1 July 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents/Caregivers

As we enter the final week of what has been a very unforgettable term I would like to inform you of some very important upcoming events for what will be a very busy Term 3.

Latest Update on COVID – 19 – Phase 4 Changes

We are now into Phase 4 changes and it is pleasing to be able to have all parents drop off and pick up students. With the restrictions for indoor gatherings lifted to 500 and no limit on outdoor gatherings it is very exciting to be able to announce the return of our assemblies. We ask that you continue to follow the school guidelines in relation to the pickup and drop off of your child/ren.

Please remember:

• Parents/Carers are not to enter classrooms
• Parents/carers wishing to meet with their class teacher need to pre-arrange a meeting by phone, email or message.
• Please only come on school site for pick up and drop off purposes. Please remember classroom doors open at 8.30am and the school day concludes at 2.45pm.
• Please do not remain on school grounds any longer than required.

On the first school development day next term our staff will be participating in an activity to reflect on some of the changes made as a result of COVID-19. We will reflect on which new practices we would like to end, which new practices we would like to amplify or continue, which old practices we would like to let go and which we would like to restart.

Meet the School Board – Cheryl Deville

How did you become involved in Somerly Primary School and why?

When we first arrived from Western Sydney, with the exception of my husband’s brother and sister, I didn’t know a soul. Our 3-year-old enrolled in Kindy at the nearby Clarkson School in Houses (what a concept - classrooms in houses) which left me with a lot of time on my hands. I missed my old life in NSW terribly. I was encouraged to get involved with something. Enter the NEW school in Clarkson. I joined the School Council for the new school (which didn’t yet have a name). So you might say I have been involved at Somerly from the beginning. Before the slab was laid. From there I would take home mountains of contact and new school books to cover in preparation for the library at the new school.

As a parent representative of the school board, tell the community about your background and current involvement with the school....

As previously mentioned in the first question, I grew up Sydney. My first 5 years was in a suburb under the direct flightpath of Sydney Airport. We could see the runway from the end of the street. My parents built their house in Western Sydney and we all moved out there. Dodging magpies on the way to school, avoiding the odd snake. I was a Girl Guide and then spent my teenage years in Scouts. As a Scout, I walked from Jenolan Caves to Katoomba. No mean feat but still an experience. I played tennis in the summer and soccer in the winter. We followed Rugby League NOT AFL.

I began my working life in banking. Stayed there for 13yrs before being retrenched. Worked in a factory duplicating videos. Yes, pre-digital era. I was the clerical wizard for my husband when we ran our own transport company along the east coast.

Then in 2008 my husband was offered a job here in sunny Perth. His brother and sister already lived here so we packed everything into a container and sent in on the train. We, on the other hand, chose to do the drive. Mount Druitt NSW to Craigie WA, almost 4000km. What an adventure. We did it in 7 days, staying in Renmark SA, Ceduna SA, Eucla WA, Merridan WA. We saw many sights you would miss if you flew the same distance.

We moved to Clarkson the same year. In 2009 our 3-year-old started school at the School in Houses. When he started pre-primary at Somerly, I joined the P&C and continued to cover those mountains of library books.

I have held the positions of Treasurer and Uniform Co-Ordinator in the P&C.

When my youngest was born, I began volunteering in the Breakfast Club. Who needs sleep right? I have continued to help with various aspects of the P&C (Discos, Sausage Sizzles, Fundraising) and Breakfast Club. Then last year our Breakfast Club Co-Ordinator retired and I took on the role.

I am currently Breakfast Club Co-Ordinator, P&C executive member, Sausage Sizzle Lady, and School Board Member.....Hello.

Reporting to Parents

On Wednesday 1st July parents will receive their child’s Semester One formal report via Electronic Delivery through your recorded email address. A reminder that this Semester’s report will look slightly different due to COVID-19 and the impact on our teaching, learning and assessment cycle. No grades will be given only effort grades and comments. Please also note that the link to the reports only lasts four weeks, so it is important that you download and save your child’s report.

Staffing

I would like to inform you of some very important changes to staffing for Term 3 Semester 2. It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Lisette Carstens. Lisette has been our Pre-Primary Science Teacher and has worked at Somerly Primary School since it first opened in 2009. I would like to thank her for all her effort and the outstanding contributions she has made to Somerly Primary School and we all wish her the best for the future. I would like to welcome Kelsey Parker who will continue in this position for Semester 2.

Finally, I would like to announce that Felicity Dear has been appointed by the Department of Education and will be taking on the position of Acting Principal of Somerly Primary School for Semester 2. We look forward to having Felicity on staff and I know that she will add value to our amazing team. I personally would like to thank you all for your support this term and I look forward to continuing in assisting the school in achieving its vision and aspirations in my substantive position as Deputy Principal.

New students

I would like to extend a warm welcome to Aaliyah who recently commenced at Somerly Primary School.

Wishing you all a relaxing and enjoyable holidays. Stay safe!

Zoe Stenhouse
Principal

Merit Certificates

Room 1: Shruti and Wahab; Room 3: Aryan and Abdulhamed; Room 7: Julio; Room 10: Tori and Jayden; Room 11: Jaylah and Braxton; Room 12: Wendel and Alia; Room 13: Jessika and Heath; Room 14: Kaylem, Dean and Isabel; Room 15: Cora and Enaj; Room 16: Seraphina and Shayla; Room 17: Kahn and Skye-Bree; Room 18: Aubree and Michael; Room 20: Phoebe and Thomas; Room 23: Emmett and Sabah; Music: Daniel and Charlotte.

Stars

Behaviour Focus

Our behaviour focus for Week 10 is:

WHOLE SCHOOL

RESPECT

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

SAFETY

• We stay within school boundaries.

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.

Principal’s Lunch

Congratulations to all the students who were invited to the Term 2 Principal’s Lunch. It was fantastic to see how excited the students were to join us for lunch. We are looking forward to Term 3, as we will be looking for our next group of students who consistently demonstrate the school values of Respect, Responsibility and Safety.

Uniform Shop Holiday Opening Hours

Our uniform supplier, Uniform Concepts, Clarkson shall be closed for the first week of the July school Holidays from Monday 6th July to Saturday 11th July - reopening at 9am on Monday 13th July. We now have available to purchase at the uniform shop a Somerly Primary School black fleece jacket, perfect for these cold winter mornings.

School Photo Days

Our school photo days have been rescheduled and will now take place on 4th and 7th August 2020. Payment envelopes can be brought into school on the day of your child/ren’s photo session and handed to the class teacher. Online ordering is still available. Please use the school code located on your photo envelope.

Kindergarten Enrolments 2021

We are now taking Kindergarten applications for 2021. If you have a child that was born between 1 July 2016 and 30 June 2017 please come into the front office for an application form or visit our website.

As Kindy is non-compulsory, enrolments will be on a first in basis.

When applying we need a copy of your child’s birth certificate or passport, visa if applicable, current Medicare Immunisation History Statement (Refer to paragraph below) and proof of address.

Kindergarten children must be up to date with all scheduled immunisations for their age to be able to enrol.

To enrol in Kindergarten, a child must have one of the following documents:

• an Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) Immunisation History Statement, no more than two months old with a status of 'up to date’
• an AIR Immunisation History Form, no more than six months old, if the child is on a catch up schedule
• a valid immunisation certificate issued or declared by the Chief Health Officer

If a child does not have an up to date Immunisation History Statement, exemptions because of particular family circumstances may apply. These exemptions are determined by the Principal.

If you know someone who has a child due to start Kindergarten next year, please let them know that enrolments are open.

Please click on the link below to access the Application for Enrolment for Kindergarten in 2021.

Voluntary Contributions Draw

Due to the COVID-19 situation we were unable to finalise the voluntary contributions draw at the beginning of Term 2. We have now extended the offer to go into the draw until the end of Term 2.

We have a voucher for a one night stay for two people with breakfast included at Joondalup Resort on a date of your choice.

To be in the draw to win this fantastic prize, simply pay your Voluntary Contribution before the end of Term 2. If you have already paid, you are automatically in the draw.

Thanks to the generosity of Mark Folkard MLA, Member for Burns Beach you could be checking in soon!

The draw will now take place week 1 of Term 3.

We are also extending the early payment discount. Voluntary Contributions for 2020 is set at $60. However, if you pay before the end of Term 2, you will receive a discount of $10.

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

We are Fundraising with Entertainment

Please see below details of the latest offers from Entertainment.

Remember 20% of every membership sold goes to support our school.

Your bonus WISH eGift Card will be sent by email within 30 days of purchase. A $10 WISH eGift Card will be issued when a Single City Membership is purchased, or a $20 WISH eGift Card when a Multi City or Multi Plus Membership is purchased between 15:00pm Friday 22 May 2020 and 09:00am Monday 13 July 2020 AEST. One eGift Card per order. Offer excludes Entertainment waitstaff and Corporate Partner offers. View WISH eGift Card FAQs here - WISH eGift Cards do not expire. Lost or stolen cards cannot be replaced. If you request a refund on your Membership within 30 days of your purchase and it is after receiving your eGift Card, the amount of the eGift Card will be deducted from the original value of your Membership purchased.

*2 months extra Membership applies to activated Single City and Multi City purchased between 22 May and 13 July 2020. From time of purchase, an Activation Code must be activated within three months. If activated within three months, the Membership will expire 14 months from the Activation Date. If not activated within three months, the Membership will expire 17 months from the Purchase Date.

+Bonus $50 Discover Queenland Voucher. T&Cs apply. See the link below:

#WIN 1 of 5 x $1000 WISH eGift Cards. T&Cs apply. See the link below:

*All member offers are subject to terms and conditions. Check individual offers on the Entertainment Membership App or the link below for more information. For all dining offers, it is optional for participating businesses to accept your Entertainment Memberships on all official Australian and New Zealand public holidays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Valentine’s Day. © 2020 Entertainment Publications of Australia Pty Ltd.

Learning Focus

Mathematics Competitions

Competitions and programs are used to help enrich the learning program. They provide opportunities for students to practise their creative problem-solving. At Somerly Primary School, we are passionate about finding new and engaging ways for students to apply their Mathematical skills and we are committed to student participation in competitions run by accredited associations.

Students Have Sum Fun Online

Throughout Term 2, Somerly Primary School had four teams of students competing in the Mathematics Association of Western Australia’s (MAWA) Have Sum Fun Online competition. Two teams of four students from Year 5 and Year 6 competed to answer a series of problem solving questions within a time constraint. The Somerly Dream Team (Year 5) and the Somerly Savages (Year 6), pictured below, both placed in the top ten of the competition.

Students involved included:

Year 5: Billie Aitchison, Moksh Parikh, Charlie Fowler, Kevin Tran, Temwani Chirwa, Riley Gray, Shafayet Islam and Oscar Karajic.
Year 6: Tori Dennison, Kavan Whareaitu, Lily Pinsent, Drishya Shreshtha, Rowan Dunne, Bruce Nguyen, Tan Namanee and Naman Sohpaul.

The students’ achievements were recognised at a recent assembly and received certificates. Well done to all competitors!

Australian Maths Competition

Next held on Thursday 30 July, this competition has student solving 30 problems in an online environment and is run by the Australian Maths Trust (AMT). Selected students in Years 3-6 have been invited to participate. If your child received a permission note, I would appreciate if it could be returned as soon as possible.

Jodie Brown - Maths Lead Teacher

Manga High Access to Cease

Manga High kindly extended a free trial for Somerly Primary School to support us in the provision of an At-Home learning program. This trial finishes at the end of Term 2 and students will no longer have access to the online platform after this time. We really appreciate the support that Manga High provided us over this time. I noticed that children particularly enjoyed participating in the Manga High M-Influencers Asia-Pacific Competition, which may be offered again in 2021. It is important to us that our students have access to a wide range of stimulating maths experiences and we will continue to review what we can offer to support learning at home. If you have any feedback about Manga High, please feel free to email me at: Jodie.brown@education.wa.edu.au.

Year 2 Newsletter

What a busy term it has been in Year 2! We cannot believe we are halfway through the year already.

English:

This term in writing students have been focusing on writing narratives. We looked at the stories ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ and ‘The Three Little Pigs’. We looked at setting, character, the structure of a narrative and we then innovated the stories to make our own version. We were extremely impressed with the stories that the students created, and it was great to see them set themselves goals and extend themselves further to improve their writing. We have linked our Writing to our Reading. This term, students have learnt to compare texts, characters and settings. They have also been working on their sequencing and retelling of a story, ensuring they are including all important information. Students have also learnt to create images using vocabulary they hear to visualise and draw what they heard.

Maths

This term in Maths students we have learnt lots of new concepts and revised concepts previously learnt. Students have looked at the volume, mass and length of objects. They had to estimate and measure and compare a range of objects using metres. They have learnt how to use the jump and split strategy to add and subtract two-digit numbers. Students have used number lines, doubles, bridging to ten, fact families and hundreds charts to add and subtract two-digit numbers and have been able to explain which strategy they used and how they got the answer to the problem. We have also looked at 2D shapes, students had to combine, draw and name shapes. This then led us to investigate flips, slides and turns of shapes and how the shape changes.

Technology

This term in Technology we created hand puppets based on a fairy tale character, we had lots of very creative designs. Once they had made their puppet students created a puppet show for their peers and Year One students.

Students had to create a marble maze using a range of different equipment such as blocks, dominoes, tubes, and MAB blocks. The aim was for the marble to successfully turn around a corner. To do this we linked it in with Science, where we learnt about push and pull forces and gravity. Students had to firstly design their mazes and then test out these designs. They were then given the opportunity to perfect these designs and make any required changes.

In Digital Technology the students have been working with Scratch and have created stories on Scratch, they have learnt how to code to make the characters/objects move and speak.

Science

In Science we have looked at the forces of push and pull and how gravity affects them. Students investigated objects that used push or pull to move. We also looked at what makes objects sink and float. Students have investigated how objects move on different surfaces and with different pushes and how these factors change how objects move. Students completed an investigation of paper helicopters they had to test different ways of making the helicopters fly/spin and work out what changes the flight of the helicopter.

Thank you to all families for the support this term, enjoy the school holidays and we look forward to an exciting Semester 2.

Zoe Hamand, Jess Mann and Charlynne Reyneke

Music Semester 1

At the closing of Semester 1, I would like to congratulate all the students on an amazing Semester despite the many disruptions and challenges.

I have seen an astounding amount of students grow in confidence and skill this year which has made the music room such a positive and productive learning environment. Students have really engaged with all elements of the program and are showing progress in leaps and bounds. I am extremely proud of all the students at Somerly Primary School and their efforts as their skills and responses have come to a whole new standard.

EXTRA CURRICULAR

Across the school, there are some new opportunities for students to engage with music. One of which is our JUST DANCE lunches. This event always sees a range of students across the school, enjoying music and dancing together in the undercover area. As well as that, Somerly Primary School has had a Musical Theatre Enrichment Program commence as of this term. This program is currently focusing on the element of drama and has allowed students to develop their confidence, sense of humour and quick wit. It is awesome seeing so many students involved – and hopefully we will be able to showcase this at this year’s Arts Assembly! The Musical Theatre Program is held on Monday before school.

MUSIC & TECHNOLOGY

In the Music Room, we have also been using iPads and the Smartboard to engage with technology and music. One of the programs we have been using is the Infinite Drum Machine – which is a program which uses thousands of sounds to make drum progressions. Another program we have used is Chrome Music Lab – Song Maker which is a fantastic and easy way to create songs. These programs are easy to search with any internet browser – I highly recommend using them if you are looking for something to do during the holidays!

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday! We will see you after the break!

Miss Olsen

Chaplain’s Corner

Good day Parents and Caregivers,

Can you believe that we are at the end of Term 2? This term has surely flown passed and I know that everyone is looking forward to the school holidays.

If your kids are anything like mine, they are already asking what you are going to do during the school holidays!! During the Summer holidays it is easy to be outside all the time, but during the winter months, planning activities could be a little tricky – especially on rainy days!

Here are some ideas of things to do with the kids and keep them busy all afternoon!

Paper Airplane Races – Have each child make their best paper airplane and see whose can make it the farthest across the room. Have them try different types of planes to see which of theirs can go farther too.

Arts & Crafts – Rainy days are a great time to pull out something from the arts and crafts closet. Finger painting, play doh, make a paper bag puppet – all great things to do on a rainy day.

Indoor Obstacle Course – Come up with an obstacle course that includes items from around the room. You don’t even have to move anything around. Go around the chair twice, crawl under the coffee table, bounce across the bed, roll across the floor, put your face up to the window to make sure it’s still raining, etc. Making up the list may be as fun as actually doing the obstacle course.

Drive in Movie – Find boxes or clothes hampers and make them into cars. Have everyone pull up to the drive in theatre (aka the living room) and watch a favourite, or new, movie. Be sure to set up a concession stand where the kids can get popcorn, drinks and other treats.

Binocular Scavenger Hunt – Make a list of outdoor things you can see from various windows, using—surprise— binoculars. Be sure to vary the items from the teeny-tiny (say, a broken but beautiful bit of green glass) to the exceptionally large (say, an oak tree in the shape of a jolly giant), as well as from the very far to the very near. The first child who checks off every item on the list as “spotted” gets a prize. If you don’t have binoculars, this can be just as much fun without. Or make some from toilet tissue rolls or paper towel rolls.

Cooking with the Kids – Rainy days are a great time to get the kids into the kitchen. Make a batch of homemade cookies or other fun stuff the kids will love!

Let them Play Outside – Throw on their rain boots and give them an umbrella and go jump in some puddles! Come in after and have a nice cup of Milo or hot chocolate!

A little rain shouldn’t take all the fun out of the day. So next time it rains, try out one of these fun ways to keep the kids entertained indoors.

Have a wonderful holiday and remember stay safe, stay connected, and have fun during the holiday. Remember, I am always ready to help in any way I can. I will be at the school every Tuesday and Friday. If there’s any way I can support your child/children, or yourself – please feel free to give me a call on (08) 6206 4200.

Have a great week!

Kind regards,
Marilize Basson (Chaplain)

P & C Corner

Our P&C is about people – people just like you – parents, caregivers and community minded people who want to help and be involved with the school. With new faces, brings new ideas and new enthusiasm.

A lot can and has been achieved through the P&C and the school working together towards common goals.

MEET LAURA

Laura is the President of Somerly P&C for 2020.

She has been an involved member of the school for the last 18 months when her daughter began Kindy in 2019.

She is also expecting her 2nd bundle of joy early August.

Laura is a bubbly character always up for a chat. You can find her in the Canteen on Mondays helping with Breakfast Club or chase her down in the Pre-primary area.