30 March 2017

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Hello Parents, Carers and Friends

I am going on study leave for the last two weeks of term. I have written a thesis, about education and it has to be completed by the end of April. It is 200 pages so I need the extra two weeks to make sure it is perfect. It has taken a few years to write but I have to finish it. Mr. Ashley Jubb will be the Responsible Officer whilst I am away. I really want to thank you for your support with this because my study will be examined and I am keen to do the best I can and share the achievement with you.

Congratulations to our newly appointed student leaders. They will represent the school at important events. They will also represent the views of students and help with other aspects of leadership such as Peer Support. Every day they will ensure that they are role models for others.

Captains:

Connor Downham
Kassie Branagan

Vice captains:

Connor Hansson
Talyor Doyle

We have been successful in our application for a languages grant. We will begin to implement Auslan (Australian sign language) in P/1 Porte in Term 2. It is possible that we might be able to invite parents to join an Auslan class after school, one day a week. I will provide more details at the beginning of Term 2.

A number of people have offered to be volunteers in our school this year. The difference they are making to the students and the staff is fantastic. Some are working with individual students, whereas others are running an activity such as after school sport or dance. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for their time and energy. They are making such a wonderful, positive difference. Thank you volunteers!! If you wish to be a volunteer at our school, whether it is gardening, listening to reading or supporting a student, please let us know.

We have a newly appointed Aboriginal Education Worker. This is incredibly exciting and important for our school as we have a great representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. Nerissa Waterfield will be based with us on Mondays and Tuesdays. She will be doing cultural activities with students and supporting staff to implement aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history into our classrooms. We continue to recognise the traditional owners of the land every assembly with Seth doing Welcome to Country. We also look forward to flying both the Australian and Aboriginal flags when our new school signage is installed at the front of the school in Term 2. Welcome Nerissa!!

We have also just started a wonderful program with Story Dogs. We welcome Marli to the staff, who is Jodie Gaul’s dog, and is trained as a Story Dog. Our other Story Dog is Bailey who visits our school with his owner. Children get to read to Marli and Bailey each week and absolutely love the way the Dogs listen to their reading. This program helps children to read more confidently, with their reading levels assessed for improvement throughout the program.

It has been so wonderful to see so many family members, carers and friends at our Monday celebration assemblies. Every Monday we celebrate our Hi 5 values as a school. We recognise the ways in which we behave respectfully and responsibly with each other. We also recognise the ways in which we learn together. Our most important value is to be Safe at school. We are focusing on being an anti-violence/bullying school. Our whole community deserves to feel safe at all times.

To end this fortnight’s newsletter, I would like to wish Vanessa Goodwin MLC a very speedy recovery, on behalf of our school community. She is a great supporter of our school through attending functions in our community and a recent donation of a new Australian flag for our main flag pole.

Kinds regards, Libby

Green Card Awards that were presented at Assembly

March 27th

High 5 awards presented at assembly 20th March 2017

High 5 awards presented at assembly 27th March 2017

Home Reading -Congratulations to these students, who received Home Reading Certificates at assembly this week.

National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) 2017

NAPLAN (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) commenced in Australian schools in 2008. Each year, all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in common national tests which assess:

• Reading
• Writing
• Language Conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation)
• Numeracy.

The scheduled dates for the tests in 2017 are Tuesday 9 May, Wednesday 10 May and Thursday 11 May.

The benefits of participating in NAPLAN testing:

• NAPLAN tests the skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life such as reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy.
• NAPLAN results provide valuable information on how your child is progressing against national minimum standards of literacy and numeracy skills expected for each year level.
• The NAPLAN tests provide you as parents with an individual report that shows your child’s results and a comparison of your child’s performance against all other Australian students in their year level.
• Teachers use the NAPLAN results to determine your child’s areas of strength and where future focus is required and how best to provide support or extension activities.
• School teachers use the online NAPLAN Toolkit to analyse your child’s results. The Toolkit provides detailed information right down to the individual question with links to teaching strategies.
• Principals, senior staff and others use NAPLAN results to inform school planning and to allocate resources and support including informing decisions around targeted programs and initiatives for individuals and groups.

The best way you can assist your child is by helping them to feel comfortable about the nature and purpose of the tests, and assure them that the tests will give them an opportunity to show what they have learned in class.

For more information about the national tests, please visit the national NAPLAN website via the link below:

Athletics Carnival

Story dogs

Beef, bacon and vegetable pasta sauce

Equipment:

Chopping boards, knives, measuring cups and spoons, spatula, can opener, Mixing spoon, large pot, frypan

Ingredients:

500gm lean mince
100gm bacon, cut into thin slices
1 1/2 cups assorted vegetables – cut into small pieces
1 tablespoons oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 x 400gm tin diced tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon fresh herbs, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups uncooked pasta

Method:

1. Cook pasta in boiling water for 12 minutes, drain and return to pot.
2. In a large frypan put mince, bacon and oil. Fry gently until just browned.
3. Finely chop onions and garlic and add to salami and bacon. Fry for 5 minutes.
4. Add herbs, chopped vegetables, parsley, salt, pepper and tomatoes to frypan. Cook until vegetables are just soft.
5. Taste sauce and add more salt and pepper if required.
6. Add cooked pasta to meat and vegetable sauce. Mix gently and serve.

Carrot & potato curry

Equipment:

Chopping boards, knives, measuring cups and spoons, large mixing bowl, mixing spoon, spray oil, frypan or large pot, Pot for rice cooking,

Ingredients:

3 large carrots, cut into bite size pieces
2 potatoes, leave skin on and cut into small cubes
3 tomatoes, cut into medium size pieces
2 tablespoons oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoons coriander powder
2 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 ½ cups rice to cook separately

Method

1. Heat oil and saute onion for about a minute. Add all spices, garlic, carrot and potatoes. Stir well for 5 minutes until vegetables are lightly browned.
2. Add chicken stock and tomato. Cover and let simmer for about 20 -25 minutes until potato and carrot are just soft.
3. Boil water to cook rice. When boiling, add rice and cook for 12 minutes.
4. Serve with rice and papadums

*** 1- 1½ cups uncooked rice is enough for up to 8 students

School Association News

Notice for Advisement

Vice President for the School Association is up for nomination this year. Please put any recommendations you have for the position to the school office.

The School Association Annual General Meeting will be held on the 6th April 2017 in the school staffroom at 3pm.

AGM School Association

Thursday 6th April
Position Vacant

Vice President

All other seats held for one more year. (2 year sitting)

Please fill in nomination forms at office to be eligible for election into the seat.

Uniform Shop

The uniform is now being run by the School Association President Tamara Knop and Rachel Paige.

The hours in which it will be open is:

MONDAY: 8.30 til 9am
WEDNESDAY: 8.30 til 9am
FRIDAY: 2.30 til 3pm

If other times are needed please contact Tamara or Rachel on the Risdon Vale Primary School Association Facebook Page.

A few members of our school community got together in a working bee to help Mrs Burr in the school’s 24 carrot garden. With the parents and children working together, with many hands making the work load lighter, the weeds were no challenge. The end result brought joyful tears to Mrs Burr eyes. The school and Mrs Burr would like to say a huge thankyou to the people who helped.

Word of the Week

Friendship

What is friendship? If you look in the dictionary it will tell you that the definition of friendship is a state of being friends; friendly relation, or attachment, to a person, or between persons; affection arising from mutual esteem and good will; friendliness; amity; good will. That all sounds nice, but it doesn’t cover the fact that a true friendship is a relationship that can survive the test of time and remain unconditional.

Friendship for most people is a combination of affection, loyalty, love, respect, and trust. The general traits of a friendship include similar interests, mutual respect and an attachment to each other, and in order to experience friendship, you need to have true friends. The emotional safety provided by friendship means not having to weigh your thoughts and measure words. True friendship is when someone knows you better than yourself and takes a position in your best interests in a crisis. Friendship goes beyond just sharing time together, and it is long lasting.

Friendship can mean different things to different people. For some people it is simply the trust that someone will not hurt you. For others it might be unconditional love or just normal companionship. Whatever your own definition is, friendship is often considered as a mutual and agreeable relationship between two individuals, and that’s a good thing, as it has been said that a person who finds a true friend has found a priceless treasure.

Friendship is rarely one-sided though, as it takes two individuals to negotiate the boundaries in a relationship and a friendship will not survive very long if only one person is making the effort to sustain the relationship without any help or recognition from other person. Because it takes both positive and negative experiences to define a personality, it is essential to build your friendships with people who are compatible with you on both an emotional and psychological basis.

HOW TO BE A GOOD FRIEND

To have good friends you must be a good friend. Here are some of the ways good friends treat each other:

• Good friends listen to each other.
• Good friends don't put each other down or hurt each other's feelings.
• Good friends try to understand each other's feelings and moods.
• Good friends help each other solve problems.
• Good friends give each other compliments.
• Good friends can disagree without hurting each other.
• Good friends are dependable.
• Good friends respect each other.
• Good friends are trustworthy.
• Good friends give each other room to change.
• Good friends care about each other.

Famous quotes on friendship:

“Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.” - Thomas Jefferson

“If you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything.” - Muhammad Ali

“Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship.” - Oscar Wilde

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy and art, friendship has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.” - C. S. Lewis

“A friend is a single soul dwelling in two bodies." - Aristotle

“Laughter is not a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is by far the best ending for one.” - Oscar Wilde

Great Learning Sites for Kids

Great learning maths games online for free for any age group at our school. (Kinder to Grade 6)

For the older children to learn coding on the computer try:

After School Care

This is run by the Clarence City Council and is now going to be held Monday – Friday (5 days)

Information and forms are available from the School Office plus information about Concessions and prices.

If numbers do not improve by 3rd Term this facility will be discontinued.

Calendar of Events