14 August 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents/Caregivers

Book Week/Science Week

Book Week commenced at Somerly PS this week with a well-attended Grandparents Morning Tea. It was fantastic to see the connections between the Grandparents and Grandchildren whilst they read books together over morning tea. Thank you to all who attended.

The Book Fair commenced in the Library on Tuesday and will continue to run until Friday. All classes will have an opportunity to attend the Book Fair and families are welcome to view the items before and after school.

On Friday 16th August, students are invited to come to school in fancy dress, linked to the Book Week and Science Week themes of; ‘Reading is my Super Power’ and/or ‘Destination Moon’.

Book Week and Science Week concludes on the evening of Friday 16th August during our inaugural Stargazing evening. We’re looking forward to seeing many families at this event. Please see below for more information.

Clarkson Challenge

Eight Somerly Primary School students participated in the Clarkson Challenge, hosted by Clarkson Community High School. Our students worked in two teams of four students through a problem solving project. I would like to congratulate the following students who participated in the Clarkson Challenge;

• Isaiah
• Alfie
• Laiken
• Harmony
• Esther
• Philip
• Chris
• Ashton

I’m so proud of the way that you represented Somerly Primary School. Each student demonstrated high levels of interpersonal skills, cooperation, perseverance, critical thinking and problem solving. Congratulations to all involved, especially our students who were awarded first and second place. Please see below for further details on the Clarkson Challenge.

I would like to extend a thank-you to Clarkson Community High School staff for inviting us to be part of this initiative.

Swimming

A reminder that swimming lessons commence on Monday 19th August until Friday 30th August 2019. Students will require suitable swimming attire, a towel, goggles (if preferred), labelled bag for wet clothing and appropriate footwear: for example, sandals that are easy to take off and put on. Additional enclosed footwear can be worn to school and put back on at school. Students will get changed into school uniform at HBF Arena after swimming lessons. The changing rooms are closed off to the public during these times.

Please note, HBF Arena charge a $2.60 spectator fee per day.

Please see below for lessons times:-

The Fathering Project

Dads / Father Figures and Child Event;

Term 3 – Digital Technology / Coding Activities

The Fathering Project is an opportunity to have fun with your kids and become part of a strong and supportive network of dads and father figures connected to Somerly Primary School.

Our Term 3 event will be led by our Digital Technology Specialist Teacher, Dyan Mundy. Dads/Father figures and children will engage in a variety of technology activities.

RSVP: There is a maximum number of 20 children (and their dads/father figures) to participate in the event (First in first served). Please RSVP by Friday 30th August, by calling Somerly Primary School on 6206 4200.

The Fathering Project is brilliant and inspires me as a dad.

Justin Langer AM, Father of 4 Girls, Australian Cricketer, WA

The Dads’ group has been a wonderful initiative for our school to be involved in. These Dad’s form a very important part of their children’s experiences, and we celebrate that with a wide range of enjoyable and meaningful school and family-based events.”

Greg, School Principal, WA

For all women who want their husbands to be more involved in their children’s lives, I encourage you to get involved with The Fathering Project. It will make such a massive difference to your children’s lives; your relationship, your husband’s life, and you will all be better off as a family unit.”

Georgie, Mother to 3 children, Loving wife of a Dad involved in The Fathering Project, WA

New students

I would like to extend a warm welcome to Jayce, Benjamin, Raffaele, Noelia, Eliano, Jeremiah and Hope who recently commenced at Somerly Primary School.

Andrew Britton
A/Principal

Merit Certificates

Room 1: Bayley-Bree and Damiano; Room 3: Ava and Abdul; Room 4: Markus, Noah and Daniel; Room 8: Harlow and Kiah; Room 11: Jamaine and Jia; Room 12: Jai and Kevin; Room 14: Kieren and Amber; Room 15: Jaxon and Ryder; Room 16: Henley and Joshua; Room 17: Jethro and Mateusz; Room 18: Phoebe and Brighton; Room 23: Evie; Music: Gwen, Darseet and Room 14.

Stars

Behaviour Focus

Our behaviour focus for Week 4 is:-

RESPECT;

CLASSROOM

• We obtain permission to use other people’s equipment
• We treat other people’s equipment with respect
• We respect other people’s opinions, ideas and that everyone learns differently

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 6206 4200, sending an SMS to 0437 480 486 or emailing somerly.ps@education.wa.edu.au.

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.

Clarkson Challenge

On Tuesday the 6th of August 8 Year 6 students attended the Clarkson Challenge at Clarkson Community High School. The students formed 2 teams; The Bolt Juniors (Harmony, Phillip, Esther and Ashton) and The Gaelic Gladiators (Chris, Laiken Isaiah and Alfie). The students were tasked with designing a durable solar powered car that could operate in all weather conditions, be the fastest to travel down a 16m track, carry 2 passengers (50gram weights), include a passenger compartment, have a body shell, be good looking and have an innovative and sustainable design plan. The students had a range of recyclable materials to choose from and all teams were given a solar power electronics kit. They were then given time to first investigate how to create a solar powered car, design, create and test their designs. Teams were then asked to complete 2 time trails where they raced their cars down a 16-meter track. Each team was marked against set criteria which gave them points. Somerly Primary School are proud to bring the cup home with the Bolt Juniors winning the challenge. The Gaelic Gladiators did an awesome job drawing with a team from Clarkson High School. It was great to see our students demonstrating great sportsmanship and working collaboratively to achieve the task.

Stargazing Evening

Learning Focus

Numeracy Competitions

This term has had an exciting start with selected students from Years 3-6 participating in National Maths Competitions.

The Australian Maths Trust conducted an online competition and two children from each class participated. They completed 40 problem-solving questions with a one-hour time limit. Students reported that it was challenging and really pushed them to think creatively. The students individual results will be collated by the AMT and their accomplishments will be returned to the school later this year.

Additionally, each year level has entered a team of four students into the Have Sum Fun Online competition. This competition promotes collaborative problem-solving with three rounds. The students recently engaged in a practice session to help them learn to communicate their ideas and give feedback to others.

Thank you to the families who have supported these initiatives.

Jodie Brown
Numeracy Curriculum Lead Teacher

Block 1

The Pre-Primary's have been learning some more sounds as part of our Letters and Sounds phonics program. We have been learning digraphs and have loved the challenge of the trickier sounds. Some of the sounds we have looked at so far are sh, th, ch, wh, ng and we will be adding to this list as the term continues. We have craft, sound sorting activities and opportunities to write the new sounds we are learning as we identify them. The Pre-Primary’s have also been learning about space for Science Week. We have been reading books about astronauts, using our senses to explore a moon scape, pretending to be astronomers in an outside dramatic play area plus making rocket-ships and planets. It is so much fun finding out new and interesting facts about the planets and the moon!

Art

Year 3

Since the start of Term Three, the Year 3 cohort have been focussing on the following Maths skills.

Count back strategy using 3 digit numbers, jump and split strategies to add and subtract, using jump and place value strategies to bridge, symmetry, two dimensional shapes and the revision of four digit numbers and their numerals.

The children in Room 14 have reflected on their use of Stepping Stones and here are some of their responses.

Sarah: I like that I learn lots of different maths. But some of the Step Ahead Challenges can be hard.

Madalyn: It helps you to get better at Maths so that you can do math competitions.

Shaylee: I like using number lines to help me add and subtract.

Dean: I like how we use MAB blocks, number lines and the other number case resources.

Kieren: I learn lots of new things like jump strategies and I am becoming better at Maths.

Mia A: I like Stepping Stones because it will help me with Maths when I am older and I can use it in everyday life.

Shad: It can be tricky but we learn how to figure it out.

Hayley: You learn that maths can be fun but also very challenging.

Kaiya: You learn how to answer different questions using different strategies.

Ella: I like it because it starts off easy but it gets harder throughout the book.

Kai: It is fun! I like the interactive resources on the whiteboard.

Amber: I like Stepping Stones when we do the Check Ups and I do well. Plus, I like the book because it is repetitive, so we always go over the skills so we become better.

Literacy

Reading Eggs/Eggspress

Book Week is such an exciting time for our students!

Students have been spending as much time as they can on Reading Eggs/Eggspress for one week in order to win vouchers to spend at the Book Fair currently running in the Library.

The student from each year group who has spent the most amount of time on the program, will be awarded the voucher. Winners will be announced on Thursday and their names published in the next newsletter.

Thank you to your support in the Reading Eggs/Eggspress program.

MultiLit

We are very excited to announce the launch of a new Reading Program for selected Year 1 and 2 students. MultiLit is a small intervention literacy group using an evidence-based, effective early literacy program. It is a systematic, explicit and effective small group series of lessons aimed to assist students’ reading skills. The program, which takes place three times per week, will be run by our Mrs Sendziuk. The program presents a wonderful opportunity for readers at our school.

CHAPLAIN’S CORNER

Good day Parents,

Firstly, I would like to thank the parents that attended the Coffee Morning on 26 July. It was wonderful to meet you all and to hear how you experience parenthood and being part of the Somerly Primary community.

During our conversations it became clear that there is a need to get more information regarding our children and safety – that includes online safety, stranger danger as well as getting to know all the role players in our community that keeps us safe (Police, Fire brigade, Surf Lifesaving) The idea is that Parent Workshops will be held where a guest speaker would come and address these needs.

To ensure that all parents get the opportunity to voice their concerns or needs, a survey will be distributed during the course of next week. Please take the time to answer a few questions that will give us a clear indication of the needs of our parents.

Looking forward to hearing from you all!

Have a great week!!

Kind regards.
Marilize Basson
School Chaplain

We’re Fundraising with the Entertainment Book!

P & C