CASSIA PRIMARY SCHOOL

Our Vision To deliver a caring, supportive and safe school environment in

which all students have the opportunity to reach their full

potential.

Newsletter 16 Boronia Close, South Hedland WA 6722 | PO Box 2138 South Hedland WA 6722 Phone (08) 9172 2495 | cassia.ps@education.wa.edu.au | cassiaps.wa.edu.au

TERM 1 | WEE K 5 , 3 MARCH 2017

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Dear Parents and Caregivers, What a fantastic start to the year we have had with 76 new Kindergarten students, and an additional 36 students across the school. We farewell the 8 families that have left us since the start of the year and wish them all the best. This year we have a range of students with different language backgrounds including English, Filipino, Indonesian, Polish, Shona, Tagalog, Tamil, Nyangumarta, Kapampangan, Malay and Martu. ATTENDANCE Congratulations to our Kindergarten children who have a whole class attendance rate of 95.5% followed closely by Year 6 students at 95.2%. Our current attendance rate is 90.7% which is exceptional. Well done to everyone for ensuring their children are at school everyday. It is very important that every absence has a valid explanation, currently 45% of absences are unauthorised (this includes family vacations during term time). WELCOME We welcome Ms Thompson, Mrs Prichard, Ms North, Mrs Apedaile, Ms Donetta, Mr Kane, Miss Ager, Miss Banovich, Mr Viljoen, Mrs Cartwright, Ms Maxwell, Mrs Mills, Mrs Squibb and Mrs Reynolds to our school this year in the role of Teachers, Education Assistants and Special Needs Education Assistants. SPECIAL PROGRAMS I would like to congratulate Ibu Mills on the exceptional LOTE Program in Indonesian commenced at Cassia Primary School for our Year 3 & 4 students. Some of our Year 5 & 6 students are completing LOTE Indonesian as an extension subject through Video Conferencing and the School Of Isolated and Distance Education. Also a congratulations to our CAEP (Cassia Academic Enrichment Program) students who are working with Mrs Brown and the 9 students participating across schools in a partnership with the Hedland Schools and BHP Billiton Education Partnership in Academic Enrichment. P & C The P & C held its AGM and general meeting last Tuesday with a tremendous turn out of 15 committee members. Congratulations to our new P & C Committee. President Lauren Shinners and I sincerely thank outgoing president Mr Joshua Hallion for his dedicated support and vision for Cassia Primary School in his three year tenure. He has been unwavering in establishing effective processes in the P & C and supports for the school and it has had a positive impact on the school and students. Have a fabulous month ahead. Regards, Narelle Ward PRINCIPAL

Calendar

Tuesday 21 March

Harmony Day

Monday 6 March

Public Holiday

Labour Day

Friday 10 March

Assembly Room 11

Thursday 23 March

School Swimming Carnival

Gratwick Swimming Pool

Friday 24 March

Assembly Room 15

EARBUS Visit

Attendance Profile 2017 Se-mester

Videoconferencing with SIDE

Merit Award recipients for: Weeks 2 and 4

Room 3 Aura Muin & Ethan Banting

Room 4 Xavier Brunini & Aeryn Lefroy

Room 5 Nur Atiqah Abd Rahim & Connor Buhagiar

Room 6 Archie Davidson & Jasmine Tabak

Room 7 Jeremy Tanner & Kayla Tangpos

Room 8 Fraser Smith & Marlee Billsborough

Room 9 Joshua Cameron & Harshika Dinesh

Room 10 Sophie Tala’atu & Christian Wainwright

Room 11 Charli Doughty & Tyson Pavey

Room 12 Kayden Henry & Byron Apedaile

Cassia Academic Enrichment Program

The Cassia Academic Enrichment Program (CAEP) has started with a fantastic group of

highly motivated students who are eager to learn new ways of thinking. In CAEP students

enjoyed learning about the brain and its capabilities to memorise and capture effective

learning. In our 'Save the Egg' team challenge critical and creative thinking had to be used

to physically build a cage for a fragile egg which was then dropped to the ground. We will

continue to work on creative writing and mathematical prob-

lem solving in the following sessions. An absolute highlight to look forward to

is a session about 'Molecular Gastronomy' and of course more exciting learn-

ing opportunities are yet to come.

Mrs Britta Brown - Enrichment Coordinator

Room 13 Shanti Atkinson & Sienna Thompson

Room 14 Andile Ndaba & Charlene Johnston

Room 15 Alexander Wojciechowski & Erich Punsulan

Room 16 Chris Stewart & Reigan McAlear-Capewell

Room 17 Amelie Brierly & Graciel Parabules

Room 18 Charlotte Wight & Tuani Wiringi

Room 19 Brandon Souey & Ezykia Snook

Sport Katelyn Sellwood & Abigail Mario

Art Nikki Osborne & Jasmine Caparas

SAKG Hayley Wainwright & Kimihia Grace

Science Kitri Pilkington & Chelsea Taylor

Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) Team Update

The Cassia PBS team has had a transformation this year, welcoming several new mem-bers to the team. Kellie Mills (Team Leader) Donna Winter (Internal Coach) Katie Gale (Secretary) Communication Officers: Vanessa Wainwright, Amanda Bauchop, Bianca Reynolds, Kellie Mills Maria Cameron (Data Manager/treasurer) Debra Edwards (Time Keeper) As well as a number of active members. Our focus for this term will be ‘greenies’ within the classroom and faction tokens out in the playground. Greenies are earnt by extraordinary effort or achievement within the classroom, complying with our Cassia behaviour expectations: we are responsible, we are resilient and we reach for success. Students then earn a visit to the office for stickers

and to have their photos taken for the school newsletter. Positive behaviours observed in the playground will ob-tain faction tokens. Representatives from each faction will collect and count the faction tokens fortnightly, pre-senting results at assemblies. Results will be compiled twice a term (Week Five and Week Ten) with the winning teams receiving a prize.

Uniform Shop

THE UNIFORM SHOP IS OPEN ON MONDAYS

BETWEEN 8.15 - 9.00AM

The uniform shop is run by the Cassia P & C

and the uniform coordinator is Jacqui Toyne.

EFTPOS is available in the front office and we re-

quest payment at the time of your order.

If you have a trust fund assisting you with uniform

payments please ensure they email all order forms

and purchase orders to: cassiauniformshop@yahoo.com

Cheques payable to: Cassia P&C Association

OPEN DAILY FROM 7:30AM Assorted sandwiches

and wraps are available daily including a mixed va-

riety of yummy healthy recess options.

Canteen Menu

What a fantastic turn out we had the P & C Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 21 February. The P&C are pleased to announce the addition of 11 new committee members for 2017. The P&C are looking forward to delivering some exciting fundraising events this year and continuing to support CPS. A special thanks goes to Mr Josh Hallion as our out-going president and the P & C would like to acknowledge Mr Hallions support over his 3 year tenure. We look forward to still working with Mr Hallion in a different capacity. 2017 Office Bearers are; President : Mrs Lauren Shinners Vice President: Ms Jacqui Toyne Secretary: Ms Dee Baum Treasurer: Mrs Bree Wilson

P & C News

Avoiding known allergens is the basis of food allergy

and anaphylaxis management. A range of risk minimi-

sation strategies should be implemented and these

will vary depending on whether it is a school or child-

care service, possible routes of exposure to known

allergens and the age of the child.

Blanket food bans are not recommended by ASCIA,

although restricting some important food allergens

(such as nuts) may have a place in reducing the risk

of accidental exposure in very young children who are

too young to be relied upon to avoid contact with po-

tential allergic triggers themselves, either by inges-

tion or cross contamination of equipment like toys or

play services.

Blanket food bans or attempts to totally eliminate

food allergens in schools and childcare are not rec-

ommended by ASCIA for the following reasons:

It is not possible to guarantee complete removal

of an allergen such as peanuts from the school

community, regardless of policies to do so.

Blanket food bans may give parents/carers and

allergic individuals a false sense of security, as-

suming that the school or childcare is 'nut free'

for example.

Children can be at risk of anaphylaxis from many

foods, insect stings or bites. Therefore, it is not

possible, nor practical to ban all food or insect

allergens from a school or childcare service.

It is more important for schools and childcare

services to implement a range of age appropriate

risk minimisation strategies and consider children

with severe allergies when planning activities. This

may also include asking that nut products, for ex-

ample, are not sent to school in lunch boxes for

young children in childcare, pre-school and early

primary school. This is not the same as banning

the food. Not using some foods in cooking classes

or science experiments or not using some allergens

in foods supplied by preschools are other issues to

consider.

ASCIA guidelines for prevention of anaphylaxis in

schools, pre-schools and childcare were recently pub-

lished in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health

and are available from the ASCIA website:

www.allergy.org.au/health-professionals/papers/

prevent-anaphylaxis-in-schools-childcare

Should schools and childcare services ban foods?

A great start to Cassia Learning Club

In 2017, we are excited to announce that we are continuing our Cassia Learning Club

Program, proudly supported by BHP and The Polly (Graham) Farmer Foundation. This

term we are “travelling” around our magnificent state Western Australia investigating

natural land formations.

So far this term, we have “travelled” to the beautiful Ningaloo Reef, explored the reefs,

coral and created our own reef out of play dough. We researched species that are locat-

ed on the reef and completed a Power Point presentation or poster which we presented

back to the group. We used the SWIVL technology to record our presentations.

We then “travelled” to the Kimberly’s and explored the spectacular Bungle Bungles in the Purnululu Na-

tional Park. We created an amazing art piece that reflected the beauty of these dome shaped limestone

creations. We then held a mini CLC Master Chef challenge and recreated the Bungle Bungles using various

food products. Yum!

We are having a great time at CLC and I would like to thank all of the students and tutors for their enthu-

siasm and support to making CLC a great place to be after school.

The question on everyone’s lips is where are we heading next?

Karen Derschow

Cassia Learning Club

Program Coordinator

Physical Education with Mr Lourens Viljoen

School Swimming Carnival and Interschool Carnival

The Cassia swimming carnival will be held on the 23rd of March at the Gratwick pool for students in Years

3-6 and parents will receive permission slips for this event a few weeks before. Students who are selected

to swim in the interschool carnival will be heading back to Gratwick pools on the 31st of March.

Sun Smart

With the hot weather, it’s very important for all of us to stay Sun Smart! This can include lots of different

things like:

Putting sunscreen on 10 minutes before we go outside

Wearing a broad brim hat outside

Playing in the shade

Reapplying sunscreen regularly

Wearing long sleeves

Wearing sunglasses

Drinking lots of water to stay hydrated

All classrooms are supplied with sunscreen but we are always looking for more donations. Please feel free

to supply your child’s classroom with any additional sunscreen.

Mr Viljoen - Physical Education Teacher

Art with Ms Melissa North

In the Art Department, we have had a fantastic start to Term One. With a focus on the elements of art, we’ve worked with line, shape and colour. All of the students are extremely creative, had fun and most of all, created some wonderful masterpieces. Portraiture has been our key focus, this term, with an emphasis on line. All sorts of lines-wiggly, curvy, zig-zag, scribble, continuous and contours. In our most recent activity of drawing a continuous line portrait (in under 10 seconds), it resulted in some students having a “draw off”. We have all had many laughs. In portraiture lessons, students learnt the rules of proportion. They drew some perfectly proportioned portraits and enjoyed the process of working in different mediums. The Pre-Primary children had a great time getting dirty and creative with collage, using magazines, glue, hessian, card and textas. Year 1-6 used 2B pencils, inks and conte crayons to create their own portrait masterpieces. **Can you challenge yourself, or your children and try drawing with your opposite hand, or even with your eyes closed? Have fun!*** Re-cycling is supported here at Cassia, so we’d appreciate any recycled items such as; Ice-cream tubs-2L square Any unwanted feathers or bones Any meat trays, or flat plastic fruit trays (with no holes, we use as palettes) Glass jars-preferably jam jar size, or bigger Magazines-with people/faces Ms Melissa North - Art Specialist

What’s been happening in Science with Miss Erin Smith

This Term in Science students have been focusing on ‘living things’ in Biological Sciences.

We have been investigating animals need, animal environments, special features of all living things and microscopic organisms.

Year Three and Year Six students have been exploring yeast cells (single celled organisms) in baker’s bread.

Students have also been looking at microscopes and the history behind them.

Science joke: Biology is the only science in which multiplication is the same thing as division. Explanation: In biology, cells multiply in number when one cell divides into two.

Miss Erin Smith - Science Teacher

What’s been happening in Room 12 with Mrs Laura Greer

In Room 12 this term we have been extremely busy. We have started the year off with a bang by being the first class to host the school assembly. We have worked hard to learn our Phonics Rap, and the stu-dents have done a great job. We have had a maths focus on fractions this term and the students are learning what a numerator and a denominator are, and also how to place fractions on a number line. Students have also been learning all about place value into the 10,000’s. Room 12 is also learning about measurement and moving into using more formal units to measure. In English, Room 12 has had a focus on narrative writing structure, while also focusing on our all-important spelling and grammar. Students have been learning about simple and compound sentence structure. Mrs Laura Greer - Classroom Teacher

SAKG

We have begun 2017 with energetic Cooking, Gardening and Technology lessons. This year I have changed our cooking format, so that all students are preparing and cook-ing at the same time, rather than having a central table and taking turns. This means that all students are divided into groups of 4 or 5 and I circulate between them, as-sisting and ensuring that we handle and prepare our recipes safely and hygienically. In the garden we have been busy weeding, washing and filling pots, tidying garden beds, composting and planting seeds. The rain has been wonderful and many of our vegetables and herbs are growing well. For the remainder of the term we will be Gardening in Week 6 (7th, 8th and 9th March) and Cooking in Week 7 (13th, 14th, 15th, 16th March) and Week 10 (3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th

April.) I would greatly appreciate volunteers to help during our Cooking and Gardening lessons, to assist in overseeing groups of students and helping the sessions run smoothly and safely. If you are able to assist please let me know and we can work out days and times which are suitable. We have again achieved accreditation as a Waste Wise School, so remember to pack waste-free lunch-boxes whenever possible. Jenny Neale - Kitchen Garden Coordinator

2017 Student Councillors and Faction Captains

Congratulations to all the Year 6 and 5 students who gave a speech to be nominated as a 2017 student

councillor and shadow councillor. Councillors for 2017 are as follows:

STUDENT COUNCIL SHADOW COUNCILLORS FACTION CAPTAINS

Head Girl - Rani Ramsay Ella Blacklock ACACIA

Head Boy - Bruce Gould Taya Sawtell Jayden McAuliffe & Amelie Brierly

Tia Crampton Jesse Tavo BOTTLEBRUSH

Ava Maciuba-Holland Scott Thomas Zac Hearne & Chelsea Ambler

Harmony Tavo BORONIA

Nate Hogan Aiden Atkinson & Talitha Borch

BANKSIA

Bohdi Gregs & Bethany Tubera

Welcome New Staff for 2017

Room 1

Danielle Thompson

Room 2

George Cartwright

Room 4

Jessica Donetta

Room 5

Katie Apedaile

Room 8

Jessie Banovich

Room 11

Emily Ager

Room 14

Angela Maxwell

Room 16

Jeremy Kane

Room 17

Bianca Reynolds

Room 19

Penny Squibb

Art

Mel North

PE

Lourens Viljoen

Rooms 7,8,9

Amy Prichard

LOTE

Helen Mills

Good Workers weeks 1 - 5

A note from the

Community Health Nurse

Welcome to the new school year. My name is Chrissie McDowell and I am the Com-munity Health Nurse who visits your school. Community Health Nurses work in schools to promote healthy development and wellbeing so students may reach their full potential. A major part of my work is fo-cused on early intervention and the School Entry Health Assessment program. Community Health Nurses serve as a health contact point for children and their families, providing infor-mation, assessment, health counselling and referral. The services provided are free and confidential. If you have a concern about your child’s health or devel-opment, please contact me on 08 9174 1307. Chrissie McDowell

School Notices - Parent Helpers

Community Notices

2017 Contributions and Charges

1. CONTRIBUTIONS

The total amount of voluntary contributions parents/caregivers are being asked to pay has been set at: $60.00 for

all students from Kindergarten to Year 6.

Money collected will be used to supplement school expenditure in the curriculum learning areas listed below.

While Contributions are voluntary, the quality of our teaching and learning program will be maximised when each

family makes its contribution by supplementing funding gained from other sources, including the State and Com-

monwealth Governments. The table below gives you the breakdown of where we will direct your voluntary contri-

bution to.

2. CHARGES FOR EXTRA COST OPTIONAL COMPONENTS

A breakdown of estimated charges if your child participates in all of the activities for 2017 has been included below.

Students will only incur costs when they are involved in a particular activity. The amounts indicated on the sched-

ule represent the maximum charge for scheduled activities in 2017. As in the past, you will be asked to make pay-

ment for each activity as it occurs. The charges schedule includes costs associated with –

Extra curricula activities that supplement the regular program e.g. incursions, excursions, in term swimming, frac-

tion and inter school carnivals. Specific activities for selected students, but conditional on a payment being made

e.g. camp, graduation

Kindergarten-Year 6 Voluntary Contributions 2017

Physical Education resources $ 8.00

Art and SAKG resources & consumables $ 10.00

Science resources & consumables $ 8.00

English resources $ 12.00

Mathematics resources $ 12.00

Humanities & Social Sciences resources $ 10.00

P&C Annual donation $20.00

TOTAL VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION REQUEST $80.00

1. Contributions Kindy PP 1 2 3 4 5 6

$ 60.00 $ 60.00 $ 60.00 $ 60.00 $ 60.00 $ 60.00 $ 60.00 $ 60.00

2. Charges

Year 6 Special Events * $ 500.00

Carnivals $ 10.00 $ 20.00 $ 20.00 $ 20.00 $ 20.00 $ 20.00 $ 20.00

Interschool Carnivals $ 30.00 $ 30.00 $ 30.00 $ 30.00 $ 30.00 $ 30.00

Interm Swimming $ 60.00 $ 60.00 $ 60.00 $ 60.00 $ 60.00 $ 60.00 $ 60.00

Incursions $ 25.00 $ 25.00 $ 25.00 $ 25.00 $ 25.00 $ 25.00 $ 25.00 $ 25.00

Excursions $ 30.00 $ 30.00 $ 30.00 $ 30.00 $ 30.00 $ 30.00 $ 30.00

Sub Total $ 85.00 $ 185.00 $ 225.00 $ 225.00 $ 225.00 $ 225.00 $ 225.00 $ 725.00

3. Extra Optional Costs

P & C Voluntary Request $ 20.00 $ 20.00 $ 20.00 $ 20.00 $ 20.00 $ 20.00 $ 20.00 $ 20.00

Personal Items List** $ 50.07 $ 64.04 $ 68.53 $ 65.68 $ 63.51 $ 68.06 $ 69.22 $ 66.39

School Photos $ 35.00 $ 35.00 $ 35.00 $ 35.00 $ 35.00 $ 35.00 $ 35.00 $ 35.00

Sub Total $ 105.07 $ 119.04 $ $ 120.68 $ 118.51 $ 123.06 $ 124.22 $ 121.39

TOTAL $ 190.07 $ 304.04

$

348.53 $ 345.68 $ 343.51 $ 348.06 $ 349.22 $ 846.39

2017 Term Planners

2017 Term Planners