N E W S L E T T E R Principal Kirsty Trahar Chairperson Governing Council Nerridy Miatke 57 North Terrace, Mount Gambier. SA 5290 Telephone 08 8724 9811 Fax 08 8725 0254 Email dl.1021_info@schools.sa.edu.au www.mcparkr7.sa.edu.au Issue No 5, 30/03/17 - Week 9, Term 1 GENEROSITY - RESPECT - HONESTY - LEARNING AND GROWING TOGETHER WEEK 10 Three Way Conferences 05/04-07/04 Year 6/7 camp COMING EVENTS WEEK 11 11/04 Art Show 5pm to 7pm THURSDAY EARLY DISMISSAL 2.15PM THE ARTS TERM 2 WEEK 1 MONDAY, 1 May 2017 FIRST DAY OF TERM 2 The Arts Committee has been working hard to secure the services of two artists in residence who have been working with children and teachers to prepare for our 2017 Art Show in term one, Tuesday, 11 April 2017. The theme for this year s Art Show is Around the World. Children are learning about the art of different cultures and artists and about art techniques to create their own art work in the style of these cultures and artists. Our visual arts work is linked to other areas of the curriculum such as literacy, geography and history. Our 2015 Art Show was a huge success. We are hopeful that our fifth biannual Art Show will be even bigger and better and well supported by parents. Entry fees for our Art Show is a gold coin donation, further recognition and appreciation of the standard of work can be made upon exiting. A BBQ and raffle will also be available Our artists in residence are: Deborah Rogers Deborah Rogers is a mixed media artist, teacher and healing practitioner and in 2016 opened her own business ARTSPARKS Healing &Arts: igniting passion, inspiration and creativity. She runs weekly classes from her studio for children, teenagers and adults. In 2016 Deb began an artist in residency at Mount Gambier s Children Centre, Akuna, Acacia, Melaleuca and Gladigau Park Kindergartens. This work culminated in Deb curating Mount Gambier s first early childhood education exhibition at the Main Corner Complex. She was one of two judges last year for both the South East Art Society s Annual Exhibition Competition and the Wattle Range Council s Annual Art Prize. This year Deb is continuing her residency at the kindergartens as well as teaching art therapy at Grant High School s flexible learning community. Prior to TAFE SA s art department closure, Deborah was the co-ordinator and head lecturer for 15 years; on the Country Arts Assessment panel for six years; co-operative owner of Gallery54 in Penola for five years and participated in all the National Limestone Sculpture Symposiums held at the Old Gaol. Deb works with design, drawing, painting, textiles and sculpture and is passionate about encouraging others to connect with their creativity. For more information on studio classes or one on one wellbeing sessions give Deborah a call on 0478 160 109 or go to ARTSPARKS on Facebook. Anthony Hamilton Anthony Hamilton is a local free-lance artist who has worked on school, community, council, government and private sector projects both locally and interstate over many years. He completed formal training at TAFE in Applied and Visual Arts and Interactive Multi Media and since then has been largely self-taught. Anthony has completed a wide range of work using numerous mediums from acrylic paint to spray paint and graphics. Anthony has worked on a large number of mural projects in our local region that have involved student and community involvement. Grant High School, Mount Gambier High School, Mulga Street Primary School, Pangula Mannamurna are just some examples where his murals adorn walls. In 2016 Anthony s most recent work has been the Metro Café and Bakery back alley project where he has transformed the blank walls into colourful cartoon and mural scenes that each tell a story.
RIDE2SCHOOL DAY Congratulations to all the staff, students and parent helpers who participated in the Ride2School on Friday 17 March. It was great to see so many students taking part in the event. SAPSASA SWIMMING This year I was selected in the Lower South East Swimming team, which competed in Adelaide on 17 March 2017. I was chosen to swim three individual events and one relay, which included the 50 metre breaststroke, 50 metre freestyle, 50 metre butterfly and the four by 50 metre 12 year old freestyle relay. My first event was the 50 metre freestyle, which was a heat and I qualified third overall. In the final I won the bronze medal, after swimming a two second personal best. Next I swam the 50 metre breaststroke and again I qualified third overall to then win the bronze medal in the final. After swimming in my first two individual events, my team and I had to go marshalling for our relay. As a team we didn t win anything for the relay, but it s always fun to swim as a team. Finally, I had my 50 metre butterfly to swim. Both the heats and finals were very close and I ended up winning my third bronze medal for the day. I was happy to win three medals for my three individual swims and enjoyed representing the Lower South East. Elijah S On the 17 th of March, I competed in the SAPSASA Swimming Championships in Adelaide, after being selected from the trials two weeks before. I was chosen to swim three individual events and one relay, which included the 50 metre breaststroke, 50 metre freestyle, 50 metre backstroke and the four by 50 metre 11 year old freestyle relay. My first event was the 50 metre freestyle, which was a heat, and I qualified third overall. In the final I won the bronze medal after swimming a three second personal best. Next I swam the 50 metre breaststroke and I qualified second overall, to then win the silver medal in the final, after a very close race. After swimming my first two individual events, my team and I swam the relay. As a team we didn t win anything, but I enjoyed swimming with some of my Swim Club friends. Finally, I had my 50 metre backstroke to swim. I swam a personal best for the event, but didn t earn a place in the final. I felt really proud of myself for winning two medals in my first SAPSASA Meet and representing the Lower South East. Vaughn S
NAPLAN NAPLAN testing will be carried out in week two of term two. This a nationally developed program that provides schools, DECD and the federal government with information about how education programs are working and what areas need to be prioritised for improvement. Teacher use a wide range of assessments throughout every day, to create a balanced and comprehensive picture of your child s learning needs. NAPLAN adds to this information by giving a snapshot of progress in literacy and numeracy for students in years three, five and seven. NAPLAN tests are administered simultaneously in all schools across Australia. The content of the test is aligned with the Australian Curriculum: English and mathematics. Students do not have to learn specific skills for NAPLAN; in fact, the best preparation is a good all-round education and a growth mindset! You may remember that McDonald Park participated in the online readiness trial for NAPLAN in 2016; however our site has not been selected for the online version in 2017. Our students will site the pen and paper test as in previous years. NAPLAN individual student results are expected to be ready for distribution to parents and caregivers during August and September. Some parents may wish to withdraw their child on religious grounds or due to philosophical objections to testing. Parents may also wish to exempt their child if they are a new arrival in Australia (since May 2016) or have a significant intellectual disability or conditions which will severely limit capacity to do the tests. A parent signature is required for these; please contact Sharon Day for a form. In addition, students with a disability may be entitled to an adjustment such as extra time, rest breaks or large print booklets for visual disability. If you would like to pursue any of these, please contact your child s teacher who will follow up with senior staff. Permission is required from DECD so requests should be made as soon as possible. A parent brochure is available from the DECD website at https://www.decd.sa.gov.au/department/mediacentre/news/helping-your-child-understant-naplan. Sharon Day CANTEEN HELPERS Phone Michelle 87254221 Week Beginning Mon 3 rd April Mon 10 th April Monday Jo Jo Tuesday Lorraine Lorraine Wednesday Catherine Amy Thursday Deb, Belinda Deb, Belinda Friday Deb, Bec Deb, Bec HEAD LICE Unfortunately head lice are common in children in schools everywhere. They infest people of all socioeconomic positions and age groups. We ask for your co-operation in this matter by being vigilant in checking your child s hair every day and treating where necessary. What to look for Small light or dark brown insects without wings. Tiny white eggs (nits) on the hair shafts, eggs usually hatch in 7 to 10 days. Once hatched, the lice are capable of laying eggs after 10 days and lice live up to 35 days on the scalp. They do not survive more than two days away from the human host. An intense itching on the head and neck. What to do Check ALL members of the household at the same time and treat those who have head lice. Use an effective head lice treatment. The pharmacy can advise you (school card holders can get head lice shampoo from the school). After the treatment, comb the hair with a finetooth comb to remove all eggs. Extra precautions include washing all bed linen and towels with hot water (60 degrees or more), or tumble drying for 20 minutes on high. Items such as hats and helmets should also be thoroughly cleaned. Soak combs, brushes etc in hot water for at least ten minutes. Vacuuming carpets may help. Check all household members daily, for three weeks, during an outbreak. Treat anyone found to have head lice. Repeat treatment 5-7 days after initial treatment. This is necessary because lice in unhatched eggs may not be killed by the first treatment. If head lice are still found after the second treatment, try another technique or another chemical treatment using a different active ingredient. If infestations persist despite correct insecticide use, seek medical advice on alternative methods of treatments. Please remember that just treating the hair will not eradicate the problem. Check the hair of all household members daily during an outbreak and once a week at other times. Remind children to avoid direct head-to-head contact. What not to do Do not use a 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner in conjunction with the treatment. Do not use conditioner or shampoos for 24 hours after using head lice treatments. Conditioning agents and harsher detergents can make the treatment less effective.+ Do not blow dry hair. A child with head lice does not need to be sent home from school but should be treated on the same day. Children may return to school the day after the appropriate treatment has been given. For further information please contact the school. Thank you for your co-operation.
CATERING CLUB CATERING CLUB On Friday, 24 March the Friendship Force visited our school. The Friendship Force were given a tour of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden and the enjoyed lunch which was catered by the Catering Club using produce from our garden. Entrée Vietnamese rice paper rolls Tomato and basil bruschetta Main Thai chicken salad Zucchini slice muffins Dessert Fruit salad Rhubarb cake HELP NEEDED! Are you able to help on the BBQ at the Art Show on Tuesday, 11 April? We are looking for volunteers to help set up, man the BBQ and clean up at the end of the evening. Please return the tear off slip to the front office if you are able to help.. I am able to help out at the Art Show BBQ. Name: Contact no: Child s Rm: set up 4.30pm man BBQ 5.00pm to 6.00pm man BBQ 6.00pm to 7.00pm 7.00pm to clean up
RESOURCE CENTRE ADOPT-A-SHELF 100 students and staff to date have volunteered to adopt-a-shelf in our resource centre. These people will be acknowledged at the whole school assembly on Friday. Adopt-a-shelf volunteers will dust, sort, check call numbers and tidy their shelf on a regular basis. We thank our enthusiastic volunteers enormously for their generosity and care for our library. LIBRARY BAGS Please sent library bags (cloth or plastic) to school with your child on library days to protect our library books. If you have spare shopping bags at home, we would gratefully accept them to use as temporary library bags. PREMIER S READING CHALLENGE 19 students have returned their Premier s Reading Challenge forms and have placed their bubbles on our display window. Come and see! Forms are due back 8 September 2017. COMMUNITY NEWS UNITED WOMEN s SOCCER CLUB Sisters, daughters, cousins, nieces are you looking for something fun to do on Saturdays? Come and give women s soccer a go! We have an under 12 s, under 15 s and a seniors team. We are always looking for more players especially in the junior grades! Everyone is welcome! Please contact our friendly coaches for more details. Andi Armandi (seniors) 0427 200 405 Matthew Duncan (juniors) 0488 938 668
COMMUNITY NEWS