22 February 2019

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPALS REPORT

Dear Families,

Options afternoons

This year our grade 3, 4, 5 and 6 students are having the opportunity to opt into additional programs on both Thursday and Friday afternoons. On Thursdays, the students have the choice between coding with Mrs Rigney, construction with Mr Patulny, cooking at the neighbourhood centre, guitar with the PCYC and art with Tremeka and Venessa. On Friday students can choose between football with Mr Harper, netball with Venessa, dance with Miss Scott and bikes with Ant and Mr Coombe. We had our first sessions last week and everyone had a wonderful time.

Attendance

Attendance at school is so very important as we know that students who attend regularly have greater success at school and in later life. It is expected that children are at school by 9:00am until the end of the day (2:40pm). Please try to schedule appointments and holidays outside of school time wherever possible.

Parents are obliged to advise the school of the reason each time their child is absent from school. To assist with this, the school sends an automated SMS each time a child is away from school or arrives late. Parents can reply to the SMS or they can contact the school office to explain the reasons. The school is obligated to account for all unexplained absences and so we may follow up with a phone call or send a letter requesting explanations to ensure our records are kept up to date.

Leadership Opportunities

We pride ourselves on the opportunities we provide for our older students to develop their leadership skills. Next week, many of our grade six students will take the opportunity to present a speech in front of the school as to why they would make a great school captain. Preparing a speech and standing up in front of a large audience takes enormous courage and preparation and we are so proud of every one of our students who rises to the challenge. I know that our elected captains will be wonderful leaders and representatives for our school.

All of our grade five and six students will have the opportunity to be sports leaders. This role involves running games for our ECE students at lunchtime, helping at sports carnivals and assisting during ECE PE lessons. While it is a big commitment, it is a wonderful opportunity for our students to develop their confidence and leadership skills.

At the end of March, our grade six students will have their leadership camp at the Lea (near Kingston). This is an opportunity for this group of students to participate in leadership and team-building activities. More information will be coming home soon with regards to the camp.

Principal
Rachael Wells

SAFE FAIR CARE CERTIFICATES PRESENTED AT ASSEMBLY ON

Monday February 18th

UPCOMING EVENTS

School Association Annual General Meeting

On the 5th March 2019 Risdon Vale Primary School Association will be holding their Annual General Meeting at 6pm at the Neighbourhood Centre. This year there is:

• President
• Vice President
• Parent Representatives

Positions up for voting. Our meetings only need to be held 4 times a year with discussions and decisions on what and how our school should run. Come and put forth your opinion, late afternoon tea will be supplied.

We will be making the decision to create a subcommittee which will be just for fundraising. This will be more fun and child involved group with no full commitment required. If you love helping, love children and want the school to have more improvements and items for your child and others please put your hands up for the fundraising group.

Come along and meet new people, eat some nibbles and had a say.

Cannot wait to see you there.

Risdon Vale Primary School Association.

AGM Voting Form

“OUR SHARED TABLE”

Risdon Vale School Cooking Program

This week the SAKG (Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden) 24carrot kitchen has started again for the year. In this rotation grades 3-4 are studying shapes. This week 3-4 Rigney made some shape grissini and a geometric Greek salad. The grade 5-6 are looking at what we can do with tomatoes. 5-6 Coombe made pizza sauce as well as pizza dough and we topped it with fresh produce from our garden.

School Health News

LIFT NEWS

SCHOOL BANKING

School Banking day is every Friday, and School Banking Officer is Karen Boucher

Coder College Courses

Very Hungry Caterpillar Competition

The Very Hungry Caterpillar 50th Anniversary, the school library is holding colouring in competition.

Colouring in sheets have been sent home but if you need another one just download from link below.

Home Reader

Dear parents,

We are trialling a new way of tracking nights of home reading. Each student will have a diary where the date and the book that has been read can be recorded. Once students reach a certain number of nights, they will be rewarded with a sticker in their reading diary. Once students reach 100 nights of reading, they will be awarded with a certificate and prize in assembly. If you have any questions, please talk to your child’s teacher.