March 8 2017

Term 1 Week 6

Dalay – Monsoon Season Dalay is the Monsoon Season and usually runs during January and February. The monsoon replenishes a dry thirsty land. Water gushes from rivers and creeks and floodplains are buried under lakes of water. The water disperses seeds and new plants are sprouting. Manmanma (cyclones) seem more frequent and are a sign of a troubled planet. Saltwater crocodiles are laying their eggs. Barramundi are multiplying upstream on the floodplains. Bush current is fruiting now. They are very sweet and a favourite of children. Big Red Apple and Pink Wild Apple are fruiting. The Red Dye Plant is fruiting. It is used to dye natural fibres such as Biyarmarrma (Pandanus) and Gwilirrimba (Sand Palm) to make Denela (string bags) and Malarramamba (Pandanus mats).

From the Principal… Besides learning the content of the curriculum areas, teachers are always working to teach students the skills they need to be successful life-long learners. One essential requirement is resilience; some refer to it as ‘grit’. Resilience is a powerful predictor of success in everything from maths to music. It is those who take risks, who keep going even when they mess up from time to time, who ultimately reach their potential. We often hear students (and adults) use lines such as, “I just don’t have the brain for numbers” as a way to explain away their performance in maths. If they believe this then what is the point of persevering? They will never be good at maths anyway. If we think of the brain as we think of a muscle, something we can develop and grow, then we approach problems and tasks differently. By striving we can make our brain grow. Errors are how we learn to stretch our knowledge. Students who fear failure decide to avoid situations where they may not shine and so they narrow the challenges they are willing to take on. Children who thrive on the challenge grow their abilities with every opportunity that presents itself. Students who recognise their potential for growth do not regard failure as a reason to give up, but as evidence that they are progressing. They recognise that they will learn faster if they are being stretched and, that if they are being stretched, they will mess up from time to time. The crucial thing is to get up again. Why? Because they see a connection between striving and ultimately succeeding. And the neuroscientists suggests they are right. There are many stories of successful people who thrived on failure. I like the one from Michael Jordan, the basketball legend who tells us that he missed more than 9000 shots during his career, lost 300 games and on 26 occasions was trusted to make the game-winning shot, but missed. "I've failed over and over and over again in my life," he has said. "And that is why I succeed." (sourced from Reading Eggs)

Nudl Street STUART PARK NT 0820 PO Box 37421 WINNELLIE NT 0821 Telephone: (08) 89 977333 Email: stuartpark.school@ntschools.net

School Council AGM - 13th March On Monday we will hold our School Council Annual General Meeting. Everyone is invited. If you are interested in finding out about being on this team, please contact the school office and we can put you in touch with someone who can answer your questions. Even if you don’t plan to be on the committee, we would love to have you along both for the quorum we must get to hold the meeting, and so that you can hear about the school and ask any questions.

Harmony Day Assembly Performances – Music and Dance

Harmony Day in Australia celebrates Australia’s cultural diversity. It is a day for all Australians to embrace cultural diversity and to share what we have in common. The central message for Harmony Day is that ‘everyone belongs’, reinforcing the importance of inclusiveness to all Australians.

Parents and friends are invited to Stuart Park School on Friday, 24 March at 8.30am for what promises to be one of the most enjoyable events of the 2017 school calendar; Harmony Day. Stuart Park students will celebrate the cultural diversity that is part of our school community with four dance performances and a performance by the school choir.

Stuart Park students will perform in a Bollywood Dance Group, a Greek Dance Troupe, a Filipino Dance Group and, from Stuart Parks Chinese community, the Chung Wah Society Dance Group performing the Lion Dance.

Each of these dance troupes will be wearing traditional costumes and performing authentic dances from their culture. These colourful and lively performances will be a delightful celebration not to be missed. After the school assembly there will be more activities to celebrate the occasion.

Holiday Program – 10th-13th April

This coming one week break we will once again be offering care at our school Holiday Program. Contact the school if you would like an enrolment form sent home. Spaces are limited. This program is only for 4 days as the Friday is Good Friday.

Car Pick Up I have been advising parents at pick up time to wait until about 2:45pm and then use the drive through pick up area off Nudl Street. Once the buses have gone it all works much better. Parked cars in the drive through waiting for children to turn up have been causing some tricky traffic issues.

NT Government Back to School Vouchers We have one NT Government Voucher for each child here at the office. You can use this $150 towards uniforms, camps and music instruction and it must be used in the first term.

Preschool Easter Raffle Easter is fast approaching which means we need to get cracking with our Easter Raffle. This year we are raising funds to purchase new books for the Preschool Library and new indoor construction sets. You can support the raffle in 2 ways:

- by donating Easter goods (eggs, tableware, small gifts, etc.) to make up the Easter baskets,

- and by purchasing a ticket or 6.

Raffle ticket books will be coming home this week and all donations can be left at the office or brought into the Preschool. The raffle will be drawn on THURSDAY 6th APRIL. Thanks for your support, Preschool Team

Upper Primary Basketball Court We are very grateful to BMD who have been working at our basketball court to give it a great finish following the undercover area being completed last year. BMD offered to give all of the undercover area and adjoining concrete area a new finish and they have been hard at it removing old surfaces and bringing in new material for the base. The new surface should be poured this weekend and the court will then be painted and lines marked in the next 4 weeks.

Student Representative Council

Congratulations to the following students who have been elected as their class SRC for the year. Along with the School Captains and House Captains, this completes the School

Leadership Team.

Year 3 Gorman Victor Kong Mia Trobbiani

Year 3 Mettam Will Needham Nina Stones

Year 3 Carr-Smith San Maher Judith Ugwu

Year 4 Berger Noah Lo Giaan De Castro

Year 4 Anderson Harrison Case Charlotte Peters

Year 4 Williams Nicky Stefanidakis Kiera Dunkley

Year 4 Dunn Samuel McDermott Nicoletta Cotis

Year 5 Watt Ashton Anutara-Angul Ella Barry

Year 5 Kypreou Ryan Hackshaw Emily Punch

Year 5/6 Krys Lucien Dizon Athena Athineos

Year 6 Ros Ty Aitken Alicia Smith

Year 6 Gabrielle Rhys Bradley Laura Roy

Parent Contributions We ask families to make a contribution of $150 per child each year and this goes towards supplying your child with all the stationery they need; ensuring there are sufficient teaching and learning resources; providing opportunities for excursions; improving the school facilities such as the playground. While the contribution is voluntary, we do hope that families will see the great benefit to the school when families decide to support us.

Learning Potential Resources The Federal Government has launched a website http://www.learningpotential.edu.au/ that is filled with hundreds of ideas, activities, games and videos to assist parents of primary school children to get involved in their child’s learning. “The Learning Potential Resources website will help parents and families to bring school

lessons to life at home,” Senator Scullion said.

“Now that the flurry of books, school uniforms and lunchboxes are taken care of, I know that parents are turning their attention to how best to support their child’s learning at school. That’s where Learning Potential Resources comes in. “This new website gives parents access to the resources that teachers are using in the classroom, adapted for the home environment. “Learning Potential Resources shows how to turn everyday activities like cooking, watering the garden or walking the dog into a fun and interactive learning opportunity.” Learning Potential Resources supports the Australian Curriculum for primary school and contains three main sections: • 41 ‘everyday ideas’ to show parents how to practise literacy and numeracy skills with their child during everyday life. • 80 ‘practise together’ articles to guide parents on how they can reinforce literacy and numeracy skills their child is learning at school. • 80 ‘practise online’ activities, including internet games and videos that parents and children can do together to practise these same skills.

CALENDAR

DATE DAY EVENT

13th March Monday School Council AGM

24th March Friday Harmony Day Assembly at school

7th April Friday Last day of Term 1

10th-17th April Monday-Monday Mid Semester break

18th April Tuesday First day of Term 2

24th April Monday Anzac Day Assembly at school

25th April Tuesday Anzac Day

1st May Monday May Day Holiday

9-12th May Monday-Friday NAPLAN

12th June Monday Queens Birthday holiday

23rd June Friday Last day of Term 2

The following advertisements are not necessarily endorsed by the school.

OTTWAYS TAE KWON DO AND SELF DEFENCE

Classes are held at Stuart Park Primary School on the following nights … All ages Tuesday 6.30 to 8 pm All ages Thursday 6.30 to 8 pm

Come and enjoy martial arts with a qualified instructor for self-defence, fitness and fun. Contact Peter on 0427991394. Come and Try. First two lessons free.

Darwin Dragons Rugby Union Club

Juniors Training Commencing from 7th March 2017

Tuesdays & Thursdays from - 5.15pm All grade from U7, U9, U11, U13, U15, to U17

New to Rugby - Come try it out

All New Players Welcome Rugby Park (Field 1) - 71 Abala Road Marrara

Junior Games U7’s – U15’s commence Friday 31 March 2017 Under 17’s commence Wednesday 29 March

For further information Email: darwindragonsrugby@hotmail.com

M:0450 500 568 – President: Puru Westrupp