Reminders

Just a few reminders about some planned activities and school expectations and routines.

Athletics

The Year 5/6 Athletics Day is scheduled for Monday 6th March and Year 3/4 Athletics Day is Tuesday 7th March. All details have been communicated via Compass. Please remember to ensure your child/ren are wearing appropriate clothing/footwear as well as a SunSmart hat and sunscreen. Please ensure adequate food and water are also taken to the track.

Students arrival time at school

Over the past week we have noticed that some students are arriving at school far to early. A reminder for all parents/carers that the playground is not supervised in the mornings until 8.50am (10 minutes to 9.00am).

Where possible we ask that students do not arrive before 8.30am with a preference they arrive around 8.50am as the playground is not supervised prior to this time.

Students are not to be dropped off or permitted to ride to school prior to 8.30am. Your support with this would be greatly appreciated.

Student Safety

Please speak with your child/ren and remind them that when arriving at or leaving school, all students and adults are reminded to cross at the ‘crossing’ located around the school. Last week it was brought to our attention that some students were seen trying to cross Melbourne Road (which is extremely busy at any time) without using the crossing. This is extremely dangerous and discouraged at all times.

A gentle reminder to all families, in line with child safety standards and DE policy, that all visitors and contractors must sign in at the school office between the hours of 9.00am and 3.30pm. If students need to be collected early, or arriving late, please report the general office, sign out/in your child/ren. If signing your child out, please ask one of our office staff to contact the classroom teacher to send the children to the office for collection. In addition, our school gates are locked between the hours of 9.15am and 3.00pm which allows parents/carers time to depart/arrive at the school for drop off and pick ups. The gates being locked during the days ensures children are safe from strangers entering the school grounds or students leaving the school grounds having access to the many busy roads within the school’s vicinity.

The school is also trialling leaving the gates open after school and on weekends for the school community to enjoy. However if you use the grounds and see any issues/vandalism etc please let the office know.

Allocated Gates

Students/families are reminded that we still request them to enter the school grounds through the allocated gates they have used since last year. Students are then reminded to put their bag in their line up area and not enter the school until the appropriate time. Students/families are requested not to enter/leave the school by the front entrance. This area is becoming increasingly congested and a heightened noise level.

Your assistance with using the appropriate access gates/doors would be greatly appreciated.

School Assembly

Last week we had our first assembly, which was a Junior Assembly. It was delightful to see the teachers of each year level handing out their award to their students. The photos of students in each year level have been included in today’s Newsletter.

Enjoy the rest of your week

Wendy Emin—Assistant Principal

Year 3 News

The Year 3 students have had an impressive start to the school year and have settled well into the routines and structures in Year 3. They have been developing their independence by being responsible for their belongings, being organised, and being highly involved in developing their learning goals. We have elected eLearning Leaders from each grade who will be responsible for promoting the safe and responsible use of technology and helping their peers to problem solve. Students will also have an opportunity to be part of the Junior School Council.

We started the year by getting to know each other and what makes us unique and special. Students did a brilliant job presenting their ‘Paper Bag Biography’ where they shared items that are special to them. It was great getting to know more about them and hearing what each student is passionate about. Doing this oral presentation and responding to questions highly supported their speaking and listening skills.

Our Share Inquiry unit this term is all about teamwork. We’ve been learning about what makes a great team and how we can work best together. Students have been participating in fun activities where they have been practising these skills and learning to work collaboratively. We are very much looking forward to our Team Building Incursion this Friday, where students will build on their communication and problem-solving skills to complete small group challenges.

We look forward to meeting our Year 3 families as the term progresses and working alongside you to best support your child/ren.

Thank you - Year 3 Team

Literacy Update- A Week of Writing at WNPS

The incredible effort that students put into their writing each week deserves to be celebrated. We hope everyone enjoys this snapshot of the learning that is taking place in Writing this week!

In Foundation, students are learning how to construct a sentence. They begin by deciding on a sentence to write with their teacher and then work with their teacher to construct the sentence. Then it’s the Prep’s turn to have a go at writing the sentence all by themselves in their Special Book. Students have to practise pinching their pencil, writing from left to right, leaving finger spaces and remembering to put a full stop at the end. Check out one of the amazing sentences created this week!

In Year One, students are honing their ability to retell a story. Through their author study of Roald Dahl, students have been exploring new vocabulary and the way adjectives can be used to describe a character. Through scaffolded activities, students have had the opportunity to describe a range of characters and are beginning to use simple adjectives in their retell writing.

In Year Two, students have been highly engaged with their class mentor text ‘The Twits’. Students designed their own Mr Twit beards, and used adjectives to describe the food (nouns) found in Mr Twit’s crazy whiskers. Students have used this knowledge of vibrant words and parts of speech to create poems.

In Year Three, students have been investigating the way E.B White varied her vocabulary choices in Charlotte’s Web. Students have been unpacking this new vocabulary and working hard to use powerful verbs in their own writing.

In Year Four, there has been a focus on narrative writing. Students have been introduced to the traits of voice, idea and organisation. They are continuing to develop stories and characters that readers can identify with and feel empathy for. One of the tasks was a 5-minute rocket writing piece which had students write a complete narrative on a post-it note, which they then typed up to share with the class. Spontaneous exercises such as these can produce writing ideas that are creative, unforced and enthusiastic.

Charlie from 5H has explained this week’s focus in Year Five: We are learning to make our fictional stories grab and inspire our audiences. One of our techniques is to ‘Show, Don’t Tell’. We change sentences to show what is occurring. Check out Charlie’s fantastic example!

In Year 6, our very talented writers focused on how they can improve their narrative writing craft by using precise word choice to create an engaging experience for their readers. Students explored how they can choose different gradients of verbs such as dawdled, sauntered, stumbled, meandered, dashed, sprinted, depending on the context and intended effect. Students revised their work and made changes to make their word choices more precise, to ensure the reader was able to experience and understand what was being described.

Literacy PLC - Kaitlyn Hayes, Tania Brown, Virginia Irvine, Carolyn Watt, Dean Pearce, Tess Holland and Bethany Johnstone

Exercise Right for Kids: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - Exercise Right

Exercise may influence ADHD symptoms by increasing the availability of a particular neurotransmitter in the brain, which stimulates the brain in a similar way to the medications commonly used.

exerciseright.com.au

Exercise-right-for-kids-Condition-Factsheet_mental-health.pdf (exerciseright.com.au)