NEWSLETTER

These cold, dark mornings can make it very difficult to get kids moving! As a result, we have noticed quite a number of students arriving late every morning. Unfortunately, this can have a negative impact on their whole day. When students arrive late, they miss out on:

·         the chance to play and form social connections before beginning their learning

·         getting prepared for learning when they enter the classroom (both practically and emotionally)

·         important information and instructions from their teacher.

Some things you can do at home to help overcome the early morning feet-dragging:

·         Be prepared the night before – bags packed, lunches in the fridge in their lunch boxes, uniforms ready,

·         Set the alarm clock 15-minutes earlier

·         Establish a clear morning routine

·         Stay calm (even when they are dragging their feet!).

Meanwhile, take heart that next Tuesday (21st June) is the Winter Solstice, which is the shortest day of the year. This means that soon the days will start to get longer and brighter and, hopefully, warmer! This should make it easier for us all to get moving in the mornings.

We are experiencing quite a number of people bringing their dogs onto school grounds after school hours. Unfortunately, many of these people are not demonstrating responsible dog ownership, resulting in staff having to clean up dog poo from the oval and asphalt areas each morning. Obviously, this is not how anyone wants to be starting their day, but to leave it would be detrimental to our students’ health. For this reason, we will be putting up signs on our fences stating that dogs are not allowed on school grounds. Can you please reinforce this message through your own social networks? Thank you.

Gail Holland

Principal      

Front Office Hours:

The school reception area is staffed between 8:30am & 4:00pm (open term time only)

Contacting the School:

You can contact the school by phone or email (details at the bottom of this newsletter). 

*On a day where there is only one staff member working in the office or if you call outside of school hours, the answering machine may be on.  Please leave your name, number and a short message with the reason for your call.  If you ask for a call back, we will respond as soon as we are available to do so. All messages are passed on to the relevant staff member.

Staff in the Front Office:

·         Monday         -      Gail  *

·         Tuesday         -      Liz (am) & Gail

·         Wednesday   -      Mari & Gail

·         Thursday       -      Mari  *

·         Friday            -       Mari  *

Uniform Purchasing:

Uniforms can be purchased on Monday – Wednesday preferably by appointment.  Call the school office for an appointment time or you can also order over the phone and quote your EFT payment reference number.  Please see Gail A.

Uniforms can not be purchased outside of these times.

Preferred payment method is by EFT or Credit Card and uniforms will not be issued until payment is received.

Drop Off and Pick Up Times  -  Drive with caution:

Remain in your car and move off after your child has left or entered the car.

These are very busy times of the day and we ask for your cooperation so that our students and the school community can come and go safely each day.

Remember to drive slowly .

PLEASE DO NOT U-TURN OR REVERSE IN FRONT OF THE SCHOOL

School Supervision  -  Yard Duty:

Yard Duty begins at 8:30am each morning.  Please ensure children arrive after this time.  Staff will be on duty until 3:30pm each afternoon and children will be supervised within the JP playground area until they are picked up by their adult.

Please arrange to collect your children at 3:10pm each afternoon and contact the school if you are going to be late.

If you are having difficulty with these times, consider using the Before/After School Care, Happy haven, who are operating from Nuriootpa Primary School.  Phone 8155 5464  to book or for more information.

Late Arrival and Early Departures:

If your child is late to school (ie arrives after 8:50am), they will need to see staff in the Front Office who will issue them with a yellow ‘Late Arrival’ card to take to their class teacher.  Parents picking up children early for an appointment, will need to tell Front Office staff before taking a pink ‘Early Departure’ card to the classroom teacher. Signing a slip is no longer necessary with EMS, whereby your child’s late arrival or early departure is entered straight into the system by staff on the Reception Desk.

Students Going on Family Holidays/Travel in Term Time

If you are going on a family holiday during school time please inform your child’s class teacher and complete an Exemption Form at the Front Office.

All family holidays must be approved by the Principal and  applications should be forwarded to school at least 2 weeks before you travel.

Illness & Injuries at School:

Colds, the flu and bugs are around every winter for us to watch out for and are passed on if unwell children attend school.

Students who have recovered from Covid can still be at risk of getting these viruses etc that are circulating in the community.

If your child is sent to the Front Office/First Aid room due to illness or for an injury that is considered more serious eg a hard knock to the head, they will be sent home. 

Parents will always be contacted first and you will need to collect your child promptly and keep them at home until they are fully recovered. 

If you are unable to collect your child, please organise your emergency contact and let the school know who this will be.

Make sure you have provided the Front Office with an updated list of your emergency contacts in case we need to contact them.

Garden News with Ms Richardson

There have been a lot of helpers from all classes in the vegetable garden during recess and lunch. The garden helpers have raked leaves, weeded around the vegetables, built garden beds, planted seeds in the hothouse, turned compost, planted onions, garlic, carrots, warrigal greens, lettuce, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, and peas. We can't wait to see how everything grows! 

The year 2/3's have been keeping a garden diary to follow the progress of the vegetable garden. After photographing the plants, the students annotate their photos to keep a record of the garden for crop rotation, growth and to see what is ready for harvest. Once harvested we create meals to share. This term we have made quiche and minestrone soup.

Science 

This term we have been learning about properties of materials.

We conducted an investigation to determine which fibre was the strongest.

We know that for an investigation to be fair there can only be one variable.

The variable in this investigation was the fibre. The liquid, the bucket and the apparatus that the bucket was suspended from were the same.

The outcome of the investigation was that the string did not break at all !