2 December 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents/Caregivers

Somerly Primary School will be holding a few end of year events over the next few weeks. We have our Year 6 Graduation Ceremony, Book Award Assemblies and Christmas Concert. At present we still need to follow these COVID rules:

Good hygiene practices should be promoted and applied.
Adults should maintain physical distancing of 1.5 metres, where possible.
Venue capacity rule of one adult per two square metres applies.

This means that at the Graduation Ceremony on Wednesday 16th December each student may have two adults come to the event. We will provide two chairs for each family. If you have a baby or child under school age they will need to sit on your knee. Morning tea will be served in individual boxes, one for each graduating student and one for each adult.

We have separated the Book Awards Assembly on Friday 11th December into two separate assemblies – Kindy to Year 2 at 8.50am and Years 3 to 6 at 9.45 am. We did this to enable award winner to have two family members attend. At the Christmas Concert we are hoping the weather is not too hot (or rainy) so we can have it outdoors to enable more to attend. We understand this is different to how things normally are, as we are not in normal times at the moment. WA is doing well and we want to keep it like this.

NAIDOC Week 2020 - Always Was, Always Will Be. NAIDOC Week 2020 The Somerly Primary School community really enjoyed our local event organised by a group of volunteer community members called the Outer North NAIDOC Committee. We were so proud of our choir performing at the event - they sang with enthusiasm and joy. Congratulations Miss Olsen for teaching them these songs and the students for practising during lunch and putting in the effort. We were proud of you all. Coby and Samara from Year Six helped MC the event. We were proud of your confidence, sharing of Noongar language and leadership at the event. Thanks to Ms McLevie for coordinating Somerly Primary School participating on the day Mrs Carroll and myself were also involved in the event organisation so will pass on our thanks to the Committee.

Class Placements for 2021

Our teachers put many hours into developing groups that they believe will be harmonious for both academic and social reasons. When doing this they consider the child's academic strengths, areas for improvement and ensure that each child is with some of their friends and with peers that they believe they will work with harmoniously. It is a complicated process, throughout which our focus is always on providing an environment to achieve the best outcomes we can for all students.

School Board

Somerly Primary School are seeking two more parent School Board members. School Board members take part in: establishing and reviewing the school’s objectives, priorities and general policy directions; planning financial arrangements necessary to fund those objectives, priorities and directions; evaluating the school’s performance in achieving those objectives, priorities and directions; and formulating codes of conduct for students at the school. Have a look at the link below for more information and contact me, Felicity Dear, if you are interested. We meet twice a term.

New students

I would like to extend a warm welcome to Summer, Sophia and Samuel who recently commenced at Somerly Primary School.

Felicity Dear AM
Principal

Stars

Behaviour Focus

Our behaviour focus for Week 8 is:-

WHOLE SCHOOL

Responsibility

Before & after school

• We look after our belongings
• We put bags down neatly in the correct place

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.

Somerly Dental Therapy Centre Holiday Closure

This clinic will be closed from Tuesday 22nd December and will reopen on Monday 1st February 2021

Our clinic answer machine will have a detailed message regarding emergency arrangements for the period we are closed.

If you have an appointment with us over the next couple of weeks and are unable to keep the appointment, please contact us to arrange an alternative time.

Thank you.

The Staff at Somerly Dental Therapy centre

Mayor’s Christmas Appeal

We would like to thank the Somerly Primary School community for the amazing contributions to the City of Wanneroo Mayor’s Christmas Appeal. We held a free dress day and students donated non-perishable food items. The donations were collected and will now be put into food hampers for families who are in need over the Christmas period.

A Message from Scholastic Book Club

Dear Families

Students should keep reading for at least 10 minutes a day over the school holidays to set themselves up for a great start to the new school year. It will keep their brains active, develop overall reading skills and their love of reading. To help families keep their reading momentum rolling over the holidays, Scholastic are releasing some reading resources at the end of term, including

• Fun competitions and reading challenges
• Reading games for car trips
• Author and illustrator tutorials
• Book recommendations
• Extra special book sales and promotions
• Reading tips and more!

Go to the link below.

Happy summer reading!

Community Consultation Announcement

Dear Parents/Caregivers

I am writing to inform you that the Minister for Education and Training, the Hon. Sue Ellery MLC, has announced a community consultation to gather the views of local parents, students and community members on secondary education options in the Clarkson, Kinross and Mindarie area.

The Department’s preferred model for secondary students is to provide them with continuous schooling from Year 7 right through to Year 12 – all delivered in one school environment.

This minimises the transition points in a student’s schooling, creating a more seamless secondary education.

Reducing the number of changes that students experience, by having to move from one secondary school to another, is beneficial for their social, emotional and academic development.

At present:

• Clarkson Community High School caters for students from Years 7 to 12.
• Kinross College caters for students from Years 7 to 10.
• Mindarie Senior College caters for students in Years 11 and 12.

You are invited to have your say, through an online survey, where you can select one of the following options:

Option 1

• Kinross College and Mindarie Senior College each extend to become Years 7 to 12 schools with separate local intake area.
• Clarkson Community High School is repurposed and becomes part of North Metropolitan TAFE, Clarkson campus to focus on training for young people.

Option 2

No change

The online survey and factsheet will be on the Department of Education website at education.wa.edu.au. The survey opens at 9.00am Friday, 27 November 2020 and closes at 5.00pm Friday, 18 December 2020. If you do not have access to the internet, you are welcome to come in to the school and complete the survey. Please contact us on 6206 4200 to arrange a suitable time.

Community information sessions will be held for each school community as follows:

• Mindarie Senior College – Tuesday 1 December 2020 from 6.00pm to 7.00pm at Mindarie Senior College sports hall, 14 Elliston Parade, Mindarie. If you wish to attend, please register your interest at info.mindarie.sc@education.wa.edu.au.
• Kinross College – Wednesday 2 December 2020 from 6.00pm to 7.00pm at Kinross College performing arts theatre, Falkland Way, Kinross. If you wish to attend, please register your interest at https://www.trybooking.com/BNCNY
• Clarkson Community High School – Thursday 3 December 2020 from 6.00pm to 7.00pm at Clarkson Community High School gymnasium, 16 Walyunga Boulevard, Clarkson. If you wish to attend, please register your interest at Clarkson.CHS@education.wa.eu.au.

Physical distancing measures will apply at all community information sessions.

Staff will also be consulted as part of this process.

I encourage you to take part in this important process to help inform any decisions about the future of public secondary schooling in the Clarkson, Kinross and Mindarie area.

Yours sincerely

Felicity Dear AM - Principal

School Board Member Profile – Louise Lipman

I am the Literacy Lead Teacher, Year 5 Teacher at Somerly Primary School and newest member of the School Board. I am very proud to hold this position. As a Somerly Primary School Foundation staff member, I am both a passionate believer in Public Education and a passionate advocate for our school. I am committed to the continued improvement to our school and to giving our students the best possible start in their education.

I migrated to Perth from Cambridge in England 16 years ago. Cambridge is a beautiful small city, about an hour north of London, which is full of wonderful 15th century architecture. However, the minute I stepped off the plane in Perth and felt the warm sunshine I knew I had found another home.

My career has always been in Education. In England I worked in several Primary schools, as well as a University Tutor, Author of Teaching Materials and as an Education Consultant.

When not working, I love to be at the beach, walking my dog, reading, discovering new coffee shops and generally enjoying all that this stunning part of the world has to offer!

Learning Focus

MUSIC

As the year is coming to a close it is a great time to reflect and celebrate the efforts of the music room.

All students have been highly engaged in the program and excelling on instruments, such as the keyboard/piano, guitar, ukulele and drums.

The Drumming Group have taken on a new style of drumming- Taiko Drumming – which is the traditional style of drumming from Japan. The group have worked tirelessly on a song called ‘Dok Koi’ which they showed off with flare at the 2020 Arts Assembly.

The Musical Theatre Enrichment Program Drama Group also made an appearance at the Arts Assembly with an original play written by Miss Olsen called, ‘Super Terrible’ where terrible super heroes had to realise they were just ordinary people! The Drama group are finishing the year with a Christmas skit called ‘Too Many Santa’s’.

The Somerly Primary School Choir also recently performed at the Northern NAIDOC Community event which took place at Somerly Primary School oval. The choir sang four songs and were complimented on their singing in Indigenous Languages.

I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday and I will see you in the new year!

Kind regards.

Miss Olsen
Somerly Primary School Music Specialist

P & C