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Fairfield Primary School Newsletter
27 November 2015
Newsletter No 18
Principal’s Report
As we approach the final month of the year, there is much activity at every level of the school as we are finalising assessments and drawing a closure to our programs. Students from Grade Prep to 6 have been highly engaged in their learning in a variety of contexts. Our grade 6 students are working diligently to complete their billy carts and they are very impressive vehicles. The silent auction of these billy carts commences on Monday 30 November and the children are very proud of their charity choices. Last week, our grade 5 students participated in the annual excursion to Sovereign Hill and next week our grade 3/4s will share their learning with their families at the Westgarth Cinema as they premiere their movies. Our grade 1/2 students are completing their investigations of ‘the olden days’ and our Prep students are enjoying their learning through puppetry. On Tuesday 8 December many of our Grade 6 students will participate in the state-wide Year 7 Orientation Day, visiting their secondary schools for the first time on a more formal, official basis. We wish our Grade 6s the best as they participate in this special day and we look forward to hearing the stories of their experiences! Our Kinder to Prep and Area Level Transition programs draw to a conclusion next week. We have enjoyed having our brand new 2016 preps visit us over the past 4 weeks as they experience their first taste of primary school. Equally, we have been very pleased watching our students experience new classrooms and environments in preparation for the 2016 school year. Thanks to all of our teachers for the energy and enthusiasm with which they approach both of our Transition Programs. Our staffing and grade formation processes are being finalised and I will be announcing 2016 teaching roles in the next newsletter. Students will meet their new teacher and classmates on Friday 11 December. Buildings and Grounds Update As I’m sure many of our parents have seen, the ‘Kaan’s Castle’ project has commenced and is already a source of great excitement and curiosity for our students. We look forward to the completion of this project during the summer holiday period, and to watching our students explore and enjoy this new play space. Our hard working Buildings and Grounds Committee are having their next Working Bee tomorrow. All families are most welcome to support the efforts of this committee by participating in this working bee from 10:00 – 2:00. All is proceeding well with the acquisition of our new Double Storey portable. Work on this project is likely to commence in the next two weeks. Allana Bryant Principal
WORKING BEE TOMORROW!
Working Bee
***ON TOMORROW***
Saturday 28 November 10am - 2pm
Come along to our next working bee - we need your help! All welcome, including children. Sausage sizzle provided.
As you will already be aware, preparation commenced for Kaan’s Castle last weekend! We need some volunteers to assist Simon, our artist-in-residence, to build the retaining walls for the surrounds of the Kaan’s Castle project. The holes have already been dug, we now need help with concreting in the posts for the red gum sleepers.
We will also be concentrating on lots of cleaning up to make our school look its best for the end of year Family Picnic.
Come along and help to:
Build the retaining wall
Weed and sweep, sweep, sweep!
General clean up jobs
Feel free to suggest other jobs you would like to tackle at the working bee to [email protected].
Hope to see you there! B&G Committee
School Council
School of Rock Trivia Night
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
The inaugural FPS School of Rock music trivia night went off with a bang last Saturday night! The old school hall was heaving at the seams and pulsating to the back beat as a dozen tables fought it out for the title. Over 6 action packed rounds we were treated to top class music quiz finery courtesy of Quiz Master Jodie J Hill, Adjudicator Alister Bayston, Roadie Aiden "Dugal" Farrell and Brains Trust Mitali Ross. Music was the winner as house band Mean Average kicked out the jams and provided the backdrop to a night of highlights including Rick Swaney's Real Thing (and genuine 1960s hippy pants), Kerri Simpson's blistering Nut Bush, Ash Naylor's epic Hey Jude, Ali Sutton's a Cappella American Pie and teachers Ursula, Atty and Kerri's breathtaking tunes. The quiz concluded with an all star jam of the Band's classic The Weight before the eventual winners The number One were declared. As the post quiz entertainers, the Bin Night Romeos hit the stage (brandishing the spoils of their quiz victory) the assembled crowd abandoned their seats and hit the dance floor in a tsunami of good spirits to bring home what was an excellent night. Thanks to all the musicians for playing their hearts out; Jodie, Al and Aiden for yelling questions, dishing out points and roadie logistics respectively; Donna McMullen for the great poster; Sharon, Callum, Hannah and assorted performers for setting or packing up; Rosie and her staff for running the best bar in town; Geoff and Doug for arranging the night: and special thanks to Mitali who turned the idea into a meticulously planned, wonderfully executed, tremendously fun night. And finally, a big thank you to all those who laid down their money and played their part and got into the spirit of the music. And as Frank Zappa said.... “Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.”
Area Spotlight - Grade 5
Trip to Sovereign Hill
On the 20th of November all the year 5’s went on an
excursion to Sovereign Hill, Ballarat. We did lots of fun activities such as; gold panning, doing the Red Hill Mine tour, attending an education session about Chinese on the goldfields, watching a gold pour demonstration and see the ‘Red Coats’ march.
In our session about the Chinese on the goldfields we learnt about their religions, customs and the racism they endured. It was very interesting and informative and we learnt a lot.
Another activity we did was panning for gold. After we were shown how to pan for gold by an Irish ‘digger’ we quickly found ourselves a pan and starting fossicking. Most of use found gold but some of us were unlucky.
Overall it was a great excursion, we learnt lots and had a great time. We would like to thank Brendan, Elise & Nicole for organising the excursion and Zoe, Liza (Will’s mum) and Marina and Geoff (Jed’s parents) for all their help looking after us.
By Rose Burrage and India Madder
First Aid
On Tuesday 24 November we had a first aid class with Neil from St John’s Ambulance. We learnt what
to do in an emergency and practiced techniques such as putting people into the recovery position and how to perform C.P.R.
We also learnt the DRSABCD acronym and what it means:
Danger – check if you can see a danger that has caused the emergence. Response – try and get a response from the person in need of assistance. Send for help – call 000 and ask for the ambulance services. Airways – check to see if there is anything blocking the airways. Breathing – check to see if the person is able to breathe. If they are place them in the recovery position. CPR – start compressions if the person is not breathing and there is no pulse. Defibrillator – we didn’t do this one as we didn’t have one available. We enjoyed the session and learnt that these techniques can save lives.
By Dan and Felix – 5B
Community News
The Great Fairfield Primary School Vehicle Challenge This term the grade 6 students have been busy planning, designing and building vehicles (Billy Carts) that can safely carry a passenger from point A to point B.
It has been a great experience to work as a team and learn how to construct a vehicle out of recycled materials. We have had a lot of parents come in and help us build these vehicles, as well as Leeanne and Julie and
we would like to thank all of them.
After a lot of planning, drilling, nailing, test driving and making modifications our vehicles are ready for the Great Fairfield Primary School Vehicle Derby on Friday 4 December at 2.30pm on the oval. Please come along and watch the ten teams battle it out for Vehicle Supremacy.
The vehicles will be on display and ready for purchase, and we invite all school members to bid for the vehicles at the silent auction that will run from Monday 30 November through to Friday 4 December in the old hall. All money collected will go to the teams chosen charity. Come along and join in the fun of bidding for a vehicle. It would be great if you could buy on.
By Patrick Suiter and Aries Reany
Attention Ex-Yarralea Families
Avril McHugh, who has been the 3 year old kinder teacher at Yarralea for 18 years, is retiring at the end of this year. Many Fairfield PS children will have begun their formal education journey with Avril and will have happy memories of their time with her.
To mark the end of Avril's teaching journey we are planning to collate an album of photos of some of her past students, and hand-made cards.
If you would like to contribute to this project, please provide a hard copy photograph of your child from around the time they were at kinder with Avril and a current photo (standard size please). Please clearly print your child's name and year at Yarralea with Avril on the back of both photos. If your child would like to make a card for Avril we will also include these in the presentation. Please feel free to invite any families outside the school who experienced Avril’s teaching to contribute as well. Any enquires to Kylie Hesketh: [email protected]
The album and cards will be presented to Avril at the Kurburoo end of year celebration at Yarralea. Please leave any contributions at the school office for collection by Friday 11th December.
Berry Merry Christmas Appeal 2016 Don’t forget to select a gift card from our Christmas Tree in the school foyer.The card will let you know which age group to buy a gift for and a list of gift suggests can be found by clicking here. Please remember not to wrap the the gift before you place it under the tree.
We will be taking our gifts to the Berry Street Offices on Friday 4 December. Let’s collect as many gifts as we can for those children who are not as lucky as us.
Be generous … it is fun!
Community News
St John Ambulance First Aid
St John Ambulance visited our school on Tuesday 24 November to deliver free First Aid in Schools training to our students. Through the First Aid in Schools program, trained St John presenters led all students through tailored sessions on the importance of First Aid and what to do in the event of an emergency. Our junior students learnt about how to identify when there is an emergency, keeping themselves safe, and how to call for an ambulance. Senior students learnt about delivering CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and the things they can do to assist in an emergency.
D – Danger – look around and keep yourself safe R – Response – Can you hear me? S – Send for help - Call 000 A – Airway – tilt head back B – Breathing – listening, looking and monitoring for chest rise C – Cardio pulmonary resuscitation All the students were very eager to learn what to do in an emergency and many role played in a scenario. Many students pretended to be unconscious and were expertly put into the recovery positon. Students have been given a special piece of homework for parents to complete. We encourage you
to “do your homework” and go online with St John to see how much you know about First Aid. Are you First Aid READY? More information about the St John First Aid in Schools program can be found at: www.stjohnvic.com.au/schools
Area Transition Program 2015 – Looking towards our new classes in 2016! Next Wednesday your child will complete their four session area transition program, in preparation for movement into a new class for 2016. This program has seen all students visiting classrooms and teachers in the areas they will be moving into next year. We believe that this has been a positive program, helping to make students feel more confident about moving to a new grade. Students will be visiting their new 2016 class room and teacher on Friday 11 December from 2:30pm-3:15pm. On this day they will bring home a letter confirming their class placement for next year. Please note, our second semester school reports will be sent home to families on Tuesday 15 December. Any questions about our transition program should be directed to Margot Sheridan.
OSHClub News Before School / After School Care Program
Program Update
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Before Care
Activities
Anime colouring
African Animal puppets
United Kingdom Flags
Madeline Paper Dolls
Vietnamese Dragon Boats
After Care Activities
Origami African masks
Welsh Pasties (Tiddly Oggie)
Asterix helmets
Moon Cakes
Parent Information
OSHC program phone: 0432 680 504
Coordinator: Aidan Phelan
Assistants: Meaghan Le Shana, Alison Wong
OSHClub Head Office: 03 8564 9000
All families must be enrolled to attend the program, remember this is Free!! Please create an account online at www.oshclub.com.au all bookings and cancellations can also be managed via your online
account. For on the day bookings please contact the Coordinator direct at the program before 9am.
Next Week’s Activities
Dear parents and families, Last week’s 20th Century history theme week was lots of fun with kids learning about all sorts of things from the music to the toys and cartoons of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. Whether grooving to Aretha Franklin during musical statues or jazzing up a Care Bears colouring sheet there was lots to do.
Wars Making Star masks to celebrate the 70s This week’s Sci-Fi theme is also taking off with Star Trek badges and Doctor Who papercraft dolls from here to Tatooine. Science-Fiction gives kids a great opportunity to get creative and to explore ideas whether it’s looking at whether a sonic screwdriver is scientifically possible or thinking about how the conditions of an environment might shape the evolution of alien life forms. The focus through the last few themes has been on creating a sense of identity and community and this will continue into the next two weeks with our Travel theme. We will look at a different country and cul-ture every day to teach the kids a bit about the world they live in.
- Aidan Phelan, Coordinator Reminders We are offering to run OSHClub on December 18 but we need advance bookings to confirm that we have enough enrolments to proceed with the program. If you think you will need to book your child in for this date please do so ASAP. Also, we highly suggest ensuring that your kids are booked in online 24 hours in advance to allow us to ensure that the staff to student ratios are balanced. If there aren't enough staff to cover the children it becomes a potentially very dangerous situation and we want to make sure everyone is as safe as possi-ble. Thank you
Fairfield Primary School PO Box 123 FAIRFIELD VIC 3078 Ph: 9489 2966
Email: [email protected] www.fairfieldps.vic.edu.au Fax: 9489 0501
Out Of School Hours Care Program OSHC program phone: 0432 680 504 or 03 8564 9000 www.oshclub.com.au
Fairfield Primary School Important Dates - Term 4 2015
Monday 30 November Buildings and Grounds Committee Meeting—7pm
Tuesday 1 December Grades 3/4 Film Festival
Thursday 3 December Community Committee Meeting—6:30pm in the Staff Room
Friday 4 December House Swimming Carnival
Grade 6 Vehicle Challenge
Makers Market—3:30pm - 8:00pm
Monday 7 December School Council Meeting—6:00pm in the Staff Room
Tuesday 8 December Grades 3/4 A, B, C Water Management Darebin Parklands
Grade 6/Year 7 Orientation Day
Wednesday 9 December Parent Helpers Moring Tea—11:00am
Cyber Safety Presentation—6:30pm
Thursday 10 December Junior Sports Day
Grade 3/4 D, E , F Water Management Darebin Parklands
Friday 11 December Choir, Brass and Orchestra End of Year Celebration
End of Year Family Picnic
Monday 14 December Prep Drama Toolbox Incursion
Grade 6 Graduation
Tuesday 15 December Grades 3/4 Excursion—Westgate Sports Complex
Wednesday 16 December Grades 1/2 Imax Excursion
Grades 5 & 6 End of Year Activity Day
Thursday 17 December Whole School Assembly—9:30am Term 4 Ends for students : 3.30pm dismissal
Friday 18 December PUPIL FREE DAY—Term 4 Ends
