Specialists

Art

The art room is a bright and inviting room to visit with many examples of artwork on display. Students are encouraged to experiment with a variety of techniques and mediums. They participate in drawing, painting, collage, fabrics & textiles, printing, sculpture in 2D & 3D forms.

Students will work in each of the Art elements: line, shape, colour, form, space, and texture.

During each session students participate in class discussions, introductions to new activities and modelling of techniques to be used. While creating and making students share their work, in order to tell their stories about the journey they had in completing the task.

Tasks will become more complex as students move through the school.  Activities aim to improve fine motor skills, aid in their identification of shape and colour in the world around them.  Students will be able to refer to the work of other artists/ peers/ cultures and the world around them which may influence their own creative efforts.

During the Art Room experience students will interact with their peers and critique and support one another as they work and enjoy the creative environment. Displays of student work will be evident in classrooms, the Art room and around the school as we celebrate their efforts.

LOTE

Children from grades 3 and 4 (1 class per term), grades 5 and 6 (weekly) are learning Chinese.

Library

The library is a colourful and welcoming room used for book borrowing, browsing, research and classes.  Our Library has a large collection of modern resources including: picture story books, novels, non-fiction and reference books.  The collection also includes Teacher resources for classroom use.

The picture story books are drawn from a wide range of authors and themes to cover relevant areas of the curriculum, and to encourage a love of reading.

The novels include: a range of modern authors and titles as well as classics and other well-respected authors.

The non-fiction section allows for student research of Curriculum themes and popular topics including: animals, mini-beasts, dinosaurs, koori, transport, inventions, food, countries, art, sport, poetry and more.

Our school encourages regular daily reading habits and supports this by asking students to borrow ‘just right’ books for a positive reading experience. We also have available Scholastic Book Club (twice a term) and a Book Fair each year.

Children are encouraged to borrow during classroom timetabled sessions. The Library is a popular room to visit during recess for quiet activities.

Music

PE

Physical Education is a vital component of Primary Education at Specimen Hill Primary School. The emphasis of the program is to develop skills, have fun and promote positive attitudes toward physical activity and competition. Physical Education is a comprehensive program that includes fitness, ball skills, athletics, gymnastics, swimming and other various sports. 

At Specimen Hill Primary School each grade has one hour of Physical Education per week. Specimen Hill PS has a teacher dedicated to P.E (Mr. Adam Tanner).

The school also has a large quantity of up to date sports equipment, which allows students the chance to work on and improve different skills. The school aims for its P.E. sessions to be active while at the same time promoting teamwork, cooperation, honesty, respect, resilience, empathy, persistence, positive self-image, and sportsmanship, with the motto ‘every student is a winner when they try their very best’.

In the Prep and Junior Primary years, lessons focus on skill acquisition and fundamental motor skills such as catching, overhead throwing, kicking, running, leaping, ball bouncing, dodging etc. The Prep classes also participate in the Perceptual Motor Program (PMP) twice a week to refine and develop both fine and gross motor skills. The students participate in a series of different tasks to improve their eye tracking, balance, hand/eye/foot coordination, fitness and locomotion. The development of these motor skills will also help them in areas such as writing (fine motor skills such as holding pencils), memory, and language skills, as well as developing their skills to successfully lead them into major games and sports. The program also aims to improve students’ confidence through working as a team and getting them to try activities and movements that they may not otherwise undertake.

In the Middle and Senior Primary years, lessons build on the fundamental motor skills acquired in the Junior Years. The students participate in various sports such as football, netball, cricket, volleyball, tennis, basketball, soccer, hockey, dance etc. that will assist them when moving into Secondary School and participating in sports outside school and in the community. Also the Middle and Senior Primary years complete a comprehensive athletics program, with the opportunity to compete in the school and district athletic sports.

The whole school participates in a two week sequential Swimming Program that aims to develop water awareness, confidence and stroke technique (all lessons are conducted by Specimen Hill staff who are AustSwim qualified) as well as a 5 week gymnastics program, which is conducted at Jet’s Gym in Bendigo.

Specimen Hill Primary School participates in a range of district sports and events during the school year, competing against other local schools in the Bendigo region for example Cross Country, Athletics, Volleyball, Hockey, Soccer, Football, Netball, Basketball and Cricket.

In 2020 each Prep student received a PE Kit Bag to take home, containing a variety of resources to assist in the students’ development of their fundamental motor skills and fine motor skills (all at no cost to the parents).

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Reading Recovery

The goal of Reading Recovery is to reduce the number of Year 1 students having difficulties learning to read and write. Students receive a series of individual, 30-minute Reading Recovery lessons daily from a specially trained teacher.

Our Reading Recovery teachers are Ms Mandi Jennings and Mrs Jo Daley.

EMU

The EMU ( Extending Mathematical Understanding) intervention program at Specimen Hill Primary School is taught by a specialist teacher and coordinated with the student’s classroom mathematics program. At Specimen Hill we offer two small groups of three Grade One students to participate in this program for 10 - 20 weeks. Students in this program have a 30 - 40 minute small group lesson each school day. They are supported by their families to play take home games and tasks each school night. Students who participate fully in this program show one to two years growth in mathematics by the end of the 20 week program.