Junior School

Read more: Absentees, NAPLAN Online Yr 5, Confirmation, Little Brother/Big Brother Program, Year Masses, Learning Hub News, Co-Curricular News

 

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From Ms Gabrielle Bransby, Acting Director of Junior School

Welcome to Week 8! We started off this week with Year 6 attending Mass at Mary Immaculate Church with Fr Bernie. The students read the readings and participated beautifully in the mass. To be able to celebrate in the church again is so special. I spoke to the students on Monday and expressed how impressed I have been with their behaviour and general attitude. In particular, I visited Queens Park on Saturday and watched cricket matches and touch football. The attitude, respect, sportsmanship and behaviour of the students was amazing. Our Junior School students are representing the College so well and I feel very proud to be their Director. 

Absentees 

If you are planning to have your son out of school or sport for any reason except being sick, please send an email requesting leave via Ms Coupe acoupe@waverley.nsw.edu.au and also please CC in your child’s class teacher.

 

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NAPLAN Online Year 5 2021

From Ms Charlotte Stephens, Assistant Director of Curriculum

 The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point in time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. Students in Years 5, 7 and 9 participate in the annual NAPLAN tests in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

 Our school will be participating in NAPLAN Online between 11 and 14 May 2021. 

 In preparation for NAPLAN Online, our school will be participating in practice tests on Thursday 25 March. This will provide students with an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the test. It will also give the College an opportunity to check that the correct infrastructure is in place. The practice tests are not an assessment of student ability and will not be marked.

Students must bring their fully-charged laptops and headphones to this session.

Excessive preparation for NAPLAN Online is not recommended. Students do not need to be able to touch type to complete NAPLAN Online as the tests are not about keyboard skills (just as the paper test is not about handwriting skills). Students can use the public demonstration site to familiarise themselves with the types of questions and tools available in the NAPLAN Online tests.

Information for Parents and Carers

Click here to download the NAPLAN Online Information for PARENTS flyer

If you have any questions regarding this practice test please contact either myself, Assistant Director of Curriculum, or Ms Gabrielle Bransby, Director of the Junior School.

 Additional resources:

•       Public demonstration site
•       NESA NAPLAN website
•       NAP parent/carer support page
•       Watch a video that explains tailored testing

 

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Confirmation at Mary Immaculate Church

From Mr Stephen Ghattas, Assistant Director of Junior School/Student Formation

For parents seeking information regarding the Sacrament of Confirmation, it is important that you contact your local parish to find out the details regarding when the Sacrament will be celebrated and when the preparation classes will be held.

For students of Waverley College who are part of St Charles Borromeo Parish (Mary Immaculate Church), the Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated on Sunday 20 June.  Compulsory preparation classes will be held in the weeks prior to the celebration. 

Due to COVID-19, the Sacrament was postponed in 2020, therefore in 2021 we are only celebrating the Sacrament with current Year 6 and Year 7 students.  Please rest assured that the Sacrament will be held again next year to accommodate any Year 5 2021 students.

If you are looking to have your son enrolled in the Confirmation program for 2021, please contact Mr Stephen Ghattas sghattas@waverley.nsw.edu.au for the necessary paperwork to be sent home.

 

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Big Brother/Little Brother Program

From Mr Stephen Ghattas, Assistant Director of Junior School/Student Formation

Last Friday 12 March, the Year 5 students were paired up with their Year 10 buddies for the first of their Big Brother/Little Brother sessions for 2021 at Queens Park. The purpose of the Big Brother/Little Brother program is to help build friendships and to give the younger students a mentor for when they finally move to the Senior School.

The Heads of House and the Year 5 teachers were there to encourage the students to engage with one another in conversations about themselves to get to know each other a little better.  

The afternoon concluded with each House involved in different games and activities to encourage teamwork and collaboration. Some groups had Year 5 students competing against Year 10 students. Needless to say, the Year 5 students finished up as winners.

A great afternoon was had by all students and I know that they are already looking forward to their next session in Term Two. A special thanks to all staff who gave up their time to ensure that the afternoon was a success.

 

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Year Masses

From Mr Stephen Ghattas, Assistant Director of Junior School/Student Formation

This week, both the Year 5 and Year 6 students celebrated a Mass at Mary Immaculate Church, with Fr Bernie presiding. Usually, the Junior School students would attend the daily Mass at least once a term, however with COVID-19 restrictions still affecting our ability to mix with the general parishioners, Fr Bernie thought that it would be great to come together to celebrate as a year group.

The theme of our Mass was forgiveness, especially during the season of Lent, and also recognising that each of us have talents that we need to let others see. It was great to be able to come together again in such a sacred space to celebrate the Word of God. We look forward to being able to celebrate these Masses again in Term Two.

 

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News from the Learning Hub 

From Ms Natasha Zivanovic, Primary Literacy & Innovation Teacher

Lunchtime Talk With Andy Milne – Dreaming Big!

It was a privilege to have Andy Milne as our very first guest speaker for 2021. Andy Milne is the Business Manager at Apple Music, who gave the Junior School students an insight into the world of technology, coding, graphic design, writing, radio and music. Andy had the students captivated by his wealth of knowledge about the industry. Thank you for taking the time out to inspire the Waverley students to dream big. 

The Drawing Club Attracts Avid Artists

The Learning Hub has activated a new initiative this year ‘The Drawing Club.’ Our avid artists meet weekly to talk about all things art. In their first drawing session, they drew inspiration from Shaun Tan, Australian artist, writer and filmmaker. 

Home Tip To Encourage Reading at Home

The holidays are fast approaching and it is important to continue to encourage your sons to read at home. Modelling reading at home is so important! Carve out time every day for family reading time. This can be a short amount of time (15-20 minutes) where everyone in the family stops what they are doing and reads. It can be anything from a book, newspaper article, magazine to a cookbook. When children see the important people in their lives reading, they will want to read even more. 

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Co-Curricular News

From Mr Jack Wachtel, Assistant Director of Co-Curricular (Years 5-8)

Junior School Round 6 Fixture (20 March) and Round 5 Results

This weekend is the last round for the Term 1 Summer Season of Saturday Sport. It has been a fantastic season, filled with enthusiasm, positive sportsmanship and plenty of memorable highlights across all sports. Thank you to all parents and carers for continually supporting your son each week, driving to and from weekly trainings and games. I wish all teams the best of luck competing over the weekend.

For the Round 6 Fixture and the Round 5 Team Results, Please click here and scroll down to the Junior School Section.

Special Appearance at Saturday Cricket and Year 5 PDHPE

The 5A and 5B Cricket teams were treated to surprise visitor during their games over the weekend. Australian international cricketer Pat Cummins, currently the vice-captain of the Australian national team in all formats, was in attendance at Queens Park. Pat lives locally and often does a Saturday morning walk to see all the youth cricket games on display. What a special moment for our students to meet Patrick and soak in all the information he had to offer.

Year 5 PDHPE: Fitness Testing

Over the past two weeks during our single PDHPE lessons, Year 5 classes have completed a range of fitness tests to measure key areas: aerobic/anaerobic fitness; muscular strength, endurance and power; flexibility; and coordination.

The students had a large amount of fun trying out all the various tests helping them self-reflect on areas of strength, and areas that require continued development. The following tests were undertaken:

1. Beep Test (aerobic fitness)
2. Sit-ups in 1 minute (muscular strength/endurance)
3. Push-ups in 1 minute (muscular strength/endurance)
4. Sit and Reach (flexibility)
5. Agility Run (anaerobic fitness-speed)
6. Ball Toss – Alternating hands for 1 minute (hand-eye coordination)
7. Vertical Jump (endurance/power)
8. 40 m sprint (anaerobic fitness-speed)
9. Standing Long Jump (endurance/power)

Students’ Term 1 Assessment Task then asked various reflective questions to help students assess their fitness level for further development and progress.