21 May 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Welcome to week four of term 2. The weather has certainly been amazing for the time of year and it has been great to see all students outdoors in the sunshine each recess and lunch rather than indoors with wet weather. A reminder that this is a short term with only 9 weeks and the last day of school will be Friday the 29th of June.

Year three students have completed their Naplan tests this week and we thank families for supporting them through this process with lots of early nights and healthy lunches.

At last weeks assembly at our Rockingham Lakes Campus, we announced the winner of our annual bike raffle for those families who had paid their school fees. Congratulations to our winner Amitiel who is from our Bungaree campus. We thank Mr Paul Papalia CSC MLA Member for Warnbro for his generous donation and Mr Denis Terrell for presenting it on his behalf.

The school board held their Annual Public Meeting last Thursday where we tabled the Annual Report and our new Business Plan for review. Both reports will be available on line and at the front office in due course. We thank the members of the public who attended to find out more about becoming a board member.

The Annual PLDS Open Day will be held on Monday June 11 when Mrs Collins will be back on board. The purpose of the Open Day is to inform members of the community; parents, other schools and allied health professionals about the services we offer and how to access them. Please see this newsletter and local newspapers for details.

With seasonal bugs starting to make an appearance we are reinforcing the DOE hand washing policy in all classes to encourage children to wash their hands before eating and after going to the toilet or blowing their noses etc. If you frequently use hand cleansing gels when out and about with your children we are happy for you to provide your child their own for use in class.

Later this term teachers will be completing the AEDC (Australian Early Development Census) for all of our Pre Primary children. Parent notes have been sent home to all parents and caregivers affected, and further information is provided in this newsletter. Should you require more information please access the link below or contact Amanda Whelan, 9523 7830.

Lastly, a couple of reminders for parents about behaviour on school grounds. We understand that parking is at a premium around the school currently however plans are in place to improve this and in the meantime we ask that parents do not park in bays marked for staff or ambulant visitors to the school. Rockingham Lakes campus is welcoming students on site from 8.25 AM when classrooms will be open. Students should not be on site without an adult before 8.15 AM. Between 8.15 AM and 8.25 AM students will be supervised by admin in the library and must report here to sign in. A reminder that we do have before and after school care at our RLPS campus. One final plea, could parents please keep noise and disruption to a minimum outside classes when waiting to collect or drop off students. As staff are often conducting meetings in classes before or after school could you please be mindful of disruptions at these times also.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week.

Important information for Parents

Chaplain

RLPS Campus

Last week the Year 3’s participated in their first NAPLAN tests. Every one of them tried their best and participated in every test. Well done.

Last Term the students in 3.4 were really interested in Ancient Egypt. We had an investigation table where they could read books about Ancient Egypt and there were different activities available. We have also been investigating the ways that the Ancient Egyptians wrote in their books and how they mummified bodies for burial.

For our hieroglyphics we made our own papyrus paper using brown paper bags and PVA glue. We cut our paper into strips and glued them one way and then the other way to make our paper strong. When it was dry we wrote our first names in hieroglyphics. The students really enjoyed learning about the original emojis!

We researched how the Egyptians used to bury their Pharaohs and the burial process of mummification. For STEM we designed heads for our canopic burial jars using salt dough and images of Egyptian deities. Then we experimented with different mixtures to see which ones mummified a piece of apple better. We used plain water, water mixed with bi-carbonate soda, water mixed with sugar and water mixed with vinegar. We then documented the changes to see which mixture was the best solution.

Mandurah Campus

Welcome to another busy fortnight at Mandurah Primary School. We hope all our Mum’s enjoyed their Mother’s Day and were spoilt by their children and families. Thank you very much for supporting the Mother’s Day Stall. The children thoroughly enjoyed being able to shop for that special someone! We hope you loved your gifts.

Have you seen our amazing vegetable garden! Each class has been busy tending to the garden, learning about plants and how they grow, weeding and watering. We have been lucky enough to harvest some carrots and cherry tomatoes, with so many more things growing. Thank you to Mrs P and our students for looking after our garden. We look forward to trying some different fruits and vegetables throughout the term!

This week our students are lucky enough to participate in National Simultaneous Story Time with the reading of the book “Hickory Dickory Dash” at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre. We look forward to sharing some photos of our students enjoying this excursion.

Thank you for a wonderful start to the term!

Mandurah Staff

Bungaree Campus

Last Friday Bungaree Primary school hosted the National Walk Safely to School Day.

The school also provided breakfast to raise money for the Salvations Army’s Red Shield Appeal. It was a great opportunity to promote healthy living as well as raising money for a worthy cause. Students were encouraged to wear red in support.

After the big breakfast, the school community completed a walk and the school raised just over $300!

Pinjarra Campus

The Kindy and Pre Primary class at Pinjarra have had a busy start to Term 2. We enjoyed making Mother’s Day gifts for the important women in our lives and left messages of love on Seesaw.

We set up a camping space in our room and discussed all the fishing and camping fun we shared with our families over the recent school holiday break. We even had an afternoon of ‘roasting marshmallows’ and reading by the campfire.

The Pre Primary’s worked together as a team to complete a 100 piece puzzle! We learnt how to start by finding the corners and edge pieces and how to match up the shapes and colours to complete the picture.

We look forward to the remainder of the term with still so much ahead of us. Bunnings will be coming out to work with all of the classes to create a new garden space in the coming weeks and National Simultaneous Storytime this Wednesday. We will be taking lots of photos to share these experiences with you all.

A big thank you goes out to the team at ‘All Seasons Synthetic Turf’ at Port Kennedy for their kind donation of a piece of grass for our small world play table.

Important information for Parents

School Nurse

School Entry Health Assessment

All children in Western Australia are offered a health assessment during their first year of primary school. This usually occurs in kindergarten and is provided by the local School Health Nurse. This is an excellent opportunity to look at the health and development of each child at the beginning of school life.

At School, the Kindy assessments will start in coming weeks and continue through until the end of the term.

The assessments are simple, standard tests which are non-invasive, quick and easy. The tests screen for problems which are best addressed, if picked up and treated early. The tests include:

• Vision and hearing checks
• ‘Lift the lip’ assessment
• Growth assessment including weight, height and Body Mass Index
• Developmental evaluation according to parent responses on the form
• Teacher and nurse observations
• Any other health, development and wellbeing concerns raised by parents.

Your child’s results will be sent home after their health check has been completed. Results are always treated confidentially.

Please note, the screening tests indicate if there may be a problem – they do not diagnose a condition. If the test results for your child suggest there may be a problem, the School Health Nurse will contact you to talk about further assessment and possible referral.

School Entry Health Assessment forms have been distributed for parents to complete. If you haven’t already done so, please complete and sign the back page of the form before you return it. Please return the form to the class teacher as soon as possible.

I look forward to working with you and your family. Please phone if you wish to discuss anything to do with the School Entry Health Assessment.

Leona Martin and Michelle Placzek , Community Health Nurses
0894192266