Our School Mission

Working Together, nurturing personal achievement and life-long learning in a learner-centred environment, sustained by explicit values and strong school, family and community partnerships.

Our School Values Integrity, Responsibility, Excellence and Doing our Best, Respect, Care and Compassion and Collaborative Learning.

Contact Us Urquhart Street, Parap PO Box 69 Parap NT 0804 Phone: 8982 2922 Fax: 8982 2911 Web: www.schools.nt.edu.au/parap Email: parapps.office@ntschools.net

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Guardians

Last week our library was a buzz of exciting

activities as our school celebrated Book Week.

This year’s theme, “One World, Many Stories”

introduced our students to a diverse range of

stories from all around the world. Our Book

Week festivities culminated with our whole

school assembly on Friday, it was wonderful to

see so many students and staff members dressing

as their favourite book characters!

Congratulations to Mrs Jo Galvin, our teacher

librarian, who did an outstanding job; planning,

organising and generating enthusiasm for our

book week. Next week will be a bumper edition

with some of the happy snaps of the occasion

included in the flyer.

Australian Children’s Author, Mem Fox, is

renowned for her passionate views about the

importance of reading to children. The website

http://www.memfox.net/welcome.html features

some practical tips and ideas. The following is

an excerpt from Mem’s website:

No 24 2.9.2011

Dates to Note

Father’s Day Breakfast Friday September 2

Father’s day stall Friday September 2

Blue light Disco September 8

Assembly 3/2 Oates Friday 9 September

No Instrumental Lessons due to BEAT Thursday 15 September

Assembly 2/1 Dzulkifly Friday 16 September

Council Meeting Wednesday September 21

‘Celebrating the NT’ Concert Wednesday September 28

Swimming Carnival Friday 30 September

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Mem Fox's Ten read-aloud commandments:

1.Spend at least ten wildly happy minutes every single day

reading aloud.

2.Read at least three stories a day: it may be the same story

three times. Children need to hear a thousand stories before

they can begin to learn to read.

3.Read aloud with animation. Listen to your own voice and

don't be dull, or flat, or boring. Hang loose and be loud,

have fun and laugh a lot.

4.Read with joy and enjoyment: real enjoyment for yourself

and great joy for the listeners.

5.Read the stories that the kids love, over and over and over

again, and always read in the same 'tune' for each book: i.e.

with the same intonations on each page, each time.

6.Let children hear lots of language by talking to them

constantly about the pictures, or anything else connected to

the book; or sing any old song that you can remember; or

say nursery rhymes in a bouncy way; or be noisy together

doing clapping games.

7.Look for rhyme, rhythm or repetition in books for young

children, and make sure the books are really short.

8.Play games with the things that you and the child can see on

the page, such as letting kids finish rhymes, and finding the

letters that start the child's name and yours, remembering

that it's never work, it's always a fabulous game.

9.Never ever teach reading, or get tense around books.

10. Read aloud every day because you just love being with

your child, not because it's the right thing to do. This is as

important for fathers as it is for mothers!

Take the time to not only read to your child but also to engage them

in a discussion about what they have read. Too often we focus on

the “level” of book a child is reading, or whether or not they are

reading chapter books and/or novels. As educators we always focus

on the degree to which a child is comprehending, engaging with

and reflecting on the text that they have read. Skilled readers

interact with the text and can:

Predict what will happen next in a story using clues presented

in text

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Create questions about the main idea, message, or plot of the

text

Monitor understanding of the sequence, context or characters

Clarify parts of the text which have confused them

Connect the events in the text to prior knowledge of

experience

Some simple activities that parents can do to help develop their

child’s “interaction” with a text include:

Younger readers –

Have them retell the story to you – prompt them with “what

happened next?”

Ask them their favourite part of the story/their favourite character

Older readers (years 3+) –

Have them read a variety of texts – newspapers, magazines, cereal

boxes ask them –

- Who do you think wrote this text?

- What is the purpose of this text? E.g. why do we need

newspapers

- Do you agree/disagree with what has been written? Why?

Most importantly remember that every child has different strengths

and challenges, it is fruitless comparing your child’s development

to anothers, even their siblings. When you have concerns always

remember to talk to your child’s teacher, they are a wealth of

knowledge and can provide you with guidance and reassurance.

Focus on your child’s strengths and celebrate them, success always

builds on success and will ensure that your child develops a healthy

love of learning and school.

Yours in education,

Miss Aderyn Chatterton

Principal

BULLYING:

Know the Risk Factors before Bullying Begins

There is no one single cause of bullying. Rather, individual, family,

peer, school, and community factors can place someone at risk for

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being bullied or for bullying others. Even if a child has one or more

of the risk factors, it does not mean that they will bully or will

become bullied.

Who is At Risk for Being Bullied?

Generally, children, teens and young adults who are bullied:

Do not get along well with others

Are less popular than others

Have few to no friends

Do not conform to gender norms

Have low self esteem

Are depressed or anxious

Who is At Risk for Bullying Others?

Some people who at risk for bullying others are well-connected to

their peers, have social power, and at least one of the following:

Are overly concerned about their popularity

Like to dominate or be in charge of others

Others at risk for bullying others are more isolated from their peers

and may have any of the following:

Are depressed or anxious

Have low self esteem

Are less involved in school

Are easily pressured by peers

Do not identify with the emotions or feelings of others

Other risk factors for bullying others include the following:

Being aggressive

Have less parent involvement

Think badly of others

Are impulsive

Are hot-headed and easily frustrated

Have difficulty following rules

View violence in a positive way

What Does Not Increase Risk?

Location. There are no differences in rates of bullying for

urban, suburban, or rural communities. Bullying happens

everywhere.

School Size. The overall percentage of students being bullied

does not vary based on school size, although bullying does

happen more often in larger schools.

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Gender. Boys and girls are just as likely to be involved in

bullying. Forms of bullying may vary by gender; for

instance, some research has found that girls are more likely

to bully others socially.

http://www.stopbullying.gov/topics/risk_factors/index.html

MRS MELISSA BRETHERTON TRANSITION:

Hello to everyone,

I am delighted to be returning to

Parap Primary School. As some of

you would be aware, I was lucky

enough to spend the majority of

last term working in the Preschool.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time there

and was sad when it was time for

me to leave. So when the

opportunity arose to return to

Parap, I could just not say no.

I have already had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know

some of you but for those of you I am yet to meet, here is just a

little bit about me. I am originally from Brisbane and moved to the

Territory at the beginning of 2007. Since moving to the Territory I

have had the opportunity to work in a range of remote, rural and

urban schools and each one has taught me something new. I have a

Bachelor of Education (Primary) and a Bachelor of Teaching and

Learning (Early Childhood).

I believe that all children are unique with distinct learning needs

and because of this belief I endeavour to provide a program which

provides for individual growth and development. I believe it is

important to create an environment where children feel safe,

confident and supported so that they explore, be challenged and

make mistakes without fear. I believe that children should have

some ownership over their own learning and behaviour and I use a

range of strategies in my classroom to help the children to develop

ownership and independence.

I know that the remainder of the year is going to be an exciting and

fun time for all of us. I look forward to getting to know all of you.

Mellissa Bretherton (Ms B)

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PERCEPTUAL MOTOR PROGRAM:

The Early Years at Parap Primary

School are trialing a Perceptual

Motor Program called Gateways to

Literacy. Gateways to Literacy is

an integrated program of oral

language, phonological awareness,

and perceptual /sensory motor skill

development for five to eight year

old learners. It has been developed

by Early Years teachers in

conjunction with speech

pathologists and occupational

therapists. In addition to

developing oral language, it also

aims at developing the following

skills:

-Balance

-Crossing the Midline

-Eye/hand and eye/foot

coordination

-Visual motor control

The Perceptual Motor Program

runs on Monday-Wednesday of

every week at Parap Primary.

Classes from Transition to 2/1

participate in this program

once/twice a week. The students

participate in 5 stations involving

physical activity like crawling,

climbing, bouncing balls, throwing

and catching etc. This is

accompanied by oral language

opportunities. i.e. structured

questions, answers and statements

about what they are doing. The

sessions are conducted for 30

minutes each, with each group

spending 4-5 minutes at each

station. Each station works

effectively when an adult conducts

and supervises the station i.e. gives

instructions, asks questions and

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supervises the activity. Each station

has an activity card to provide the

adult with prompts and activity

descriptions.

You can speak to your child’s

classroom teacher to volunteer your

help with the Perceptual Motor

Program. Here are some fantastic

photos of some of our Early Years

classes having fun!

ASSEMBLY WEEK 7 FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 9:

Miss Oates 3/2, Ms Chin’s instrumental group and some of Ms

Oksana’s guitar group will be performing at our next school

assembly starting at 9.15am. Please come along and enjoy the

children’s performances.

MERIT CERTIFICATES AWARDED FRIDAY 26 August 2011

CLASS STUDENT T Goveas Holly Mowat & Grace LI-Hunnam

T Rowe Charlotte Cowan & Gabriella Hansch

T/1 Oliver Lakitah White & Harry McDowell

T/1 Knowles Sebastian Dela Pena & Margaret

O’Loughlin

T/1 Paddison Freddie Hoe Connor Miller

2/1 Dzulkifly Declan Harper & Benjamin Kronk

2/1 Grant Kelly Walters & Jack Sweeney

3/2 Berger Jermaine Pearson & Fatima Issah Bandao

3/2 Oates Riley Trott & Lacey Sant

3/2 Mc Kibbon Christian Johnson-Thomas & Jakob Beard

4/3 Brown Ben Jungfer & Ruby Surtees

4/3 Woronuik Ethan Roberts & Grace Henderson

5/4 Baker Brown Cooper Hurst & Michael Freeman

5/4 Reynolds Isabelle Henderson & Heidi Hansch

6/5 Cann Paul Rigas & Grainne Mowat

6/5 Hanssen Josiah Walker &Ruby Chirgwin-Schmidt

6/5 Hyke Tanicqwa Pearson-Parsons & Mark

Espiritu

THANK YOU:

A big thank you to Carolyn Little for

making the teacher's duty bags.

Thank you for spending your time,

money and efforts on making twenty

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six yard duty bags for teachers to use out in the playground. They

are fantastic!

Much appreciated

From all the staff at Parap

Blue Light Disco

Time to Dance!!

Thursday 8 September

Year Transition – Year 2 4.00 – 5.30pm

Year 3 – Year 6 6.00 – 7.30pm

$2 Entry

Pizza, drinks and chips for sale

Glow sticks and bands for sale

FATHER’S DAY:

2011 Father’s Day Stall Don’t forget to bring along some money as there will be plenty of

opportunities to purchase a lovely gift for father’s day at our stall

which will be held in the “Art Room” on September 2, 2011.

Father’s Day Breakfast

To All The Parap Dads

You are invited to the Parap Primary School Father’s Day Breakfast

Friday, 2 September 7.45am-8.15am

ORCHIDS FOR SALE:

I have orchids - strap leaf Vanda Arachnis Maggi Wei for sale

$5/metre. Please contact Ms Cann Parap Primary School

BIKES FOR SALE:

2 children’s bicycles, good condition, black and red, purchased

from K9 Cycles. $75 each. One suits 6 to 8 year old, one suits 10 to

12 year old. Phone Heidi 89 814253