bandicoot bugleterm four 2012milestones, memos and musings from mylor primary school

Many hands...Many hands...

I can’t believe I’ve reached the end of my third year at

Mylor Primary School. Where has the time gone? It feels

like yesterday that I began the journey of rebuilding, yet

when I look back on 2012 and the years before it I’m

reminded, and proud, of our many achievements as a

school community.

continued overleaf...

top: Standing room only, the new sand proves popular.

above: The yard in all its glory.

Bushfi re season cleanupOn Sunday the 14th of October the school community worked together to help tidy the school ready for bushfi re season.

Approximately 40 parents and children came along and worked for a good half a day gardening, weeding, mulching, moving rubbish, cleaning the sandpit and refi lling with new sand. As the saying goes ‘Many hands make light work’ and this was true for the day as we had most jobs completed before the BBQ lunch. After a quick snag and a drink everybody pitched in moving the 5 tonne of sand into the sandpit.

By the end of the day the school looked like a new place, and we greatly appreciate all the hard work involved.

From the principal’s desk

This year in particular has seen a number of major milestones that have contributed to solidifying our school ethos and philosophy on education. We’ve continued with “Personalising Learning” as our major focus and coupled this with the mantra that “students are at the heart of everything we do”.

For the staff team, the learning and study tour to Melbourne provided an opportunity to evaluate our programs against other schools’, and expand our range of options for ensuring that every individual student at Mylor Primary School is developing as much as they possibly can during their time with us.

Scrutinising each of the three schools visited, asking deep questions about their pedagogy (the way in which teachers “teach”, or facilitate learning) and looking at their data and outcomes for students, is an experience that can’t be replicated by in-house training and development or accessing experts in the fi eld at conferences.

For the school community’s support in allowing your teachers the opportunity to grow and learn in this way, I deeply thank you.

From the principal’s desk continued

Other major milestones for the year 2012 have included:

• An upgrade of the Learning Areas, with the knocking out of walls and enlarging the wet area space on each side.

• The introduction of targeted master-classes to address the learning needs of individual students.

• A concerted effort to fi nd and promote authentic leadership opportunities for students, including the “Kids Teaching Kids” conference, our annual Book Week learning activities, leadership opportunities within school sport (Lightning Carnival) and more.

• Innovation and Research grant from the Department of Education and Child Development to interrogate best practice in Math education.

• Introduction of our world-class “Civics and Citizenship” program, which aims to teach our students to be informed, empowered and engaged citizens and decision makers.

• Participating in the “Empowering Local Schools” Federal Government initiative.

For me personally, the opportunity to participate in the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) Local Leadership program was defi nitely a highlight in 2012. The program began with two days initial training in Melbourne, where we were privileged to hear from some of the world’s leading experts in educational change, 21st century pedagogy, governance and school leadership.

I was particularly interested in Yong Zhao’s work around educating creative and entrepreneurial students.

I was fascinated and surprised to hear some of the 2011 statistics on youth unemployment (75 million aged 15-24 unemployed worldwide), and Yong’s personal crusade to challenge us as educators to focus on entrepreneurship and innovation in order to achieve the outcomes that will matter most to our 21st century students.

At the conclusion of the Melbourne training, we headed back to our respective sites, having made new Australian connections, and looking forward to implementing some of what we’d heard. For us at Mylor it was about looking for connections to our current work on personalising learning and fi nding ways to strengthen what we were already doing.

The second part of the AITSL program was an international experience. I traveled to London with a small group of school leaders from across the country and visited a number of schools rated as “Outstanding” in their recent Ofsted (UK Offi ce for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills) reports. I had the opportunity to work closely with the school heads to interrogate their change processes, ask questions about school-based programs, spend time in classrooms and debrief with other program participants on the train journeys back to the hotel.

The trip was a humbling experience, as I refl ected on the learning journey we’ve taken at Mylor. What we have at our school could not be possible without the dedication of teachers to remain at the forefront of 21st century learning, a supportive and encouraging school community, and the will to ensure that, at all times, we’re doing what we truly believe to be best for our students.

With this in mind, I’d like to thank all who’ve helped out during 2012, whether with a master-class, reading, excursion transport or covering books. Without these kind acts of generosity, and your continuing support, Mylor wouldn’t be the fantastic place it is.

I wish you and your families a happy and safe festive season and look forward to catching up in 2013. Cheers, Ngari

mylor primary school - Building the confi dence to thrive

top: Braydon getting the hang of his goggles.

centre: Maggy & Jacey prepare to take the plunge

above: Snorkelling the Port Noarlunga reef... da dum, da dum...

left: The surfers take to the water after a quick lesson, clockwise from top left, Aeddan catches a wave, the girls wait, Jack P tests his style on the sand, Maggy & Jeanne call it a day,

AquaticsBy Garth & Jack P • year 6

On the 28th of November Mylor and Scott Creek PS travelled by bus to Port Noarlunga. We left school at 8:00 and arrived at 9:30. It was a great day for Aquatics because it was very hot.

We got to choose from surfi ng, boogie boarding, snorkeling, kayaking and wave ski. We got to choose 4 activities. We spent approximately an hour and a half on each activity. Surfi ng and snorkeling were the most popular. The best instructors were Terry and Charlie. We had a great day and were very tired when we got home, but we are looking forward to next year.

This year at Presentation Night the children performed

the musical ‘Hoodwinked’. A modern and witty take

on the Robin Hood story which provided the

audience with different twists and laughs.

Hoodwinked

above: Robin and his Merry Men with some loot!

above: The Finale, featuring the entire cast.

right: Jacey the Announcer

far right: Ebony as a Jester.

The whole school enjoyed working on the play this term with a fantastic effort put in by all. There were many lunchtimes fi lled with the music of ’Hoodwinked’ as children practised in their own time.

An extra special mention should go to the all of the students who took on speaking parts this year, as it was great to see more and more students interested to become involved.

A big thanks also to Barry Dixson who helped out with the lighting in the hall, and to the staff, Miss Schirmer, Mr Haines and Miss K for ensuring the nights success.

DVD Copies of the nights performance will be available for sale at the beginning of the 2013 school year.

right: Ella F (Maid Marian) with the Noblewomen (from left)Adi, Wynter, Asherah, Emma, Meigan and Savanna

clockwise from top left:

Mr Haines hamming it up as Bob ‘Bullseye’ Baxter.

The villagers - Ailie, Liam B, Liam R, Adam, Velouria, Jeanne (partially hidden), Ellen & Ruby.

James (Sheriff’s guard), Garth (Little John), Will (Will Scarlett), Aeddan (Robin), Alex (Friar) & Ella F (Maid Marian)

The Friars - Logan, Moss, Alex & Jack T.

The Noble women join the rest of the chorus.

Cordy (Lady), Josh (Lord) speak with their servant Ella B

On Tuesday the 11th of December we held our annual Presentation Night. This year 26 students received awards for the completing the Premier’s Reading Challenge, with Jeanne Thomas, Ella Fielke, Maggy Anderson-Lindsay and Aeddan Turner receiving the ‘Reader for Life’ award for successfully taking part in the challenge for the previous eight years.

We then recognised those students that participated in the Oliphant Science Competition and presented their certifi cates for 2012.

2012 Student Awards

above: Gemma receives her Student of the Year Award from staff (from left) Susan Lewis, Kylie Kuchel, Jonah Haines, Lisa Smith, Kelsey Altman and Ngari Boehm.

left: The Jacobs family receiving a gift from Kevin Brogan (Governing Council) as a thankyou for their service to the school. All graduating faimilies were recognised with a similar presentation.

right: The graduating class (l to r)Aeddan, Jacey, Maggy, Braydon, Jeanne,

Gemma, Ruby and Ella F refl ecting on their time at Mylor.

This was followed by our presentation of student achievement awards where specifi c students from Reception to year 7 are recognised for academic improvement and achievement and service to the school.

This year the academic awards were presented to students who had shown signifi cant growth and development in different learning areas.

The service award was given to student who demonstrated initiative, leadership and courage to voice opinions in our student parliament.

Lastly the ‘Student of the Year’ Award was presented to Gemma Jacobs for epitomising everything that Mylor Primary School aims to skill our students with. Gemma is always true to herself.

She doesn’t give into peer pressure and will confi dently speak her mind. She is creative and curious, whilst also showing determination and perseverance when challenged or stretched.

above: Shane receives his Academic Achievement award from Nat Betts

(Governing Council).

right: Carl Reeves presents James with a Service Award.

below right: Liam R receives his Academic Achievement award from Karen Jacobs (Governing Council).

below: One group of students recognised for their participation on the Oliphant

Science Competition (l to r) James, Ricky, Jack M, Ethan,Ebony, Velouria and Adam.

top: Velouria receives an Academic Award from Darren Miller (Governing Council).

centre: Phil Palmer (Governing Council) presents Jack T with his Academic Award.

above: Kevin Brogan (Governing Council) presents Emma with her Academic Award.

left: Another group of students recognised for their participation on the Oliphant Science Competition (l to r) Shane, Will, Byron, Ella B, Ellen, Jim, Moss & Emma.

mylor primary school - Building the confi dence to thrive

By Reception - year 2

This term we have been learning about our needs and wants. Our needs are things that we have to have to live such as: food, water, clothing, fresh air and shelter. Our wants are things we want for Christmas, or from the shop such as: computers, guitars, makeup and toys. They are things that we can live without. To help us understand about our needs and wants we did mini projects. First we made a list of our needs and wants, then we discussed and compared out lists. To show our learning we made posters with pictures and labels of our own needs and wants.

Then we watched some videos about children who are not as lucky as us. We learnt that 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day. We then worked out what we can buy with $2.50 and realised that we should be a lot more careful with our money, because you can’t get much for $2.50.

We have learnt that we are very lucky that we live in Australia.

By Ricky • year 4, Josh • year 5 & Jack P • year 6

In Civics & Citizenship we looked at a needs pyramid and talked about what people need to live and to make our lives better. We decided we wanted to help others to have a better life.

Kiva is a website where you can lend money to people from all around the world who can’t get loans. There were four people who we wanted to lend money to. So we had a vote for a person who we would lend $25 to. The people’s names were Simon, Carlos, Edward and Leonard.

The person who got the most votes was Edward. Edward is a poor man with no wife; he owns a little food shop with only a little amount of food and supplies. He is from Kenya in Africa, we loaned to him because we did a project on Kenya. We were the fi rst people who lent money to him.

We hope he gets the rest of his loan soon.

Civics & Citizenship

Masterclass: Sea Shepherd

Masterclass: OrphanageBy Asherah • reception & Jack M • year 3

On Friday the 23rd of November a man called Rowan came in to talk to us about an orphanage in Kenya.

This tied into the work we have been doing in Civics and Citizenship about disadvantaged people and ways we can help. First he talked to us about Kenya, and then he showed us a video of the children from the orphanage doing a performance, dancing and singing.

One of the boys from the orphanage became a doctor and he is coming to Adelaide to go to Flinders University so he can get better skills to be a doctor.

He then showed us photos of the orphanage being built. Some people from Adelaide go over to Kenya twice a year to help.

By Kodi • year 2

On the 16th of November Kodi’s aunty and uncle came and talked to us about whaling and the Sea Shepherd. They showed us how big the icebergs are and how many whales have been killed because of whaling.

They showed us a video about whaling. Whaling is a very sad thing, they fi re harpoons at the whales. Kodi’s aunty and uncle go on little boats and they throw little packs of moldy butter, and nuts and bolts at the whalers.

Following this the anti-whaling action group organised a petition to help stop whaling.

The group listening intently to the presentation.

above: A display of the orphanage

right: Rowan speaking to the group.

In it to swim itright: We’re ready! Ned, Logan and

Jack T on the bus to Woodside

above: In 2016 We should have a number of Mylor students representing Australia

in syncronised swimming...

right: Braydon, Byron, Ethan and Shane discuss their syncronised swimming routine.

mylor primary school - Building the confi dence to thrive

At the beginning of the term we had a student free day so the staff could attend and present at a conference about innovation in education. The main speaker for the day was Professor Dylan William, with small workshops throughout the day being run by SA innovative schools.

Dylan William is a world-renowned educator and researcher, specialising in Assessment for Learning. Assessment for Learning is about providing students with effective communication and feedback to improve their learning. There are 5 main areas -

Learning Intentions - explicitly telling students what you are expecting them to learn from the lesson.

Success Criteria - explicitly telling students what they need to demonstrate in order to complete the learning tasks successfully.

Strategic Questioning - using different strategies to question students about their learning and understanding

Effective Feedback - providing students with authentic feedback they can act on to move their learning forward

Student Self-Assessment - students looking critically at their learning and identifying ways to improve.

As a school we have been learning about and implementing the Assessment for Learning strategies through our learning programs for the last 18 months. While there are some strategies we are comfortable with and use regularly, there are many that we are still tweaking. After listening to Dylan William speak about how effective the strategies are in improving student learning and showing us the data to back it up we all came away feeling inspired and determined to use them more regularly within our learning programs.

At the end of the day we had the opportunity to present what we have been doing for our Maths research. We talked to a small group about changing our teaching methodology to deepen student’s understandings. We spoke about the successes and challenges we have faced and how the methods we are implementing are improving students understanding of Mathematical concepts and our understanding of how they think.

2012 school swimming

Innovation Conferenceleft: Josh practicing the safety jump.

below: Adam and Ethan having fun!

clockwise from top left: Velouria getting some fl oating tips from the instructor.

Kaitlin, Cordy, Ned and Liam B ready for the kickboard race.

The receptions listen carefully to the instructor.

The syncronised swimmers take a break...

When given problematised situations children are given a problem that can be worked out in a variety of ways e.g. ‘If I need to pay for something worth $1, but only have silver coins how could I pay?’ These types are problems are designed for children to really show their understanding and can be scaled up or down according to their needs.

Miss Schirmer’s group

This term we have continued using the Back-to-Front method of questioning. We have also been using Ann Baker’s mental computation strategies and problematised situations. Each Thursday we have been spending 2 hours on Numeracy – 1 hour on learning mental computation strategies and 1 hour working on problematised situations.

Mental computation strategies are strategies children can use to solve everyday problems, they allow children to explain their thinking and to use strategies that suit their needs and understanding. As a result children are now using a common language when working with number, they can recognise and name strategies such as ‘Doubles’, Rainbow Facts’, ‘Near Doubles’ and ‘Friendly Numbers’.

It is very satisfying to hear Receptions explaining their thinking using the same terms as year 3’s.

Mr Haines’ group

After focusing on very big numbers in term 3 it was very small numbers in term 4. The students learnt about decimal fractions and worked through some challenging problems.

Understanding number and place value has underpinned our work on addition and subtraction with regrouping.

We have learnt and used a number of different strategies to solve these types of problems and students have been encouraged to share their preferred strategy with peers. Students also worked on choosing the right strategy for a particular problem.

Problem solving has been a focus too this term and skills such as working out which number operation is required and how to backtrack using the known information have been explicitly taught and practiced. There have been some very diffi cult problems to solve and all students have been challenged.

What has been great to see is everybody be persistent and working hard until they have an answer. The teacher’s role has been to guide thinking through questioning and this has meant the students doing all the thinking themselves and consequently all the learning.

Term 4 Numeracy

right: Logan & Wynter learning about calculators.

far right: Meigan solving a problem about cupcakes.

below right: Adi learning how to handle her money.

right top: Meigan & Logan reading a book about number.

right: The whole group working on skip counting.

We also worked with partitioning numbers and were given problems such as “Amy has 15 birds. She wants to put them into 2 cages. What different ways could she do this?” Students used drawings, blocks and counters to work out this problem until they realised there was a pattern that made it simpler to solve. Once they knew the pattern, it got much easier until they were given the challenge to work out the different ways she could do this if she had 3 cages. That certainly got us thinking!

While sometimes it has been easy to solve a problem, the real challenge has been explaining the processes they used to solve it. Developing the skills and language to verbalise their understanding and to really think about what a question is asking us to do has been an important step in our learning.

Miss K’s group

This term we have continued using the Back to Front maths program as a basis for much of what we do, alongside more ‘skill and drill’ type tasks to improve our knowledge and fl uency of addition and subtraction.Spending time learning the concepts of addition and subtraction with trading was necessary to become better able to problem solve with word problems, such as “Ryan and Ben have saved $56 towards the computer game they want to buy. They need $22 more. How much money do they need to buy the game?”

As a group we initially found these problems diffi cult to solve, but became much better at thinking about what the question was asking and what we needed to do to fi nd a solution.

Mrs Boehm’s group

This term we started off continuing with our work with the ‘Back to Front’ math strategy. Whilst this way of working proved diffi cult for some, we all enjoyed the challenge of having to present our thinking and come up with alternative strategies to work things out. For some of us it has really helped our problem solving and reasoning skills, as we have had to articulate how we have come up with particular answers to problems and prove how we know that they are right.

The teachers have been giving us lots of feedback and stretching our brains with all of the questions they have been asking.

top: Problem solving Mylor style

above: Liam R & Adam choosing a suitable strategy

right: Cordy on a shopping trip.

below: The group working with one of the visiting teachers

above: Ebony working out how much she can spend.

For the remaining part of the term, the year sevens have been working on ‘getting ready for high school’ and fi nding any gaps we still had in our learning.

Initially Mrs. Boehm came up with a list of all of the concepts outlined in the Year 7 Australian Curriculum. We then had to individually go through the list and mark particular concepts we were unsure of, or thought a quick revision of might help.

During Math time we then worked through a series of practice questions to make sure we were on the right track. Once we were confi dent that we understood the concept, we marked it off and moved on to the next piece of learning. To fi nish it all off, we had to design a math test for another student with all of the concepts in it.

Miss Schirmer’s group

This term for literacy we have adapted the ‘Daily 5’ to suit our needs. We start each morning going through the fi rst 100 sight words. We then read to a partner who is at a similar reading level. We fi nish by practicing our handwriting.

By completing these 3 activities each day there has been improvement in all areas. Children are using their decoding strategies to help each other read to each other, they have gained a better knowledge of their sight words and their handwriting has improved. Each week we have had a different focus – reading, writing, spelling and literacy strategies.

As part of reading we have unjumbled sentences, completed drawing tasks by reading instructions, read big books and completed comprehension tasks. For writing we have learnt how to write procedures through drawing tasks and making fairy bread.

Miss K’s group

In writing we have been working on sentences and narratives. We have worked at developing a better understanding of sentence structure, hence making sentences more interesting in our stories. We have completed activities that require us to practise making sentences that include a subject, verb and predicate.

Further into the term we looked at narratives, gaining a better grasp of the text structure, language and using our new knowledge about sentences in our own stories.

Reading lessons have occurred weekly, practising our reading through reader’s theatre, where students read scripts for a play and even got the opportunity to dress up and perform. We also had lessons that focused on developing better skills to identify inferences (inferred meaning) from the text. All students have made pleasing progress with their reading and have become confi dent independent readers.

We have learnt about how stories are structured, then wrote and typed our own stories. We have completed individual spelling activities based on the Oxford Wordlist. We have learnt about rhyming words, syllables, vowels and consonants and sentence structure.

We have had a very productive term full of different activities to enhance our learning.

above (l to r): Kaitlin, Velouria and Ethan reading from a script. While Adam practices his lines

and Will tries out a pretty cute costume.

above: Logan constructing his fairy bread

right: Savanna & Emma reading

Term 4 Literacy

Mr Haines’ group

Many of the students in our Literacy group had been reading Choose Your Own Adventure stories, so we decided to each write our own. It is a diffi cult thing to do as the students found out.

To begin they constructed detailed plans of all the different possible story lines. These grew and grew as the authors added new questions for their future readers. Some grew so big they needed 5 A3 pages stuck together to fi t it all on! Once the plans were complete a draft was written and everybody had a conference with Mr Haines to run through the story and make sure all the ‘choose your own adventure’ questions went to the right pages and it all made sense. Proof reading and editing have been a big focus this term so any errors were identifi ed and the students corrected them themselves.

Mrs Boehm’s group

This term in Literacy we have been concentrating on different forms of writing. In particular we have looked at information reports and explanations.

For each type of text we have looked at the specifi c requirements needed to make a good example, the language features used, and where these particular texts might be found outside of our school environment.

We have deconstructed examples of each text, and have highlighted the different parts of the text. We then have used this information and learnt to construct our own examples.

During this process we have been focusing on ‘drafting’ and how having multiple drafts and collecting feedback from both the teachers and peers can improve our work dramatically. It has been really interesting to look back at what we started with and compare this to what we actually hand up for marking.

When we recently gave feedback to the teachers about some of the Assessment for Learning strategies they were using in the classroom, lots of us highlighted ‘drafting’ as a strategy that was really helping us to become better writers.

right: Garth receiving help from one of the visiting teachers.

below: Ebony, Ella B and Jack M.

bottom right: The lads working hard.

far left: Ned & Henry check out a reader.

left: Meigan writes out the fairy bread recipe.

Finally a published copy was made into a book that all the students enjoyed sharing with their peers. There are some wonderful stories of battles and spies.

Our Literacy group continued to read novels of the students’ choice and work on comprehension activities. With the long summer break ahead it is a perfect time to do lots of reading at home. I am sure all our Literacy group will be asking Father Christmas for a new book!

By Emma & Jack T • Reception, Eirinn • year 1

This term we have been doing a lot of different art projects with Ms Wilson. Some of the pieces we have created are ‘Snakes in the Grass’, ‘Skulls for Halloween’ and ‘Underwater Hippo’.

‘Snakes in the Grass’ – We had to paint the snakes and then we got to put some glitter on the snakes. Then we cut out the grass and hid the snakes on our paper. It was fun; I want to do it again please. – Emma

‘Skulls for Halloween’ – This is how you make a skull – Draw a skull, colour it in, draw fl owers and stick it onto black paper. - Eirinn

‘Underwater Hippo’ – First we used oil pastels to colour our Hippos. Then we drew the water line, and painted over the top. We also drew seaweed and other things. – Jack T.

During term 4 Margie has been working with Miss Schirmer’s literacy group on explicit activities designed to meet their individual needs. One group have been working on their fi ne motor skills (these help with handwriting) by completing tasks such as making miniature animals, painting with fi ne brushes, colouring detailed pictures and cut and paste activities. Another group has been focusing on rhyming words by completing puzzles and playing bingo, while another have been working on syllables. By working in small groups, each child’s needs can be met and they can concentrate on specifi c skills.

Art with Ms Wilson

Small Group Work

left: Wynter making minature animals.

right (l to r): Wynter, Alex and Adi working on a puzzle.

By Byron • year 4, James, Shane & Benjamin • year 5

Minecraft is a game we play at home, you might have heard of it, but Minecraft for schools is structured and good for Maths.

We thought we should bring it to Mylor for learning. First the proposal for Minecraft had to be put through Student Parliament. There was heavy campaigning before hand and we formed a Minecraft action group. We made a bunch of posters and wrote speeches. We each had to write about Minecraft for schools and why it could help our learning. The aim was to convince at least half the school to vote for it. The proposal was passed because nearly every student voted for it.

We are coming up with the rules of Minecraft so now it is up to the teachers to decide the fate of Minecraft.

During week 7 we had 4 students from the University of South Australia visit the school to complete their fi rst year practicum placement. Damien, Jackson, Melissa and Courtney each worked with a member of staff, observing how we taught, observing children and teaching their own lessons. During their time with us they each taught literacy and numeracy lessons, while helping out throughout the rest of the day.

Visiting Teachers

Student ParliamentThis term we made a Student Parliament, where we negotiate things we would like to happen at school and talk about issues we might have. We talk about issuesthat students care about such as Minecraft, stationery and rubbish. We have a timekeeper, a clerk and a speaker. We have put together arguments to try to pass proposals. All students have a chance to say something and it is a good way to talk about our issues.

top: Student Parliament in session

above & right: First meeting of the Minecraft action group, then time to start the campaign.

Minecraft Proposal

Mr. Haines needs to be congratulated for the time and effort he has put into getting the Student Parliament up and running. It is obvious that a lot of thought and planning has gone into the fi ner details and the children are all benefi tting from his efforts.

mylor primary school - Building the confi dence to thrive

While the week was a huge learning curve for the student teachers, it was also learning experience for us. We were able to refl ect on our own teaching methodology and philosophies. It was evident that we have a very unique learning environment at Mylor and that we are providing students with a personalised approach. The student teachers commented on the strong relationships staff have with students and the level of respect that goes with them.

During their time at Mylor we introduced the students teachers to current teaching techniques such as Assessment for Learning, which helped improve their own lessons and teaching styles.

The children all enjoyed having an extra adult in the room to help during tasks and benefi tted from the experience.

active after school: FencingBy Ella, Ebony • year 3 & Josh • year 5

Every Wednesday until December the 5th we did fencing for Active After School Sports. Fencing is a sport where you fi ght with swords. You need to wear protection like a helmet, a jacket and shoulder pad. The three types of swords are called a foil, saber and epée. Each week we played different games that helped us learn the correct fencing position to stand in.

These games were things like picking the glove up with a sword or balancing gloves on different body parts. We learnt the rules on how to start and fi nish a fi ght and then in the last weeks we got to fi ght against each other using the proper equipment.

We all had lots of fun and learnt a lot about fencing.

above (l to r): Ella B, Ailie, Kaitlin, Ethan, Jim, Garth, Byron and James sharpen their technique.

below (l to r): Jim, Liam B and Braydon get a feel of the different swords.

above: Jacey looking the part.

top: En garde! Maggy and Liam B begin their bout. And right: the winner is Liam B, they say the apple doesn’t

fall far from the tree!

mylor primary school - Building the confi dence to thrive

above: Asherah & Adi get groovy.

above left & left: Mr Haines gives Ella B a lesson in DJ technique - the fade between songs...

Lesson learnt, time to rock this joint!

top: Meigan, Adi, Savanna, Asherah and Kaitlin get freaky

above: Jim show his style.

below: Yes kids, these black disks play music!

60s Dress up DayBy Jacey & Ruby • year 7

This year the year 7s did a variety of fundraisers to support our expenses to go to Canberra. For one of these fundraisers we held groovy sixties dress up and hot donut day. We asked everyone to bring four dollars and dress up like they were from the sixties and they would get a cup of donuts with cinnamon sugar.

While our secret D.J. (Mr. Haines) was spinning some tunes. The junior primary children enjoyed having a dance on the decking, and some children even had a turn at spinning some tunes themselves.

One of the highlights of the day was when we got to eat all the left over donut cups. It was a really great day that raised a lot of money for our Canberra trip.

By Ella B • year 3, James & Josh • year 5

On Sunday the 11th of November some children from school took part in the local Remembrance Day Service. We went to the war memorial across the road from the school.

Josh and Ella were in charge of raising the fl ag after the one minute silence. James read the ‘Ode of Remembrance and introduced the minute silence.

After the raising the fl ag all of the children at the service placed a cross with a poppy on it around the memorial. This was to show our respect and remember all of the people who have died in wars.

We believe that Remembrance Day is an important day because it remembers the sacrifi ces people made for us to have a better life and future.

Remembrance Day

above left: James pausing for the minute silence after delivering the ‘Ode to Remembrance’

above right: Ella B & Josh raising the fl ag.

left: Staff and students during the service.

right: Jack M, Ned, Jack T, Kaitlin, Ethan and Wynter placing a cross at the memorial.

By Logan, Alex & Safari • reception

Michael and Deanna Barry have been running gardening Masterclasses this term. We have planted seeds and we water them everyday. We are growing beans, caulifl ower and tomatoes. We got to pick some beans and eat them; they were really yummy.

Some other jobs we did were pulling out weeds and digging holes for plants.

Masterclass: Gardening

mylor primary school - Building the confi dence to thrive

This term in Indonesian all learning groups have been learning how to use adjectives in Indonesian descriptive sentences. We have also been spending time revising colours and numbers with many students accessing activities and games on moodle.

The students have also been learning about Irian Jaya and how people live. We have also recently received our ‘Pinky’ orangutan a small teddy of the orphaned orangutan we have adopted. The younger children love to look after him during Indonesian lessons.

Term 4 Indonesian

left: James researching Irian Jaya.

above: Ricky making notes on what he’s discovered.

right: Seeking info on the interweb.

left & below: Ethan & Kody with Pinky, and showing the class where the adopted orangutan lives.

Year 7 Canberra TripBy the year 7s

During Week 5 the year 7’s went to Canberra. This trip was possible because of the PACER grant, which gave each child a rebate for visiting National Monuments and the fundraising we did throughout the year. We began by meeting in Verdun late on the Sunday afternoon, ready for a 16-hour bus ride to Canberra. After our long bus ride we went to the Telstra Tower

There we looked over Canberra. From there we went to Mt Ainslie and saw Canberra from a different angle. Next stop was Regatta Point. Regatta Point looked out across the man-made lake. While we were there we learnt about how Canberra was planned and built. We learnt that the design for Canberra was a competition won by an American called Walter Burley-Griffi n and his wife.

Our last stop for the day was the Governor General’s house. While we were there we learnt about the different medals given out to Australians for service to the country. We then had a tour of the house and Ella got to sit in the Royal Rolls Royce.

Finally we were able to check into Sundown Village motel where we were staying for the week.

top: The travelling party.

above: The Mylor gang from left,Braydon, Aeddan, Maggy, Jacey,

Ruby, Jeanne, Ella F & Gemma.

We began day 2 by visiting Parliament House. There we were given a tour of all the chambers and had the chance to participate in a mock debate. From Parliament House we went to the National Museum of Australia. Our favourite part was the revolving theatre and watching Aeddan try to dance. That night we had our fi rst recreational activity, laser skirmish. We all loved laser skirmish, Jeanne decided that she would keep shooting at her own teammates.

On the Wednesday we started at the National Gallery of Australia, where we saw ‘Blue Poles’. We spent all of Wednesday afternoon at the War Memorial. While there we all gained a greater understanding and appreciation for what the soldiers sacrifi ced for the good of Australia. We also saw the changing of the guard, as they practiced for Remembrance Day.

That night we went to the CSIRO. We learnt that they invented Wi-Fi and that the entire poem ‘The Man from Snowy River’ is printed on the $10 note in micro writing.

On Thursday we started with a walk down ANZAC parade. After walking the parade we visited the High Court of Australia. We were able to sit in on a hearing, and although we didn’t know what they were talking about we knew the Barrister was failing miserably at winning his argument.

During our visit to the National Library we learnt that there is a book bound in human skin containing terrible poems.

mylor primary school - Building the confi dence to thrive

above: Maggy & Gemma at Old Paliament House

centre top & middle: Ruby visits the CSIRO. While Maggy & Gemma get aquainted

with a stick insect

centre below: Learning about the types of medals, such as the Victoria Cross.

below: Aeddan & Braydon...

bottom: Jacey searching the names at the War Memorial.

The highlight of the day was Questacon. We experienced an earthquake; free falling from 7 metres and Braydon beat the robot at air hockey. Thursday night we went bowling, where Ruby thought she was the queen of the strikes, but came second to last.

Our last day was jam-packed. We began by going to Old Parliament House where Gemma was the clerk during our role-play and was excited to dress up in the robes and wig. We then went to the Australian Electoral Commission where we learnt about the voting system and participated in our own election. Next stop was the Australian Mint. We saw some interesting coins such as a square kookaburra penny. Our last stop before leaving for home was the AIS. We were given a tour by one of the athletes and then went into the games room where Jacey and Maggy had a chin up competition, Jacey won.

Finally we were let loose in the shopping mall for an hour before leaving Canberra.

Overall Canberra was a fun and exciting learning experience for us all.

Can you believe that another term has fi nished already! And can you believe its almost Christmas! This last term has been very busy and rewarding. Many times I’ve been caught with a chicken under each arm rescuing them, stopping them from escaping or carrying them out of unwanted places, and I’ve often regretted wearing open shoes when caught in a game of soccer with the boys.

Developing the ‘What’s the Buzz’ program with a small group of students has been good fun for all involved and hopefully those students are continuing to develop their skills.

It’s almost Christmas...We have also done lots of fun Glitter Girls activities this term, and many great conversations and chess games have been had with students out in the yard.

To all of the school community, enjoy your well-earned holiday and take time to relax and rejuvenate.

I hope that your Christmas and the coming year be fi lled with the love that Jesus brings. Have a wonderful, safe and happy holiday.

Cannot wait to see you all next year!Blessings always, Kelsey

The Governing Council and Staff of Mylor Primary School would like to wish all students and their families a very Merry Christmas and hope you have a safe and relaxing holiday.

We look forward to seeing you all in 2013.

Strathalbyn Road Mylor SA 5153

phone 08 8388 5345

Principal Ngari Boehm | Ngari.Boehm827@schools.sa.edu.au

www.mylorps.sa.edu.au