Millen Primary School

ABN: 51 797 436 279

Playfield Street, East Victoria Park, WA 6101

P: 08 9264 7600 E: millen.ps@education.wa.edu.au

Welcome to Year 6, Rooms 1 and 20!

We would like this opportunity to welcome you and your child to Year 6. Our aim is to provide a

positive classroom environment that promotes a love of learning and fosters the intellectual, social,

physical, emotional, and creative development of every child we teach.

Important Routines and Procedures

Students are to be lined up by 8:20am

Before the bell rings at 8:30am children should:

Unpack their bags

Place their Blue Communication/Homework Folder on their desk

Take out their diary and any notes they have for the teacher

Take out their reading folder and change their reading book

Place their water bottle in the tub provided

Have their spelling homework on their desk ready for marking

Once the 8:30am bell has sounded all children are expected to be seated in the classroom

ready for the role to be taken. If they are not in the room by this time, they must report to the

office with a parent/guardian to sign them in before coming to class. They will be issued with

a late note and this will be entered on the role.

If a child must leave during the school day, the parent/guardian must pass through the front

office to receive a leaving pass and sign the child out. The pass must be given to the

teacher before the child is released into a parent/guardian’s care.

When and if the child returns to school after leaving then they must be signed back in

through the office before they return to class.

School concludes at 2:45pm. Students must be collected within 15mins of school finishing.

Absentees

The Department of Education regulations requires an explanation from a parent/guardian

within 3 days if a student is absent. The form of these notifications can be via SMS Message

(0437 887 585), via the online form on the school’s website, handwritten note given to the

classroom teacher, or by sending an email to millen.ps@education.wa.edu.au. These notes

are retained and must coincide with absences marked on the class roll. The teacher will

follow up all unexplained absences. Any continual unexplained absences will be referred

to the school administration.

Assemblies

Are now split into Junior and Senior Assemblies and are held in the undercover area, on

Wednesdays and commence at 8:45am. Parents will be contacted by phone or SMS if your

child has been selected to receive a certificate at an assembly. Please see the term planner

on for specific class performances and dates.

Room 1 Assembly is in Term 4, Week 3.

Room 20 Assembly is in Term 4, Week 6.

Millen Primary School

ABN: 51 797 436 279

Playfield Street, East Victoria Park, WA 6101

P: 08 9264 7600 E: millen.ps@education.wa.edu.au

Uniform

Children are expected to wear school uniform at all times. On their sport days, they may

wish to bring their sport shirt to school and change into it and out of it for that lesson only.

PE is on Thursdays and Upper School Sport is on Fridays

We have a ‘No hat, play in the shade’ policy.

Food

Crunch and Sip

Children will stop for a 5min Crunch and Sip break around 10am each day. Please be

mindful of this when packing lunch boxes.

Recess

Recess is at 11am and students will eat in the quad on the veranda outside our classroom.

After they have finished eating, the students will place their recess containers back in their

bags before they go off to play. Please mark all containers clearly.

Lunches and Canteen

Lunch is at 1pm and student will eat in the undercover area. When they have finished

eating, they must place all their containers in their bags outside Room1, before heading off

to play. Please mark all containers clearly.

Millen PS is using an off-site canteen facility. Canteen Lunch Orders must be placed by 9am

Thursday, for lunch, only on Friday, in the box in the office. If you have placed an order and

your child is away, please notify the office to advise them of what you would like them to do

with your order.

Birthdays

We enjoy celebrating birthdays in our classroom. If you would like to provide cakes or treats

for the class on your child’s birthday, please inform your child’s teacher the day before. We

have 25 students in the class. Please provide individual portions and check for food allergies.

If your child has food allergies or a specific dietary requirement that may affect their

participation birthday food celebrations, then you could provide an alternative that the

teacher could give them in place of the cakes or treats being bought in. Place it in a clearly

labelled, sealed container to be stored in the fridge.

Millen Primary School

ABN: 51 797 436 279

Playfield Street, East Victoria Park, WA 6101

P: 08 9264 7600 E: millen.ps@education.wa.edu.au

Teachers and Learning Areas

Our class timetable is in the students Homework Books and can be accessed vis our Class

Connect.

Millen Primary School Year Six English Major Teaching Emphases

Millen Primary School has developed a consistent approach to the teaching and learning of English

across year levels. The major emphases for Year Six will be taught in the context of the four genres

below.

Term One Term Two Term Three Term Four

Narrative - texts that entertain.

Persuasive - texts that give an opinion about a topic.

Explanation - texts that set out the stages of a process.

Description - texts classify and describe something.

Reading:

understand how text structures achieve effects

analyse and explain how sentence structure, vocabulary, punctuation and images can be

used to represent ideas, characters and events

compare and analyse information in different and complex texts

explain literal and implied meaning

use evidence from a text to explain a response to it

Writing:

create detailed imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that elaborate on key ideas

show how specific details can support a point of view

make vocabulary choices to support text cohesion

spell new and technical words

use punctuation for clarity

edit according to criteria

use a range of software, including word processing programs, learning new functions as

required to create texts

Teacher Days Curriculum Areas Email

Rebecca

Reiger

Brett Craven

Mon - Fri English

Maths

Science and

Technologies

Library

Senior Sport

Rebecca.Reiger@education.wa.edu.au

Brett.Craven@education.wa.edu.au

Room 1 DOTT: Wednesday 10:30 – 11am for

parent meetings

Room 20 DOTT: Friday 8:30 – 9am for parent

meetings

Kit Sing Fri HASS

Victoria

Keranxi

Tues LOTE - Japanese

Jamie P Mon

Thurs

Fri

Health

PE

Senior Sport

Tam Hill Wed Art

Julie Brown Mon Music

Choir

Millen Primary School

ABN: 51 797 436 279

Playfield Street, East Victoria Park, WA 6101

P: 08 9264 7600 E: millen.ps@education.wa.edu.au

Continuing Our Back to Front Maths Journey in Year 3-6

Dear Parents and Caregivers, At Millen Primary School we follow the ‘Back to Front Maths’ program from Pre-primary through to Year 6, with strategies from the program embedded in our Kindergarten curriculum. In this approach, students;

1. Start by experimenting with unfamiliar concepts to develop new ideas.

2. Explore their new ideas and connect them with more familiar maths.

3. Formalise their findings into mathematical principles.

4. Extend and generalise the new mathematical principles that they have learned to other

areas of the curriculum.

The process the program follows guides the teacher to uncover and confront student misconceptions.

Through the use of this program we have been able to challenge our students to think deeply in

mathematics through the inquiry process, while maintaining a level of explicit teaching and

consolidation in our teaching practice.

The Back to Front Maths website includes a parent portal; https://www.backtofrontmaths.com.au/daily-

teaching-help/parents-portal) Here you will find information about the Australian Curriculum, Back to Front Maths and some ideas to try at home with your child/ren. Below is a summary for what will be covered over Semester 1 in Years 3-6.

For each concept covered in Mathematics at Millen

Firstly, students complete Journal Problems from Back to Front Maths, where they can explore their

own strategies to problem solve. Teachers guide the lesson with leading questions and can

manipulate the problem to suit all abilities in the classroom.

Next, students complete Blast Activities from Back to Front Mathematics. Targeted questioning

allows students to build the deep understanding necessary to develop mathematically. These

activities are a way of combining explicit teaching with a problem-based approach.

Finally, in the remaining lessons for each concept, students complete a combination of regular skill-

building and consolidation tasks and explore the concepts in different contexts.

Maths is all around us! Try these ideas at home to support your child’s learning in Maths When playing board games (e.g. snakes and ladders or monopoly), use two dice. Let the

kids choose if they want to move forwards by both, back by both, or forwards by one and

backwards by the other.

Let the child work out the logistics for their birthday party (or dinner, or a camping trip etc.) –

how many cups, plates, packets of lollies etc. for the guests… as well as the timing (e.g.

everyone will be here by 4:00 so we will play games until 4:30 and then serve cake. That will

take 15 minutes. Then…)

Arrange groups of objects into different arrays (like 12 muffins in a tin vs 12 eggs in a carton).

Use existing arrays for calculations (e.g. looking at a wall of shoes in a sports shop, work out

how many shoes that represents, calculate how many rooms in a hotel by counting the floors

and the number of windows in each floor)

Let the kids cook – particularly recipes involving fractions of cups etc.

Plan routes on maps. Work out the total distances involved, but also talk about the traffic

and whether one route would be faster.

Millen Primary School

ABN: 51 797 436 279

Playfield Street, East Victoria Park, WA 6101

P: 08 9264 7600 E: millen.ps@education.wa.edu.au

Term 1 Focus Concepts

Place Value, Number Lines and Ordering, Addition and Subtraction, Decimals (from Year 4),

2D and 3D Shape

Students will be challenged to develop their place value understandings to a deeper level. Students

will be seen creating and working with all sorts of number lines, inside and outside of the classroom.

Everyone will be working with MAB blocks to make numbers in new and unusual ways. Some of the

older students will be challenged to work out how long it would take to make 1 million chalk marks

on the basketball court.

Year 6 Key Understandings

Number names to 999 999 999 and beyond

Number lines and ordering to 100 000

The relative size of 1, 10, 100, 1000, 1 000 000 (these are not equally spaced on a number line)

Tenths (like all fractions) have to be the same size as each other

Decimal numbers follow the same base-ten system as we use for whole numbers

The denominator in fractions does not relate to decimal numbers (1 seventh is not the same

as 0.7)

Decimal numbers, fractions and division are really the same thing – they are just different

ways of representing the same amount

A number line is reflected around zero (-17 is between -10 and -20, closer to -20). You can

also have negative decimal numbers (if you owed the bank $2.50 your balance would be -

2.5, between -2 and -3).

Term 2 Focus Concepts

Fractions, Money, Time, Measurement and Multiplication

It is the beginning of our fractions units. Students are challenged to cut up A4 sheets of paper into all

sorts of fractions in different ways. Is a triangle half bigger than a rectangular half? Some people

seemed to think so. Everyone will be challenged to discover the links between multiplication, area

and a magical thing called arrays. It is a big term and a solid end to Semester 1.

Year 6 Key Understandings The orientation of a fraction does not change its size (if you take a rectangle and turn it

sideways it does not get bigger or smaller)

The name of a fraction does not relate solely to the number of pieces, it relates to the size of

the pieces

The denominator is not the same as a fraction (to make 0.7 you would not cut a whole into

seven pieces)

An hour has 60 minutes. Half an hour has 30 minutes. Quarter of an hour has 15 minutes.

Note – for kids having trouble with Analogue clocks, take the minute hand off entirely and

work on using only the hour hand and fractions knowledge to estimate the time. Then

reintroduce the minute hand afterwards.

How to read and interpret clocks, calendars and schedules.

If you turn an array around by 90o then you can show why multiplication works both ways

(why 3x5=5x3) The same area can have different shapes (e.g. 24cm2 can be a rectangle of

4x6 or 3x8 or 2x12 or a triangle with a base of 6 and a height of 8 and that is all the exact

same area)

Millen Primary School

ABN: 51 797 436 279

Playfield Street, East Victoria Park, WA 6101

P: 08 9264 7600 E: millen.ps@education.wa.edu.au

Millen’s Art Room News – Ms Hill We have started the year revising the procedures and practices of the art room. We love that we all get to share the art room and we all work hard to keep it a clean, tidy and happy place. Soon we will be starting to do some research and design work to come up with a collaborative artwork that will be painted onto the student toilet block building. We are so excited and a little nervous about painting a mural for the first time – this is going to be a huge project and we hope that our school community feels welcome to join in and help us to make it happen. Later in the year we will be learning more about Aboriginal Art and making something in Aboriginal Art style for our annual NAIDOC Week celebration. We will also be looking to create art from recycled material to help us learn about sustainability. Keep an ear open for a call out to bring in some reusable materials that we can use to make creative and innovative artworks from. Our Crazy Camel fundraiser art is always very popular and we hope to do that again later in the year. Assessment and Reporting

Semester 1 Semester 2

English Reading, Viewing, Writing, Speaking

and Listening

Reading, Viewing, Writing, Speaking and

Listening

Maths Number, Algebra, Measurement,

Geometry

Number, Algebra, Measurement,

Geometry, Statistics and Probability

HASS Skills and History Skills and Geography

STEM Inquiry Skills, Chemical Sciences, DT Inquiry Skills, Earth and Beyond, DT

Communication and Meetings with the Teacher

All communication will be sent and received via the Blue/Homework Folder, Connect or Email

If you have a query or concern about your child’s education, please contact us at any time

throughout the school year.

All parents are invited to meet with us in the first few weeks of term 3, to discuss the Semester 1

Report.

You may receive a notification during Term 1 in the form of a ‘Cause for Concern Letter’ if we

feel your child is performing under the expected standard in Literacy or Numeracy or you may

be asked to come in and review/sign your child’s IEP.

If you would like to meet with me at any time before this then, please make contact through

email and /or phone. Every attempt will be made to schedule a meeting at a time that is

convenient. A DOTT time is provided above for meetings during school hours.

If you have had a meeting with us and still feel your concerns haven’t been resolved, then

please feel free to contact the deputies:

Millen Primary School

ABN: 51 797 436 279

Playfield Street, East Victoria Park, WA 6101

P: 08 9264 7600 E: millen.ps@education.wa.edu.au

Narelle McKie – for Curriculum Concerns.

Omid Fanayan – for Health and Well Being Concerns.

If you still feel that things remain unresolved or you feel the concern you have is critical, then

please contact our Principal: Isobel Comrie

By following the above structure, it saves time and avoids confusion when addressing

concerns.

Library

All students require a library bag to borrow books from the school library. Previously this was the

blue folder. We are now using the blue folder as a home/school communication folder. It is

important that all books are returned to class on or before library day in a library bag to avoid

overdue notices. If your child would like to renew a library book, it still must be bought to the

library so it can be processed. Your child’s library day is Rm 1Thursdays (ODD WEEKS) and Rm 20

Fridays (ODD WEEKS). Students can borrow 2 books each week if required.

Restricted Library Borrowing: Millen PS library has books that are restricted for more mature

readers. Year 6’s are the only students allowed to borrow these books, as they may contain

some ever increasing or challenging theme or topics, with parental consent. If you would like

your child to access these books, please download, complete and return to school the

‘Restricted Book Borrowing Permission Form’ on the school’s Connect page.

Homework

A significant goal of primary schooling is to prepare students for success in high school and

beyond. As teachers, we share in the responsibility of helping your child to become more

independent and organised. We will endeavour to teach the students time management

strategies and how to keep a diary. For this to occur all students will be given diary and they will

be allocated time each day to write in their homework and any important upcoming events.

Students in Room 1 will have weekly Reading and Spelling homework assigned from Monday to

Thursday and shouldn’t take more than 15mins each night.

Students in Room 20 will not be assigned homework but have the option of completing

extended open-ended tasks that they can coordinate with Mr Craven about.

Please read the Millen Primary Homework Policy that is on Connect and the Millen PS website:

http://millenps.wa.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Homework-Policy-2015.pdf

Students and parents will be able to indicate if they are opting in or out of homework for

Semester 1and 2 on the Parent Snapshot form provided. This helps us know who is doing

homework and who isn’t. It also saves class time when marking and discussing homework.

It would be great if reading logs could be sighted and signed by parents. Also, you may want

to write any notes or comments concerning your child’s reading log for me to read the following

day.

Do not hesitate to keep me informed about your child’s homework endeavours, their successes

and struggles, so I can endeavour to tailor a homework plan that suits your child and you.

Please tick and sign the Homework Option - in or out for Semester 1 and 2 on the Parent

Snapshot Sheet

Millen Primary School

ABN: 51 797 436 279

Playfield Street, East Victoria Park, WA 6101

P: 08 9264 7600 E: millen.ps@education.wa.edu.au

Booklists and Stationery

Please ensure your child is equipped with the necessary stationery and booklist items for the

year.

We will provide each child with a stationary box at the beginning of the year for them to

store all their unused booklist items. We will distribute what is required for each term and

when a child feels they need a stationery item I will supply it from their box. Throughout the

year we may need you to restock/replace stationery a particular item for your child and if so

we will send a note home or communicate with you via a note in their homework book. If

any items are not used throughout the year, we will return them at the end of the year.

Medication and Health Forms

Requests to administer prescribed medication must be made via and by the school office and a

‘Medical Request’ form must be completed.

External treatment will be administered for cuts, scrapes and bruises and parents will be notified

at pick up, if possible. Anything more serious, parents will be notified, so please make sure your

child’s health forms and your emergency contact details that the school has on file are up to

date.

If children are self-administering medication for a long-term reason i.e. Ventolin etc a Medical

Request Form from the office is still required. The medicine is to be kept in the office and not in

the child’s bag, unless a ‘Medical Action Plan’ requires that the medicine be stored in an

alternative place. Medical Action Plans of any sort provide the process that should be followed

when involved in a medical emergency response. They require a recent photograph and are

done in consultation with the parents, doctors, teachers, and Mr Fanayan.

If children are self-administering medication for a short-term reason, then the teacher and the

office must be notified and told what the medicine is for and administration details.

Parental Involvement and Help

Parents are encouraged and welcomed to assist with student’s learning through a variety of

school activities including excursions etc. Notes will be sent home as the need arises and

requests may be made by phone or email.

Parent helpers are reminded that any observations made, or concerns raised involving a child

within the class or school is confidential and should only ever be discussed with the class teacher.

We prefer all our parent volunteers have a valid Working with Children Check card and have

signed a Parent Confidentiality Form.

Please see, read and sign our attached Parent Volunteer Form.

Millen Primary School

ABN: 51 797 436 279

Playfield Street, East Victoria Park, WA 6101

P: 08 9264 7600 E: millen.ps@education.wa.edu.au

Parental Permsions

We will be watching movies at certain times through the school year that support the

curriculum and often they are ‘PG’. The viewing of such films requires parental permission.

Would you please give your permission on the Movie Permission Form for all ‘PG’ movies that

may be shown throughout the year. Please read the form, sign and return for our records.

Excursions

The Year 6’s will have events and excursions throughout the year including:

Term 1

Maths Wizard Week 2-8

Harmony Week 15 - 19th March

Swan Valley Adventure Center – Teambuilding 26th March

Swimming Carnival/Summer Carnival

Easter Hat Parade

Term 2

Halogen Leadership Conference – for school leaders

ANZAC Service

Great Science Share Event Curtin University

NAIDOC Week

Term 3

National Science Week and STEM Fair

Winter Carnival/Athletic Carnival

Interm Swimming

Book Week Parade

Term 4

EDU Dance

Swimming

Graduation and Leavers Lunch

Adventure World

Christmas Concert

Millen Primary School

ABN: 51 797 436 279

Playfield Street, East Victoria Park, WA 6101

P: 08 9264 7600 E: millen.ps@education.wa.edu.au

Year 6 Leadership Opportunities and Committees

All year 6’s will be expected to sign up for a Leadership Group or Committee this year. Each will

have their own set of rules, role and responsibilities to fulfill throughout the year. The Leadership

Groups and Committees are:

Student Council

Faction Captains and Vices

STEM Trailblazers

Fundraising Committee

Games Crew

Planet Millen – Environmental Group

Socials and Media and Tech

Competitions

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership

Millen Primary School

ABN: 51 797 436 279

Playfield Street, East Victoria Park, WA 6101

P: 08 9264 7600 E: millen.ps@education.wa.edu.au

Classroom Positive Behaviour Management Plan (PBS)

It is the right of every child to feel safe, secure and respected in their classroom. It is through this

security that a positive and productive learning environment is established – The Millen Way

We are a PBS School and believe in the values of Respect, Resilience, Responsibility and

Excellence, therefore our CBMP includes the Millen PBS Behaviour Matrix that lists specific

behaviours we would like to see our students display and we endeavour to explicitly teach these

behaviours to achieve a collective consciousness and language around what positive

behaviours are.

Please see – The Millen Way Handbook via Connect or http://millenps.wa.edu.au/wp-

content/uploads/2019/12/The-Millen-Way-Handbook.pdf

Room 1 Positives:

Students collect Stamps for outstanding behaviour and contributions during class.

Stamps are tallied, and rewards are given according to the ‘Rewards Bingo Chart’ that was

made in consultation with the students for the term.

Other rewards include: Faction Tokens, Merit Awards, Kiwanis, Subject and Achievement

Awards at Assemblies, Principal Visits, Stickers, Stamps, Prizes, Group and Class Rewards etc

Room 20 Positives:

Students work towards filling The Jar showing outstanding behaviour, especially during

specialist subjects, special events, excursions and incursions and contributions during class. As

a class the students choose a whole class goal reward – Extra fitness, Games time, Movie

afternoon, etc.

Other rewards include: Faction Tokens, Merit Awards, Kiwanis, Subject and Achievement

Awards at Assemblies, Principal Visits, Stickers, Stamps, Prizes, Group and Class Rewards etc

All incidents of bullying are to be reported to the classroom teacher either via, verbal or written

means, and promptly. Students are encouraged to fill out the ‘Bullying Incident Report’ Sheet in

their classroom either at school or at home. Once an incident report sheet has been completed

and given to the teacher, the issue will be followed up and resolution strategies actioned.

We look forward to a great year, working together with you and your child.

Warm regards,

Rebecca Reiger and Brett Craven

Year 6 Teachers, Room 1and 20