Into Term 3: School Programs and COVID 19
A very different Term 2 at Larrakeyah Primary school is about to end. The coronavirus has impacted all levels of the school, and wider community in ways that were unimaginable 3 months ago. The following cancellations, and more, were made:
- Year 3, 4 & 5 Camps
- Assemblies Athletics Carnival
- Life Education with Happy Healthy Harold
- Dress –up days
- Sports Gala Days – Cricket, Rugby, Zone Athletics, Rugby League, Soccer
- Our Annual House Athletic Carnival
- Anzac Day Ceremony
Changes were made to keep our students safe, including but not limited to:
- Staggered recess and lunchtimes
- Our wonderful parents being excluded from going into classes
- A new cleaning regime to be followed throughout the day across the school
- Playground being disinfected and sanitised
- Students being unable to access water bubblers
- The Canteen being closed for ordering
- No food sharing to celebrate birthdays
- No special staff morning tea on a Wednesday
Fortunately, due to the understanding and support of our wonderful school community and the dedication and perseverance of the school staff, we have survived and thrived this term.
So, what does Term 3 hold for Larrakeyah School and students? Will everything return to normal or will we have to continue with the ‘new normal’?
School Production and The Beat
The bad news is that, due to regulatory uncertainty, Darwin Entertainment Centre cannot guarantee that their venue will be available for either The Beat or our School Production. Therefore the decision has been made to cancel the 2020 School Production of Mulan. The good news is that it will be back in 2021. Even better news is that, for those students who love to dance, Angeline Vrettis will be running a dancing program in Term 3.
The Extra Curricular Program
This program was cancelled for Term 2 but is back for Term 3. There will be 126 students (about 27%) taking part in 9 quite different activities:
- Morning Running Club
- Tennis
- Ice Skating
- Chess Club
- Action Animation
- Breaking Out!!
- Lego Engineering
- Robotics
- Super Science Club
The aim of the ECA program is to offer a diverse range of activities which fall into three categories: Knowledge, The Arts and Physical. Activities are available for students from Transition to Year 6 and aims to introduce students to new activities, skills and knowledge. With the exception of Tennis and Ice Skating most of these activities are developed and run by classroom teachers with a talent and passion in an area and wish to impart this to the students.
Tournament of Minds (TOMs)
TOMs is a problem solving program for teams of students from both primary and secondary years. The aim of the tournament is to enhance the potential of our youth by developing diverse skills, enterprise, time management, and the discipline to work collaboratively within a challenging and competitive
environment. TOM will be on again in Term 3 under the guidance of Leila Beale. Students will be committing to in-school and after school training with the competition to be held on weekends. It's fantastic to see staff and students put in this sort of commitment.
QUEST
This innovative Year 5 & 6 program began in 2018, and aims to connect, inspire and bring real life contexts to the classroom. The program provides a pathway to middle school and assists students with future subject selection. Teachers - referred to as Project Leaders - will facilitate a group of students and focus on a particular area of interest, working with a member of community or industry professional to obtain specific knowledge and skills within the field.
Projects will incorporate a broad range of activities that directly correlate to the 4 C’s for 21st century learning – communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity.
The Quest program will culminate in QUEST: Expo of Learning in the final part of the program, highlighting the lines of inquiry undertaken by the students and knowledge gained.
Projects to be undertaken include:
Bush Tucker
How can we nurture what nature has given us? This unit of inquiry investigates the bush tucker that occurs in our locality with the aim of marketing, producing and convincing an indigenous-run café, Bush Traders, to include our product in their daily menu.
Out of this world
Augmented and virtual reality allows the everyday Aussie to see, hear and manipulate almost anything in anyway. This project will investigate how these technologies are impacting on tourism, sport, gaming, health care and education, leading students to create their own, ‘out of this world,’ experience and make the impossible a reality.
Photo factory
In ‘Photo Factory’ students will learn about the different elements of photography and how to capture photos that can tell a story. They will use different equipment, such as iPad cameras, traditional DSLR cameras and instant photo cameras, to capture images. Then they will use both digital and traditional processing techniques to share their pictures and create a portfolio that demonstrates their learning and use of different photographic techniques.
Harnessing the Sun
In this project, students will explore how the sun’s energy is being converted into electricity. They will be introduced to the concept of photovoltaics – making electricity from sunlight. They will investigate and create solar powered devices to gain an understanding of solar powered technology and investigate some of the advantages and disadvantages with current solar technology.
Restauranteurs
Hospitality is a great starting point for every young person. It teaches them customer service which is the basis of nearly every role they are ever going to perform. This program provides students an insight on how restaurants operate. Students will learn a defined and limited range of restaurant operational skills and basic industry knowledge. The project will involve visits to a local restaurant and students working collaboratively with restaurant owners, chefs, and other skilled workers in this field.
Where is my Water
Students will be investigating the Darwin water story from cloud to cup exploring the science behind the water cycle and the engineering and the science involving in extracting, moving and treating water in Darwin. Through this investigation students will also be investigating issues relating to water shortage and water pollution.
Making News
Making headlines and reporting on the latest and greatest stories is the ultimate goal for journalists. “Making News” will provide students with an insight into how local events become news stories in different media modes (TV, radio and newspapers). Students will discover how an event is reported, edited and presented within the media, through visiting local media outlets, to develop their understanding of the processes involved in presenting the news.
Chinese Language and Culture Program
Larrakeyah Primary School has one of the best foreign language programs to be found in a Primary school.
The Chinese Language and Culture program covers Preschool to Year 6. In Preschool students learn from an on-line program and the Transition students are taught by Rick Collister. Years 1 – 2 are taught by Felicity Lu, a teacher from the Darwin Language centre while the Years 3 – 6 are taught by a Chinese Professional Teacher supplied at no cost to the school by the Charles Darwin University Confucius Institute.
From Term 3, all students in Preschool and Transition will have the benefit of instruction from Lucy Li, a teacher from the CDU Confucius Institute. We are very fortunate to have the services of 3 (Felicity Lu, Lucy Li and Mr Gao Zhi) native speaking teachers who are able to provide such valuable instruction. We are also very grateful for the support The Confucius Institute has provided over a number of years with resources, costumes, extra instructors and help with planning and programming.
Life Education
Life Education was born from one man's vision to support young people to ensure that they, along with their own children, can confidently face the increasingly tough challenges in their lives.
Their mission is: Empowering our children and young people to make safer and healthier choices through education. They believe it’s their responsibility to provide the most exceptional preventative health education to our young people.
Life Education puts this belief into action through a Mobile Learning Centre that visits the school for a 7 - 10 day period. During this time all students in the school visit the Centre for lessons with trained educators who use an innovative teaching and learning approach to engage students in programs designed by health and education experts.
Another bonus for the students is meeting the much loved mascot and Australian icon, Healthy Harold. We are expecting The Life education van to visit Larrakeyah School in Week 9 or 10 of Term 3.
COVID 19
During Term 2, a number of measures were put in place to make Larrakeyah Primary School safe for students, staff and anyone, parents or visitors, who came on site.
As we move into Term 3 it is important that parents understand what measures are in place for Term 3. We will continue to follow the Northern Territory Department of Education Guidelines in the measures that are put in place. The following will continue to be in place for Term 3.
- Intensified cleaning routines across the school, during the day and after school.
- Regular hand washing built into daily routines
- Teachers reminding students to limit physical contact i.e. no holding hands or touching each other
- Cancellation of large group and communal activities such as assemblies and camps
- Limiting the number of visitors in the front office, providing sanitiser for adult use and disinfecting counter and benches regularly during the day
- Disinfecting playground equipment and benches in the morning, after recess and after lunch.
- Water bubblers - Students are not allowed to drink from the water bubblers located in the school grounds. They are only to be used by the students to fill up their water bottles.
- Restricting adult access within the school
Parents and carers have been encouraged to help the school with social distancing. The following have been put into place:
- Parents are not allowed to enter their child’s classroom before or after school.
- Parents are encouraged, if they feel the need, to drop their child off and leave quickly without stopping for a chat.
- Arrange a drop off and pick up point for their child/ren
Please remember that the measures put in place to restrict adult/parent movement in the school are still in place. It is important that these are followed. Thank you to the Larrakeyah School Community.
Every change we implement is to keep our students, your children, you and the staff safe and healthy. The positive comments and support from you, our community, is very much appreciated.
While life is stressful for all, we need to continue to work together. Let’s come out of this as a stronger community.
