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PENBANK - REAL LEARNING

Our Penbank Campus in Moorooduc provides a warm, caring, secure yet challenging environment where children develop as young people through involvement in a broad range of academic and life experiences.

Catering for children in 3-year-old Early Learning through to Year 6, our small group sizes enable teachers to know and care for each child in an individual way. The school offers a complete academic education including extra-curricular programs, rich in stimulating and innovative activities in which every child has the opportunity to excel.

Strong emphasis is placed on building self-esteem and confidence, and maintaining an environment in which children love to learn.

Early Childhood at Penbank

Our Early Childhood Program reflects the Woodleigh philosophy, providing an experiential learning environment where children understand the world around them through co-operative play, exploration, and inquiry. The program incorporates daily sessions from 9.00am to 3.00pm. Our 3-year-old program runs on Monday and Tuesday. Our 4-year-old program runs Wednesday to Friday.

Our Objectives:

  • To provide a program that will foster the individual development of each child.
  • To develop the intellectual, social and emotional growth of the child through imaginative and creative play.
  • To provide a stimulating environment that invites the child’s participation in all areas.
  • To provide a caring and nurturing environment that will encourage independence and will build upon the child's self-esteem.
  • To provide an open and friendly atmosphere that encourages active participation and communication with the child and their family.

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.

Teaching & Learning @ Penbank

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

Co-curricular Programs

Visual Arts

At Penbank the children enjoy experiences that encourage creative self-expression, whether it be in a timetabled Art/Craft session or as part of classroom activities in other curriculum areas. The whole curriculum is seen as an opportunity for such creativity.

Specifically, we follow a thematic or unit-orientated approach to planning art activities, which is complemented by ideas gleaned from many additional sources.

Art activities generally fall under these headings:

- Drawing
- Painting
- Textiles/Threads
- Modelling/Clay Building
- Construction/Collage
- Printing

Music and Drama

The Music curriculum is comprehensive and includes aural and visual comprehension of music through the experience of singing, instrumental playing and general music making.

Drama and Music is enjoyed at a whole school level and supported by extra small group activities.

All students in Years 3 to 6 are encouraged to learn a musical instrument. Private tuition is available in violin, piano, guitar, drums, cello, flute, clarinet, saxophone and recorder.

Penbank has a strong tradition in Drama and Music and productions are staged accordingly.

Library

The Library Program is designed to assist the student in becoming a confident and competent library user and to promote an enthusiastic attitude to reading and research. The program offers an introduction to the children's literature collection as well as instruction in the basics of library research and usage.

Children are given frequent opportunities to visit the library through timetabled class sessions and lunchtime activities.

LOTE - Indonesian

As participants in a 'global village' it is important to equip our children with language to be effective in communicating and understanding others.

For the enhancement of world economic, social, cultural and environmental activity, with communications technology dominating exchanges, we have the responsibility to our students to develop within them sensitivity to the social conventions of different cultures. We are also responsible for giving them a love of languages and the skills necessary for the production of a foreign language. The language taught at Penbank is Indonesian.

The Wugubank Partnership

Wugubank is the title given to a developing partnership involving two schools, Penbank and the Wugularr School at Beswick, an hour's drive east of Katherine, Northern Territory. Both schools are small with a similar level of enrolment.

The Wugubank Partnership began when a teacher from Penbank took leave to work in the Northern Territory – the Wugularr School was his post. During his 18-month period of leave, a number of Penbank teachers, including the school principal, visited the Wugularr School. When at Wugularr, they worked in a voluntary capacity, supporting the school in areas of need such as Art and Library.

Since then, strong and supportive relationships have developed between teachers and students. Wugularr students enjoy regular visits from the Penbank teachers and have the opportunity to visit each other’s school at least once a year. The first trip to Penbank for the Wugularr Mob was August 2010, and the following year the Penbank Year 5 and 6 students visited the Wugularr School. They are always amazing times together!

"​When you see the children together, they are mates. They play as children do."

For the Penbank staff, the focus has always been on the schooling. “When we looked at the talents of the children, we saw that they’re artistic, they’re athletic, they’re rhythmic and musical. These are their strengths, yet there was not one teacher who could support those specialist areas of the curriculum. Yes, they need to read and write and understand Maths, but that’s not what’s going to hook them in.”

The purpose of the Wugubank partnership is to provide an educative experience through relationship building and school visits. It is based on the premise that young children naturally interact with each other and are not unduly affected by the barriers of culture or language. Children are generally free from prejudice and purely love to play and learn. In a school setting, and through structured and culturally respectful educational exchanges, the Wugubank Partnership enables the children from each school to understand and influence each other about their world. The Wugubank Partnership aims to develop long-term relationships over time, thus establishing trust, personal respect and connections with the view of broadening horizons for all.

A key feature of the Wugubank Partnership is the importance of learning through personal connections, genuine respect and consideration of others. The Wugubank Partnership reinforces that school is a normal thing to do for all children and young people that is enabled through quality experiences at a joint level when Penbank and Wugularr students come together.

student care & wellbeing

As you drive into Penbank, you are immediately touched by the peacefulness of the surrounds and the space that is available to children for learning and playing. The general environment highlights a value and respect for living things, and is presented in a way that teaches us that we are not the only people in the world, but a small part of a diverse community.

Woodleigh is a school where knowing all students and families is vital. Calling a student by name, and knowing something about each child is important to a humane and caring environment. At Penbank, children are able to flourish, as the small student/teacher ratio greatly enhances the quality of interactions, and therefore the quality of learning.

Woven into the academic curriculum are a broad range of options to develop and strengthen children’s skills and talents. The Spalding Approach to Reading and Writing is the basis for teaching English, due to its comprehensive phonetic, multi-sensory approach. As part of a rural and environmental landscape, delivered through an inquiry-based and integrated curriculum, involvement in the sciences and outdoor programs enable children to learn through investigation and experience.

Importantly, there is opportunity for all children – it’s not just the best who get a go!

As a family-oriented school, parents and teachers work in partnership to nurture and develop the children to be the best they can be. A strong emphasis is placed on relationships, knowing that it is vital to be fair and honest, thus preserving and fostering values in tolerance and respect for oneself and the world. Penbank is a place where children thrive and achieve in all areas of social, physical and intellectual growth. As a campus of Woodleigh, Penbank is proud to provide an education that today’s children need to prepare them for their futures.

The Penbank Environment

Situated on a delightful 35-acre rural property on the Mornington Peninsula, Penbank is a family oriented non-denominational junior campus for boys and girls. Within an attractive setting, comprising excellent indoor and outdoor facilities, Penbank offers a progressive approach to education and is an inspiring and happy place to learn.

The excellent facilities, including spacious, naturally-lit classrooms, multi-purpose halls featuring natural-timbered walls and structures, provide a homely setting. Open fireplaces are a feature, and a minimum of corridors provides an open and welcoming feel.

Parent Resources

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

Please contact Penbank Campus Reception on 5978 8425 or email penbank@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

Penbank Uniform

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

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

  • 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

Accessories

  • waterproof smock to cover clothing completely
  • Woodleigh branded school bag
  • drawstring library bag
  • Woodleigh branded sport bag
  • Woodleigh branded homework/reader satchel

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.

Penbank Campus PFG

Our Parents and Friends Group meets regularly to organise social and fundraising events. They can be many and varied but most of all are creative, lots of fun and designed to build community across the school.

The Committee comprises a Class Parent Representative from each Group and other parents depending on the level of interest. In recent years we have had wonderful support with a strong membership.

Penbank PFG Statement of Purpose

At Woodleigh School’s Penbank Campus, the junior school parents’ and friends’ association is known as the Parents and Friends Group (the PFG). The PFG’s purpose is to facilitate:

Community, Connectedness, Communication, Creativity & Contribution.

The activities of the PFG are at all times in line with the goals and objectives of Penbank/Woodleigh and all decisions made are for the benefit of the school community.

A volunteer committee of class parent representatives, and other parents, administers of the PFG along with the Head of Penbank (Vivienne Wearne) and other administrative staff. Each committee member has specific responsibilities. In this way the PFG can effectively manage the range of activities that contribute to School life. The PFG committee is greatly assisted by the Penbank Woodleigh staff and a network of volunteer parents and friends from the Early Learning Centre to Year 6.

The PFG play a significant role at Penbank and work to build the participation of parents in the life of the School – whether in terms of social events, fundraising or the celebration of special occasions. Without this vital ongoing parental contribution the PFG activities would not be possible.

Some examples of where the PFG and volunteer parents are involved:

  • Tuck Shop Days per term
  • Orientation days/nights for new parents
  • Anzac Day Morning Tea
  • Between The Bays Festival
  • District Cross Country Tuck Shop
  • Wugubank Tuck Shop
  • Mother’s Day luncheon/activities
  • Father’s Day Breakfast
  • Provision of funds towards agreed and defined objectives

The PFG is proud of its efforts to build a very strong sense of community among all Penbank Woodleigh families. PFG meetings are held towards the beginning and end of each term (around Weeks 2 and 6) with all details on the Woodleigh App. Attending these meetings gives a broader understanding of the day-to-day life of the School. It also demonstrates to our children that we consider the School to be a very important part of family life.

The PFG warmly invites all parents and friends of Penbank to attend the regular PFG meetings and encourages parents and friends to become involved and participate actively in the Penbank Woodleigh community. Please contact Tracey Clinch at Penbank Reception for further information on penbankpfg@woodleigh.vic.edu.au or contact Laura Maasburg, Alumni and Community Manager at lmaasburg@woodleigh.vic.edu.auor use the Woodleigh App (click here for Android version) and press the PFG button! We look forward to connecting with you!

We look forward to connecting with you!

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.