Week 10 Term 3 2017

NEWSLETTER

DATES TO

REMEMBER

TERM 3 2017

SEPTEMBER

Friday 22nd

Last Day of Term

OCTOBER

Monday 9th Staff and

Students return

Monday 30th Vaccinations

Years 7 and 8

Minerva School

Learning for Life

Eton Street SUTHERLAND NSW 2232 Telephone: 9521 3433 Fax: 9545 3316

E-mail: minerva-s.school@det.nsw.edu.au

WEBSITE: www.minerva-s.schools.nsw.edu.au

Donations to Minerva School are now tax deductible.

Wow! What a way to end the term!

This was indeed the night of nights on the Minerva

calendar. I don’t think I have ever seen so much ‘flanno’ in

one room.

We did exceptionally well, raising $11,500 on the night.

Thank you so much to the amazing work of parents, staff

and community sponsors. The donations of gifts and prizes,

the background organisation – wrapping, sorting, ticketing

and more and attendance on the night was incredible. It

was a lot of hard work but well worth the effort to see the

enjoyment on peoples’ faces and to know that all the money

raised will be going straight towards interactive technology

for our classrooms.

I have had wonderful feedback from parents and friends,

with some declaring “it was the best fundraiser ever”. The

night certainly proved a great way to get parents and

friends together: people were relaxed and able to have a

night off to let their mullets down!

Please take the time to look at our list of sponsors in this

newsletter – we really could not have managed such a

successful night without their support.

Sara Swift, Principal.

Bogan bingo

Week 10 Term 3 2017

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE Dear parents/carers, Well, here we are already at the end of Term 3! Our students have participated in some wonderful teaching and learning opportunities and we have had some great feedback from presenters and community members about levels of engagement and student knowledge, so congratulations to our Minerva students! When the Sharks Make Bullying History presenters came to do a student workshop about bullying and bystander behaviour our students were stars – not only did they understand what bullying looks like, sounds like and feels like but they were able to identify strategies for preventing bullying, ways of reporting bullying and how to stand up for victims of bullying. Some really pleasing evidence that our students are Caring, Safe, Learners. Attached to this newsletter is our recently revised school Anti-Bullying Plan for your information. As usual, I would appreciate any feedback and discussion about this policy. As we further embed Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) throughout the school we are working hard to ensure our local policies and procedures reflect PBL language and expectations. This last five weeks of term have disappeared in a flurry of activities such as: Book Week buddy reading – always popular with families and students, our Father’s Day stall, the Assistance Dogs incursion, our Yr. 12 Post School information sessions and the dance lessons run by Groove Nation. I think our students and staff will be ready for their holiday! The Occupational Therapy program has been well received by parents, staff and students from our pilot classes. At this stage the OTs, staff and parents have worked together on sensory profiles and developing individual student goals. Our University research partners have commenced collecting baseline data and our OTs have completed an environmental inventory so that we know what resources and equipment we already have, how to use it effectively and what equipment we may need to purchase. Staff and parents have participated in professional learning sessions and all involved are now feeling confident, informed and excited by what we hope to achieve. As we move forward with this project and extend the model throughout the whole school we hope to see some great improvements in: student capacity for self-regulation and therefore improved access to learning; extensive opportunities for staff and parent learning and effective collaboration between home, school and therapists. Over the last few weeks I have enjoyed the opportunity to meet with parents and families, both at our recent Parent Coffee and Chat and at our annual student review appointments. I thank all our parents and families for their ongoing and extensive support of our school, their positive and productive relationships with staff and their unflagging commitment to providing the very best for our students. We may be a small school but we certainly have a big heart. I have been so impressed with the enormous support for our major fundraiser this year, Bogan Bingo - from parents, families and our local community. We have an amazing assortment of donated gifts and auction items and we are getting set to have a great night where we can all get together, relax and have some fun. Staff this term has been involved in some relevant and challenging professional learning. We have a team of professional and enthusiastic educators at Minerva and their passion for continually improving their practice and student outcomes is inspiring. We have developed our understanding and knowledge in the areas of: sensory processing, sustainability and community gardens, MAPA training, Creative and Practical Arts with the Sydney opera House and the Wellbeing Framework for schools. A quick reminder for you all over the holidays to jump online at https://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/miner and complete our current parent survey.

Week 10 Term 3 2017

This will provide some relevant information from which we can start to build a vision of what is important to our parents and families about Minerva School. We need a clear picture of what we are doing well and what our community sees as important future directions. Over the next term we will continue to seek your input and feedback, as we work towards developing our next three year strategic school plan. This is your chance to have a say in what’s important to you!

Coming up next term: Wednesday October 18

th KLA Open Day for parents and families (Creative & Practical

Arts) Wednesday November 22

nd Parent Coffee and Chat

Wednesday November 29th Presentation Day

Saturday December 2nd

Community Markets Cake Stall Tuesday December 5

th Yr. 12 Graduation dinner

End of term Semester two reports

Finally, on a personal note, next term I am getting married! I will be taking some long service leave for five weeks from Monday October 30

th –Friday December 1

st. During this time I will be

very capably relieved by Mr Travis Baird. Sarah Ellingham will be relieving as Assistant Principal, Behaviour Support and Ben Meakin will be taking over as the class teacher on Class Wattle. I am confident that all positions are being covered by experienced and professional people and I thank them in advance for the wonderful job I know they will do. I hope you all have a restful and enjoyable holiday break with your families and loved ones. Look after each other. Sara Swift, Principal

Official opening of our shade

sails made possible by the

Cancer Council and Eftpos.

Week 10 Term 3 2017

The Bottlebrush boys have had an extremely busy Term 3, jam packed

with lots of learning and fun activities. We have been cooking up a storm in

the kitchen making hot dogs, homemade pizzas, toasted sandwiches and

another batch of crumbed sausages. The boys were involved in creating an

aerial plan of the school buildings and entering it into the Landcom ‘My

Neighbourhood’ website, where they have been exploring and experimenting

with town planning. We have made lava lamps, water tornados, edible

applesauce playdough and the boys have even enjoyed disassembling a couple

of printers and a photo copy machine. They continue to

progress steadily on the Studyladder website in Mathematics

and Literacy. Well done boys!

Week 10 Term 3 2017

Happy Birthday to the following students for the

month of May,

Martin, Luke and

Preston

HAPPY BIRTHDAY To the following students for the

months of September and October —

Malachi, Ewan , Kurt and Joshua S.

Class Eucalyptus really

enjoyed interacting with the

assistance dogs that visited

Minerva school in week 8.

Samuel having fun

flying kites and

William using the

whiteboard for

counting activities.

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Perry really looks forward to his whole day outings each Wednesday.

This term we had beautiful weather as we regularly visited Cronulla.

We also walked over the ‘Sea Cliff Bridge’, went on a bushwalk to

‘Woronora River’, fed some noisy ducks at the ‘Camellia gardens’ and

scored a strike whilst Tenpin Bowling

Class Protea

Week 10 Term 3 2017

Class

Grevillea

have been

travelling

safely on

Community

Access.

David completes internet searches Peter works on his fine motor skills

Dante completes Complex Puzzles Brittany and Joshua enjoy bike riding

Week 10 Term 3 2017

Thanks to all the parents and friends that

helped out during Book Week with Buddy

Reading. It’s a valuable experience sharing

library time with you.

LIBRARY

Week 10 Term 3 2017

Groove Nation Dance Program

Banksia Class Jimmy, Luke, Dean, Andrew,

Jarnte and James have been doing

work experience at Civic Lifestyles

this Term. We have packed soap,

chocolate biscuits, makeup bags

and labelled cans. After we have

worked we go to the café and buy

hot chips!

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Week 10 Term 3 2017

Our School Anti-Bullying Plan Our School Anti-Bullying Plan

This plan outlines the processes for preventing and responding to student bullying in our school and reflects the Bullying: Preventing and Responding to Student Bullying in Schools Policy of the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities.

Throughout 2016 parents and families have been surveyed for their views and opinions on values and expectations as part of our Minerva School implementation of Positive Behaviour for Learning. In 2017 the school Anti-Bullying Policy is being reviewed to ensure it aligns with our current whole school focus on positive behaviour and student wellbeing. Parent and family feedback will be sought during the policy review and prior to the policy being implemented in Term 4 2017.

Statement of purpose

Minerva School is an inclusive environment which openly celebrates diversity and individual student differences. The school actively seeks to ensure all students receive an education that caters to their individual learning needs in a highly supportive and safe environment. Minerva is a Positive Behaviour for Learning school which explicitly teaches pro-social skills that enable our students to take responsibility for their own learning and behaviour. In order for students to positively engage in the educational opportunities at Minerva School they each have the right to learn in an environment where they feel and are safe and free from harassment, racism or intimidation. Any inappropriate behaviour that inhibits another student’s right to learn or otherwise interferes with their wellbeing cannot be accepted.

Protection

For the purpose of our policy bullying can be defined as the intentional and repeated behaviour by an individual or group of individuals that causes distress, intimidation, fear, injury or unreasonable levels of anxiety for another individual within the Minerva School environment. Bullying can involve any or all forms of harassment which can include reference to an individual’s sex, race, disability, religion or sexual preference.

Examples of bullying behaviour can be related to the four following areas: Verbal (name calling, put downs, insults, threats) Physical (hitting, kicking, punching, spitting) Social (ignoring, excluding, alienating, inappropriate gestures) Psychological (spreading rumours, SMS and email messages, inappropriate use of camera phones)

All members of the school community – staff, students, parents and families have a responsibility to:

Promote positive relationships that respect individual differences within the school community.

Support the school’s Anti-Bullying policy through their individual words and actions.

Actively work together to resolve incidents of bullying behaviour

At Minerva School all parties (students, staff and parents) have a responsibility to behave according to our

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) expectations: Be Safe, Be Caring, Be a Learner.

Week 10 Term 3 2017

Prevention

The Minerva School Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) framework provides the foundation for our targeted and explicit whole school behaviour and social skills teaching and learning programs. All staff teach behavioural concepts to students as well as rules, rights and responsibilities that are consistently adhered to and modelled by the whole school community in all aspects of school life. Specific behaviours, including anti-bullying expectations, are chosen for teaching to the whole school across classroom, playground and community contexts. The targeted behaviour and expectation is the focus of class and assembly discussions and is supported by visuals for use across settings.

Early Intervention

The explicit teaching of social skills and positive behaviour expectations is fundamental to supporting students who are identified as being at risk of developing long-term difficulties with social relationships. Students at Minerva School have regular classroom lessons which focus on: anger management; assertiveness skills; self-esteem building; conflict resolution; friendship skills and active listening. Students also have the opportunity to work with our School Chaplain and Student Support Officer in smaller group or one to one lessons, if required.

At Minerva School all staff act as role models and mentors for those students who may need individual support. Each student is proactively recognised for his or her success and achievement, whether it be academic, social, emotional or physical.

Just as the expectations for positive behaviour are clear and consistent, so are the consequences for inappropriate or bullying behaviour. Minerva School works from a clear and consistent hierarchy of consequences for inappropriate behaviour, as per our Student Discipline and Reward Flowchart below.

Week 10 Term 3 2017

Response

The whole school community is actively empowered to recognise and respond appropriately to bullying, harassment and victimisation and behave as responsible bystanders. Staff utilise formal and informal teaching opportunities to teach and reinforce the expectations of the school in regards to our Anti-Bullying Policy.

As staff we respond effectively to reports of bullying. We have a commitment to: follow up complaints of bullying; respond in an appropriate and timely manner to incidents of bullying; follow school protocols regarding recording and reporting all information related to incidents of bullying and where unable to successfully be resolved at a classroom level to report to an executive member of staff for follow up.

We support students who are bullied through: explicitly teaching assertiveness and conflict resolution skills; developing a culture of shared concern; empowering students to report; providing safe and calm areas within the school and responding quickly to reported incidents.

We support students who bully by: implementing consistent consequences for bullying behaviour; encouraging self-monitoring and regulation; teaching problem solving skills and providing staff as mentors.

Where an ongoing pattern of bullying behaviours is observed the school will seek to involve families to resolve the issue and support the student in developing appropriate social skills that prevent bullying.

Where any student has been affected by, engaged in or witnessed incidents of bullying the student is given access to support staff with whom to debrief and acknowledge their feelings; staff such as our School Chaplain, our Student Support Officer, our School Counselor or our Assistant Principal Behaviour Support.

Principal’s comment

This policy supports and is administered in conjunction with all other Student Wellbeing policies and procedures at Minerva School. It is directly related to Minerva School’s discipline policy which is underpinned by the tenets of Positive Behaviour for Learning.

School contact information

Minerva School

66 Eton St, Sutherland NSW 2232

Ph: 02 9521 3433

Fax: 02 9545 3316

Email: minerva-s.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Website: www.minerva-s.schools.nsw.edu.au

Week 10 Term 3 2017

Bogan Bingo Fundraiser

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Week 10 Term 3 2017

ASSISTANCE DOGS AUSTRALIA

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The Mind Matters team are continuing to implement and monitor the 2017 plan

targets.

The August Coffee and Chat Session was well attended and most informative

with our Occupational Therapists, Rachelle Lewis and Susan Heiler, providing a

comprehensive presentation on Sensory Processing.

The term 4 Coffee and Chat is scheduled for week 7, Monday 20th

November at 10.30am. We will be providing information to parents of

students in the 2017 Occupational Therapy Pilot Program and also to parents

of the two additional classes to be involved from the start of 2018. Further

information regarding the Coffee and Chat will be sent home early next term.

The Parent Information Area which is currently available on Fridays from

1.30 to 2.30pm, is an opportunity for parents to drop and access information

on a wide range of topics relating to mental health, parenting courses, support

agencies, respite services and more.

Web Sites of Interest:

www.carerassist.org.au

www.headspace.org.au

Week 10 Term 3 2017

Make

Bullying

History

KLA Open Day