Newsletter - Serpell Primary School

th
10 February 2015
FROM THE PRINCIPAL
SCHOOL CAPTAINS ELECTED
Last Thursday afternoon 47 Year Six students gave
speeches to an audience of the senior students, after being
nominated for the position of School Captain 2015. This
was a wonderful opportunity for each of the nominated
students and I was so proud to see the way that they
prepared their speeches and focussed on the value that
they add personally to our school community. There were
creative posters, raps, songs, poems and multilingual
presentations. Following a Year 6 student secret ballot,
preferential voting process, I am really thrilled to announce
that the following students have been elected as School
Captains:
James Lam (C)
Sulaymann Hafeez (VC)
Elisha Cox (C)
Kristy Arulrajah (VC)
This week elections will be held for the positions of House
Captains and House Vice Captains.
Serpell holds
democracy as a key core value and we strive to give the
students who will be the leaders of tomorrow, many
opportunities to develop their skills in leadership and
community. The next round of elections, which will take
place in each class, will be for the Junior School Council
Representatives in Environment, Fund Raising and Social
Action.
PARENT ASSOCIATION MEETING FRIDAY
This coming Friday morning at 9am, the PA will be holding
its AGM in the staffroom. A key feature will be a
presentation by Year 6 teacher, Jessica Lee, on
“Philosophy in the Classroom”. After you drop the children
off in the morning, please come in and join us for a morning
of education, socialising and community sharing. If you are
new to our school it is a great chance to
meet others and become connected to
your child’s education.
PARENT HELPERS TRAINING
Training for Parent Helpers in classrooms is detailed later
in this newsletter. Thank you to Barbara Bell for her
willingness to train parents in the most important way. This
provides parents with knowledge about how children learn,
the opportunity to work in the classroom as well as the
ability to get to know the teacher and classmates of their
children.
CHINESE NEW YEAR ASSEMBLY NEXT MONDAY 2pm
Next Monday afternoon at 2pm we will have a special
whole school assembly to celebrate Chinese New Year.
We invite parents, grandparents and friends to join us at
this event, which will be presented in English and
Mandarin. However, we will be watching the weather
forecast carefully. If the projected temperature is more
than 35 degrees, the assembly will be postponed until the
following week. Notification will also be on Twitter and
Facebook.
WILMA CULTON
FROM THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
What is going on?
This year we will be communicating all of
our curriculum information to you through
your child’s Year Level Blog. The Term
Newsletter from each year level will be
placed onto the Year Level Blog for you to
read and to find out about what is
happening in all learning areas including English,
Mathematics, the Inquiry Unit, Physical Education, Art,
Library and Languages. Teachers will be using the Year
Level and Class Blog to communicate important
information to you. Incursions and excursions, tips for
assisting with home learning, and a diary of special events
will all be placed onto the Blog. It will be a MUST READ
document on a regular basis.
You will receive a letter from your child’s teacher which will
provide you with the Blog address for your child’s Year
Level Blog. This letter will be sent home to you in the very
near future.
We trust that you will enjoy this new way of communicating
with you.
PARENT LITERACY EDUCATION
SESSIONS.
CLASSROOM HELPER
TRAINING/SUPPORTING CHILDREN IN EARLY YEARS
LITERACY LEARNING. Morning and Afternoon
sessions Term One.
Parent training sessions for the Classroom Helpers
program will be held in the morning and afternoons this
term. These sessions are designed around the areas of
Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. If you are
interested in assisting in the Foundation, year one or year
two classrooms, attendance at the four training sessions is
essential. If you would like to learn more about the way
your child learns literacy skills, you are most welcome
to attend.
There are four sessions each of
approximately 90 minutes duration. You must commit
to the whole four sessions.
The following sessions will be held this term:
Mornings:
9.15 – 10.45 on Wednesday Feb. 18;
Wednesday Feb 25; Wednesday March 4 and
Wednesday March 11
Afternoons: 1.30– 2.45pm on Friday Feb.20; Friday Feb
27; Friday March 6 and Friday March 13.
All sessions are held in the staff room.
No pre-school children please.
Please fill out the return slip below if you are interested in
attending this Literacy Education Program and return it to
the school office. We will be in contact with you before the
workshops begin to confirm that we have sufficient
numbers to run these classes.
Sue Young
Barbara Bell
Assistant Principal.
Reading Recovery Teacher
Parent Literacy Education Sessions
I will be attending the Parent Literacy Education
sessions. Please circle the session you will be
attending.
Morning
OR
Afternoon
(Circle One)
Parent Name:___________________________________
Contact Telephone Number:_______________________
Child’s name:_______________________ Class ______
SCHOOL BANKING
On behalf of the whole school we would like to give special
thanks to Ophelia Hung and Lilian Ong, who for 10 years
volunteered their time to process the School Banking. It is
only with parent support that these programs can run, we
wish them well and thank them both.
PARENT’S ASSOCIATION
WELCOME MORNING TEA and AGM – THIS FRIDAY
13th FEB
On Friday morning after drop-off we warmly welcome
families that are new to the school to join us for morning
tea in the staffroom.
During this time we will also have a philosophy
presentation from Grade 6 teacher Jessica Lee. This will
be a fantastic opportunity to hear more about this subject
that our children probably know more about than us! All
welcome.
Following the presentation we will hold our Parents’
Association AGM and first meeting for the year. If you
would like to get involved, find out some more information
or just hear about the plans for the year, please come
along. Young children are welcome to attend – we have an
updated box of toys.
If you have any questions feel free to email me on
natlauder@gmail.com.
2015 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES NEEDED
Thank you to those who have already volunteered to be
Class Rep this year for your child’s class. This is a very
special, valuable and important role that will not only
enable you to become more involved with your child’s
class, but with the school community as a whole.
Ideally we need two class reps for each class so this is
perfect to do with a friend, as it is a very easy and
rewarding role.
Class Reps are still needed for the following classes:
F: JJ, LJ, MS, RS
1: AR, KH, LM, PC, SC
2: AM, JQ, KK, KS, MR, MS, RL
3: LZ, NT, RB
4: BR, BS, JO, JR, TA
5: JT, KB, KD, KJ, NR
6: AF, CK, CN, JL, SC
If you have not already volunteered and would like to do so
please e-mail Dora Demos at dora.demos@bigpond.com
our Class Rep Coordinator with your name, your child’s
name and class and your phone number.
Natalie Lauder
President, Parents’ Association
FROM THE SCHOOL OFFICE
Absences: If your child is absent from school there is no
need to ring the school, just send a note explaining their
absence upon their return to school. The absence note
must have the child’s full name and class on it.
If you child arrives late to school, you do not need to
come via the office, just take your child straight to
class and let the teacher know why they are late, the
class roll will be adjusted accordingly.
If you wish to pick your child up early from school, you must
come via the office, complete an early release slip and then
take it to your child’s teacher.
Messages: Please only ring the office with messages for
your child if it is urgent.
Sending Money: Please ensure any money sent to the
office is in a sealed envelope with your child’s full name and
class on it.
Your assistance with this is much appreciated.
SPORT
Swimming Trials
Following our successful School Swimming Trials held at
Aquarena last Friday we now have selected 34 children
from Year 4,5 and 6 to represent Serpell at our District
Swimming Carnival which will be at Aquarena this Friday,
13th February from 10am – 12.30pm.
Thank you to all the parents who assisted with the
swimming trials which ran really smoothly in perfect sunny
conditions. Hopefully the same the same will apply this
Friday with warm weather predicted.
Hopefully a number of children will qualify for the Divisional
Carnival to be held in early March.
Graham Matthews
Sports Coordinator
SERPELL BASKETBALL CLUB
RESULTS of Games W/E 7 Feb 2015
U9 Girls
U11 Girls
U9 Boys
U11 Boys
Sunrays 6
Star Shooter 26
Coyotes 4
Spartans 21
Donvale Emeralds 0
Donvale Diamonds 0
Milgate 16
OLOP Rockets 16
U11 Boys
Scorpions 14
Serpell Snipers 17
U11 Boys
Snipers 17
Serpell Scorpions 14
Open Boys
Cyclones 12
OLOP Piranhas 34
DIARY
Tue 10th
th
Fri 13
Feb
Feb
th
Feb
th
Feb
Feb
Feb
Mon 16
Mon 16
th
Tue 17
Wed 18th
th
Fri 20
School Banking resumes
PA AGM & morning tea for new
families – 9.00am
Chinese Parent Group Meeting –
12.30pm
Whole School Assembly – 2pm
Walk To School Launch
Classroom Helper Training – AM
Session @ 9.10am in the Staffroom
Classroom Helper Training – PM
Session @ 1.30pm in the Staffroom
Labour Day Holiday – No School
School Photos
School Photos
Reporting Evening
Reporting Eveing
Feb
th
Mon 9
th
Tue 10
Wed 11th
Mon 23rd
th
Tue 24
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
2015 Camp Dates
Yr 3
Yr 4
Yr 5
Yr 6
Mon 19th Oct – Wed 21st Oct
Wed 4th Nov – Fri 6th Nov
Mon 9th Nov – Wed 11th Nov
Tue 17th Nov – Fri 20th Nov
2015 School Term Dates
Term
Term
Term
Term
1 – Wed 29th Jan to Fri 29th Jan
2 – Mon 13th Apr to Fri 26th Jun
3 – Mon 13 Jul to Fri 18th Sep
th
th
3 – Mon 5 Oct to Fri 18 Dec
COMMUNITY NOTICES
Sacramental Classes for Catholic Children
Catholic children who attend our school are invited by St.
Gregory the Great Parish, Doncaster to participate in
programs to prepare for the Sacraments of Reconciliation,
Holy Communion and Confirmation.
Could parents please contact the parish office on 9848
2395 or by email on doncaster@cam.org.au
These programs will be conducted by Sr. Carmel Krohn on
Wednesday evenings.
Indoor Soccer Team
This is a call for expressions of interest of grade-6 boys
who wish to be a member of a Serpell Primary indoor
soccer team and play in a local competition starting term-2.
The season will run from term-2 to 3. Games will be held on
Thursday after school, at Action Indoor Sports – 350
Blackburn Rd, East Doncaster. Cost will be approximately
$10 per game.
Contact Pranil Chandra – 0400971083 / pranil@live.com
The Department of Education does not endorse the products or
services of any private advertiser. No responsibility is accepted
by the Department of Education for the accuracy of information
contained in advertisements or claims made by them.