23June 2021

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents/Caregivers

OUR SCHOOL VISION IS TO SUPPORT STUDENTS IN BECOMING STRONG, THOUGHTFUL AND INDEPENDENT INDIVIDUALS WHO ASPIRE TO BE THE BEST THAT THEY CAN BE. OUR ETHOS OFFERS STUDENT CENTERED EDUCATION THAT IS FOCUSSED ON BOTH THE PRESENT AND DEVELOPMENTAL NEEDS OF STUDENTS.

Parent Supporting Learning at Home

An area of support recently identified in our TTFM Survey completed by parents was parents supporting their child / children’s learning at home.

Your enthusiasm and interest helps your child be proud of the things they learn and do each day. Communication and oral language is an important part of learning. You can help by getting them to talk about their day, by asking questions that are open and encourage more than ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. You could ask your child questions such as

• What is the favourite thing you did today?
• What is something you were learning about today?
• What is something you tried really hard at today and are proud of yourself for?

Talking about schoolwork helps them to develop their understanding of its importance.

Support positive friendships by asking them about the games and things they enjoyed doing with their friends at playtime. Talk to them about their feelings towards other children.

Overall, encourage your child to do well at school and praise them for their achievements. Support the school’s PBS processes by recognising them when they come home with Gotcha Cards or wristbands. Help them to develop a love of reading and support their learning by reading with them every night and completing their Home Reading Log.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of a simple process to follow if you have any queries, questions or concerns about your child.

Start by organising a meeting with the classroom Teacher to share your concerns. If you would like a meeting with me at any time however, please feel free to contact the school to make an appointment.

School Board

As part of the School Board’s commitment to establishing and reviewing the school’s objectives, priorities, general policy directions and evaluating the school’s performance, the school board met last Monday 14th June 2021 for our fourth meeting of the year.

The agenda included a review of

• Our current financial position in relation to our voluntary contributions
• A review of the school’s English Operational Plan
• Presentation and reflection on the school’s On Entry data and targets
• Our SAER policy
• Review of our National Quality Standards
• Planning for School Board improvement through self-reflection on the Board Self Evaluation Tool

Please remember that a copy of the School Board minutes is available at the office for parents to read following each Board meeting. The School Board is still looking for another parent representative, please contact me if you would like more information.

Reports

Just a reminder that on Wednesday 30th June parents will receive their child’s Semester One report via electronic delivery through your recorded email address. There are many benefits to electronic delivery, but to ensure you receive your child’s report, it is imperative that your email address recorded with the school is accurate. Please contact the school immediately to update your details, if required. Please also note that the link to the reports only remains active for four weeks, so it is important that you download and save your report.

NAIDOC Week and Excursion

This is a final reminder regarding our whole school NAIDOC excursion that will take place next week at the Perth Hills Discovery Centre: Nearer to Nature, Mundaring. Classes (K-6) will attend on one of the allocated four days in Week 11 from Monday 28th June to Thursday 1st July 2021.

See table below:

We are looking forward to this educational experience as we recognise the cultural importance of NAIDOC and the nature that surrounds us. If you would like to see the venue, please go to the link below.

NAIDOC Week will culminate in a lunchtime picnic on the school oval followed by our NAIDOC Assembly in our garden, seated around the camp fire adjacent to the Administration Block, weather permitting. Please go straight to your child’s classroom and then you will be able to walk down to the school oval with the class.

Uniforms

As the mornings are beginning to get colder, I remind you that the school sports jackets or black polar fleece jackets are available for purchase from Uniform Concepts in Clarkson. Alternatively, a plain black jumper is acceptable, but we ask for no hoodies please.

P&C Volunteers

A big thank you goes to all our volunteers who give their time to help our P&C run different events at Somerly Primary School.

During Term 3 our P&C urgently need volunteers to help with their Wednesday sausage sizzle lunch. If you can spare some time to help out, please visit the Somerly Primary School Parents page on Facebook to express your interest. In the event that volunteers cannot be found, unfortunately the Wednesday lunch cannot take place.

New students

I would like to extend a warm welcome to Logan, Xavier, Piper, Ciaran and Jai who recently commenced at Somerly Primary School.

Zoe Hadley
Principal

Merit Certificates

Room 1: Jaxon and Ryan; Room 2: Sophie and Dalal; Room 3: Savannah and Jenna; Room 4: Gitta and Jayden; Room 7: Harlow, Sam, Rayden and Tyson; Room 8: Jessika and Jenny; Room 9: Talia and Osama; Room 10: Jacinta, Levi, Michael and Ethan; Room 11: Joshua and Sienna; Room 14: Declan and Daniel; Room 15: Violet and Harper; Room 16: Noelia and Jesiah; Room 17: Aryan and Danny; Room 18: Kody and Bailey; Room 20: Alliyah and Kalia; Music: Aubree – Room 11, Shanae – Room 20 and Oscar Room 13; Art: Kora – Room 16 and Lucas – Room 3; LOTE: Phoebe – Room 14 and Eva – Room 12.

Stars

Behaviour Focus

Our behaviour focus for Week 10 is:-

Whole School Respect

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

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

Music

Calling all singers!

Choir has begun! We are practicing Tuesday lunchtimes and Wednesdays at 8am. We will be training our voices to their full potential and singing popular songs with only a backing track in front of our school and possibly other schools.

Yes, just your beautiful voices harmonizing like the Pentatonix or One Voice Children’s choir.

Please contact Ms Ritchie if you are interested in developing mad musical skills!

Mathematics – Have Sum Fun Online

The results are in!

Students put in a huge effort and were competitive in their rounds.

The Year 5 Teams Events consisted of 76 schools overall and was won by Blackalls Park Primary School with 354 points, Methodist Ladies College placed second with 344 points and Scotch College, third on 332 points. Our Somerly Primary School teams – the Ninjas (256 points) and the Warriors (on 226 points) – placed 45th and 59th respectively.

The Year 6 Teams Events consisted of 66 schools overall and was won by Mandurah Baptist College with 354 points, John XXIII College placed second with 328 points and St James Anglican School, third on 326 points. Our Somerly Primary School Teams – the Titans (206 points) and the Pirates (122 points) – placed 50th and 64th respectively.

All the teams agreed that we had definitely learnt from this experience and had an opportunity to reflect on their next goals. For many of the Year 5 students, it was their first time attempting a collaborative competition and they needed to learn how to work as a team. They also found it tricky to balance accuracy and the time constraints (if there is a draw then time taken is considered). The Year 6 teams were beginning to work more successfully as a team and had focussed on listening to each other’s thoughts about the questions. In future rounds they plan to check their work more thoroughly before submitting it into the contest.

Congratulations again to:

Year 5 Ninjas - Madalyn, Timothy P, Amber, Timothy T and Lewis
Year 5 Warriors - Aston, Sophie, Aarav, Dean and Jessika
Year 6 Titans - Riley, Billy, Moksh, Brock and Temwani
Year 6 Pirates - Charlie, Levi, Kevin, Oscar and Julio

A special mention to our reserves who jumped in when the teams needed them. Thanks very much!

In Term 3, this competition will be run with a team representing each grade from Year 3-6. This will again be fully cost-subsidised for the students who are invited to participate.

Chaplain’s Corner

Good day Parents and Caregivers,

It is the end of a very long term and I am sure everyone is looking forward to having a little sleep-in on the cold mornings during the school holidays. Being the winter holidays, we are more prone to do things inside and the kids are usually using their electronic devices more because of bad or cold weather. I know that social media is seen as the root of all evil. Sometimes I have to agree but I also think that it could be used in a good way. As long as we as parents are well informed and aware of the things that we should look out for, it can definitely be used in a good and healthy way.

I have found a great poster online that can give you a good idea of what every parent should know about social media and our children’s mental health.

Our children are growing up in a technology dominated world – the best we can do as parents is to be aware of the positive and negative impacts that social media can bring to our children and their mental health.

P & C

P&C Wednesday Lunch – Week 11

Please note there will be no P&C Wednesday lunch in Week 11 due to the NAIDOC excursion taking place during this week.

P&C Member Profiles

Name: Lauren Clark

P&C Title: President

How many children of yours attend Somerly Primary School and what year/s are they? 3 kids - year 1 and 2x in yr 6

What do you like most about being part of the P&C? Working with such a great diverse team of people who get the job done but also know how to have fun and a laugh.

Is there something you'd like other parents to know about the P&C? We are a fun bunch and I like to think our group is a friendly and supportive team, not a cliquey group. We are made up of many different family backgrounds and networks that support each other.

Name: Cheryl Deville

P&C Title: Vice President

How many children of yours attend Somerly Primary School and what year/s are they? 1. Yr 5.

What do you like most about being part of the P&C? Being part of a team whose end goal is to raise money and support our school.

Is there something you'd like other parents to know about the P&C? Don't be afraid to join. (In whatever capacity you are able.) We don't bite. The thing is, without an increase in membership, the P&C becomes at risk of getting stale and/or burnt out if it is left to a small group of parents. You don't have to attend every meeting; you don't have to volunteer at every event. We have members who are FIFO, full time employees, part time employees, or even 24/7 parents. Check us out.