Hello Family and Friends of Willaura Primary School,

Last Friday, our whole school had an amazing experience with a local excursion to the Willaura Wet-

lands. We were excited to have a visit from Ayesha Burdett. Ayesha is the local Landcare Facilitator for

the Upper Hopkins Land Management Group. Her background is in freshwater ecology with an interest

in community engagement. She is involved in the Waterway Twinning Program, which is an opportunity

to dig a bit deeper in a project related to waterways. She has developed a citizen science program in

the Upper Hopkins and worked with our students to educate and engage them in this project. We were

also joined by Jack Tucker, who is passionate about sustainable farming including biodiversity and envi-

ronmentally friendly practice, which relies on good soil health, water health and animal health.

Ayesha began the day with an introduction to river health and waterbugs. Students brought water

samples from a variety of sources from their homes. Then we all walked down to the wetland to take

some water samples, talk about why they might be different to the ones from home. We tested the wa-

ter samples for salinity. We collected bugs and identified them. We learned how different bugs tell us

about the health of the whole river system. This paired well with our Educational Research Project Sci-

ence focus.

Camps and excursions provide a valuable educational experience for our students which are comple-

mentary to their learning, as they provide access to resources, environments and expertise that may not

be available in the classroom. Camp is an important place for students to build life skills, relationships

(both with their peers and teachers), independence and resilience. Willaura Primary School Camps pro-

grams policy provides student with the opportunity to participate in a safe, sequential camping pro-

gram. Camps are grouped on class-structure and start with a late night for the Prep students, sleepover

for Grade 1-2, one night away for 3-4 and two nights for Grade 5-6. Camps are organised to give stu-

dents a variety of experiences, including city, bush, snow, beach, history and Civics and Citizenship pur-

poses. We make every effort to ensure that all students attend a variety of camps throughout their edu-

cation at Willaura Primary School.

All camps and excursions will comply with Department planning requirements.

The Principal is responsible for the approval with consultation and joint approval by the School Council.

This year, School Council has approved another whole school camp to Cave Hill Creek, a spectacu-

lar lake and bush setting at the foot of Mt Cole near Beaufort. Their camp programs focus on

developing a child’s love for the outdoors through challenging and fun activities – from canoeing, ab-

seiling, mountain biking and ropes courses, to archery, hut and raft building, bushwalks, orienteering,

bush cooking and much more. The school camp program outcomes can be mapped to The Victorian

Curriculum F-10 and VCE to help schools meet their curriculum needs.

The camp is booked for December 6-8 and will run similar to last year with the Grade 3-6 students stay-

ing overnight December 6-7 and the Prep to Grade 2 students staying overnight December 7. We are

working on final costings and will send home more information as soon as we can.

How exciting!!!!

Miss Rae

Newsletter Issue 8

21st May, 2021

14 Warranooke St

Willaura 3379

ph: 5354 1401

willaura.ps@education.vic.gov.au

www.willauraps.edu.au

WILLAURA PRIMARY SCHOOL

Our School Values Stay Safe Try your best Act responsibly Respect others

Prep, 1 and 2 Our Learning intention this fortnight have been:

Science: We are learning about living and non living things. We are learning about bugs and insects in our

environment.

Literacy: P–2 - Learning to retell a chapter/s we have read and write a caption/s to go with my picture.

Year 1 & 2 – We are learning to retell in the correct order and only include the key points.

Maths: Prep – We are learning to recognise squares, triangles and circles. We are learning how many

sides these shapes have. Year 1 – We are learning to recognise and match familiar 2D and 3D ob

jects. Year 2 – We are learning how to describe features of 2D and 3D shapes.

This fortnight has been very busy making mother’s day presents, science excursions and all our classroom

learning. In our classroom we have been working on speaking kindly to and about each other and working

together if our peers need help. From working together we have been able to add a lot of Pom Poms to our

class container. We are getting close to our target of a full chart before the class can celebrate together.

We are still needing reminding to bring our diary to school everyday and to bring our readers back to

school on a Friday. Our readers then stay at school over the weekend ready to go home again on Monday.

We have been having lots of fun in science this fortnight. We have been on a playground safari to find and

learn more about bugs and insects. We have learnt that to be classified as an insect it has to have 6 legs. If it

has more or less then 6 legs it isn’t an insect. We loved getting to go on the excursion to the wetlands in

Willaura. We each had a turn at collecting bugs and samples from the wetlands that we then got to investi-

gate back at school. Learning about bugs and insects have been a highlight in the classroom!

Grade 3 - 6 Miss Milli During Week 4 and 5 the senior kids have been busy with NAPLAN. Our Grade 3 and 5 students participated

in the NAPLAN tasks last week and we are very proud of them, as they all stepped up to the challenge and

did their best.

At the End of last week were we very lucky to be involved in a local excursion organised by the Glenelg Hop-

kins Catchment Management Authority representative Ayesha Burnett. Our students had the opportunity to

explore our local wetlands and water from our local area.

This week we have continued the science theme by investigating Ecosystems, and our effects on the environ-

ment. Week 4 & 5 Learning Intentions

Spelling: I can identify and use the ‘ar’ and ‘er’ sound in words.

I can understand that there can be more than one spelling choice for a spelling sound.

Reading: I can infer meaning when I read.

I can make connections when I read

Writing: I can plan a narrative.

I can edit my work for Punctuation.

Science: I can identify important changes to ecosystems

I can explain the relationship and role of living things in our ecosystems. Miss Mac

Due to child safety requirements please ensure all students

arrive to school after 8.50am. Staff do not start supervision

until this time.

Health Advice for Parents Following current restrictions and health advice, we would like to remind parents that if your child is showing any of the following signs

* Fever *Cough *Rash *Upper respiratory concerns *Runny nose

to seek medical attention and please keep them home from school. If students attend school with any of these symptoms, they will be sent home.

https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/coronavirus-covidsafe-summer Thank you

Mother’s Day Baking Fun!! Waterways Excursion 8

MARC Van is coming on

the 24th

May!!

Kindergarten enrolments for 2022 are now open for 3 & 4 year old children!

The process is all done online through the YMCA Early Years Management website; www.earlyyears.ymca.org.au

Term 2 May/June 2021

Week

3

3 4

School

Photos

5 6 7

Week

4

10 11

NAPLAN

12

NAPLAN

13

NAPLAN

14

Week

5

17 18 19 20 21

Week

6

24 25 26 27 28

Week

7

31 1 2 3 4

Week

8

7 8 9 10 11

Week

9

14

PUBLIC

HOLIDAY

15 16 17 18

Week

10

21 22 23 24

25

MARC Van

MARC Van

MARC Van

MARC Van

Lunch Orders

Lunch Orders

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Lunch Orders

Lunch Orders

Lunch Orders

Lunch Orders

Lunch Orders

Lunch Orders

ASSEMBLY

ASSEMBLY

ASSEMBLY

WETLANDS

EXCURSION

Pupil Free

Planning

Day

Last Day

of Term!!

JUNE