Newsletter No. 10 13th June 2007 School Mission Statement

To promote the intellectual, social, emotional and physical development of all students at the school and help prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences for their future life.

ADMINISTRATION Principal

Neil Strachan Deputy Principal

Henry Carver Registrar

Stephanie Stenhouse School Officer

Agnes McGuinness P & C ASSOCIATION

President David Rose

Vice Presidents Kim Bowen Secretary

Michelle Moreno Treasurer

Sharon Cockroft Committee Members

Dianne Eldridge Leah Holman

Amanda Trevor Sue Wilson

Fundraising Members Dianne Eldridge

SCHOOL COUNCIL Staff Representatives

Henry Carver Naomi Matthews Lorraine Manning

Parent Representatives Sue Igglesden

Michelle Moreno Bettina Townrow Sharon Cockroft

Dear Parents, What a fantastic afternoon we had last Friday, celebrating WA Week. It was great to see all the parents and other family members at school, sharing the activities with the children. WA Week celebrations are more than just identifying with our heritage, they are about community and this was certainly demonstrated last Friday. Thanks everyone for supporting your school in such a way.

Many thanks to Mrs Molseed and the school band. What a terrific effort to be able to provide the music for so many of the dances. Choirs and bands normally only try to have a repertoire of some six to eight pieces in a year. Our band has exceeded this in only the first half of the year. Thanks also to Mr Carver, all the teachers and office staff who worked hard with your children to ensure a great day. I’ve already had some phone calls saying balloons have found, many of them in the Swan Valley.

A reminder about attendance. Attendance at school is compulsory, but if your child is absent for any reason, we need to be notified immediately as to the reason. A note saying my child was away yesterday is not sufficient— this remains an unexplained absence. You need to provide (in written form if possible) reasons for absences. All absences are now recorded on our “School Information System” and repeated or unexplained absences are tracked. Average attendance in 2006 was 93%. We have set an attendance target for 2007 of 95%.

Also a reminder that Yokine Primary is a NUT FREE SCHOOL. We have a number of children with this allergy, and the consequences for not following our policy could be catastrophic for these children. Please help by ensuring the food you supply for your child follows our nut free policy.

Neil Strachan

REMINDERS and COMING EVENTS School Photos: Thursday, 21st June. Enrolments for Kindergarten, Pre-primary and Year 1 close 27th July Unpaid Voluntary Contributions are now due so that the school can complete it’s budget. Red Nose Day – Friday, 29th June

Slow down around our children. The Speed limit is 40kph around school and 8kph in our car park WATERWISE TOILET Dual flush systems— If you are replacing the entire toilet suite (i.e. pan and cistern), you must install a 6/3 or 4.5/3 litre dual flush unit. If you are replacing the cistern only, 9.4.5 litre dual flush models are available to match old style pans. Balloon Letter WA Week— See inside pages (more letters in next week’s newsletter.)

Helping Your Child at School

LANGUAGES Languages are only for academically able students so less able students shouldn’t have to do them.

It is quite normal for people to speak more than one language. The assumption that only academically able students should learn another language is based on a tradition of associating language study with the classics. This historical practice has nothing to do with the ability of people to acquire language because we know that this ability is not linked to particular intelligence.

Helping your child learn well From the day their child starts school, parents have a role to play in helping them learn and succeed, and it is a vital role that should continue throughout the child's schooling.

How can I best help my child to learn? Be involved in your child's school and in what your child is doing. Praise success and offer encouragement if there are difficulties. Set aside a regular time each day for reading and other homework. Encourage a balance between homework, chores, sport and leisure activities. Don't do your child's homework, but help them find useful resources to complete the tasks. Insist that your child attends school

How Our School is Going

HEALTH and SOCIETY and ENVIRONMENT

Information about student performance in these two learning areas was collected dur-ing 2006 using “Monitoring Standards in Education” (MSE) assessments for years 3 and 7. The table below indicates the performance of these groups.

These results indicate that a positive learning programme is being provided in these learning areas. Students have achieved at, or above the state mean across all as-pects and over both year groups.

YEAR 3 YEAR 7

School Mean

State Mean

School Mean

State Mean

HEALTH

Concepts for a Healthy Lifestyle 13.3 12.0 17.9 17

SOCIETY and ENVIRONMENT

Investigating 7.5 5.7 7.6 6.7

Place and Space 8.6 6.8 9.3 7.4

Resources 6.7 4.4 7.0 6.1

ASSEMBLY Our next assembly for this term will be held on Friday, 15th June.

ROLLERSKATING Students will have the opportunity to go rollerskating on Friday, 6th July. The cost of rollerskating (including skate hire Bus and entrance to Morley Rollerdrome) is $9.00. Students not going rollerskating will be supervised at school. An excursion note will be sent home closer to the date. INTERSCHOOL SPORT On Friday, 29th June, students in Years 5,6 and 7 will play sport against students from Morley Primary School. Students in Year 5 play at Yokine and students in Years 6 & 7 play at Morley. NB. Bus fare (Yrs 6 & 7) - $3.00 each. Year 5 students need to bring 3 oranges for refreshments. EDU-DANCE

Please note that the final Edu Dance lesson will be held on Friday, 22nd June instead of Thursday, 21st June (due to school photographs on 21st June).

Investing in Our Schools

Funding

Last year the school applied for and

received funding from the Investing in Our

Schools program to purchase new

hardware and software. The school has

purchased sixteen new computers, of

which eight have been installed in the

computer laboratory and the rest in

classrooms.

Software titles have also been recently

purchased to be compatible with Windows

XP and include: Maths Circus Act 3,4 and

5 Maths Today Series –

worksheets/resource for all year levels,

Inspiration Version 8, DK Children’s

Encyclopedia, Typequick, Kewala’s

Amazing Keyboard Adventure

Scansoft OmniPage 15 – OCR and

Reading Works - graded reading passages

by Australian authors.

Many thanks to David Rose for

completing the submission on behalf of

the school last year. Students have been

introduced to the various software titles

during their computer lessons. Typequick Practise at Home Software

Offer Parents have the opportunity to purchase

Typequick programs for home use at a special

price: Typequick for Students, ideal for K-9 but

enjoyed by students of all ages and Typequick

Professional for students from year 10.

Typequick is available in a single user Kit or in

a Family Pack that trains up to four people on

one computer.

Using the same Typequick course as at school,

students can catch up or move ahead.

Students can practise at home at their own

pace.

Student projects and assignments can be

completed quicker, with better presentation.

Students with good keyboard skills are more

confident when using other software packages.

Students with 10 finger-typing skills have a

distinct advantage.

P & C and Community News

What’s Happening At School!

P&C BITS……. Chocolates are still waiting for a few people to return their money. Please mums and dads send the dosh in today………… Free Dress Day on Fri-day,15th June—gold coin donation please. Thank you to all those who bought coffee and cake at the WA Week As-sembly. Leah and Mark well done—good practice for sports day……! The P&C are organizing a “Busy Bee” to clean up rubbish and weeds from school grounds and garden beds on Tuesday, 19th June at 9.00am. We will be meeting in the undercover area. If you wish to lend a hand please come along. BYO gloves. Sharon Cockroft

SOCCER4KIDS Soccer4Kids are proud to present the July school holiday clinics for boys and girls to learn and improve their soccer skills and meet Perth Glory and other international soccer players. For en-quires please contact: Luke Neuwet: 0415 936 936 or Gavin Jahn: 0410

776 787. MORLEY EAGLES TEE-BALL Age Groups: Mixed Under 7’s Boys: Under 9, 11 & 12’s Girls: Under 9, 11 & 13’s. For infor-mation contact Kellee Allport on: 0414 764 383 IS YOUR CHILD OVERWEIGHT? The Parenting & Family Support Cen-tre at the University of Queensland is designing a version of the Positive Parenting Program to help parents of overweight children aged between 5 & 12 years. We are currently conducting a survey to find out about the chal-lenges that these parents face. If you would like to be involved in this re-search, the survey can be completed online at http://experiment.psy.uqu.edu.au/parentingchallenges. For further informa-tion contact Kate at parentingchal-lenges@psy.uq.edu.au or on 0412196493. DOG EXERCISE Phone: 0405 766 388. Prices range from $15.00 to $40.00

CERTIFICATE III IN AGED CARE Gain a full qualification in aged care that leads to a real job. Make a differ-ence with our nationally recognized course: • 4 weeks in-class training • 3 weeks practical work experi-

ence • Includes Senior First Aid

(industry required) • Job placement support. • Course commences 18th June

2007. For information call: 9367 4288.

PERTH WILDCATS School Holiday Coaching Clinic. Meet the players and coaches of the Perth Wildcats. Monday 16 July to Thursday 19 July. $149 per person. For more information contact Chelsea: 9383 9511 or visit www.wildcats.com.au or email Chelsea@wildcats.com.au LOFTUS THREE PLUS KINDY PRO-GRAM Enrolments for 2008 now open at Loftus Community Centre, 99 Loftus Street Leederville. Call Maryann on: 9328 3098

TIME 9.00am-9.30am

DATE Friday, 15th June

ITEM Year 1/2, Room 4 EDU DANCE DEMONSTRA-EDU DANCE DEMONSTRA-EDU DANCE DEMONSTRA-EDU DANCE DEMONSTRA-

TIONTIONTIONTION All classes—2.15—3.00pm

Friday, 22nd June Parent/Friends welcome to attend

Kid’s Stuff

WA Week Celebrating together in a festival of music and dance.

And the band played “Waltzing

Matilda”

The galloping “Gallopede” was a

hit.

Parents joined in to prove they didn’t have two left feet. I think they found it harder than they

thought.

WA WEEK ART AWARDS For all those that had the opportunity to view the chil-dren’s artwork on the theme “Polar Regions”, you would agree that there was some fantastic work from all year levels. Congratulations to all those children who won an award, but congratulations also to all children who con-tributed. The artwork across the school was very impres-

sive. For those who missed seeing the work, a sample is included below.

BATTLE OF THE BRAINS On Tuesday the 5th June Kurt Stenberg, Gur Ashish Singh Bhatia and Harley Fontana went to compete in Battle of the Brains at Mirrabooka Senior High School. It was heat 4 of the competition and the three schools in the heat were Boyare Primary School, Tuart Hill Primary School and Yokine Primary School. The final scores for the heat were: Yokine on 580 points, Tuart Hill on 300 points and Boyare on 250 points. We have to return on the 19th of June to go up against Tuart Hill and Balga.

Let the Balloons Fly! A culmination of our WA Week activities was to release balloons carrying native plant seeds, and a message from each child, requesting the finder to plant and care for the seeds as part of helping in “greening” Australia.

Balloons have already been found in the Swan Valley and the school has been contacted by the finders. One lucky child in Kindy will shortly be receiving a letter from the person who found their balloon.

BALLOON LETTERS Dear Geordie My name is Suzie and I live at Beechboro. Today at 4pm while saying goodbye to my son Leon, I noticed your purple balloon floating along the footpath in front of my house. I was so excited to see your message at-tached to the balloon. I have planted the seeds in a special pot that sits in the garden next to my wishing well. I have 3 cats, Tootie, Bookie and Kenny. They would like to thank you for the little package that is at-tached to the balloon. They are having so much fun chasing the package around the house. I hope your class does well with your balloon messages and thank you for letting me have one. Warmest Regards Susie

Hi Vivian My name is Richard and my wife is Vicki. On Saturday morning I found the balloon, with the envelope which had the letter and seeds tied to it. What a great idea you have all had. We live on a 1200HA wheat and sheep farm which is on Parker road Grass Valley. The farm is about 30kms south east of Northam, our main town. I have sent several photo’s taken on Sunday. Thank you again for your seeds which we will plant. Vicki and Richard Marris

YOKINE PRIMARY SCHOOL Woodrow Avenue Yokine WA 6060 Ph: (08) 9242 2726 Fax (08) 9242 4142 Pre-Primary (08) 9242 2721 Kindergarten (08) 9242 5918 Canteen (08) 9444 6880

Winners are Grinners Congratulations

SCHOOL WEB PAGE

The school web page is almost up to date.

Check out the site at;

www.myschoolweb.com.au/yokine