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The Oak Leaf |
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Address: Willett Avenue, Oak Park VIC 3046
T:(03) 9306 9182 E: Michael.Gill@education.vic.gov.au |
Issue 27
September 2nd 2021 |
Oak Park Primary School will work collaboratively to provide a stimulating, safe and challenging learning environment that promotes resilient, innovative thinkers.
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Calendar of Events
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Principal's Column
Thank You Video and Fun Friday Dear Families, Thank you for your continued support during the current remote learning period. We have had strong engagement with students online, with very high attendance rates for students in remote learning; an average of 97.87% across the last 8 days of attendance data. Thanks for all your engagement in our recent Fun Friday. It was great to see students enjoying a day focussing on interesting alternate activities to support their wellbeing. An additional thank you to everybody that responded with a video to thank staff for all their efforts this term. The video was shared during a whole-staff meeting, our staff were grateful for the support and acknowledgement from our wonderful community. We appreciate School Council support, David Lu’s editing and every person that contributed to make this happen. Strong NAPLAN Results We begin this week’s newsletter with a snapshot of our school’s results in this year’s national testing program (NAPLAN). I believe in a very transparent approach to the sharing of this information, as part of our school’s continuous improvement journey. In summary, the students who participated in this year’s NAPLAN testing will receive their individual reports shortly via mail. It is important that this information is considered alongside the comprehensive student achievement data provided through the school’s proficiency scales and student reports.
Student Leadership – House Names and Mascots
Please keep the contributions coming for student drawings of our new house mascots. The houses are now named using natural elements and native animals selected as mascots (Orange bellied Parrot, Corroboree Frog, Eastern Barn Bandicoot and Tasmanian Devil). If your child has a drawing they’d like to contribute, please take a photo of their creation and email it to michael.gill@education.vic.gov.au. We are hoping to make some posters and signs around the school using their artwork. Two great contributions from Leo and Santiago are included below.
Kind regards,
Michael Gill Acting Principal |
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Potato Olympics - Part 2
This term, Oak Park PS held its very own Olympics- The POTATO OLYMPICS! The Potato Olympics, developed by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, is an amusing and engaging way for students to explore the numeracy in Olympic events through their potato athlete. Students explored how Mathematics is used in a variety of Olympic events and sport overall. Oak Park students thoroughly enjoyed creating potato athletes and explored a wide range of mathematical concepts over a two-week period. Some year levels were lucky enough to commence their Potato Olympics at school whilst others recreated their own Olympic stage at home during remote learning. It was great to see students so excited and enthusiastic about Maths and the Olympics!
Grade 4 The Grade 4s developed their potato athletes during home learning in preparation for their events on return to school. The excitement was overwhelming as each station was set up and the ‘Olympic Officials’ (Ihsan and Kingsley) roamed the classroom to ensure all events were up to Olympic standard. Overall, we had plenty of fun competing against other ‘spud’ countries and got to learn about measurement along the way. Here’s what some of the contestants had to say: Roza 4P – I learnt that small potatoes are easier to slide down a ramp instead of big potatoes because a small potato won’t get stuck in the ramp and they are fast so they can go down further. The big potatoes are very slow once they hit the ground. Zara 4P – I learnt that big fat vegetables have a harder time balancing than skinny ones. The purpose of the balance event was to see which vegetable could balance on the least amount of pick up sticks. I liked the ramp event overall because it was fun when a potato went over the limit of the tape measure and we had to add rulers.
Grade 5/6
In 5M, we have been investigating units of measurement for length. The students used paper and masking tape to build ramps for different balls to roll down. They estimated the distance the balls would travel and then measured the actual distances with measuring tape. “We were on a roll!” Saraansh. “I think that the mass of the ball made a difference to the distance that it travelled,” Cagan. “My estimates were way off! The balls travelled further than I expected.” Mia
Thank you to all students and teachers for making the Oak Park Potato Olympics 2021 such a successful event. Oak Park looks forward to hosting the next Potato Olympics in 2024! Keep training those Potato Athletes!
Marina Plesa- Saffar, Mathematics Specialist Grade 3 News
As part of our Inquiry unit on Discovery, the Grade 3s created their own dioramas based on what they thought the First Fleet’s arrival at Botany Bay looked like. The students used their brilliant creative skills and sourced different materials from around their home to create their dioramas including boxes, sticks, rocks, Lego pieces and paint to name a few. Well done to all our students on the effort they put into their dioramas. Here are just few examples of some of their brilliant work! 
Foundation News
This week the Foundation students listened to the story ‘Wombat Stew’ and had a go at making their own wombat stews. Lots of the students went for walks around their neighbourhood, backyard or house to find different things to put in. We saw flowers, gumnuts, mud and even jelly! Have a look at our great writing recounting the experience. Well done Foundation students! 
School Contacts
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