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21 February, 2019 Extracurricular

Extended Tuition Program – students discover new interests and talents

This term, St Michael’s is trialling an Extended Tuition Program which is augmenting our Out of School Care program.

Studies have shown that student involvement in extended tuition can promote a sense of engagement with school, which in turn has a positive influence on achievement, attendance and aspiration to higher levels of education.

The School is currently running three additional after-school programs; Hip Hop Dance, Young Engineers and the Melbourne City Soccer Program.

The Extended Tuition Program is now in its second week and it is exciting to hear from both students and families about their experience of the new program.

Hip Hop Dance

Taught by industry professional, Jack May, Hip Hop is an energetic street dance style which encompasses a free, funky and playful expression of movement. These classes are creative, fun and engaging.

Year 8 student Poppy participated in her first Hip Hop class on Friday afternoon.

“It was really good, the class was quite hard and fast but it was still lots of fun,” said Poppy. “I did a lot of dance classes when I was younger so it’s really nice to be able to start dancing again and to be able to do something a bit different after school.”

There are four sessions of Hip Hop Dance classes each week, with students taking the classes in year level groups, these include Years 1-3, Years 4-6 and Years 7-9.

Students in Years 1-3 also experienced their first Hip Hop class on Friday afternoon. Here is what they had to say:

“I loved that we got to do lots of dancing in this class,” said Francesca, Year 2

“It’s good that we got to do lots of exercise,” said Leo, Year 2

“I really liked it, it’s so much fun,” said Grace, Year 1

Young Engineers

Available to students in Prep–Year 6, the Young Engineers program uses Lego as a tool to teach STEM, engineering and technology skills to primary school students.

Extended Tuition Program – students discover new interests and talents Year 6 students Olivia and Thomas during Young Engineers

“Lego provides the perfect platform that is universally understood for learning STEM for all ages,” said Shweta Shetty, the director of Young Engineers. “Every child loves Lego – when learning and play combine so naturally and authentically – magic happens.”

Once a week the students come together to learn engineering through play.

Students in Prep to Year 2 focus on mechanical engineering and student in Years 3 to 6 focus on software engineering and machine communication.

Extended Tuition Program – students discover new interests and talents Young Engineers educator working with Prep students

“Each week we work on a new project and we get to build things and make them move, it’s really cool,” said Olivia, Year 6.

Current parent, Karen Brickell’s son Sam in Year 1 has been participating in the Young Engineers Program and was delighted by the feedback she received from Sam after his first class.

“Sam was so energised and excited when he came home and couldn’t wait to tell me all about the class, he hasn’t stopped talking about it since,” said Karen. “Thank you all for sparking young minds.”

Melbourne City Soccer

This program is conducted by accredited coaches who utilise the Melbourne City College of Football coaching program as part of the School’s current partnership with the Melbourne City Football Club.

Each week two separate sessions are held before school from 8.00-8.30am for students in Kindergarten to Year 1 and Years 2-3.

In the sessions, students learn fundamental motor skills, drills, game-like concepts, along with football conditioning and development.

Year 3 student Oliver is participating in this program and also plays soccer outside of school.

“I’m really enjoying learning new skills and playing the game, it’s also helping me to play better at soccer after school,” said Oliver.

The Extended Tuition Program is proving to be a weekly highlight for students who are participating and we look forward to seeing the students continue to develop their skills and talents.

Enrolments for the Term 1 Extended Tuition Program trial are now closed, information regarding the continuation of the Extended Tuition Program will be available soon.