Parkhill Primary School
Issue 32, Thursday 24 October 2019
Dear Parents/Carers
Thanks to those of you who have contacted me about class placements, etc. for 2020. Again, please do feel free to come and chat with either myself or Michelle if you have any questions.
ORTHOGRAPHY:
As you will be aware, one of our priority areas throughout 2019 is writing. As a staff we have been learning about Orthography and how this can help our children become better spellers and ultimately better writers. So what is Orthography?
Orthographical knowledge is the awareness of the symbols (letters or groups of letters) used to represent the individual sounds of spoken language in written form. To spell fluently, students also need to know the rules about how written letters are arranged in English. Beginning writers will need to understand the alphabetic principle, that is, that spoken language can be recorded in written language by using alphabet letters (graphemes). The 26 letters of the English language are used to represent the phonemes of words. A grapheme can comprise one or more letters. The main ones include:
single letter graphemes, b as in banana, c as in cat or city;
double letter graphemes, ee as in feet, oo as in book;
double consonant graphemes, bb as in bubble, ss as in miss;
digraphs – two different letters representing a phoneme, sh as in sheep, ir as in bird;
consonant clusters, gl as in glow, scr as in scratch;
trigraphs – three different letters representing a phoneme, igh as in night, dge as in judge.
More information can be found on the DET website.
2020 STRUCTURE:
3x F/1 classes
3x Y2/3 classes
3x Y4/5 classes
2x Y5/6 classes
A few things came out of discussions with staff that I would again like to share with you. Please be aware that curriculum structure won’t change. All core subjects are ‘standards’ driven by individual students’ needs, and are now levelled per year group under the Victorian Curriculum.
The classes will be complied as always, considering the balance of academic levels, behaviour and the social needs of the students within the year levels. Teachers meet children’s needs through a balance of explicit teaching, differentiation, individual conferencing, goal setting and feedback as they do currently.
As always I am very aware that any change brings some level of worry and many questions – I really do encourage you to come to see Michelle or myself if you have anything you are unsure of. Often playground conversation is not based around correct information and gossip can build anxiety about issues that are not valid. Please do come and chat with me – I am readily available on the playground both before and after school most days, send an email or call the school.
At this point I would also like to encourage you to email through any preference you have for your child in terms of class placement. These thoughts should be based around your child’s learning needs and are not driven by their friendships – the children will as always be given the chance to voice who they want to be placed with. These submissions should be made as soon as possible as we are beginning to compile classes next week.
It is important to note at this point that we do try to honour most requests but there are no guarantees and I cannot place all students by parent request.
SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING:
How well do you know your child?
https://afineparent.com/positive-parenting-faq/questions-for-kids.html
OTHER:
Athletics Carnival:
We have our Athletics Carnival coming up on 19th November!! As always we are looking for helpers!! The day relies heavily on parent support for us to be able to manage all of the events – if you are available please drop me an email so I can add you to the list!
Many many thanks.
Photography and videoing
It has been noted that lots of you are keen to video and take photographs of your children during school events and assemblies – I completely understand and do the same thing of my own children. It’s great to gather the memories and share their successes with family etc. It is important to note that we do have families at school who do not want their children photographed and posted on social media. I know this is an ever increasing challenge and am mindful of the difficult nature of these things in this day and age. However going into term 4 we will remind you at every event to be considerate and respectful with the content you record. You will see and hear the following statement regularly:
We acknowledge that you may wish to film your child in presentations. When doing so and sharing the content, please be considerate of others.
Please do check out the calendar dates below for the terms events.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Elaine Brady
Principal
Calendar of Curriculum Events
Friday 31 October - Y4 Excursion Arts Centre
Tuesday 5 November - Melbourne Cup Day - No School
Wednesday 6 November - 2/3L Excursion Eureka Tower
Thursday 7 November - 2/3M & 2/3G Excursion Eureka Tower
Wednesday 6 - 8 November- Dental Van
Friday 8 November - Color Run
Thursday 19 November - Whole School Athletics Carnival
Monday 9 December - Fun, Food & Carols
Wednesday 18 December - Y6 Graduation
Thursday 19 December - Y6 Big Day Out
Friday 20th December -Term 4 ends at 1.30pm
Student of the Week
F/1S - Alex W
F1T- Eshelle A
2/3L - Elizabeth L
2/3M - Lucas V
4D - Kaitlyn M
40 - Bella P
5/6A - Earl S
5/6CS - Aaryan J
5/6H - Theia M
STEAM Y4
Term 4 Garden News
Spring has well and truly sprung in our Parkhill garden! Take a walk down there and you will notice that plants are multiplying, bees are buzzing and birds are chirping.
To celebrate the change of season, the Y2/3 and Y4 students have been creating some tasty pastry delights using fresh strawberries, cream cheese and puff pastry.
Why not try this recipe at home? They were absolutely scrumptious.
Anne McGregor
Y2/3/4 Garden Coordinator
Danish Pastries with Homemade Jam
Ingredients:
Spreadable cream cheese
Jam
Fresh Strawberries
Pastry
4 sheets puff pastry, defrosted
2 eggs, lightly beaten (egg wash)
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C
Put baking paper on oven trays.
Pastry
Cut each pastry sheet into 3 equal pieces strips.
Then cut each strip into 3 equal pieces.
Place each piece on the baking tray.
Place a teaspoon of cream cheese in the middle of each piece of pastry. Follow this with a piece of strawberry.
Don't overfill otherwise you won't be able to seal the pastries or they will burst open when baking.
Press the corners gently into the middle. Push them down into the jam mixture.
Brush with egg wash.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until deep golden brown.
Allow to rest for 5 minutes before removing from the tray.
Serve warm
Bring it Breaky
Our next "Bring it Breaky" is coming up, we would love you to join us for breakfast.
When: Wednesday 30th October 9.00am.
Where: Staffroom
Please bring something you would like to share (or just bring yourself).
All welcome, we hope to see you there.
Lost Property
We have some lost property in the office.
If your child is missing a item please come and check if we have it safely put it away.
(Uniforms not included)
Solar Challenge Weekend - 19th and 20th October
Our teams braved the average weather for some top notch racing last weekend. All vehicles were successful in completing their races - no small feat when you have to make a car or boat from scratch!
One of our teams was lucky to receive an invitation to nationals on a wild card - congratulations to Land Shark.
A Big pat on the back for all the teams:
Land Shark - Zac, Charlie, William, Angus
Donuts - Beau, Caleb, Tom, Matari
Diamond Potato Racer - Jamie, Nicholas, Angus, James
The Sponge - Ally, Shannyn, Theia, Ava
And huge thanks to the parents that helped out in our workshops and on the weekend - what staying power.
Until 2020!
Choir Connections
Thank you to all the choir families who had their children dropped off on time last Friday, it made a huge difference to the session. We are looking forward to another timely start this week.
Community Day - Notice Forms
If you haven’t already, please return the notice for the Batesford Reserve Community Day tomorrow morning as we need to confirm that we have enough choir students available.
Fish Required!
Our choir students have been allocated a very special task to create their own fish for a new performance piece!
Think colour, sparkles, glitter
The size is flexible, although nothing as big as a whale shark and nothing so small the audience won't be able to see from the stage. We will be aiming for an A5/A4 size in this house, stuck onto some cardboard so it isn't to floppy! You wouldn't want a floppy fish on stage!
Students will need to bring their fish to choir rehearsal by Friday 1st November
Important Dates
Choir Spectacular – Tuesday 12th November 6pm – 7pm (Choir students arrive 5.45pm)
Community Day Batesford Reserve - Sunday 17th November 2pm – 2.35pm
Fun, Food & Carols – 9th December
With, the 9th of December being our final performance please note there will be no choir rehearsals on Friday 13th December or Friday 20th December.
If you have any questions please email kirsten@careermastery.net.au
Thanks
Marinda and Kirsten
PFA News 24 October 2019
Office Bearers:
President: Vanessa Cowley
Vice President: George Andrakakos
Treasurer: Sumi Sundram
Secretary: Nadine Phillips
Committee Members:
Shadow Treasurer: Fiona Crellin
Communications: Eva Conley
General Members:
Jason Van Lint, Elle Delmee, Mark Havas, Lisa Jacobson, Wendy Douglas, Janneke Storteboom, Leanne Knight, Kylie Touloupis, Donna Edwards, Katrina Battle
If you would like to be on our email distribution list and receive communication and minutes from our meetings please email parents.friends.secretary@gmail.com
PARKHILL COLOR FUN RUN - ONLY 2 WEEKS TO GO!!!
Our aim is to reach $12 000! So far, $2 660 has been raised and F/1C is still in the lead for donations!!!! However, 2/3M is catching up fast! To start fundraising for your child, sign up here https://www.chuffed.org/project/parkhill-colour-run and share the link with friends and family!!!!!!! The more your child fundraisers, the better choice in their prize of Lego or sports equipment!!! GO PARKHILL!!!!!
Winning Class and Prizes
Children will be able to earn a thankyou reward for their fundraising efforts (Get Active and LEGO) and there will be a special surprise reward for all children in the class that raises the greatest amount of money.
Depending on how much is fundraised, your child can choose one awesome prize from that category.
On the day
On the day of the Colour Fun Run, pack a light coloured or white T shirt into your child’s school bag. This is an extra fun way to show-off the colours from the dye on the day. There will be an early afternoon brain food break, then straight after, the fun run will begin at 2:30 pm. Parents and Guardians are most welcome to come to cheer on their loved one.
Further information
Detailed instructions on how to sign-up to start fundraising and potential prizes are attached below. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the office or Vanessa on 0439 356 931.
PFA MEETING - Wednesday 30th October, 8 pm
All attendees are welcome. The focus of the meeting will be the Colour Fun Run and Fun, Food and Carols!. Vanessa will be hosting the meeting so please RSVP to Nadine at parents.friends.secretry@gmail.com for the address.
EMPTY SAUCE BOTTLES NEEDED for the Colour Run
The PFA are looking for empty sauce bottles to use for the Colour Run. These will be used to squirt out coloured dye and corn flour onto the students as they run past. Please hand them into the office.
COLOUR FUN RUN SIGN-UP - 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm
The PFA are looking for volunteers to help out with the running of the Colour Fun Run. Eighteen volunteers are required to set up the course and to throw the kids with dye and water and two volunteers are required to cut up oranges. Please sign-up! https://signup.com/go/yoUbhuZ
CUPCAKE STALL - Wednesday 20th November
The next cupcake stall is on Wednesday 20th November. Please lock it in your diaries! If you are interested in baking some cupcakes, chocolate crackles etc., please email parents.friends.secretary@gmail.com
Parkhill Primary School
Email: Parkhill.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au
Website: www.parkhillps.vic.edu.au
Location: 4A Parkhill Drive, Ashwood VIC, Australia
Phone: 03 9807 2239