10 November 2023

Dear families,

We have had the pleasure of enjoying the beautiful season of Kambarang during the first 5 weeks of term.  

I would like to welcome Antonietta James to our teaching staff. Antonietta is an experienced Education Support Teacher and has joined us from Kenwick School. Since our last newsletter our students voted on the names of our new classrooms. Our new classrooms will be known as ES5 & ES6.

We had two teams of our of our students attend the Education Support South Network (ESSN) Soccer Carnival and each student represented our school with pride and sportsmanship. Day for Daniel was recognised at the end of Week 3 with activities to promote feeling safe and developing protective behaviours. Thank you to Ms Bloxsidge who coordinated the display of our students amazing work at the Kelmscott Show.

Week 3 saw most of Year 6’s attend the final transition for High School. Whole School transition will begin in Week 7.  We will welcome our 2024 Kindergarten students and new students for orientation at our school during this time. Please keep an eye out over the next week for 2024 information packs that will be coming home including Booklists, Contributions and Charges, our Term Planner and Uniform Order Form.

We are seeking nominations for a parent representative to join our School Board as Phil Daniels term has come to an end. The School Board meets once a term and would love for YOU to join us! If this is something you are interested in, please fill out the nomination form and hand into the front office by close of business on Friday 24/11/2023. If you have any questions about what the role involves, please don’t hesitate to give me a call.

Our Public School Board Meeting will be held in Week 9 on Friday the 8^th December 2023 at 9am, all are welcome to attend. Please save the date for our Final Assembly of the year, as we award our Book Award winners and farewell our Year 6’s on Wednesday the 13^th of December.

Kind regards,
Natasha Naylor
Principal

Kindy/Pre-Primary – ES2

Hello / Kaya,

Es2 staff and students have had a busy start to term 4 with lots of fun and engaging learning activities to enjoy. Students have continued to blossom and build their independence over the last five weeks.

Our class theme this term has been celebrations, students have enjoyed learning about different countries and celebrations that are part of the culture in that country. These have also included school community celebrations, including, Day for Daniel, Halloween, the colour run and Remembrance Day.

Students have continued to improve their literacy skills, developing their writing skills, surprising us with funny sentences as part of our Predictable Chart Writing and demonstrating their letters and sound knowledge.

For Fun Friday we have enjoyed joining with peers in ES1 and practice our community safety skills by walking safely to the playground at Don Simmons reserve. Student behaviour has been outstanding, and it has been such a valuable learning experience.

Science continues to be a highlight for our students who enjoy engaging in different science experiments. Its has been a pleasure to see students recall information and create meaning through hand on exploration. Sometimes it has been a little messy but that always adds to the fun.

Enjoy the weekend and we look forward to finishing off a wonderful year with you all.

Best wishes from the team in ES2.

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Pre-Primary / Year 1 – ES3

Hello families and welcome to our term 4, week 5 newsletter.

This term we have been learning all about celebrations. At the beginning of the term, we read a story about going to the show. We made firework paintings using paper towel rolls, paint, and glitter. We put these up on display at the Kelmscott show. In week 3, the whole school wore red to show support for Day for Daniel.

In drama we have been learning to use puppets by imitating actions and voices. In STEM we have been using a range of non-electronic objects that we can manipulate, discovering how things work and why. Students especially loved using the roll ramp, focusing on the different ways cars moved when rolling on different types of textures.

This term, we carried out our Letters and Sounds assessment and staff were so proud of students’ accomplishments this semester. The class has really developed their letter sound knowledge which was proven by the results of the test.

In week 4, students across the school got dressed up for Halloween. The students then got to do a treasure hunt in search of lollies and chocolates. On the Thursday, Miss Morton drove the bus to Kwinana Adventure Park.  We got to enjoy the water play area by jumping, grabbing and running through the fountains of water spurting everywhere.  We swung on the swings, went down all the slides, flew on the flying fox and enjoyed a sausage sizzle on the grass. 

It has been a great start to the term, and even though it has been busy and hot, students are showing their resilience and learnt independence by soldering on. ES3 staff are so proud.

ES3 staff.

Year 1 – ES4

Dear Families,

We hope this newsletter finds you well as we enter Week 5 of Term 4, 2023. The year is flying by, and our children have been immersed in a world of learning and exploration. Here's a glimpse into what your little ones have been up to in class:

Literacy

Letter/Sound of the Week: We continue to improve our writing skills by practising words associated with the letter/sound of the week. It's amazing to see how our young learners are building their word recognition and writing abilities.

Tricky and High-Frequency Words: To expand our vocabulary, we've been working with tricky and high-frequency words. This helps your child express themselves more fluently and with confidence.

Sentence Structure: We're refining our understanding of creating both simple and complex sentences. Predictable chart writing practice has been a fantastic tool to enhance this skill.

Guided Reading Around the World: Our guided reading sessions have taken us on a fascinating journey worldwide. We're exploring important celebrations on different continents, aligning with our term's theme of celebrations. It's a great opportunity for cultural enrichment.

Numeracy

Comparing Lengths and Weights: We are learning about informal ways of measurement, comparing the lengths and weights of objects. This is an essential skill for real-world applications.

Positions and Directions: We're describing positions and directions, enhancing our understanding of how objects relate to each other.

Subitising: Our students are becoming pros at subitising small collections of objects, which will aid in quickly calculating numbers without counting.

Comparing, Ordering, and Correspondences: We're developing the ability to compare, order, and make correspondences between different collections of objects. This is a crucial step in building a strong numeracy foundation.

HASS and Science

In Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS), we've been exploring our place in the world:

Australia's Shape on a Globe: we now recognise the shape of Australia on a globe and can differentiate between our country and others.

Science Exploration: In science, we're learning to differentiate between the sun and the moon, understand Earth's rotation and revolution, and recognise changes on Earth due to the sun. The wonders of the universe are captivating our young minds.

Technology and Art:

We've been combining creativity and technology.

Recycled Artwork: Our students have had the chance to create unique art pieces from recycled materials. Some of their work was even displayed at the Kelmscott Show. Congratulations to our budding artists!

Digital Systems and Magnetism: In technology, we've explored digital systems with different buttons and controls. We've also ventured into the fascinating world of magnetism, discovering which objects are attracted to magnets.

Health and protective behaviours:

Our focus on well-being and personal growth continues.

Safety and Social Skills: We've revised moving around safely, sharing appropriately, following class rules, and expressing needs, wants, and feelings. These skills will serve our students well as they navigate the world.

Active Listening and Self-Discipline: Active listening and self-discipline are essential qualities we instil in our children. These skills are vital for success both in and out of the classroom.

We hope you enjoy these insights into the enriching experiences our children are having in class. We're thrilled to see their growth and development each day. If you have any questions or would like to discuss your child's progress further, please feel free to contact us. We appreciate your ongoing support and look forward to more exciting weeks of learning ahead!

Warm regards,
Class teacher and team of ES4

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Year 1/2 – ES1

This term the students have been very busy consolidating their IEP goals.  They have all been working very hard to complete their work.  Recently we started our excursions to Don Simmons Reserve located next to the school.  Students have been going in small groups on alternating Friday’s with ES2.  This is giving them the opportunity to practise crossing the crosswalk in the carpark, staying together as a group in the community, staying safe on the equipment, following instructions and most importantly while they are having fun.  As the weather is warming up students are helping to apply sunscreen and remember to wear hats.

During science we recently made volcanoes using bi-carb soda and coloured vinegar.  The excited faces when it bubbled over was very special to see. Our tomatoes and capsicums are growing well, there are small green tomatoes growing.  Hopefully we will have some capsicums as well before the end of the year.

During technology we do our weekly cooking session, last week they made rainbow toast.  First, we mixed food colouring in milk to make different colours, they then painted the bread and waited until the bread was toasted.  They then buttered the toast, some of them had strawberry jam.  Students loved the activity and most of them ate the toast.  Cooking and then eating the toast is their favourite cooking lesson.

Also, in technology they experimented using different materials to make a bridge between 2 paper cups to hold a structure.  They started with strips of paper, then card and cardboard and finally a ruler.  We had some budding engineers who expanded the project to use the cups of their peers to extend the length of their bridge. Students took turns to observe how different objects moved down a ramp.  They all waited very well for it to be their turn. Items included blocks, balls of different sizes, cars, and assorted toys.

During literacy we have been reading a different book each week and completing activities related to the books.  We have read “The Cow That Went Oink’, “Pig in the Pond”, Cock-a-Moo-Moo, and “Tidalik The Frog”. Activities have included artwork and paintings. During Maths they have been sorting coins, identifying which items are first and last in a line, labelling shapes and a variety of number related activities.

We look forward to having lots more fun during the rest of the term.  Thankyou to the great team of Education Assistants that go above and beyond every day to support the students and myself and always with a smile on their faces even during the challenging moments.

Jan Collier and ES1 staff.

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Year 2/3 - Rm 18

Halfway through term 4! We said farewell to our student teacher from Murdoch. All students in room 18 did very well adjust to a different teacher for 4 weeks and treated her with respect. We wish her well for her future studies.

In Literacy students have been enjoying writing book reviews on stories we have been reading in the library. Students have enjoyed listening to a story and create their own character to add to the story.

In Math students have done an excellent job learning how to create a bar graph and interpret the information from a bar graph, such as which category has the most. Our students have done a wonderful job at locating features using coordinates on a grid map. 

For Science this term students are learning about Chemical Science, liquid, and solids. Students have had lots of fun participating in experiments and making prediction. So far, we have watched a liquid solution turn into crystals. Students made oblek and enjoyed feeling the different textures. Our most recent experiment was making slime. All student enjoyed making this and watching how quickly the liquid solution turned into slime.

In HASS students have been learning about the continents of the world and have been exploring neighbouring countries of Australia so far, we have explored New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Students have been enjoying learning about different traditions and characteristics of different counties.

Room 18 can’t wait to have more fun and continue working towards the end of the year.

Jessica Nelson and Room 18 staff.

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Protective Behaviours

This term the students have been learning about public and private locations at school, at home and in the community. They have been learning the difference through interactive quizzes, puzzles, matching and sorting activities, and poster making. We have discussed how locations such as a toilet cubicle only become private once the cubicle door is closed and locations such as your bedroom become private once the door and curtains are closed. Students will soon be learning about private behaviours (behaviours that should be done in a private place) and public behaviours (behaviours that can be done in public).   

This term both schools recognised Day for Daniel, an annual day used to raise awareness for child safety issues. Students and staff were encouraged to wear red shirts and the students participated in an in-class Network Hand activity, in which students identified five trusted adults in their lives. 

Year 3/4 - Rm 19

Students have had a wonderful start to term four and should be really proud of their efforts. As many of you may have seen via Seesaw, the rest of the term will see myself, Miss Orr, be the classroom teacher for your child for the remainder of the school year on Mon - Thurs with Mrs Nicholas remaining the teacher on Fridays. I hold a deep commitment to fostering a positive and supportive learning environment, and I am eager to contribute to your child’s academic journey. I am looking forward to a collaborative and fruitful last six weeks of the school year! We also would like to welcome a new student, Sterling, to our classroom. We hope you enjoy the rest of the school year in Rm 19.

In literacy students have been continuing to progress through the Letters and Sounds program with students having recently completed their Letters and Sounds assessments. Everyone tried their best and the assessments highlighted an across the board improvement in our phonics learning and understanding. We have also recently been looking at the book, "I wonder" by Daniel Errico, which celebrates the spirit of inquiry by exploring questions that pique our natural curiosity, like the reasons behind a rooster's crow. This inquisitive mindset has us eagerly embracing "I wonder" questions, so expect to hear some thoughtful queries coming from Rm 19 in the future.

In numeracy, among many things we have been continuing to master our skills of reading the time of an analog clock. Many of us are practising telling the time to o'clock and the half hour, and some of us are even tackling reading the time of quarter past and quarter to. Reading analog clocks in a digital world can be tricky, but all students have been demonstrating much perseverance and enthusiasm to master this skill. Well done Rm 19.

In other learning areas we have also been doing much activity. In Geography we have gained insight into the use of compass directions and applied this to mapping tools such as Google Earth. We located GPESC as a starting point and then travelled to other landmarks around Perth such as Kings Park and Optus Stadium.

In science we have been continuing understanding differences and similarities between living and nonliving things and have also begun exploring the needs of many living things such as different habitats.

In art we have been getting creative, designing some colourful mosaic artwork. We had lots of fun tearing and cutting up the small mosaic pieces and then gluing them onto our paper designs.

As you can see we have had a busy term 4 so far in Rm 19. We are all looking forward to the continued learning and mastery of our new skills as we start transitioning into next year's classes.

Miss Orr and Rm 19 staff

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Spotlight on……. Mrs James

Hello!

I'm Ant James, and I'm thrilled to join the Gwynne Park Education Support community. After a fulfilling tenure at Kenwick School, I am excited to start a new chapter here, teaching Physical Education and Drama.

My philosophy as an educator extends beyond imparting knowledge; it's about connecting with each student, understanding their unique journey, and nurturing their individual strengths. I believe that education happens in every interaction, and I look forward to getting to know all of the students and being a part of their academic and personal development.

Year 4/5 - Rm 17

What a busy term we’ve had so far! We’ve had lots of excitement in and out of the classroom this term that we would like to share with you. We’ve welcomed back to our classroom Mrs Duncombe who is with us 5 days a week. We also had the privilege of hosting a pre-service teacher, Miss Rose, who has helped run the program for 4 weeks.

Our Letters and Sounds program has continued nicely, with all students trying their hardest to learn new sounds in Phase 3 and 5 of the program. This term, we have studied the texts ‘Sail Away’ by Mem Fox, and ‘How the Kangaroos Got Their Tails’ by George Mung Mung Lirrmiyarri. We have adapted parts of the story to make our own stories or retell events. Our Friday morning sentence writing has continued, with our topics including Australian animals, pandas, and Halloween.

In Maths, we have been learning about directional and positional language, and how to interpret grid maps of real and make-believe places. This has continued to HASS, where we used maps of Armadale, Perth and Western Australia to locate natural, managed and built features such as forests, parks, farms and cities.

Science has been a highlight for many students. We are working on telling the difference between plants and animals, and plotting the life cycle of living things. We have observed the development of mealworms in the classroom, watching them go from grub to pupae to beetle. We started the term with around 30 mealworms, and as of writing we have 5 beetles with many pupae ready to hatch!

We watched with excitement in Week 1 as a new classroom went in right across from us. It was an exciting experience to witness! We also had a Halloween dress up in Week 3, where we were visited by a pumpkin person, a bluebird, a circus ringmaster, and a Minecraft villager! Our Fun Friday sessions are a collaborative effort between us, ES4 and Room 19, where we have been learning about celebrations including Carnaval, Chinese New Year and Halloween.

Five weeks to go, everyone! It’s exciting times ahead as we approach the holiday season.

Tim Horton and Room 17 Staff

Year 5/6 - Rm 15

Term four, what can we say, we can’t quite believe how fast the term has gone and how are we already at the halfway point! The term so far has been filled with lots of learning activities, preparation for graduation, preparation for camp and the big one…preparation for high school!

All students have been demonstrating a huge increase in their literacy skills this term, we have been working on creating our own short stories. We have been exploring fiction and non-fiction stories to help support our own creativity. Students have been using a template to create the main dot points of the stories and then over the week have been typing into full sentences and then editing their work. It has been great to see how students have progressed and are getting their creative juices flowing.

During Maths, we have been focusing on money, angles, and place value. Students have been practising using money in everyday life and how much money they need to pay for different items. When exploring angles, we have been using a protractor to measure different angles, draw different angles and identify if an item has a right angle, acute angle, or obtuse angle. Student have been looking at the value of two-digit and three-digit numbers and using place value to identify them. Students have progressed well, some even looking at numbers in the high thousands. All students have shown progression towards their math goals this semester.

With one high school transition completed, we have one left in week 6. Camp is coming up in week 8 for year 6 students, please make sure camp permission forms are returned asap. If you have any queries regarding camp, please do not hesitate to contact myself of Liz Golightly. Graduation assembly will occur Tuesday of week 10 followed by the graduation lunch for year 6 students. There will also be the presentation of graduates at the ESC assembly Wednesday of week 10. Transitions for all other students will occur over 3 weeks. We have lots of exciting things coming up, the rest of the term is going to be action packed and full of exciting days.

Please feel free to stop by the classroom or contact me on Seesaw if you have any questions or queries.

Thank you,

Mrs Agius-Kaukau and Room 15 staff

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Year 5/6 - Rm 16

Hi Families,

It has been a busy few weeks in Room 16. Our year 6s had their graduation photos taken, and some of the year 5s have nominated themselves for leadership roles for next year.

For morning fitness, we have changed things up a little thanks to Mrs DeVries, who kindly bought in some planes that fly really well. We have only had one fly out over the oval fence, so far!

We have been learning about Australian animals through books such as “Wombat Stew” and “Possum Magic”. We made character masks and had great fun re-enacting the stories in class, tying it in with drama for our literacy learning program. Possum Magic took us on a tour of Australia, reminding us of our Geography learning last semester.

In maths we have been learning about mapping, which involved finding treasures on pirate maps and a scavenger hunt around the school in which we worked in teams using co-ordinates to find characters from the books we have been reading. We have also examined the map for our excursion to Ranger Redz Zoo, so we know where to locate the animals on 10^th November. We have been reading a social story to prepare for the excursion and students are excited to go. It should be a great day.

The students have enjoyed having Mrs Carroll over the past four weeks. We wish her well in her studies to becoming a teacher, and we hope to see her around the school in future.

Ms Williams, Mrs Carroll, Ms Draper, Mrs DeVries, Miss Mumford

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MaCS-Mind and Connection Space

Term 4 has certainly started with so many smiles, new and growing friendships and a lot of ready to learn energy!

The students who choose to join our daily lunch club have enjoyed building with lego, making car tracks, drawing,  listening to music, playing Mario Kart  (Wednesday’s and Friday’s) or watching a variety of short films on the big screen with their peers .

This term during Satellite program -Emotional regulation and Social Skills students have become excited with our weekly Bluey lesson and the fun activities that support this. Satellite has increased its afternoon student numbers from 2 to 4 this year with the addition of our wonderful Ms Nicholson assisting on Monday’s and Tuesday’s. 

Student Support Officer
Sonia Candeloro-Ms C

Messages from the Front Office

Contribution Payments for 2024

Please click on below link to view the 2024 Contributions and Charges schedule and 2024 Booklists. These are also available on the school website.

Information for families

City of Armadale Community Health and Wellbeing News and Events

Yoga in the Park

16, 23, 30 November & 7 December | 6:30am 
Jim and Alma Baker Park, Harrisdale

Enjoy an energising start to your day with Armadale Fitness and Aquatic Centre's FREE Yoga in the Park sessions, suitable for all levels. Bring along a yoga mat, towel and water bottle. 

For more information, visit the website here

Nutrition and Diabetes

22 November | 6:00 - 7:00pm
Armadale Library

This FREE session will provide an overview of the dietary recommendations for the prevention and management of diabetes. Gain inspiration to follow a healthy eating pattern by discussing ideas for creating healthy meals and snacks.

For more information and to register, visit our website here.

Gentle Yoga with Carol

Tuesdays & Thursdays
Seville Grove Library

Looking to try out some yoga? Carol is offering Slow Flow Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Yin Yoga and Chair Yoga.
Each session is $10 (if manageable. If not, whatever you can afford.) No need to book and no need to bring a mat.
For more information, click here

Let's talk about carer's

14 November
9am | Kelmscott Library
12pm | Seville Grove Library
2:30pm | Armadale Library

Join us as we talk about unpaid family and friend carers, the importance of self-care and wellbeing, and the free supports available to carers through Carers WA.

For more information, and to register visit our website here.

Laughter Yoga

15 November | 10:00 - 11:30am
Seville Grove Library

Join Janet Whitfield from Abundant Laughter for a FREE engaging and interactive session of Laughter Yoga.

She will guide you through some activities involving playful laughter games, hand clapping and deep breathing.

For more information and to register, visit our website here.

Child Car Restraint Fitting

Is your child travelling safely?

The City of Armadale and Kidsafe WA invite local parents and carers to come along for a FREE child car restraint fitting and safety check.

A secure safe car seat reduces road related injury for children. Services to be delivered:

• Checking previously installed child car seats
• Conversion of restraint either from rearward or forward facing
• Fitting your child car seat
• Advice service for seating multiple children or children with additional needs

For dates and locations, click here.

Bike Workshops

Join People on Bicycles as they deliver FREE bike workshops across the City!

Whether you're an adult or child wanting to learn how to ride, brush up on your bike skills or learn how to take care of your bike, there's something for everyone.
Sessions run from now through to December in Armadale, Hilbert, Piara Waters and Roleystone.

For more information and to register, visit the website here.

Armadale Carer Peer Support Group by Helping Minds WA

Dates: Friday, 24 November
Time: 10:00am – 11:30am
Audience: Carers supporting a loved one between the ages for 12-25 years.
Location: Armadale headspace, 40 Fourth Road, Armadale WA 6992
About: As a parent and carer, it can be difficult to understand how to support your young person when you are concerned about their mental health and wellbeing.

Outcomes:

• Strengthen your understanding of mental health and the factors that can influence your young person’s mental health
• Strengthen your understanding and skills in how to cope and where to find help
• Build awareness of local, state and national support services available
• Strengthen relationships between local area mental health services, local schools, HelpingMinds centres and other community organisations

Registration: 

Cost: FREE