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MINIMBAH – WE VALUE CHILDHOOD

The Minimbah Campus of Woodleigh School has provided an education for girls and boys from Frankston and the Peninsula for more than 160 years. From 3-year-old Early Childhood through to Year 6 we seek to provide an environment where students are stimulated and challenged – where education can be a joy.

Vital and unique to our School are the positive and supportive relationships which exist between students, staff and parents. All Minimbah students are valued equally, and all are given equal opportunities to develop their skills and abilities in all facets of school life.

Our approach to education enables students to become more academically able, encourages them to be more aware of what is happening in the world around them and helps them to develop the ability to make rational informed decisions.

Minimbah provides a wonderful environment where the young child can feel secure and develop a love for learning and life.

Teaching & Learning @ Minimbah

At the heart of a Woodleigh education is our commitment to the holistic development of every student within our school. We provide a nurturing and challenging environment that supports students in developing the knowledge, skills, and dispositions they will need to thrive at and beyond school. We aim to develop independent, resilient, creative and compassionate individuals who can find personal success in life while making a positive contribution to the communities in which they live.

Woodleigh is an IB candidate school and uses the IB Primary Years Programme as a framework for teaching and learning at our Junior Campuses.

The IB Primary Years Programme

The IB PYP is an internationally accredited framework for learning specifically designed for students aged 3 to 12 and caters to their particular learning needs during this stage of life. It provides a design structure through which the content areas of the Victorian Curriculum are taught while enriching the learning and empowering students. The PYP is inclusive in nature, providing opportunities for all students, including gifted and talented and those needing support. At Woodleigh School, the PYP is undertaken by all students in ECC to Year 6 and leads into the IB Middle Years Programme offered at our secondary campus.

The IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) is a holistic curriculum framework focused on supporting all aspects of student development. Informed by research into how students learn, how educators teach, and the principles and practice of effective assessment, the programme places emphasis on inquiry-based learning. The framework builds from a central focus upon the student to include rich learning within and across traditional subject areas, the integration of real-world contexts and the development of deep conceptual understandings by students. The curriculum structure replicates the key learning areas set out in the Victorian Curriculum, with the traditional subject areas of English, Mathematics, Social Studies, Arts, Science, Physical, Social and Personal Education all retaining their relevance.

Significantly, the PYP offers opportunities for a transdisciplinary approach, with students provided with opportunities to engage with learning that has relevance across subject areas and connects with the real world. The key aspects of the PYP include:

Approaches to learning, helping students learn how to learn by developing skills for research, critical and creative thinking, communication, collaboration, and self-management

Key and related concepts, helping students explore big ideas that matter

Transdisciplinary themes, helping students understand the relevance and importance of their study for their own development and in the real world

Inquiry-based learning, a focus on structured, purposeful inquiry that engages students in their own learning by drawing on their prior knowledge, providing provocations through new experiences, and offering opportunities for reflection, and the consolidation of knowledge, skills and understandings.

Importantly, the introduction of the Primary Years Programme provides a shared framework for planning, assessment and reporting across the junior campuses of Woodleigh School. There is also a strong alignment between the structures and language used in the IB Primary Years Programme and the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP), providing a common curriculum framework to support students through their learning journey at the school.

Transdisciplinary Programme of Inquiry

Learning and teaching in the PYP is organised within a programme of inquiry that provides students with a broad, balanced, and connected learning experience from 3-year-olds to Year 6. The programme of inquiry is structured around six transdisciplinary themes that capture ideas, concepts and issues that are relevant to understanding and appreciating the world in which we live. At each year level, students explore units of inquiry in each theme which incorporate knowledge, understandings and skills from age-appropriate learning and subject areas aligned to the Victorian Early Years Learning & Development Framework and the Victorian Curriculum. The following overview outlines the key understanding and concepts explored at each year level.

Primary Homesteads

The important role of building capabilities for living and learning through social and emotional development is reflected in our Year 5 and 6 learning environments, the Primary Homesteads. The term ‘Homestead’ reflects our vision of the classroom as a home in which our students feel safe, known and engaged, as part of a vibrant learning community involving their peers and teachers. Our Year 5 and 6 Homesteads include a communal kitchen and gathering spaces, as well as open-plan classroom spaces that allow for flexibility in the way the areas are used. The teachers and students across the 2-year levels also collaborate on many elements of learning. The use of a Homestead structure is a central feature of a Woodleigh Education that is shared across all three campuses of the school.

Woodleigh School is a candidate school for the International Baccalaureate Primary Years and Middle Years Programmes. The school is pursuing authorisation as an IB World School. Only schools authorised by the IB Organization can offer any of its academic programmes.

Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorisation will be granted.

Download our Primary Years Curriculum Document

Playgroup at Minimbah

Minimbah Playgroup

Through a rich and diverse play-based program, children have the opportunity to explore all areas of the Early Childhood curriculum, whilst building friendships and bonds with other children.

Playgroup is designed for children who are 2 years old and will run on Tuesdays and Fridays from 9.30am to 11.30am.

2024 Playgroup

Term 1 

Tuesdays 13 February – 19 March

Fridays 16 February – 22 March

Term 2

Tuesdays 23 April – 18 June

Fridays 26 April – 21 June

Term 3

Tuesdays 23 July – 17 September

Fridays 26 July – 20 September

Term 4

Tuesdays 15 October – 3 December (excluding Tuesday 5 November)

Fridays 18 October – 6 December (excluding Friday 8 November)

Should you have any questions feel free to contact Kerrie: kbrodie@woodleigh.vic.edu.au or call 9788 6488.

Families will be required to register with Playgroup Victoria. Sessions will cost $15 per week, payable before the start of term.

Early Childhood at Minimbah

At Minimbah’s Early Childhood Centre, the most important part of our program is the child. Children are at the centre of everything that happens here: the teaching, the activities and the environment.

Minimbah operates a purpose-built Early Childhood Centre (ECC), which caters for both 3-year-old and 4-year-old children. It is staffed by expert and experienced professionals whose work with children is influenced by the work of educators from Reggio Emilia and the Scandinavian Forest Schools. The ECC program is based on socio-cultural theory, inquiry and play-based learning. Our 4-year-olds attend the centre four days per week, Monday to Thursday. The 3-year-old program is run two days per week, on Thursdays and Fridays. All groups attend between 9am and 3pm.

Childhood is a unique and valuable stage in one’s life. We are passionate about providing children with a safe, nurturing, warm and happy environment in which they can thrive.

Statement of Commitment to Child Safety

Woodleigh School is committed to providing a child-safe and child-friendly environment, where children and young people are safe and feel safe to actively participate in decisions that affect their lives.

We promote positive relationships between students and adults and between students and their peers. These relationships are based on trust and respect. Our child-safe policies, strategies and practices are inclusive of the needs of all children and students.

At Woodleigh School, we have no tolerance for child abuse and are committed to acting in children’s best interests and keeping them safe from harm. The School regards its child safety responsibilities with the utmost importance. We take proactive steps to identify and manage any risks of harm to students in our school environments. When child safety concerns are raised or identified, the School treats these seriously and responds promptly and thoroughly.

At Woodleigh School, particular attention is given to the child safety needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, international students, students with disabilities, those unable to live at home, children and young people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) and other students experiencing risk or those that are vulnerable students. Inappropriate or harmful behaviour targeting students based on these or other characteristics, such as racism or homophobia, are not tolerated at Woodleigh School and any instances identified will be addressed with appropriate consequences.

Child safety is a shared responsibility. Every person involved with the School has an important role in promoting child safety and wellbeing and promptly raising any issues or concerns about a child’s safety. We regularly review our child-safe practices and seek input from our students, families, Staff, and Volunteers to inform our ongoing strategies.

Learning Outdoors

For many parents, our favourite childhood memories are of outdoor exploration – climbing up trees and down gullies, crawling through the bush and building cubbies. Often, it’s how we grew up.

Many of us also lament the fact that our children don’t have these opportunities – we mourn that safety concerns, perceived and real, have torpedoed these impromptu learning experiences where independence, resilience, leadership and communication skills flourish.

In response to this, and influenced by the Forest Schools’ approach used in many Scandinavian countries, the Early Childhood Centre at Minimbah Campus established their own Nature Program. Every Thursday, Minimbah’s 4-year-old ECC students spend their day at the Minimbah Creek – rain, hail or shine. ECC students engage in the same activities their mums and dads did, and the learning outcomes are remarkable.

Such has been the success of the Nature Program that Foundation (Prep), Year 1 and Year 2 classes have developed their own outdoor learning programs.

The Discovery Day programs continue developing resilience in students by encouraging them to take responsible risks and persist with challenging physical tasks. To see students take pride in their achievements, having overcome set or stumbled-upon challenges – the conquering of a tree climb, the traversing of a rock gap, the climb up a big hill – is brilliant. Leaders appear, supporting and organising fellow students. Turns are taken, problems identified, discussed, and ultimately, solved.

Social, spatial, skills in judgment – the educational benefits are many, varied and importantly, interwoven. Minimbah’s outdoor learning programs truly have something for every child.

The Arts at Minimbah

The Arts are an incredibly valuable means of expression and communication. Study of The Arts enables students to learn new ways of exploring, developing, representing and understanding ideas, emotions, values and cultural beliefs. Through experience in the Arts, students are able to take risks, be imaginative, question values, explore alternative solutions, develop and refine skills and techniques and share and express ideas and opinions.

Visual Art

At the Minimbah Campus the Visual Art program seeks to foster in children a love and enjoyment of the arts as a means of self-expression and creativity. Visual Art becomes a medium of self-expression as children work in an environment where they are able to observe sense and fantasise. Students from ECC – Year 6 participate in weekly lessons, where student wonderings are developed and explored through the Visual Arts. These sessions are run in our purpose built, Visual Arts studio and are undertaken by a qualified Visual Arts specialist teacher.

Dance

Children in 4 Year Old ECC through to Year 4 participate in a weekly dance program. The emphasis of the program is to encourage creativity through movement and dance. A qualified dance teacher runs the program. Opportunities for performances are also provided in a variety of ways.

Drama

Through drama, children learn to express themselves creatively and in different ways. Drama is incorporated in to the children’s classroom program from ECC to Year 4.

In Years 5 and 6, Drama is taught by a specialist teacher. Students are encouraged to audition for, and perform in the annual Minimbah Campus play or musical.

Music

The Music Program offers general music encompassing performing, composing and appreciation. The program is based on the Kodaly's philosophy of developing aural perception and imagination before instruments are introduced.

Singing, recorder and percussion are used before students are introduced to the skills of music literacy. A String Program is part of the core curriculum in Year 2 where students learn either the violin or cello as part of classroom programs.

Students in Year 5 and 6 participate in a general classroom music lesson as well as Music Workshop. The Music Workshop Program allows each student to learn an instrument as part of the core music curriculum. Throughout the program, students gain skills on a particular instrument and learn how to participate in a music ensemble.

Music is taught in our purpose built music complex. All students are able to undertake private instrumental lessons whilst at school. Students have the opportunity to participate in numerous ensembles including Mini Strings, Orchestra, Rock Band, Vocal Group and Choirs.

Sport & Physical Education

An understanding of physical activity and movement, food and nutrition, health, safety, human development and human relations are vital aspects of children’s education.

Healthy children need an understanding of their bodies and how they work; opportunities to enjoy and develop skills in a range of physical activities and an understanding of the role of physical fitness in their lives. Children also need opportunities to explore concepts of identity, relationships and physical development in a secure and supportive environment.

The Minimbah program includes the Perceptual Motor Program (PMP) for children in 4-year-old ECC through to Year 2. This program focuses on skill development in fine and gross motor activity (i.e. throwing, catching, rolling, jumping, tumbling and balancing). The PMP program is conducted by a specialist teacher. Students from F–Year 4 receive at least three sessions of physical instruction each week. Minimbah’s structured Outdoor Education Program begins in Year 2 and is an important element of the Health and Physical Education domain.

Students are offered many opportunities to participate in school sport. All interested students are given support and encouraged to participate. At Minimbah, the Physical Education program encompasses the main areas of swimming, gymnastics, athletics, ball handling and major and minor games. Students in ECC, Foundation, Years 1 and 2 are also involved in a Perceptual Motor Program and dance and movement program.

Interschool and cross-country competitions begin for students in Year 2. When appropriate, opportunities are provided to compete at Zone, State and National level.

Minimbah Students have the opportunity to compete in the following School Sport Victoria (SSV) – at District, Divisional, Regional, State and National Levels

  • Swimming
  • Cross Country
  • Athletics
  • Basketball
  • Soccer
  • Cricket
  • Volleyball
  • Australian Rules Football
  • Netball
  • Softball
  • Tennis
  • Tee Ball
  • Golf
  • Hockey
  • Bat Tennis
  • Rugby League Mod 8s

Minimbah also competes in the following Non-SSV Schools Events:

  • Equestrian
  • Sailing
  • Snow Sports
  • Sport Aerobics

A Mindful School

Minimbah is committed to continuing the development of a mindful school culture.

At the heart of this is a focus on the development of effective learning dispositions – The Habits of Mind – for all members of the school community. The Habits of Mind are a set of 16 dispositions identified by Dr Art Costa and Bena Kallick that are skillfully and mindfully employed by characteristically intelligent, successful people when they are confronted with problems, the solutions to which are not immediately apparent.

There are four key elements to this mission - a Mindful Environment, A Mindful Community, a Mindful Curriculum and Mindful Practices and Policies.

  1. A Mindful Environment begins with visual elements around the school being presented in an authentic manner, which reflects the shared language of learning and thinking dispositions.
  2. A Mindful Community is a learning community. It is a community where partnerships are formed between students, parents, teachers and members of the wider community, to work in collaboration to enhance student learning and personal development.
  3. A Mindful Curriculum supports the learning community, by providing structures and procedures to enhance student learning. All members of the community are involved in managing their personal learning, through critical reflection and effective assessment of learning outcomes.
  4. Mindful Practices and Policies reflect the School’s commitment to mindfulness; an ongoing, evolving process that reflects a commitment to knowledge, best practice and development of school partnerships.

Student Care & Wellbeing

The responsibility of Pastoral Care at Minimbah is of all staff but primarily of the classroom teacher who spends the most time with individual students. Support services within the area of pastoral care are the wider staff, administration team and the School counsellor.

Our approach focuses on the process of learning and lifelong endeavour to achieve the fullest education of a young person. Through our academic, outdoor, pastoral, extra-curricular and sports programs, we strive to develop in our students self-confidence, enthusiasm and independent thinking as assets for life.

Pastoral Care Goals

The Individual

  • Develop a detailed knowledge of the individual.
  • Enable students to achieve a self-knowledge.
  • Encourage students to accept and uphold those values endorsed by the School.
  • Acknowledge individual strengths.
  • Give students a sense of student empowerment.

Community

  • Foster the ability to relate to others and an understanding of the responsibilities of living within a community.
  • Establish effective communication with each student’s family.
  • Foster citizenship in students.

Security

  • Provide a safe, stable and supportive environment for students.
  • Reinforce school discipline codes and lifestyle behaviour.

At Minimbah, our aim is to create a welcoming and caring climate in which all members of the school community respect and uphold the dignity of each person.

We acknowledge the basic rights of all members of our community, regardless of age or status. These rights are fundamental to us treating one another with care and respect.

With rights come responsibilities. Schools by their nature are complicated social environments, but if we expect and trust that our rights are to be respected, then we must also acknowledge our responsibility to follow a code of behaviour that fits with those rights. We acknowledge a shared responsibility for parents, together with teachers to teach appropriate behaviour through a positive management approach.

The Minimbah Environment

The Minimbah Campus is situated in peaceful native surroundings. Care has been taken in the development of all Woodleigh Campuses to ensure that the built environment does not overwhelm the surrounding natural environment which is unique and special to our School.

The Minimbah Early Childhood Centre

Education at Minimbah begins in our purpose-built Early Childhood Centre. ‘ECC’ is a fun, welcoming and safe space – specifically designed to cater for the enquiry-based and play-based curriculum that we offer. Students in the Minimbah ECC have their own playground and outdoor classroom areas, bathrooms, classrooms and lockers.

On Thursdays the 4-year-old ECC group spend their day at 'The Minimbah Creek', an outdoor play and enquiry-based learning program based on the Nordic Forest Schools principles.

Minimbah Campus Facilities

The Minimbah Campus (located in Frankston South) features a full complement of specialist facilities including the Music House, gymnasium and newly resurfaced oval, school hall, art classroom and a dedicated learning support and extension centre.

‘Pathways’, as it is known at Minimbah, comprises a large classroom space and several adjoining withdrawal spaces for individual or group remediation work, reading recovery and extension activities. In late 2009, work was completed on a new Year 5/6 Homestead and library building. This building was specifically designed to promote student engagement and rich learning. The flexible interior spaces support a range of activities and more specialised lessons such as Science, Technology and Film Production.

There are three adventure playgrounds at the Minimbah Campus. Foundation – Year 2 students, Year 3–4 students and Years 5 and 6 students each have their own space.

Parent Resources

These resources are provided to make the business of being a Woodleigh School parent as easy as possible.

Please contact Minimbah Campus Reception on 9788 6488 or email minimbah@woodleigh.vic.edu.au if you have any questions regarding the content available here.

Resource Links

Internet Contract

eSafety Resources

TRAG – Teenagers Road Accident Group

DARTA – Paul Dillon Resources

South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault SECASA

Bully Stoppers

Helping Those who are Grieving

Minimbah Uniform

At ​Minimbah Campus, children from 4-year-old ECC to Year 6 wear a compulsory school uniform in keeping with the School philosophies and the V Curriculum. At 3-year-old ECC the wearing of uniform is optional.

The uniform is a combination of any of the following items:

Summer

  • Summer dress – new design
  • Knitted jumper – new design
  • Navy blue socks with striped trim (ankle length) – new design
  • Black leather school shoes
  • Taupe Woodleigh branded shorts (girls and boys)
  • Taupe Woodleigh branded skort (girls)
  • Navy blue ribbons or matching scrunchie as per summer dress
  • Woodleigh branded short-sleeved shirt to go with skort or shorts
  • Woodleigh branded navy, green, grey and white rugby top – new design
  • Woodleigh branded taupe broad-rimmed sunhat – new design

Winter

  • White Woodleigh branded long-sleeved shirt
  • Girls' Winter pinafore – new design
  • Woodleigh branded taupe trousers (girls and boys)
  • Knitted jumper – new design
  • Navy blue socks with striped trim – new design
  • Navy blue tights – to be worn with Winter pinafore
  • Black leather school shoes
  • Woodleigh black weatherproof jacket (sport jacket as well) – new design
  • Skort and rugby top as per Summer for in between seasons

Uniform Purchasing

The full Woodleigh School uniform range is available from The Bounty Shop in Frankston. Families can shop in-store, click and collect from the website, or have it delivered. Please ensure that all articles of clothing are clearly named. Name tags are also available from The Bounty Shop. The ‘sew-on’ type embroidered name tags are the best.

The Sports Uniform comprises the following items (not required for ECC)

  • Sport polo shirt
  • Sport shorts
  • Woodleigh track pants (optional)
  • Woodleigh rugby top
  • Woodleigh track jacket (optional)
  • Bathers, girls and boys
  • Rashie
  • White Woodleigh crew or ankle socks
  • Woodleigh beanie
  • Runners

Other items

  • School hat, compulsory Terms 1 and 4
  • Woodleigh backpack school bag (Foundation to Year 6), compulsory
  • Woodleigh sport bag (Foundation to Year 6), compulsory

Protective clothing

  • Art smocks are provided for use in Visual Art activities.

Lost property

Lost items of clothing are collected and held in lost property, which is located outside the Hall door. Unnamed items not collected after a period of time will be donated to the Second Hand Uniform Shop. It is the responsibility of the students to check lost property initially and of the staff to organise Year 6 monitors to sort lost items and display these for collection at regular intervals.

Jewellery

Jewellery must not be worn. Rings, bracelets and necklaces can be dangerous in some activities and also cause distress to the children if they are lost at school. It is the responsibility of parents and staff to enforce this rule.

Earrings are restricted to small gold or silver studs or sleepers (no large earrings).

Hair accessories

Hair accessories should be minimal and kept within school colours of navy or white.

Minimbah Campus PFG

The Minimbah Campus PFG run a variety of events throughout the year, both for the Minimbah students and the wider school community.

We support the school in many different ways. Larger contributions are made possible by our fundraising efforts, like purchasing a grand piano for the Music House, a set of iPads and kindles for the school and the fabulous Year 3/4 playground. We also cook sausages at Beach Picnics, provide fruit for the Mini Olympics and help run the second-hand uniform shop. Events like the Minimbah Fair, the Mother’s Day Stall and Father’s Day Breakfasts wouldn’t happen without the contribution of our parents and friends on the PFG. Needless to say, the school is very thankful!

Our objective is to build a sense of community within the school by facilitating school social events and providing support to parents and students in every year level. We have continued to support the school with funding for special purchases which enhance both programs and facilities for our children. We also offered support for a community welfare program students are involved in.

The PFG organise events such as:

The PFG organises the amazing Minimbah Fair every second year.

*We love to tap into the expertise of the school community for Mother’s Day stall ideas. If you have ideas, resources or skills to offer please join our Facebook Group!

Community support

Our PFG team will ensure new families to the school are welcomed and supported in their transition to life at Minimbah and we endeavour to provide all our families with opportunities to get together and connect. We have and will continue to sensitively provide support to families who need a hand in times of challenge. We also celebrate some important life events for families and staff and recognise efforts of staff members who have gone above the call in supporting school programs.

Fundraising purchases

We also enjoy supporting a range of 'wish list' requests made by class and specialist teachers from across the school. In the last few years, the PFG has purchased:

  • Lego Kits - basic, wheels and simple machines for ECC to enjoy.
  • A water play set for Foundation.
  • A digital SLR camera for Year 3 and a set of yoga mats.
  • An indigenous patterned run for Year 5 and a digital display and mount.
  • A 3D printer for Year 6.
  • $1000 worth of costumes for Drama and Dance.
  • A new freezer for storage of PFG stock.
  • $1000 contribution to support the purchase of non-perishable food items and kitchen resources to assist the Wallaroo PS Breakfast Club Program – which our Year 5 and 6 students support.
  • A new rug for the ECC.
  • Upgrade to the Year 3/4 Playground.

We have also put the call out to classes, who have yet to add to the PFG wish list, to add a request or two for our consideration!

All funds raised by the PFG are directly fed back into the school. We would love to hear your ideas on how to spend it!

PFG involvement

It is always fantastic to see new faces supporting PFG events! We certainly appreciate fresh ideas, enthusiasm and involvement from new members.

PFG understands that life as a parent is busy and many of you work and aren’t necessarily able to attend PFG meetings. You can always help out in other ways. We work on the principle that any involvement or help is worthwhile! Please make the effort to get involved in our school community, both you and your children will reap the benefits. You can involve yourself by:

  • Taking time to attend a social catch up arranged by your PFG Year Level Representative, they’re fun and afford you a great opportunity to connect with other parents.
  • Attending a PFG event.
  • Offering your assistance to any of the PFG run events throughout the year (e.g. serving tea and coffee at Grandparents’ Day or cutting up fruit for Mini Olympics).

Working With Children Check for school volunteers

It is a school requirement that all volunteers have a Working with Children Check. If you don't have one and are planning on volunteering, please apply here: Working With Children Check.

Please also refer to more information about Volunteering at Woodleigh, including our Volunteer Management Policy.

OSHC – Outside School Hours Care – Camp Australia

Camp Australia. Guiding children

Camp Australia – Guiding Children’s Growth

We are proud to partner with Camp Australia to provide our Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) program.

Camp Australia programs are centred on child enrichment, while ensuring a reliable, engaging and hassle-free OSHC service at our school. Their engaged educators foster a safe, inclusive environment where children can relax, have fun and grow.


 
Camp Australia. Guiding children

Your OSHC – OSHC that inspires

Your OSHC is Camp Australia’s before school, after school and pupil free day program, tailored to the likes and interests of each child in service. Camp Australia’s educators design enriching experiences to inspire your children’s confidence, independence and imagination. In any one week, they could be participating in science experiments, active play, creative expression and more - they believe in learning through experience so that each child can grow.

Click here to find out more about Camp Australia's program at our school, including hours of operation and fees. To attend care, you must register your child. Register now for free.

Parent Teacher Online (PTO)

Bookings for Parent/Teacher interviews are handled via our PTO system. It can be found HERE.