Teaching Initiatives Program - Victoria Teachers Credit Union

2010 Winners

Aspendale Gardens Primary School

Pedal Power 10

Aspendale Gardens Primary School wishes to provide a meaningful road safety learning program that encourages sensible riding of bicycles to and from School. This program will complement the 'Streets Ahead' program which encourages responsible pedestrian behaviours. A maximum of 20 students will share 10 bikes during an electives session that is based on the comprehensive 'Bike Education' program. Students who ride their own bike to School will be encouraged to participate in the program. The elective sessions will culminate a 10 kilometre bike ride at the completion of a certificated course. Students from Grade 5 and 6 will participate in the program for one hour every week. It is anticipated that over time students will become qualified riders under this program.

Peter Wyatt
03 9587 0877

Ballarat Secondary College - Wendouree Campus

Regional Alternative Program

The Regional Alternative Program has been created to cater for students in Year 7 or 8 that are disengaged in 'mainstream' schooling and/or are possible offenders with the law. This program will run in collaboration with various community groups in Ballarat such as the YMCA and aims to assist these students to re-engage into some form of education and/or activities.

Under the program, approximately ten sessions will run per Term with a calendar of activities including a variety of sporting, outdoor education, community and educational options at a variety of different venues.

Paul Aikman
03 5336 7804

Guildford Primary School

Paddock 2 Plate

Guildford Primary School (an isolated rural School) has chosen to link their students with students from Chewton and Taradale Primary Schools to broaden their students' understanding of the wider world beyond their own School boundaries. Students will use internet technologies such as Skype, blogs and wikis as well as personal visits to other Schools under the program. The main task of the program will be on propagation, growing, harvesting and production for consumption of such things as fruits and vegetables, indigenous bush tucker, chickens and eggs.

Through the shared learning of this project, students will cultivate a School veggie garden, harvest the produce from this garden and create food and plants, which will then be consumed and/or sold to the community through local markets. The program also aims to show students how technology will enhance their ability to succeed in a business venture from a remote location by providing them with a network of learning partners with whom they can collaborate and share ideas and knowledge.

Dean McLaren
03 5473 4241

Heatherton Christian College

Mini Master Chefs

Heatherton Christian College wishes to implement a 'Mini Master Chefs' program to provide their 5 and 6 year old students with a positive, fun experience with food to empower them to make healthier food choices. The program will take place once a month and will focus on different meals such as breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner and dessert. The classes will involve grade-level appropriate activities that connect the foods being used to other areas of learning, including English, Personal/Social Development, Health, Design/Creativity, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts.

Carlo the Chef Puppet will begin each class by introducing the focus for the cooking lesson. He will then introduce the recipe, outline the benefits of the ingredients that they will be using and talk about the importance of listening very carefully to the parent helper and following their instructions. The students will then learn the importance of washing their hands before cooking, and to safely work with foods and kitchen utensils as well as the importance of working together as a team. This initiative is a great way for the students to learn more about their community and about the value of sharing with others.

Aniela Lamott
03 8551 6650

Longwarry Primary School

'Home Read It' and 'Letter of the Week' Programs

The 'Home Read It' program has been running at Longwarry Primary School for five years and rewards students for the amount of nights they read at home when they reach certain milestones. The School wishes to build upon the success of the program and believes that 90% of their students will reach the '200 nights' milestone in 2010, for which they will be rewarded with a certificate and book.

In the 'Letter of the Week' Program, Prep and Grade 1 students take turns to come down to the School staffroom with parent helpers to cook a variety of foods. Food items are chosen based on the 'Letter of the Week' or theme such as Anzac biscuits for ANZAC Day, zucchini slice for the letter 'Z', Pumpkin scones for the letter 'P'. The School relies on parent helpers not only for their 'cooking expertise' but also for small donations towards the cooking sessions eg: pumpkin, zucchinis and decorations for cup cakes. TIP funding will be used to help cover the cost of the ingredients and will enable students in the Grade 2/3 class to participate as well.

Louise Whitehead
03 5629 9376

Lower Plenty Kindergarten

Gardens of Learning

Lower Plenty Kindergarten embraces the concept that play is a very powerful learning vehicle for young children. The Kindergarten's staff and parents plan to develop a section of outdoor space to provide a greater number of natural learning opportunities for the three and four year old children who attend the centre. The plan is to divide the space into various sections, each with a different focus as follows: A sensory garden of drought tolerant plants to provide opportunities to explore different textures, colours, smells and sounds. An edible garden of seasonal fruits, vegetables and herbs to provide opportunities for children to be involved in the complete life cycle of food; to plant seeds, nurture the growing plants and sample the food produced. A natural cubby house created by well-spaced bamboo poles. A mini amphitheatre to provide both a meeting place and an area for children to explore different levels and an open space for running games.

The garden areas would provide a wealth a learning opportunities about ecosystems and sustainability and would encourage the innate sense of wonder that children possess and so quickly lose in our modern high-tech society.

Angela White
03 9434 6490

Manchester Primary School

Implementing a Negotiated Curriculum

Following the success of the Developmental Curriculum in Levels One and Two, teachers in the senior levels at Manchester Primary School are eager to investigate and implement a Negotiated Curriculum in the senior levels of the School. This innovative teaching approach allows students to formulate and investigate focus questions, resulting in a range of exciting and tailor made projects as individual as each student. Students will be in charge of their learning and teachers will become facilitators, rather than the 'fountain of all knowledge'!

TIP funding assistance will allow students to purchase materials for their projects, allowing their ideas and creativity to become a reality.

Alisha Fleckhammer
03 9726 6931

Mercy Regional College - Camperdown

Online Student Counselling

Mercy Regional College is a Co-ed School of 470 students across Years 7-12, on two campuses - twenty minutes apart geographically. Mindful that students do most of their interacting with technology, the School is setting up a link on their College website that will allow students to easily contact their two Student Counsellors.

These links will enable the students to make bookings with the Counsellors and obtain further information that might be helpful to them. Other benefits of the program are that students will be 'in control' of the process with a sense of security and anonymity whilst encouraging them to write down their thoughts and reflect. This program will also help Counsellors understand the common issues that are affecting the School community.

Helen Kenna
03 5593 2011

Napoleons Primary School

Water Wise Garden

The Water Wise Garden project aims to engage students in planting vegetables in garden beds and cooking these vegetables along with promoting an awareness of the role of water in the environment. The project will also utilise the principles of water sustainability to ensure that the gardens survive the severe drought circumstance that we all currently face.

The School also plans to involve the Landcare group in researching the usage of water in the Napoleons area and incorporate an approach, via community forums, to support effective use of water in their local community to not only raise the awareness of water conservation but increase water saving strategies throughout the community. Students will be equipped with the knowledge to plant their own vegetable garden and better understand the issues of water conservation and the methods used to improve the catchment areas of local creeks.

Trevor Edwards
03 5342 0414

Norlane High School

Out and About Boys

The 'Out and About Boys' program will consist of four workshops that will be delivered to a small group of selected boys by the Student Engagement and Wellbeing leader. The boys will be selected based on their online application and support statement from their teachers. The workshops will consist of a mixture of interactive and reflective sessions that will engage, push and develop the boys' capacity to deal with various situations in a positive and passive manner.

The target group is Year 7 boys as it is important to assist them in establishing positive working relationships. The aim of this program is to equip the boys with a foundation of skills that will be built on throughout the year. The outcome of the program is the physical construction of a Billycart, however the subtle growth and development of the student is also a focus. The workshop sessions will give the students the 'tools' to utilise for the bigger picture.

Jessica Kelly
03 5275 1393

Oakleigh South Primary School

Fantastic Fine Motor Skills

Fantastic Fine Motor Sills is a Prep Intervention program for students who require additional assistance to develop their fine motor skills. Accessing professional development centred around identifying students requiring additional assistance and activities to improve their skills, the Prep teachers aim to devise a six week fine motor skills program and purchase resources to ensure a successful program can be developed, implemented and become an integral part of the Prep program. The TIP funding will help Oakleigh South PS to increase student engagement and self esteem and improve their aim to have a truly inclusive curriculum that will ensure success for ALL students.

Deanne Barrie
03 9570 1016

Portarlington Primary School

Calmer Lunchtimes

Portarlington Primary School prides itself on its ability to provide a calm safe environment for all of its students. The creation of a Passive Play area will give the School's welfare staff an area to systematically teach 'getting along' skills and problem solving skills to the students who need it. The School's multi-purpose room will be converted into a calm play oasis for all children so they can feel safe and make friends in a friendly supervised environment. The School has some disadvantaged students and a transient population with many new students coming into the School each year. This Passive play space will be a great centre for them to get to know new children and develop deeper friendships across the School. It also provides leadership opportunities for Grade six School Captains who will be rostered on to support the program.

Denise Simons
03 5259 2572

Rosamond (Special) School

The Cougar

At Rosamond Special School, to help manage the conflict which often arises from having too many students in a small playground, Educational Support Staff run a Lunchtime Inclusion Program (LIP). Students who would like to do some craft, skipping or colouring activities know that they are welcome to participate. This program, which takes place at lunchtime three days a week, has played a significant part in reducing the number of playground incidents.

At the craft sessions, students make greeting cards, which have become popular with staff, parents and the wider School community. To take this enterprise to a higher and more professional level we would like to purchase a 'Black Cat Cougar' - a digital die cutter designed specifically for Crafters and Scrap bookers. This cutter will also be made available to VCAL students to help them with metal embossing, window sign writing and model making.

Lyn Cotter
03 9318 4511

Skene Street Specialist School

Life Skills Centre: Heather Martin House

Skene Street School Stawell is a Specialist School catering for students with intellectual and physical disabilities. Students come from a radius of up to 50 kilometres. The School is renovating a building to become a 'Life Skills Centre' for students, including a kitchen, laundry, bathrooms, bedrooms and living areas. The house will be fully accessible for all students. TIP funding will be used to purchase beds, linen, a fold out divan and equipment for the kitchen including crockery, cutlery, serving dishes and cooking utensils.

The School intends each of its five groups to spend a full day in the Living Skills Centre utilising the facilities on a weekly basis. This will provide students with the opportunity to develop real life independent living skills such as cleaning, preparing food, making beds, showering, washing and ironing. In doing this, literacy and numeracy skills will also be developed as shopping lists, recipes and following directions are part of each day spent in the Centre. The Centre is to be named after a much loved Home Crafts teacher, Mrs Heather Martin who sadly passed away five years ago.

Robyn Anyon
03 5358 2448

Sunshine Harvester Primary School

Apple-A-Day Homework Breakfast Club

Sunshine Harvester Primary School is making a significant difference to the wellbeing and personal study skills of students in Sunshine and Braybrook via an innovative Before School Club. The program is called Apple-A-Day Homework Breakfast Club where students receive guided reading assistance along with their other chosen homework activities. Children can also choose to play strategy games after completing their reading activity. A light healthy snack including fresh fruit is provided prior to starting the School day.

Approximately 10% of the students participate in the homework club. The program is supported by volunteer teachers and TIP funding. The School hopes to engage, inspire and empower their students whilst developing their independent learning skills.

Siobhan O'Brien
03 9311 1234

Warringa Park School

Installation of a climbing wall

Warringa Park School is a specialist School which provides educational programs for students aged between 5 and 18 years who have a diagnosed intellectual disability ranging from mild to profound. The School is refurbishing its multi-purpose room and is working hard to design play zones which are engaging but also provide students with opportunities to increase their level of physical fitness. As well as the physical benefits (increased muscle tone, improved flexibility, balance and coordination), a climbing wall is challenging and promotes a sense of accomplishment and encourages positive risk taking.

The climbing wall and new play zone will provide unique opportunities to promote trust and foster team building skills which in turn heighten self esteem and build confidence. This area is a fun and exciting activity which will teach students how to be problem solvers and importantly provide them with skills in a sport which could be a life-long activity.

Marie Hayes
03 9749 5774

Wattle Glen Primary School

Bright Start Program

Wattle Glen Primary School is a small semi rural School of 35 students that was affected by the Bushfires of 2009. They currently have Strathewen Primary School on campus (while their new School is being built). The School wishes to open a classroom for 3, 4 and 5 year olds to come and be part of a new program called Bright Start! Here, children and parents will participate in age-related activities including using play dough, painting, playing in sand pits, using musical instruments and perceptual motor programs.

The Program aims to get local people involved in the School and offer a place for 3, 4 and 5 year olds to feel part of a community hub! It will also increase the successful transition between Kindergarten and School, promote the School to the local community and be a great meeting place for parents and friends alike.

Gerard Fay
03 9438 1259

Windarring ATSS

Handyman Training

Windarring is a Day Program Service provider for adults with disabilities. 'Handyman Training' is a vocational training project to enhance the 'handyman skills' of a group of adults needing additional support who are keen to learn job skills which they can use at home and in the wider world. The focus of this program is site tidying, window cleaning, bicycle repairs/rebuilding and learning mechanical skills by dismantling a car.

The overall goals for the project will be to encompass inclusion in the community by engagement in meaningful work and the development of life and work skills, which fits very well with their organisation's vision for people with disabilities to have opportunities of choice and access to quality services that eliminate barriers to participation.

Glenda Vuillermin
03 5428 8854

Yarrabah School

Social Safety Program

Yarrabah School is a Special Developmental School which educates students with moderate to severe intellectual, emotional and/or physical disabilities. Students in the Middle and Senior Years program will participate in a Social Safety Program to develop their understanding of sexuality, puberty and appropriate social interactions. Students will participate in one hour Social Safety lessons per week. Topics covered in the program will include gender awareness, changes during puberty, public and private body parts, and protective behaviours. The program will be run in small groups, facilitated by the class teacher, class assistant and Occupational Therapist.

By designing a program and resources specifically for students at Special Development Schools, Yarrabah School will be better equipped to assist parents and carers to cope with and manage a very complex and difficult issue for them, their children and family.

Jennifer Hall
03 9580 0384

Yuille Park Community College

Y2 'Where to?'

Yuille Park Community College seeks to capitalise students working with students to build greater awareness of alternative pathways/options, positive peer engagement and improve self esteem as well as the ownership in management of learning. Through mentoring and positive peer influence, the program will engage young people in 'hands on applied learning activities' designed to transfer both practical and social competencies. Y2 students will be taught the appropriate skills translating to positive behaviours and communication.

Such cooperative learning builds the skill sets Y2 is developing across the campus, also in meeting Individual Learning Plans. Outcomes sought will be to provide alternative educational placement, flexible learning options and blended education in improving retention rates across greater Ballarat.

Clete Paige
03 5339 5555