23 October 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents/Caregivers

I would like to extend a warm welcome back to students, families and friends of Somerly Primary School. I hope everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing break.

As advised late last term, I would like to welcome Mrs Mason who commenced teaching in Room 16 on Monday and Tuesday. Mrs Mason comes with a wealth of knowledge as she has previously taught at Somerly over many years.

Booklists

The 2020 Booklists are currently being drafted. They will be sent home to families as soon are they are complete.

Key Dates for Term 4

• Kaboom Percussion Incursion (Kindy to Year 6) – Tuesday 29th October – two show times - Show 1: Yrs. 3-6 – 12.05-1.05 and Show 2: Yrs. K – 2 – 1.45 – 2.45
• Assembly hosted by Room 2 – Friday 1st November at 8:50am
• Mental Health Week – Monday 4th November to Friday 8th November
• School Board Meeting – Wednesday 6th November at 9:00am
• Cyber Safety Workshop for parents and carers – Wednesday 6th November at 5:30pm
• Assembly hosted by Room 4 – Friday 15th November at 8:50am
• 2020 Kindergarten Information Session – Wednesday 20th November at 9:00am
• Parent Helper Afternoon Tea – Wednesday 27th November at 1:45pm
• Assembly hosted by Kindergarten – Friday 29th November at 8:50am
• School Board Meeting – Wednesday 4th December at 9:00am
• Book Award Assembly – Friday 13th December at 8:50am
• Graduation Ceremony – Wednesday 18th December at 9:00am
• Christmas Concert – Thursday 19th December
• Final day for students - Thursday 19th December

Facts about Attendance

Research confirms that to maximize your child’s learning successes, they need to attend school 95% of the time. (This equates to an absence of 2½ days per month).

Regular attendance enables children to build upon their knowledge and skills every day. Children who miss out on the basic skills may experience difficulties later on due to gaps in their learning.

Regular attendance helps students to develop confidence in areas such as social skills, organisation and teamwork.

The law requires students to attend Primary School from Pre-Primary to Year 6.

Planning

We are continuing to plan for 2020 and need accurate numbers so we can make up classes and ensure we have enough staff for the beginning of the year. If you know that you will be leaving Somerly Primary School and haven’t yet advised the school office, please call in and let us know.

Lost Property

We have a large amount of lost property located in the green buckets outside the medical room. If you have misplaced an item at school, please check the buckets as soon as possible. Items that are not collected by the end of Term will be donated to charity.

Andrew Britton
A/Principal

Merit Certificates

Room 1: Julianne and Hai; Room 2: Ivy, Noah and Hazel; Room 3: Ava and Curtis-James; Room 4: Korinne and Noelia; Room 7: Ashlee, Chanda, Dylan, Kaiden and Selwyn; Room 8: Braydan and Krisilan; Room 9: Coby, Isaiah and Sydney; Room 10: Bayla, Leah, Angus and Ywa Hae Tha Htoo; Room 11: Eliano, Jessika, Sanaver and Cahil; Room 12: Emily and Nadia; Room 13: Ciara, Aaleyah, Hayley, Kiah,Keagan and Savannah; Room 14: Mia, Dean and Sarah; Room 15: Maahipal, Rashaad and Mikey; Room 16: Bonnie and Jak; Room 23: Dylan, Kingslee and Noah; Room 17: Ishaan, Leila and Tison; Room 18: James and Zion; Art: Nadia and Emily.

Stars

Behaviour Focus

Our behaviour focus for Week 2 is:-
RESPONSIBILITY;

WHOLE SCHOOL

• We place our rubbish in the bin
• We follow staff instructions

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.

Learning Focus

Pre-Primary

In Pre-Primary this year we have been learning to write recounts. Our focus in Term 3 was on remembering to write who, what, when and where at the start of a recount. After getting back from the holidays we had a whole class discussion about what we had done on the break. Each child then drew a picture and wrote about it.

Every week we have learnt two new sounds and have been working hard on using these in our recount writing. We have also been experimenting with capital letters and full stops plus attempting to put finger spaces between each word. We read our writing as we finished each word to check for mistakes and when finished read it all to the teacher.

It has been amazing to see the progression all the students have made in their writing since the start of the year and we are very proud of everyone’s effort!

Aneka Rosielle, Janelle Avins and Natalie Hobson – Pre-Primary Teachers

Kaboom Percussion Incursion

The Kaboom Percussion Incursion is due to take place on Tuesday 29th October 2019. Please note the new show times as listed below:

Show 1: 12:05-1:05 (Yrs. 3-6)
Show 2: 1:45-2:45 (Yrs. K-2)

Chaplain’s Corner

Good day Parents,

Children and young people are online now more than any other time in history. They can be heavily influenced by social media and their online interactions and experiences.

To address this ongoing concern for our children’s safety online, we would like to invite you to attend a Cyber Safety Workshop.

WA Child Safety Services is a Perth based specialist provider of Cyber Safety and Digital Wellness workshops and resources and they are committed to educating, equipping and empowering children and young people to have safe and positive experiences within digital environments.

They also support educators and parents in helping children and young people to maximise the benefits of being online, whilst helping them to manage the risks.

Their Cyber Safety workshops cover issues that currently affect children and young people, including:

• Digital wellness
• Protecting eyes, body and brain
• Screen time limits
• Managing rules, restrictions and boundaries
• Media literacy
• Online gaming
• Pornography and sexualised media
• Online grooming and cat phishing
• Youth produced sexual content, Nudes, Image Based Abuse and the Law
• Social media and self-esteem
• Cyberbullying
• Digital footprint and digital reputation
• Privacy and personal information
• Parental controls
• Resource and book recommendations

This comprehensive workshop is filled with up-to-date information, real world examples, practical strategies and conversation starters.

Please join us for an information filled evening:

When: Wednesday, 6 November 2019
Where: Somerly Primary School, Undercover area
Time: 17:30 – 20:00
Cost: Free, but limited spaces available
RSVP: Please RSVP before Friday 1 November 2019

Hope to see you there!!!!

Kind regards,

Marilize Basson
Chaplain

Community Pantry

I am super excited to tell you more about a new Community project that has started at our school this Term.

We have our own Community Pantry that is situated in the old Uniform Shop inside the Undercover Area.

The concept behind the Pantry is that families who are in need, can take any food items available. We also welcome and invite families to make a donation to our Community Pantry.

The Community Pantry is accessible to all Parents or carers of students attending Somerly Primary School and will be open on Wednesdays and Fridays from 8am – 9.45am and again from 2pm – 3.45pm. The door will be left open so that any parent or carer can go and help themselves to food items they need.

Seeing that all items are donated to the Somerly Primary School, we ask that before you take any items from the Pantry that you ensure that food items are in date and have not been opened or damaged.

If you would like to make a donation to the Community Pantry, you are more than welcome to.

SUGGESTED PANTRY DONATIONS are:

• Meal kits: Macaroni and cheese, Pancake and Muffin mixes, canned Pasta meals, cup of soup, Instant Noodles
• Variety of tinned fruits, vegetables, fish, beans, soup
• Jars of sauces, spreads
• Non refrigerated UHT milk and milk powder
• Ready to eat snacks, muesli bars, crackers
• Rice, oil, pasta, cereal, condiments, spices, tea, coffee
• Dishwashing liquid, washing powder
• Toiletries and personal care products such as soap, toothpaste, deodorant and sunscreen

*Please ensure that all donated items are sealed correctly and unopened, in good condition (no dents), not home-made or require refrigeration and are well within their use by/best before dates.

We are looking forward to any feedback from you with regards to this new project!

Have an awesome week!

Kind regards,

Marilize Basson
Chaplain

Step into School – Toddler Reading Group

Our Toddler Reading group meets in the library on Wednesday mornings from 8:45am. Parents and their young children are invited to come in and read some lovely picture books. We read a story together as a group at 9:00am and then have a small craft activity for those children who would like to join in. Your child may also like to borrow a book to take home for the week. Bringing along a library bag is good practice for kindy.

We look forward to meeting you.

Free Parent Seminar

FREE SEMINARS – for EVERY PARENT
Triple P – Positive Parenting Program
TERM 4, 2019

Most parents have times when they find their children’s behaviour challenging.

The Triple P – Positive Parenting Program is one of the world’s most effective parenting programs. Developed by clinical psychologist Professor Matt Sanders and his colleagues at the University of Queensland, Triple P has been tested with thousands of families through ongoing research over more than 30 years.

Triple P is designed to give parents the skills they need to raise confident, healthy children and to build stronger family relationships. Research has shown it works across cultures, socio-economic groups and in many different family structures.

Triple P doesn’t tell people how to parent. Rather, it offers simple and practical strategies that parents can adapt to suit their own values, beliefs and needs. The benefits can be dramatic and long-lasting.

All parents of children aged 3-12 years are invited to attend free Triple P seminars on offer at Somerly Primary School next term which will be facilitated by school psychologist Chris Moody

For more information or to book please pick up a registration flyer from the office or register online via the link below:

(click FIND A SESSION to search for this location)

Scholastic Book Club

Book Club catalogues are being sent home with students. Orders need to be placed by 31st October 2019.

To make it easy for parents to give the gift of reading this year, the Gift Function has automatically been turned on for this issue.

This will allow parents to place a separate LOOP order for any items that are intended as a surprise gift. LOOP gift orders will be delivered to the school with all other Book Club orders and will be marked accordingly. These orders will be set aside at the school office for parents to collect. You can download the easy Gift Function how-to-guide at the link below:

Kurlangas Aboriginal Playgroup

Welcome to term 4!

This term at playgroup we are learning about shapes. Some of our activities will include shape painting, collage gluing shapes and shape stamp painting. We will also be doing art and craft activities in preparation for Halloween and Christmas.

We will also have activities and experiences that promote physical skills, socialisation skills and language skills.

Messy play activities will also be continued throughout this term so don’t forget to wear old clothes or bring a spare change of clothes!

And as the weather is warming up can you also please bring a hat.

For our babies, there will be tummy time (to strengthen their back and neck muscles), push and pull toys, some wonderful books to look at, finger rhymes and songs to sing.

Playgroup is FREE and held every Wednesday at Somerly Primary school during term times between 9.30-11.30am, for Aboriginal children up to 5yrs of age and their carers.

A morning tea of fresh fruit is provided for the children, and tea, coffee and biscuits for the adults. You do not need to have a child attending this school to attend.

Hope to see you there!

ABORIGINAL EARLY YEARS TEAM.

P & C