NewsletterBlairmount Public School

Cnr Clydesdale Dve & Badgally Rd P: 4626 1795 | F: 4628 0594 | E: blairmount-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

www.blairmount-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

Week 8, Term 2 Learning Together 20/6/2013 Dear families, This will of course be our last newsletter for the term. I would like again to apologise for the delay in sending it home and thank everyone for their understanding. It has been fantastic to see the enthusiasm in which our students have participated in the range of excursions that have been held lately. I am also extremely proud that all staff have indicated that the behaviour of our students was outstanding at all times. Finally I would like to thank everyone in the Blairmount community for their wonderful support of our school this term. I wish everyone an enjoyable break and the opportunity to spend time with family. Regards Greg Turnbull Principal June Student Reports Our June Student reports have been sent home today. If your child did not receive their June report please contact the class teacher as soon as possible. I have had the opportunity to read ALL school student reports and I am very impressed with what I see. In general, the level of EFFORT is very pleasing. Please be reminded that a SOUND rating of achievement is very satisfactory. A SOUND means that your child is achieving at the expected level for their grade within the stage. Do not be disappointed with SOUND, unless your child’s EFFORT score is low…ie. 1,2, or 3. A lower EFFORT score indicates that your child could work harder, be more on-task and/or show a better attitude to learning to achieve a better

result. A 4 or 5 EFFORT score indicates your child is working to the best of their ability and this is very commendable. Similarly, your child may achieve a HIGH rating but a low EFFORT score which means the teacher believes they are not working to the best of their ability and could achieve even better with more effort. As a suggestion, when sharing the report with your child please look for 3 positives and 2 areas for improvement. Write them down as goals for Semester 2. Revisit the goals at the end of the year. Celebrate the positives with your child. Unfortunately due to a printing error the following statement did not appear on the front of the Yr 1 – 6 reports; You are encouraged to ask the school to provide you with written information that clearly shows your child’s achievement compared to his or her peer group at school. This information will show you the number of children in the group in each of the achievement levels. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused. NAIDOC Week NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Blairmount Public school will be celebrating NAIDOC week with an assembly held on Monday 24th, starting at 2pm, Indigenous games rotations on Wednesday with Mr. Alone and a visiting Indigenous performer on Friday. We hope to see you during NAIDOC week to help with the celebrations

NAIDOC Week Performer As part of our NAIDOC Week celebrations this year we have organised an Indigenous performer, Reuben “Btjana” Andrew, to come to Blairmount Public School. Mr Reuben Andrew, is from the Aranda tribe from the Alice Springs area. He talks in depth about different artifacts such as boomerangs, spears, woomeras, bilmas and many more, plus he also has an interactive demonstration with the didgeridoo, playing games, mimicking animals, and role playing with the children. The performance will be on Friday 28th June and will cost $3.00 per student. School Payments Just a reminder that both on line payments via the school website and EFTPOS (debit only) facilities are available to pay for school activities. Unfortunately these methods cannot be used to pay for uniforms. All permission notes that are coming home now have provision for parents to enter a receipt number from online payments. ALL notes still need to be placed in the payment box in reception so the child can be marked off as paying on class lists. Thanks Mrs Jones Office Manager Kindergarten 2014 If you have a pre-school child turning 5 years old on or before 31st July 2014, they are eligible to enrol in Kindergarten for 2014. If you haven’t already done so, please collect an enrolment form from the office and return to school ASAP. If you are aware of neighbours or friends with eligible children, please advise them to come and introduce themselves and ask for an enrolment form and information about the school.

Kindergarten News Kindergarten had such a great day at Taronga Zoo on Friday. We loved seeing all of the animals with our favourites being the giraffes, elephants, lions and tigers. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the seal show and loved the birds flying low over our heads at the bird show. Our little legs were definitely very tired by the end of the day! Thank you to all of the teachers and parent helpers for such an enjoyable day! Miss Howick

Woolworths Earn and Learn Progrm The Woolworths Earn and Learn program has now ended. Please put the stickers that you have collect onto an Earn and Learn sheet, and place it into the collection box at the front office. If you don’t have enough stickers to complete an Earn and Learn sheet, simply put the stickers into the box. Thank you for your wonderful support so far this year.

Happy Birthday Nathan Woods, Ashleigh Burling, Noah Tupou, Anthony Liddle, Leeroy Leao, Litsa Baker, Braydan Foley, Dallin Pikula, Francis Tiatia, Anastasia Petelo, Brook Rentoul, Daniel Bourke, Paige O’Har, Naketa Hunter, Malachi Agoo, Cullen Williams, Sherritta Sengmanithong, Tahlia Fox, Alexander Williams, Michelle Pham, Lachlan Schumacher-Jones, Sara-Jayne Robson, Martin Mitrovic, Laylah Tupou, Jett Dlouhy, Ty’relle Sinaki Krishna-Hona, Mitchell Regan, Theo Thompson, Reese Harris, Makynan Alkaaby, Jesslyn Mahanga, Lagimaina Fuesaina, Trinity Pepa, Nathan Chaophrasy, Jonathan George, Tamati Tahana, Joshua Brown, Taneesha Fernando, DeAngelo Finau, Rebekah Mewkill, Aleksandra Mitrovic, Hayley Devine, Tanisha Stephens, Elijah Mani, Quincey Hona, Vincent Pham, Brock Flack Peer Support Update Week 8 This week’s Peer Support session focuses on positive self talk. Children need to practise talking positively to themselves. Your child will also learn to persevere, which will encourage them to keep trying in challenging situations. During the week encourage your child to use positive self talk. Week 9 This week in Peer Support the children will learn how important it is to take small steps towards achieving a goal. The children will develop a range of strategies and different ways to think to help them stay optimistic. Ask your child to share their goal and discuss ways you can provide encouragement. Miss Dash Year 2 & 1/2M Manly Sealife Sanctuary Excursion The Year 2 excursion to Manly was a great success. The weather was amazing, the children were amazing and the sea life sanctuary and beach activities were fantastic. Congratulations to all the Blairmount students for their excellent behaviour at all times. Ms Murray Excursion Organiser

Botany Bay Environmental Education Centre Excursion – Year 3 and 4 Students On Monday the 17th June, 68 eager Year 4 and 5 students together with Miss Young, Miss Minihan, Mrs Martin and Mr Sperling boarded their coaches and headed off to Botany Bay to learn more about the arrival of Captain Cook, British colonisation, and the impact these events had on Aboriginal peoples and Australia's history. Upon arriving and the Botany Bay education centre, students were greeted by their guides John and Pat, who eagerly shared their deep understanding of the area's history, surrounding landscape and natural features. Students discovered a menagerie of animal displays before being lead through the museum to discover a replica of Captain Cook's ship the Endeavour, one of the Endeavour's real cannons salvaged from the sea floor and various portraits of people from that era.

Students were then lead through the bush across a boardwalk before having opportunity to hold several traditional Aboriginal artifacts including an axe and boomerang. Further to this students engaged in using bird callers to attract the local bird life. Students also had the opportunity to touch, smell and taste some traditional Aboriginal bush foods. Upon hiking further, students were led down to Captain Cook's landing site. The significance of the site and the events surrounding that period of time were made even more real by students having the opportunity to dress up in period costumes and re-enact the landing including the

hostilities that occurred between the British soldiers and the local Aboriginal people. Students became only too aware of the impact that the arrival of the British had on Australia's history and its future. Once all students had clambered back to the top of the hill, they had opportunity to sit and reflect while looking over Botany Bay and taking note of what areas of the landscape had remained the same and what areas had dramatically changed; including the buildings of Sydney, the roads, towns and houses, while the sands on the beach continued to keep watch and remind them all that just over 200 years ago, a British sea captain and his crew first set foot on Australian soil, and forever changed the history of her first people.

Helping Your Child with Multiplication and Division

When first learning to use numbers, children will need to have the objects with them in order to multiply and divide. They will go through a process of needing to see and count each thing one at a time. We need to help children build mental images of a group of objects so they do not always have to rely on seeing them. Helping children to mentally ‘see’ groups of things will also help them to understand multiplication and division before they learn the ‘tables.’

What can you do at home? Ask your child help share out food to the

family. How many slices will I need to cut the pizza into so that everyone has two slices?

Ask your child to share out items fairly with others.

Count the number of things in a collection such as shells in a bag or a large jar of buttons. Ask your child if there is a quick and easy way of counting, say counting by fives.

Decorate patty cakes with sultanas or smarties. Place the same number of sultanas or smarties on each cake and ask your child to find out how many you will need altogether.

Adapted from: Helping your child with – Arithmetic: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. NSW Department of Education and Training.

More Kindergarten Zoo Photos