Dear families

Christmas Carols and Arts Night

What a wonderful celebration of our Visual Art and Music programs!  The students’ Carols performance was brilliant and seeing student art displayed on the screens was excellent.  The students learning Indonesian did a wonderful job of playing the angklungs.

A huge thank you to Mrs Helen Sweet, Visual Art teacher, and Miss Rhiannon O’Connor, Music teacher, for all of their hard work that resulted in a great community night.  Thank you to Ibu Maria Mulyana, Indonesian teacher, for leading the angklung performance.  These teachers were supported by many staff who organised their classes, and helped with set up and pack away. 

Thank you to the P&C Association for organising such a great raffle and selling the candles.  Their support is always welcomed and valued.

A very special thank you to Candlewood IGA who donated sausages and sauce.

Thank you also to Joondalup Resort, Mindarie Marina, Weigh’npay, Elite Physiotherapy and Exercise in Iluka, Weddings, Parties and Events, and Best Bodies in Currambine who generously donated prizes.

Farewell

Today we say a very sad farewell to Carolyn White, our Canteen Manager.  Carolyn has been part of the school community for 12 years and has served thousands of recesses and lunches, made cupcakes for birthdays, and catered for events.  Perhaps most importantly, Carolyn has always shown great kindness to the children and staff.  Carolyn will be missed by all of us and we wish her every happiness as she moves onto new things and spends time with her family.

Yarning Circle and mural

The mural is the Six Noongar Seasons:  Birak (December-January), Bunuru (February-March). Djeran (April-May), Makuru (June-July), Djilba (August-September), Kambarang (October-November).

It is Birak which means that there are hot and dry winds during the day and south-west sea breezes in the afternoon.  The rains ease up and the warm weather takes hold.

Classes for 2021

Planning for 2021 is well underway.  Based upon our student numbers the Department of Education has provided information about how much money we expect to receive.  Knowing this allows us to make decisions about staff and class structure.  I anticipate that the classes will be:

This structure is subject to there being very little change to student numbers.  A significant difference either up or down means that this structure cannot be used.  There are also a few teachers roles that need to be filled and the process is still underway with the Department.

Many teachers will be physically moving classes.  The removalists are coming on Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 December 2020.  Prior to those dates staff will begin to pack up their classrooms. 

We need packing boxes.  Please send any spare boxes to school where they will be put to good use.

Draft class lists are being written during the coming week.  Class lists will be displayed on pin boards in the undercover area on Friday 29January 2021 at 2.30pm.  The school’s policy about class allocation is attached to this newsletter.

There may be some concern amongst parents around split classes. It is important that all parents are aware that contrary to some beliefs there is no disadvantage to a student being in a split class.  In fact, there are some distinct advantages to composite classes.  Key to all of this is the quality of the teacher and the learning program that makes the greatest difference outside of what the student brings with them to school.  The nature of the Western Australian Curriculum allows teachers to plan for individual, group and whole class activities suited to their stage of development.  Teachers are well used to catering for different learning styles and various learning rates.  Classes, including split classes, are established with the full range of student ability.

 Staff news

I am very pleased to advise the school that Ms Maureen Lahti has made a wonderful recovery from surgery and will be returning to school next week for three days.  Mrs Heidi Cobbledick will be continuing to work in the class room.

Room 8 has had a wonderful time with Miss Mel Dichiera on Wednesdays.  She is a highly capable teacher and everyone has enjoyed having someone who contributes to school events, works with others, and take great care with the children.  I am sure that we will see Miss D back in the school in the not too distant future.

Fun Day

As part of the Year 6s Economics program, the students have developed small business where they needed to sell something to customers.  There has been lots of work behind the scenes with children writing proposal documents, making sure that they had all of the supplies, and being able to sell things on the day.  Well done to all of the Year 6s for a great afternoon, they made a whopping $2,229! The money raised will go towards next years Year 6 Camp. Thank you to Mr Easther, Miss Mercer, Mrs Egan and Miss Sivic providing the children this opportunity.

Swimming lessons

The last swimming lessons for Year 6 children was held today.  For the next two weeks, children from Years 2 to 5 will be going to HBF Arena for their lessons.  Please make sure that you children come to school with everything they need – bathers, towel, thongs, goggles.  The children are going to swimming lessons class by class and every group will have a teacher and education assistant with them.  Thank you to all of the families who have made prompt payments and returned their forms.

Assembly update

The final assembly will be held on Friday 11 December 2020 at 8.50am.  The program includes a choir performance, honour certificates and the announcement of the 2021 School Captains, Choir Captains and Faction Captains.