Hi Miss Mac,

Please take the below into consideration.

Kind regards, 1-22

Dear 1-22,

Thank you for sending me such a heartfelt email.

The heading made your idea very clear and then your points really helped me understand your point of view.

I can understand the benefits of having a dog from your perspective, so thank you.

I agree with all three of your points, sadly though, I have to consider some things you may not have thought about.

Who would look after the dog at night, on weekends and on the holidays?
Who would pay for the food for the dog?
Who would take it to the vet and pay the bill if the dog was sick or injured?
Could we be sure that the other kids would be respectful and not tease and upset the dog? We couldn’t have anyone frightened or bitten by the dog.
Last of all …who would pick up the dog poo?

As a dog lover myself, I completely agree with the benefits of having a dog, however I must also look at the practical side of things too.

All the best,

Ms McInerney

Miss Mac,

Thanks for your reply. We have thought about your concerns and come up with some solutions.

We have all volunteered (except for William) to look after the dog a WEEK at a time to make sure it gets the care it needs.
We are all going to save $1 of pocket money a week to pay for the dog food.
Mr Poyser would take it and the extra money from the food will pay the bills!
Of course, because kids at our school live by the school’s values!
We will run over it with a mower like Mr Poyser does for Zali at home.

We hope this convinces you!

Your favourite class,

1-22

Pressure is on as I will need to think of an appropriate answer soon!

World Autism Awareness Week

Last Sunday, March 21, was World Down Syndrome Day

People all around the world celebrated the lives and achievements of people with Down syndrome and raised awareness about the rights and inclusion of people with Down syndrome around the world.

The idea that we 'SEE THE ABILITY' of those living with a disability, is a great way to think and act as it encourages us to focus on the positives.

At school some classes shared a book, This is Ella, to promote discussion with students about why inclusion is important.

On this idea of inclusion and raising awareness, I also received a well thought through letter while we were in lockdown last year.

Dear Ms McInerney,

My name is Heidi … I'm one of the students at the school, I'm in … with Mrs De Cata. I am writing this letter to you because I know for a fact that we have students with autism at our school. It got me thinking about my class last year and one of my classmates who told us that he has autism. When I met him for the first time, I was pretty much wondering why he was acting so different and why does he have a different learning pattern? When he said he has autism, I was pretty much confused. I NEVER knew what that meant. After school, I asked mum what it meant, she explained to me in a short sentence, what I've understood was that things were a little bit different to him and harder to understand, that I have to be understanding, show him the same respect as all my other classmates. Until now, this is all I knew about autism.

Recently, I've started thinking about, what will my next writing piece be about, and it popped in my head, something that I saw on the news about autism, then my classmate from last year came into my mind, all these thoughts started to come to my head: I thought about, how was he feeling in the class? As well as his emotions, was it hard for him to make friends? I had all these other questions that came into my mind. So I did my research, I know more about autism, how some of these kids are feeling and how are they finding the school.

Ms McInerney, I'm sure that you know more about autism than me, since we have students at our school. It's hard to believe that 71% of the children with autism go to mainstream schools. In that case, all mainstream schools’ teachers including our teachers at PPPS MUST have more training in how to teach these students, the teachers SHOULD have an extra helper in the class and we should write a letter to our Prime Minister so we can get BETTER funding for our school. After today's Webex meeting with Mrs De Cata, it got me thinking MORE. If we have so many kids in our mainstream schools who are with autism, we also MUST have a day of awareness, so all the other students can learn and know, what it means to have autism, and how to understand their schoolmates BETTER and be there for them. So Ms McInerney, can you PLEASE together with the teachers at our school MAKE SURE that we have that educational day for all the students? I'll be happy if we make it once a year.

I know that "The World Awareness Day" is on April 2nd. I'm hoping that our school would also be part of this day, and we should ALL wear blue that represents the support of all the kids at our school.

Thank you,

Kind regards, Heidi from 4-30 at PPPS

For 2021, we know that World Autism Awareness Week is from 29 March to 4 April, the last week of term 1. Naturally the focus is on raising awareness and developing an understanding of living with Autism. Classes may be able to include activities next week that will help develop students’ understanding of how Autism impacts on people’s lives.

Most of our staff at PPPS have completed professional learning at the Northern School for Autism and Kalparrin Intervention Services. These programs as well as many others both face to face and online, coupled with professional reading and handover meetings in December, help our staff be aware of the challenges and interests of each student.

National Day Against Bullying

Inclusion and respect for minority groups were also part of the Bullying – No Way! where our students were involved in last Friday. We joined a record 6276 schools across Australia for the 2021 National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (NDA). Millions of students, their staff and school communities across the nation also shared their bullying prevention strategies and raised awareness among their school community. We all have a role in supporting students to foster values of kindness and respect as being integral to safe and supportive school environments.

There are so many worthy causes that directly involve or impact on students and families here at PPPS. Generally, the Junior School Council members consult with the students and then determine the focus for raising awareness and fundraising during the year. We are always grateful to the students and families who support these special event days.

Whittlesea City Little Athletics Championships

Congratulations to Abby (3-27) and the many other students in the PPPS family who participated in Whittlesea City Little Athletics Championships last weekend. I have it from a reliable source that they did an amazing job and that we can be very proud of them all and what they have achieved.

Zack from 6-7 and Ben from 2-17 also had an amazing weekend and 20/21 Season at Northern Stars!

Ben (Under 8 Boys) came 1st place in shot put, 1st place in both the 70 and 100m runs, and 2nd place in high jump. Ben also came 3rd place overall in the City of Whittlesea.

Zack (Under 12 Boys) came 1st place in high jump, 1st place in discus and 2nd place in 1500 meter run.

Best of luck to all our kids for next season.

Term 1 is nearly over, and I know that many kids and families are tired and are really looking forward to a change in routine.

I hope you have the opportunity over Easter and the school holidays to reconnect with each other, your family and your friends.

Be kind to yourself and each other,

Claire

Claire McInerney

Principal

Plenty Parklands PS

3-28 Science