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Ardtornish NewsletterTerm 2 Week 1 - 4th May 2018
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No 7
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In this issueIn this Issue
Diary Dates
May 6th -Pedal Prix - Loxton 7th -6.30pm Finance 8th -SAPSASA Soccer Carnival 9th –Mother’s Day Stall 11th Yr 4-7 Disco 14th -KO Football Game, Governing Council 7pm 15th -NAPLAN Spelling/Writing 16th -NAPLAN Reading 17th -NAPLAN Numeracy, The Protectors Incursion F-7 18th -Assembly 10am, SAPSASA Cross Country 25th – Room 19 Zoo Snooze 30th – Sports Committee Meeting 7pm June 1st - Room 20 Zoo Snooze 8th – PUPIL FREE DAY Road Crossing
Monitors Tue 15th May – Mon 21st May Hannah G, Rhys V, Hayden N Tue 22nd May – Mon 28th May Riley C, Liam H, Jake S Tue 29th May – Mon 4th June Mia H, Skye H, Ayla W Please arrive by 8.25am |
New Technologies and Investigation Area
Room 26 has been transformed into a new area for Junior Primary students to explore, investigate and learn in. This new Digital Technology and Investigation space has been set up for students to engage and learn through play.
Investigation time provides students with opportunities to develop key social, emotional and academic skills in contextual and challenging ways so they are truly engaged and extended.
The pedagogy of 'learning through play' is underpinned by child-directed play where students learn through doing and practising in real, relevant and meaningful ways. In this room, students have the opportunity to practise typing skills, tinker with the parts of a computer and keyboard, role-play, real-life occupations such as a chef, construct and design using a variety of objects, code bee-bots to move on a map and many more. The investigations that students engage in have clear learning intentions and link to the Australian Curriculum. NAPLAN: Literacy and Numeracy TestingInformation including exemption and withdrawal procedures.
NAPLAN is the annual national assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7, & 9 and will occur on Tuesday 15th, Wednesday 16th, Thursday 17th and Friday 18th of May. Please ensure your child attends on these dates, after a good night’s sleep and breakfast, so that data can be collected about their performance. What does NAPLAN Assess? NAPLAN tests the sorts of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life, such as reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy. It is important to remember that NAPLAN tests are not pass/fail tests. At the classroom level it is one of a number of important tools used by teachers to measure student progress. NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are already learning through the school curriculum. Teachers are ensuring students are familiar with the test formats and will provide appropriate support and guidance. Students can be withdrawn or exempted from the tests on parent request. Parents must submit a request form, which is available from the front office by Friday 11th May - Friday Week 2 Term 2. Withdrawals may be for philosophical reasons while exemptions from the tests are based on the child having a disability or lack of language proficiency making it too difficult for them to effectively undertake the test. How is NAPLAN performance measured? NAPLAN is not a pass or fail type test. Individual student performance is shown on a national achievement scale for each test. Each test scale has ten bands and all year levels are reported on the same scale. The performance of individual students can be compared to the average performance of all. See practice test examples at www.nap.edu.au/naplan/the-tests.html For more information about NAPLAN: visit www.nap.edu.au//naplan/parent-carer-support |
Canteen RosterTuesday 15th Michele S
Wednesday 16th Mary-Anne R Thursday 17th Emma S Friday 18th Stacey C, Rhonda P Tuesday 22nd Michele S Wednesday 23rd Michele S Thursday 24th Jenni K Friday 25th Emma S, Grace J & Helen G 
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Kindy Enrolments for 2019
Ardtornish Children’s Centre is now taking expressions of interest for Kindy in 2019 – Places will be limited… register your interest NOW Parenting Supports This Term Chances to reflect on how we respond to our children and learn new approaches. All are free for dads, mums and carers: Staying Safe – share Donna Broadhurst’s insights and ideas about how we parents can help our children assert themselves and make decisions that protect them and seek safety. Tuesday 8 May 5:30-7:30pm crèche available. Positive Parenting Program – a series of three Wednesday evening talks from 6 - 8:30pm. 23, 30 May, & 6 June. Focusing on building children’s confidence, competence and resilience. Crèche available. 21 Days to Happier Families – an online course for dads, mums, carers and their children to take some structured time to care for themselves and the relationships that matter most. Bringing Up Great Babies - a five week Wednesday morning course starting 6 June, looking at understanding the needs of babies and how to address these positively and more confidently, while caring for yourselves. Circle of Security – no program at Ardtornish this term but bookings are available for our eight week evening course next term. Keithcot Farm Children’s Centre (Wynn Vale) and the Ingle Farm Family Zone have daytime COS programs this term. Other Stuff Vegan Cooking snack – If you are interested in making some simple vegan snacks – parent Amy will be offering her skills and knowledge for three Wednesday mornings, at 9am from 16 May - fresh food for your child’s lunchbox. All welcome, the coffee pot will be brewing. Twilight Play - Featuring a Camping theme on Tuesday 22 May and a Walk in the Dark on Thursday 14 June - with a one week raincheck. If it rains raincheck week we have other options. Grow Up Smiling (GUS) Dental Outreach – will be at the Children’s Centre from 26-28 June. An approved adult MUST accompany your child to the dentist. Registration forms for new families are available from the Centre. Families already registered will be send a reminder letter. If you have any questions about your younger children we are here to assist. Drop in or give us a call to find out more, or to book for activities. Updated information at our Facebook page. John Buckell 82649828, 0409984495 or email john.buckell@sa.gov.au |
Year 4-7 Disco
Year 4-7 Disco Friday 11th May 2018 from 6.30pm until 9.00pm. Tickets are $5.00 each. Pay via Qkr! or at the finance window by 4.00pm 11/5/18. Tickets will not be issued - a list of payments will be at the door.
Mother’s Day Stall
On Wednesday 9th May we are having a Mother’s Day Stall for the students in the hall to purchase gifts for their Mum, Nana or anyone else they wish to buy for. Students will be allocated a timeslot. Gifts will range in price from $1.00 - $15.00. Could parents please supply a plastic bag for your child’s purchase.
QKR! Payments can be made to use on the day. (No change given if using QKR!) Year 7 Boys SAPSASA
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Kanga Cricket
During Term 1 Ardtornish Year 2 & 3 students participated in the North Eastern Kanga Cricket Competition at the Tea Tree Gully District Cricket Club Oval. Matches were Friday evenings at 6pm against other schools in the area.
Thanks to the following students for representing our school. Kobe G, Copper T, Hugo and Jude H, Sam K, Sam J, Logan M, Tate R, Jack W, Eli C, Noah C and Finlay E who must have been the unluckiest player as when he was available, other teams forfeited or didn’t turn up, so he didn’t get to play. Thankyou also to the parents for assisting at practice and at matches, your help was invaluable. Kanga Cricket resumes in Term 4. Mr Halliday Physical Education
News from ACHPER (Australian Council for Health, Physical Education & Recreation) with thanks from the Advertiser, April 24th.
Recently John Stokes has taken on the role of chief executive of ACHPER. His aim is to restore health & physical education as a priority in the school curriculum across Australia. He believes Health and Physical Education has been downgraded in school education programs. “All the figures show the adult population is getting more obese, kids are getting fatter, less healthy choices, less exercise, technology, of course is impacting as well.” He believes this is occurring because of the curriculum is overcrowded. Jan Sutherland agreed that schools were the obvious place for children to be exposed to a wide of sports. Jan is the Sports SA Chief Executive and ex P.E Teacher. John Stokes says “but schools are the best place for children to learn fundamental movement skills and to try a range of activities”. Medical experts are concerned that the current generation of children will suffer from more health problems than their parents. Mr Halliday |
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Award-Winning In-School Theatre Performances
The Protectors On Thursday May 17th Brainstorm Productions will be presenting their student wellbeing program ‘The Protectors’ for F-2 and 3-7 The Protectors come to the rescue with their live theatre program, providing students with important life lessons including resilience, perseverance and how to manage adversity, especially when dealing with bullying. Using research-based strategies, The Protectors and their ‘Protector Tools’ will help students learn how to handle bullies and understand how they can intervene safely to support children who are being bullied. Students will come to appreciate that all people deserve to be treated with kindness and respect. The Protectors is part of our student wellbeing curriculum and the program has been developed in consultation with teachers, psychologists, as well as real-life student experiences. The methodology of the program is safe, supportive and nonjudgmental and designed to provide students with positive and useful tools that they can use in their everyday lives. More than 350,000 Australian students have already benefited from Brainstorm Productions multi award-winning educational theatre programs over the past twelve months. Their programs cater to the specific wellbeing needs of students, helping to create a healthy and harmonious school environment. If you would like to know more about Brainstorm Productions, visit their website at www.brainstormproductions.edu.au Payment and consent forms need to be returned by 4:00pm Monday May 14th. |
STEM (Thinking Scientifically, Technologically & Mathematically)
Over the last two days, Liz Gehling and I (accompanied by Deb on Thursday morning), attended the first of many professional learning days at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Liz and I are part of the 500 Stem Educators in Primary Schools (STEM 500) which is an element of the Department for Education STEM Strategy which aims to have at least 500 primary teachers with a STEM specialization in South Australian government school by 2020.
Two teachers from every site will attend Professional Development over the next 2 years. The program will build upon teacher’s knowledge and confidence in designing learning in the STEM disciplines of Science, Technology or Mathematics, and through this, increase student participation and develop positive attitudes towards these learning areas.
Liz and I have been given the Technology discipline as our focus for the next 18 months or so. Following our attendance at the workshops and Professional Learning Communities meeting, we commit to site-based / PLC activities such as collaborative work, trialing learning and assessment design strategies. Through reflection, we will share experiences and tasks and analyse student work for evidence of learning.
STEM looks different across every class at every school. Here are some examples of what students learning STEM could be engaged in:
Val Crozier
Two teachers from every site will attend Professional Development over the next 2 years. The program will build upon teacher’s knowledge and confidence in designing learning in the STEM disciplines of Science, Technology or Mathematics, and through this, increase student participation and develop positive attitudes towards these learning areas.
Liz and I have been given the Technology discipline as our focus for the next 18 months or so. Following our attendance at the workshops and Professional Learning Communities meeting, we commit to site-based / PLC activities such as collaborative work, trialing learning and assessment design strategies. Through reflection, we will share experiences and tasks and analyse student work for evidence of learning.
STEM looks different across every class at every school. Here are some examples of what students learning STEM could be engaged in:
- coding
- designing and building prototypes like windmills, solar cars and water sampling technologies
- the Engineers Without Borders project, which designs and develops solutions for humanitarian problems like solar cookers, water filtration systems and solar lighting
- agri-science and agricultural engineering
- robotics
- working with local industries and communities such as Lockheed Martin and Parafield Airport
- developing technical and engineering skills to troubleshoot the source of a problem, repair a machine or debug an operating system.
Val Crozier
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