6 November 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents/Caregivers

World Teacher’s Day – Friday 25th October 2019

We celebrated World Teachers’ Day on Friday 25th October. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our amazing staff for the significant contributions they make in our classrooms and school community. We are so fortunate to have such dedicated staff.

Pink Ribbon Morning Tea and Icy Pole Fundraiser Total

Each year, staff at Somerly Primary School host a Pink Ribbon Morning Tea to raise funds for game-changing breast cancer research. We would like to thank students and families who also contributed this year by purchasing icy poles. We raised $403.15 this year, which brings our total raised to over $2,500 since the initiative began.

Mental Health Week

Mental Health week is an opportunity to recognise the importance of physical and emotional wellbeing. A main focus at Somerly Primary School is kindness to others and yourself, mindfulness and having a growth mindset.

Mental Health Week began with a launch at a mini assembly on Monday 4th November (8:45am) where the focus of kindness, mindfulness and a growth mindset were discussed. Students will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of lunch time activities throughout the week including art, story time, karaoke, dancing and sporting activities.

Disability Parking Bays

We have 3 Disability Parking Bays around Somerly Primary School. To use a parking bay reserved for people with a disability, you need to display a valid ACROD parking permit for people with a disability.

These reserved parking bays should not be used for student pick up or drop off if you do not have a valid ACROD parking permit.

Remembrance Day Poppy Appeal

Monday 11th November 2019 is Remembrance Day and we are selling poppies on behalf of the Quinns Rocks RSL. Poppies can be purchased from the School Office from now until 11th November for a gold coin donation.

Head Lice

We have recently had a number of cases of head lice reported. Head lice are tiny insects that live on your head, which are spread by head-to-head contact.

Please see the attached information on head lice and how to minimise future incidences.

City of Wanneroo Mayor’s Christmas Appeal

For two decades the Mayor’s Christmas Appeal has been helping people who are going through tough times have a brighter Christmas by providing local families with hampers made up of donated goods.

We will once again be participating in the Mayor’s Christmas Appeal; all donations will be distributed to those that are less fortunate throughout the community.

Non-perishable food items and toys can be placed in the donation bin, which is located in the front office.

We will be accepting donations until 22 November 2019.

Andrew Britton
A/Principal

Merit Certificates

Room 1: Michael, Taj and Ivy; Room 2: Alysha and Robbert; Room 3: Hania and Jai; Room 4: Reilly and Phoenix; Room 7: David and Levi; Room 8: Rayden, Rebecca and Julio; Room 9: Julia, Marcus and Scarlet; Room 10: Zac, Trinh and Ashton; Room 11: Ava and Heath; Room 12: Billie and Isabel; Room 13: Ethan and Deacon; Room 15: Sienna, Herbert and Aaleeyah; Room 16: Moon and Kelvin; Room 17: Lamar and Abriana; Room 18: Thomas, Braxton and Daniel; LOTE: Jasper, Ameer, Julia and Class 14.

Stars

Behaviour Focus

Our behaviour focus for Week 4 is:-

RESPECT;

WHOLE SCHOOL

• We speak to others in the manner we wish to be spoken to
• We actively listen

SOCIAL SKILL

• Saying kind things

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.

P&C Information Session

The Somerly Primary School P&C plays an important role in promoting the interests of our school through cooperation between parents, teachers, students and members of the community. They assist in the provision of resources, facilities and amenities for the school and organise fundraising and other benefits for the good of the school.

We are looking for new members to join our P&C and will be holding an Information Session on 28th November 2019 at 6.30pm for anyone interested in becoming a member of our P&C Association. We look forward to seeing you there.

Chaplain’s Corner

Good day Parents!

Just a quick reminder about our Community Pantry located in the undercover area, right next to the canteen 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 Wednesday and Fridays form 08h00 – 09h45 and again from 14h00 – 15h45. The door will be left open so that any parent or carer can go and help themselves to food items they need.

Have a great week!!

Kind regards,

Marilize

Digital Olympics

On Wednesday the 30th of November, the Year 3 students participated in Somerly Primary School’s first Digital Olympics. The students were placed in 6 teams representing countries near Australia - Indonesia, The Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Cook Islands and Solomon Islands. The students then rotated around 6 activities where they tested their digital knowledge of coding, physical strength and the mental health focus of ‘Kindness’ towards others.

Edison Sumo Wrestling

At this station, students needed to design their own robot warrior by connecting Lego blocks to their Edison Robot. They then found a partner within their team to challenge. They needed to follow the instructions to code their Edison to perform the Sumo Wrestler dance and then watch the magic occur!

Sphero Tracks

Here students faced 8 pathways as a challenge. Working with a partner in their teams, they needed to cooperate together to write the algorithm (program) to instruct their Sphero to follow the track. Once completed they moved on to the next track.

Lego Unplugged

This station required the students to be positive, kind and persevere as they themselves became the robot. In pairs, they received some Lego and instructions. One partner was the programmer, and using the instructions, they had to code their robot to build a Lego boat without showing them the manual or touching the pieces themselves. A very tricky task that even challenges teachers!

Unplugged Coding Maze

At this station, students worked in pairs to first construct a maze for their robot (partner) to complete. The maze had to allow for the robot to make a choice (branching) such as if you go to the red hoop pick up the ball, or you go to the blue hoop pick up the bean bag. Students then wrote the code for their partner to follow.

Scratch Jr

Working at this station, students had the task to create a four slide narrative in Scratch Jr based on how to be kind in the classroom. The Year 3’s needed to include different backgrounds, sprites (characters) and then needed to code their sprites to move and talk.

Micro Bit Beep Test

This activity tested the student’s physical abilities of running, dancing and having fun. In pairs, they needed one runner and one programmer. The programmer told the runner to either run, skip, dance or some other physical movement. They needed to read the instructions from the Micro Bit robot and tell their partner when they needed to run to the cone and back again.

Students were awarded points at every station for being kind in their groups and completing their digital activity. The day ran smoothly with all students participating, enjoying the day and trying their best to complete the code. At 2:30 the results were tallied and Mr Britton came down to present the certificates and medals to the winning team – Indonesia. It was a fantastic day that could not have been completed without the efforts of the teachers and students involved.

*Stay tuned for the 2020 whole school Digital Olympics Day.

Garden News

Our little garden has produced some lovely fresh vegetables this year including a range of herbs, spring onions, brown onions, broad beans, celery, bok choy, rainbow chard, golden beetroot, radish, tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, purple cauliflower, and Romanesco broccoli.

Room 8 enjoyed experimenting with herbs to enrich the flavour of two fresh soups. Tomato soup beat pumpkin soup for the title of 'Most Delicious!' Mugs were refilled again and again! Students loved the zest of the coriander and basil.

Room 14 were very creative in the kitchen, picking a range of vegetables from the garden to make delicious stuffed zucchini flowers and other tasty wraps and salads. Students were adventurous with trying new things, and a great time was had by all!

Our worm farm is growing steadily and we regularly use the nutritious 'worm whiz' to enrich the soil and quality of the produce. We are aiming to clear some extra garden beds and get them fresh and ready for increased production next year. We proudly use no pesticides in the garden and don't mind a few nibbles on the leaves!

For more information and tips on vegetable growing in Perth, check out the link below.

Miss Bartley

Learning Focus

Block 2 – Year 5/6

Yet again the Year 5/6 students have been hard at work with some fairly complicated Maths concepts. This week the Year 5 students in Room 7 and 10 have begun learning about thousandths, whilst Room 9 began learning about the formal division algorithm. The Year 6 students in Room 7 and 10 began subtracting fractions and Room 9 were working on percentages.

Year 4

We are working on fractions and decimals. We have used a number line to help count by tenths. Here we are learning about tenths and hundredths. We are using numeral expanders to help us remember the place value up to hundredths.

P & C