The response from our school community has been so very supportive. Thank you for your understanding. We understand that there is a huge range in the home circumstances of families in our community. We know that everyone is doing their best to supervise and support their child’s learning but that the amount of time available varies enormously. We have responded to feedback by making our learning grids available from late on Friday to allow families more time to organise the following week’s learning. There is no expectation that you will do this over the weekend, but the information is there if this is helpful to you as a family.

In normal times when the children are in school, we still adjust our plans to take account of how the children individually and collectively are feeling. Sometimes when the children are fully focused we add extra work and take advantage of this prime learning opportunity. Equally when the children are finding it harder to concentrate, we take a break and come back to the learning a little later. With our remote learning I would encourage you to take a similar view and use the learning grids as a guide for the children’s learning across the whole week rather than a specific requirement for each day individually. The work is not designed to fill a whole day, so there should be some times in the week when your child will do more of the plan and be better able to have a break on another day later in the week.

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Our school captains, Owen, Grace, Brydie and Sam marked ANZAC Day on behalf of the school community by recording four readings. These recordings are accessible on the school website. http://www.drysdaleps.vic.edu.au/?p=21801

Please take a moment to listen to these. They are all the more poignant for being individual. At a time when our thoughts are consumed with the many challenges of dealing with our current situation, it is important to remember the past. Life throws up so many challenges for us individually, as a small group and as a community. One thing we do know is that tough times do pass. If we stick together and help each other we are stronger and better able to cope. We have an amazing community at Drysdale Primary and in Drysdale.

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We have introduced video check in between each class teacher and a group of students in the class. You will have been sent details of these including times and connection details. You will also have been sent a FlexiBuzz message asking for your “written” consent for your child to participate. In this instance “written” means a FlexiBuzz message in response to the class teacher. The platform we are using is called WebEx and is approved by the Education Department because it has the security features needed to avoid some of the issues experienced by schools using other platforms. It will be helpful if an adult is with their child while this video check in is taking place.

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This week’s challenge is making words. How many words of any length can you make from the letters of DRYSDALE PRIMARY ? You can only use each letter once in any of your words. For example MIDDLE is OK because there are two Ds but DEED is not because there is only one E. Please send me the total number of words you have made with your name and year group to dunlop-moore.philip.p@edumail.vic.gov.au by 9 a.m. on Saturday. Have fun !

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While school is not operating as ‘normal’ we are still moving forward and accepting enrolments for Prep 2021.

Please visit our website using the following link to access all the information and forms that you will need to enrol your child for 2021, http://www.drysdaleps.vic.edu.au/?page_id=21734. If you have any questions regarding the process please do not hesitate to contact the school via email at drysdale.ps@education.vic.gov.au.

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It has been so exciting to see some of our students undertake the Jelly Bean/Marshmallow challenge we posted last week! We are going to let this run for another week and the challenge will close this Friday at 3:30pm.

The Inclusion Team are working hard to develop some useful tools to support remote learning. On the school website you will find a tab under Remote Learning for Wellbeing and Inclusion. Within this folder we have added some resources that may support learning in literacy and numeracy, as well as to help develop routines and visual prompts for learning time at home. Please print these resources as needed, or contact the school office to have them printed for you to collect. We will continue to add to this folder as the Inclusion Team make resources to support remote learning from home. We hope it can help or even give some further ideas for supporting your children.

It is important to remember that your children’s and your family’s wellbeing is just as important as their academic learning at this time. Everything is so different, in having to socially distance ourselves not just from school, by remote learning at home, but from our families and our friends. It is important to look after ourselves and consider options to ensure time for ‘self-care’ each day. What you or your children choose to do in this time can be very different from one another. Some of us may like to keep a journal and write, others may like to colour, take a bath, go for a walk, listen to music, do a jigsaw puzzle, cook, bake or just talk to someone in the family. It is so valuable to take time each day to ensure some time to relax and de-stress. If you aren’t already, try to add some mindfulness and self-care to your daily schedule for your kids and yourself!

As we continue to encourage emotional, mental and physical health, it is important to remember that remote learning is not the same as when regular school occurs. Some families have set up some routines to keep this a normal as possible, but that may not work for every one or every family. We just ask that you do what you can, when you can. Some days will run smoother than others and that is normal. DET recommendations are that students in Prep – Year 2 complete about 2-2.5 hours of learning throughout each day, while this may extend to 3-3.5 hours for students in Year 3-6. We know this is less than what would happen when regular classes run, but that is ok. When school can and does resume, teachers and staff in our school will be working just as hard as they are now to ensure all students continue to learn, learning gaps are filled and students catch up on what they need to learn to succeed. Keeping our mental and emotional health in check during this time is one way to make sure your child/ren come back to school ready to learn in class again.

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The Year 6 students have adapted quickly to using Google Classroom, showing how ‘tech savvy’ they are. Creativity, artistic flair, persistence, patience, uploading, downloading and good time management were all themes during our first two weeks online.

The teachers were incredibly impressed with the quality of work shared, particularly the ‘learn a new skill for life’ section on our Remote Learning matrix. Year 6 students have truly embraced this challenge and are learning valuable skills including cooking, baking, gardening and sewing.

Please see more for some photos.

Read more…

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The Year 6 to Year 7 transition information has arrived. Please click on the link to read Year 6 to Year 7 Transition information pack for parents and carers of students at a government school . It includes some frequently asked questions and general information about what is involved. High schools have been encouraged to offer virtual tours and updated images on their web pages, as well as putting out information on the Year 7 curriculum. Not all schools may have done this, but I would encourage getting in touch with that particular high school if you have yet to decide where your child will attend.

Important things to note:
1. The due date for the form to be returned to the school is Friday 29th May. This can be sent via email or returned in person or mailed to the school.

2. If your child has already been accepted into an independent school, you still need to complete the form and return it. There is a section in there in regards to this.

3. If you are wanting your child to go to an independent school but they are yet to be accepted, you will still need to put in your preference of a state/government school.

4. Here is the link to the digital version of the form http://www.drysdaleps.vic.edu.au/?p=21720. You can complete online and return to the school’s email address drysdale.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au.  If you return the form without a signature on it, it is important that in your return email you also include the statement: “I authorise this form without a signature”. This will be included with your submission form that is sent off to high schools.

5. If you are unable to access the digital version of this document, please let your child’s teacher know ASAP so we can organise to get to you a hard copy.

 

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Congratulations to all of the COVID green thumbs who on Friday spread themselves evenly and safely across the Prep garden bed, ensuring social distancing rules were followed, to plant some wonderful local grasses. The Indigenous Wallaby Grass and some more Austral Indigo will complement the 2019 plantings. A few super sensible and enthusiastic girls diligently planted locally rare Bellarine Yellow Gums along the east boundary and among the Year 4 west boundary plantation. Very special thanks to Mrs Pierson (formerly Elsworth), Ms Daffy and Mr Field for lending their green thumbs and shovel feet to help the students. The school is very grateful for the donation of more than $100.00 of indigenous plants by the Bellarine Landcare Nursery. Great effort everyone.

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Last Tuesday was hoodie up for Autism to mark World Autism acceptance thank you to everyone who participated in the day and sent through photo’s.

Please see read more for a gallery of photo’s

Read more…

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Wow thank you to all the families who have sent in their crossword and word find answers! We have selected one correctly answered of each for you to correct yours at home. Congratulations to Kate of Year 3 who correctly answered the crossword and word search.

Students, staff and families are invited to have a go at solving this weeks fun puzzles. We’d love to see your answer sheets and will feature a correctly answered crossword or word search in next week’s Link to share the answers with our community.

To submit your answer sheet, please email it through to the school: drysdale.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

Please find answers to last week’s crossword and word search.

DPS Boredom Busters Answers Week 1

This Weeks crossword and word search:

DPS Boredom Buster Cross word 2

DPS Boredom Buster Word Search 2

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It has been a fun filled week at OSHC. The children have been enjoying being back in the service, and many of commented on how nice it is to have something familiar amongst everything that is going on. Popular activities have included drawing, footy kick to kick, helping out at the service and earning [prize points sharpen pencils, lego constructions, hopscotch and chalk drawings outside. We also marked ANZAC day by making lanterns out of milk cartons for children to take out with them if they were going to mark the day by standing in their driveway at dawn.

Read more…

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Year Seven 2021 Enrolment at Geelong High School Information

Families will now be aware that the Geelong High School Information Evening has had to be cancelled as a result of the current pandemic. To ensure that families have as much information as possible to enable them to make the best decision for their child, we have produced a film which highlights what the school has to offer. Please see the attached information with the link to see the film.

Year 7 2021 Geelong High

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