Dear families

Colour Run 

A huge thank you to everyone for their efforts at yesterday’s Colour Run and especially to the P&C Association team who put in a lot of work to make the event happen.  What a wonderful day filled with colour, laughs and a bit of competition between classes.  This event is an important fundraiser for the P&C Association. 

Please make sure that your children have selected their prizes for their fundraising efforts which can be done on the website if you have created a profile.  Go to www.myprofilepage.com.au

Keep an eye out for more photos in the next Newsletter!

 School Development Day

Today has been a highly productive school development day.  Teachers from Year 3-6 have attended the final day of the Sounds Write professional learning.  Our feedback has been overwhelmingly positive as we have learnt the importance of teaching children the correct pronunciation of sounds, how to breakdown words into their smallest sounds, and how to teach the different ways letters represent different sounds in words.  Think about it!  There are six ways to write the long a sound – a – apple, ai – rain, ea – break, ay – tray, a-e – cake, ei – reign.

The K-2 and specialist teachers used the time to write and collaborate for end of semester reports.

Some of the education assistants were involved in performance management meetings, created resources to use in the school, and began some of the end of year tidying up.

Assembly update

The next assembly will be held on Friday 20th November and will be presented by the children in Education Support Centre.

New PA systems

The PA system we use for assemblies and events is complex to operate and consequently, unreliable.  We have upgraded the system and the new PA will arrive at the school in late November.  It means that we will have better speakers, a system that everyone can operate, and the capacity to put up temporary speakers outside, and choir mics for performances.  I would like to thank ESC for contributing to the cost of this system. 

School Board news

Earlier this week we held our Board meeting.  At this time of the year we are at the tail end of the important things related to school business.  There was a timely reflection on the school review process as Board members and staff shared their thoughts about the document collation and what was talked about at the interviews with the directors.

Booklists, voluntary contributions and extra cost options

The booklists for 2021 have arrived and will be sent home to families on Monday 16 November 2020.  A few reminders:

Booklist items can be purchased from Ziggies in Joondalup or discount store such as Big W or K-Mart.  Ziggies offer online purchasing with all items delivered to your home address.  Ziggies have requested that orders be placed as soon as possible as Australia Post are often busy during the Christmas and back to school period.

A request from staff - If you are going to use a discount store please do not buy cheap pencils and textas.  It’s a small thing but cheaper stationery items don’t last and the pencils never sharpen.  You will need to replace them more often. 

Voluntary contributions can be paid when you submit the booklist or you can pay at the school office.  We will accept voluntary contributions at any time.  The voluntary contribution is $60 per child, $100 for two children, $150 for three and $200 for four in Term One only.  This money is used as a top up for the funding we receive from the Government and is put straight into school resources for all children.

The extra cost options letter is a list of the amounts of money that may be requested for events in 2021.  You do not need to pay any of this money until the events take place.  It is a Department requirement that we provide you with information about what you might be charged.

School photos

Earlier this week you received the order envelopes for Kapture who are taking the school photos next week.  Regardless of whether you order photos or not all children will have an individual photo and be part of the class photo.

Please make sure your children:

• Come to school in the correct uniform – no faction t-shirts.
• Bring the envelopes on the day so that Kapture know what you will be ordering.

We cannot retake class photos on the day that has not been allocated to the class, but we can arrange for individual portraits to be taken on the other day.

Please see the schedule below for when your child will be having their photo taken.

Remembrance Day

On Wednesday 11th November 2020 we are recognising Remembrance Day with a service at 9.00am.  Parents are welcome to attend.  The service will be led by the Student Councillors and the Choir will be singing.  

If you are attending, please remember to observe COVID-19 safety protocols by socially distancing between families.

ThinkUKnow parent workshop

Thank you to everyone who attended the parent workshop about the ThinkUKnow program.  It was a very worthwhile evening where we were reminded of the importance of supporting and monitoring our children so that they are safe when using a variety of online platforms. 

I would like to thank Mrs Nerelle Phillips who has been the Planner in Chief to make this opportunity available to our families.  Thank you Nerelle for organising the guest speakers, setting up the online booking system and coordinating the evening.