Newsletter

Aspire to achieve together

Issue 14

Term 4 

Thursday  14 November, 2019

Principal's Message

Welcome to the latest edition of our newsletter.

Following consultation and feedback, we are endeavouring to make some adjustments to our newsletter composition and format.  One of the key strategies is to be more concise, so we hope to see less pages with more timely, targeted stories and information.

It is a very busy time of year as we prepare for our end of year events and the staff are doing a wonderful job managing workload, student and community needs and work-life balance.  I would like to publicly thank all of our staff members for displaying resilience, patience and flexibility in these demanding times.

Last night we held the first of two concerts and it was wonderful to see so many smiling faces and families enjoying their children participating in such a big production. We have nearly 600 students participating, every staff member contributing in some way and more than 1800 family members coming to watch. Well done to the Concert Production Committee and all of the staff for making this such a memorable event. Below are a few photos I managed to capture whilst watching. 

We have recently been conducting interviews for prospective teachers to join our teaching team. From over 200 applicants we have formed a pool of highly qualified and talented teachers that may be invited to join our team in 2020. Whilst it was a daunting task for the Selection Panel to sift through all of the applications, it is pleasing to see so much interest in joining our talented team.

I look forward to seeing you all at tonight's concert.

See you at the gate.

Noel Morgan

Principal.

King Of Rock

H.E.A.R.T.

Honesty  /  Effort  /  Attitude  /  Respect  /  Teamwork

Congratulations to all the students who were awarded certificates at the recent assembly for displaying the H.E.A.R.T attributes.

2019 Voluntary Contributions - Outstanding Amounts

If you have not yet paid the School Contributions a Reminder of Unpaid Billing Items will be sent home with your child this week.

While the payment of the $60 Contribution is voluntary, the total outstanding amount of $10,260 if paid, would enable the school to purchase a considerable amount of classroom or playground resources that directly benefit all students at Aspiri Primary School.

The P & C Voluntary Contribution of $10 will also assist our dedicated parent committee to achieve fundraising goals more quickly, once again directly benefiting our students.

Payments can be made by any of the following options.

·        QKR! (preferred method) – an App available for download for smartphones;

·        Direct Deposit to the school bank account:

        BSB 066040                       Account No 19901420

        Please use student last name as reference

·        EftPos for card payments is available in Administration

·        Cash – correct money is required as Aspiri PS does not keep any change on site

Thank you to all families who have already paid, it is greatly appreciated.

 

Marie McGlashan

Manager Corporate Services

News From The Classrooms

Pre Primary 1

This term, students from Pre Primary One have been busy preparing for their first assembly of the year. This semester, students focused on how to write a good story beginning. We now know that a good story beginning contains a when, who, doing what and where. On Thursday 7 November 2019, we finally got to recite our Koala Lou story, complete with actions and some cute Koala Head bands. Thank you to all the families who attended our assembly. We had the best time! Take a look at some of our Koala Lou Retells below.

Multicultural Day

On Thursday 24 October 2019, parents, students and teachers came together to celebrate Aspiri Primary School’s Multicultural Day. Multicultural Day is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our schools diverse community.

Our celebrations included an array of performances of beautiful Indian dances by our students and parents, presentations about different countries, followed by a picnic lunch with our families and a cultural dress parade.

We’d like to thank the parents, students and teachers who volunteered to perform and to everyone that came together to celebrate Multicultural Day. Also a special mention to Miss Labrooy and Miss Albertyn for organising this special event.

Music Count Us In

On Thursday 7 November, 2019 Aspiri Primary school celebrated the importance of music education in Australian schools by joining in with over 660,000 students from more than 3,000 schools all around Australia to sing ‘We Are’. All the students looked fabulous in their green accessories and sang proudly, led by the school choir. At 9:15am our school tuned in to see the live feed from Surfers Paradise and in the SkyPoint Observation Deck atop Q1!  Aspiri Primary School was also featured in the lead up to the performance on the nation-wide video montage. A big thank you to all the classroom teachers who took the time to teach the song to their students as well as Mrs Atherton for organising the event. We look forward to celebrating Music Count Us In again in 2020!

Year 5/6 Camp

On 29 October, 2019 the Year 5/6 students, Mrs Grima and Ms Scarnicchio set off for camp at Ern Halliday Sport and Recreational camp, Hillarys, where we were met by Mr Morgan. All 44 of us participated in a variety of activities such as Flying Fox, Orienteering, Kite Making, Big Swing and Crate Climb to name but a few. Students were given the opportunity to try new activities, new foods and to overcome challenges and fears that they may have had. Many students set and surpassed personal goals and extended their circle of friends. A wonderful week was had by all and I’m sure that long lasting memories were made. However, none of this would have been possible without the assistance of Miss Snowden, Ms Ryan and Mr Kubicek who assisted with planning, setting up and running our very first Aspiri Camp. A special mention should also be made for Miss Yusof, Mr Hamilton and Miss Albertyn who welcomed remaining students into their classes whilst we were away.

Mrs Grima

Year 6 Classroom Teacher

Science

Over the last few weeks during Outdoor Agency the Kindergarten students have been pretending to be palaeontologists and engineers. They have explored buried bones and attempted to recreate the hat featured in the Dr Seuss story ‘The Cat in the Hat’, using only plastic cups and paper. In Pre-Primary the students have been testing out how different toys move and the forces used to create these movements. They have been busy recording their findings and grouping the toys according to the movements they make. In Year 3 students have been learning about heat energy and have been adding some of the new words they have learnt to their word wall. 

Digital Technologies

Pre Primary

This semester, our Pre-Primary students have been learning all about coding!

We started by playing lots of games of Simon Says as well as coding ourselves and our teachers, using pictures, to create funny and crazy dance moves. We then moved on to coding lego men around a maze, making sure they dodged any traps in the maze and finished on the pile of gold. Our partners helped by moving the lego men based on the arrows we used. Next we were able to use real robots! Once we had practised using the robots, we used all the skills and directional language we had learned to program them around a big maze on the floor. 

And now we are coding experts! Mr Kubicek is giving us different mazes where we have to reach certain points in order. We plan our pathways on the maze using markers and then write code that matches our pathway. Finally, we take our code to the robots and see everything working just as we planned! 

Please enjoy some pictures from our lessons!

The Art Room

Year 4/5 Visual Arts

 The students were introduced to Georges Rouault’s artwork. As a class we discussed his particular painting style and techniques, students then created a still life painting similar to the artists visual methods. First the class drew on A3 cardboard a still life design based on an image that illustrated a composition of fruits. Then the students used acrylic colours to paint their subjects using the two techniques that the artist incorporates in his work: double-loading of the paint with a black paint outline. At the end, they painted a frame around their subject and decorated it with patterns. The combination of techniques and effects applied is just incredible!

Aspiri Netball Club

Aspiri Netball Club is a new Netball Club starting in Piara Waters for the 2020 Winter Season at Success Netball Association.

Games will be played on a Saturday at Success Netball Association with training on a Wednesday at the Aspiri Primary School courts.

We are looking for ages from 7 years (born 2013) upwards including Seniors. We are looking to build a family club with the focus being on enjoyment and development as well as social interaction with other members of your Community.

 So if you are interested in becoming part of a new and dynamic club then please email: marglee@live.com to register your interest.

We will also be looking for Committee members and coaches so please also register your interest for these positions.

Subway Lunch Order Form

Download

Uniform Concepts Term 4 information

Download

A Message From The School Nurse

Building Resilience

Resilience is the ability to cope with difficult situations and ‘bounce back’ when things go wrong.  Young people need to develop resilience in order to navigate life’s ups and down.  As a parent, you can help your child to become resilient by giving him or her opportunities to learn and practise new skills, for example:

  • Arrange a fun child-friendly activity each week like a trip to the park, play date with a friend or watching a favourite movie. Regular ‘ups’ provide a bank of positive emotions to buffer against life’s ‘downs’ that may involve disappointment or conflict. 
  • Help your kids to think positively. If your child is frustrated by a difficult puzzle, say, "I know that puzzle was hard today, but yesterday I saw you get a hard puzzle out. You kept trying until you found the right place to put the pieces."
  • If you have a disagreement with your child, the most important thing to do is to reconnect and repair the relationship. Let your little one cool down then offer a hug or words of support. This has benefits for your child’s mental health as well as their ability to deal with relationship problems as they get older.

For more information about raising a resilient child, go to www.kidsmatter.edu.au/ or www.raisingchildren.net.au or contact your local Community Health Nurse, Jessica Wheatcroft  (08)9391 2235. 

Personal Hygiene

Having good hygiene helps to prevent illness and ensures that our bodies are acceptable to others. Here are some tips for maintaining good hygiene;

·       Wash your hands before and after touching food, and after going to the toilet, touching animals or being around someone who is         coughing or has a cold. 

·       Wash your body daily and keep your hair clean.

·       To prevent body odours, change your clothes regularly and use deodorant if necessary. 

·       Change underwear and socks daily, and leave shoes outside to dry.

·       To prevent bad breath, brush and floss teeth and visit the dentist regularly.

·       If you are ill, try not to cough or sneeze on others, clean things that you touch, and throw away things with germs on them (like tissues). 

Should you require further information about hygiene, contact your local Community Health Nurse, Jessica Wheatcroft on (08)9391 2235, or go to www.cyh.com.

Vision and Eyes

Good vision is important for learning and quality of life. Watch for any of the following in your child;

·       Covering/closing one eye when reading;

·       Holding books very close;

·       Complaining of eyestrain or headache;

·       Complaining of double vision or blurred vision with reading or board viewing;

·       Complaining of words moving on a page;

·       Losing place when reading, or skipping words and lines;

·       Inattention or short attention span when reading, or;

·       Rubbing the eyes.

Please note: Medicare covers the cost of an eye examination.

If you have a concern about your child’s vision please contact a doctor, optometrist or your local Community Health Nurse on Jessica Wheatcroft on (08)9391 2235.