PR E PA R ATORY S C HO OL
Meeting Andy Griffiths!
Everybody knows Andy Griffiths. His books are amazing! But
how many people actually get to meet him in person? I was lucky
enough to be one of them.
On Wednesday 10 September, my mum, brother and I travelled to
Big W in Karrinyup to meet him. I was so excited! When I arrived
I realised we were early because only one other person was in the
queue. But before we knew it there were hundreds of people, filling
half of the shop! I guess Andy Griffiths is really that popular.
When I first met him I was excited, overwhelmed and I thought I was
going to faint. Andy Griffiths is just as funny in person. He talked to
me and was a real comedian. He said he had just come into Big W to
buy some new underpants!
At school last year I put together a paper bag book report on the
Andy Griffiths book, Just Doomed. I took that with me, along with
a copy of The 52 Storey Treehouse. Imagine my surprise when Andy
Griffiths took out all of the things in the bag and took photos of
them. He said he was going to put them on Instagram. How cool!
My copies of The 52 Storey Tree House and Just Doomed are now
signed by Andy Griffiths. They are kept in a safe place and I can’t tell
you where!
I really enjoyed my experience meeting this legendary author. Andy
Griffiths is awesome!
Bennett with Andy Griffiths.
Bennett Rogers, Year 4
iPads in the Preparatory School
Significant excitement and great
enthusiasm begins immediately an iPad is
brought into the classroom as a learning
device. The need of this digital generation
to ‘be connected’ is very strong. They seem
to pick up the necessary skills surprisingly
quickly and have a thirst to engage and
create instantly.
In the Preparatory School we currently have
87 iPads which are being utilised by teachers
and students in all learning areas and across
the whole school. These iPads are located
in multiple locations for ease of use and
quick access. The uses and benefits of this
mobile learning device are endless. The iPads
are being used to create digital narratives,
capture and edit photos and video,
manipulate data in tables and graphs, record
and replay oral reading, consolidate spelling
skills and speech to text dictation. The
possibilities continue to grow! With these
iPads you can take the classroom anywhere,
anytime, anyway.
The huge numbers of apps (short for
applications) that are available free or at a
very low cost are growing daily. Many of
these apps are ‘drill and practice’ type tools;
although increasingly many ‘create’ type apps
are being developed.
How the teachers are integrating these iPads
into their teaching pedagogy is testament to
their dedication to ‘give it a go’. The use of
iPads in the classroom is directly benefiting
every student and challenging them to
interact, share, collaborate, classify, create
and evaluate. These skills are fundamentally
important for all modern day students who
are commonly referred to as ‘digital natives’.
Mr Simon Edgar
Deputy Head – Curriculum
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