Newsletter 8 – Week 8, Term 2, 2021 – Message from Admin Team, Faction Cross Country Results, Canteen, Year 6’s in Library, CSHS Academic Extension Program

Message from the Executive Administration Team

Dear parents and caregivers

I trust you all had a wonderful extra long weekend as families. I took my daughter and nieces along to the WA Day festivities at Burswood Park yesterday. It was a lovely way to celebrate being a West Aussie! I hope the four day break gave you and your kids the chance to reset and rejuvenate, ready for the final four weeks of term.

On Friday, staff engaged in a highly productive professional learning day with presentations on explicit vocabulary instruction for enhancing writing, creative thinking and learning strategies with Creative Schools practitioners Anne Gee and Jodie Davidson and a social and emotional wellbeing session with Marni Klein. Thank you to our presenters. It provided our staff with plenty of ideas to implement in the classroom and time to focus on their own mental health and wellbeing at this very busy part of the term, when semester reports are being finalised.

I’d also like to thank the community for turning out in such high numbers last Thursday morning as we enjoyed a beautiful day for the Cross Country Faction Carnival. I was so impressed with how our students participated on the day. They showed such courage, resilience and sportsmanship as they gave their best efforts for their factions. Congratulations to each and every student who participated. We also extend extra special congratulations to our medal winners, who were the top three boys and girls in each year level. Well done to Max C in Year 6 who goes down in the history books, coming 1^st every year since Year 1! We couldn’t have run such a successful carnival without the preparation and organisation from Mr Jon Bowman and Mrs Kathy Watson, our Phys Ed specialist teachers and our parent volunteers on the day – thank you so much!

Year 3 and Specialist Block Balcony Screens – You may have noticed a change to the balcony screens since last week. All the decorative screens have now been raised to ceiling height. This change was made by contractors engaged by the Department of Education for two reasons; to address a reoccurring design fault and to ensure student safety.

Parking – I have had a neighbour to the school on Jersey St make a complaint in relation to parents parking on driveways at drop off and pick up. I respectfully ask you not to block our neighbour’s driveways and move on when asked. Unfortunately, this neighbour was spoken to disrespectfully by a Wembley parent after a request to move on was made. I empathise that parking is at a premium, but please utilise the parking on the Alexander St side as well as the Jersey St side for Kindy and Pre-primary. There are access gates on both sides of the Early Childhood classrooms.

 

Teaching and Learning

One of the perks of being Principal is having student visitors to my office, showing me some of the learning that has been happening in their classroom. Last week, Year 1, Room 11 came to show me some of the wonderful sentences they wrote after learning about the literary device of alliteration. The students had lots of fun using their imagination to write these! The topic was, ‘I went to the market and found…’. I’m sure you’ll be suitably impressed with the vocabulary and creativity. Great work, Room 11.

 

Leadership

I would like to take the opportunity to thank outgoing School Board members Don Frost and Thomas To for their service on the School Board. Don and Thomas have been exemplary members of the Board since 2018, providing high level support and insights in their capacity as parent representatives. Their contributions on key policies such as the Community Engagement Plan and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have been very much appreciated. On behalf of Board Chair Prof Tama Leaver, myself, the School Board members and the community, I thank Don and Thomas for sharing their time and expertise with us and representing the parent body with integrity.

We welcome Rachel Clay, Chatarina Brady and Sara Tuohy who officially commenced their terms on the School Board in Term 2, replacing outgoing Board members Jason Stirbinskis, Thomas To and Don Frost.

Community Engagement

Following our parent session last week with ySafe, we are pleased to be able to provide you with access to our exclusive Cyber Safety Hub. This unique platform is filled with information, app reviews, and step-by-step instructions from ySafe’s national team of experts. ySafe’s team includes clinical psychologists, teachers and former law enforcement officers. The Cyber Safety Hub includes information on how to activate parental controls for screen time and digital activity, including the Family Zone app, Google SafeSearch, YouTube restricted mode and Xbox parental controls. You will also find detailed and current information about specific apps, how to set up a safe home and advice on dealing with complex issues related to device use. You can access the hub here.

Collaborate, Connect, Communicate.

Yours in learning

Executive Admin Team

Tamara, Alan, Rachel and Melinda