Junior School – Week 5

Diary Dates

Please find below some reminders about upcoming events. For all of Term 1 events, please refer to the College calendar. 

• Tuesday, 1 March – Shrove Tuesday – send $2 for pancakes
• Wednesday, 2 March – No Home Learning Club
• Wednesday, 2 March – Ash Wednesday liturgy, students only, Auditorium
• Monday, 7 March – Staff Professional Learning Day (K-12) – Pupil-Free Day
• Tuesday, 8 March – Open Day
• Wednesday, 9 March – Class/Individual/Summer Sport Photos
• Friday, 11 March – Years 5 and 10, Little Brother/Big Brother gathering, lunch and periods 5 and 6, Bondi Beach (Bondi Beach permission notes will be in Nurrunga Fri 4 Mar edition)
• Wednesday, 23 March – Friday, 25 March – Year 5 Camp, Stanwell Tops
• Monday, 28 March – Wednesday, 30 March – Year 6 Camp, The Collaroy Centre

COVID-19 Changes

As per Mr Leddie’s announcement, please read below the following changes that will be in place from Monday, 28 February:

We will move to symptomatic testing. Tests are to be used at your discretion such as if your son/s are symptomatic or there are cases in their class. Our school will provide each student and staff member with eight tests which will be coming home in your son’s bag today. Beyond that, students and staff can access PCR tests or buy their own rapid antigen tests, as these are now freely available and accessible in the community.

From Monday, 28 February no masks are required for Years 5 – 12 students and Years 7 – 12 staff. From Monday, 7 March no masks are required for Years 5 – 6 staff as well. However, those who wish to continue to use them, will be supported to do so.  

Schools will no longer be required to keep students in Year groups or other cohorts.

Visitors (including parents and carers) will be allowed on school sites for events. We will let you know when these can proceed in our school in a COVID-smart way. All visitors are asked to follow our usual sign-in and sign-out process.

The College will maintain core COVID-smart measures including maximising fresh air flow through natural ventilation, continued good hand hygiene practices, and enhanced cleaning through Term 1.

A reminder of some of the practices that will continue to ensure we all work effectively together for the health and safety of everyone in our community:

• Please continue to keep your son at home and test him using a RAHT if he is displaying any symptoms at all
• Let us know if your son has tested positive for COVID-19.

Tonga Needs Your Support – Here’s How You Can Help

A reminder that we continue to appeal to Waverley families to support Tonga with donations. These can be dropped at the Senior School Reception on Birrell Street, or to Mrs Coupe in the Junior School.

These items are due in by Monday, 28 February:

• Year 5  – Toys/books, coloured pencils and crayons
• Year 6 – School backpacks, healthy snacks

>>> Click here to view more information in the article by Mr Steve O’Donnell and Ms Sue Walsh.

 

Mrs Gabrielle Smith

Director of Junior School

 

---

Social Skills, Friendship and Kindness Sessions

This week we started an exciting new wellbeing initiative with the Junior School boys. This initiative involves educating the students about issues that we sometimes see as challenging for Years 5 and 6. The focus of wellbeing this term is Social Skills, Friendship and Kindness.

Through discussion, games, videos and activities, Year 5 examined friendship and teamwork, and the impact of social influence on behaviour. Year 6 students meanwhile, explored the importance of social skills, social inclusion vs social exclusion, the power of peer-pressure, and how to be an upstander not a bystander.

We encourage parents to continue the discussion of such important issues at home.

 

Mrs Dawn Young and Mrs Alex McCredie

Junior School Psychologists

E: dyoung@waverley.nsw.edu.au

E: amccredie@waverley.nsw.edu.au

 

---

Shrove Tuesday

This Tuesday, 1 March, is Shrove Tuesday, the day immediately preceding Ash Wednesday. As the final day before the Lenten fast, Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Day. Pancakes are traditional in a number of  countries because eggs, sugar, and fat, commonly forbidden during the Lenten fast, are used up so they will not go to waste.

To mark this occasion, the Junior School leaders, with the assistance of Senior Student Representatives, will be selling pancakes at both recess and lunch. Pancakes will cost $2 and the funds raised will go to supporting CARITAS as part of our Lenten Appeal.  

We are all looking forward to a tasty treat before the fasting period begins.

Year 6 Student Leaders

I am pleased to announce the Year 6 Class Captains and Class Vice-Captains for 2022.  I look forward to working with them throughout the year, assisting them to be role models for the rest of the Junior School students, as they take on extra responsibilities around the campus.

Captains

6 Blue – Hugo Anderson

6 Gold – Lachlan Green

6 Indigo – Ishaan Jeena

6 Orange – Emilio Gomez

6 Red – Riley Carr

6 White – Quinn Brodie

Vice-Captains

6 Blue – Ollie King

6 Gold – Campbell Oxborrow

6 Indigo – Beau Matheson-Rayner

6 Orange – Jonathan Le Marchant

6 Red – George Whitehouse

6 White – Cash Parry

Mother’s Day Mass – Request for Photos

The celebration of mothers, grandmothers and significant others in the lives of our Waverley College students, will be celebrated in Week 2, Term 2.  Details regarding this celebration will take place in the coming weeks.

Part of the celebration will include a slideshow. Can I please ask that you send through a photo of your son(s) with their mothers/grandmothers, if you would like a photo included in this presentation.

Please send through all photos to liturgy@waverley.nsw.edu.au

 

Mr Steve Ghattas

Assistant Director – Mission and Identity

E: sghattas@waverley.nsw.edu.au

 

---

Saturday Co-Curricular Sport

The continuation of the Co-Curricular Sports season is providing a lot of enjoyment for our Waverley students, and it’s fantastic to see all teams developing week after week.

The inclement weather has hit us hard this week, forcing us to cancel a large number of trainings throughout the week. We thank you for your patience and understanding, and we look forward to this weather passing, and sport resuming as scheduled. 

Thank you to the parents who have been sending through photos of Saturday sport. It has been a pleasure to see some teams in action. Please feel free to send through photos, as I can show them in Nurrunga.

5A Cricket Highlights (Week 4 Saturday Sport)

Team L Basketball Highlights (Week 4 Saturday Sport)

Extra Co-Curricular 2022

Waverley Junior School is pleased to announce that we’ve looked closely at growing our Extra Co-Curricular program offered at the Junior School. This creates exciting opportunities for students to involve themselves in various activities that interest them, outside of their Co-Curricular Sporting commitments at Waverley. Due to the business of the beginning of the school year, we deliberately did not provide any details about these activities until now.

The Junior School will have a trial run for all the Extra Co-Curricular activities that haven’t yet begun. The trial run will be undertaken in the last two weeks of Term 1 (Weeks 10 and 11), which will allow students to see if they enjoy what has been offered, and if they would like to begin the activity officially in Term 2 for the remainder of 2022.

The following Extra Co-Curricular Activities being offered in 2022 include:

2022 Extra Co-Curricular Activities

INNOVATION CLUB

Teacher

TBC

HOMEWORK CLUB (Has Begun)

Teachers

Ms Bransby

Mrs Zivanovic

JUDO

Teacher

Ms Tweedie

HIPHOP DANCE HipHop Dancing Announcement Video (Click Link to Watch)

Coach

Mr Joel Preisley

SURF LIFE SAVING (Bondi Beach SLSC)

Teacher

Mr Nick Nezval

CHESS CLUB (Has Begun)

External Teacher

Mrs Coupe

STOMP

Teacher

Ms Rollins

BANDS & OTHER ENSEMBLES (Has Begun)

Administrator

Ms Rollins

BOARD GAMES CLUB

Teacher

Mrs McCredie

DRAWING CLUB (ART) (Has Begun)

Teacher

Ms Natalie Oates

Once the two week trial period is completed, all activities not already underway will begin at the commencement of Term 2. We will give information about when these activities will be occurring, once we have an understanding of how many students want to be involved in each activity.

If your son is interested in any of the activities that aren’t already taking place, can you please complete the Google Form below, as this will help us begin collating numbers for the two-week trial in Weeks 10 and 11 of Term 1.

>>> Click here to view and complete the Google Form.

 

Mr Jack Wachtel

Assistant Director of Co-Curricular

E: jwachtel@waverley.nsw.edu.au

 

---

Home Learning Club –Week 6

We offer all students in Year 5 and Year 6 the opportunity to receive free additional support after school, for the completion of home learning tasks. The afternoon sessions also provide a quiet, supervised study space for students who want to complete their assigned tasks.

Home Learning Club operates in the Learning Hub from 3pm until 4pm – Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays – during school term, unless there is a scheduled Professional Development meeting, and then the club will be closed. 

NOTE: NO Home Learning Club on Wednesday, 2 March.

Procedures

>>> Click here to register your son.

Only register his name once, to allow other students the opportunity to attend. The session is limited to 20 spots. There will be a roll call to ensure attendance.

If your son is not present at roll call, a phone call will be made to check on his whereabouts. If your plans change, and you decide he is unable to attend, please contact the school via email nzivanovic@waverley.nsw.edu.au or call reception. 

Students are required to stay for the full session, unless there is a message in the student diary requesting early leave, a parent signature will be required.

Behaviour

As it is important to respect the rights of others to learn and work. All students are expected to settle to work in the Learning Hub and not cause a disturbance for others.

Teachers

Monday and Wednesday – Mrs Natasha Zivanovic

Tuesday and Thursday – Ms Gaby Bransby 

If you require any further information, feel free to contact us.

E: nzivanovic@waverley.nsw.edu.au

E: gbransby@waverley.nsw.edu.au 

 

---

Learning Hub

This week, we have the opportunity to hear from Mrs Zivanovic about what is happening in the Junior School Learning Hub.

This week the boys are exploring literature by Shaun Tan, using Visible Thinking Routines. 

The purpose of thinking routines is to promote a deeper understanding of content, and help students to understand how they think and learn.

This week we focused on the See Think Wonder visible thinking routine. This routine encourages students to make careful observations and make thoughtful interpretations. It also helps stimulate curiosity and set the stage for inquiry. 

These activities promote critical thinking, by being able to make sense of what we see in illustrations through interpreting, understanding and evaluating visual messages. This often results in richer discussions. 

The students used the image below to complete a SEE THINK WONDER. 

SEE What do you see?	THINK What do you think is going on?	WONDER What does it make you wonder?
I see an alien with a big eye and a helmet A windy, light brown field A robotic dinosaur and a little boy walking in the background	I think an alien crash landed on a mysterious world and everyone is confused.	This makes me wonder what is going to happen and what already happened

By Fletcher Stanton, 5 Blue 

 

SEE What do you see?	THINK What do you think is going on?	WONDER What does it make you wonder?
I see a big toy dinosaur A guy with a big helmet on that has an eye on it A boy looking sad.	Something has crashed and the dinosaur and  boy look  sad and angry.	I wonder what crashed and if something crashed I wonder where they are and where they are trying to go and why they are looking at another boy

By Xavier Bautovich, 5 Blue 

 

SEE What do you see?	THINK What do you think is going on?	WONDER What does it make you wonder?
A boy with a one-eyed helmet A boy walking with a robotic dinosaur Trees of green Red robots A house that has gas coming out of the chimney	The boy with the dinosaur is looking at the little boy thinking about what he is doing with that enormous helmet The boy is looking into an enormous helmet thinking what is this!? The boys are going on a walk but the little boy found some rusty robot pieces and wants to play with the eye	If the boys are my age? What is there on that wheat field? What the house is making What the boys are thinking Is it in the future? Why are there robots?

By Frederick Crabbe, 6 Blue 

 

SEE What do you see?	THINK What do you think is going on?	WONDER What does it make you wonder?
I see trees and wheat. Robots too. Pollution too. Factories operating. Making bread from wheat.	I think this is what will happen when we keep on polluting the air. We will have fewer trees and no green but there will be factories every second hectare. Some kids are trying to hide from the factories so they won’t get enslaved.	Why is that kid wearing a robot’s eye?  Why is there wheat? Why is there a giant wind-up tyrannosaurus rex?

By Thomas Stillone, 6 Blue

 

Mrs Natasha Zivanovic

Literacy and Innovation Teacher – Learning Hub

E: nzivanovic@waverley.nsw.edu.au