Welcome Launchers to our first newsletter for 2023. It has been wonderful to see our students return after the break, with enthusiasm and gusto for learning. We have also welcomed a number of new students to our school, both in Prep and across our classes. Welcome to these students and their families.

Welcome BBQ

Thank you so much to all our families who attended the welcome BBQ on Thursday evening. It was so lovely to have the opportunity to catch up with most of you and have a chat. Whilst an informal event, opportunities such of these allow nice catch ups to happen between parents, staff and students. Thank you to Audrey, Sonia and Ala for their work on the barbeque.

Chess Club

Chess Club has started up again this week and we have had several nominations across the school from students who wish to attend. Given the sheer number of nominations this term we will concentrate on including students in Years 3 - 6. In Term Two we plan to host mostly Year 1/2 students.

Chess Club runs from 10:45 - 11:30am (15 mins of class time and 30 mins of recess) on Wednesdays. Students are taught chess strategies and techniques. Students who self nominate are required to demonstrate commitment to the program by attending weekly for that term. This program is funded using Equity Funding our school receives from the Department of Education and Training.

'World of Maths' Incursion

On Thursday we welcomed Noah to our school to run a fun problem solving session with our class groups. Noah brought with him a variety of different puzzles and challenges for us to try. From covering a mouse with cube nets, to exploring a model house with many doors the activities were hands on. This was a great way to kick start our focus on Mathematics for 2023. This program was a part of our Maths learning program for Term One and was hence school funded.

'Get to know you' Parent/Teacher Interviews

Next Thursday evening we are welcoming parents/carers to school for our first round of interviews. This is a great opportunity for parents to meet up with their child's teacher and share information around:

the goals you have for your child
emotional/wellbeing factors that your child's teacher should be aware of

Teachers are really happy to answer questions about our learning programs, classroom routines or year level expectations.

I'll be available on the evening, so if there is anything further please don't hesitate to drop by.

Twilight Tour - Meet 'n' Greet

On Thursday 2nd March we will be holding a Twilight Tour/Information Evening at school, in which we are welcoming the local community and in particular potential families with a child who will begin school in 2024. Please see the flyer below and click the link to RSVP.

This excerpt below is from a book ‘10 Steps to develop great learners: Visible learning for parents’ by John Hattie and Kyle Hattie. Each newsletter I would like to share a little bit with you about how you can support your children to be great learners.

Mindframe Three: I am not alone.

You are not alone. The world today is one of instant connections to billions, where oceans and borders are no longer barriers, and often with a tyranny of closeness. Parents have oodles of websites, forums, Facebook advice and so much more to advise them - not that this is necessarily a good thing given the often inconsistent and conflicting advice, which may or may not be based on valid and reliable evidence. It's easy to find something that will reinforce existing beliefs.

Further, your child is not alone. Children are brought up in a huge village today, with siblings, friends, avatars, television, and sometimes imaginary friends. It is through others that your child's world view can expand dramatically, make them so different from each other, and from whom they learn so much. Indeed, making friends is among the most important learning for a child - a lonely child is a horrible scenario. The skills of friendship can be taught particularly by parents modeling friendships with other adults.

When children are about to become adolescents, the importance of friends increases exponentially. This is because the purpose of friendship changes - a friend now becomes a soul mate, a person to share stories and confidences with, a person to try out new ideas and who can give and withstand rebuffs and who can enhance your child's sense of self. We call this phase 'reputation enhancement'. Building a reputation is important to teenagers - it is how they want their peers to see them. For those adolescents who have built a reputation to be enhanced by peers, this has its ups and downs. More worrying, though. are those adolescents who do not have a reputation to enhance: This more than likely means they won't have friends, and life can be a lonely place for them.

Some interesting thoughts here about the importance of peer relationships especially for our Year 5/6 students.

See you around our place!

Birthdays

A child’s birthday is a very special occasion and every fortnight we will share this celebration. Happy Birthday to the following students who celebrated their special day for July.