Principal: Rod Simeons

Deputy Principals: Helen Fiebig and Adam Marchant

Registrar: Olivia Wood

8 Bolero Road AVELEY WA 6069

Phone 6296 5466 Fax 6296 5439

Aveley.PS@education.wa.edu.au

Volume 2 Issue 1 10 May, 2013

DATES TO REMEMBER

EARLY CLOSE EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 2.30PM

Dear Parents and Friends,

It is always a pleasure to see our children return refreshed and enthusiastic. Thank you for continuing to motivate them to value school life and the importance of giving of their best and high achievement in the social and

academic domains.

We have had several new enrolments this term and we welcome: Taylor Adams, Krystal Doru, Emmanuel

Akanda, Patrick Conrad and Lawyer Conrad.

MOTHER’S DAY STALLMOTHER’S DAY STALL

A special thank you to Renae Chamberlain, Christine Cory and Kelly Smith of the P&C Association for organising the fantastic Mother’s Day stall on Thursday and Friday. Our children were delighted with the range of gifts available and the secrecy that surrounds a surprise gift. Many thanks to all the Dads who supported our stall

by giving their children spending

money.

NAPLAN (NATIONAL ASSESSMENT PROGRAM NAPLAN (NATIONAL ASSESSMENT PROGRAM ––

LITERACY AND NUMERACY) CHILDREN BEING LITERACY AND NUMERACY) CHILDREN BEING

TESTED TESTED

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. It has been an everyday

part of the school calendar since 2008.

NAPLAN tests the sorts of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life, such as reading, writing, spelling and numeracy. The assessments are undertaken nationwide, every year, in the second full week in May. Our tests will be conducted on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week with Friday being set aside for children who could not attend on these days to be tested.

NAPLAN is made up of tests in the four areas (or

‘domains’) of:

• Reading

• Writing

• Language Conventions (spelling,

grammar and punctuation)

• Numeracy

NAPLAN tests skills in literacy and numeracy and are

developed over time through the school curriculum.

Teachers and children have been working hard in preparation for these tests and I am confident that all our children will both give of their best and score well on the

tests.

To ensure that we maintain accurate records on children’s performance, the year 4 and 6 children will also be tested on these days. We will be using past NAPLAN

tests.

Tues 14, Wed 15 & Thurs 16 NAPLAN Testing

Thursday, 16 May Assembly—Grevillea 6

Monday, 13 May P&C Meeting at 9am

BULLYINGBULLYING

From time to time, teachers and administration have conversations with an investigate allegations of Bullying with parents and guardians. These often turn out to be instances of teasing or conflict with/by other children. I have set down below the answer to commonly raised questions in the hope that you can assist and support to address the few instances of bullying

we do have.

WHAT IS BULLYING?

Bullying is a wilful, conscious desire to hurt, threaten or frighten another person. The influence spreads wider than the bully and the victim. Bullying affects other members of the class, who have seen the bully in action and who have seen the distress of – or

the injury to the victim.

WHO GETS BULLIED?

There is no typical victim, as all children want to be liked and included. There are those however who appear to seek attention by apparently asking to be bullied. These children have weak

social skills and need help.

Children may be bullied for a variety of reasons. Amongst these

are:

• Jealously because they are popular

• Good at sport or at their class work

• Because they are different – in looks or even values

WHO ARE THE BULLIES?

Children often get bullied by a persistent or powerful individual or by a whole group. In this instance it is hard for them to stand up for themselves and they need help through formal adult

intervention.

Children who bully often have high levels of energy and good verbal skills and can talk themselves out of trouble. They enjoy conflict and aggression and enjoy getting their own way. They

appear popular but are often disliked.

HOW TO TELL IF YOUR CHILD IS BEING BULLIED

One of the more obvious signs is a change of attitude. Suddenly they don’t want to go to school, they keep saying they are sick with headaches and stomach aches, they have outbursts, get weepy and their marks at school drop. These are just a few signs. Your child’s teacher can recognise a lot more if you describe them carefully.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO ?

There are several things you can do. Try some of these if you

notice the signs above:

• Encourage your child to talk to you

• Discuss the issue of “dobbing” – they may be too afraid to tell

because of this code that exists in all schools.

• Record bullying acts reported to you in a diary

• Sit down with your child and practice some actions to use to

stop the bullying [ see section below ].

ST JOHN FIRST AID CLASSES FOR ALL CHILDREN ST JOHN FIRST AID CLASSES FOR ALL CHILDREN

Our thanks to the St John’s instructors Stacey and Alison who visited our school and went through basic First Aid techniques with all our children. The course was to raise awareness and give children a glimpse of what the range of

responses could be in an emergency.

SMS COMMUNICATION PLANNINGSMS COMMUNICATION PLANNING

Aveley Primary School will be introducing SMS Messaging

in Semester 2.

SMS is a communication strategy to:

• Improve school attendance processes

• Promptly alert and enforce parental responsibility

• Improve communication with parents and care givers

• Identify unauthorised and unexplained absesces

• Increased overall accountability through process

streamline between parents, school and students

• Welfare of students (early notification of non-

attendance)

• Important notices regarding meetings and events

As mobile phones are a familiar form of communication SMS is one strategy to support attendance improvement therefore whole school community support is required for it

to be utilised effectively.

Wise words for the fortnight …….

“Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother.”

A Happy Mothers Day to all Mothers, you can be proud of the wonderful job you are doing

with your children.

With best wishes

R W SIMEONS

PRINCIPAL

BUILDING RESILIENCEBUILDING RESILIENCE

Families and teachers play an important part in assisting children to build the resilience to cope with a variety of situations at school, at home or in the community. The following points maybe considered to assist when dealing with children who are

facing difficult situations.

1. Calm the child down. When everyone is feeling calm, talk with the chid about the problem using the PATHS Problem

Solving model of Stop, Think and Act.

2. Anticipate potential problem situations before they

occur. This allows children better skills for planning ahead.

3. Give the child several choices to pick from to solve the

problem. This will improve decision making skills.

4. Consider the possible consequences of different solutions to a problem. Thinking ahead and considering

consequences are critical skills for effective problem solving.

5. Apply these ideas not only to problems between people but to school related problems. If your child is having difficulty reading a story, understanding a word or answering a maths problem ask what things could be done to figure it

out.

6. Model your problem solving process by talking out loud.

A feeling of positive enthusiasm and intellectual challenge

needs to be modelled when faced with problem solving.

Problems don’t have to be exasperating! The PATHS programme and regular recognition of children’s achievement assist in developing a resilient attitude within the school and the child. We believe in the potential of all children and offer each

child the support required to enable them to reach that

potential.

Without this attitude, high expectations can be a set up for failure. The combination of high expectations and support enables students to believe in themselves and their futures, to develop critical resilience traits of self-esteem, self-

knowledge, autonomy and optimism.

Helen Fiebig

Deputy Principal

KINDERGARTEN AND PRE PRIMARY ENROLMENT KINDERGARTEN AND PRE PRIMARY ENROLMENT

FOR 2014FOR 2014

Parents/Caregivers are advised expressions of interest for students to attend the above years at this school in 2014 are now being taken at the Administration Office. To complete an Expression of Interest form you will need to provide your child’s original birth certificate, immunisation records and a current utility

bill with your name and address on it .

• Get them to talk to their teachers or talk to the teachers. Remind your child that they can get help at school and that if the problem is at school then it must be solved here, not by you taking the initiative and either talking to the bullies or their

parents.

SO WHAT CAN YOUR CHILD DO ?

• Tell their teacher

• Pretend they don’t see or hear the bully

• Be busy at something interesting

• Just walk away

• Say something that allows no reply [ e.g. agree with the bully ]

• Demand the bully leave them alone

• Use humour to help the situation

• Play in an area close to adults

• Don’t cry or whimper

• Find a friend

• Don’t make the bully angrier

• Try and find out why the bully picks on them

THE LAST WORD

There will be many instances when you may think your child is being bullied as they show some of the signs. This may not always be true and their unhappiness could be linked to classroom performance OR some home-related problem. Just act to be sure, however – come up and see your child’s teacher or see me and share your concerns. I will set up a meeting with your child’s teacher and seek help from the school support group if necessary.

IDEAS FOR DRAWING ATIDEAS FOR DRAWING ATTENTION TO NUMERACY IN TENTION TO NUMERACY IN

DAILY LIFEDAILY LIFE

Looking for opportunities where children can

• Sort, organise and count collections of things like: clothes, toys, books, shells, rocks, birthday candles, collections of

swap cards, coins, games, CDs, videos

• Choose from a variety of different shapes and sizes to use for

play and solving problems

• Be involved in making plans and designing their own constructions like cubby houses, robots, sand castles,

furniture and vehicles for use in their games

• Choose from a variety of computer programs to solve

problems or find information

• Organise their spending money and plan some social events

• Be involved in selecting and organising video recording using television program schedules

Adam Marchant

Deputy Principal

Every Reader is a Star………. Your ticket to read is at the Book Fair, coming to Aveley Primary School commencing on Monday,

20 May to Friday, 25 May.

Wonderful Scholastic books will be waiting for you to purchase

after school each day.

The fair will be held in the Library with all the profit going to

benefit our wonderful school!

Any book purchased and donated to the school will be placed in the library for borrowing with a book plate on the inside cover

stating the family name that donated it.

To Celebrate National Family Reading Month we invite you to ‘Read More In May’. For the chance to win one of 25 prizes register online at:

www.scholastic.com.au/schools/bookfairs/promos/entryform.asp

AVELEY ACHIEVEMENT PASSPORTSAVELEY ACHIEVEMENT PASSPORTS

Congratulations to the following students who have been recipients of prizes from the Treasure Chest, for every 20

reward stamps in their Aveley Achievement Passports.

Please note High Achiever Award Badges will be presented at Monday Muster.

Hi Everyone,

We hope you enjoyed the holiday break. Just a couple of reminders. Firstly, remember banking resumes Tuesday, 14 May. I am sure Helen and Katrina are looking forward to

seeing the students and their beautiful smiling faces.

Over Term 2 we have a couple of items up and coming, one of them being the first disco for the year and a chocolate fundraiser. Details will be sent out closer to the

dates.

Thank you to the parents that returned their slips for volunteers. The list has now been put together and we will be in touch with you personally when help is required for an

event. We truly appreciate your time offered.

Thank you to Renae Chamberlain and her team of ladies who made our first Mother’s Day stall possible and we hope all the mums enjoy their special gifts that have been

personally chosen by their children.

We would like to wish a Happy Mother’s day to all our mums. Also all the best to our students in their week of

NAPLAN.

Be safe and keep smiling.

Stacey Jackson

P&C President

WOOLWORTHS EARN & LEARNWOOLWORTHS EARN & LEARN

It’s back!!! Please support Aveley Primary School and bring in your completed sticker charts and drop them into the Earn and Learn box located at Administration. With your fantastic support last year we were able to purchase much needed resources for

our school.

AVELEY PRIMARY SCHOOL PARENTS &

CITIZENS ASSOCIATION

Indi Wass _________________

Valentina Arias

Georgina Rogers ____________________

HIGH ACHIEVER HIGH ACHIEVER

AWARDSAWARDS

Madeleine Bennett

Jesse Racey ___________________

UNIFORM SHOPUNIFORM SHOP

The uniform shop will be open every Wednesday morning from 8.45am to 9.15am during the school term. Prior arrangement must be made with the uniform co-ordinator to

collect your order on an alternative day.