An Update from Mr Vines

Walk to School Month

Walk to School month runs from 7 October until 1 November and it is a time to walk, ride or scoot to school. Apart from being a fantastic way to get some exercise, it is also an excuse to make the most of the amazing weather. There are prizes available to schools that participate, including $250 Rebel Sports vouchers for the school. The grand prize is a Smoothie Bike that the school gets to keep (the same as the one we got to use during the Healthy Tracks pop-up event). Each class has a calendar that they will be using to keep track of students who are walking, riding or scooting to school each day. If you would like more information you can visit https://www.walktoschool.vic.gov.au/ to find out more.

Parent Social Activities

Each class has a parent representative who organises parent activities and social events. If you do not know who your parent representative is, your class teacher will be able to help you.

Prep A and Prep D met up over the holidays for a combined sausage sizzle. Over 50 parents, kids and siblings across both classes came together for some play time and a sausage in a local park. It was a great turn out and demonstrated how our school community is developing and strengthening day by day. Miss Hamid and Miss Edwards also joined which was lovely too.

Friendship Tree

Once again Anna Barden has outdone herself in the new covering for the Friendship tree. It looks amazing and the students absolutely love it. There is a flower stitched on the covering to represent each of our students. We are wanting to store and display previous coverings of the friendship tree in a way that acknowledges all her hard work and the history of the school. If you have any ideas of how this could be achieved please feel free to send me an email with your idea.

Professional Learning

As you will have noticed, throughout the year our staff are offsite at various times for professional learning. At South Melbourne Park Primary School we strongly value our staff and building their capabilities to ensure that the students that we serve have the best possible education that we can provide.

Early in the year all of our staff undertook Professional Learning Communities training. This is training in how to collaborate and plan for student achievement. It is a framework that supports our teachers in ensuring that they are using their planning time efficiently. We have had our staff attend multiple training sessions on catering for the needs of students with ASD, ADHD and Dyslexia. We have had staff trained in Mindfulness and supporting students with anxiety. Specific staff have been trained in Occupational Health and Safety and in administration of certain academic assessments. Our prep team has been trained in Zones of Regulation, strategies which teach your children the vocabulary and skill set to identify and manage their own emotions.

As a school we are committed to constantly learning and improving. Just as we expect our students to ‘raise the bar’ and strive in their learning, we expect the same of our teachers and each other, to be the best educators we are capable of being. If you are ever curious about when a teacher is out of the classroom please feel free to ask them what exciting things they are learning about.

Lunchtime Clubs

There are many clubs running during lunchtimes for students to participate in. These are great opportunities for students to socialise and engage in different activities. Students can turn up to some lunchtime clubs on the day, while others require booking.

We are looking for more volunteers for the Lego Club. In order for the Lego Club to run it requires a number of parent volunteers. If you are interested, please contact the office.

Monday

Lego Club

Kids Yoga (Booking Link)

Wednesday

Library Club

Thursday

Minecraft Club

Friday

Little Hearts Yoga (Booking Link)

THE SIGNAL

Issue 9 · 09 Oct 2019

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