Principal's Message

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back to Term Four.

My thanks to Ms Tingle, our Leadership team and staff for their wonderful work whilst I have been away. Many staff took on a range of leadership roles enabling the school to be in great hands during the term!

During the School Development Day staff undertook professional development around catering for students with specific learning disorders, worked with Mrs Johnson on STEM and then got together in phase of learning teams to look at assessment and moderation.

With the arrival of our remaining new E Boards staff had an interesting session recently learning all about the various features of these new machines which are now in each class to assist with the learning program.

This term all of the staff will also be engaged in writing Operational Plans in different subjects in preparation for 2021.

The school will return to the standard Reporting format for the end of the year.

During the term we have our Interschool Athletics, Edu-dance, Swimming lessons for Junior groups, Remembrance Day assembly along with our class and Book Prize assemblies, Graduation and Transition activities. A variety of excursions and incursions have been arranged and the P&C are looking at a P&C Camp Out on the oval as well.

The school had a special visitor at an Assembly recently. Mr David Kelly MLA, the Minister for Water, spoke to students along with members of the Water Corporation regarding various activities as well as a mural down on Samson Street [Not far from Hazel Orme] painted by Jackson Harvey, who won Lego Masters recently. The students eagerly asked many questions on his involvement not only with the mural but also with his efforts during Lego Masters.

All the best to the Athletics team comprising of students in Years 3-6 who are competing at East Hamilton Hill PS on Friday. Mrs Foster our PE Specialist has done a great job in preparing the team who will compete in Jumps, Throws, Running and Team games during the day against: Fremantle, Winterfold, Hilton, North Fremantle and EHHPS.

Our first Edu-dance session commences in week 2. Thank you to parents for your support for this activity which will run for 9 weeks.

Students in Years 4-6 will also have a series of tennis clinics through a Sporting Schools Grant. These lessons will run for 6 weeks and culminate in a visit to the new facilities at the Fremantle Tennis Club.

Thank you also, to those of you who were able to complete our School Survey. We undertake this, every two years for parents, staff and students in the older years. The information is shared with the School Board and helps guide our planning.

A group has been set up to look at the 120th Anniversary which will be in 2021. Activities being considered at present include a school fete, a reunion for former students, a large grounds project in the form of another play area for students as well as various curriculum activities. As a school and P&C we will keep our school community up to date with what is happening during the term.

The first P&C meeting for the term will be held on Wednesday at 7:00pm in the Library.

World Teachers’ Day is Thursday the 29th of October so if you have the chance, call in and say hello to your child’s teacher on this day.

Students are gearing up for a variety of activities for Italian Week which will be in week 4.

Our Library has a display of new books as part of a modified Book Week presentation. Call in to the Library to have a look at the wonderful display put together by Ms Gray our Library Officer.

Students arriving to school before 8:45am are asked to come to the Covered Assembly Area so they can be supervised by a staff member. We encourage students where possible though, to arrive around 8:45am so as to get ready for the day.

Lost property will be put out next week to find owners for a number of items. Parents are asked to do a quick check at home to see that the names are still legible on clothing so in the event that something is misplaced we can find an owner.

E-Safety

In light of recent publications in the press about how unsafe social media platforms can be for our children, I would strongly encourage you, as parents to be fully aware of how you can protect your children if they are allowed to access any online content. The eSafety Commissioner’s website is a resource that has been recommended for you to visit. https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents. As part of their Protective Behaviours program, teachers cover this subject from time to time during the school year. If you are concerned about your child’s mental health as a consequence of something they’ve seen whilst on an online platform, there are many organisations you can turn to for support;

• Kids Helpline. 1800 55 1800. Phone support is there all day, every day. Online support is open from 8am-midnight every day (AEST).
• Suicide Callback Service. 1300 659 467. Phone support all day, every day, and follow-up calls.
• eHeadspace. 1800 650 890. Open 9am-1am daily (AEST).
• Lifeline. 13 11 14. Phone support all day, every day. Online support 7pm-4am daily (AEST).
• Beyondblue. 1300 22 4636. Phone support all day, every day. Online support 3pm-midnight every day.