Principal's News

Dear Clayton North Primary School Community, 

We are well into the second half of Term 3 and the weather continues to go up and down, holding true to what we expect from the Melbourne winter!

Lots of great things are happening at the school once again this term as you will read in this newsletter. 

2023 Parent/Caregiver/ Guardian Survey

Each year, schools conduct an opinion survey with the school community. I invite all families (one parent per family) in the Clayton North community to provide us with your feedback as your opinion is important to us, and will contribute to the future management and organisation of our school. 

The online survey is available in English and in 10 other languages and will take about 20 minutes to complete. Please be assured that your responses are completely confidential and the school never sees your responses.

Thank you to families who have already responded to the survey. We would like more families to participate. You can complete the survey using the following link:

https://www.orima.com.au/parent

and use the PIN 751075

Year 5/6 Maths Games Day

Last Wednesday, I was privileged to accompany a team of four students, Charlie, Deepita, Panav and Zack, to Belgrave South Primary School to participate in a friendly competition against teams of Year 5/6 students from neighbouring schools. Students took part in several games that challenged their thinking and tested their mathematical abilities. I was very proud to see our students come in third out of 22 teams! This outcome validates the great teaching and learning our students receive at Clayton North Primary School! 

On Wednesday the 9th of August, Clayton North Primary School students, Panav, Zack, Deepita and Charlie, went to Belgrave South Primary School to participate in a competitive maths games day. We went with Sue and arrived around 9:45am. We were directed to a large shed, there was a set-up of around 20 tables. There were many other schools there, each with four representatives at their chosen table. Once all the schools had arrived, each table got a bag with counters. These would suffice as our points, and at the end of the day, the team with the most points would win the competition.

We started straight away and began a maths puzzle: we were asked to place the numbers 1 to 9 on a 3 by 3 grid, so that the sum of the numbers in each vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines were divisible by 2. After solving it, we were given a follow-up activity, which resembled the previous one, only that the sum of the numbers now needed to be divisible by 9.

The second game was less challenging, but somehow more difficult. Each team was given a letter from A to N, which would represent their group during the activity. Students were instructed to pick a number from 1 to 10 using cards, and one member from each group would stand in a line in alphabetical order. The selected member would call out their number once it was their turn, and if no other teams chose the same number, they would get the points equivalent to their number. If any numbers were chosen more than once, the teams that chose them received no points. Our team won with 16 points. 

The activities became more challenging as we went through the day, and we finally arrived at the last activity, the one that would determine the winner. We each took one counter from our bag and left our table to go play against other students. In this game, we had a 4 by 4 square board and a pile of transparent squares in the middle. Each square had its own value, which, at the end of the game, we would add up to evaluate our final scores. We took turns choosing and placing 1 to 3 squares on our boards, based on colours. After everyone had picked 15 with 1 square left empty, we then had to add the values of each row and column together. The person with the highest number would be the winner and would receive all the other players’ counters. 

Before they announced the winners, the facilitator, Andrew, finished the day with a cool trick that involved the audience picking a random 3-digit number. Andrew wrote something on a piece of paper and told us that after we had gone through all the steps, we would arrive at this very number. And, sure enough, following several steps, he revealed to us the paper on which he wrote the first number, which was the number we arrived at! 

After all the events came to an end, we were all instructed to sit at our tables for the final reveal of the top 3 winners. As suspense began to build, Andrew announced the 3rd place winners - Clayton North Primary School! As representatives of our school, we are very proud of our achievement in coming 3rd place in the Maths Games Day Competition. Congratulations to all team members, well done!

Zack Carey, Panav Singla, Deepita Rohini, Charlie Lou

2023 Camp Australia Big Art Competition

Camp Australia, which provides the after-school care program at our school, ran the Big Art Competition, which opened for entries across Australia in mid-June. More than 1700 entries were judged by a panel and major prize winners were announced in the Junior and Senior categories. 

Manu Vuppaladadiyam of Year 1/2B was a runner-up in the Junior Artist (7yo and under) category. Congratulations to Manu!

Principals' Day - thank you!

I was overwhelmed and deeply humbled by the many cards and messages from students and the scrumptious spread of goodies that staff organised for morning tea, for Principals' Day on Friday 4th August! Although my principal term has only just begun, I have grown to love and appreciate the community that is Clayton North. The children are smiling and cheerful every day and the staff go above and beyond to provide a great experience for them. I am proud to be leading this amazing learning community!

2024 Year 5/6 BYOD Program

Our current planning and discussions for 2024 include the introduction of a Bring Your Own Device Program for our senior students. Not only will BYOD create new opportunities for learning, but the program will also help prepare students for secondary school, where they are expected to be able to use their devices on a daily basis. 

We would like your feedback on this proposal and invite parents/guardians of our current Year 4 and Year 5 students to let us know what you think by scanning the QR code and completing this short survey:

                                                                    Sue Simadri