16 June 2022

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.

P&C Update

Thank you to all students and parents that supported the P&C Crazy Hair and Sock Day to raise funds for Year 6 camp.

On Tuesday 7th June the P&C held its third successful meeting of the year with 15 parents in attendance. The P&C are preparing for a range of events across the year. One of the next major events is a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle on Sunday 3rd July 2022 to raise funds for Year 6 camp. Please keep the date in your calendar so you can support our school.

I would like to thank all the members of our P&C, in particular our Executive Committee for all their hard work so far. It is so exciting to see how our P&C is growing and developing and I look forward to working with you more throughout the year.

Fathering Project

Please see attached information for our Fathering Project event which will be held on Friday 24th June 2022. It will be a movie and popcorn event in our undercover area. Please RSVP as soon as possible and we look forward to seeing you there.

Reporting

Due to COVID-19 we will need to do some things differently to ensure our focus remains on your child’s daily learning program. For this reason, Semester One reporting will look different to our usual Semester One reports. In Week 10 of this term, the Semester One formal reports will be sent home via email. The report will include the A to E grades (or equivalent 5-point scale) for required learning areas. Information regarding your child’s attitude, behaviour and effort will continue to be reported.

Our school has adjusted the extent to which comments will be provided, the report will include a general comment only. Should you wish for additional information on your child’s progress in curriculum areas, please request a meeting to discuss at a parent/teacher conference as soon as possible.

For mid-year reporting, how grades are allocated needs to be considered. The achievement standards articulated in the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline describes the expected achievement for students who have been taught the curriculum content for the full year of schooling.

A note to families that if a student receives a ‘C’ grade or a Satisfactory allocation, then they are achieving what they are expected to for that year level. The Semester One mid-year report involves the provision of an indicative grade allocated, based on the curriculum taught and assessed to date. Please note, grades can, and often do, fluctuate between semesters based on a variety of factors, including the curriculum taught, work completion, student attitude, effort and behaviour, student wellbeing and student absences.

As you are aware, COVID-19 has continued to impact our school community and has presented us with challenges in managing both student and staff attendance and, for some students, long absences due to COVID may impact their grades for this semester.

Reporting to Parents – Electronic Report Delivery Semester 1, 2022

Your child’s Semester One report will be emailed out on Monday 27th June 2022. This will be before the end of the day. Please check your Trash or SPAM box first if you do not receive it by the end of the school day before contacting the school for it to be reissued. Electronic reports mean parents are able to retain a digital record of student achievement. However, as the link to the reports only lasts for four weeks, it is vitally important that parents SAVE their child’s report ASAP.

To ensure you receive your child’s report, it is imperative that your email address is correct with the school. If there have been any changes to your email addresses, please contact the school immediately. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement as we work together to provide the best learning opportunities for our students.

COVID Update - Mandatory Vaccinations

The WA Government announced that from 10 June 2022, the mandatory vaccination policy would be updated in line with health advice. This means that staff in schools and residential facilities will no longer need to be vaccinated.

The triple dose vaccination requirements only remain in place for those working in healthcare and health support, workers in residential aged care, and workers in residential disability settings.

The change also means that parents and carers who regularly visit, volunteers, third party providers and contractors are not required to be vaccinated to enter a school or residential facility.

It is also important to remember that the removal of the vaccine mandate does not mean the pandemic is over. We continue to follow health advice and COVID-19 safe protocols, such as staying home when sick, wearing a mask as required, taking a daily RAT when identified as a close contact, and having good hand hygiene.

Vaccination Clinic at Somerly Primary School

The WA COVID-19 Program is going to be providing a clinic at Somerly Primary School to support 5-11 year-old COVID vaccinations. This is an optional clinic and is provided simply as a way of helping families that may not have had a chance and is an easy way to do so.

More specific details will follow however, an information session will be provided on the 20th July, followed by two clinic dates on Thursday 4th August and Thursday 13th October.

Voluntary Contributions

Voluntary Contributions play a significant role in providing resources for students in the classroom. The continuing partnership between the school and parents is vital to ensuring that all students receive a level of education sufficient to carry them forward in today’s society. Voluntary Contributions are utilized to purchase books, resources and equipment for classroom use and to support our school in the delivery of quality educational programmes. To enable the school to continue to deliver our excellent educational programmes, we urge you to consider paying your Voluntary Contribution at your earliest convenience.

Voluntary Contributions for 2022 is set at $60.

Would you like a night at the Joondalup Resort?

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

We have a voucher for a one night stay for two people with breakfast included 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.

Draw will take in Term 3.

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.

2023 Enrolments

Applications are now open for 2023 Kindergarten program at Somerly Primary School.

Children born between 1 July 2018 and 30 June 2019 will be eligible to start Kindergarten next year. If your child has a birthdate between these dates, please complete an Application for Enrolment as soon as possible.

Please click on the link below to access our Application for Enrolment. Once completed, please submit your application as soon as possible. Applications close on 22nd July 2022.

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, we ask for no hoodies please.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

New students

I would like to extend a warm welcome to Laurie, Ina and Sofia who recently commenced at Somerly Primary School.

Zoe Hadley-Hawley
Principal

Merit Certificates

Room 1: Hayley and Logan; Room 2: Isaac and Makai; Room 4: Morgan and Samuel; Room 7: Louisa and Ataria; Room 9: Jess; Room 11: Lorenzo; Room 12: Tien and Phoenix; Room 13: Sophie; Room 14: Sienna, Raiden and Aaleeyah; Room 15: Jodie and Esmé; Room 16: Kavya; Room 17: Kai and Mariia; Room 18: Jenae, Lilly and Caleb.

Stars

Behaviour Focus

Our behaviour focus for Week 8 is:-

PLAY AREA
RESPECT

• We listen to others and talk calmly if someone gets hurt
• We say Stop

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.

Waste Wise Schools

Gardening Club

In Gardening Club over the last few weeks, we have been concentrating on preparing the soil for planting our bush tucker garden for NAIDOC Week in week 9 and continuing with maintaining the compost bins by chopping up the fruit, adding leaves and shredded paper and mixing it all together.

We also celebrated World Environment Day with our own “It’s Cowabunga To Be Green” challenge.

All classrooms were given a challenge to pick up as much rubbish around our school as possible. The classroom that picked up the most rubbish was named Cowabunga trophy winners.

Winners Room 9

Thank you staff, students and our families for continuing to support our Containers for Change challenges raising money for our community and our students.

Week 4 was our “Fast Five” Challenge, collecting 2277 containers and raising $227.70.

Challenge winners were Room 4!

Our week 6 & 7 “Treat her Right” challenge collecting 2474
Containers raising $247.70

Winners Room 18

So far this term we have collected 6172 containers raqising $617.20
Thank you for helping us to help you!
Our week 8 challenge is another “Fast Five” Challenge!

Shout out!

We are looking for some small local businesses to support our Containers for Change fundraising, so please parents and carers if you know of any small businesses that could support our fundraising by donating their containers, please let us know.

NAIDOC

Hello from School Chaplain

Hello! My name is Elle-May Wong and I’m the Chaplain for Somerly Primary School.

My primary role is to build relationships, offer care and support to the needs of students, classrooms and to the wider needs of the school community.

One of the supports I provide is assisting in the Community Pantry. Attached is the poster with the details. All families welcome to take from the pantry and we are always looking for donations as well.

I thought I would sign off with one of my favourite quotes:

"One small positive thought can change your whole day." - Zig Ziglar

Elle-May Wong

P & C