2020 TERM 3 WEEK 6

Dear North Fremantle Community,

We have now passed the half way mark of Term 3. The students are practising their athletics and preparing for our upcoming Athletics Carnival on Thursday 17th September. We will be over on the oval for this day and able to socially distance. You may like to mark this date in your calendar so that you can cheer and support our students.

FACTION NAMES For some time now we have been talking about choosing new names for our factions. From discussions with many members of the school community we had determined that we wanted to use Aboriginal names. At our assembly today our Student Councillors shared the process that they and others have been engaging with to re-name our factions. They began with a discussion brainstorming animals that were found in our local area. As our school animal is a magpie we focused on the birds. We researched and found the Aboriginal words for these animals. With the assistance of staff, parents and community we found local Aboriginal people and talked with them about our process and had the Noongar-Whadjuk animal names confirmed. Our intention was to present options for each faction and vote however, after many discussions and research, we learnt that the Crow and the White Cockatoo are the head totems for the Whadjuk Noongar people. As these animals represent our faction colours it then follows that they would be the new names for our factions.

SPELLING BEE Since our last newsletter our students have participated in the Spelling Bee Grand Finals. Congratulations to everyone who participated this year, the students who were recognised as year level finalists and the overall year level winners. Learning to spell for some students is easy, for others it is a challenge. It was great to see the students applying the many strategies that we teach them at school to spell the tricky words that Miss Lizzie presented them with. Well done everyone!

Address: 30 John Street, North Fremantle, 6159 Telephone: (08) 9432 1300 Website: www.northfremantleps.wa.edu.au Email: northfremantle.ps@education.wa.edu.au

UPCOMING EVENTS Monday 31 August Early Close 2.30pm

Wednesday 2 September P&C Meeting 6.30pm

Thursday 3 September Athletics Carnival

Jumps and Throws

Monday 7 September Early Close 2.30pm

Tuesday 8 September SciTech Visit TBC

Thursday 10 September Assembly Room 2 Athletics Carnival

Jumps and Throws

Monday 14 September Early Close 2.30pm

Thursday 17 September Athletics Carnival - Flat Races and Team Events

Monday 21 September Early Close 2.30pm

Tuesday 22 September Tuck Shop Rm 2 and 3

Kindy Tabloid Fun

Friday 25 September Last Day of School

Monday 12 & Tuesday 13 October

Staff Development Days

Wednesday 14 October Students return to School

POSSUM You may have already seen our newest edition to North Fremantle Primary School, Mr/Mrs Possum. Mr/Mrs Possum was discovered in a sheoak tree adjacent to the staff carpark. Being concerned for its welfare, we contacted Native ARC and they quickly organised a visit to check on its well-being. They determined that it was an uninjured juvenile brushtail possum and advised us that it is best to leave it in its newly chosen residence. Lucky us at NFPS – we will all enjoy taking care of our school possum and watching him/her grow.

We also learnt that males are generally larger than females. In addition, the coat of the male tends to be reddish at the shoulders. As with most marsupials, the female brushtail possum has a forward-opening, well-developed pouch. If you see the shoulders and can identify if it is reddish or not as we would love to know if our friendly brushtail possum is a male or female.

Native ARC generously organised and donated a nesting box and it was kindly installed by Lee Burns from Down to Earth Gardens. Lee believes there are enough native trees such as peppermints and sheoaks around its little patch, however he encourages families to provide extra native flower foliage and also water in the hot summer months. We wish to extend a huge thank you to Lee Burns and Native ARC and you are welcome to donate to Native ARC through the website nativearc.org.au.

DOGS Please remember that if you bring your dog to school, it must be tied up outside the school yard. We ask you to refrain from walking your dog through the school and the grounds. We realise that the oval is a shared public space but ask if you could please keep your dog on leads while the children are participating in activities. Sometimes unpredictable situations occur; having dogs on leads can help to keep everyone safe. Thank you for your understanding and support.

COVID-19 UPDATE You will have seen on the news that based on the latest health advice, Phase 4 of the WA COVID-19 roadmap has been extended until Friday, 23 October. A final decision on whether Phase 5 can proceed on this date, or if it can be brought forward, will be made in October. Schools are to continue to follow the Phase 4 Operating Guidelines and FAQs until further notice. Unfortunately, this has meant that we have needed to make a decision regarding our annual Open Day event. We have decided not to have this event this year. This gives another 12 months for our budding cooks to create new and exciting recipes for our next cake bake.

PLEASE HELP STOP THE SPREAD OF GERMS There are many illnesses which seemed to be travelling around our school community at the moment. Unfortunately, this has meant that students and staff have been unwell and had to have time away from school. Taking time away from school may not always be convenient but it does assist to stop the spread of the germs and give the students and staff time to recover properly. Thank you to families who have been keeping children at home if they are sick or contagious. Please remember to get plenty of rest, drink lots of water and if needed have a COVID-19 test. If your child is away from school please contact the school via Connect, phone, email or letter explaining the reason for the absence. Thank you for your understanding and assistance.

VISUAL ARTS WITH JADE DOLMAN Thank you to Margie Campbell for successfully applying for funding and engaging Jade Dolman to return to NFPS. We have been able to secure Jade to work with our students over two weeks using PALS funding from the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries

Partnership between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people based on trust, mutual

respect and understanding.

Acceptance of and respect for diversity and valuing Aboriginal perspectives.

Learning more about each other, Aboriginal histories, languages and cultures; and

how we can build strong partnerships with Aboriginal people.

Sharing a common journey towards healing and reconciliation.

This project is to engage local Indigenous Artist Jade Penangke Dolman to work with the students of North Fremantle Primary and with the school Visual Art Specialist Margie Campbell. Working with the NAIDOC theme of 'Always was-Always will be', Jade will work with the students discussing the animals that would have and still are present in the

bushland around Perth and Western Australia. Through dance and movement, students will explore and learn the Aboriginal names of these animals, studying the footprints and Aboriginal Iconology that represent these animals. With this information the students will use clay to make individual clay tiles which will combine to create a whole school mural.

While Jade Dolman is visiting our school we will use her expertise and knowledge to assist with the designing of possible logos for our factions using their new names. It is our hope that over the next few years we will continue to develop this by making faction banners and maybe even costumes for mascots that each faction can use.

In an exciting announcement last week Jade as won the Inaugural SWEA Perth international Art residency scholarship. Jade will be working under the guidance of glass artist Kjell Engman at Kosta Boda in Sweden in 2021. We congratulate her on this amazing win, as I know that it has been a lifetime dream of Jade’s to do an International Art Residency. We look forward to hearing all about this from Jade.

INTERSCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY Congratulations NFPS for hosting the Interschool Cross Country this year. We have had lots of lovely comments from other schools complementing our team on the successful organisation and smooth running of this event. NFPS came home with the Meritorious Trophy and lots of praise as our students ran their best on the day. Well done team! You will find more information and photographs later in this newsletter.

READ-A-THON ‘I READ FOR iPADS’ Congratulations to the students on the extremely high number of pages that they have read during our P&C Read-a-Thon ‘I READ for iPADS’ fundraiser. Students have also engaged in a range of lessons across the school about books. I have been privileged during the past few weeks to have many students share with me their writing and activities about characters and settings. It is now time to bring the money in so that we can purchase some new iPADS for the students to use. Remember that money and forms can be handed into the office at any time and you can send your donation using this link: https://www.trybooking.com/au/donate/nfpsreadathon

Not only did we see Room 7 shine during their assembly item today we also put the spotlight on them in this Newsletter so that you can find out what our Year 5/6 students have been learning.

Thank you for your ongoing support. Linda Chandler Principal

ROOM 7 YEAR 5/6

SPOTLIGHT ON ROOM 7

Room 7 Year 5/6 Mrs Thomas This term has been so incredible having students back where they belong and immersing ourselves in some amazing learning opportunities. Our excursion to Constable Care Bike Safety School was a huge success. Students learnt a range of pedestrian and bike safety behaviours in a state of the art setting, replicating real life situations. Everything was to scale and students moved through roundabouts, negotiated traffic lights and train barriers as well as pedestrian crossings.

Another wonderful experience is our journey with Creative Schools. Every Wednesday we work with our ‘Creative’ Steph to study the Ocean with a focus on Biological Science. Students have set up Expedition Teams, giving themselves a name, banner, and mission statement. Each week, students focus on one of the 5 Habits of Learning: collaborative, inquisitive, persistent, imaginative and disciplined to complete a task. Currently they are creating their own deep-sea creature that they will make glow in the dark as we learn about bioluminescence and then create plaster cast fossils with their creature.

Last week, we dove to the depths of the Mariana Trench and discovered a giant squid, however, on our return to the surface we had now implements to record our

findings. We then dissected a squid and used the cartilage (quill) from the squid and some ink to draw scientific drawings of our findings. Of course, we had fresh squid eyes and tentacles to view and study as we drew. To finish off this fabulous session, Chef Leigh (Lily’s dad) prepared salt and pepper squid for all to taste (no waste here!).

This morning we presented our assembly, ‘Cinderella in Less than 10 Minutes’. Students conceptualised the idea and then discussed Shakespearean plays and how women were not allowed to perform on stage. This led us to mix up our version of Cinderella, which was written by the students, with my job being just to direct. They really are a very talented bunch!

School News

Interschool Cross Country 2020 What a fantastic day we had for the 2020 Interschool Cross Country which North Fremantle Primary School hosted at Gil Fraser Oval on August 20th.

Our school competed against five other schools including Fremantle, East Hamilton Hill, Hilton, Winterfold and White Gum Valley. A big thank you to all our students for their fabulous sportsmanship, behaviour, cheering and healthy rivalry with the other schools.

There was some very fast running and tough competition between all the schools. A big congratulations to Olli for winning the Year 4 Boys Champion medal. What a great achievement. The overall champion school was White Gum Valley. North Fremantle were the proud winners of the Meritorious Shield. A huge thank you to all the teachers, staff and parent helpers who helped make this carnival a huge success.

The following students from North Fremantle Primary School placed as follows:

Year 3 Boys Jay 2nd Year 4 Boys Olli 1st Jerra 4th Year 5 Girls Amelia 4th Year 6 Girls Sally 2nd Year 6 Boys Sam 2nd

Award Winners

Congratulation to our Regis Award winner, Latoya, left, pictured with Kaye from Regis and Aussie of the Month winner,

Chloe. Well done!

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