Dear Parents and Caregivers, Konnichiwa!

Wakakirri

Last week a group of about 60 our year 6/7 students performed at the Entertainment Centre as one of 38 schools in the South Australian Primary Schools division of Wakakirri.

Established in 1992, Wakakirri is Australia’s largest Story Dance Festival, involving over 20,000 students across every State and Territory each year.

Each year hundreds of schools across Australia create Story Dances for Wakakirri that reflect their students’ thoughts, ideas and aspirations. These stories are performed in professional theatres in front of the official ‘Wakakirri Panel’ who are searching for ‘Story of the Year’. Over 1 million people watch Wakakirri performances each year.

The Aboriginal word Wakakirri means ‘to dance a story’ according to Wangaaypuwan people from Cobar NSW. It was chosen to give the event a distinctly Australian feel.

Our students were amazing presenting an outstanding performance. At the end of each item three students from each school described their performance to the host. Our three speakers India, Darcie and Grayson also did an outstanding job in public speaking to a large audience and all with no written notes, which was absolutely fantastic.

Well done to all the performers and to the volunteer helpers and staff, particularly Mary Xenides, Lia Taylor, Susan Wilson and Alex Narcys for putting so much effort and time in making it such an exceptional performance.

It is only the effort of our students, parents and staff working so hard together that enabled this wonderful opportunity for our students and one that only 38 primary schools participated in our State. Great job.

Please see the description of our performance and the feedback and awards from the judges.

See http://www.wakakirri.com/results/grange-primary-school-3/

for more information about Wakakirri.

Location: SA | Year: 2018 | Division: Division 1

Teachers Name: Mary Xenides, Lia Taylor

Internet Security - Does your child have Virtual Private Network (VPN) on their device?

We have recently discovered that some year 4/5/6/7 students have installed an app called' xVPN' on their iPads and/or phones in order to bypass the school internet filter.

The school provides students with a secure and safe internet and VPN software which seeks to bypass the school security is not allowed. We have discussed this with year 4/5/6/7 students and made them aware of cyber safety issues, that this software is not allowed and the consequences of this. Teachers and STEM specialist teachers will continue to reinforce the cyber safety message in all their classes.

Students have been asked to remove this software. We ask that parents also check their child's devices and remove any VPN software.

The school can track any students using this software and any students detected using VPN software on the school internet connection will have their accounts frozen and parents will be contacted.

The service provider which supplies our internet filter recommended that parents be aware of students using VPN software at home, as it can bypass security and filters parents may have in place.

Keeping your child physically, emotionally and cyber safe is of our highest concern and I thankyou for your cooperation on this matter.

Please talk to myself or your child's teacher if you need any further information.

Regards, Grant

Grant Small, Principal

Grange Primary School

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