Newsletter

Welcome to the latest edition of our newsletter. We are halfway through our eleven week second term and, as always, we are very busy. This week we welcomed a film crew to our school to film an informational piece about our school and our community that will feature on our web page and be available to all of our prospective families. Thank you to those staff and families that have contributed to the production of this valuable resource, in particular Mrs Booth from our Front Office team who led the process from the planning stage to completion. We hope to have it live on our website by early Term 3.

This week our school will participate in “National Sorry Day” activities that support our commitment to a caring and multicultural world. Thanks to Mrs Meggs for putting the program together.

Two new transportable classrooms have been installed in recent weeks and, although they take up some valuable grass areas they are very welcome as a means of creating an effective classroom space for our growing school. We have three more on order and I hope this will be the last of them.

Our wonderful new second phase of our Early Childhood playground has been completed and I am sure you will all agree that it is excellent. The children are loving the “Nature Play” theme and the opportunity to climb all over it. The next phase of our play space development is the provision of shade over our “Chess Set” area and then the commissioning of a draft playground plan for future improvements over coming years.

Thank you to our Year 3 and Year 5 students and teachers who completed a seamless series of NAPLAN Online tests and to our Admin team led by Ms Snowden and Mrs Winter for planning and supporting the testing. The results should be available in late Term 3 and will assist in informing us as to how our students are performing academically against state and national students in “like schools” and how our teaching programs, methodology and content are aligning to state and national requirements.

Good luck to all of our students who will be representing our school at this Fridays Winter Carnival. I am sure you will look fabulous in our new Interschool Teams uniform and represent our school with pride.

In my travels around the school, I have noticed a marked improvement in driver behaviour and patience during our peak times of morning drop off and afternoon pick up. Thank you for this as every improvement makes it much safer for our children. A reminder that City of Armadale Rangers will be undertaking random checks for parking and traffic infringements and Police will be undertaking speed and traffic checks at our request. Also a reminder that the area at the northern end of the school is a “Drop and Drive” area until a more permanent solution can be provided on Sunray Avenue. I urge all families wanting to drop and drive to use this facility, not Rossiter Avenue.

A reminder to all families that Friday 4 June, 2021is a scheduled School Development Day and students are not required to attend on this day. The following Monday, 7 June, 2021 is a Public Holiday for the Western Australia Day celebrations.

See you at the gate.

Noel Morgan Principal.

National Walk to School Day 2021

Friday 14 May, 2021 our school participated in National Walk to School Day. Of the 682 students at school that day 432 (63%) arrived actively via walking or rolling, which was a fantastic result. 

We would like to thank Woolworths Harrisdale for donating a large amount of bananas, apples and mandarins for participating students. All students participating received a raffle ticket and a sticker and an opportunity to enter the colouring competition.

Raffle winners were as follows

• 2 students won a $50 Rebel Sport voucher.
• 4 students received road safety inspired fictional story books.
• 15 students who entered the colouring competition were awarded with a “Your Move” snap band or hair brush. 
  
• 30 students were drawn out of the raffle to receive a free bike safety check today Thursday 27 May, 2021. This prize was awarded through the “Your Move” program as our school has achieved bronze accreditation.

We would like to thank our dedicated staff and student leaders who assisted on the day. Additionally we would like to thank the Department of Transport and Your Move for assisting to create a safer environment around our school and for promoting the health and environmental benefits of active travel. 

Well done to all the students and parents who have come down to Running Club over the past few weeks. It has been fantastic to see all students running as many laps as they can in the allocated time. Miss Ryan counts the total laps for each house after each session, and it’s amazing to see that the students and parents have run over 900 laps each session. We can’t wait to see the students using this practice when we have our Fun Run and Cross Country in Week 9.  

Remember every lap you complete you get 1 point for your house plus, if your parents run with you, an extra point each lap for them too! 

A huge thank you goes to all the staff who have come down to help Miss Ryan & Mr Jordan, we really appreciate your assistance.

Thank you to some members of our Muslim community for sharing and gifting to our school and P & C  during the Festival of Eid.  We are honoured to be recipients of your generosity. 

Science at Home – Make a Rain Gauge

Winter is fast approaching so what better time than the present for children to have a go at making their own rain gauge at home.

What you'll need:

• A plastic (soft drink) bottle     
• Some stones or pebbles        
• Tape
• Marker (felt pen)
• A ruler or blocks for measuring (depending on age of child)

Steps

1.     Cut off the top of the bottle, just at the start of the widest point (adult assistance required). Turn this top portion upside down on the bottle and tape it in place. Make sure the top is off. This will act like a funnel for the rain falling into the bottle.

2.     Put a layer of pebbles in the bottom of the bottle (you may also use sand). Use a ruler and permanent marker to mark measurements. Use inches on one side of the bottle and centimetres on the other side, starting with the lowest measure towards the bottom.

3.   Add water to the bottle until it hits the lowest mark, or use the top of the pebbles/sand as the zero line. Place the bottle in a level area outside and note the time. Measure the water level at any interval of time you decide on.

What's happening?

Rain falls into the top of the gauge and collects at the bottom, where it can be easily measured. Try comparing the amount of rain to the length of time the shower lasted, was it a short and heavy rain shower or a long and light one? How does the amount of rain change when the season changes?

*Saving water at home -  Don’t forget the Winter Sprinkler Switch-off is coming soon. The Switch-off begins on 1 June each year in Perth, Mandurah, and some parts of the South West and Great Southern. This includes irrigation that uses groundwater.

If your child is interested in learning a musical instrument or singing then please collect an application form from the Administration Office or email the Perth Music Agency. Don't delay as places fill quickly and enrolments are now only accepted at the beginning of each term.

All queries are to be directed to the Perth Music Agency.