K - PP Enrolments 2012

The last day for K/PP enrolments is Friday 29th July. Please come to the school office to complete application forms.

When completing an application at the Front Office, please bring with you the following documents:
• birth certificate – contact the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages on 1300 305 021 if you don’t have a copy
• immunisation records – contact the Australian Immunisation Register on 1800 653 809
• proof of current address

Photos of students on the Internet

I would love to include photos on this blog but am limited by the number of students who do not have permission to have their image posted on the web. I recognise that some parent have legitimate reasons for not wanting their child's image posted but many have simply not bothered to complete the form which is sent home at the beginning of every year. A non-return is deemed to be a 'no' to images being posted. I spent some time looking through images of the disco and found that I could not use any of the hundred of photos because at least one person did not have permission. This will also make posting images to our new school website virtually impossible.

School Disco

The disco was a wonderful success and an excellent way to finish our dance lessons. Dance is an important part of our Physical Education program every year. It also helps students socialise in a positive and energetic manner. Many thanks go to Mr Ioannou for organising the lessons again this year and to our P&C for running the disco.

Semester 1 Reports

Semester One Reports
Today students received their Semester One report. Parents are asked to read the report with their child and discuss how they have gone in the various learning areas. Please remember that a ‘C’ grade is the level which most students are expected to achieve. Your child’s teacher would have indicated on the report if they require a meeting with you. You are also invited to arrange a meeting if you have any concerns or questions about your child’s achievement. Parents are asked to contact the school office or your child’s teacher to schedule a meeting.

Some parents have reported difficulty understanding reports because of the educational terminology that is used. What do you think? The difficulty for teachers is that they are required to report on what your child is capable of in educational terms. The problem is made even more difficult for parents who only speak English as a second language. We are always after suggestions as to how we can make the reading and understanding of reports easier. The best way that we know of is for parents to go and have a face to face meeting with their child's teacher to get a more full explanation of the report and to get questions answered. Interpreters can also be organised if requested.

Newsletter Week 10 Term 2

From this week's newsletter:

At Tuart Hill Primary School we recognise the growing importance of information and communication technology (ICT) in the education of our students. ICT has been a priority for our school since I arrived here. In that time we have progressively installed interactive whiteboards in many classrooms and the Library. We have also started to replace the aging stock of computers in classrooms and have created a mini-lab in the Library which is supported by a bank of 10 laptop computers. A support teacher has been employed 1 day per week to manage the network and help teachers to develop their skills and confidence in using ICT in the classroom. A new website has been built and will hopefully be made available when issues regarding the domain name are sorted out through the Department of Education. Staff now have access to the school’s intranet via the web which aids in their planning. They also receive information in a timely manner and on a regular basis via email. I have now created a blog in which I will be sharing information with parents on a weekly basis (hopefully). This blog will also provide parents with an opportunity to respond to my posts. This will help to provide even greater communication links between home and school. All posts to the blog will be filtered by me prior to their posting on the web. The blog is meant to provide parents with an opportunity to comment on information that is posted and where necessary to provide constructive criticism or ideas. It is not a tool for making complaints. Any complaints should be made directly to me via a face to face meeting. I look forward to utilising this communication tool to engage our school community in positive discussions about our school.

As this is the last newsletter for Term 2 I would like to wish all our students and their families a happy and safe holiday. Monday July 25 is a school development day so school recommences for students on Tuesday July 26. On Monday July 25, staff will be engaged in professional learning and planning at a whole school and cluster level.

Banner Competition

Congratulations go to Bree our Art Teacher and a group of her students for winning the City of Stirling Banner competition. Bree received the following message from the coordinator of the event:

Hi Bree,

On behalf of the City of Stirling, I would like to congratulate Tuart Hill Primary School on their wonderful banner entry into the City of Stirling 2011 Banners in the Terrace competition.

Tuart Hill’s banner has been chosen to represent the City in the 2011 Banners in the Terrace display on St Georges Terrace, Perth taking place between 1 August and 14 August as part of the annual Western Australian Local Government Convention.

The City will also present Tuart Hill Primary School with a cheque for $500 to be used towards arts education for the school.

The banners will go on display from 1 August – 14 August in the City of Perth and in front of the Civic Complex here on Cedric Street, so make sure you drive past and check them out!

Thank you for your entry!

P&C News

I received this exciting message from Julie Wilkes, President of our P&C:

I am very excited (and a little nervous) to announce we have been successful in obtaining $9000 funding from the Australian Governments Diversity and Social Cohesion Program! This is absolutely fabulous, and hopefully will be a wonderful project for our school to increase cultural understanding and parent involvement. For those who are not familiar with the project, below is an excerpt from our application on what we plan to do and achieve:

• The project builds on the Harmony Day theme. THPS has a Harmony Day lunch every year where each child brings in an item from home for everyone to share. With such a diverse and interesting school population, the range of food is incredible and no-one wants to miss out. The children are also encouraged to dress in their national costume, which also brings something special to the event. The Harmony Day lunch results in the greatest parent involvement and highest parent attendance of any school event. Both children and parents clearly love the occasion.

• To build on this involvement, the THPS P&C would like to collect recipes of the foods parents have prepared for the Harmony Day lunch. Parents will also be asked questions about their families, nationality and the foods they cook at home. The parent interviews and recipes will be printed and distributed to students at the school over the course of the year. A recipe binder will be supplied to each family to allow collection of the printed interviews/recipes for all to make at home. When an interview and recipe is released, the THPS P&C canteen will have the item available the following week for students and staff to try.

• The aim of the project is to increase parent involvement and participation at THPS, particularly that of parents from diverse cultures or lower socio-economic families. It is a way to involve parents with limited English but who still want to contribute in some way to the school environment. It will also enhance the children's self-esteem - sharing their background and their parents' skills with the wider school community. Through this increased involvement, children's needs will be addressed in a more representative manner. With a sustained increase in parental involvement children's educational outcomes will be positively affected, with improvement in standardised test results.

As from next term we will need to think about how practically we are going to go about producing the recipe cards, and how we think they will best be distributed. I look forward to all your suggestions.

This is an exciting announcement and I encourage everyone to get involved.