27 May 2021

From the Principal

National Sorry Day

As part of Reconciliation Week the school acknowledged National Sorry Day yesterday.

National Sorry Day is an Australia-wide observance held on May 26 each year. This day gives people the chance to come together and share the steps towards healing for the Stolen Generations, their families and communities. Stolen generations refer to Indigenous Australians who were forcibly removed from their families and communities.

Teachers and students at our school have undertaken a number of activities to support their commitment to reconciliation by planting a hibiscus plant in the school ground. The hibiscus plant is the national flower for Sorry Day. Staff and students have made artificial hibiscus flowers to wear as well as making yellow, black and red wrist bands out of lengths of wool. Lessons and discussions have been occurring within the classroom on the meaning of Reconciliation and how we can support it.

Swimming

As you may be aware our Years 1 to 4 students commenced their In-Term Swimming Lessons this week. Having swimming during term 2 and 3 is always difficult when it comes to the weather and we certainly got off to a cold and wet start. Having said this, students all seemed excited and keen to take part. A special thank you to Mrs Mattock for her work in organising timetables, relief teachers, DOTT arrangements and all the other work that is needed to ensure our students take part in In-Term Swimming Lessons.

Workforce News

As I mentioned last week the school is advertising for a Physical Education Teacher. Applications for this position have now closed. We are now shortlisting for interviews. We were thrilled to receive very keen interest for this position which resulted in quite a number of applications being received. This is a good reflection of the school’s reputation within the broader community. Our part time EAL/D position will close next week and is currently live online with applications being received.

Ashdale Cluster Board Meeting

For those who are not aware the Ashdale Cluster of Schools operates within a governance structure which sits under the Ashdale Cluster Board. This is made up of the principal and board chair from each school. The Cluster Board met on Monday afternoon to discuss the data amalgamated from each schools’ Wellbeing and Engagement Census. The information gave a comparison of the 2019 data and 2020 data which showed very similar trends as a cluster between these two dates. It was evident that Bullying across our cluster was lower than most other schools/clusters and ‘School Engagement’ was an area that needed further investigation. The Cluster Board will be looking at developing a new Cluster Strategic Plan 2022-2024 which will be developed before the end of the year.

Assemblies

As mentioned in our last newsletter we have reassessed our policy around parents attending assemblies. This is due to the fact that parents have been very supportive this year with adhering to our attendance requests. We will now have the following arrangements in place:

• Two adults may attend if your child is receiving a merit certificate
• Two adults may attend if your child’s class is performing/running the assembly.

We hope further easing of restrictions in the future by our Premier will lead to more parents and community members being able to attend.

Kind regards,

Josh Jashari
Principal

Newsletter Articles

School Calendar

Found – Car/House Keys

We have two sets of car keys that have been held in the office for a while. If you’ve lost a Mazda or Mitsubishi key, both sets have various house keys attached, please contact the office on 9302 4100.

Library News

THE BENEFITS OF READING ALOUD TO YOUR CHILD

Research shows that children who are given exposure to books daily by someone who loves books will develop the desire to learn to read. This intrinsic motivation can do more to help a child learn to read than all the worksheets in the world. So, when you do your best to find time to read aloud every day with your child, you're doing much more than "just" reading to your child.

When you make time for a read-aloud every day, you also make time for:

• Enjoying the sheer pleasure that books can bring
• Real-life exposure to the language and literacy skills students have been learning throughout the course of the school day
• Inspiring beginning readers to plunge onward with their reading efforts
• Sending the message that reading books is so important, that time is made for it every day without exception.

Visit our Library to borrow from the amazing range of picture books and short novels that you can enjoy with your child.

STEM …. With Mr Caldwell

Stem Classroom Cash Competition

Help our school to win a share in $25,000 in prizes. Collect as many collector coupons from the Saturday West on May 29, June 5, 12 & 19 and leave in the collection box in the front office. We will ensure all the entries are in by the competition close date to be in the draw!

On the Ball …. With Mr Brown

Before School Tennis Coaching

Hot-Shots Tennis lessons with InStyle Tennis! Tennis lessons at school are held Wednesday 7.45-8.30am. Lessons started April 28 ($145.00/ 8 weeks). Excellent for skill progression & learning the basics of tennis, and great fun. All ages/ levels welcome! Details at instyletennis.com.au/ 0433 777 195. All kids enrolled receive free Hot-Shots t-shirt!

Canteen Messages

Canteen Manager: Sue Uyen
Phone: 0410 894 457
Opening hours: 8:30am to 1:45pm

With swimming in weeks 6 & 7 making a change to recess & lunch delivery times, we have also had to make a few changes and some items will be unavailable.

Please note LA11, 16 & 21 are unable to order sushi due to their early lunch time.

And there will be no waste free Wednesday specials for the 2 weeks.

All will be back to normal in week 8 with a sausage sizzle menu in week 9. Thanks for all your support.

P&C News

Mother’s Day Stall was wonderful to again be on our calendar. After missing due to Covid last year, all of the students were enthusiastic to again go shopping for their mums. A success with $1700 raised from the event has started the fundraising for this year and has helped to secure our entertainment for this year’s Parent Event Bogan Bingo. Make sure you have Friday 17th September in your diaries!

We’ve had a fantastic response to our Just One Thing Project note that went home, thank you! Keep them coming!

Our next event is the School Disco on Friday 18th June, notes will be coming home soon and we are asking early for parent help. Please follow this link to sign up, get in quick as the roster fills very quickly!

Entertainment Book for a short time is upgrading FREE memberships from Single to Multi City, see attached flyer and note heading home this week.

Our next General meeting is Tuesday 12th June @ 7.30pm in the staffroom, we’d love to have more new faces come along!

Just One Thing Project is this year online! Follow the link to our google form and complete to let us know what you would like to help with this year.

If you see me at school, please come and say hi would love to hear feedback or your ideas for the P&C in 2021.

Nat

Roadwise Committee

Kiss & Drive

Congratulations to our two 1st term $10.00 canteen voucher winners for doing Kiss and Drive. Winners were Rebecca Salta and Rasha Al Raziqi. Thank you very much for volunteering.

This term is Year 3/4’s turn. It was a slow start and after a few reminders the roster has filled up very well. Thanks to everyone who have put their names down. We have also been blessed with a few returning volunteers from Term 1. Seeing all this has made us all so happy and to know that the new system of Kiss and Drive rostering is working this well.

So far we have had only ONE dad volunteer and that was Jason Holmes. Thank you Jason! It would be great to see other dads come forward and help with the Kiss and Drive. It takes only 20 minutes of your time.

I have noticed in the mornings during Kiss and Drive some children are taking a bit longer to come out of their cars. Understandably things do happen. If this is the case please do drive RIGHT UP to the front of Kiss n Drive rather than block other cars behind. This way traffic is still flowing.

If you are approaching the Kiss and Drive bays, please give way to the cars that have already dropped their children and are exiting. This also it keeps the traffic flowing smoothly.

Sign up link for Kiss n Drive Roster

If you haven’t done Kiss and Drive helping before and are unsure of what is required, please do not hesitate to contact your Kiss and Drive Co-ordinator Darshana Kika on lpspandcroadwise@gmail.com.

Uniform Shop News

For all uniform requirements, please contact Tudor Uniforms on Tel. 9408 2666 or via the link below. Their address is: Unit 1/75 Excellence Dr, Wangara.