FPS Newsletter

2023 Term 1 Issue # 3

From the Principal

Dear families & friends, 

The year has started well, with minimum disruptions to programs this year we have been able to get straight into it! Our inquiry this term, ‘The diversity of Australia is expressed through traditions’, has a strong focus on knowing our own and each other’s traditions and will culminate in our learning expo and combined Harmony Day celebrations on Thursday 13th April. We hope to see many families there to celebrate with us.

NAPLAN

Congratulations to all our year 3 and 5 students who have completed NAPLAN. It was run earlier this year (usually in term 2) and will continue to be held in Term 1 from now on. While it was disruptive to programs, it is good that we have now completed it and we can move on with our learning. We were very proud of the attitude and persistence that students demonstrated throughout the NAPLAN assessments. 


Volunteering

We have had a great response to our recent volunteering drive. Di has been methodically working through the processes needed to get people ready as soon as we can. By the beginning of term 2 we should have a solid pool of volunteers ready to get started on some programs. We will be starting with the morning reading program and the volunteer morning teas (1st week of each month). Feedback told us that varying the days for morning teas may work better so we will work out dates and then advertise these. Each morning tea will be focused on catching up with other parents and then some sort of activity to help out around the school eg making resources for classes, covering books, gardening etc. If you are interested in volunteering please speak with Gillian or Di. 

Road Safety and Parking

The Governing Council and staff have been continuing to work with council, SAPol and the Way to Go program to investigate ways to improve the safety on the roads near our school. Our petition has been sent in to council and this week we have the local council members visiting to talk to us about our ongoing concerns and to see the area and issues for themselves. SApol have advised they will be regularly monitoring the area particularly for speed and/or parking violations.

 It is vital that the members of our community are doing the right thing when driving and parking near the school to ensure the safety of our children.

 Some reminders:

  • Please DO NOT use the drop off zone for parking, children must be able to enter and exit the car INDEPENDENTLY with out any need for the adults to get out of their car.
  • In the drop off zone children should get out of the car on the passenger side (ie not on the driveway side)
  • In the drop off zone your child should not exit the car until you are a maximum of 2 cars away from the gate near the OSHC kitchen, move your car down the line to drop off or pick up
  • In the drop off zone children should not walk down the driveway or enter/exit via the main double driveway gate when walking
  • If children are not able to enter and exit your car independently please park on the street or at the back of the school (Off Turner St) so students can safely enter the school via the front or oval gate.
  • Make sure you are observing the 25km per hour speed limits along Briar Rd
  • Where possible pick up and drop off children on the school side of Briar Rd
  •  Hold your child’s hand if needing to cross the road (especially our littlies)
  • Support your child by reminding them of safe road practices including crossing the road safely, walking on footpaths, wearing safety gear when riding bikes or scooters.

 Thank you for your support, we are hoping to see some action from our local services but in the mean time it is important we are modelling and teaching our kids how to keep safe near our roads.  

Illnesses

We have had some increasing illnesses at school both staff and students. A reminder that if your child is feeling unwell that they should stay home until they do not have any symptoms. If they are displaying COVID symptoms they must be tested and if positive the school must be notified.

School Sports

A big thank you to Emma who has been working with students and families across both schools she works with to give our students the opportunity to play team sports. 

Congratulations to  our our combined 'Felixstow-Paradise' cricket team, who have made a great start to their first ever cricket experience. Thank you to the families who have volunteered to support by coaching, managing, and helping out on game days. 

We have had some interest in other sports as well and will be reliant on parent volunteers to make this happen for students. Keep an eye out for expression of interest forms for different sports if your child has told us they are interested. 

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at our upcoming Learning Expo to celebrate the end of Term 1! 

Felixstow Notices

Glynde Community Easter BBQ

On Sunday 2nd April, Felixstow Foodland held a BBQ Fundraiser for our school. We would like to thank Felixstow Foodland for organising this event and our families and staff who helped out at the BBQ or came along and bought a sausage or two!  We are delighted to say that $747.70 was raised from the BBQ for our refrigerated drinking fountain.

Meals From The Heart

Meals From The Heart Program is an opportunity for small groups to cook and share dinner with families staying at Ronald MacDonald House Adelaide.

Members of our staff team (Gillian, Chantal, India, Laura and her daughter Summer) participated in this program on Tuesday 21st  March, by providing families currently staying at the house with a BBQ dinner and dessert. Staff related how they were honoured and humbled to meet and learn about the families and their experiences.

We will be participating in another Meals From The Heart Program in the near future and will inform our community when we have a date, as you may be interested in joining our group.

Gymnastics

In PE, we were lucky enough to receive the Sporting Schools grant this term, and have been developing Fundamental Movement Skills related to Gymnastics. Students have developed skills including, jumping and landing, rotations, balance, muscular strength, coordination, flexibility and cooperation. Students have learnt new fundamental movement patterns that can then be used to create more complex movement sequences such as a log roll and single person balances. These skills can then be transferred into other sports.

Volunteering at Our School

A big thank you to those who have already started the process of registering their interest in volunteering at our school! 

Thank you to volunteers that came along to our regular Volunteer morning teas. This time they helped sort out our spare clothes, fixed broken books and readers and enjoyed a cuppa and some delicious hot cross buns for Easter. We are planning on having volunteer morning teas approximately once per month.

Volunteer Morning Tea dates for term 2 are:

  • Thursday 4th May 
  • Friday 2nd June
  • Wednesday 28th June

We look forward to having you join us on these mornings from 9am in the OSHC kitchen.   

Our next goal is to start a reading group before school, offering students' the opportunity to get in some extra reading time with an adult improving their speech and language skills as well as building connections.

If you think you might be interested in volunteering with us, there are forms available at the front desk, alternatively you can talk to Di or Gillian 😊 

Felixstow Highlights

Primary

News From Primary 2!

Super Softball Friday’s

I’m always looking forward to Friday afternoons because we play a game or two of softball with the other primary students, to practice our sportsmanship skills along with our physical skills such as running, pitching, bating and catching. As well as the physical attributes we get challenged with cognitive and social skills such as awareness and communication that will help us with our future lives.  Tulsi (Year 6)

Hi from Primary 1!

In Primary (3/4) we have been working hard on establishing the links between our artefacts and a family or school tradition. We are starting to research the artefacts and beginning to plan how we will display the artefacts, and how we will explain the links to the tradition. 

In literacy we are continuing to work on our persuasive writing, and are currently writing an advertisement. We have brainstormed our ideas in groups, and written out our working plan as a story board. We are now writing the script using as screenplay template, and hopefully we will have time to record our advertisements before the end of term. 

In maths, we are continuing to work on numbers and place value, and are working on numbers up to one million. We have begun to work on addition and subtraction of large numbers, working on setting out the problems appropriately in our workbooks to make the working out easier and more organised. We are continuing our daily maths chats in order to improve our mathematical vocabulary. 

Finally, on Friday afternoons we have begun to enjoy a game of softball / Tball with the Year 5/6 crew, a fun way to wind down for the week that always involves lots of laughs. And though we are looking forward to the Easter break, everyone has settled into the class well and we are tracking along nicely.

 

Air Play Excursion

Umbrellas flew high, fabrics soared over the audience, balloons swallowed people and swirling snow filled the stage. Air Play expertly balanced comedy, sculpture, circus and theatre in a breathtaking homage to the power of air.

On Thursday 16th March, Primary students attended a live performance of 'Air Play' at the Festival Theatre, followed by a visit to the South Australian Museum where they looked at how artefacts are displayed as inspiration for their inquiry topic.

Juniors

Hello from Tuula & Emma's Juniors!

In Inquiry, the Juniors have been sharing their drawings of their traditions with the class and explaining why it is their favourite one. In maths, the year 1s have learned a game with the bead strings that help us to know the 'friends of 20', such as 15 and 5 makes 20 and 11 and 9 makes 20. They have also been learning to count by 2s starting at any number.

Nicole's 2s!

In maths this term we have been focusing on number. For this math task we had to: 

  • Choose a collection of objects to count. 
  • Arrange our collection into place value parts. 
  • Label each of our parts, then 
  • Count in place value parts. 

Resource Hub

Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC)

2023 is the 20th year of the Premier’s Reading Challenge!

To celebrate, PRC are offering students the opportunity to read 20 books instead of the usual 12 to receive a 20th Anniversary Certificate. This is an optional, voluntary challenge. Students who complete the 20-book challenge will have also completed the usual 12 book challenge hence will receive their usual PRC award.

Both the 20th anniversary and normal PRC forms can be obtained from Kelly or can be downloaded from the PRC website https://premiersreadingchallenge.sa.edu.au/students/student-reading-records/

The Great Scholastic Children's Book Sale is back in the school holidays.

Thousands of children’s books, including picture and chapter books, novels and activity items.
  • Children’s books 50% off RRP!
  • $2 HOT TITLES selection.
  • Teacher Resources.
  • PLUS, FILL a BOX for $45 from a selected range of books.
Norwood Scholastic Warehouse 39 - 41 King Street, Norwood, 5067 

Thursday 20th April: 8am—5pm and Friday 21st April: 8am—5pm

Stock will be replenished throughout the day! For the latest updates on all our sales, make sure you join our Facebook Warehouse Sales group

Important Dates

Updated: March

    

WeekTERM 1
9Sunday 2nd AprilFelixstow Foodland BBQ
10Friday 7th AprilGood Friday (PUBLIC HOLIDAY)
11Monday 10th AprilEaster Monday (PUBLIC HOLIDAY)
11Thursday 14th AprilLearning Expo & Harmony Day
11Friday 15th AprilLAST DAY TERM 1
TERM 2
1Monday 1st MayFIRST DAY TERM 2
4Monday 22nd MayPupil Free Day
7Monday 12th JuneKing's Birthday (PUBLIC HOLIDAY)
10Friday 7th JulyLAST DAY TERM 2

TERM 3
3Friday 11th AugustPupil Free Day
7Friday 8th SeptemberSchool Closure

TERM 4
7Monday 27th NovemberPupil Free Day

Community Notices

Contact Information

Out of School Hours Care (OSHC)

A reminder that OSHC is available for families for after school care (ASC).

ASC is open 3:10-6:00pm

Bookings are essential.

Hannah Gustard is our OSHC director and can be contacted on

FPS

Felixstow Primary School is truly an extraordinary place of learning. Our talented and dedicated staff provides each student with rigorous care, challenge and support academically, socially and emotionally.

Respect | Responsibility | Compassion