Year 5 reflect on The Lion King Jnr.

Two weeks on, there are still so many conversations about the 2017 Years 5 and 6 Musical resounding in Babreck. The memories appear to have made quite the impact and and the learning opportunity and experiences will acknowledged.

Below for reader enjoyment, we offer just a few quotes from our Year 5 cast members:

I learnt to work together with different girls in my group and I loved watching the show come together with the lighting and sound. The costumes were amazing, I wish I could have kept mine. This play has inspired me to do more acting in the future. I will never forget this experience.

Katharine Soutter (Year 5)

I love that Chris worked us through all the steps carefully and used all her time to make the Lion King Jr. happen. I loved that Mrs Dodd helped all the people that were confused with what to do. I love how creative the costumes looked and how it perfectly blended together.

Hannah Wong (Year 5)

I enjoyed going on stage and performing. I loved learning the dances and the exciting buzz.

Scarlet Westaway (Year 5)

I liked the Lion King Jr. because everyone tried so hard to make the show perfect. 

Sissi Zheng (Year 5)

Being in the Lion King Jr. production, was a great experience. I loved learning the dances and singing along to the songs. When I saw the play come together I realised all the hard work had paid off, and that all the little things really made the play great.

Sienna Bamford (Year 5)

My experience for the Lion King Jr. was amazing, as it was the first ever play that I got a main part.

I loved the joyful colour filled songs but my favourite had to be Hakuna Matata as the change between the two characters was fun and exciting!

Nadia Mohamed (Year 5)

My favourite part was Hukuna Matata, as it was so much fun to perform in. Timon and Pumba were funny. The audience also made it fun as they clapped and laughed loudly during the performances.

Karen Ai (Year 5)

The Lion King Jr. was a great experience, no matter what character you were everyone participated and had a good time. The play was humorous and it had so many little details that were fun to perform.

Ellie Loupasakis (Year 5)

The performance of the Lion King Jr. was a lot of fun. I enjoyed learning the dances that I was in. I also enjoyed working with the other Lion cubs and seeing it all come together at the end.

Saskia Schwarz (Year 5)

I really enjoyed seeing how backstage works during our Lion King Jr. experience. I found out how much effort goes into a show, and how much you have to practise. I loved seeing everyone participate, and how everyone helped to make the costumes, the masks and the leaves.

Zara Johnston (Year 5)

Emphasis upon Communication and Manners

Underscored frequently in Barbreck is the necessity to listen attentively in class and also when interacting with others. Listening and eye contact are essential skills as is the use of sound grammar and using an audible, clear voice when communicating. Role modelled by teachers, students are often reminded of the need to communicate with clarity and respect for self and others. In particular, we are currently articulating the need to avoid the insertion of extraneous words in sentences. Trends occur from time to time and of noted frequency recently has been the use by some, in spoken sentences of extraneous words, such as ‘you know’, ‘like’ and ‘whatever?’

Such matters require the attention of all adults who overhear this as these sorts of insertions, whilst inappropriate, can quickly lead to habits which can be difficult to break. We thank parents for joining us in this matter.

Writing in Prep

The Prep students love writing! From the very early beginnings in February 2017, the girls love of writing has grown each day and the development astonishing. Both Mrs Jessica Easton whilst she was with us in Term 1 and now Miss Annie Taylor, have ensured sound skill growth and the results are evidence of explicit teaching, excellent guidance and ample opportunity.

The small number of samples below identify the passion for writing evident in Prep and the excellent guidance offered by the teachers.

Literacy All Around Us

Literacy is embedded in all that we do in the Junior School. We ensure we make the most of every opportunity to build the literacy skills of the students, whether it be through a reading, writing lessons or out on the playing field during a PE lesson.

As teachers, we recognise that teaching literacy is the responsibility of every teacher. While much of the explicit teaching of literacy occurs in the English learning area, literacy is much more than just that one subject area.  Literacy encompasses the knowledge and skills students need to access, understand, analyse and evaluate information, make meaning, express thoughts and emotions, present ideas and opinions, interact with others and participate in activities at school and in their lives beyond school. The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA 2008) recognises literacy as an essential skill for students in becoming successful learners and as a foundation for success in all learning areas.

As teachers and parents, we can strengthen and build our girls’ literacy skills simply by recognising and utilising the opportunities around us. Next time you are at school, consider all the opportunities your daughter has to build her literacy skills and encourage her practice across a wide range of contexts. Every day your daughter is building on her literacy skills through her involvement in class, activity or co-curricular program.

Not YET – developing a growth mindset

As I was walking through the classrooms, I noticed a poster hanging in the 1B classroom titled ‘things we can’t do YET’ and it brought to the front of my mind the importance of creating a growth mindset with our students. A very simple strategy we can all adopt is language ‘not yet’ when the girls come across something they do not yet know, understand or can solve, as well as focusing our praise on effort, strategy, process and personal growth rather than just outcome.

Carol Dweck is a leading researcher in the area of Growth Mindset, and through her work reinforces the idea of building a culture of ‘not yet’ in our learning communities, in turn building greater resilience, problem solving capacity and perseverance within our children – all skills we know they will need to be successful in their future.

Below is a link to a TED talks by Carol Dweck about ‘the power off believing that you can improve’. I would encourage parents to take the time to watch the short clip, and possibly do some further of Derek’s research. It is a fascinating field and there is some very interesting research around the area.

Click here: 

Exerts from the above TED talks…

‘Just the words “yet” or “not yet,” we’re finding, give kids greater confidence, give them a path into the future that creates greater persistence. And we can actually change students’ mindsets.’

‘..we can praise wisely, not praising intelligence or talent. That has failed. Don’t do that anymore. But praising the process that kids engage in, their effort, their strategies, their focus, their perseverance, their improvement. This process praise creates kids who are hardy and resilient.

Ms Catherine Samuel, Deputy Head of Junior School

Nut Awareness

St Catherine’s is a Nut Aware School. We remind parents that students must not bring nut/nut products (eg. Nutella/Peanut Butter) to School.  We have a number of students who are anaphylactic to nuts of all varieties within the school and we ask all families to observe the School policy with regard to this matter.

Arrival time for school 8.10am-8.30am

Students, unless engaged in an early morning scheduled co-curricular program (Junior Joggers/STEM in the mornings/Epstein rehearsals/netball training/Athletics training with SS students etc) should not arrive at school until 8.10am. School commences promptly at 8.30am.

Staff are on Duty outdoors and also in classroom areas from 8.10am.

A number of students are arriving extremely early and the time for some appears to be becoming increasingly earlier.

Staff have many tasks to do before 8.10am and are often engaged in small group meetings, photocopying, printing student work or involved in interviews. Classrooms are not made available until 8.10am.  Supervision and safety are at the heart of this request to parents.

In addition, students arriving early are frequently engaged with using their mobile phones prior to handing them to staff for the day. This habit can be a worry with sound decisions about the use of the phone difficult to make when time is ample.

In anticipation, we thank parents for their understanding and cooperation.