From the Principal

Welcome to IPS

Welcome to another edition of "Inside Ivanhoe". 

Just another day at Ivanhoe Primary School. Just before yard duty, I went for a walk down to check out the new play equipment. On my way I saw Mrs Morrow and Mrs Bonetti working with children learning strings. Mr Pearce was holding an AFL training session with some of our female footy enthusiasts, and of course OSHC children were  already on the new playground. Lunchtime saw the Library open for quiet activities and the Hall open for active games. Today many of our children competed at the district swimming sports at Watermarc and there is an update on the Swimming Page of this newsletter. More information next week.

The first meeting of School Council was held in the Collaboration Space and the first order of business was to elect the executive office bearers. Our President is Nina Bosco, Vice President is Belinda Hill and the Treasurer is Anton Wolmarans.

The Assistant Principal, Pam Wright, presented our 2022 NAPLAN data and I walked School Council through our 2023 Annual Implementation Plan.

There are Sub Committees of School Council, and if you would like to join one of them pleae speak with Pam, myself or any member of School Council. 

Your School Councillors are: 

Anton Wolmarans - parent of Monje in Year 3

Jingren Wu - parent of Steven in Year 3

Justine Convery - parent of William in Foundation M

Mehran Ahmadi - parent of Sivan in Year 2 and Nian in Year 1

Rajesh Rajagopal - parent of Ross in Year 4 and Ruxin in Year 1

Stuart Cross - parent of Harvey in Year 1

Nina Bosco - parent of Christian and Alexander in Year 3

Belinda Hill - parent of Petra in Year 4

Sue Kelly - Learning Specialist

Luisa Di Giovine – Teacher

Marie Morrow - Teacher

Pam Wright - Assistant Principal

Mark Kent - Principal

Thank you

Huge Working Bee effort

Thank you to the families and staff who attended the Working Bee on Saturday. Many students helped with the work. Among other things, they spread 13 metres square of softfall underneath the new playground enabling it to be opened today for the first time. Filled the extremely popular sandpit at the top of the school. Painted a green screen in the Year 6 area of The Beehive. They sanded seating and undercoated them ready for painting. The team gardened, got rid of rubbish and cleaned drinking troughs. The entire community appreciates your efforts.

Donation of pet food by Royal Canin 

We hear from the children every day just how loved the family cat or dog is in the home. I am delighted to let you know that we have some cat and dog food kindly donated by Royal Canin that is available to be distributed to families across IPS. It looks like a mix of wet and dry food. The food is scientifically formulated. We recommend checking in with your veterinarian prior to transitioning your pet to any new diet. If your pet is already on the diets arriving, then come and grab a bag! For any questions, contact Nina Bosco on 0413 599 189. It will be first in, first served. 😊 

Tennis equipment donation

Thank you to Kasia, mother of Stella B (3O) and Eve B (1R) for their generous donation of tennis raquets and tennis balls to our PE program.

Thai Embassy Visit

Last year the Thai Embassy welcomed our Year 6s and staff in Canberra and treated us to a cultural experience that I think we will all remember forever. It is rare to be invited to an Embassy so of course we were keen to show our appreciation. 

The students signed an IPS uniform and we had it framed with a plaque and sent it to them. The ambassador and her staff were thrilled to receive it. 

Our students were so respectful and engaged that I think we may be invited back when Year 6 go to Canberra later in the year.

In order to keep costs down for participants, Year 6 will hold a fundraising event soon! Check out the Year 6 - Innovative and entrepreneurial page of this  edition of "Inside Ivanhoe." Stay tuned for more information on how we can all help.

We have an amazing community. The following are some ways you can join in our social activities and meet up.

Coming up : IPS Barefoot Bowls 

"Lock into your social calendar the IPS Barefoot Bowls event on Sunday 19th March at the Ivanhoe Bowls Club (Located 1-11 John Street Ivanhoe). 

This social event is a fun afternoon for the community to come together over a drink, food and bowls with plenty of space for the kids to run around.

There will be a savoury food truck and an icecream van available with drinks purchased at the club bar. Pending numbers, the PFA will also organise a sausage sizzle with additional free icypoles for the kids!"

2023 FAIR NEWS

You may need to click on the picture to make it bigger. Or downlad the PDF.

Get your child talking positively about school

"How was school today? Boring" 

"What did you do today ? Nothing"

Sound familiar?

Don't give in! Below are 30 ways to say "How was your day?"

How you can help develop your child’s literacy and numeracy skills.

HELPING YOUR CHILD TO READ

Reading together

Reading together is a valuable thing to do. Reading increases your childs vocabulary, expands your child’s understanding of the world, and gives them confidence when using language. Reading is also an important way to make the link between spoken words and written words.

Here are some general tips:

• Visit your local library to select and read books together, and to attend story time sessions. Library story time sessions are a great way to share the joy of reading with your child in a group setting.
• Encourage your child to select books, magazines, catalogues, or multimedia stories according to their interests.
• Set aside time for reading every day. Reading before bedtime is a good habit to get into.
• Position yourself so your child can see the words and the pictures.
• Run your finger across the page with each word to help your child identify and remember words and sounds.
• Share wordless picture books to develop imagination, ideas and vocabulary by naming and describing things in pictures.
• Look for rhyme, rhythm or repetition in books. This will help develop your child’s love of language.
• When reading to your child, read stories with expression, or try putting on the voices of characters. This will help make reading fun.
• Point out important features about a book – for example, the words and pictures, the front cover, the spine, the contents page, or the title.
• Explore words using a dictionary.
• Encourage your child to take over some or all of the reading if they feel confident.
• If your child is confident with their reading, allow them to read without interruption. Fluency is gained with confidence. Mistakes can be discussed after a block of reading, or in subsequent readings.
• Allow your child to read at their own pace. Model good pace when you read to them.
• Give your child the opportunity to re-read books.

Finally

Recess and Lunchtime Play : The three key skills to making and maintaing friendships.

Friendship skills include sharing, taking turns, cooperating, listening and sorting out disagreements. Your child can practise friendship skills by playing with you and also with other children. Sometimes you might need to help sort out friendship difficulties

Consider practising strategies to help them make friends.  I googled and found the following:

Ways to Help Your Child Make Friends in School

1. Take time to observe and understand how your child socialises.
2. Model positive social behavior.
3. Role play at home.
4. Reinforce and praise sharing and playing nicely.
5. Get the ball rolling and organise play outside of school.
6. Don't avoid the problem but try not to make it a bigger issue.
7. Don't compare your child to yourself or other siblings.
8. Work with the school and teacher if you have concerns.

Be kind to someone today. And everyday.

Mark Kent

Principal