Newsletter

WeTerm 1 Week 3 20th February 2014 Newsletter Issue 18, 5th December 2013 Issue 6, 16 May 2013

From the Principal

Years 1 7 Mathematics and Reading Assessment Week 2 saw all students in Years 1 7 complete two new assessments in Mathematics and Reading. The new assessments were completed by students online using our iPads, laptops and classroom computers. The benefit of this approach is that student results are available instantly and allow our teachers to respond to the learning needs of students in a timely manner. We are currently meeting as a staff to analyse the results of both assessments and plan specific instruction at the whole class, small group and individual level. We plan to assess students again in Term 3 using the same method in order to map progress and achievement.

UPCOMING EVENTS Kindy Parent Info Session Thursday 20th Feb Welcome BBQ Friday 21st Feb Year 4/5 Tuck Shop Thursday 27th March Swimming Carnival Wednesday 2nd April Sundowner Friday 4th April

Spelling A Whole School Approach As mentioned in our previous newsletter, our staff have embarked on a process of developing a consistent approach to the teaching of phonics and spelling across K 7. Kindergarten and Pre-Primary will now be following a direct and explicit sequence to the teaching of phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, concepts of print and sight words. Teachers in Years 1 7 will also be following a common sequence and spelling block format. All year levels will also

implement a flashcards session each day focusing on key phonics concepts. This part of our spelling program has not begun yet as resources are currently being made up. North Fremantle Primary School Student Ministry Last week we had a number of our Year 6/7 students nominate for student leadership positions for our school ministry. Students gave speeches and then all Years 4 7 students and teachers were involved in a vote conducted by the West Australian Electoral Commission. If you would like to see the candidates speeches they are now available on my blog. http://northfremantlepsprincipalsblog.wordpress.com/ I have the great privilege of announcing our Student Ministry for 2014: PHOEBE CUNNINGHAM Prime Minister ZAHLIA LORNIE Minister for Sport & Recreation LININSKI CORBO Minister for Finance KENDI ROBINSON Minister for Health JOE CASSAR Minister for the Environment SAMUEL SIVWRIGHT Minister for Technology SARAH LEVI-SHARP Minister for the Arts WOONSEN SWALLOW Minister for Learning SEAN HARDY-ATKINS Minister for Community Relations

A special thanks to Mr John for his coordination of this process. Our Vision For all students at North Fremantle Primary School to experience learning that is purposeful, engaging and empowers them to become life long learners. Our Mission Through partnerships with parents and the local community, we will provide an inclusive environment in which our students can develop the knowledge skills, understandings and confidence to reach their potential. Email the school administration: NorthFremantlePS@education.wa.edu.au Email Teachers direct: Room? NorthFremantlePS@education.wa.edu.au (Please insert which room # your child is in)

Homework Program We are on track to begin our homework program next week. Resources are being made up and we appreciate your support. A special thanks to parents who gave up their time to make up flashcards and other resources. This is very much appreciated and again a great example of a community working together. We conducted a parent information session on Tuesday which was very well attended. If you missed out we have included a video of the session on my Principals Blog > http://northfremantlepsprincipalsblog.wordpress.com/ School Development Days Please note that staff development days for 2014 will be on the 30th, 31st of Jan, 28th Apr, 30th May, 21st Jul, 13th Oct and 19th Dec. These will be student free days and will enable our staff to be involved in professional learning. Thank you.
Alex Di Felice

Room 1 - Roberta Slattery Kindy has been buzzing with activity as the whole class spent their first days together. Theyve been very busy bees cutting, sticking and counting to create their five bees in a hive. Theyve become Captain Slatterys pirates looking for all different coloured treasure to collect and count. The children have also discovered they have magic hats to wear (invisible to parents) which help them to make good choices when playing at school.

Room 2 - Liz Smith

Thank you to Emma (Warras Mum) and Nicky (Lukas Mum) for volunteering to be our class reps, we have an active P&C in our school and it is always great to be able to welcome new members. Thank you to the parents who have filled in the questionnaire I sent home at the beginning of the year. If you have not yet had a chance to do so I have placed more in the drop-box just by our door. Our classroom is beginning to look bright and beautiful now we have childrens work on the walls and are settling in to the routines of school and Miss Lizzie has been heavily engaged in the On Entry Testing. Requests for this week are BOXES BOXES BOXES for junk modelling pleaseoh, and large pieces of material too.

Room 3 - Bev Lane

This week we have settled into some class routines. We are learning to work in co-operative groups and now that we have checked reading, spelling and maths, we can introduce tasks at an appropriate level. In history, we are talking about families so we may send home some information requests with our class newsletter. In maths we are learning about place value to help us count big numbers.

Room 4 - Rochelle Reeves & Room 4 students have been hard at work in lots of areas but one in particular is Science. We have examined living and non-living things and developed criteria for each category. In order to test our criteria we set up experiments to see if a plant could move part of its body. Check out the results! This plant changed direction and moved its leaves towards sunlight. We also have a new class member called Fang. Fang is a venus flytrap and can definitely prove that plants can move part of their body.

Belinda Baldey

Rooms 5 - Brent Snook In Room Five we are pleased to report that we are settling into our new routines and surroundings very well. We have been working on spelling tasks, maths and different types of writing as well as introducing our Science and History topics (Space exploration and Australian bushrangers). This week we each created a timeline of major events in Australian bushranger history, between the years of 1800 -1890, a lot of which are still remembered today.

Room 7 - Chris John

Last Friday Mr Nigel Ashby from the Western Australian Electoral Commission was present to help the year 4-7 students vote for the fourteen Ministry candidates from Room 7. Those applying for the nine positions worked extremely hard on their speeches to their peers, using aspects from the public speakers CODE (Content Organization Delivery Effect) to create the best presentation possible. All speeches were fantastic which made it extremely hard for the audience to head into the voting booths and rank the candidates from one to fourteen. Congratulations to all the candidates, Mr Ashby said they were some of the best speeches hed seen in his fifteen years of running school and state elections.

Art NewsMargie Campbell

What a wonderful start to the year we have had. In our first weeks back we have explored the art and life of Pablo Picasso. We focused on his Rose Period and experimented with mixing colours and using different brushstrokes to create different effects. We hope you have enjoyed the Picasso Hearts around the school. There are always opportunities to assist in class with art, this may involve supporting an individual student, working with a small group or preparing materials ready for lessons or framing and displaying the childrens work. Please come and see me to put your name on the list if you would wish to join in. If I am not about I will leave a timetable on the door, please add your name.

Please try and send your child to school wearing an older school uniform on art days. We do wear paint shirts but somehow or other paint turns up in very mysterious places. I am trying to renew our pile of paint shirts, so if you have a small to medium sized adults old t-shirt you can send in, it would be greatly appreciated. It was lovely to meet all the new students in the school. New parents please feel welcome to come up to the art room and introduce yourself and see what the children are producing. Art days Room 4 Tuesday Room 3 Tuesday Room 5 Wednesday Room 3 Wednesday Room 7 - Wednesday I am looking forward to a fantastic fun filled year ahead. Helpers Needed!
We are currently working very hard to prepare some resources for students to use for homework. Our dedicated educational assistants have made a terrific start but we have found the job to be extremely time consuming and hope that parents may be able to come along and help. We have had some wonderful helpers in already, but there is still plenty to do. We will be having another working party on Friday 21st February at 9am in the staff room. Even if you can come along for a short time we would really appreciate it. It will be a great opportunity to catch up or meet some of our new parents. If you have the chance, please let Belinda or the office know you are able to help out.