From our Newsletter

Dear Parents, Carers and Community Members

This month you may have noticed the male staff members looking a bit ‘rough around the edges’ as we have all been participating in Movember. This event has become an annual fundraiser with proceeds going towards research into men’s health issues. If you would like to donate to this worthy cause there is a tin on the counter in the foyer for you to contribute your money.

On Monday this week Year 6 students who had nominated for selection as our 2013 Student Councillors and Faction Captains presented their speeches to their peers and teachers. They all did a great job of explaining why they should be selected for one of these important positions next year. On Tuesday our upper primary students expressed their opinions about who should be selected through an ‘election’ process which was facilitated by the Electoral Commission. Students were taught about how the preferential voting system works through their participation in this activity. The ‘election’ process is used to inform staff about who the students would like to see as their leaders. The ultimate decision about which students are selected rests with the staff who meet to discuss which of the nominated students they feel have the necessary skills to perform successfully in each role. The successful students will be announced at our final assembly in Week 9.

On Wednesday this week I was encouraged to meet with many of the parents of our 2013 Kindergarten students. This information session was an excellent time for parents to find out about how Kindergarten operates. They also heard from our P&C about the important role that it has in our school and the need for new parents to become involved. Our Pre-primary information session will be held this Friday and I hope it is equally well attended.

I have had a number of enquiries from parents about our 2013 class structure and teacher allocations. Unfortunately, I am unable to provide details on this until we know how many students will be enrolled next year. This information will be available when class lists are displayed in the foyer at the beginning of Term 1.

Stephen Bevan

Principal

Year 7 Rottnest Trip Online

Two weeks ago our Year 7 students had a 'rare opportunity to step inside a book and be part of the adventure' as they participated in a Rottnest Island excursion with the author of the novel that they had been reading in class. This adventure has been promoted in a recent Ed-e-News on the Department of Education website. Click the link below to see the article online: http://det.wa.edu.au/edenews/detcms/corporate-communications-marketing/ed-e-news/news-items/november-2012/literacy-comes-to-life-for-tuart-hill-students.en?oid=NewsItem-id-13460754

Western Power Shockproof Program

On Monday and Tuesday this week our students participated in the Western Power Shockproof Schools Program.

Every year in Western Australia families are affected by the trauma of injury associated with electrical shock.  Most of these injuries are preventable and are due to a lack of understanding of electrical safety.

ShockProof is a free electrical safety and energy efficiency education program for Pre primary to Year Seven students. The program encourages active learning and class participation in a fun and engaging presentation. 

The program helped teach students:

• how electricity works
• how they come into contact with electricity every day
• the dangers of electricity
• how to be energy efficient

The program also communicates energy efficiency messages for children to practise at home and at school and encourages responsible energy use.

Crazy Hair Day

Our Student Council organised a fundraising event for our World Vision sponsor child - Musakanya Lindah from Zambia. The Student Council has been supporting Musakanya for a couple of years now.

One of our Student Councillors with some real crazy hair!!

Well Done Tuart Hill!!

Some of the 90 boxes in my back seat.

 Our staff, students and families should be very proud of the effort they have put into this year's Operation Christmas Child appeal. I was able to deliver 90 boxes to the Samartin's Purse warehouse in Balcatta yesterday. The workers there asked that I pass on their thanks.

Our community is certainly very responsive when it comes to sharing and caring. This appeal is also a practical way in which students can learn how to care for others who are less fortunate than themselves.

Thankyou for your participation!!

More boxes in the front seat.

Our boxes at the warehouse ready for packing and sending.

Tuart Hill PS....a good school!

The real estate section of the Sunday Times did a two page spread on Joondanna. Our school received a positive review with Joondanna being promoted as a '...great place to raise children, not only because of its safe and open nature, but because it was in a catchment area with good schools, including Tuart Hill Primary..." This is another indication that our school is highly valued and well respected within the local community. This is great news!!

Anglicare WA Christmas Giving 2012

 This year Tuart Hill Primary School will be acting as a collection point for Anglicare’s Christmas Giving food hamper appeal.  To support this important community initiative, please feel free to donate non-perishable food and other essential items to the front office. Required items include pasta, pasta sauce, tinned tuna, rice, long life milk, tea, coffee, vegemite or even something sweet with a long use-by-date.

Operation Christmas Child

Once again this year we will be supporting the ‘Operation Christmas Child’ appeal which is run by Samaritan’s Purse, an organisation working in over 100 countries around the world. The focus of the Australian and New Zealand project is to work with partners in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.

Samaritan’s Purse has three main areas of focus:

• Giving children, their families and communities a message of hope, love and joy during the Christmas season through Operation Christmas Child.
• Bringing disaster relief to victims of natural disaster, war, disease and famine. They offer food, water, medical assistance, hygiene items and temporary shelter to give people the opportunity to rebuild their lives.
• Empowering communities through building schools, providing wells, installing water filters, initiating programs that promote nutrition, health and education, improving sanitation to prevent disease and offering vocational training and income generating programs to help people break the cycle of poverty, giving them hope for a better tomorrow.

The most common way that people get involved with Samaritan’s Purse is to fill a shoe box with gifts for a child in need as part of the Operation Christmas Child appeal. Every year over 8.5 million children in over 100 countries across the globe open up a shoe box from someone who has participated in Operation Christmas Child.

Last year the appeal was a great success at our school. We are inviting interested families to become involved in this wonderful appeal by packing a shoe box full of gifts. Attached to this letter is a page that explains the process including information on what kind of gifts can be included in the box.

The school has purchased 100 pre-printed shoeboxes which parents can obtain through the school office (there are only 100 so be early). Alternatively, parents can use any shoebox that they have at home. Families with extra shoeboxes that they are not using are invited to drop them at the school so that we can give them to families without a box.

If you cannot fill a box but would like to help pay for the shipping costs you can donate cash to the school office. It costs $9.00 to send each box.

All boxes need to be dropped at the school by no later than Monday November 5.

We look forward to our school community supporting this wonderful appeal once again this year.

VIDEO to watch: Love in a Box

Term 4 Returns

Welcome back to school for Term 4. Our first newsletter will go out tomorrow. It will be brief as it is only the first week of term. Our website is currently being updated with the latest Term 4 planner for you to refer to.

This term is jam packed with activities leading up to the Christmas Holidays. Events planned for the term include:

• Spelling Bee, school and interschool competition
• Wastewise workshops
• Junior Primary Cricket clinic
• Jump Rope for Heart
• Operation Christmas Child shoebox appeal
• Shockproof clinics
• Melbourne Cup (for staff)
• Year 7 Rottnest Island excursion
• Choir Christmas excursion
• Carols by Candlelight night
• Graduation dinner and ceremony
• Staff 'silly' assembly
• Year 7 sailing excursion

We will provide more details on these events as they draw nearer. Please check our fortnightly newsletters, our website or this blog for more information.

Happy Holidays

I would like to wish all students and their families a happy and safe school holiday period. See you all back on Tuesday October 16.

2012 Open Night

Mr Bevan cooking dinner

 Last night we held our annual Term 3 School Open Night. This year, we provided a sausage sizzle as part of the night.

Our Open Night was a great success and we thank all the parents and family members who came along. Below is a link to a survey which only consists of 8 questions that we would love for you to complete. The survey will provide us with feedback that we can use to improve our Open Nights in the future.

 2012 School Open Night Survey

The survey will remain open until October 19.

Mr Kettell showing some great student work.



Tuart Hill in the West

Our students and garden have featured again in the West Australian newspaper today. Congratulations go to Mr Raschilla and our wonderful students for promoting our school so well.

Newsletter front page 20 September 2012

Another term has come and almost gone with this being the last newsletter before the school holidays. Earlier this week you should have received a letter about our Term 3 Open Night which will be held on September 25. In recent years we have been disappointed with the number of parents who have attended this night. This is a good opportunity to look around your child’s classroom and see the kind of work that they have been doing. Teachers have been preparing their classes for the Open Night so it would be great to get as many parents along as possible. This year we are allowing parents to bring their younger children but regular school rules apply and all children must be under the direct supervision of their parents. We also have a sausage sizzle with pre-orders due on Friday September 21.

We are in the midst of athletics carnivals with our main event having been held on September 7. Many thanks go to Mr Ioannou for organising and managing the carnival so well. Congratulations go to Leo for winning the carnival for the first time since 2006. Congratulations also to all our runner-up and champion boys and girls. Mr Ioannou has also organised this year’s Interschool Carnival at Jolimont Primary School. The cross-country, jumps and throws events were held on Tuesday this week with our students representing themselves and our school beautifully in both their effort and behaviour. The main carnival is being held today and the overall results will be posted on my blog: http://mbevan.blogspot.com.au/

Quote for the week… Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, "What's in it for me?" Brian Tracy

On Sunday September 9 some of our staff and parents gave up much of their day to run a sausage sizzle at Balcatta Bunnings with proceeds going towards our kitchen garden program. Special thanks is extended to our Business Manager, Vera Hick and her husband Graham who spent many extra hours preparing for this event and then managing the stall on the day.   We are certainly very blessed to have so many staff and community members who are willing to give up their time to support our school. A total of just over $1600 was raised on the day.

Interschool Athletics

Yesterday we held the second part of this year's Interschool Athletics carnival at Jolimont Primary School. The weather turned out to be supurb and our students did a great job of representing both themselves and our school. Many thanks go to the staff and our ECU student teachers who have worked hard getting the team ready for this event. Special thanks go to Mr Ioannou who was responsible for organising the entire carnival this year. He did a great job and the event was an enormous success. Our thanks also go to the ladies from the P&C who provided a food and drink stall.

While we didn't win a shield we certainly tried hard and had a great time.

Results:

Handicap Shield
5th Tuart Hill
4th Lake Monger
3rd West Leederville
2nd Osborne
1st Jolimont

Outright Shield
5th Lake Monger'
4th Tuart Hill
3rd Osborne
2nd Jolimont
1st West Leederville

Crunch and Sip Links

Mrs O'Neil and Mrs Snart have developed a wonderful display in our staffroom which is designed to give teachers ideas about how to incorporate activities involving seasonal fruit and vegetables into classroom lessons across the various learning areas.

This resource supports the school's Crunch-n-Sip program as well as the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program.

Our First Eggs

Today was a very exciting day at Tuart Hill with our new chickens laying their first eggs. We anticipate that they should lay one egg per day.

At present we only have three chickens although we are planning to purchase some more very soon.

The eggs that we collect will be used in classroom cooking activities. Parents who are rostered to help in the garden over the weekend or on the holidays can take the eggs they collect home for their own cooking.

Newsletter

Student Attendance: Our school attendance data for Semester 1 indicates that most of our students attend school more regularly than students across our district. Our attendance rates are also better than ‘like’ schools.

The audit of attendance conducted earlier this term provides us with information that allows us to set targets for improvement. While our data is very positive there are still a number of students who, for various reasons, are deemed to be ‘at risk’ due to their intermittent attendance at school. Parents and carers are reminded that they are legally responsible for ensuring their child attends school every day.

Our school is active in promoting high attendance rates with various strategies employed to address specific students who are regularly away. Parents planning to withdraw children for extended holidays should consider carefully the impact that this absence will have on their child’s ongoing development. We are always willing to offer advice to parents so please make a time to meet with your child’s teacher or Mrs vanderWal (Deputy Principal ) who is in charge of monitoring student attendance at our school.

The school is required to obtain a reasonable explanation for every student absence. This can be provided verbally or in writing either before your child is away or on their return to school.

Managing Conflict: Occasionally we all experience some kind of conflict with other people. This conflict needs to be managed in a responsible way so that it does not result in things being said or done that are inappropriate. Parents who find themselves in conflict with other parents and are unsure how to manage it should make a time to meet with a member of the admin team so that we can assist. Parents are not permitted to approach other parents or students in a threatening or intimidating manner. We teach our students three basic rules which should govern their behaviour. These same rules apply to adults on our school site:

1. Keep your hands and feet to yourself
2. Play safe and sensible games
3. Treat others the way you would like to be treated

School Business Plan

Our school Business Plan is now available online at the following link: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/45994355/Tuart%20Hill%20Brochure.pdf

Greenfingers Thankyou Morning Tea

Today the Greenfingers team were back at our school putting on a morning tea to thank their major sponsor, the Water Corporation, as well as the suppliers who donated goods and services for the project. Representatives of the various schools involved in the project were also present. Schools that attended included Carey Baptist College, Roleystone Community College and Bannister Creek Primary School.

Once again, our thanks go to the Water Corporation and Greenfingers for providing us with our wonderful garden. Mrs O’Neil was able to purchase some new chickens which are now at home in our chicken coop. One of them looks a bit strange but she assures us that its odd look is normal and that it is called a ‘punk-rocker’.

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Bunnings Fundraiser

On Sunday some of our staff and parents gave up much of their day to run a sausage sizzle at Balcatta Bunnings with proceeds going towards our kitchen garden program. Special thanks is extended to our Business Manager, Vera Hick and her husband Graham who spent many extra hours preparing for this event and then managing the stall on the day.   We are certainly very blessed to have so many staff and community members who are willing to give up their time to support our school.

Athletics Carnival

Last Friday’s athletics carnival was a wonderful event which was made even better by the beautiful weather that we enjoyed. Earlier in the week the weather had not been so good with the cross-country and jumps and throws events delayed by a couple of days. Mr Ioannou did a wonderful job working around the weather conditions to get all events completed by the end of the week. I would like to thank him for his work. I also extend my thanks to all the staff who supported Mr Ioannou on the day. Many thanks go to the P&C and parent helpers who ran the various stalls and to all family and community members who came and cheered on their child.

Congratulations go to our students who participated so well in all events. Well done Leo faction for winning this year’s carnival and to all the runner-up and champion boys and girls.

Book Week and Literacy Week

We have decided to combine Book Week and Literacy Week together this term. Students are participating in a number of interesting activities this week with our theme being 'CHAMPIONS READ!'

Activities include a book mark making competition, book chalk art on the school pavement, a book character dress up and parade as well as classroom based activities which will be displayed in the school Hall.

School Start Times

Below is the content of a letter I sent home to all parents today which is very important. We will not compromise when it comes to student safety. While our school grounds are relatively enclosed and 'protected' from the outside community we cannot take responsibility for the safety of children left unattended. Besides 'strangers' that could enter the school unnoticed early in the morning there is also the risk that students injure themselves or others through their own actions e.g. throwing equipment, playing games etc. Our staff cannot and will not take responsibility for student safety outside the accepted school hours.

SCHOOL START TIMES

It has come to my attention that there are a growing number of students arriving at school well before the start time of 8.40am with some students arriving as early as 7.30am. This poses a safety concern as children are left unsupervised for up to 45 minutes every morning. It is also very unfair on the child who must sit (not play) for a long time in the Hall which, at this time of the year, is very cold and uncomfortable.

Students should not arrive at school before 8.15am as we do not provide any formal supervision prior to this time. The only exception to this is on Wednesday mornings when we run a Breakfast Club commencing at 8.00am. Parents are responsible for the proper care and supervision of their child prior to this time. It is not acceptable to leave your child unattended at our school before these times.

The school does not provide before school ‘child minding’ or ‘baby sitting’ and cannot be expected to supervise students who arrive early. Parents who need to work should arrange alternate care for their child before school. This could include a relative, close family friend, neighbour or another reliable parent. There are also a number of ‘before school’ care programs which could be accessed if required.

Parents of Kindergarten and/or Pre-primary students are required to wait with their child and hand them over to the classroom teacher at 8:40am. Kindergarten and/or Pre-primary students should never be left unattended or in the care of another child.

The safety and comfort of your child is of utmost importance to us. For this reason we ask that you support the school in this matter.

Issues with Blogger

The digital world is certainly very interesting and alluring. It has the potential to motivate us and enhance the way that we communicate. I set up this blog in order to facilitate communication between school and home and to keep the community better informed about what is happening at our school. I have been blogging since late 2011 from school and from home. However, last week I was surprised to discover that the Education Department had blocked the Blogger website which meant that I could no longer view the blog from a school computer. When I asked why? I was told that the site was not secure in that it allowed students to access possibly inappropriate content.

You will notice at the top of the page (just above the title 'Mr B's Blog Spot') there is a link labelled as 'Next Blog'. If you click this link it will take you to another random blog on the Blogger website. This means that with one simple click you could be exposed to any kind of material including foul language, explicit pictures and/or text etc etc. Unfortunately, there are many people in the world who like to express their warped and degenerate opinions and ideas online where any unexpecting person can come across them.

Ultimately, it is our responsibility to both protect and educate our children about the dangers of the online environment. We do not allow students to use the Blogger website for creating blogs as there are others available which are more suitable for students e.g. Edublog. Obviously, if we had allowed this it would no longer be available anyway - as it has been blocked. We also provide regular reminders to students about what they should do if they come across anything offensive or inappropriate i.e. tell an adult and turn it off.

My blog was not intended to be for students. It is provided for the parents of our students and the wider adult community. The Blogger site also provides a platform for blogging that is easier to use than others that I have found. My intent is to continue using this site until I have the time to research and locate a better one. I ask that if you share my blog with your children that you supervise them while they are viewing it. If you have any concerns or problems please post a message or visit me at school.

Art Project at Grenville Reserve – ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’

We have been asked by Bridget Norton to be involved in the creation of a public art work at Grenville Reserve. Bridget is the artist contracted by the City of Stirling to create the work which will consist of a large Tuart tree sculpture as well as a wall mosaic/digital photomontage which will cover 50 square metres of the east wall of the new building being constructed at Grenville Reserve. Student art work will be digitally photographed and will be used to create the photomontage. We look forward to this opportunity for our students to be involved in an exciting local project which will have their individual work permanently on display.

Newsletter front page 9 August 2012

Dear Parents, Carers and Community Members

Last week our school choir participated in the Western Australian Government Schools Musical Society concert at Burswood Entertainment Complex. The students in our choir did a magnificent job of combining complex dance movements with excellent singing. Many thanks go to Mrs Mount-Bryson and Mrs vanderWal for all the time they put into planning and preparing our choir for this event. My thanks also go to the parents who supported our choir by purchasing tickets and attending the concert.

At Tuart Hill Primary School we seek to develop and maintain high standards. The wearing of school uniform is one way that this high standard is displayed to the wider community. School dress requirements play an important role in promoting a positive image of our school and creating a sense of identity and a common bond among students. As well as this, the wearing of school uniforms:

o Promotes safety by making students easily identifiable during school activities

o Keeps the cost of clothing within reasonable limits for parents

o Removes peer pressure to wear the latest fashion

o Helps students learn the importance of appropriate presentation

Our school dress code has been endorsed by the School Board and all students are expected to wear the correct clothing to school. We ask all parents to support our school in this matter. If you have problems with supplying the appropriate clothing (including the red school hat) please contact the school so we can support you.

The NED Show was a great success and students have certainly taken in the message shared during the show:

N = Never give up

E = Encourage others

D = Do your best

Over $2000 of NED merchandise (yo-yos, strings etc) were purchased after the show. Many thanks go to our Year 7 helpers, Bianca and Saffy, who ran the NED shop and did a magnificent job.

WA Government Schools Music Society Concert 2012

Last night I went to the Burswood Entertainment Complex to see our school choir perform as part of the WA Government Schools Music Society concert. This is the 5th year that students from Tuart Hill Primary have participated in the WAGSMS event.

Over the years I have noticed that there has been a move away from more traditional choir items (singing with a few actions) towards items that mix singing with complex dance movements. It is important that schools focus on producing a quality performance in both areas and not let their dancing overshadow their singing. Tuart Hill students did a great job at moving around the stage while also singing both tunefully and with enough volume. Their performance was polished and wonderful and I want to thank all our choir members for the hard work they put into preparing for the night. Special thanks also go to Mrs Mount-Bryson and Mrs vanderWal for the work (above and beyond expected) they did at getting the students ‘performance ready’. I also want to thank the parents and family members for attending the Burswood last night and cheering on our choir.

Talking with your school

Recently I went on some training provided by the Standards and Integrity Directorate which explored the topic of 'Accountable and Ethical Decision Making'. This is mandatory training for all principals in government schools.

A useful flyer which I obtained at the training is entitled 'Talking with my school.' It outlines the process that parents can use if they have a particular enquiry or concern. At Tuart Hill Primary School we have an 'open-door approach' to handling concerns or issues that may arise. As Principal, I listen and try to deal as effectively as possible with problems or complaints which may occasionally arise. My aim is to produce a win-win situation in all circumstances.

If you have any concerns then I encourage you to follow the process outlined in the flyer with an initial meeting with your child's teacher followed by a meeting with me. In most circumstances this is enough to resolve any concerns.

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

The NED Show

Today, the NED Show came to Tuart Hill Primary School. Our presenter was Amanda and she entertained and thrilled the entire school with her humerous antics and wonderful story telling. She was also very skilled with a yo-yo! A key part of the NED Show is its positive message that everyone can be a CHAMPION at school and in life by...
1. Never giving Up
2. Encouraging others
3. Doing your best

For more information on the NED Show visit their website www.thenedshow.com/ . Students all received an information sheet and order form for purchaing NED Show merchandise. The sale of all items goes towards funding future NED Show presentations around the world. The NED Show shop will be open at recess and lunch for the next 5 days so that students can make purchases. For safety reasons, students are only permitted to use their yo-yos for a limited time in the Hall.

Chickens

You will notice that our chicken coop is now empty. Unfortunately, we had another chicken die over the holidays as well as an additional one get sick. This left us with 3 chickens who we also expected to get sick. Following consultation with the supplier as well as the Animal Ethics Committee (at central office) it was decided to have the remaining chickens humanly euthanatized. We will have the coop cleaned and purchase chickens which are older and properly vaccinated. We will wait until the warmer weather arrives in Spring before purchasing our new chickens.

Many thanks go to the parents and community members who helped maintain our school garden over the holidays. A new roster has been prepared covering weekends for Term 3. Parents who would like an opportunity to join the roster can let us know via email, phone or by visiting our school office.

New Staff

Miss Bree Roller has taken leave for Term 3. She has been replaced by Miss Kylie Hodge. We welcome Kylie to our school.

School Development Day Term 3, 2012

Our staff were back at work today. Our morning started with a Christmas in July breakfast which was a lot of fun and a good way for everyone to settle back into school for the term. Many thanks go to Mrs Hick, Mrs Mount-Bryson and Mrs Price for their work on the day preparing food. This included breakfast, morning-tea and lunch.

Our focus for the day was on Mathematics with a guest presenter, Richard Korbosky helping to up skill teachers with new ideas and strategies for teaching Mathematics in their classroom. Richard has been teaching, lecturing at university and consulting on many different projects including the Australian Curriculum development and implementation. 

10 questions about the Australian Curriculum

The documents below were taken from the May edition of 'School Matters' which is a monthly publication produced by the Department of Education (for staff.) This article answers 10 of the common questions about the new Australian Curriculum.

QR codes in the school garden

Mr Ralph has been working with a group of students to develop labels in our garden using QR codes. By scanning these codes with a smartphone or iPad you will be directed to a website which will give you more information about the vegetable, herb or fruit tree being grown. Students are using software that is available online to generate the codes. A scanner can also be downloaded for free.

Parents are welcome to come along and try scanning our labels and finding out more about the delicious plants we are growing.

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Staff Change

Our thanks go to Miss Carrie Bradley who has been doing an excellent job teaching in Room 11 Year 5/6. Carrie has been filling in for Ms Gaylia McQueen who will be returning to our school in Semester 2. We are sad to see Miss Bradley leave but welcome back Ms McQueen to our teaching team.

School garden over the holidays

Many thanks go to the parents who have already done a great job on our Community Help roster. Our first holiday period is now about to start so we will continue to rely on our wonderful volunteers to keep our garden and animals healthy for the next two weeks. Below is the roster for the next two weeks.

7 July	Narelle (Leyla)
8 July	Laura (Lexi & James)
9 July	Tarryn & Ben (Jordan)
10 July	Caroline Waetford (Don & Chico)
11 July	Sophie & Wayne (Max)
12 July	After School Care (Joy)
13 July	Troy & Kendall (Finley)
14 July	Rachel & Sam (Samuel & Lucas)
15 July	Cassie (Emelia)
16 July	After School Care (Joy)
17 July	Sharon (Jamahl)
18 July	After School Care (Joy)
19 July	Karina (Tahlia)
20 July	After School Care (Joy)
21 July	Jasmine & Salvatore (Saffron & Remy)
22 July	Sarah & Wade (Ethan & Thomas)

The names that are highlighted in red are the people that we would like to feed the animals (they only need feeding every second or third day). The chickens need to have their pellets and water filled on these days. Chicken droppings can be picked up on any day and placed in the bucket until full. The bucket should then be placed in the compost bin or in the red wheelie bin in the shed.

Please do not lot children into the chicken coop until we have been able to determine if any chickens are still affected by the recent illness. If you notice that any are sick please call Di Mount-Bryson.

The yabby and fish food is in the shed and has instructions on it. Please call Di if you are unsure.

At the end of the holidays some of our staff will be emptying and cleaning the Aquaponic tanks so that they look much nicer.

Please remember to log onto the wiki to keep records of your work in the garden.

If it rains then you will not need to do much watering (except in the greenhouse). Please remember to lock everything away in the shed before you leave.

KEYS – Joy at the after school care program will be managing keys for us. On weekdays you need to go to the after school care room and get the garden keys. Please remember to return them before you leave. People rostered over the weekends will need to visit the after school care room on the Friday before their roster and get a set of keys. It is important that the keys are returned early on Monday morning.

The wiki has a roster with phone numbers on it. If you are unable to attend on your rostered day please contact someone else and do a swap or else ring Di.

Thanks for your participation in this wonderful school program.

School Disco

Our school P&C and Mr Ioannou have organised another school Disco for our students to enjoy. This is a perfect opportunity for students to demostrate the dances that they have been learning during lessons this term. Parents are encouraged to attend with their children. The Disco is for students who are currently enrolled at the school only. We ask that you do not bring younger or older children even if they attended the school in the past.

Enrolments Flyer 2013

Lost Property

We have a large pile of lost property which has accumulated outside the canteen. Parents are asked to check the pile to see if any of the items belong to their children. Please don't take things that may belong to others.

Posted with Blogsy

Term 3 Planner

We have added a Term 3 Planner to our school website. Please click this link or go to the website to view it. Term 3 Planner

The events on this planner are accurate today but may change in the future. Please keep checking this blog, our website or fortnightly newsletters for possible updates.

Front page of last week's newsletter

Dear Parents, Carers and Community Members

This is the last newsletter for Semester 1. Half of the year is now just about over and we are already starting to reflect on our school plans in order to begin preparing for Semester 2 as well as the 2013 school year. So many excellent activities have already taken place with many more yet to come.

We are looking forward to seeing our kitchen garden program become established as a key focus of our school. Mrs O’Neil has been appointed as the coordinator of the program and we look forward to her leadership in this area.

You may have noticed that we only have 5 chickens left in our coop. Unfortunately we have had a (yet to be determined) sickness spread through our chickens which has resulted in their deaths with 2 being euthanized and three dying overnight. We are attempting to get a clear diagnosis of the specific disease that they have in order to provide ongoing treatment. Until this time the chicken coop has been quarantined with only selected staff permitted to enter. On the holidays a number of staff have volunteered to come and clean out our aquaponic tanks in order to provide a nicer looking environment for our fish and yabbies.

Those of you who regularly read my blog http://mbevan.blogspot.com.au/ would already have heard that I am going on teacher exchange to Canada in 2013. Mr Aaron Hoffman will be joining our staff as a senior primary teacher. Aaron comes from Okanagan Landing Elementary School in Vernon British Columbia. The Principal’s position will be filled by our Deputy Principals with Mrs vanderWal taking on the role in Semester 1 and Mr Ralph in Semester 2. Selected teachers will then be placed in the vacant Deputy Principal positions.

Semester 1 student reports will be sent home on Thursday July 5. Parents are invited to make appointments with their child’s teacher early in Term 3 to discuss any concerns or questions they may have about their progress.

School closes on Friday July 6 and reopens on Tuesday July 24. As this is the last newsletter of the term I wish all our students a safe and happy holiday break.

Stephen Bevan

Principal