook units 23 both need to be complete this week… and will be marked at school next week!

Please help your children gather all their books together, plus anything they borrowed, to return to school with them on Monday.

Please also read the documents I sent yesterday about the return to school arrangements and camp. I want to have a (sadly) Zoom meeting about camp on Monday 25th at 6pm so please put that in your diary.

I can’t thank you all enough for the support and encouragement you have provided from home both for the children and for me while we’ve been in lockdown. Keeping me informed about how things have been going and letting me know when things have been either going well or falling apart a bit…. it has all been really helpful in navigating these troubled and troubling waters. I know there may well be some anxieties amongst the children about returning to school and we’ll spend as much time as we need gently getting the group feeling back, helping each other feel safe and making the most of every minute together.

Very special thanks to Sally, who has persevered with Zoom French lessons for a small group all through this time, sending me worksheets and Zoom links each Wednesday and being there for the kids. It has been greatly appreciated, Sally.

Hopefully, it won’t be too long before we can meet in person for a proper chat but at least, from next week, I’ll be able to wave to you from the gate and see your children in person!

With love,
Wendy

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Summerhill Festival of Childhood 2021

Posted on October 14, 2021 by wendyp

Summerhill School, the inspiration for Currambena’s founders, celebrates 100 years of student led learning this year, and the online conference, called a Festival of Childhood, was held from 1st to 6th October. I hope some of you were able to take part in this!

Over these days, people from around the world hosted discussions, presented their ideas or research and asked questions about ways in which students can be active creators and managers of their own learning journeys, how teachers can learn to reimagine the “teaching” process, and how parents and other educators can be informed about the benefits of democratic processes in schools.

Four of our Currambena students, Harper, Jana, Perry, and Sophie, presented their Personal Interest Projects online in a session that was attended by conference participants from around the world. Their confidence and skill, quality research, and independence in choosing and completing their PIPs impressed the audience enormously! We can all be very proud of them!

Another highlight of the event was in the closing session, hosted from Summerhill, England, at 7am (our time) last Wednesday. The film that Jackie put together about Currambena’s Summerhill Day, where we all sang happy birthday to Summerhill, was shown to the entire international audience. There were tears and congratulations and requests for copies… so Currambena and its connection with Summerhill were celebrated as well. A very precious moment. The link for the film is here:
htps://www.dropbox.com/s/pmq5s1c3cbfgyh3/CURRAMBENA%20Summerhill%20Day%202021_Final.mp4?dl=0

Congratulations to Harper, Jana, Perry, and Sophie for their brilliant work participating in this event!

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Photo of the Week Term 3 Week 10

Posted on September 16, 2021 by Newsletter Editor

Lilith

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