Welcome to the start of what is sure to be a wonderful year. There is a lovely and settled vibe in each of the Neighbourhoods and a joyous anticipation to learn and share. Music has taken off in many directions across the school, the choir has doubled in size, which is very exciting, and the Instrumental Music program has had a tremendous response with 133 enrolments! Please read on…

Singing ‘School’s Out for Summer’, as we did in our final assembly last year, seems so long ago, and yet also like yesterday. That’s the ‘trick of time’. But in just two summer months we have journeyed and changed. Our out-looks are different, and our students too have made giant leaps forward in how they are relating to everything around them. To say they have grown is an understatement!

Across the school we are reconnecting with Judith Durham and Kutcha Edward’s beautiful version of the National Anthem, ‘Australian’s Let Us All Be One’. The students are drawing connections to the lyrics of this song as they resonate with our school values, and for the Yr 5/6s, with their Neighbourhood inquiry. The choir will also have their first opportunity to fly ‘over the top’ as they revise their descant part. The lyrics that Durham and Edwards wrote resonate with, and honour, everyone in our community and communities across Australia. They encourage us to ‘love, respect and share’ the natural gifts of our land and all that grants us life. Our sun, soil and water are precious, as are our children who will be the carers of this great island and it’s people. The students are understanding that these lyrics are relevant to our times, and our share hopes and vision for the future, and as they are growing and changing as individuals, so too is our nation. It has been a privilege to share this song, through singing and discussions with the students, and we look forward sharing this song with everyone when we gather for our first School Student Leaders Assembly next Friday.

Other areas of music focus in our neighbourhoods have included Uke Club with the 5/6s and team building skills activities in the 3/4 Neighbourhoods to support respectful relationships while these new student groups get to know each other as friends and learners. The Year 2s are consolidating the music literacy skills we began towards the end of last year, and my, they do make a potentially ‘dry’ topic fun! With more than half the Neighbourhood enrolled in the IM program, and yet more students learning music outside school, we are bedding down some great sight reading skills and giving our ‘decoding’ brain wires a work out. I look forward to bringing instruments into the Neighbourhood so that we can add another layer of fun brain tickling!

Our year 1s have also been a delight. We are learning the words of ‘Australians Let Us Stand As One’ as a group reading exercise, as well as singing the song, and we enjoyed the Danish dance Seven Jumps (I needed to increase the volume the students giggled so much). And, what about the Preps… well, settled and ‘switched on’ doesn’t half describe the amazing start they have had to their first school year. Connie has taught us all the ‘Hokey Pokey’ with our body parts in Woi Wurrung language, the children already know the ABC song and ‘You Are My Sunshine’, and are about to write their very own lyrics to curious topic for which they need a sea shanty melody… because, so the story goes (that only Robert knows), Connie knew ‘Red Beard’ when she was a little girl, and the Preps are filling in the rest. Stay tuned!

Emily Hayes, our choir leader, and I have been thrilled with the number of children who have signed up for choir this year. We have such a fantastic number that we now have 2 choirs: a Junior Choir for the new students in years 2 and 3, and the Senior, or ‘Continuing Students’ Choir for students in Years 4 -6. We would like to, with student consultation, think of two inspiring names for our choirs. Like last year we will focus on singing skills and body percussion, confidence in multiple part singing, and sing songs from many cultures. We look forward to leading the school singing in next week’s assembly. My thanks to Emily for organising all the enrolments, and to our wonderful parent helpers, Wendy, Naomi, Sophie and Emily.

Instrumental Music begins… ✨Today✨! Many thanks to our IM student parents and carers for their patience and kind understanding as the IM teachers, Julie and I sorted through 133 enrolments and found solutions to ensure that every child will have the opportunity to begin learning the instrument of their choice. I am the most excited ‘kid’ at school about IM, and that’s because all your children are ‘filling my cup’ with their joyous anticipation. Thank you for for making learning an instrument possible for the children.

Here are a few IM tips to help you as the year gets under way. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with your child’s IM teacher, or me, about their instrumental learning. The best learning experiences are achieved when the teachers students and parents/carers are ‘on the same page’. Please be curious about your child’s instrumental learning especially if they are just beginners. It’s possible that they will be too weary by Friday 3:30 to share much more than that famous one syllable word ‘good’ when you ask about their lesson, but later, perhaps they could try teaching you what they learnt, even if it’s just one thing! And no matter what the sounds may be, a child interacting with their instrument in their own inventive way is a meaningful and exciting exploration. They will gradually learn the skills to express music in many styles, but ultimately, if they continue as Instrumental learners, their instrument will become a ‘sound mirror’ for their soul, and their means for creative expression. What a thing to celebrate.

Thanks everyone for an inspiring and happy start to this Term. Best wishes as we all move forwards, and can you believe that the Canadian Maple trees outside the 3/4 Neighbourhood are already tipped with blazing red leaves🍁. Cheerio, Deb.