4 March 2020

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Dear Parents, Teachers and Students,

As the Golden Grove and Gilles Plains Campus Principal of Pinnacle College, it is with great excitement that I welcome you to the beginning of a new school year. I am very excited about upcoming events and programs of 2020. As a new member of this community at Golden Grove and Gilles Plains, I am especially motivated to sustain a positive learning culture with high expectations from our students along with mutual respect at Pinnacle College.

Pinnacle College is refreshed and ready to serve the community with enthusiasm after a very productive summer break and we hope that our students also share the same feelings and are full of energy. The new members of the College, as well as the new teacher reshuffling amongst the campuses, make the Pinnacle College unique in its own way and creates this collegiate atmosphere where everyone benefits. This helps to keep the learning standards high in the school and creates an environment for the students with highly skilled and dedicated staff members.

Pinnacle College provides a stimulating curriculum that is tailored to the needs of every student. The high expectations from our students ensure that our students grow with the capabilities and skills for the rapidly changing 21st century. The newly purchased Ipad sets for the School with new and improving existing facilities promote effective learning and help develop each student into a curious and enquiring mind.

We would like every Pinnacle College student to leave the School with the values of respect to individual rights, a contributing citizen and reaching their highest potential. Our continuously developing Pastoral Care programs with internal and external professionals facilitate this purpose and encourage every student to achieve this goal.

Once again, welcome back to you all and I look forward to embarking together upon an exciting year ahead.

Kind Regards,

Atilla Shinik
Campus Principal

SECONDARY COORDINATOR

Welcome to a new school year at Pinnacle College. As we approach the middle of Term 1, I would like to reflect on the weeks that have passed. We saw the addition of Year 9 to the Golden Grove Secondary School and our classes increased from two to four. The school is continuing to grow and at the forefront of this development is the aim to maintain the values of Pinnacle College. All students and staff are encouraged to maintain codes of respect, honesty and hard work that are intrinsic to our school community.

I have enjoyed my joint role as Secondary Coordinator this term. A significant component of my position is to ensure students are working in a safe environment while respecting the expectations of the College. Students are always encouraged to be punctual to school and all lessons and maintain the uniform expectations. Students are also encouraged to behave in a way that is conducive to their own, and other students, learning. As educators at Pinnacle College, all staff members try to prepare students for when they leave school and enter the wider community, tertiary education or the workforce; these have their own sets of rules and codes.

It is important that at this time of the term, where we have established ourselves in the new school year, we are able to reflect on our achievements. This can only occur with hard work, maintaining values and respecting ourselves and others. Thank you for your support this year. I look forward to transitioning through this year as a cohesive team.

Kind Regards,
Emilia Triantafilakis

PRIMARY COORDINATOR

In past years, it would be myself welcoming students and their families back after a long break and supporting them settling into the new year, and while I will be doing this, it is I who have been welcomed into the Golden Grove community. Thank you to all the students, our warm staff and supportive parents who are helping me come up to speed in my role here with you all. I am excited about my new challenge and am already learning so much about our student cohort and the passion they bring to their studies. This term I will be visiting all the classes supporting our staff in lesson delivery and also to provide me the opportunity to see some new faces. I invite parents to organise a meeting with myself whenever you need and please do not wait until our Parent Teacher Interviews in Term 2 if you have any burning questions or concerns regarding your child. Again, thank you to all those supporting me and I look forward to a successful new year for our staff and students.

Kind Regards,
Myles McLean

CURRICULUM COORDINATOR

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

I am indeed humbled and honored to be given the opportunity to be the Curriculum Coordinator of the Gilles Plains and Golden Grove campuses. It is my aim to ensure that our students are engaging in a broad and motivating curriculum. It was great to see so many parents attend our Meet the Teacher Sessions and Welcome BBQ. We really do value your partnership in your child’s learning journey.

This year, our curriculum focus is to improve the reading skills of our students. Learning to read is one of the most important educational outcomes of primary education. The ability to read is fundamental to children’s learning, including their development of broader literacy skills, and to their future successful participation in society, including the workforce.

Reading is a complex process that involves both learning to decode texts and learning to make meaning from texts. There are six components essential to reading instruction:

• oral language
• phonological awareness
• phonics
• vocabulary
• fluency
• comprehension

These six components make up what is called ‘The Big Six.’ To be effective readers children need to be able to use the six components in combination. While teachers may highlight individual components at different times, they are not a set of isolated skills and need to be integrated throughout reading opportunities across the day.

At Pinnacle College, primary teachers attended a professional development session in January on The Big Six. Teachers discussed the strategies that would enable learners to become more confident, successful readers, how to challenge and extend readers, how to provide access and opportunities for learners to engage with texts that are interesting, exciting and relevant and how to model thinking aloud to demonstrate independent reading. Teachers will use these strategies to improve the reading skills of our students.

Finally, if there are any questions about teaching and learning please note that your first point of contact is your child’s teacher. If you need to contact me, please email or book an appointment with me at the front office.

I look forward to your continued support and feedback.

Kind Regards,
Shalini Thilkan

SCHOOL COUNSELLOR

Dear Parents and Guardians,

My name is Zina Almufti and I am the new counsellor here at Pinnacle College. I am pleased to be a part of the Pinnacle family and thank everyone for the warm welcome. As a school counsellor, my job is to support our students through their schooling by addressing social, and emotional issues. This may include friendship issues, emotion regulation, social skills and anxiety management to name a few.

I look forward to working collaboratively with our amazing staff and parents to provide the best possible support. Please do not hesitate to come say hi, I am eager to get to know the students as well as their parents.

Kind Regards,
Zina Almufti

FRONT OFFICE NOTICES

CAR PARK SAFETY

The Pinnacle College Kiss and Drop Zone is an area that enables you to drop your child off safely and quickly.

The area is designed so drivers do not wait in the zone and remain in their vehicles, thereby streamlining traffic and minimising queues.

In practice, however, it only takes a few inconsiderate drivers to overstay in their zones, resulting in the system breaking down, leading to hindrance, frustration and delays.

The Kiss and Drop Zone at Pinnacle College - Golden Grove is located adjacent to the gym/courtyard entrance area. The Kiss and Drop Zone at Pinnacle College – Gilles Plains is located near the gates near the front office entrance.

To ensure that students, staff, parents and visitors are not in danger while travelling to and from school, you must take extra caution when driving and parking around the school sites.

In addition, please ensure you and your child understands basic road rules. If you violate the traffic rules in a school zone, you are putting children at risk.

• Please note the following for proper use of the Kiss and Drop Zone:
• The Kiss and Drop Zone is a No Parking area
• Move as far as possible into the end of the bay
• Drivers should remain in their vehicle at all times
• When you leave home, please ensure children are in their seats with their bags within easy reach for an easy exit
• Make sure children use the footpath side of the door when getting in and out of the car
• Do not park or drop-off in Bus Zones. If you are dropping children at the bus stop and the bus arrives, it can hold up the bus and traffic flow
• Never double park
• If the Kiss and Drop Zone is full, or you would like to get out of the car, please park in the designated visitor car park area
• Please do not park in the Staff Car Park to drop off or pick up children.

We also request that you drop your children off at school no earlier than 8:35 am, and collect your child after school at the dismissal time of 3:15 pm. If your child is dropped off early, or not collected on time, your child’s safety may be compromised as they will be unsupervised. If your child has an after school activity, such as pastoral care, please also ensure they are collected on time.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation regarding this matter.

PASTORAL CARE

Dear Parents

I would like to congratulate all students and families on beginning a new academic year. As a Pastoral Care team, we are very excited to start our after school programs on Tuesdays from 3:15 to 5:15. Miss Sawafta will be with the year 7s, I will be with the year 8s and Mrs Ayse Aslan will be with the year 9s.

The Pastoral Care Department’s main focus will be guiding and supporting students in terms of moral and spiritual values. In addition, each year level will have their own topics that will be covered throughout the year as follows: Year 7-8s will be focusing on “Personal Development” whereas, year 9s will be working on “Social Justice and Dialogue”. After hours programs will also be enriched by various activities and engaging discussion topics. We hope our sessions will be beneficial for our students.

Gulsum Altunkopru
Pastoral Care Teacher

LOTE - TURKISH

Merhaba,

Hello Dear Parents and Caregivers

Welcome to 2020 Academic year, as a Turkish teacher I am happy to announce that we will be covering a new set of books called “Harmoni Kitabi”. This year we are combining year 8 and 9 students and year 7s will be on their own. From year 1 to year 9 we have started to revise the topic of “Greetings”. Also we have started introducing new sounds from Turkish alphabet with year1s.

I hope 2020 will be a fruitful year ahead .

Gulsum Altunkopru
LOTE Teacher

LOTE - Arabic

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

Welcome back to another year of learning, I wish you all had happy holidays with your family.

This term we have some amazing new challenges to explore:

Year 1 class is focusing this term on pronouncing and writing Arabic alphabet with short vowels. The students are learning how to join letters to make words. They also are learning about the days of the week in Arabic.

Year 2 class is learning to combine double vowels / long vowels in their reading and which will allow them to apply some simple grammar, for example Tanween and Shadda. The focus this term is reading and working on the students’ comprehension skills by learning the meaning of the words.

Year 3|4 class is continuing with their topics from (learn Arabic book) with a focus on reading and building sentences. The focus is mainly on building vocabulary that will enable students to further their comprehension of the Arabic Language. They are starting to build their own sentences.

Year 5|6 class will have the opportunity to work on an Arabic project “choose one of Hulafa-l Rashidin”, the students have to write about one of them and create a poster or PowerPoint to present it in front of the class.

Year 7 class is continuing with their topics. The main focus is reading and translating texts provided in their textbook. Students are also introduced to grammatical concepts and sentence structures and students will also be working on grammar. Year 7 students will also have an Arabic project about “Arabic calligraphy” to expand their writing skills and build correct structure sentences.

Year 8/9 is continuing with their topics. The main focus is reading and translating texts provided in their textbook. Students are also introduced to grammatical concepts to sentence structures and the influence of grammar on orientation of text. The students have an Arabic project about “Arabic calligraphy” to expand their writing skills and build correct structure sentences.

“Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.” Nelson Mandela

Kind regards,

Mrs Soheir Habib
LOTE Teacher

FOUNDATION – GOLDEN GROVE

Dear Parents,

Welcome to Foundation! During our first five weeks at school we have been learning new routines, class expectations and forming new friendships. The Foundation students have been enjoying the new facilities at our Golden Grove Campus. I am looking forward to a wonderful year filled with valuable, interesting and stimulating learning experiences.

Our Literacy program has been implemented within our classroom. We have been focusing on rhyme, syllables and our first few sounds and letters have been introduced. Children have progressed very well and we can now write our names independently. Children have also been exposed to sentence writing and learning basic grammar and the important rules about when we are writing.

In the Mathematics curriculum, we have been learning to count from 0-10 and backwards from 10-0. We have been learning the correct formation of numbers, counting groups of objects, matching number names to the correct numerals and filling in missing numbers. We are now learning about 2D shapes and the children are loving it.

Our theme for Science is ‘Staying alive’. We have been looking at what animals need to stay alive. To give a hands on learning approach we have caterpillars as pets and will be looking after them and learning about the life cycle of a caterpillar. Students will also be looking at living and nonliving things and will have the opportunity to have many learning experiences based on this topic.

Please continue to support your child with their homework on a daily basis and it is very important that your child’s reading journal is completed. I am extremely proud of all my students and their achievements in their first five weeks of school and I am looking forward to working together throughout the year to enable your child to reach their full potential.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Kindest Regards,
Mrs Vokolos

YEAR 1 – GOLDEN GROVE

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

What a fantastic start to 2020! I would like to welcome the families of Elif, Sarah, Imtiaz and Ahmatjan to the new Pinnacle College Golden Grove campus.

The first five weeks of school have been full of many exciting and new learning experiences.

In the English curriculum, we have been focusing on our recount writing and our ability to write complete sentences with full stops, capital letters, fingers spaces and beautiful handwriting. We have been developing our ability to use descriptive language to make our sentences more detailed and recounts more interesting. Students have also been working very hard revising their sounds learnt in Foundation and using their fingers to count the phonemes and syllables in words.

In Numeracy, we have become more confident with counting to and from 100, recognising equal halves and quarters of a whole, understanding place value and using the correct language (i.e. will happen, won’t happen and might happen) when describing the probability of various situations.

This term in the Science curriculum we are studying the needs of living things. We went on a ‘Schoolyard Safari’ where students’ observed the different insects and minibeasts in our school environment. Students had so much fun and it also enabled them to connect their learning to a real-life experience. This led to many interesting discussions based on how animals and insects protect themselves, how they move, what their habitats are and what they need to survive. We also demonstrated our Science understanding by making incredible ladybug and snail artwork during our Art lessons.

Please ensure you are supporting your child with their weekly homework activities as well as their online homework tasks on the weekends. Student’s should be reading, writing and sounding out their spelling and tricky words every night to consolidate their learning in the classroom. Please listen to your child read every night and ensure you are asking questions about their readers.

I am very pleased with all students’ achievements and efforts so far and I look forward to an exciting year ahead!

Kindest Regards,
Miss Di Cola

YEAR 2 – GOLDEN GROVE

Welcome back everybody to a brand new year!

I hope everyone is well rested and had a superb holiday. The Year 2s have settled back into school life maturely, and I am excited for the year that we have ahead. It was lovely to meet you all at our meet the teacher event too.

In Literacy we have been looking at recount writing and focusing on the 5 W’s. We have looked at using time connectives, personal pronouns, descriptive and emotive language. Our two days of Grammar a week has been good to revisit some skills taught in Year 1. Next, we will move onto procedures.

In Science, we have been looking at life cycles! The students have loved learning about the process of metamorphosis and researching animals in their different life stages. We can’t wait to see what happens to Mrs Vokolos’ caterpillars! HASS has been a lot of fun this term, learning the continents, oceans and tropic lines. I am sure you have heard the youtube songs being sung on repeat by your children! Asia, Africa.

We started the term off by revisiting our Place Value knowledge. We used base 10 blocks to count hundreds, tens and units and we did very well. We then looked at chance and the likelihood of different situations, such as ‘What is the chance it will rain meatballs?’ and ‘What is the chance our teacher will turn into a penguin?!’ Lots of fun! We are currently looking at addition and different mental strategies to add. It has been confusing to the children to use near doubles and getting a 10 as they are so used to using concrete materials and their fingers to work out problems. If you are confused with the strategies, please don’t teach them other ways at home to work it out as we are following a curriculum, particularly the column method (that will be taught in Term 2!)

Remember to listen to your child read every night and to ask them lots of questions. In their reading journals, you will find a reading focus for that week for them to practise. Also a big welcome to Sara and Naba for joining the Pinnacle College family this year in our class.

Kindest Regards,
Miss Ryan

YEAR 3 – GOLDEN GROVE

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We have started 2020 in the most delightful way, your children are showing their kindness, empathy and hard work on a daily basis.

We are particularly enjoying our daily Spelling Matrix time with many different activities to choose from. Students are showing independence during this time as well and are able to choose an activity and settle to it very quickly.

In Science we have been learning about living things and how these things can be classified into groups. It was surprising to many students that scientists classify human beings as animals. We had a lively discussion about what made a whale a mammal when a shark was not classified as such.

In PE our term sport is softball and we are currently learning the skills of throwing and catching so we can work towards a full class game.

In Maths, we have looked at Number and Place Value, Odd and Even, Units of Measurement - Time and are currently working on Addition - Mental Strategies. Many students struggle with the concept of time. It is a fact of modern life that many of our time keeping devices are digital and it is very easy to use these to tell the time. If your child struggles with analogue time it is very helpful if you have at least one analogue clock in the house and discuss the time at varying intervals throughout the day and evening. There are great little analogue watches that can be purchased to assist students to tell the time in this way. Telling the time is a skill that takes persistence to acquire, but it is well worth the time spent as it is a skill for life.

In English we are working hard on our writing skills and building towards interesting and thought provoking narrative pieces.

Students will be bringing home previous NAPLAN tests in writing conventions and numeracy over the next half term so that they can become comfortable with the format of the test. I usually allow a week for these to be returned so that they have plenty of time to fit it in to the family schedule.

Keep up the great effort, parenting is a super hard job! I thank you for allowing me the privilege of working with your children each week, it is an absolute joy!

Kind regards,
Kylie Burton

YEAR 4 – GOLDEN GROVE

Dear Parents,

Welcome to a new year at Pinnacle College!

The Year 4 students have had a peaceful start to the year, slowly easing back into school life. Now that the term is well underway, we have begun delving deeper into our topics across the key learning areas, including Information Reports in English. To link their knowledge to Humanities and Social Sciences, students have been asked to research rainforest animals before presenting their findings in a detailed information report, complete with diagrams, a bibliography and glossary. We practised researching through both primary and secondary sources prior to starting our reports; most students enjoyed finding information through interviews, as it allowed them to refine their speaking and listening skills while collaborating with their peers.

In Science, students have been learning about Plant Life Cycles through a variety of hands-on experiences, including a plant dissection using the flowers in our school garden. Next week, we will plant seeds to observe the lifecycle of a flower or vegetable in real life.

In Maths, we have covered Place Value, Mental Addition and Mental Subtraction Strategies. While most students found these topics ‘easy’, I strongly recommend consistent practise at home, particularly in regards to Times Tables. The content will gradually increase in difficulty as the term progresses. Thus, it is highly beneficial for students to strengthen their knowledge through the homework tasks. I hope to see more students complete their homework in the upcoming weeks.

I would also like to welcome our new students (Amal, Aman, Maria and Waleed) and their families to our school. I hope you enjoy being a part of the Pinnacle College family as much as I do.

Kind regards,
Miss Mubarak

YEAR 5 – GOLDEN GROVE

Dear Parents,

In the past few weeks the Year 5 students have had a breezy start to the new year in Numeracy! We have been focusing on the following topics of number and place value where students adapted to reading, writing and ordering numbers upto 5 digits and beyond. We also did activities on using units of measurement (length and perimeter) and the students improved on their rounding, estimation and the split strategy skills of displaying mental strategies in addition. In the upcoming weeks students will also start revising for their upcoming NAPLAN tests, therefore, please ensure you are allocating time for them to complete the set task(s) and approach me for any further clarification! -

The weeks are already moving fast for the Year 5s as they immerse themselves in the features of a narrative and read the text, Wonder. Their focus this term is on developing their vocabulary to include high levels of description which will support them throughout the year in many of their literacy tasks. Looking to the future, Mr T and I are already planning a NAPLAN games challenge between the Golden Grove Year 5s and those from Elizabeth. With the help of Miss Sawafta, we recently purchased some items to decorate the classroom, two trolley loads in fact! Students are welcome to bring in their own items to improve the atmosphere (cushions to sit on and relax with when reading; motivational pictures to be placed on walls; or even some photos of their family to add to the ‘Our Class Memories’ pin board)

This Term in Art the Year 5 students have been studying Media Art and Drama. The students have enjoyed learning about photography. We have looked at some basic rules of photography and learnt about camera shot types and angles. Over the last two weeks the students have transferred their camera knowledge to film. Students have scripted their own short films and are now in the process of directing, producing and starring in their productions. Using iMovie, we are developing our editing skills. Students are adding text, themes, music and sound effects to their movies to make them humorous and entertaining. The students are looking forward to sharing their finished work.

Warmest Regards

Mr McLean, Miss Sawafta & Mrs Mungall
Year 5 Teachers

YEAR 6 – GOLDEN GROVE

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

Welcome to 2020 & the final year of Primary school for our lovely Year 6 bunch at Golden Grove!

The first five weeks of Year 6 has been tremendous and I look forward to achieving many great things with all the students this year. It has been wonderful to see everyone create and develop many goals, try new learning experiences and build on their skills.

As our classroom is our second home, we aim on creating a better learning space; therefore, students are welcome to bring cushions/pillows which they can use comfortably throughout their lessons. Well done to Aahil and Zeenat for joining the ‘Student Representative Council’ we look forward to the positive changes you will bring for our students and the campus. I would also like to make a warm welcome to Haseeb as he recently joined our Pinnacle College family - you make a wonderful addition to our class and I look forward to learning more about you!

Students have been enjoying our Numeracy topics for the beginning of this term. We have been focused on number and place value where students adapted to reading, writing and ordering numbers upto 6 digits and beyond. Students also participated in tasks to estimate, measure and compare different lengths and perimeters by using formal metric units; convert between and solve problems using common units of length. And, students extended their mental addition and subtraction strategies such as rounding numbers (compensation), estimation and the split strategy.

Students have been fascinated learning about Australian History so far this Term. We have been focused on learning about colonisation, federation and have started to learn about the stolen generation and how it impacted those involved. Students have been thoroughly engaged throughout this unit and look forward to the upcoming weeks to participate in debates and learn more about our past involvement in Australian society and how we can improve our future generations.

Kind Regards,

Miss Sawafta & Mr McLean
Year 6 Teachers

YEAR 7– GOLDEN GROVE

This term in Art the Year 7s are studying Japanese manga. Manga are comics or graphic novels created in Japan. The manga style we see today was developed in the late 19 century although they have a long pre-history in early Japanese art. Zen cartoons and comic animal scrolls date back to the tenth century and were the very first examples of Japanese comics. The term ‘manga’ means whimsical picture. The Year 7s have had a go at turning themselves into a manga character with a caption and background to match their character’s personality. Now we have started to create a manga inspired comic. Students are developing a simple narrative to showcase the characters they have created. Students are looking forward to attending the Yabarra- Dreaming in Light art exhibition this Friday.

During Creative Digital Media this term, we are looking at an introduction to video skills and techniques. We began the term by creating a personal video narrative. Students experimented with adding transitions, text and music to videos. We also looked at using split screen and picture in picture techniques to make the videos more interesting and engaging. We are currently working on creating a music video that defines a genre. Students are using the video techniques developed so far and are also learning how to use green-screen to take them anywhere in the world. Students are enjoying creating characters and backgrounds to really bring their films to life. We look forward to exploring symbolism and stop-motion in our next video project.

Meanwhile, in Science, students have been busy engaging in introductory topics including learning about the scientific method, laboratory equipment and safety procedures we must follow in the laboratory. Students have had the opportunity to explore different fields of science in a research project, presenting their work in the form of an oral presentation or Poster. A series of practical activities were also conducted to further develop an understanding of the scientific method, as well as learning how to collect and present scientific data in tables and graphs.

Comments from Students

In Humanities the year 7s are learning about the Australian Constitution, Indigenous people, the Australian values, Australia as a secular nation and multiculturalism. We got a group assignment where we researched questions like who would put this law into action. Together we are learning about the judiciary, the parliament and the executive. We have learnt about referendums and we participated in a class debate about whether Australia should become a republic, simulating the 1999 referendum. We are looking forward to learning in humanities.
Mariam Zahid

In our encouraging health lessons our classes 7A and 7B are put together to form one big class. We have been learning about various ‘Issues in Sport’. Our first lesson was about gender stereotypes which are the differences and assumptions made about men and women. The next topic was ‘Racism is Sport’, followed by ‘Fair Play and Good Sportsmanship’, ‘Drugs in sport’ and ‘Cheating and Corruption’. Our health lessons have been productive, engaging and interesting all throughout this term and we can’t wait to start a new learning journey.
Maira Khan

This term for PE we are learning about Dance. We start off the lesson by doing the Nutbush and recently we have started doing the Macarena. It is a fun and energetic way to start the lesson. We all stand in rows and Miss Molly stands in front of us all and plays the music as well as doing the dance herself so if we mess up we can look at her and know what step to do next. After we finish dancing, we would get into our groups and practice our own dances which we would make ourselves or base our idea on. It is great fun to communicate with others and try new things.
Wadeeha Zainab

We started the year with a blast. In Health and Sport we are focusing on dance. Our task was to form groups with our classmates, then pick a song to dance to and present it to our class. Some groups decided to dance to K-Pop, TikTok, and your top songs. As a whole class we practiced the Nutbush and the Macarena. We had so much fun. .
By Layal

Kind regards,
Year 7 Teachers

YEAR 8 – GOLDEN GROVE

The year 8 students have been busy learning about civics and citizenship for Humanities this term, with a focus on the freedoms of Australian citizens, law making and different types of law. Students have been busy developing their own “Campaign” in a group work opportunity presenting their work to the class. Students selected appropriate and effective persuasive strategies to promote their campaign.

In Year 8 Art, this term we are studying Islamic art and design. We have looked at the geometric patterns that occur in a variety of forms in Islamic art and architecture i.e. kilim carpets, Moroccan tiles, stained glass and woodwork. Islamic geometric design mixes elements of math, art and history. Students have had a go at recreating simple patterns and they have also created their own designs. Deciphering steps that lead to a finished piece is like a mathematical puzzle. Creating new pieces involves creativity and an understanding of various styles and embellishment used since ancient times. Students have used grids, rulers and compasses to create and recreate Islamic geometric designs.

Kind regards,
Year 8 Teachers

YEAR 9 – GOLDEN GROVE

In Humanities, the year 9 students have been busy learning about civics and citizenship this term, with a focus on politics. They have explored political parties and elections in Australia, how decisions are made through parliament, Australia’s legal system and diversity and identity in Australia. Students actively engaged in a “House of Representatives Role Play” where they had an opportunity to experience a “mock” parliament for themselves. Students also investigated the power of social media in politics through a research project in which they were also allowed to use their creativity to design a Political cartoon.

In Drama the Year 8/9 students this term will be studying the elements of drama and improvisation. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of improvisation can apply to many different disciplines. Improvisation skills include; the ability to work cooperatively with other performers, the ability to use body language to communicate characters and circumstance and the ability to maintain concentration when something unexpected happens. Improvisation is a great introduction to drama as it helps students to develop an understanding of how the elements of drama work together in performances. The students have been having a lot of fun and are looking forward to attending a Fringe performance early next month.

In English, students are writing Narratives and have begun comprehension practice for NAPLAN. Here is a small snippet of their work so far;

In Health and PE, students are participating in Dance and learning about positive and negative peer pressure. Students will also be looking at the effect of the mental wellbeing and the reasoning behind why people peer pressure. Students are creating peer pressure scenarios and making an iMovie explaining the different types of peer pressure and how to handle situations in a positive manner.

In the first 2 weeks of Science classes, year 9 students refreshed and extended their knowledge on scientific skills and understanding, including conducting experiments safely, writing a scientific report, drawing graphs and diagrams, models/theories.

Year 9 will be focusing on Chemistry topics throughout term 1 which are ‘inside atom and chemical reactions’. We investigated the historical development of models of the structure of the atom. We specifically identified the nucleus, protons, neutrons and electrons in a simple illustration of an atom. Modelling atomic structures and radioactive decay were engaging activities for students however, the model of radioactive half-life by using M&M was their favourite!

The year 9 first Science assignment “history of atomic model development “ has already been submitted and as a part of the second science task, we will be going on an excursion next week. Students are to conduct an experiment and complete experiment report on “flame test” and antacid practical.

Here are some of the great photos our students have been doing so far this term in science classes.

We are looking forward to an exciting year ahead! and wish all our students good luck with their new processes when studying for their upcoming exams and tasks.

Kind regards,
Year 9 Teachers

FOUNDATION – GILLES PLAINS

Dear Parents,Caregivers and students,

I would like to warmly welcome you to our Gilles Plains campus and our first newsletter for 2020.

Over our first five weeks of school, our new students have been very brave and super busy, learning about what it means to go to school. We have been learning about routines, how to write our names, making new friends and working with different teachers who will be teaching things new and exciting things this year.

In Literacy, we are exploring a new program this year. Students are learning about what is a word, syllables, rhyming words and initial letters. Students have also been very brave when standing up in front of the class sharing about various topics, for their Show and Tell.

In Numeracy, our focus has been number. We have been working on counting to ten and from ten to zero through games, activities, writing numbers and singing songs which students have thoroughly enjoyed. We have also been taking our learning outside and exploring things that we can count and group on the oval.

We are also very excited about having some tiny class pets in our class for Science this term. As part of our Living Things topic, students are very excited with their daily observations of our caterpillars, as they munch away on their leaves, in hope to grow big and strong for when they turn into beautiful butterflies.

Finally, our students get the opportunity to bring home some great books, thanks to Ms Lisa and her great library lessons every Tuesday. Please take the time to sit with your child every night to explore and read a little bit of the books that your child gets to bring home. Listening to reading in the younger years is really important for the development of young minds. Thank you for your support thus far.

Kind Regards
Miss Victoria Makowiak

YEAR 1 – GILLES PLAINS

What a fabulous start to the 2020 school year we have had in ‘Onederful’ Year 1!

We welcomed a few lovely new students to our class and they have settled in very nicely. A very warm welcome to Shahida, Ansab, Hosna, Aaizah and their families. It has been lovely to enjoy the company of new friends and get to know each other.

We also welcomed some earthworms to the classroom for Science and students are enjoying feeding them, observing them and learning all about how they behave in their new habitat. Students drew some fabulous labelled diagrams of the worms as they got up close and personal with our visitors! Some other wonderful observations were also made of creatures found in the garden at home.

In HASS, we have been learning a lot about family types and the people in our families as well, with some fantastic family trees being created to share with the class. We are now focusing on the celebrations and traditions our families enjoy and will soon look at Indigenous Australian customs and beliefs.

Chance and the likelihood of events occuring has been the most recent focus in Numeracy, with students discussing events that will happen, might happen, and won’t happen. We have become very confident in counting numbers up to 100 and soon we'll be using scales to compare the mass of different objects.

Literacy has focussed mainly on revision of Foundation sounds and words so far with the addition of now learning how to spell the tricky words. We have also enjoyed interesting story books, including ‘Josephine Wants to Dance’ by Jackie French, and have written our own goals after reading about Josephine achieving her goal of becoming a ballerina.

Lastly, I’d like to thank you for welcoming me to the Gilles Plains campus and for your continued support of your child’s educational journey. It is a privilege to work with your children every day and I look forward to a successful year together.

Kind regards,
Mrs Sandra Holland

YEAR 2 – GILLES PLAINS

Welcome to 2020! The Year 2 students have had a wonderful start to Term 1.

In Literacy, we have just finished Recount Writing and are beginning to explore the structure and language of Procedures. The students had a lot of fun with imperative verbs and speech marks, and they are beginning to use both with some success. Regular homework practice and completing tasks set on Seesaw will help students consolidate these skills and allow them to integrate these features in their daily writing.

In Numeracy, we have explored place value, chance and addition without using your fingers. We spend a lot of time on making 10, doubles and number line strategies. In HASS we have been learning the names of the seven continents, the oceans and lines of latitude on world maps. The students have thoroughly enjoyed these lessons and are beginning to name both the continents and oceans correctly.

In Science, we have been learning about the life cycle of common mini beasts such as mealworms, frogs and caterpillars. The students love to check on our mealworms daily and write about their observations in their science journals. In a few weeks we hope to see some turn to pupa and then finally into darkling beetles. Our first excursion to Gorge Wildlife park is on Thursday 19th of March. If you haven’t already, please provide consent on the EdSmart website.

Don’t forget to complete nightly reading and homework tasks which have been specially selected to complete the learning in class.

Warm regards
Miss Bianca Villani

YEAR 3 – GILLES PLAINS

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Welcome to 2020! Our “UnbeLEAFable” Year 3’s at Gilles Plains have settled in extremely well and are enjoying the learning experiences and activities Term 1 has offered so far!

I would firstly like to extend my thanks to parents and carers who are continually supporting and motivating their children at home with their homework and daily reading, further reinforcing and extending classroom learning. It is wonderful to know that we are working together as a team to further develop your child’s academic successes, both inside and outside of the classroom.

The year 3 and 4’s have collaborated this term in spelling, with our new program called Words their Way. The main benefit of the Words Their Way program, is that it differentiates instruction, allowing students to work at their appropriate developmental level. Students have been given an initial spelling assessment to help guide us in placing them into groups according to their phonological awareness in their spelling and vocabulary. Words Their Way focuses less on memorization and more on allowing students to really study the spelling pattern, definition, practical use of the word, and become curious about words in their world. Students are super excited to monitor their progress and improve upon their spelling this year!

In English, we have been exploring a range of literary devices which we can include in our narratives to make them exciting and engaging. So far, we have explored alliteration, onomatopoeia and the use of powerful adjectives to paint word pictures in the minds of our readers. We are continuing to develop our writing skills in not only narrative writing, but also persuasive writing as the term progresses, in preparation for NAPLAN in term 2. There is also a strong focus on reading comprehension strategies and children have been focusing on developing these strategies during reading groups as well as reading as a part of their homework.

In Maths, we have looked at Number and Place Value, Odd and Even numbers, Units of Measurement – (Time) and are currently working on Addition - Mental Strategies.

In Science, we have been learning about living and nonliving things and how these things can be classified into groups based on their observable features. We went on a hunt around the campus and found butterflies, ants, flies and birds. Later that day at lunchtime, we found a rather large praying mantis who caused quite a buzz of excitement across the whole school. With the help of two brave years 3’s we captured ‘mantis’ in a bug catcher and decided to take him to the oval and to set him free!

Finally, I would also like to welcome our new student, Omar Al-Alami and his family to the Pinnacle College family. Omar has settled in very quickly at our school; making new friends and working extremely hard in class.

Kind regards,
Kerry Apergis

YEAR 4 – GILLES PLAINS

Dear Parents and Caregivers

We are well and truly back into the swing of school life and have been working hard over the last five weeks.

In Literacy, we have been reading the novel, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Students have thoroughly enjoyed listening to the book and have investigated narrative structure, character development, author’s purpose, “Show, Don’t Tell” strategies and new vocabulary.

We have also started Daily 5 in our class. This is a guided reading structure and students are learning to move from one activity to another quickly and without any problems. The activities include, Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing, Word Work and Technology.

In Mathematics, we have just completed mental strategies in addition and subtraction. We are now moving on to the topic Length. We are focusing on measurement in centimeters and millimeters.

In Science, we are learning about plants and what they need to grow. Students have planted their bean plants and are monitoring their growth every day.

Please note that there will be no Seesaw uploads on class activities until parents all sign the general consent form.

Kind regards,
Shalini Thilkan

LOTE - Arabic

Assalam Alykom dear Parents/Caregivers:

Welcome back everyone to the 2020 academic year.

Throughout the first five weeks of Term 1 we ran different activities aiming at reviewing and developing the reading fluency, comprehension, listening, speaking and writing Arabic skills of our children.

The Year 3 students are working hard on their reading and writing skills through different activities..

The Year 1 students have been introduced to the new sounds of the Arabic alphabet.

We appreciate the efforts of the parents and their cooperation in helping us build and strengthen our children’s connection with the Arabic language.

Warm regards
Ola Abdelmonem

LOTE - Turkish

Dear Parents/Caregivers:

Welcome back everyone to the 2020 academic year.

It is well-known that learning a new language improves thinking ability.In Pinnacle College we serve our kids with two different languages.Turkish is one of them.

Our aim for the kids is to learn while having fun.Explore the new sounds,words,sentence structure and culture as the source of the language.

Thanks to students for encouraging themselves to dive into the new knowledge ocean.

Warm regards
Esma Altinsoy

MUSIC

It has been great to set up a Music Room at each campus. Having all the instruments in one place which are easily accessed makes our Music lessons run so much more smoothly. And the keyboards have been set up at Golden Grove for a lunchtime Keyboard Club, which is very exciting!

In Music, we learn by singing songs which focus on the learning outcome for the day, moving to music and feeling how the music makes us want to move, and playing sounds using body percussion, our voices and our instruments. Learning in Music always starts with listening carefully, then creating sounds, and then playing.

Many students have told me over the past year that they love music! This makes my heart sing, because I do, too! Every now and then a student brings something musical to show and tell, which is a wonderful way of linking what students do at home as well as at school. Check out Aaliyah playing a tune on the keyboard and Aysha showing us how to play a harmonica! That’s being a great learner!

With Harmony Day coming up, all students have been singing a song called Everyone Belongs which includes the wonderful lyrics:

“Everyone is different in so many ways,
Wouldn’t it be boring if we were all the same?
Celebrate your culture, your family history,
And when we’re all together, celebrate diversity.”

Tracy Schache
Music Teacher

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