It’s all about transition!

As we head toward the pointy end of the year, we are actively providing our students with opportunities to step up and into classes for the 2023 school year. Our Current ECC students have already had several visits and classroom sessions in Foundation. Our Year 4 students have visited and will continue to visit the 5/6 Homestead in the run-up to the end of the year. Our Year 6 students have been part of an extensive transition program at the Senior Campus to support their journey into their junior secondary years.

On Wednesday this week, all classes will ‘step up’ between recess and lunch and work in their 2023 classrooms. New students joining the school next year will also join us on this day. Year 5 and 6 class groupings will also be communicated on Wednesday. We endeavour to create class groupings which balance, gender, academic requirements and social and emotional considerations. As you will understand, specific requests for class teachers and placement with or without peers cannot be guaranteed as there are many factors which must be considered in placing current and new students into class groups. The Class Teacher structure for 2023 will be as follows:

• ECC 3yo Emma Streader
• ECC 4yo Rachel Stewart
• Foundation Jacqui Wishart
• Year 1 Liane Clements
• Year 2 Alexis Tame
• Year 3 Craig Kenner
• Year 4 James Clapham
• Year 5 Andrew Hicks and Zara Love-Davey
• Year 6 Jacqui Stocker and Jonathan Crouch

Camps – that’s a wrap!

With our Year 5 and 6 students back from their adventure camp in Licola, the year’s camping program draws to a close. Our Year 2 students enjoyed their sleepover at school and Year 3 and 4 students found adventure further down the Peninsula. These pivotal outdoor experiences do not just happen, many staff work tirelessly to ensure the success of these programs. I thank Alexis Tame, Craig Kenner and Any Hicks for their coordination and planning of their respective camps and the Minimbah Staff who supported the programs.

Debating Club

Year 5 students are being given the opportunity to work with our Year 9 champion debaters over the coming weeks. Part of the Senior Campus Activities Program, Minimbah students will be mentored and coached in a four-week program on Mondays and Fridays culminating in a mini-debate with our Penbank Campus Year 5 students. Interested students volunteered last week, to join the program.

Pesta Indonesia Day

Tomorrow, Minimbah celebrates Pesta Indonesia Day. Year 9 students will come across and run engaging activities throughout the morning with all students from Foundation to Year 6. A special morning tea and lunch has also been planned (pre-orders only).

Green Camp – Green School, Bali, Indonesia

I am very excited to inform you that Minimbah will introduce an international experience for our Year 6 students in September 2023. Green School Bali is a private, international Early Childhood to Year 12 school located along the Ayung River near Abiansemal in Bali, Indonesia. The school opened in 2008 and, since then, has been nurturing holistic, innovative, and purpose-driven inquiry for its community of learners.

A Great Fit

The values and mission of Green School Bali closely align with Woodleigh's philosophy and our belief in children and learners. Both Woodleigh and Green School aim to provide a purposeful education for young people who can thrive beyond school and make a difference in the world. Importantly our values of Respect for Self, Others and The Environment are shared with Green School.

In 2023, our Year 6 students will have the opportunity to travel to Bali in September to work alongside the students and educators from Green School in their purpose-built camp. This immersive experience will offer our students a holistic, nature-based program in an environment that cannot be replicated outside Bali. As they head toward the end of their primary years, this experience will have our students explore the wonder and wisdom within them and present in the world around them. There will be challenges, but those challenges will be fun and inspiring, helping them grow in confidence, resilience and awareness to become changemakers in their lives and communities.

Building on Prior Experience

We see the Green School Camp being a paramount experience for Minimbah students. Many of your children will have begun their outdoor ed experiences through Creek Days in ECC and Foundation and developed their 'soft skills' on Discovery Days in Years 1 and 2. Green School Bali Camp will build on these experiences and the skills, understandings, and conceptual learning through their units of Inquiry – Sharing the Planet, How the World Works and Who We Are. The children's education will continue to capture and explore the significant and relevant human commonalities across cultures and regions.

The Year 6s will be naturally immersed in Balinese culture and language, building on Minimbah's language acquisition program to bolster their skills as they move toward their time at Senior Campus.

Themes, Activities, Adventures

The Green School Camp follows several broad themes, including exploring Balinese culture and foods, with students visiting local markets and cooking traditional foods. Following Green School's sustainability focus, students will also explore permaculture and food foraging.

The Green School campus is almost entirely constructed using sustainable bamboo materials. Our students will explore the importance of bamboo to the Balinese people and work with bamboo to build structures, including rafts and bridges. An adventure day will see the students hiking Mt Batur or snorkelling and kayaking through mangroves, followed by mangrove planting. On the final day, the children will learn about Green School’s unique waste management system and almost carbon-zero credentials. A complete and detailed program will be provided in the new year.

What’s still to come?

There’s still plenty to come before the year concludes. Please make note of the following dates and activities.

• Monday 14 November Pesta Indonesia Day
• Monday 14 November Year 5 Debating Activity #1
• Wednesday 16 November 2023 New Student and Step-up Day (11.00 am – 1.00 pm)
• Monday 21 November Year 6 water Safety Day – Bonbeach Life Saving Club
• Monday 21 November 2023 ECC Information Evening
• Thursday 24 and Friday 25 November Puppets, Stories and Art in Nature Incursion (Foundation – Year 2)
• Friday 25 November Team Athletics Carnival (details to follow)
• Friday 25 November Year 6 Dinner
• Wednesday 30 November Perberkoong – Whole School evening at the Senior Campus featuring the Foundation class’ presentation of ‘The Nativity'
• Friday 2 December Arty Market
• Monday 5 December Year 6 Transition Morning at Senior Campus
• Tuesday 6 December Year 6 Graduation
• Wednesday 7 December F- 3 Beach Picnic – Bonbeach Life Saving Club
• Wednesday 7 December Year 6 City Excursion, Rone in the Flinders Street Station Ballroom
• Thursday 8 December Years 4 – 6 Beach Picnic - Bonbeach Life Saving Club
• Friday 9 December Year 6 Final Assembly and Pool Jump
• Friday 9 December Term 4 Concludes, 3.20pm (Midday for ECC 3yo)

ROD DAVIES
Head of Minimbah