9 September 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents/Caregivers

Athletics Carnival

On Friday 4 September we had our Athletics Carnival. The Carnival was a great success. The students were all busy in rotation activities and hardly ever sat still. Congratulations to all students for showing great sportsmanship and working together as a team to compete across the day. A very big THANK YOU to Mrs Ochieng and Mr Stanton who organised and ran the events. Congratulations to all staff for your work at the carnival and in the weeks prior, including the preparation, skill teaching and practice with your students. We had such a great day because of you! The events cannot be run without your support and encouragement of all of our students and especially the way you all role model getting involved.

Also a massive thank you to the P&C for providing the coffee/ice-cream truck for our families as well as raising money for our school with your Father’s Day stall. I know there were many spoilt Dads, Grandads and important men of Somerly students that received a beautiful gift.

ESafety

The internet is a great way to socialise, learn, work, play and be entertained — but with technology comes risks. Do you know how to keep your child safe online? To help you talk to your children about cyber safety there are many resources to help guide you through this on the Department of Education website. Other online resources are available on the eSafety Commissioner website.

If you need support to report cyberbullying, image-based abuse or illegal and harmful content go to Report Abuse on the eSafety Commissioner website. You can also learn about the latest games, apps and social media platforms, including how to protect your information and report inappropriate content in The eSafety Guide.

Parent Teacher Meetings

This Friday we have our parent interviews. Bookings close at 5pm today. The link is on our newsletter and a message was sent out yesterday.

Why it’s worth going to parent-teacher interviews

Parent-teacher interviews give you a great opportunity to:

• learn more about your child’s academic, emotional and social development
• meet and get to know your child’s teacher(s)
• help your child’s teacher’s understand more about your child
• make plans with the teacher about how you can both support your child

Attendance

Somerly PS Attendance: Kindergarten attendance is very important as it sets patterns for PP onwards. Looking at the attendance data for this term, Somerly PS is at 91.8% average attendance. It is important for parents to let the school know the reason your child is absent. Please use text, Seesaw message to teachers, phone the office, pop in, or send a note with your child on their return. A text message goes out each day for unexplained absences. If you reply to this your reason is then recorded as an explained absence for the Education Department. Easy, quick and one less thing for busy parents/caregivers to remember to do.

We have had a very positive response to our call for Kindy 2021 enrolments. If you know of families in the community who are yet to enrol their child, please encourage them to do so as soon as possible. 2021 class structures and teacher allocations are discussed and finalised this term and we would hope to be in a position to cater for the demand.

Felicity Dear AM
Principal

Stars

Behaviour Focus

Our behaviour focus for Week 8 is:-

ICT

SAFETY

• We make sure that there is no food or water around the equipment
• We stay seated while using the equipment
• We stay cyber safe
• We use two hands when carrying equipment

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.

School Parking Brochure – City of Wanneroo

Kindergarten Enrolments 2021 Filling Fast!

Our 2021 Kindergarten places are filling fast! If you have a child that was born between 1 July 2016 and 30 June 2017 please come into the front office as soon as possible for an application form or visit our website.

As Kindergarten 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.

Parent/Teacher Meetings – 11th September 2020

Our Parent/Teacher meetings are scheduled for 11th September 2020 beginning at 12pm. Students will finish school on this day at 11.45am.

Bookings for the Parent/Teacher meetings will close at 5pm today. Please click on the link below to access the booking page.

Dogs on school grounds

Dogs are wonderful pets; however, like children they require care, education and restraint. Some of our students have an aversion to dogs while others have an allergy associated with dogs. Please support these students and refrain from bringing your dog onto school grounds.

Planning for 2021

We are continuing to plan for 2021 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 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.

Uniform Information for Term 4

Learning Focus

Reading Eggs

It has been fantastic to see so many students completing reading and activities on Reading Eggs/Eggspress this term. In Week 5 as part of Book Week we held a competition across the School to see which student from each class, could spend the most amount of time on the program for the week. We were amazed by how much time students are spending on the program and are enjoying their success. The following students won the competition for their class and received a voucher to spend at the Book Fair. Congratulations to all students who won!

Room 1: Felix, Room 2: Scarlett, Room 4: Amali, Room 3: Cali-Rose, Room 15- Keegan, Room 16: Ethan, Room 17: Marcus, Room 18: Reeti, Room 23: Noah, Room 11: Zachary, Room 12: Nadia, Room 20: Evie, Room 13: Lewis, Room 14: Emily, Room 7: Charlotte, Room 8: Patrick, Room 10: Chantel

Digital Olympics 2020

On Wednesday the 19th, the Year 3 and 4 students participated in Somerly Primary School Digital Olympics. Students were placed in multi-aged groups and given a ‘near to Australia’ country to represent. They then rotated through five unplugged or plugged coding activities, spending 20 minutes at each station.

Sphero Rotation: Students were tasked with coding a Sphero Robot with an iPad to navigate through a maze. They used the ‘edu Sphero’ application and dragged blocks to program the robots to move. This activity allowed them to design an effective algorithm that had accurate code.

Lego Unplugged: Students created an algorithm which they used to orally code their partner to build a given Lego structure using the manual. This activity allowed them to identify that algorithms and code need to be precise for the outcome to be successful.

Microbit Coding: Students were tasked to create an algorithm to code a Microbit to turn a LED light on and off. Working in pairs they constructed the circuit using alligator clips and LED Lights. This activity allowed them identify when algorithms and code are used in everyday life.

Feed the Mouse Unplugged: Students created an algorithm which they used to orally code their partner to navigate a toy mouse through a maze, collecting the food items along the way. This activity allowed them to create a successful algorithm, ‘debugging’ any problems along the way.

Edison Sumo Coding: Students were tasked to design and build a Sumo Wrestler on top of the Edison Robots using Lego. They then coded the Edison to sumo wrestle with another robot. This activity allowed them to evaluate the success of their design and ‘debugged’ any problems.

During the day, students earnt points for their use of manners, cooperation, transitioning and whether they were demonstrating the school’s values of Respect, Responsibility and Safety. Students also earnt points for their successful coding. The winning country of the day was Cambodia All students participated with consideration for others and excellent enthusiasm for coding.

We would like to add a special thanks to Mr Jarvis and Tom Ixer, who came in to help support the Digital Olympics with our students.

VacSwim Swimming Lessons

Enrolments are now open for VacSwim swimming lessons during the October and December/January school holidays.

October is a great time to get your children ready for summer and January offers fun lessons at beach or pool locations during the long break.

Your children can start as young as five years old.

Enrol your children in VacSwim now at the link below.

P & C