Junior School

Prep 100 Days of School

One of the most eagerly anticipated celebrations in Prep is the 100th day of school. On this day, we reflect upon the many achievements of our Prep students. These include making new friends, learning to read and write, and developing independence both in the classroom and during distance learning. We had a wonderful time celebrating this special milestone.

Miss Clare Conlon Prep Coordinator

Since the beginning of the school year, our class has been counting the days of school by sticking marbles onto a pretend marble jar. As we got closer to the 100th day of school, I felt more and more excited. Finally, it was 4th August 2020! That morning, we had a special Zoom meeting. We opened our special 100th day of school envelopes together. “5, 4, 3, 2, 1, blow!” Everyone blew their party blowers at the same time! Next, each girl showed the class the 100 things they had collected to celebrate the special day. I showed my class 100 bottle caps from yoghurt pouches, fruit juice bottles and milk bottles. During the day, I made a 100 days of school crown. I coloured it with textas and decorated it with beautiful coloured jewels. What a fabulous 100th day of school!

Sarah Prep C

Friends of Junior School

2020 has undeniably been a very difficult year for parents in Junior School. Many face ongoing financial stressors while others struggle with the prolonged separation from their loved ones. Home schooling proved to be a steep learning curve in multitasking abilities as parents juggle work commitments and meetings, housekeeping and cooking, parenting, education and entertainment of several young children, often with comical consequences.

As the light shines at the end of the long dark tunnel of lockdown, all parents should be extremely proud of themselves. While home schooling is no mean task, it provided a window into the learning style of our children and the school curriculum. Away from homeschooling, many fathers in particular have relished the time spent with their children and countless special memories have been made. While our young children missed the social interactions of school and sport activities, they will look back at 2020 with great fondness. It is the year that they spent a lot of time with mummy and daddy enjoying endless simple pleasures, indoors and outdoors. Many would have learnt the immense gratification in creating an art piece or learning a new skill by themselves. Others would have discovered that siblings do make the best of friends after all.

During this time, it was heartwarming to see parents support each other and maintain a beautiful sense of community. I distinctly remember the flurry of WhatsApp messages on the first day of home schooling in term 2 as parents helped each other connect and navigate Seesaw. In the last 6 months, parents have constantly helped each other stay connected and informed of the latest COVID news, school updates and even created virtual social fundraising activities.

Term 4 holds many promises for all; face to face school, catching up, picnics, endless afternoons at the park and hopefully a very special Christmas with our loved ones. FJS remains ever ready to be involved in school events as soon as restrictions ease. Thanks to lockdown, many parents have now cordon bleu level baking skills and we look forward to these yummy treats for the bake stalls.

Prayer - Distance Learning

Dear Lord I never thought I’d be in this situation.

I’m a teacher, but there are no students. Thank you, that you are always with me.

I miss their chatter, their questions and interactions.

Thank you for making us creative like you, so that I can still teach and students can still learn through modern technology.

Just when I thought I couldn’t bear it any longer you made a way so that I could go into school to supervise a small group of students, real children, and then I could enjoy Zoom Joyce Club. How I had longed for that interaction and banter.

Thank you, Lord, that you know the needs of the weak and the lonely and provide refuge.

Late in the night, marking and recording and marking and recording and thinking and planning seemed so relentless, but you are my strong tower, my shelter in times of trouble.

Then the sheer joy and surprise of the email, drawing, voice message or note from a student through SeeSaw and Google. Those students, I virtually teach, really do listen.

Thank you, Lord that you are the one who provides all my needs, the things that give me joy and purpose.

I will trust in you because you are very good. Thank you, Lord. Sharon Catchpoole

Drama and Dance During Distance Learning

Lights, camera, action! Drama and Dance in Distance Learning kicked off with a bang!

All the way through we enjoyed fantastic activities including different types of dances, famous monologues, learning and practising concert dances, public speaking, video challenges and of course, the optional tasks!

Completing our assignments has also allowed us all to spend a lot more time together as sisters! We all especially enjoyed filming dances together and even choreographed extra dances together to music!

One of the entertaining tasks to complete was the Hip Hop Dance Assignment as it was full of energy and groovy too!

For the Video Challenge we all created an introduction to the popular children’s television show called Peppa Pig! This was quite challenging when filming the introduction as we all kept forgetting to put on the pig nose and we had to film over and over again until we finally remembered to do this and the camera stopped falling down!

We learnt from Drama and Dance in isolation what the term ‘monologue’ meant, how to use iMovie, how to always be creative and we realised that we all work really well together as sisters, which has been extremely helpful to all of us.

Drama and Dance during Distance Learning has been the best it could ever possibly be!

Chloe Year 5, Audrey Year 3 and Naomi Year 1

‘PLC Artists on Display’ Padlet

Term 3 saw the initiative of a ‘PLC Artists on Display’ Padlet for the whole school to join in. A Padlet is an online virtual “bulletin” board, where our PLC Junior School artists can share their art in a secure location. A big congratulations goes to the Art Captains and Art Action team for initiating this as well as conducting Art Club through Zoom (Years 3-6). A special mention to Shenny (Art Captain), for creating the video, launching the ‘PLC Artists on Display’ virtual gallery and creating a buzz.

NGV Virtual Excursion

Year 3 and Year 4 Marking Time: Indigenous Art

PLC students in Years 3-6 had the experience of attending a NGV Virtual Excursion. Each session was run by NGV hosts informing and discussing art. Students used online chat to communicate. The students were excited about being together learning and linking art to history. Students experienced ‘connection to country’ and its importance to First Australians through art. Traditional and contemporary art was explored.

Year 5 Colony to Nation

Students looked at the impact of colonisation on the First Australians and observed colonial Australian and Indigenous artworks from a range of cultural perspectives.

I think the NGV incursion was a great experience! It taught me very unique things, and how the Aboriginal people used their culture to create masterpieces of art! It has inspired me to create art pieces at home! I learned that their art tells stories, represents symbols and what materials they use. It really is quite dazzling!

Overall it was an A-MA-ZING experience and I look forward to going there in person in the future!

Zoe Year 4

I liked learning about the Aboriginal art and cultures and discovering that the Aboriginals used earthy colours for their paintings and art. Some modern art is actually Aboriginal art and they use a variety of bright colours and symbols that all mean something. This is called contemporary Indigenous art.

What I enjoyed most about the NGV is that we did fun challenges and I learnt about modern Aboriginal art. I loved all the fun jokes and stuff and I liked that I learnt something new today. There’s so much to learn there!!!

Alissa Year 4

I learned about the Indigenous Australians and how the British affected their lives. I saw many different types of artwork in the NGV virtual rooms. I loved the whole incursion because of all the different artworks, displays and Aboriginal art.

Vivienne Year 4

The virtual excursion was a unique and one of a kind experience for me. I learnt many new things, including the fact that some painters didn’t paint what they saw, but instead, they altered the small details in their painting from reality. Other artists painted outdoors instead of in their studios. They painted exactly what they saw, usually using quick brush strokes because of the hot weather in Australia that caused the paint to dry quickly. These artists were called realists. Many of the paintings included Aboriginals, the Indigenous people of Australia. Something I found out that was shocking to me was that there were about 300 indigenous languages but there are only 13 traditional Aboriginal languages still being spoken today! Another thing I learnt is some tools the Aboriginals used like a parrying shield. This virtual NGV excursion was definitely a fascinating experience for me and I hope to go there in person one day!

Cassie Year 5

This was the first time I’ve been to the NGV in Melbourne (virtually or in person) and it was amazing! It was also a very unique experience because you don’t get to do tours from your own home everyday. My favourite painting was, ‘The Pioneer’ because it told a fascinating story simply using the characters’ facial expressions (like how at the start the lady was sad and homesick) and their surroundings. I also really liked the artwork of the Australian bush, it looked so real, just like a photograph! Thank you for organising this awesome experience!

I enjoyed listening to the people from NGV and learning so many new things like how when the Gold Rush came Melbourne quickly overpopulated and since there was no proper sewage system it was called Smellbourne. I also learned that in Tasmania artists pretended that there were still Aboriginal people there even though they were already driven out with threats or had died with a disease that some people had brought with them on the ships. I enjoyed our excursion a lot and hope that in the future that I may be able to visit the NGV in person.

Anya Year 5

I thought the NGV excursion was amazing, wonderful, awesome and a great experience. I learned that the Australian people in Melbourne used emu eggs to celebrate the money they got.

I loved the excursion. It was wonderful and interesting. The NGV host was really smart and was great at telling all of us about the Indigenous people and early settlers.

I am lucky to have experienced it.

Sienna Year 5

I really enjoyed this session as I could link my general knowledge to it. I loved learning new things not only about the pieces of artwork, but also about the history and colonisation of Australia. I found this excursion really interesting because last semester the Year 5 students were learning about the colonisation of Australia, and I thought it was interesting how art can link to history. I loved this virtual excursion.

Zuneira Year 5

At our NGV Virtual Excursion, we explored the concept of how a piece of artwork can be both functional and decorative. We dived into the piece ‘Horse Lamp’ (2006) by Lagerkvist, Lindgren, Lancken and Savstrom, which depicted a lamp that was in the shape of a horse, which can function as a light as well as being a piece that can be displayed. Using a template where you roll two dice, I got the two prompts ‘bread’ and ‘bird’s beak’ which I turned into a mailbox with a bread box with a flap at the front which can be opened to retrieve mail. I added a beak to the front which makes it look more like a bird!

Alexandria Year 6

At our virtual excursion to the NGV, we looked at an artwork called ‘Horse Lamp’ (2006) by Lagerkvist, Lindgren, Lancken and Savstrom. The guide led us in a discussion about whether something could be decorative as well as functional. This inspired me to create a Bird Kettle. It could be used as a normal kettle but like a special china ornament, it could also stay in a display case or cabinet. The Bird Kettle could be decorative and functional at the same time.

Ovindee Year 6

This ‘Flamingo Lamp’ was inspired by an artwork called ‘Horse Lamp’ (2006) by Lagerkvist, Lindgren, Lancken and Savstrom, which I saw at the Year 6 virtual excursion to the NGV. We were introduced to the idea of how something could be designed to look good, like an ornament or sculpture, as well as perform a function. My ‘Flamingo Lamp’ could be useful as a lamp but still be decorative as a flamingo.

Year 4’s Unique Digi-cursion Learning Experiences

The girls in Year 4 were thrilled to participate in a series of online, live ‘digi-cursions’ throughout Term 3!

The first interactive session was with Robogals Monash; a student-run global organisation whose aim is to inspire, engage and empower young women into engineering and STEM related fields. Robogals Monash run engineering-based workshops for students all over Australia. Involving problem solving, teamwork, presentations of ideas and the exposure to engineering, the sessions were highly beneficial for our girls. They were introduced to multiple types of engineering and discussed how engineering impacts their everyday life. The girls also participated in an interactive quiz and had the opportunity to apply their understanding through a design element where they designed houses for extreme conditions.

The Year 4 students also engaged in 2 digi-cursion sessions with the Cyber Safety Project; an organisation who run entertaining and informative sessions designed to support, empower and equip students with the knowledge and skills to maintain their safety when connecting online. Through highly engaging education, the students discovered strategies to manage the extra time they are spending on technology during this current digital climate.

I used to think that engineering only meant building things but after the Robogals workshop today, I now know that there are many different types of engineering. I really enjoyed the video they showed us where the chicken was used to take videos with a little hat and camera strapped to its head. I loved the way they used the breakout rooms and the activities that we did, especially designing our own house.The Robogals session was interesting, inspiring and fun!

Matilda Year 4

The Year 4s had an extraordinary time with the Robogals. We learned that there were many types of engineering such as environment, material and way more. The Robogals taught us what their job is and other interesting things. Then we were separated into different break out rooms where we each had a teacher and a staff member from the Robogals. We had lots of fun competing in the competition. My group came second. Then we came back together to look at daily engineering gadgets that have made life easier. One of them was a little bump that rose up and down whenever someone drove too fast. The bump will raise up so the driver won’t get in a car accident. We then made an imaginary house in whatever habitat we wanted. My group used the sea. We had the BEST time ever. I am really grateful for their visit and hope that they could come back soon.

Sherry Year 4

I really enjoyed the Zoom-cursion run by the Robogals. One hour went so quickly and I wish it could have gone the whole day. The learning was joyful and creative. I picked up so much about engineering and it has inspired me to consider this as a future career. The type of engineering I think I would be most interested in is mechatronics and biomedical. Mechatronics might sound scary and difficult, but I actually think it is awesome to design and build something new by combining different technologies, such as electronics, computer science and software. Biomedical engineering is like a superpower of healing people. It is what we need the most right now to create new equipment or new ways to cure sick people.

Rebecca Year 4

l’ve always wondered what it would be like to create things that don’t just affect us but the whole world. I learnt that many creations made by engineers do just that, such as mobile phones and solar panels. Creative solutions like these have made our lives much easier, faster and better. From today’s Zoomcursion, I am now interested in Architectural Engineering because one of our activities was to create a house for an extreme condition using our imaginations.

Sophie Year 4

Cyber Safety Project Reflections

I really liked the Cyber Safety sessions. I found it interesting because the information was easy to understand and the presenters were organised . Something I learnt about keeping myself and my friends safe on the internet was to not post information about yourself. I used to think that it was silly not being allowed to play online games, but now I think that my mum was right and you have to be careful about what you do online because there can be people pretending to be your best friend and they are strangers.

Tiffany Year 4

I highly enjoyed the Cyber Safety incursion with Sam and Trent! They made it so much fun, and very interesting! They explained everything so clearly, and even let us watch them play Minecraft! I loved when Sam realized how risky the messages he sent were. They were such good actors, I would have never guessed the messages were fake if they weren’t cyber safety experts!

Sumithra Year 4

I really enjoyed the Digi-incursions, the teachers were really nice, funny and good at acting out things as if it were real! They taught me lots of things I didn’t know about cyber safety, such as not to post when you’re on a holiday and post it when you come back. A top tip I learnt is to think before you post.

I found the Cyber Safety Project Incursion very interesting and funny because Trent and Sam taught us many new things about cyber safety which will be really important in future days and years. It will also help us think about what we are posting online and how the post might make other people/strangers make assumptions about us. It was also very funny because their acting skills were very good.

Charmaine Year 4

I enjoyed the Cyber Safety Digi-Cursion because it was very educational and fun at the same time. I learnt that we should not share personal or private information to friends, neighbors or strangers. It was extremely funny and it has taught me many new things about Cyber Safety.

Hui-En Year 4