Generalist
At Cambridge PS, we pride ourselves on our excellent achievements in literacy and our passion for learning. We, as teachers, work together in Professional Learning Communities to develop our knowledge and skills as leaders of literacy learning. We work in teams to plan our literacy program and then work together to assess the achievements of our students. This constant focus on the learning that is happening in our school allows us to refine our lessons and differentiate the curriculum to meet the needs of every student. Importance is placed on all staff working together to keep abreast of best practice and current research in teaching of literacy.
Our teachers understand what it takes to provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills to successfully navigate the curriculum as 21st Century learners and fully participate and contribute to an ever changing, global community.
Literacy and numeracy are key life skills that enable students to learn and thrive in all curriculum areas. Success in these foundational areas at Cambridge PS will benefit students for the rest of their lives.
The Victorian Curriculum ensures that students are better equipped to deal with our changing world. The curriculum includes a strong focus on the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy, personal and social skills and new areas of learning.
Specialist
Visual Art
Visual Art is a vital component in the development of the whole child. The Visual Art program at Cambridge PS aims to provide students with the skills, techniques and processes needed to design and create a wide variety of artworks. Students have the opportunity to build upon their skills and knowledge while being immersed in the Visual Arts of different times, countries and cultures, as well as indigenous, traditional and contemporary Australian Art. Students are encouraged to share and discuss their own work and that of their peers. Tasks are often open ended, encouraging student choice, experimentation and creative thinking.
Prep – Year 6 students participate in weekly art sessions, organised by a specialist Visual Art teacher, for one semester each year.
L.O.T.E
At Cambridge PS, our LOTE program helps students to develop an understanding of the Italian language and culture.
Students will practice pronouncing words and short sentences with others and will gain confidence with unfamiliar Italian words.
The students will learn to count in Italian, basic greetings, colours, animals and much more. The LOTE classroom is an engaging space with displays, posters and student work that are ever changing with the students interests and topics.
Performing Arts
At Cambridge PS we value the health and wellbeing of our students, staff and the wider community. We believe The Performing Arts are essential to a child’s artistic and creative development and encourages students to become curious and courageous learners.
Our students are involved in learning experiences that include the exploration of music, dance and drama and provide students with opportunities to build confidence through collaboration and performance.
Engaging in the Arts not only develops students’ coordination and social skills, but allows a student to discover new and exciting ways to express themselves through movement and storytelling while connecting further to self, community and culture.
Physical & Health Education
At Cambridge PS we believe in making sure that all of our community members, and in particular our students, are active and healthy citizens. We place a strong emphasis on physical and health education and our students are exposed to this via weekly Physical Education lessons delivered by specialist teachers.
Students at Cambridge PS engage in whole school events such as our annual Cross Country, Athletics Carnival and our Mini Olympics day.
As a school we are involved with inter-school sporting events that are organised by School Sport Victoria. This involves both Winter and Summer sports such as T-Ball, Volleyball, Football, Cricket, Netball and Basketball.
Carruthers – Blue
Barber – Green
Dowling – Red
Westmill – Yellow
Enrichment
Cambridge PS are proud to offer an ‘Enrichment Program’ for Year 4 to 6 students who achieve outstanding results and demonstrate exceptional ability in English and Mathematics.
Students in the Enrichment Program will undertake a learning program that will differ from mainstream classes and is tailored to accommodate students learning at a higher level. Students will access a curriculum that is suitably paced, intellectually challenging, and future focussed. They will develop skills to assist them with becoming responsible, empathic, and contributing citizens, ready to face and embrace the possibilities and demands of the fast approaching fifth industrial revolution. Student outcomes, assessments, grading, and reporting will be modified to ensure there are suitable opportunities to show evidence of creative, critical, and deeper thinking and learning. Students who have an exemplary work ethic, are organised, diligent, persistent, and motivated are ideal candidates for the Enrichment Program.
Please note: Entry to the program is via an application process that includes english and mathematics assessments, and an interview.
For more information, please contact either Jessica Green or Michelle Meracis through the school office.
Wellbeing and Engagement
Cambridge PS aims to provide a stimulating, supportive and caring environment. The school acknowledges and celebrates individuality by having a positive view of the uniqueness of the learner while focussing on individual growth and the fostering of talents. We are committed to developing highly literate and numerate students; who can think critically, take risks, seize opportunities enthusiastically, are resilient and work collaboratively with others, while at the same time showing respect and care for the rights of others.
Cambridge PS has four values which we expect all our community to model – RESPECT, INTEGRITY, SELF-RESILIENCE and EXCELLENCE. The school implements a diverse range of programs to support student engagement, school attendance and growth mindset. We encourage our students to make strong links with our local community wherever possible. The school accesses health professionals including speech pathologists and psychologists, together with welfare organisations in an effort to address the wellbeing needs of our families. A whole school approach that focuses on safety, early intervention, prevention and wellbeing is employed and permeates the curriculum and extracurricular programs at the school.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR PROGRAMS
Bravehearts (Prep & Year 1)
Camp Program (Prep – 6)
Cybersafety (Years 2 – 6)
Excursions/Incursions
Interschool Sports (Year 6)
Personal Development; Knowing and Growing (Years 5 & 6)
Respectful Relationships
School Nursing program (Wyndham City Council)
Student Leadership (Years 4 – 6)
Breakfast Club
Chess
Education and Book Week
Lunchtime clubs
Music Bus
Attendance
Daily attendance is critical so students don’t fall behind socially and developmentally. School helps:
– Maximise life opportunities for students by building education and support networks
– Develop important skills, knowledge and values that set them further learning and participation in the community
– Students make the most of life opportunities
Students who attend school and complete Year 12, or an equivalent, have:
– Better health outcomes
– Better employment outcomes
– Higher incomes across their lives
Attendance at Cambridge PS is tracked. Unexplained absences and late arrivals that are not endorsed by the school will need to be explained by families each term. Students considered at risk due to high absenteeism or consistently late, will be offered additional support through individualised plans to re-engage into school and class.
Helping students to attend school each day is a shared responsibility of all parents, students and the school community. We will work with parents, students and their families to ensure all students adhere to the school Attendance Policy.
Respectful Relationships
The Respectful Relationships curriculum supports the staff at Cambridge PS to promote and model respect, positive attitudes and behaviours for student, families and our wider community.
It teaches our students how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence. It is taught by the classroom teacher within the weekly program.
Student Leadership
Cambridge PS has an active student leadership team. It consists of two school captains, two vice captains, eight house captains and a team of Junior School Councillors who are nominated by their peers from across Years 4, 5 and 6. In total the student leadership team has twenty-four students.
Junior School Councillors work with nominated staff members to implement school improvement projects and raise awareness of various social justice projects. They develop leadership skills to become responsible role models.
Our student leadership team is led by our School Captains and Vice Captains from Year 6. At the end of Year 5, students prepare and present a speech to their peers, Principal and Assistant Principal explaining how they can represent their peers and school community and contribute to the achievement of our school’s vision, mission, values and goals.
The School Captains at Cambridge PS work collaboratively with the Principal and Assistant Principals to conduct the weekly school assembly and play an important role in representing the school community at events such as Enrolment Week, Prep Transition and School Council.
School Captains
Each year school captains & vice captains are elected. Students in Year 5 prepare speeches in term four and are voted by their peers to be interviewed by the Principal, Assistant Principal and outgoing captains. Existing school captains present the new captains with their badges at the last assembly of the year. School captains represent the school and present to the school council each term. They work closely with the school principal ensuring student voice is an integral part of the school’s decision making processes, wherever possible.
House Captains
Cambridge PS has four Houses – Carruthers (Blue), Westmill (Yellow), Dowling (Red) and Barber (Green). Sports Captains are voted by their peers each year to participate in an active interview process that assesses their physical, leadership and teamwork abilities. The sports captains assist the Physical Education teachers in all aspects of the sport, health and physical education program, including setting up for interschool sports, the athletics carnival, breaktime borrowing, the mini Olympics and Footy Day.
1:1 BYOD Apple iPad
Cambridge PS operates a 1:1 BYOD Apple iPad program (established in 2013) with student participation encouraged for Years 1-6.
Purchasing Advice
Cambridge PS has partnered with JB HI-FI Education, who will be providing an online portal allowing parents/carers to purchase an iPad and select accessories with an education discount, and we welcome you to take advantage of the offer should you wish to.
To purchase via the JB HI-FI Education online portal:
– Browse to the portal via the following link… https://jbeducation.com.au/byod
– Enter the School BYOD Code, CambridgePS23
More information around purchasing through JB HI-FI Education can be found in the BYOD Toolkit for Parents document.
Alternatively, iPad devices may be sourced independently. If you choose to source your own iPad device, we recommend one with these minimum specifications:
- 64GB storage
- iPad 8th Generation (despite the physical size, a ‘mini’ is not recommended)
**NOTE** Although previous generation iPads will still function, there will be less years that older devices will be supported for iPadOS software/security and app store application updates. If you are purchasing an iPad, it’s best practice to obtain the latest generation available, especially if the expected lifespan of the device is to be 3years+.
There are many different ways to purchase an iPad, however we advise that you purchase from a trusted Apple reseller/retailer.
Apple Refurbished Online Store
https://www.apple.com/au/shop/refurbished/ipad
Apple has refurbished iPad products available periodically to the general public that are tested and certified with a 1-year warranty:
- Quality products at great prices
- Rigorous refurbishment process prior to sale
- Covered by Apple’s one-year limited warranty
- Covered by Apple’s 14-day returns policy
- AppleCare+ product can be purchased
- Supplies are limited
Third Party Sellers (eBay, Gumtree, local advertisement, mobile phone repair stores)
Please be cautious when purchasing a device from a third party, as it may not contain warranty or could be potentially set in ‘lost’ or ‘locked’ mode and will not work without the original owners online account credentials.
While you may obtain an iPad at a cheaper price, it may not be the original screen or the warranty could be voided, meaning that Apple will not service the product in the event anything goes wrong with it.
AppleCare+ for iPad
We recommend the additional purchase of AppleCare+ for peace of mind. AppleCare+ increases the warranty to 2years in total and includes unlimited incidents of accidental damage protection for a small fee. Note that AppleCare+ must be purchased within 60days of a new iPad purchase.
More information can be found at the following link: https://www.apple.com/au/support/products/ipad/
We also recommend the purchase of a hard case for the iPad to offer an increased level of protection for the device whilst your child is in attendance at school.
Mobile Device Management (MDM) Enrolment
In order to connect to the WiFi network at Cambridge PS, BYOD iPad devices are required to be enrolled in the schools MDM system. The MDM system allows the school to automatically deploy network configurations and apps assigned to the students year level, as well as other features such as device inventory collection and removing forgotten iPad passcodes (providing the iPad is not disabled and still connects to a WiFi network).
Before enrolling, please note down your child’s ‘Student ID’. This can be found on Compass, under the students Profile, and is a 7 character code consisting of the first 3 letters of the child’s surname, followed by numbers.
iPad enrolment requires an existing WiFi connection, and can be easily completed using the following steps:
- Using Safari, browse to the enrolment website: https://jss.cambridgeps.vic.edu.au/enrol
- When prompted to log in, enter your child’s ‘Student ID’ (eg. DIN0099) that you noted above in the username field, and for the password: student
- Review the school’s ICT Acceptable Use Policy before agreeing to adhere to it
- Continue to download the MDM configuration profile. Tap ‘Allow’ when prompted
- Open the Settings app and navigate to General > Profile. Tap ‘CPS Profile’ under Downloaded Profile, then tap ‘Install’ in the top right corner. Continue tapping ‘Install’, and then ‘Trust’ Remote Management. Tap ‘Done’ and the process is complete
Further Resources
It is recommended that parents/carers utilise features of iOS such as ‘Family Sharing’ and also ‘Screen Time’, in order to control purchasing and to set limits and restrictions on the iPad devices. Further information can be found on the Apple Support website: https://support.apple.com/en-au/families-and-kids