2 November 2017

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Welcome to week four of what has been a busy term so far. We hope you enjoy reading the information in this newsletter.

We were fortunate to have the expertise of Dame Pat Collarbone last week to work with the staff and School Board. During the sessions the Staff and Board contributed to discussions about developing targets for the new Business Plan 2018-2020 including the three areas of Quality Teaching and Learning, Quality Partnerships and Quality Resource. It is exciting to see greater empowerment, autonomy and engagement from the School Community as we grow in working as an Independent Public School.

The results of our parent and teacher surveys have been very pleasing. We had an increase in responses that has grown from 7 in 2014 to 119 in 2017! I would like to thank the Board members who worked with our parent community to answer the survey. Most of our parents agreed that their children felt safe at school and they were satisfied with the leadership, teaching and learning. Parents were satisfied with the school communication methods and we would like to further strengthen our community involvement.

The Placement Panel met in week one to review the applications for a place at one of our PLDS sites. Successful applicants will be invited to attend our Induction Days and Kindy Café’s at Port Kennedy, Rockingham, Pinjarra and Mandurah. As our enrolment numbers will possibly increase, we are looking to have an additional classroom at the RLPS site.

Mrs Harper is busy at the moment organising Transition visits for our year three and exiting students. This is an exciting time for them to visit their home schools and make some new friends for 2018.

As our planning is underway for 2018 it's very important that parents let us know if you are considering moving schools next year. Could you please let the front desk know by this Friday 3rd November if your child won't be attending PLDS in 2018.

We hope you enjoy reading the exciting news from all our sites in this newsletter. I would like to thank our staff for your wonderful efforts in these events. Students at RLPS campus have been learning about statistics and probability and had lots of fun predicting the outcome of the games. The students and staff at the Pinjarra campus joined in the Great Billy Cart Race on Tuesday! Students at Mandurah have been learning about Aboriginal culture, creating art works and learning about Noongar language. Our students at the Bungaree campus have been learning more about Australia including exploring some dreamtime stories.

Enjoy the warm weather and we look forward to seeing you and the Junior Assembly this week.

RLPS

In PP1 this term we have been learning about Statistics and Probability. Last week, we played the game Pie Face. First we made a prediction of whether Miss Daly will, might or won’t lose the game. Most of us predicted Miss Daly might lose the game.

During the game, we tallied the number of times Miss Daly lost the game and the number of times she won. We then graphed our results and answered questions to assist us in interpreting the data.

Our results were.. Miss Daly won the game 18 times! But she lost 3 times. We all agreed that Miss Daly loosing was our favourite part of the activity.

Fruit and Veg Picnic

Crunch&Sip is a set break to eat fruit or salad vegetables and drink water in the classroom. Students re-fuel with fruit or vegetables during the morning or afternoon, assisting physical and mental performance and concentration in the classroom. This gives kids a chance to refuel, a bit like putting petrol in a car. On Friday 20th October, the students at the Rockingham Lakes campus took part in a Fruit n Veg picnic where they were able to try a variety of different fruits and vegetables. The students had a great time eating some delicious, healthy food and everything got eaten!

Ben Voges
Health and Physical Education Teacher

Pinjarra Campus

The Great Billy Cart Race at Pinjarra

Tuesday the 31st of October was a very special day at Pinjarra Primary School; the car park was transformed into a race track in preparation for a field of 32 Billy cart teams ready to compete for some amazing prizes. Room 30 chose the theme of clowns and the work on “Clowning Around” began. Prior to the big race the students, Mrs Rose and Mrs Cudby painted shirts to match our billycart. A special thank you must go to our resident face painter Mrs Butler, for her amazing talent of transforming the students from room 30 from amazing happy students to even happier clowns. An enormous Thank-you must also go to Mr Lacase, Mr Douglas, Mr Gray and Mr Racco for their work on sourcing materials and constructing the billy cart. Once again this event was supported by our wonderful parents who I am sure would have been extremely proud of their children’s behaviour and achievements on the big day.

Pinjarra Dental Centre

Year 6 students

The Dental Therapy Centre sees students through high school until the end of year 11 or until they turn 17 (whichever comes first).

High school students receive appointments via post to their home addresses.

If your address has changed in the last 12 months you must contact the Pinjarra Dental Therapy Centre on 9531 1846 to update your details.

Christmas Holidays 2017/ 2018

The Pinjarra Dental Therapy Centre will be closed from Thursday 21st December 2017 to Monday the 1st February 2018.

Any emergencies during that period please phone the Mt Henry Dental Therapy Centre on 9313 0551 or alternatively your private practice.

We wish all our patients a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Mandurah Campus

Room 14

In Term 4, Room 14 PLDS at Mandurah has been working together with Room 5 from Mandurah Primary School to learn more about Aboriginal culture in our area and to create art works based on Aboriginal Dreamtime stories. The two classes and their teachers meet once a week for an hour and work together on art and cultural activities. The classes are currently creating ‘story sticks’. This process will take several weeks as each session builds on the previous one. So far students have painted the background for their story stick, they have listened to Aboriginal stories, learnt about how symbols are used in Aboriginal art and have created their own story that they will paint on their story stick. Some very brave Room 14 students stood in front of both classes to share their draft copy of their story.

As well as art the children have been learning local Noongar Aboriginal words as well as creating art. They have learnt greeting words such as ‘Kaya’ (hello), ‘Wanjoo (welcome) and animal words such as ‘yongka’ (kangaroo).

Working together with the mainstream students has enabled Room 14 children to make new friends and to have opportunities to further develop their language and social skills in a different setting. The students in Room 14 thoroughly enjoy working with their new friends each week! Watch this space to see the finished story sticks.

Bungaree Campus

Student in Rooms 3 and 4 have been learning about Australia in Geography. We have been looking at Australian States, Territories and capital cities. We have also been studying local areas within the Rockingham community to explore places familiar to students.

In Room 2, students explored Australian Dreamtime stories and learnt about Outback Australia. They have created some beautiful artworks.

Some of our hardworking Room 1 students were lucky to receive the first Platinum awards presented to students at the Bungaree campus this year. Well Done boys!! All your hard work has paid off. We are so proud of you!

Voluntary Contributions

Thank you to all those families who have already paid their voluntary contributions for this year. Reminders of Voluntary Contributions have been sent out to all families with balances outstanding. If you have not already done so prompt payment would be greatly appreciated. If you are experiencing difficulties please contact the office on 9593 9030 as soon as possible if you would like to arrange a payment plan.

You can pay by cash, cheque or online banking: Account Name: Peel Language Development School BSB: 036074 Account Number: 226824 Please remember to include your child’s surname and initial with the payment.

School Bus Service

Save your Seat for 2018 – School Bus Service

If your child is currently on the bus and will be at the Peel Language Development School next year you do not need to reapply. If you wish to access the School Bus Services for 2018 APPLY BY Friday 10th November.

SAVE YOUR SEAT – How to apply for School Bus Services (SBS)

SBS will assess your application against the appropriate criteria to determine eligibility for travel on a school bus or for a Conveyance Allowance.

Apply Online:

1. Click on the “Parents” section
2. Select the “How to Apply” Section

If you don’t have access to the Internet at home you can access resources at your local library.

School Bus Services (08) 9326 2625
Public Transport Authority

Crunch and Sip

School Nurse

In Australia, drowning is the number one cause of death for children under five. To keep your children safe around water:

• Always stay with your children and watch carefully when they are near water, even if they can swim.
• Teach your children about water safety and make sure they learn how to swim.
• Have the whole family learn first aid.
• If you have a pool have it fenced with self-closing gates.
• Never leave them alone in the bath.

The Education Department offers low-cost VacSwim programs for school aged children. For more information on swimming lessons during summer via VacSwim go to the link below and for water safety tips see the Life Saving WA website:

Relationships Australia

“Parent-Teen Connection” Cost: $50 pp, $75 p/couple

We’ve all gone through adolescence-do we remember?

• Behaviours and tasks of adolescence;
• Developing a helpful perspective on adolescence;
• Handling conflict; and
• Discipline.

Date: Saturday 4 November 2017 Time: 9.30am to 4.30pm

“Kids & Today's Technology” Cost: $30 pp

A seminar for parents of kids between 2 and 18 years!

• Family conversation starters around technology;
• Managing screen time;
• Cyber bullying, predatory behaviours & safety;
• Social media – how it works & control measures available; and
• How to keep yourself up to date with technology.

Date: Thursday 9 November 2017 Time: 6.30pm to 9.00pm

“Rock & Water Program” Cost: $70 p/couple (one adult/one child)

This program of physical exercises leads from simple self-defence, boundary and communication exercises to a strong notion of self-confidence.

Date: Saturday 11 November 2017 Time: 8.30am to 12.30pm
Where: 22 Southport St, West Leederville

Bookings are essential – please phone 6164 0200 to enrol