4 December 2015

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Dear Parents, Carers and Community Members

Welcome to the final full newsletter of the year!

School Review and Board

We are currently in the very busy process of reviewing the 2015 school year and preparing for the 2016 school year. During Term 1 - 2016 our school Business Plan 2012 – 2015 will be reviewed and our next Business Plan will be prepared. This plan will guide us through the following three years. The School Board will play an important part in the preparation of the plan. The recent Parent Survey indicated that many parents do not have a good understanding of the work of School Board (scores of less than 2.5 are considered to be low).

The Department of Education provides a great deal of information on School Boards on its website. Parents are encouraged to visit this link to read more about School Boards. I have also attached a document to this newsletter produced by the Western Australian Primary Principal’s Association entitled ‘Successful School Governance’ which provides answers to frequently asked questions.

Currently, the members of our School Board include Mike Kelly (Chairperson – Parent), Jenni Cangemi (Parent), Natalie Italiano (parent), James Dillon (parent), Doreen Randall (staff), Michelle Horrocks (staff) and myself. Unless otherwise stated, all School Board meetings are open to the public. The School Board meets every term and the next meeting is designated as our Annual Open Meeting so all parents are welcome to come along and see what we do. The meeting will be next Wednesday December 9th commencing at 5.30pm in the staffroom.

Class Placements 2016

Class structures and student placements for 2016 are being developed over the next two weeks. This information will be placed on pin-up boards outside the Library on the morning of 17 December.

Semester Two Student Reports

Student reports are currently being prepared and will be sent home on Wednesday 16th December. Parents are encouraged to read the report through with their child/ren and to discuss their achievements in 2015. Parents should remember that students who achieve a ‘C’ have demonstrated satisfactory achievement of what is expected for this year level. A majority of students in any particular year level will achieve a ‘C’ grade. One of the most important parts of your child’s report is the scores given for their ‘Attitude, Behaviour and Effort’. Some students will struggle academically for a number of reasons but if they are doing their very best and their attitude, behaviour and effort show a high level of consistency than they should be congratulated and any success fully celebrated.

Staffing Changes

At the end of this year we will be saying goodbye to Leanne Moss, Chloe Foulds and Sally Price. Leanne has taken up a position at Tuart Rise Primary School, Chloe will be heading up to the Pilbara District and Sally will be taking maternity leave until Term 4. We wish Leanne, Chloe and Sally the very best for 2016 and thank them for their work this year. New staff members will be introduced in our first newsletter next year.

Hartman Drive Children’s Crossing

The Children’s Crossing and Road Safety Committee has approved the installation of a children’s crossing on Hartman Drive. The process of deciding on the best location for the crossing is underway and it will commence operation once signage, road marking and pedestrian infrastructure is installed and a suitable traffic warden is available. Our congratulations go to the Madeley P&C for their role in getting this crossing approved.

K/PP Nature Play Area

Many thanks go to members of the Fathering Project, P&C, other parents, family members, students and staff who gave up a few hours on Wednesday to help establish our K/PP nature play area. Special recognition go to Ashleigh Beech and Libby Waddell in their planning and preparation for the play area. This event is evidence that the Madeley community is actively committed to supporting our kids and the work we are doing at Madeley Primary School! Thanks for an outstanding effort everyone!!

Parent/Children Safety Alert

Please talk to your child/ren about being observant and diligent in looking out for snakes. Please remind them not to play in long grass or overgrown bush areas and to move away from a snake and notify an adult if they see one.

Bike Helmets

It is a legal requirement for all cyclists to be wearing an approved helmet. Parents are asked to ensure that children riding to school are wearing their helmet.

There will be a short newsletter sent home on the last day of school with some reminders about school start dates, staffing and holiday information.

Have a great weekend

Stephen Bevan
Principal

School Calendar

The calendar is updated regularly and can be accessed at any time via your Schoolzine newsletter email. The email will always direct you to the current newsletter and an up to date calendar.

School Holiday dates and School Development dates for 2016 have been added to the Schoolzine Calendar for your information and future reference.

Student Leadership Speeches

After the mini-assembly next Monday December 7th, students who have nominated for one of our Student Leadership positions in 2016 will be presenting their speeches. Nominations close this Friday December 4th. Parents are welcome to attend on Monday to listen to their child speak.

Following the speeches, students will vote for their preferred candidate. This voting will help inform the final decision as to who our 2016 Student Leaders will be. Selected students will be announced at our Awards Assembly on December 16.

Speedball Carnival

28 of the Year 5 students competed in a Speedball carnival at North Woodvale Primary School against North Woodvale PS, Landsdale PS and Mindarie PS. This was our first year taking part in the annual carnival, and all students showed amazing sportsmanship and throughly enjoyed themselves. Our teams scored plenty of goals and learned a lot from the experience, thank you Mr Moon for organising the day!

Year 3’s Zoo Excursion

This term, the Year 3s learnt all about animals. So we went to Perth Zoo last Friday, November 20th. We had a bingo card to do. It was a sheet with clues about animals and we looked all around the zoo to find the answers. We also had a ‘mystery animal’ card and everyone had to find their mystery animal! We went to the Discovery Centre in the zoo near the entrance. It was a classroom with animals inside! One of the zoo keepers in the classroom let us touch a Stimson’s Python and a Bobtail Lizard. It was a fun and tiring day for the Year 3s!

By Che Haylan and Lauren Schneider

Booklists

Booklists for 2016 were sent home with your child last week. Please read the information provided regarding payment and delivery.

MGT

Madeley's Got Talent will be held on Friday of Week 9 in the undercover area. The show will commence at 9am. Students will be advised Monday of Week 9 if they have been selected as a finalist.

Community members are encouraged to attend and show support for the amazingly talented students here at Madeley Primary School

:-)

Miss Foulds and the Arts Captains

Senior Choir Christmas Concert

On Tuesday the 8th of December the Senior Choir is heading off on an excursion where they will be performing Christmas Caroles at a range of locations. The students will be performing for the public at the following locations;

• Kingsway Shopping Centre from 11:20am - 12:00pm in the food court
• Hillary's boat harbour from 1:40pm - 2:30pm around the boardwalk

It would be lovely to see some familiar faces at these locations to support the students and listen to their hard work and dedication pay off.

Hope to see you there

Merry Christmas
Miss Foulds and the Senior Choir

MacBook Program Parent Information

Why start at Year 4?

The curriculum outlines in the ICT capability that Year 4 students are expected to use technology across the curriculum to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes around ICT. Introducing the 1:1 MacBook Program in Year 4 allows students to achieve this curriculum requirement.

How will the laptop be used in the classroom?

The MacBook will complement the normal teaching program and will be integrated across the curriculum. The use will vary from teacher to teacher and from day to day, but it will generally be used on a daily basis.

Will the MacBook be used at Ashdale Secondary College (ASC)?

Yes. Students will be able to take their MacBook and use them in Year Seven and beyond at ASC.

Why Apple MacBook and not Windows?

The MacBook provides a broader range of creative educational software for students to use such as Keynote, Pages, Numbers, iMovie, iPhoto and Garageband. After comparing devices, the Apple MacBook was chosen to be the laptop used at all of our cluster schools.

For more information and answers to FAQ’s download the following booklet.

Congratulations to our Former Students

Ashdale Secondary School have recently acknowledged some of our former students at their Graduation Ceremony. Well done to Anaiya, Vivian and Benjamin on their success. Congratulations to the staff of Madeley for helping shape the success of these students!

ASC Reminder – Monday 7th December

Gifted and Talented Secondary Selective Entrance Programs

Gifted and Talented Programs in academic, arts and languages programs are now open for application.

These are open to all Year 5 students for entry in Year 7 in 2017. Students who have achieved Band 8 in the Year 5 NAPLAN testing or who have performed to a high standard in the Primary Extension and Challenge (PEAC) assessments are encouraged to apply.

Parents can find more information and apply online at education.wa.edu.au/giftedandtalented, contact the selection unit on 9264 4307 or by email at gtsu@education.wa.edu.au

Important note: Applications close Monday 8th February 2016 – Late applications are not accepted.

P&C News

Canteen News

We are, as always, looking for volunteers to assist in the canteen. Do you have 30 minutes to an hour to spare after drop off to help make sandwiches and pikelets? Just pop by the canteen (Wednesday-Friday), we would love the help.

You can also assist the canteen by ordering online. Our online ordering system greatly reduces workload in the canteen so register today at www.ouronlinecanteen.com.au and start ordering.

Cookbook

The school cookbook, “Madeley on a Plate”, is still for sale via the front office or P&C. The price has been reduced to just $10 and would make an ideal gift for friends and family. This book makes a great Christmas gift.

Do you own a business or work somewhere with good traffic flow? If so we’d love you to take a few of our cookbooks to put on your counter to sell for us. We have sold over half but with 350 cookbooks to go we would love to sell them at our new reduced rate and use the profits to purchase resources for our children. Please contact Mariesa O'Donnell at mariesa76@iinet.net.au if you're interested.

Facebook

Did you know that the Madeley P&C has a Facebook group? Please look us up at “Madeley P&C” to join and keep up to date with the latest P&C information.

The P&C can now also be contacted via email: madeleypandc@gmail.com

P&C Meeting

The last meeting of 2015 will be held on Wednesday 9th December at 7.30pm in the staffroom. It is “bring a plate” night, and everyone is encouraged to bring a small plate of nibblies or a bottle of wine to share. As always, everyone is welcome to attend.

Keyboard and Guitar Lessons at Madeley

Keyed Up Music will be running keyboard and guitar lessons again in 2016 after school. We run group lessons starting from $15.45 plus GST per lesson. To enrol, to go:

Swim Safely

We can come to you, or you can come to our Wangara Swim School where you have the added bonus of getting a free swimming lesson after the Safety Talk with our AUSTSWIM qualified instructors.

In our Safety Talk we will be talking about the how to keep your children safe in and around water. Some of the points we will talk about are:

• Supervision (What is active supervision and how to put that in place in and around water)
• Restricting Access (A lively discussion about how persistent young children can be when it comes to water)
• Water Awareness (How you can be more aware of where accidents are more likely to happen and how to talk to your children in different age groups about respect for the water)
• CPR (The importance of knowing how to perform CPR and First Aid in any situation)

Our Safety Talks are not a lecture where you just sit down and listen. We welcome your input, your stories, your experience with children and water. Our talks are a platform to openly discuss the hazards of living with water with other parents and carers and by doing so creating a safer environment for our children to grow up in.

Coerver Coaching Holiday Clinic

Coerver North Perth would like to announce the upcoming December Holiday Skills Clinic. Program available to boys and girls aged 6 – 15 years of age.

When: 18th, 19th and 20th of December

Pro Edge Tennis Academy Holiday Clinic

Our holiday clinics are a great way to keep practicing over the school holidays. We offer clinics for all levels of coaching including Red Ball, Orange Ball, Green Ball and Yellow Ball. These clinics are great fun and will teach your child the basic principles of tennis.

Enrolments can be done by contacting Mitchell on 0413 603 275 or Phil on 0416 389 270 , or email us at MT.PL@proedgetennis.com

Basketball Tournament

Kingsway Indoor Stadium will be hosting the ultimate 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament on Saturday December 12th, 2015!

This tournament will be a great opportunity to experience our new basketball facilities and enjoy some pizza and prizes.

Registration forms are now available on our website , cost is just $45 per team and the tournament will be played in a round robin format ending in a Grand Final.

For more information call 9408 1920 or email neil.borosh@wanneroo.wa.gov.au

Junior Badminton

Badminton Holiday Programme at Kingsway Indoor Stadium, Monday 18th & Tuesday 19th January.