Whole School News
2020 Excursion Payment Scheme
Any families who have not yet paid for the 2020 Excursion Payments Scheme and wish to do so are asked to please make payment at the school office by Friday 14th February. Access to process this on Compass is no longer available if you have already processed other 2020 payments.
Camps, Sports & Excursions Fund (CSEF)
The State Government now provides a CSEF payment of $125.00 per child to go towards Camps, Swimming, Interschool Sports and Excursions. To be eligible for this Fund you must be in possession of a Health Care Card which will be valid as at 29th January 2020. If you believe you are eligible for this payment, please come to the office to collect an application form along with your valid Health Care Card.
Please contact the office if you have questions regarding payments or processes.
Permissions & Agreements 2020 - COMPASS
Parents are asked to please complete all the Permissions & Agreements on Compass for themselves and their child/ren, by Friday 21st February if they have not already done so. This ensure their child's participation in activities, use of their childs photos in the Magazine and newlsetter and the use of technologies and devices throughout the school year. These can be found in the the Course Confirmation/School Payments section on your Parent Portal.
Parents/Carers wishing to help out in the classroom or on excursions must complete the Child Safe Code of Conduct via Compass or in person at the school Office. All parent helpers are also required to have a current Working With Children Card which the office must have a copy of.
Please contact the office if you have any questions regarding this process.
Consents & Payments for Excursions & Events - COMPASS
To secure your child's participation in any organised school activity such as excursions, incursions, sports events or camps please ensure that all consents and associated payments are completed via the Compass Parent Portal before the due date. Once the due date has past, Compass access to consent/pay for the event is automatically disabled and can no longer be extended.
Should consent/payments not be received your child will not be able to take part in the scheduled activity and alternative supervision at school will be arranged.
Due dates are typically set for a week prior to the event, to ensure that there is time to confirm numbers and final costs with outside companies and allow time for teachers to prepare for the activity.
If your child cannot attend any planned event, please email the office so they can be removed from the event reminders.
Icy Pole Day
Tomorrow, Thursday 13th February will be the first Icy Pole day for 2020.
Students will be able to purchase an Icy Pole for $2.00 at lunch time in their classroom.
School Photos
Whole School Photo Day will be held on Thursday 20th February.
Orders can now be made in three ways.
Through the parent's Compass Portal
This will initially appear in your news feed - once you have clicked on it once it will then be removed from the main feed. Parents can then access photo ordering through the Community (two heads) icon. Further instructions for parents on ordering through compass can be found at https://www.compass.education/guide#photos
Directly through our site at MSP.com.au
To do this they will need a shoot key that will be located on their personalized envelope. These were sent home earlier this week.
Envelope
Parents wishing to pay cash they can use the personalized envelopes that were sent home earlier this week. These will need to be brought back on photo day for our photographers to collect.
FAQ’s:
How long do I have to order photos?
Parents have 2 weeks post photo day to order before incurring a 20 dollar late fee.
Do I need to return the envelope if I have ordered online?
No, Envelopes are only required to be brought back if the family is paying cash.
What do I do if I have lost my shoot-key?
If a family has lost their envelope and wish to pay via msp.com.au they can call us at 1800 31 44 80.
If you have any further questions regarding this please feel free to Brodie in contact the office on 9578 1327.
Severe Allergies - Anaphylaxis
We have students at our school with severe allergies to various foods, including nuts. These allergies can result in the affected students having an anaphylactic reaction, a potential life threatening situation if exposed.
The staff undergo rigorous training around first aid in these situations and they also encourage their students to wash their hands on a regular basis. They also speak with their class about the importance of not sharing food.
Parents are asked to be aware of any allergies within your child's class if bringing birthday treats etc. in to share with the class by checking with your class teacher or the front office.
We also remind parents that any children with anaphylaxis/allergy or asthma need an updated action plan and medication provided to the school. If your child currently has medication in the sick bay, please check the expiry date and update any details for administering the medication if necessary.
Mindful Moments
‘Springtime is upon us. The birds celebrate her return with festive song, and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes. Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle over heaven, Then they die away to silence, and the birds take up their charming songs once more.’
~ Antonio Vivaldi
This month we are restarting our Mindful Music Program and will be playing particular pieces of music that will create a calming start to the day and at the same time enrich our students’ knowledge of composers and musical genres. The music will be played in the morning, at recess and lunch as the signal for line up and will lead into the Mindfulness activities teachers conduct with their students.
Beginning with the classical composer Antonio Vivaldi from the Baroque Period, the music will be introduced during Performing Arts sessions and some classes will be creating art pieces during Visual Arts with particular focus on The Four Seasons.
Below is some further information you may wish to explore with your family as well as a link enabling you to access his music from home.
Helen Kupfer and Amelia Delaney
Antonio Vivaldi
March 04, 1678 – 1741
Composer of the Baroque Period,
Vivaldi was born in 1678 in Venice, Italy.
Antonio's father, Giovanni Battista, a barber before becoming a violinist, taught young Antonio to play the violin and then toured Venice playing the violin with him.
At the age of 15, Antonio began training to become a priest. At the age of 25, he was ordained a priest and soon after became known as the II Prete Rosso, "The Red Priest", because of his red hair. Due to his health, he left the priesthood in 1703 after only 3 years. But he was still able to pursue a career in music.
Vivaldi's music is joyful, almost playful, revealing his own joy of composing. In addition, Vivaldi was able to compose non-academic music which means it would be enjoyed by many people rather than just the elite. He composed over 500 pieces of classical music, with his most popular being The Four Seasons and Gloria.
Four Seasons is prevalent in the soundtracks of many TV shows and films. Some of these include Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Simpsons and A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Imagine a time when girls were not allowed to be seen performing music! Vivaldi worked as a composer, priest and director of music at a girls’ school and orphanage. There, the students performed beautiful pieces, but were hidden behind a screen so that no one could see them performing. In this way, Vivaldi was able to teach the girls music and allow them to perform.
You can listen to The Four Seasons at home by clicking on this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRxofEmo3HA
Foundation News
The Foundation students have settled very well into their new school routines. It has been a wonderful week of getting to know one other and building confidence with new peers, friends, teachers and surroundings. The students enjoyed meeting their buddies and having a special lunch time together. The buddies act as another helpful person that the students can turn to for assistance or friendship. (see Year 5 News for photos)
In SMART spelling, we have started learning a new Word of the Week. Last weeks word was CAT, and this weeks word is ANT. Next week we will be focusing on the word TIN. Each week the newly introduced word builds on prior letter knowledge to introduce a new letter or two to form the new word. Over the course of the week we will focus on the cued articulation of each letter, the associated sounds within that word, rhyming words, handwriting, and writing the word in a sentence. This learning is introduced and achieved through many songs, games, video clips and stories. In reading and writing, we are focusing on building a readers and writers community through the workshop model.
In Mathematics, the focus is on the numbers 1-10; counting, ordering and writing of the corresponding numerals. Next week we will participate in learning activities around the numbers 6 to 8. We use games, songs and hands on materials to recognise the numeral and the matching amount in pictures or items. The teachers are becoming familiar with the skill set of each student. At the end of our Wednesday assessment days, the Foundation teachers will be able to place students in leveled groups so that they may learn and grow at their point of need.
In Inquiry, the year begins with getting to know more about themselves, each other, and their feelings, before moving on to building understandings about the variety of families living in our community – the similarities and differences.
Have a great fortnight,
Laura & Amy
Year 4 News
Welcome to Term 1 in Year 4
In English we are learning to spell words with the digraph ou found in words such as famous and cacophonous. We are about to choose our personal writing goals for Term 1 to improve our grammar, punctuation and writing structure. We have commenced our Readers Workshops where we are learning about responding to texts by making connections to our own life experiences, those of others and to the world. One way in which to express our understandings is through an Open-Minded Portrait (see photographs). We have been organizing our classroom libraries with a focus on non-fiction texts.
In Mathematics, we are enjoying games, solving problems and investigations to increase our understanding of number place value.
In Inquiry, we are devising questions and learning about Australia’s First Peoples. Next we will explore what brought Europeans to Australia.
We hope you received your photograph order envelope this week for photo day on Thursday 20th February.
If you have anything to discuss with your child’s teacher relating to your child’s social, emotional, or medical needs, there will be an opportunity to do so on Tuesday, 18th February. More information regarding interviews and times will be available in coming days.
We look forward to meeting you at the Parents and Friends school picnic on Friday 21st February. This is a great opportunity to meet with other parents and the Year 4 teachers. We look forward to seeing you there!
Lorraine 4A, Laura 4B and Gregg 4C
Year 5 & Foundation Buddies
On Friday 7th February the Year 5 students met their Foundation buddies for the first time. The Year 5 students are very excited to be able to support our new students and help them feel comfortable and happy at school. The Foundation students can ask their buddy for help if they need in the yard during break times and we plan to do lots of activities and games together. It is a great way to foster our positive school culture and as you can see from the photos we are all pretty happy! Here is what some of the Year 5 students think.
"It is great to have responsibility and to care for a younger student. It is good to guide them into a happy school life" – Ashwyn
"They are the cutest thing I have ever seen!" – James
"It is good to have a buddy because they are new students to the school and they need to learn about school"– Cade
"I’m looking forward to seeing how they adapt to school life"– Ruby
PE & Sports News
Year 6 Interschool Sport
On Friday 7th Feb our Year 6 students participated in the Lightning Premiership. Students had a fun day learning the rules and working cooperatively as a team. This year’s Summer sports are Cricket, Rounders, Tee- ball and Hot shots. Students will be competing in these sports every Friday morning in Term 1 and Term 4. Training times and Term 1 fixture attached.
