22 May 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Welcome to week four of term 2.

The weather has certainly been amazing and students have been enjoying participating in purposeful learning activities outside in the fresh air.

Year three students have almost completed NAPLAN testing this week and we thank families for supporting them through this process with early nights and healthy lunches.

At the Rockingham Lakes Campus week two assembly we announced the winner of our annual bike raffle for those families who had paid school fees by the end of term one. Congratulations to Kereama from D2. We would like to thank Mr Paul Papalia CSC MLA Member for Warnbro for his generous donation.

Kindy A students onsite are focusing on the book Dear Zoo and enjoying learning about the words and the sounds. The PP4 garden is looking amazing. A special ‘thank you’ to Mr Williams and Mr Walker for their time. Mr Walker was also kind enough to donate a whole trailer load of soil.

Students at our Bungaree campus participated in the annual Red Shield Appeal with a community breakfast and walk. Our Mandurah students have been busy with STEM activities. Pinjarra students enjoyed the messages from the Constable Care incursion.

Mrs Nina Murray and her dedicated science team have been forming successful partnerships with Bunnings who are donating supplies to our school. On the 30th May we have staff from three Bunnings stores to create gardens and play areas.

Mr Ben Voges organised Constable Care incursions across all sites reinforcing protective behaviours and appropriate ways of expressing feelings.

Our Notre Dame students are thoroughly enjoying their prac experience at PLDS in year 2 onsite and at Pinjarra. We hope they are able to take away valuable learning experiences from PLDS students and teachers.

The school board will hold their Annual Public Meeting next week and we hope to welcome members of the public to attend and to find out more about becoming a board member.

The Annual PLDS Open Day will be held on Monday June 10th. 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. 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.

Shelley Collins
Principal

Important information for Parents – All Sites

Annual Public Meeting

Fees – Raffle Winner

Congratulations to Kereama from D2 for winning our school’s bike raffle.

Mandurah Campus

Room 10

On the last day of Term 1, Room 10 and Room 18 joined together for a combined Kindy, Pre-Primary and Year 1, Easter STEM rotation challenge. It was a wonderful opportunity to practice co-operative learning as students worked together in pairs to complete 2 different engineering activities. In Room 10, students had to build a tree and nest to safely support a baby chick. Students had to consider balance, stability, form and overall structure to keep their chick safe. They did a brilliant job.

Term 2 began with an ANZAC assembly. To help prepare, Room 10 studied the poignant story ANZAC Ted by Belinda Landsberry. We created our own ANZAC Ted and poppy artworks in remembrance of those who fought to keep us free and safe.

We have also started daily journal writing and have had plenty to write about including our holidays, swimming lessons and our new theme - Dinosaurs. We are currently working on turning our classroom into a dinosaur museum and have set up our own Palaeontology centre.

Lastly wishing all the Mothers, Grandmothers, Aunties and carers a Happy Mother’s Day. We were fortunate to have Bunnings visit us at school to help plant, paint and decorate a beautiful potted plant to say thank you for all that you do to help us grow up safe, strong, confident and happy. We had a great time creating these special gifts just for you.

Pinjarra Campus

At the Pinjarra campus, the children were visited by Constable Care. They watched an entertaining puppet show that focused on the importance of the children feeling safe and who to talk to when they experienced unsafe feelings. This incursion supported the Protective Behaviours Curriculum.

In class activities, the students from years 1-3 are enhancing their ability to tell the time. Room 30 are learning about telling time to the quarter hour and Room 29 about telling time to the half hour. They are also engaged in a new art activity over the next 2 weeks which is based upon the delightful story “Giraffes Can’t Dance” by Giles Andreae. Kindy and Pre-Primary children from Room 28 have been busy doing activities based on 2D shapes and talking about their number of sides and corners.

Congratulations to Aiden, from Room 28, who won the pre-primary section of the Reading Dogs Colouring Competition. We are very proud of you Aiden.

RLPS Campus

Kindy A

We have had a great start to term two in Kindy A. This term we are learning about our family, our homes, food, clothing and household items.

Mrs Colcott has started work in our room and we have been focusing on the book Dear Zoo. In Language we are learning about sounds and will begin with the sounds a, s and t. This is a tricky concept and we trying very hard to hear the first sound we can hear in words such as snake and sun.

In Maths we are looking at patterns and basic shapes as well as learning about numbers. We have a lot of fun in our room and are looking forward to a great term of learning and discovery. We can’t wait to see what we achieve.

PP4- Garden

PP4 has been lucky enough to have some wonderful donations for the garden area out the back of our demountable classroom. We have been having so much fun working in the garden and learning lots at the same time. We estimated how many buckets of soil we would need to fill the raised garden beds, planned a mosaic design to fit on a stepping stone, counted how many seedlings we had and finally discussed the capacity of different sized watering cans. We can't wait to use this beautiful garden area as our outdoor classroom. Many thanks to Bunnings, Stonehenge Tiles and Paving World- Port Kennedy for their generous donations. Also thanks to Mr Williams and Mr Walker for all their help.

LEGO

Bungaree Campus

Red Shield Appeal

On Friday the 17th of May students and families at Bungaree participated in the annual Red Shield Appeal with a community breakfast and walk around the perimeter of the school. Everyone enjoyed a yummy breakfast prepared and served by staff before enjoying a walk in the sunshine. Students were encouraged to wear red and bring a gold coin. All money raised was donated to the Salvation Army. Thanks to all those parents and families that attended this fantastic community event.

Constable Care Incursion

Students were very excited to attend the Constable Care Incursion. The play was very engaging and fun for everyone. The play focused on scary feelings and how sometimes scary is fun, such as roller coasters, and sometimes we feel an uncomfortable scary. As part of our protective behaviours program, students will be learning to recognise the difference between these feelings and strategies they can use to help them. The important message portrayed was that it is OK to talk to someone is something does not feel right. We will be helping students to identify the adults in their lives that they can put on their helping hand.

School Nurse

Colds

Upper respiratory tract infections or colds are everywhere, especially in winter, so it is almost impossible to stop children from catching them. Here are some points which may help:

• Teach your child to cover his/her nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing, and to wash hands straight afterwards. (Sneeze into elbow if unable to wash hands without help).
• Hands should be washed after blowing noses and before eating.
• Use tissues once and then throw them in the bin. (Avoid using handkerchiefs.)
• Keep your child home from school if he/she has a cold/cough/fever/pain.
• Make sure that your children eat a balanced diet of plenty of healthy foods.
• Keep children away from smoke – it irritates their eyes and nasal passages, making it more likely that they will catch a cold.

What to do if your child gets a cold

No treatment will cure a cold or make it go away more quickly, but you can help your child feel more comfortable:

• Rest: This need not be in bed.
• Provide extra drinks: If your child doesn’t want to drink much, try giving lots of small sips of water, milk or juice, or ice blocks to suck for older children.

Germs are spread easily to classroom staff and other students. Keep your child home if your child cannot;

• Cover his/her nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing
• Wipe his/ her nose independently
• Wash hands without help

Fun With Language

Crunch & Sip

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