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A message from Emily.
St Alipius Principal | Emily ClarkeA message from Emily.
Ga-Ga-Go!
I am sure many of you are now familiar with these words! The Gaga Pit was launched at the start of Term 3 and has been an absolute hit. With the building works taking place and parts of the turf being impacted, we thought we would add something to the yard that would bring some joy upon the students return. I have been so impressed with how well our students have played together, demonstrating fairness and encouragement as everyone learns a new game.
This week we have celebrated NAIDOC Week. The theme 'For our Elders' has been our inspiration as we celebrate the impact First Nations peoples have had on our community. Thank you for always embracing this week and being a community open to learning, reconciliation and appreciation of the diversity that exists at St Alipius.
It has been a busy time of year for school camps. Our Year 3 and Year 4/5 students returned from camp last term and our Year 6 students are about to embark on their Anglesea camp next week. Camps offer a transformative environment that encourages personal development. Away from their usual routines, students have the opportunity to develop self-confidence, independence, and resilience as they face challenges and overcome obstacles. They discover their strengths, build character, and learn to adapt to new situations, which are invaluable skills for their future endeavours. I appreciate all the feedback we received regarding the future of school camps. It's very clear that camp is a valued part of our program and we will endeavour to continue to offer these experiences for our students.
In the coming weeks we will be holding our Learning Conferences. Learning Conferences provide a valuable platform for collaboration and parental engagement. It allows for the opportunity to actively participate in your child's education, gaining insights into their academic strengths, challenges, and overall progress. Bookings are currently open and can be booked via your PAM account.
I would also like to take the opportunity to thank all parents who provided feedback via the Tell Them From Me survey. Parental feedback serves as a catalyst for continuous improvement within our school. By actively seeking input from parents, we gain valuable perspectives on various aspects of the educational experience, such as curriculum, school culture, classroom experiences, extracurricular activities, and school reporting. This feedback helps us identify areas of strength and areas that require refinement, allowing us to adapt and evolve in alignment with the needs and expectations of our community. We have taken on this feedback and have set ourselves some clear goals to pursue in light of this feedback.
Enjoy this wonderful edition of our newsletter!
Emily
A Glimpse into Our Learning Communities.
Open to God's presence, St Alipius is a Catholic learning community of excellence, equity, and empowerment.A Glimpse into Our Learning Communities.
As learners, we are COLLABORATIVE | REFLECTIVE | PERSISTENT | CREATIVE & INQUISITIVE.
Year 1/2 Learning Community
Year 1/2 Learning Community
S.T.E.M (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) Learning with an emphasis on team work and collaboration.
Coding to create digital solutions.
Digital Technologies curriculum:
In Foundation to Level 2, students are introduced to common digital systems and patterns that exist within data.Students organise, manipulate and present data information, including numerical, categorical, text, image, audio and video data, in creative ways to create meaning.
Physical Education Y1/2
Physical Education Y1/2
Football skills thanks to the Western Bulldogs.
Year 1/2 Learning Community
Year 1/2 Learning Community
In Levels 1 & 2 the Money & Financial Mathematics curriculum guides us to:
- Recognise, describe and order Australian coins according to their value.
- Count and order small collections of Australian coins and notes according to their value.
Year 4/5 Learning Community
Year 4/5 Learning Community
During Term 2, we focused on Biological Sciences by learning about living things.
Our final task involved taking everything we have learnt so far and putting it into practice by creating a hybrid super creature. We used an AI generator to blend 2 or more animals together.
Early Years Literacy
Early Years Literacy
In Reading this semester, we explored:
- Reading aloud, with developing fluency and intonation
- Consistently monitoring reading to ensure that what is being read makes sense
- Self-correction when a mistake occurs reading aloud
- Learning generalisations for adding suffixes to words
- Using comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning from the text
- Implementing a range of decoding strategies such as flipping the vowel sound when decoding an unknown word
- Answering comprehension questions relating to the text
- Reading with increased expression, and more.
Year 4/5 Literacy | Novel Studies
Year 4/5 Literacy | Novel Studies
In Reading, we have been learning to compare and contrast. We have been able to compare and contrast the novels The BFG and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
Foundation Learning Community
Foundation Learning Community
Lunchtime catching up with friends after the school holidays.
Ellen's Learning Community
Ellen's Learning Community
Enjoying our PJ’s, hot chocolates and a little extra treat for the end of term! Thank you for all of your wonderful donations!
Japanese Specialist Subject (LOTE)
Japanese Specialist Subject (LOTE)
YEAR 1/2 Learning Community
Students become familiar with the sound systems of the Japanese language, including pronunciation and rhythm. They learn to pronounce individual sounds and sound combinations.
Welcome to Term 3!!
Welcome to Term 3!!
What a super busy and fun first day back we had!
We introduced the ‘Gaga Pit’ for an extra activity to play during break time. Lots of fun!!
We received our new NAIDOC shirts, they look fantastic!
We welcomed The Moogies who performed at playgroup for NAIDOC week.
The official launch of the Gaga Pit!
NAIDOC Week 2023
NAIDOC Week 2023
Launching the 2023 NAIDOC Week shirts
- a wonderful St Alipius collaboration.
ST ALIPIUS PLAYGROUP
Year 4/5 Learning Community
Year 4/5 Learning Community
In Digital Technology, we have been learning to write binary code. These images were created by writing the code using zeros and ones. We learnt to turn the light on or off using 1 bit per pixel and then developed our ability to change the colours by increasing the bits per pixel.
We can:
- examine the main components of common digital systems, and how such digital systems may connect together to form networks to transmit data
- examine how whole numbers are used as the basis for representing all types of data in digital systems
- acquire, store and validate different types of data and use a range of software to interpret and visualise data to create information.
Despite enduring the two coldest days of Winter recorded in Ballarat so far this year, we had a wonderful time at school camp.
We prepared thoroughly for the camp experience back at school in the weeks leading up to camp and faced camp like complete champions!
Foundation LC
Foundation LC
In Foundation, we read “Where is the green sheep?”, designed our own sheep and thought about where we would find them.
Afterwards, everybody presented their sheep to the Foundation class.
Everyone did such a great job with their speaking & listening and clapping when each student had finished presenting.
It also happened to be PJ day at school!!
(See below)
Year 1/2 Learning Community
Year 1/2 Learning Community
To inspire our writing we travelled to a different country each day. After completing our passports the first stop was London, England to visit the King.
Other destinations included the Great Wall of China and Africa!
Each day we were left wondering, "Where will the plane take us tomorrow?"
Don't forget your PASSPORT!!
Stampeding elephants, roaring lions on our African Safari this morning created amazing high quality descriptive language in our writing. Luckily we packed our binoculars as we saw and heard:
‘Lions roaring as loud as a jet’
‘Elephant herd coming like a thunderstorm’
‘Giraffes as tall as a skyscraper’
‘Cheetahs as fast as lightning’
‘It was as hot as lava’
‘It was as exciting as Christmas morning’
Year 5 | Secondary Education Experience Day
Year 5 | Secondary Education Experience Day
Loreto College & St Patrick's College
Loreto College & St Patrick's College
Year 3 Learning Community
Year 3 Learning Community
Our History Portraits are coming along nicely!
We are using the strategy of breaking these images up into a quadrant to allow us to focus on one section at a time.
As these images take shape, we will explore the skills of shading and attention to detail. We also plan to “insert” ourselves into history, which is what will make these drawings portraits.
This is an enjoyable way to showcase our ever-evolving history knowledge and creativity.
Year 6 Learning Community
Year 6 Learning Community
Here are some of the creative creatures envisaged by our students in Year 6.
The video explanations that accompany these animal profiles are excellent and include in-depth details about how each creature adapts to suit its specific environmental conditions to ensure survival.
At Level 6 of the Science Victorian Curriculum, students:
analyse how structural and behavioural adaptations of living things enhance their survival and predict and describe the effect of environmental changes on individual living things.
Created by Dakotah
Created by Dakotah
Created by Mitch
Created by Mitch
Created by Jack
Created by Jack
Created by Leni
Created by Leni
WERRIBEE ZOO EXCURSION
In groups we looked at skulls to identify what type of animal they were, why they have certain adaptations and how this is crucial to their survival.
We participated in a workshop about animal adaptations.
Community News!
A reflection from some of our Year 6 Leaders...
A reflection from some of our Year 6 Leaders...
Choir Opportunity
Choir Opportunity
Support with paying school tuition
Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Ballarat is establishing Choral and Organ Scholarships. The Choral Scholarships are for children currently in Grades 3-6 who have musical interest and aptitude.
The Choral Scholarships will pay approximately $1000 per annum towards the children’s general education tuition or musical tuition in return for regular participation in rehearsals and Masses at the Cathedral.
An Information Session about the Scholarships is being held at 7pm on Thursday 3rd August at the Mackillop/Glowrey Room at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral (3 Lyons Street South, Ballarat). For further information, or for a copy of the Choral Scholarship Audition Form contact the Choir Director, Mr Vincent Sully, on 0407 310 115 or vincenzo101923@gmail.com
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