Premiers' Reading Challenge

Our school will be once again participating in the Premiers' Reading Challenge. Over the coming weeks, your child will be given their log in details and information will be available about how to log in and start recording what they are reading. We would love every child at DPS to complete the challenge this year, and we can only achieve this with your support.

This challenge is a great opportunity to encourage children to read more books and to try new books. Our school library has an amazing array of books that are part of the challenge as do the local libraries. I'm sure many of you have many of the challenge books in your homes too. Keep an eye out for these stickers on library books which indicates that the book is part of the challenge.

Happy Reading!

Current World & Local News for Students

The Herald Sun has a fabulous website called Kids News that has articles about current news events written specifically for children. There are 3 levels of articles depending on your child's reading ability and questions at the end of each article. If you haven't visited the Kids News website, be sure to check it out with your child.

https://www.kidsnews.com.au/

Writing Competitions

Is your child a keen writer? If so, there are plenty of writing competitions available for them to enter. Here are a couple that your child might be interested in:

KSP Spooky Story Comp (Entries close 13 March 2024)

Young writers up to 17 years of age: You must be an Australian resident to enter this competition. Entry must be maximum 500 words.

The judges will be looking for good quality original, unpublished writing with engaging characters and a compelling narrative including an excellent beginning, middle and end. Entries should address the set theme: Don’t look up.

For more details Check out the entry requirements

What Matters?

The brief: submit fiction, non-fiction, poetry or prose of up to 600 words on an issue of significance to you.

Open to: students from Year 5 to Year 12 undertaking Primary or Secondary education in Australia.

Cost: Free.

Prizes: includes virtual author visits, writing workshops, the opportunity to shadow political speechwriters and journalists, books and opportunities for your school, and a major cash prize of $1500.

Closing date: Friday 17 May 2024.

More information: Check out the What Matters Writing Competition page for more details and to download an entry form for the state in which you live. You might also like to check out their competition guidelines, which include some great advice on how to write a winning entry.

Speaking & Listening

We are hoping to participate in the Lions Junior Public Speaking competition this year. Students in years 3-6 will begiven a topic to prepare a speech about. They will present this to their peers. A couple of students will then be given the opportunity to represent our school the next level of competition. This is an exciting opportunity for our students to develop their public speaking skills. More information will be available in the coming months.

If you would like any further details about any of the above information, please don't hesitate to reach out to me (sarah.hodgson@education.vic.gov.au)

From the Music Room…

Mrs Keep