8 March 2017

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents

Principal’s Lunch

Last Tuesday the administration team had the pleasure of hosting the first Principal’s lunch for the year. The selected students were served a yummy lunch of pasta and garlic bread followed by an ice-cream. Congratulations go to the students who were chosen by their teachers for displaying outstanding behaviour throughout the term.

Principal’s Lunch

Staffing

I’m delighted to announce that Miss Kim Olsen is our newly appointed Music Specialist. Miss Olsen commenced last week and already is having an extremely positive impact on all of our students.

Parents & Citizens Annual General Meeting

The P&C held their Annual General Meeting on Monday 27th February. As is customary at meetings, attendees voted in the Office Bearers and Executive Members for 2017. Our Office bearers for 2017 are:-

President: Trudy Orduna
Vice President: Chenara Braysher
Secretary: Elise Scarlett
Treasurer: Mira Ivanova
Fundraising Coordinator: Hayley Galuzzo
Uniform Coordinator: Tania Stern
Executive Members: Jodie Osman, Danielle Hutchings, Amy Borg

I wish to take this opportunity to thank Cheryl Deville for her commitment to our P&C, after 5 years of being our Treasurer, Cheryl has decided it was time for a break and has handed over the reins to Mira.

Harmony Day

A reminder that we will be celebrating Harmony Day on Tuesday 21st March. Students are encouraged to dress in orange, the recognised colour for Harmony Day. The P&C will also be holding a sausage sizzle on this day at the cost of $4 for a hot dog in a bun and a juice. Order forms will be sent home with students shortly.

Social Media

The internet and social media provide great opportunities for us to network and stay in touch online. While these technologies can offer a positive space for sharing information and ideas, they also have the potential to cause harm to individuals, groups or even whole communities.

Just as you would discourage your child from acting inappropriately online, it’s important to remember that sometimes, negative comments posted about a school community by parents or caregivers can have a bigger impact than expected. Reputations of staff, schools, and even parents can be damaged.

Whenever you’re online, you are potentially speaking to an unlimited audience, even if you think your conversations are private. Taking a few moments to think about the content you post could save upset, embarrassment - and even possible legal action or police involvement.

Parental and community feedback is important for schools. If you have a concern, complaint or enquiry about an issue at school, the best approach is to speak directly to us, rather than discussing it in a public forum. If you are worried about online content involving the school community, please contact the school. And, if you are posting online, remember that your comments help build and support the school community. Make sure you’re responsible, respectful, and safe - and a good role model for your children.

Tracey Renton
Principal

Behaviour Focus

Our behaviour focus for Week 6 is:-

RESPONSIBILITY

PLAYGROUND

• Wear a hat
• Play in your own area
• Report issues to the duty teacher/mentor/peers
• Use/return equipment properly
• Use sand equipment for its designed purpose

Merit Certificates

Room 1: Devon, Annalisa and Summer; Room 2: Jethro Cole and Khloe; Room 3: Summer and Isabel; Room 4: Noah and Ivy; Room 7: John; Room 8: Layla and Sophia; Room 9: Gregory and Diesel; Room 10: Alexiar and Cassie; Room 11: Jamie and Erin; Room 12: Lily and Kai; Room 13: Talitha and Phillip; Room 14: Zac and Asra; Room 15: Christopher and Jia; Room 16: Charlie; Room 18: Tyler and Milla; Room 23: Bianca and Jevin; LOTE: Class 11, Harmony – Room 13 and Daeniel – Room 7

YOU HAVE TO BE IN IT TO WIN IT!!!

VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS

We have 4 $50 Lowes vouchers to give away. For your chance to win, simply pay your Voluntary Contribution by the end of Term 1.

Thank you to those of you who have already paid your 2017 Voluntary Contribution.

Voluntary Contributions play a significant role in providing resources for students in the classroom. The continuing partnership between the school and parents is vital to ensuring that all students receive a level of education sufficient to carry them forward in today’s society. Voluntary Contributions are utilized to purchase books, resources and equipment for classroom use and to support our school in the delivery of quality educational programmes. To enable the school to continue to deliver our excellent educational programmes, we urge you to consider paying your Voluntary Contribution at your earliest convenience.

Voluntary Contributions for 2017 is set at $60. However, if you pay before the end of Term 1 you will receive a discount of $10.

You can pay by cash, cheque or EFTPOS in the front office any day between 8:30am and 3:30pm or you can pay by direct deposit to Commonwealth Bank – BSB 066 040 - Account No. 19902052. Please type surname and room number in description field as a reference.

Thank You.

Susan Rose
Manager Corporate Services

Waste Wise

Congratulations to our Waste Wise winners.

Student Update Forms

Thank you to all the parents who have returned the Student Update Form. If you have not yet returned the form would you please do so as soon as possible. If no changes are necessary please tick the “No Corrections Necessary” box, sign and return the form to your child’s teacher or the school office. It is essential that we have up to date information that allows us to contact parents in an emergency.

Constable Care Incursion

Through puppet theatre and live interactive performances, the Constable Care team of professional actors address a range of personal safety, community safety and citizenship themes to excite, engage, challenge and educate children from two to twelve years of age. The constable care team will attend Somerly Primary School on Tuesday 21st March and Thursday 23rd March.

Pre Primary to Year 3 students will watch a Puppet Theatre called ‘Fun-Scary’, relating to our Health program Protective Behaviours.

Synopsis

Timmy, Teagan and Sarge the Dog are at the park enjoying a beautiful afternoon. They get butterflies in their tummies as they zoom down the big slide and their hearts pound with excitement playing chasey. They realise that it can be pretty fun to feel a little scared, but not always. There’s a difference between fun-scary and bad-scary. Timmy and Teagan learn that there is always a safe person to talk to about the bad-scary stuff. This fun play will help children identify feelings, increasing emotional literacy and support them in identifying safe adults to talk to.

Years 4 – 6 students will watch a two actor play called Screen Name, relating to online protective behaviour.

Synopsis

Laura and Max aren’t just ordinary school students. Online they become “PixieGal_13” and “Maxatak”, a rogue and a barbarian battling creatures in an RPG. Laura meets “Sk8terDan” in a chat room who tells her he’s a boy her age from a neighbouring school. Upon meeting him she discovers he is far older than he let on. He makes advances on her and she is uncomfortable and afraid. She realises she has given him too much information about herself and where she lives. Max helps her realise she must speak to a trusted adult to resolve the situation. Screen Name teaches young people about the more serious dangers of the cyber world and how to make safe decisions online.

Gymbaroo

GYMBAROO FOR KINDERGARTEN AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS: THE UNLOCKING POTENTIAL (UP) PROGRAM

ABOUT THE UNLOCKING POTENTIAL PROGRAM

Unlocking Potential is a unique sensorimotor movement program specifically designed for Australian primary schools. This program focuses on motor skill development and draws on the latest research to assist the stimulation of brain development important to learning, skill development and behaviour. At GymbaROO we firmly believe that all students need to be given the opportunity to lay the crucial neurological building blocks essential for learning and thus given the chance to reach their optimum level of both mental and physical function. This program proposes to unlock the potential for all children.

Your teachers have attended a comprehensive 2 day training program run by professionally qualified GymbaROO consultants allowing the school to run the daily program throughout the next 5 years.

WHAT WILL THE CHILDREN BE DOING AS PART OF THE PROGRAM?

The UP Program is a 25 minute daily lesson of activities including:

• Fun warm up activities
• Specific developmental movement exercises
• Body awareness games, dance, group games
• Relaxation

The activities will be done every day as a block or split into shorter segments depending on the classroom teachers and daily routines.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF DOING THE PROGRAM?

The UP Program has been trialled in 5 Australian schools so far and the results are very exciting. Children doing the daily program have shown improvements in:

• Learning ability
• NAPLAN results
• Classroom and playground behaviour
• Concentration
• Handwriting
• Letter reversals
• Ability to follow instructions
• Coordination
• Fitness
• Overall happiness and enjoyment of school

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR CHILD?

It is important for children to enjoy the program and participate every day for the best results. If your child is not wanting to participate please speak to your teacher as activities can be adapted to suit.

Your teacher may send home “Movement Homework” in the form of the simple exercises. These will be explained to the children and instructions included for them to do at home. The more often children repeat these exercises the better their results.

A parent information session will be offered at the school in the future.

Learning Focus

‘Big Write’

One of our focus areas this year is on further developing and improving children’s writing skills through ‘Big Write’. The premise of ‘Big Write’ is that if children can’t say it or talk about it, then they can’t write it. The better we can talk, the better we can write. Having a wide vocabulary and using language well, helps children with all of their learning.

What is Big Write?

‘Big Write’ is a term used for an approach to writing that was developed by Ros Wilson. ‘Big Write’ focuses on 4 main aspects of the writing process and gives the children the skills to improve their own writing through the development of talk for writing, sharing of language ideas within games, practising and improving their own writing skills, through self-assessment and through a fortnightly special writing session.

The Four Elements of Big Write

The children are taught to think about their writing in four particular ways and are introduced to four mascots to assist them; Vocabulary (Vinnie), Connectives (Connie), Openers (Ollie) and Punctuation (Penny). The children use the mascots to help them to remember the key elements in writing.

V-is for vocabulary (ambitious ‘WOW’ words). Children are encouraged to widen their use of language, to make their writing richer. In the classroom, new and expressive words are collected and shared.
C -is for connectives (joining words) such, as, and, because, so, besides, although, however, but etc. This makes writing more cohesive and interesting.
O -is for openers (opening your sentences in a variety of ways). Varying the way you open sentences make them more engaging to read. There are three main ways of opening sentences – using connectives and words ending in ‘ly’ and ing’. Another way includes starting a sentence with a word ending in ‘ed’.
P -is for punctuation – correctly using punctuation appropriate for age or level. Children are taught the names of the different punctuation components and they learn how to use them to ‘up level’ their writing.

The ‘Big Write’ session

Fortnightly, the children will take part in a ‘Big Write’ lesson where the teacher creates a special atmosphere by lighting a candle and playing very quiet classical music. While the children independently write, they apply the writing skills they have learnt during the fortnight.

Here are some ways in which you can help your child at home with their writing:

• Talk! Talk! Talk! – ask children to describe anything and everything.
• Take the opportunity to comment on interesting use of VCOP when reading with your child.
• Use a dictionary or a thesaurus to find interesting words to use.
• Encourage children to think about how to improve work completed at home through use of VCOP.
• Be prepared to explain new words to your child and give examples of how to use them.
• Read often and widely with your child.
• Encourage children to use phrases or words seen in a book in their own writing.
• Take it in turns to tell a story. One person starts it, the other says what happens next etc.

Students Late to School

If your child arrives late to school they are missing critical morning routines and learning activities. The school day begins at 8:40am and students will be considered late if they do not arrive by this time. If your child arrives after 9:00am you are required to enter through the front office and provide us with a reason for the lateness. A late slip will be printed for you to give to the class teacher.

Not Feeling Well?

If your child is not feeling well before school, please keep them home and notify the office by phoning 9407 7142 or sending an SMS to 0437 480 486.

Late Collection of Students

Somerly Primary School has a student finish time of 2.45pm each day. If your child has not been picked up before 3pm, you will be required to come to the front office to sign them out.

P & C

Icy Poles

A message from our P & C regarding icy poles on Thursday 9th March. Icy Poles will not be available on this day.