Newsletter No. 20

28th June 2017 School Phone No. 5340 2002 Email: skipton.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

www.skiptonps.vic.edu.au

Calendar (new items highlighted in red)

JUNE 29th Thursday Planning day for teachers. Baked spud lunch for all: $4.00 30th Friday Term Two finishes at 1.30pm. ‘Thank You’ assembly for Glenis

at 12:00pm. Free dress for the day. JULY 17th Monday Term Three starts, welcome back! 23rd Friday Emergency Drill 31st Monday Ballarat Miners basketball team visiting. AUGUST 2nd Wednesday Mt Xavier Golf Competition – Gr 5/6. 100 days of Prep. 14-18th Grade 5/6 Tasmanian Tour 24th Thursday Sovereign Hill Book Week 25th Friday House Sports – whole school

Reminders MSP Photos sent home today

Thank you assembly Glenis 12pm last Friday Winter Sports, Music Tuition and Toy Expo photos are on the website

“Educating successful leaners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed citizens”

Thank you, and a fond farewell This Friday, the last day of term, we are saying ‘farewell’ to our sparkling cleaner, Glenis Keilar. Please come along at 12pm to help us give her an appropriate send off and stay afterwards for a cuppa. I would also like to announce that Bec Scott will be replacing Glenis as cleaner for the school. She has big gloves to fill. At assembly we will also be presenting the ‘Lions Club Neighbourhood Citizens Award’, giving out certificates from the Pyrenees Photo Show and the awarding of the sustainability wrapper-free lunchbox class winner. A reminder that traditionally the children are allowed to wear free choice of clothes for the last day of term – either uniform or casual clothes (Hawaiian shirts encouraged). Sir John Jones On Monday Mr Baker ‘held the fort’ while the rest of us attended a presentation by a British educator, Sir John Jones. Sir John has been knighted for his services to education in the UK and speaks all around the world. He was brought to our region by the Country Education Project. His presentation was very powerful and comprehensive. He talked about three areas: who we are (as teachers), why we work the way we do, and what might we become. It was a broad-ranging presentation engaging us about our motivations for being a teacher and the qualities that excellent teachers possess. Some memorable quotes included: ‘kids forget what we made them think, but they never forget how we made them feel,’ and, ‘the future of the planet lies in the palm of hands of people who have dedicated their lives to children.’ Next term we will be revisiting Sir John’s messages, as well as the learning I took away from the recent Principal’s conference. I want to thank Mr B for looking after the school so well on Monday. Calvin Tromp, Principal Prep News Hello everyone! We have made it to the end of Term 2, the end of the first

semester in Prep. It has certainly gone every quickly, and it is amazing to see how

much everyone has achieved in this time.

Last week we enjoyed celebrating the end of our unit of work on Toys with our Toy

Expo! The children loved sharing their work with everyone and it was wonderful to

see so many parents and special guests there.

This Friday the Grade Prep and 1 students are celebrating the end of term with a

Teddy Bears’ Picnic. We will be doing many fun teddy-related activities and

children have been asked to bring along their favourite teddy, as well as a small

plate of morning tea to share (please avoid food colouring if possible).

Thank you to everyone for a fabulous year so far. I hope you all have a restful

break but still find some time to read together. You could also practice counting,

using money, writing for a purpose (lists, cards) and playing board games.

I look forward to seeing you all after the holidays,

Miss Dowling, Prep Teacher

Grade 1 News Hi everyone! What an eventful term we have had! I am sure we are all looking

forward to a restful break. Thanks to everybody who came to see our Toys at the

Toy expo last week. We had a lovely time sharing them with you. This Friday the

prep/one students are having a ‘teddy bear’s picnic’ to celebrate the end of our

fantastic toys unit. Students and their teddy will have lots of fun participating in

some teddy themed activities. We have asked that students bring a small plate of

food to share for morning tea, avoiding artificial colours if possible. I hope you all

have a wonderful break!

Mrs Elshaug, Grade 1 teacher

Grade 2 News The Grade Twos have had a very busy term and have worked diligently. We had

our athletics at Derrinallum where everyone participated and represented the

school fantastically. We also went to Sovereign Hill,

which was an enjoyable day for all. One of the

highlights was the design and completion of their toys

they created with the grade ones and preps. I wish all

families a safe and prosperous holiday and hope you

enjoy the break.

Sam Peeters, Grade 2 Teacher

Grade 3 News We have finally reached the end of a busy, busy term!

We are looking forward to holidays to rest up before

another hardworking Term 3!

In Reading, we have been ‘Making

Inferences’ which helps us infer about

a story. We use our knowledge of what

we already know (our schema) and

what we have read to make our

inference. Trying to make inferences is

tricky and we will continue this into

Term 3. Congratulations to Tiger, Ingrid

and Brodie for reaching 100 nights last

week! What a wonderful achievement. Remember, nights over the holidays count

if the diary is signed!

We have been working on some poetry, which you will be able to read in the

corridor next time you come to school. In Maths, we have also been working on 2D

shapes and symmetry. We used our NextBook computers to make a quiz

PowerPoint which had to include the number of sides and vertices, the type of

lines and what the shape looks like. We have also been working hard to finish our

‘Then and Now’ booklets.

I hope you have a safe, relaxing break, with lots of sleep and downtime. I will see

you refreshed and ready for Term 3!

Miss Pollock & Grade 3

Grade 4 News This week we have been finishing off our work in integrated studies, maths and writing. Grade 4 have worked very hard this term and I wish them and their families a happy, safe and refreshing holiday. See you all back in Term 3. Di Britton, Grade 4 Teacher Grade 5/6 News This semester we have had all kinds of fun and exciting things including swimming, athletics at Derri, cross country, winter sport practice, winter sport at Rokewood, and just going to school and seeing all of our friends and our teacher, Mr Baker, as well. We have been doing a lot of tests like maths and our weekly spelling tests. We all have tried our hardest and achieved our goals. We have have had a Geography and History test and we all achieved high results. We are looking forward to going on camp to Tasmania next semester and it will be one of our main highlights for the year. We are also looking

forward to again seeing everyone and achieving more goals. Also through the last week the grade five and six girls cleaned out the sport shed in one day and it is now spick and span. Lily and Kailah, Grade 6 students

Parents Club says “Thanks!” A huge thank you to the families who were able to support and enjoy our “Cars 3”

movie fundraiser on Sunday. Thanks to the Parent Reps and school families for

selling tickets – we sold 104 tickets for a profit of $676 – Well done!

Margot Barr, Parents Club President

Music lessons with Mrs Morris

Carries Beanies for Brain Cancer Fundraiser

As part of raising awareness of Brain Cancer and wanting to raise money to help

research into prevention and a cure for brain cancer; Patrick and Emma Gowans

are selling beanies as a fundraiser at school. All money goes directly to Carrie's

Beanies for Brain Cancer.

Due to the already wonderful support of people at the school and the football/netball club all large pink beanies have sold out but there are still large grey beanies ($30) and small pink ($25) and small grey ($25) beanies left.

The beanies will be at school on Friday for sale. Thanks for your support to raise

money to aid research into finding a cure.

Angela Gowans.

Garden Roster

Thank you to all who have spent time keeping our school grounds looking great. It has made a terrific difference. Special thanks to Sally Wills for coordinating the groups. This week’s gardening jobs mainly consist of weeding, sweeping paths and general tidying of grounds. Please do not mow the ovals as the grass gets a lot of foot traffic and needs to stay longer over the colder weather. Reminder to check the oil and fuel in the mowers before using them, fuel can be purchased on the school account from the servo. We have a selection of tools in the shed, including a wheelbarrow, shovels and rakes. DATE FAMILIES 26th June – 9th July

Jacki Libbis, Sanja D’Amico, Sarah Meek, Jessie White

10th July – 23rd July

Kate Dunne, Wendy Carroll, Cheryl Coad, Kim Haley

24th July - 6th August

Erin Fletcher, Fiona Collins, Victoria Kennedy, Jane Gardner

7th August – 20th August

Margo Barr, Elizabeth Barr, Dallas Connell, Simone McAuliffe.

21st August – 3rd Sept

Kristy Alexander, Natasha Gloury, Karlie Kennedy, Sarah Matthews

4th Sept – 17th Sept

Jane Boot, Emma Smith, Amy Sim, Jade Partridge

18th Sept – 1st October

Margo Barr, Elizabeth Barr, Dallas Connell, Simone McAuliffe

2nd October – 15th October

Ange Gowans, Fiona Meek, Michelle McIntyre, Jez Chantay

16th Oct – 29th October

Anthony Mulcahy, Kerrie Mulcahy , Lisa Wills, Pauline Coutts

30th Oct – 12th Nov

Gavin Corbett, Jason Richardson, Milton Savage, Chris Shady

13th Nov – 26th Nov

Helen Purvis, Megan Read, Tracey Miller, Sally Wills

27th Nov – 10th Dec

Peter Liston, Michelle Liston, Jane Draffin, Karen Bodman

11th Dec – 24th Dec

Natasha Frisby, Elizabeth Kusanke, Alicia Pettigrew, Hayley Pappin