We are fortunate to have excellent learning facilities at Featherbrook College and so students are afforded opportunities that normally would not be experienced until secondary school. Our Year 4 students have been busy in the Wood Technology workshop and enjoying the creativity and skill associated with Wood Tech and Design.

Take a bow Year 9 students! You are to be congratulated on this auspicious occasion and acknowledged for the work you have done during the year to reach this milestone in your education and in reaching your final year at Featherbrook College. The day was filled with memory- making experiences.

Students at Featherbrook College are exceptionally creative and our Visual Arts as well as our Performing Arts programs highlight this fact. While our Year 1 students have been designing and creating re-usable bags to reduce the use of plastic, the Year 2 students have engaged with music and dance creativity, enjoying percussion instruments as part of their experience.

This week our students have been enjoying a range of wonderful experiences from life saving activities at Altona Beach to making festive Gingerbread Houses in Food Technology.

Featherbrook College celebrates diversity and creativity; talent and effort. Over the few years we have been open, we have provided a variety of lunchtime activities and opportunities to experience different activities and to pursue those which are of interest. Chess has been a game of interest by a number of our students and at times the strategic game of chess has been offered.

Over the last couple of weeks, the Year 9 students have shown an incredible effort in researching and experimenting in the science laboratory. Three different experiments focussing on chemical reactions.

It is clear from the accompanying photographs that the students were highly engaged and were keen to learn together. Note the range of sophisticated equipment we have for our students recognising that these resources support a strong science foundation ahead of students moving into senior secondary school after Year 9.

The following are descriptions of the experiments.

In 2021, Featherbrook College focussed on the ResourceSmart water module to progress the college’s contribution to a more sustainable world. Not only was the learning for our students to engage and enrich their appreciation for sustainability by protecting and understanding the importance of water, the module has been a hurdle for our college to attain another ResourceSmart School sustainability star.

Last week, students in 4D & 4E were combining their exploration of making and flying a balloon rocket and refining their applied knowledge on procedural writing. The learning intention for the students, was to make a balloon rocket that travelled all the way along a piece of string, using various materials.

During Semester Two students from years four, five and six have had opportunity to engage in some of our secondary years’ subjects: Visual Media, Food Technology and Wood Technology. These ‘taster’ sessions are one part of the transition program for students as they progress through the primary years in readiness to move into the secondary part of the school - Years 7, 8 ,9.

This morning Vikesh and Yadhu of 5/6F led the college in acknowledging Remembrance Day. All classes stopped to reflect on those who are currently serving Australia and countries around the world, and those who have served in the past. Following the presentation a minute’s silence was observed followed by the National Anthem.

Dr Seuss would have been impressed had he walked through our learning spaces this morning. Students in the library were looking through the Lamont Book Fair selecting titles that they would like to purchase. Students will take their wish list home and if parents choose they may order online. Once orders are processed, Lamont will notify Ms Bary and she will distribute books that have been purchased. A reminder that the book fair finishes tomorrow (Friday 12th November).

The Transition Program for our 2022 Prep Students is well underway. So far students have experienced an online story session and last Thursday they attended their first transition session at school.

During Second Semester Years P – 6 have inquired into the concept of Sustainability through the essential question of How can we live sustainably? Prep students are considering the question What happens when an animal’s habitat changes? Prep classes have special enclosures containing caterpillars and the appropriate habitat for them and the students have been watching the caterpillars with interest. They think that very soon the caterpillars will undertake the next stage of their life cycle which is to make a chrysalis. The students are super excited and think that by Monday most of the caterpillars will be hidden inside their chrysalises.

This week’s beautiful weather was made even more enjoyable by the collaboration between the Year 9 Healthy Lifestyles students and Year 1 Physical Education students.

There was much excitement this morning as students from all year levels returned to full time on-site learning.

We couldn’t wipe the smiles off the year 2 faces today as they got to take their plushie toys home.

Today’s beautiful weather was made even more special by the return of our Year 3, 4, 8 and 9 students, who joined students from Year 7 and Prep, who are also learning on site today.

The Year 5/6 students began their Inquiry unit of Creativity on Friday with a Stem challenge. Students learned about innovative thinkers (people who think outside the box) and adaptive creative thinkers (people who see things and try to improve it). Students were asked what type of creative thinker they think they are then we broke it down further by looking into convergent and divergent thinking traits!

Our school certainly was made more lively and enjoyable with the return to onsite schooling for our upper primary and secondary students. Teachers and students alike enjoyed seeing each other and learning together throughout the day….Maths, English and Woodwork were amongst the subjects enjoyed

Every third week of October, the Australian Water Association organises National Water Week and makes a splash across Australia, inspiring individuals, communities and organisations to build awareness around the value of water. Access to clean water is hugely important to our daily lives, and it’s down to all of us to protect our water environments and resources, and use water wisely.

Welcome back Prep students and teachers and support staff. We've missed you!

Finally we can see the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ as it were in recognition of some of our students returning to onsite learning from next week, albeit part time initially. The Prep and Year 1 and 2 students and teachers are so excited in anticipation of coming to school after such a long time learning remotely

As all schools have this week, we took delivery of air purifiers for our school buildings ahead of our first group of students returning to onsite learning next week. Our prep students will be back at school for 3 days next week, Monday through to Wednesday while our Year 1 and 2 students will return for Thursday and Friday.

It's Footy Colours Day today and what a way to also celebrate the end of term too!

Starting with a whole staff briefing this morning set the scene for the spirit of the day to ‘kick off’. Staff were dressed in their favourite team colours and it was clear there were many supporters for both of the grand final teams – Western Bull Dogs V Melbourne Demons. May the best team on the day be the victor!

It’s been a bit of a wait, but the results of the Well Being BINGO challenge our families took on late August are in! Congratulations to Banksia students and families who took out the honours by earning the most tokens….270!

Well done Banksia.

Thank you Featherbrook College community for supporting the very worthy cause of fighting cancer in children and young people through your very generous donations so far. Our college community has raised $307 up to this morning. We are holding Footy Colours Day this coming Friday (any team sport our families and students follow are welcomed to be represented, not just footy) is welcomed. Every year, more than 950 children and young people aged 0-19 are diagnosed with cancer in Australia and so Featherbrook College, fast becoming known for its kindness and generosity to supporting others in our society has already shown our community -mindedness. I encourage those who can donate to this cause, to do so.

This morning Prep students joined Zoos Victoria to enjoy an online virtual experience meeting 3 of the zoo animals found there and found in our Australian environment. The students were firstly encouraged to be like a ‘Wild Explorer’ where they pretended to put on their wild explorer hat, binoculars and boots. They were encouraged to ‘look up, look down and look around’ on their virtual wild life walk.

R U OK? is a national day of action dedicated to reminding everyone that every day is the day to ask, “Are you OK?” and support those struggling with life's ups and downs. This year has been difficult for many. That’s why supporting R U OK Day is more important than ever.

Featherbrook College students really are to be commended for their commitment to reading. Reading regularly; reading a variety of books and texts; reading for pleasure and reading for learning. The average days per week that our students have been reading has doubled and in many cases, tripled from May of this year to September.

Featherbrook College staff and community are to be congratulated for having made the most of this time of lockdown as challenging as it can be at times. Remote and flexible learning through webex and other virtual platforms have been key to keeping our students connected and learning optimally. Maintaining a focus on the key areas of the curriculum including literacy and numeracy, keeping them firmly in the spotlight, has been a strength of our college’s provision.

Webex art classes at Featherbrook was the place to be this afternoon. The theme of the classes was ‘Card Making for Father’s Day and Special People’ ahead of Sunday being Father’s Day. We know that at the moment, lockdown and restrictions have meant that we could not hold a Father’s Day stall, however, Visual Arts teachers Ms Louise Johnson supported by Ms Nicole Houlihan and Mr Nick McKinnis, came to the party and shared their card making creative skills with the children, guiding them through the step by step process. However, one student asked if they could add in their own creative ideas or did they have to follow the teacher exactly. Of course Ms Johnson said that students’ own ideas were encouraged. The results were outstanding! The students shared the types of methods and materials used such as glitter, ribbons and sequins. The children also enjoyed having a bit of fun in each other’s company and some enjoyed it so much that they joined both classes. The cards created were different designs: a ‘Number 1’ card and a ‘Trophy’ card.

While Monday Funday seems like a while ago (16th August), it’s never too late (our website blog has not been available to update) to acknowledge the wonderful time that our students enjoyed courtesy of the ideas and creativity of the teachers.

Last week was National Science Week and while a whole school recognition of the Week was curtailed a little by current remote learning, the Year 7 and 8 secondary students were challenged through an international science competition and there was much to celebrate.

Our students really are STAR readers. It is quite remarkable when we gather some data and statistics that illustrate the intentional approach we have at Featherbrook College to lift not just reading achievement but to also instil in our students a love of reading and a thirst for knowledge through reading.

Ahead of next week 16 – 22 August being National Science Week, it was fabulous to see our young scientists working in our science laboratory last week with Ms Ebony Wyatt, our science laboratory technician and the year 4 teachers to use the dedicated space and equipment to learn about hypotheses, experimentation and inquiry.

An opportunity presented recently for the Featherbrook College staff to take on a worthy cause for which to raise funds. The Cancer Council of Australia’s biggest morning tea had been planned for months ago but amidst lockdowns and the very busy school calendar, the morning tea was postponed several times. But all good things come to those who wait and we were finally able to hold this event and raise in excess of $500 which was the target amount.

Today marked the long awaited for celebration of our preps meeting their milestone of 100 days of schooling. Whilst a little overdue due to the lockdown and Remote and Flexible Learning requirements, the occasion was still very memorable and the anticipation of it was palpable. The teachers and the parents played their part too. Thank you for your considerable efforts.

Welcome back to our fabulous Featherbrook College families after lockdown 5.0. One could be forgiven for thinking that our students had been at school the whole time, such was the settled and focussed learning I observed as I made my way around the 51 home groups this morning.

I joined a zoom meeting today that was hosted by the Werribee Zoo. A number of our students along with Sustainability Coordinator Nick McKinnis also joined the forum.

The purpose was to launch the 2021 ‘Love Your Locals’ program where students will be working towards the development of a project to raise awareness of the plight of 3 endangered Victorian species: Plains Wanderer Orange-Bellied Parrot and the Eastern Barred Bandicoot.

Our Year 4,5, and 6 primary students will be enjoying this semester, the range of specialist subjects that are usually only offered to the secondary students. Fortunately, our Media immersion for some of the Year 5 students was able to take place before the lockdown on Friday.

The Arts (visual and performing) have been a valued part of our programming and provision since our college’s inception. Indeed, it was an intentional decision to hold a whole school production in our very first year in 2017. This year, we will hold an Art Show in Term 4. The Arts are arguably at the heart of creativity and our Featherbrook students are none too short of creativity.

On return from the term break our students have clearly come back to school ‘present, centred and ready’ to learn. We pride ourselves on our 4 school values of respect, safety, high expectations and collaboration, with all 4 present in the photos I am sharing on this blog.

During term2 the Yr9 Wood Technology students designed and created sensory boards.

It is always with great anticipation that the students await the final term results of the House with the greatest measure of tokens. The culture of friendly rivalry based on earning tokens through displaying our school values of safety, respect, high expectations and collaboration has grown since its inception in the second semester of our inaugural year, 2017. The winning House this term was Acacia – yellow House…congratulations!

The younger generations really are a shining light in leading the way for creating a sustainable future. Recently, I received a wonderful letter, carefully written describing her concern. The letter was from Year 1 student Meera. Meera had seen me in the playground and told me she had written a letter because she was concerned for some of the plants in our school gardens and the way some children were damaging them.

During Remote and Flexible Learning the culinary skills of the year 7 students progressed in the kitchens of our students much to the delight of their families.

Over the course of remote and flexible learning I have been privileged to have joined many webex sessions. The variety and breadth of learning programs being undertaken by the teachers and students is remarkable.

Yesterday the Year 7 netball team represented our college at an interschool competition at Altona Stadium.

To raise awareness of the importance and value of water, the students at Featherbrook competed in a water saving poster competition. The competition had over 300 entries with a selected poster from each year level.

It is always a delight to highlight the incredible creativity of our students and the equally creative visual arts teachers’ creativity. A recent focus for our year 2 cohort of students was the use of recycled cardboard as a canvas on which to paint and augment with woven woollen designs.

It is always a delight to highlight the incredible creativity of our students and the equally creative visual arts teachers’ creativity. A recent focus for our year 2 cohort of students was the use of recycled cardboard as a canvas on which to paint and augment with woven woollen designs.

Yesterday, Year 9 students were provided with the opportunity to travel to the state of the art Wyndham Technical School in Werribee. The school has quickly gained a reputation for its cutting edge programs that complement and extend the curriculum of schools like Featherbrook College which is a ‘partner’ school. It acts as a hub to engage students and the community in project-based activities using technology and processes inspired by local industry including Health; Transport and Logistics; Professional Services, Agriculture; Building and Construction.