27 July 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.

Welcome Back to Term Three

Welcome back to Term Three and a warm welcome to all our new families that have commenced at Somerly Primary School this term. This term will be another busy term with numerous events scheduled. This includes, Science Week, Book Week and our Faction Sports Carnival. Please do not forget that Week 8, Friday 9th September is our half day closure for parent interviews. On this day school will close at 11.45am.

Please see the Term 3 Schedule below.

School Board

Our next school Board meeting is on Tuesday 9th August 2022. The following meeting will be on Tuesday 6th September 2022 at 9am in the staff room. This will be an open Board meeting so if you are interested in what goes on or in joining the Board, please come along. Please do not forget that Board meeting minutes are available to view in the front office.

Fathering Project

This term we will hold another Fathering Project event in Week 9 - more details to follow. The planned event for Term Three will be supporting our Vegie Garden with a variety of jobs and things that need doing. We are really looking forward to developing this group throughout the year to support the fathers and father figures in our community, as they play a vital role in children’s lives. The goal is a self-sufficient group with activities organised by our fathers, supported by our school and P&C. If you are interested in managing this group or organising an activity, please contact Mr Gane or myself.

Vaccination Clinic for

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 an easy way to do so.

The first clinic date will be held on Thursday 4th August and the second on Thursday 13th October.

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.

New students

I would like to extend a warm welcome to Brandon, Colt, Lynx, Dakoda, Jordyn, Holly, Sophia, Tyson, Tyler, Zoey, Charlie, Vincent, TJ, Tyler, Abel, Nobel, Tobias and Winterlynn who recently commenced at Somerly Primary School.

Zoe Hadley-Hawley
Principal

Merit Certificates & Aussie of the Month

Room 1: Aubrey and Audrey; Room 3: Angelina and Raffa; Room 4: Dinula and Senula; Room 7: Chase, Imogen, Nisa and Zion; Room 8: Dylan, Ishaan and Nathan; Room 9: Billie, Dean, Jia and Shebaz; Room 10: Mia, Eliano, Kaiya, Ella, Eh The Da, Sasha and Gitta; Room 12: Artia and Kody; Room 15: Ella and Liam; Room 16: Alicia and Cooper; Room 17: Lucas and Maddy; Room 18: Aarya and Nathan; ART: Mason; MUSIC: Baylee-Bree and Enzo; LOTE: Dziah, Vanessa and Classe 14.

Aussie of the Month Winners: Lamar and Mia.

Stars

Behaviour Focus

Our behaviour focus for Week 2 is:-

Whole School

Respect

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

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.

Attendance at Somerly Primary School

Developing the habit of going to school every day is vitally important so your child does not miss out on important ideas, concepts, knowledge and skills they need for future learning.

Does my child have to go to Kindergarten?

If a child is enrolled in Kindergarten, while not compulsory to attend, it is recommended they do so. Regular attendance helps your child to feel comfortable in their surroundings, develop friendships with other children, and relationships with school staff.

The early years of school gives your child new experiences and sets the foundation for their future learning. At Kindergarten, your child is supported to develop and learn new ideas and skills in a setting of acceptance, and one that inspires and challenges them. Going to school every session allows your child to build on what they know and what they have learnt.

The skills learnt in Kindergarten set the foundation for Pre-primary. In Kindergarten your child will build important social and emotional skills that help them throughout their school life. They also develop literacy and numeracy skills.

Pre-primary – the beginning of compulsory schooling

Pre-primary is the first compulsory year of schooling in Western Australia. Pre-primary provides your child with a broad range of skills to help them understand the world. Your child learns more about literacy and numeracy, and further develops their personal and social skills, critical and creative thinking, and physical wellbeing.

Did you know?

• In the early years of school, many concepts, such as literacy and numeracy, are taught in a sequence. If your child is often away from school, it can make it difficult to catch up later.
• The Western Australian Telethon Kids Institute has found that the attendance habits set in Kindergarten and Pre-primary are likely to continue throughout a child’s school life, so it is important for them to attend school every day.
• The School Education Act 1999 requires all compulsory school-aged students to attend every day that their school is open.
• Missing half a day of school each week equates to one month of missed learning opportunities each year.
• Missing half a day of school each week between Pre-primary and Year 10, equates to missing almost one full year of learning.

What if my child doesn’t want to go to school?

• Talk with the teacher or someone from the school as soon as possible so you can get advice and support.
• You may also attend a Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) for additional support and advice, including setting boundaries and routines.
• Contact Louise Carroll (Deputy Principal) to discuss how we can support you with your child’s attendance.

Book Week

Somerly Primary School Playgroup - EOI

Learning Focus

Garden

Somerly Primary School Garden Progress thanks to the generosity and support from our Waste Sort Grant.

In the beginning….

Then we got to work…. Putting in new vegie mix soil in the garden beds

Laying gravel around the garden area and garden beds.

The compost bins are in……

Sowing the seeds for our garden…

It’s all flourishing…

Now we get to harvest and offer to our community for gold coin donations, to put money towards our garden and community pantry…

So that’s our journey so far and we are really enjoying it and reaping the benefits! Our kids are thriving too!

Science

As you may have seen, the new science room is officially up and running. It has been quite a journey getting it done, but we are in and ready to go.

In Term Three students will be studying Earth and Space Sciences, developing their understanding of this subject area and continuing to develop and demonstrate their Science Inquiry Skills through questioning, predicting and investigating.

The topics for each year level will vary with students learning about the Earth surface, why we have seasons, the Earth’s place in the solar system and changes that happen to the Earth caused by natural events like Earthquakes and Volcanoes or Human impacts like global warming and deforestation.

With our newly purchased resources, I am excited to take students on a visual and hands on journey into the solar system. Already students have been amazed by the giant solar system on our ceiling and the model that shows the orbit around the sun. Others have also enjoyed looking at different soil and rock samples, especially the shiny ones.

I hope they come home and share some interesting facts with you about our amazing Earth and the solar system it resides in.

Mrs Mulder – Science Specialist

Containers for Change

Thank you staff, students and our families for continuing to support our containers for change challenges raising money for our community and our students. Term two we collected 10138 containers! WOW what an achievement!

Raising $1013.80 for our community.

Our week 9 & 10 challenge winners were

Room 17 !

Collecting 521 containers!

Thankyou to all our participating classes:

Shout out!

We are looking for some local small 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.

We need some helpers to put together a small shed and lay 6 large slabs for the floor of the shed. If you are free any time to help, please call Teresa on 0400512299.

Thank you for helping us to help you!

PEAC Assessment

Dear Parents/Caregivers

GIFTED AND TALENTED: Primary Extension and Challenge (PEAC)

ASSESSMENT OF YEAR 4 STUDENTS FOR THE PEAC PROGRAM

The PEAC Program provides part time extension and enrichment for exceptionally able students in Years 5 and 6.

PEAC offers a range of courses that provide identified students with work that is intellectually challenging.

All students in Year 4 will have the opportunity to be assessed for suitability for the PEAC Program.

Testing at Somerly Primary School will occur on Tuesday 2nd August 2022

The scores from the test will be used in the selection of students for PEAC courses and extension programs during 2023 to 2024 and also to inform educational provision in schools.

If you do not wish your child to be included in the PEAC assessment, please notify the school in writing as soon as possible.

Jodie Brown – Maths Specialist

P & C