1

‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

Principal - Kevin Warne

School Council President - Anne Trevena

Telephone - (03) 57931288 Web - www.puckapunyalps.vic.edu.au/

Email - puckapunyal.ps@edumail.vic.gov. au

Alamein Road

Puckapunyal, Vic, 3662

Postal: Military P.O.

ABN: - 74134967962

Term 4 Issue 4

October 26th

2016

Tuesday 25th –

Friday 28th

October

Years 5/6

4 Day Bike Ride

Great Victorian Rail Trail

Monday

31st October

Pupil Free Day

Tuesday 1st

November

Melbourne Cup Day

Public Holiday

Wednesday 2nd

November

National/Whole School

Singing – Count Us In!

Website Address -

http//www.puckapunyalps.vic.edu.au/

Inside this Issue: School Closed 1

DSTA Message/Canteen Lunches 2

School Value/Rule Reminders 3

Young Leaders Day 3

Student Awards of the Week 4

Indo Lingo 5

Teaching and Learning Focus 6

Family Fun Day 7

School Working Bee 8

Young Leaders Day 8

Family Care 9

Halloween Night! 10

Monday 31st October is our next Pupil Free Day.

Therefore, students are not expected at school that day.

Tuesday November 1st is Melbourne Cup Day and therefore a

public holiday.

There will be NO school on this day either.

***We can all work together to

rid the community of Head Lice.

Let’s check our heads once per

week!***

**Just a Reminder –

There is no before school sport this

week due to the 4 Day Bike Ride.**

23 of our Year 5/6 students began their 4 Day Bike Ride yesterday.

Joining them are teachers and parents.

The riders began in Mansfield following the Great Victorian Bike Trail. The

riders will end their journey at Tallarook on Friday. The students will cover

about 160 kms and participate in other outdoor activities over the 4 days. Good

luck all! We’ll put updated posts on the school facebook page throughout the

week.

Our star athlete, Claudia

Carrick, competed at the

State Athletics

Championships on Monday

in the Under 11 Discus

event. She came 16th

in the

state. That means she is the

16th

best in Victoria! Wow!!

What a great effort, Claudia!

We are all proud of you! She

also threw a personal best!

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

Walk to school in October: It’s the last week

for October’s Walk to School. Keep it up and

consider taking this habit into November!

Super foods: Have you tried kale? It is from the

same vegetable family as broccoli and contains

high amounts of beta carotene, iron and folate.

It’s low calorie, low-carb and a great source of

protein and fibre.

Enjoy your week! Sue Ranger, DSTA.

POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR REWARD

UPDATE

Again there was lots of positive behaviour

throughout the school. Well done

everyone! CURRENT SCORES

Melba: 295 points

Hume: 267 points

Bradman: 250 points

Chisholm: 242 points

***Have you heard your child read today? We encourage all students to practise their reading at home about 5

nights per week. Therefore, by now, most students should have read at least between 175-180 nights. Well done if

you have kept up! ***

The School Canteen is open for Lunch Orders this Friday.

Each and every Friday students can order lunches from the

school canteen. The menu will be different each week. Please

ensure that a paper bag comes with the order. Please indicate

on the lunch bag if the money is in another sibling’s bag

(please see Term 4 menu in a previous newsletter).

This week the menu is – Party Pies/Sausage $1.00 Each or 3 for $2.50 Chocolate/Strawberry Milk $2.00 each

Apple/Orange Juice Popper $1.50 each

No charge for tomato sauce

Day 1

Riding Distance =

37km

Happy Birthday to Riley

Gilmour, Nate Shortt and Zahra

Kelly who are having their birthdays

this week.

On behalf of the Puckapunyal

Primary School Community, we

wish them a very Happy

Birthday!

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

At assembly this week Reliability was announced as our School Value of the week. That means teachers are looking for

students who are demonstrating ‘Reliability’ to be eligible for the Student of the Week award. We encourage parents to

talk to their students about our values throughout the year.

What is Reliability? Year 5 student, Dimitee Taylor read out the meaning of Reliability.

‘Reliability means that others can depend on you and count on you to do your best to keep commitments. If your family

relies on you to feed the family pets then they are always fed without anyone having to remind you to do it. Reliability

means that you really care about doing what you said you would do.’

Each week at assembly, SRC representatives remind

our students of a few important school rules. This week, SRC representatives, Rohanna Murphy

and Harry Fletcher reminded our students of the

following rules:

Move quietly through the corridor.

Play equipment is not a place to play chasey.

Play safely on the equipment.

Shelter shed and amphitheatre seats are for sitting

on, not jumping on.

Please discuss these rules with your children to help

ensure that they understand.

Did you hear Renae

Pennycook from 3/4 H

read at assembly this

week? We did! She did

a great job! Come

along and see who

reads at our next

assembly.

On Thursday 1st December the Puckapunyal Primary School will

be conducting the Individual Triathlon. It will be held at the

Puckapunyal Area Pool. The triathlon will involve students from

Years 3-6 and will be a mixture of boys and girls. Only Years 3-6

students will attend if they have entered the event or volunteered

as a helper for one of the participants.

Distances

Swim Leg – 5 laps of indoor pool = 165 m

Ride Leg – 2km lap X 2 = 4km

Run Leg – 1.2km lap X 1 = 1.2 km

The event will begin at 2:00 p.m. and finish at approximately 3:30 p.m. All

students attending the event will be dismissed from the pool at 3:30 p.m. There is

no cost for the day. All parents are welcome to attend and cheer.

Well done to our ‘Young Leaders’ who received a

certificate for their involvement in the ‘Young

Leaders Course’ this year.

We are fortunate to have the services of Mr. Peter

Hagen to teach piano at Puckapunyal Primary

School. He is a concert musician and experienced

teacher having taught at all levels. He offers

private tuition as well as in groups of 5. The group

lessons are a wonderful cheaper alternative to test

out your child’s interest and abilities while the

private lessons, though more expensive with daily

practice will ensure speedier learning. Students

should have at the very least a 61 note keyboard to

practice on at home. Mr. Hagen can be contacted

via email peter@peterhagen.com.au or call on

5784 3884. He is happy to email an enrolment

form to you and send out any information required

including some basic advice about pianos and

keyboards.

He is ready to take enrolments for 2017 and there

are a few spots available even at this late stage for

the remainder of term 4.

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

Defence School Transition Aide Message Back at school: I trust that everyone has had a smooth and

satisfactory beginning to the school year. Changing

schools, beginning school for the first time and even

returning for another school year can be daunting for

students and parents. It is great to see parents eager to

support their children at this time and be an integral part of

their education. If you have any concerns, or just feel like a

chat about school and your child, please find me!

SWAPP Select Program

I have information about the ADF partners career assistance

program if anyone is interested.

NEW UNIFORM

We have recently had a new shipment of uniform arrive that

includes shorts, tops, tracksuit pants and hats. Some parents

have been waiting on this to arrive.

Best wishes for the week.

Sue Ranger, Defence School Transition Aide

Congratulations to the following students who were

‘Students of the Week’ for last week. Winners – Jewell

Hatfield, Milli Miller, Owen Pippin, Kiara Miller,

Chloe Hogan, Cj McQuire, Charlie Mackay and

Noah Chetcuti. These students were selected because they were

modelling ‘Compassion’. This week teachers are

looking for students who are modelling ‘Reliability’.

Congratulations to the following students who

were ‘Authors of the Week’ for last week.

Winners – Apple Stock, Chayce Mackie, Brodie

Robinson, Lachlan Balmer, Dakota Miller,

Matilda Turner, Beth Ludlow and Max

Fletcher.

These students were selected because they

showed great skills as an author.

4/5/6 I in Room 1 won the Yard

Duty Competition. Isaac

Bennett and Brooklyn Lindsay

enjoyed collecting the winning trophy

for their classroom this week!

Congratulations to Libby Brown, Tobias Rayner,

Dani Corocher and Noah Chetcuti who won the

raffle prizes for ‘Positive Behaviour’ this

week!

Defence School Transition Aide Message Back at school: I trust that everyone has had a smooth and

satisfactory beginning to the school year. Changing schools,

beginning school for the first time and even returning for another

school year can be daunting for students and parents. It is great

to see parents eager to support their children at this time and be

an integral part of their education. If you have any concerns, or

just feel like a chat about school and your child, please find me!

SWAPP Select Program

I have information about the ADF partners career assistance

program if anyone is interested.

NEW UNIFORM

We have recently had a new shipment of uniform arrive that

includes shorts, tops, tracksuit pants and hats. Some parents have

been waiting on this to arrive.

Best wishes for the week.

Sue Ranger, Defence School Transition Aide

3/4 A in Room 11 won the

Middle School Times

Tables Trophy. Dakota Miller and Abby

Chetcuti were very happy to

collect the winning trophy for

their classroom this week!

4/5/6 P and 4/5/6 I in

Room 2 and 4 won the

Senior School Times

Tables Trophy. Dimitee Taylor and Reilly

Adams were also very happy

to collect the winning trophy

this week!

Congratulations to

Olivia Scotman and

who received a

‘Recycling Cans’

Award on Monday.

Every little bit counts!

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

P/1/2 The children will make a class book called 'Di Mana

Domba Hijau?' (Where Is The Green Sheep?) based

on the book by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek.

Students will each make a page in the book by tracing

the sentence: Di sini domba ... (Here is the ... sheep.)

Students will then tear coloured paper and paste it

onto their sheep to make it a specific colour.

Di sini domba merah. = Here is the red sheep.

Di sini domba biru. = Here is the blue sheep.

Di sini domba hijau. = Here is the green sheep.

Di sini domba kuning. = Here is the yellow sheep.

Di sini domba merah muda. = Here is the pink

sheep.

Di sini domba ungu. = Here is the purple sheep.

Di sini domba jingga. = Here is the orange sheep.

Di sini domba coklat. = Here is the brown sheep.

Di sini domba hitam. = Here is the black sheep.

Di sini domba putih. = Here is the white sheep.

3/4/5/6 The children will work on expanding their Indonesian

sport vocabulary and learn about some popular

Indonesian sports. Here are the sports with video

links:

bulu tangkis = badminton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ1Hv_CsIlo

sepak bola = soccer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN3mRW3gg8o

bola basket = basket ball

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex_AqyjcV-s

pencak silat = pencat martial

arts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPGxeI5ho4

0

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6JSm8Mcd4w

bersepeda = cycling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh6P9bvcmBU

sepak takraw = takraw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxxZUYUM_uA

Salam (Regards) Bu Hooper (Mrs Hooper) Guru Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian teacher)

Music: Count Us In is Australia’s biggest school

initiative. More than 550,000 students from over

2,100 schools will together participate nationwide in

singing at the same time. Music: Count Us In brings

teachers, parents, students and the music industry

together in celebration of music and music education.

On Wednesday 2nd

November, we will sing ‘Let It

Play’.

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

Each week in the newsletter, we will give families a summary of the Teaching/Learning Focus for the week.

That can help families by: being aware of what classrooms are covering; with discussion topics at the dinner table when

discussing school (eg. ‘How are you going with addition in Numeracy this week?’); helping their children study at home,

etc. Parents have indicated that this information is very useful. We also ask families to be aware that schools are very busy

places and events can be unpredictable at times. We therefore must remain flexible. That means that we can plan to cover

certain topics at particular times and have to change them according to arising needs.

Junior School – Preps/Foundation Rooms 6 & 8 Literacy: We are continuing to practise our home reading and Golden Words every night. During the next 2

weeks we are learning about the blends sh and th. We are trying to use finger spaces, capital letters and full

stops in our writing. We have been looking at procedural texts. We are preparing our books for the Book

Launch.

Numeracy: We are revising the numbers to 20 and learning about mass. We are revising clocks and ordinal

numbers.

Junior School – Year 1s Rooms 3, 4 & 8 Literacy: We are learning about adjectives and identifying author’s purpose. We are preparing our books for

the Book Launch.

Numeracy: We are learning about multiplication and division as well as 1/4s, 1/2s and calendars.

Junior School – Year 2s Rooms 3 & 4 Literacy: We are distinguishing between fact and fiction, revising contractions and apostrophes. We are

preparing our books for the Book Launch.

Numeracy: We are revising skip counting, subtraction and using calculators. We are also focusing on

measuring volume and capacity.

Middle School Years 3/4 Rooms 10 & 11 Literacy: During writing sessions over the next few weeks, we will work on procedures. We are now focusing

on all four VCOP components. In reading we are working on reading strategies.

Numeracy: We will continue to focus on the four processes, as well as measurement. Times tables will be

practised throughout the week.

Senior School Years 4/5/6 Rooms 1 & 2 Literacy: During writing sessions over the next few weeks, we will focus on the VCOP components and

procedural text. In reading we will be focusing on reading strategies.

Numeracy: We will continue to focus on the revision and properties of circles as well as revision of

measurement and processes. Times tables will be practised throughout the week.

EVERY DAY COUNTS Primary School Attendance

Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education. Students learn new things at school every day – missing school can put them behind.

Every day is a

great day to be

at school,

particularly

when you’re

here at

Puckapunyal

Primary

School!

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

We invite all families to attend our Family Fun Day.

When: Wednesday 9th

November, 2016

Time: 1:00 p.m.

Where: Puckapunyal Primary School

We want families to bring a picnic rug and sit with their children and friends and enjoy the day. All

food is provided free of charge!!

Order of Events: 1:00pm - Families arrive and meet the students outside on the oval, banks of the oval or in the school

amphitheatre. Families can wander around the school to see the different food stalls and take their

preferred options. Families then sit down and enjoy the picnic atmosphere.

1:30pm - Families can then wander around the school and participate in the many organised activities.

Activities that we are planning to have:

School Art Show Face Painting Hair Colouring Ferret Racing Sack Races

Hay Bale Races Guess the Number of Balloons in Mr. Warne’s Car Balloon Darts

Puppet Show Milk Shakes/Smoothie Maker Throw a Sponge at a Teacher Cricket

Popcorn Machine

Etc! etc! etc!

2:45pm - All students and families participate in the whole school Treasure Hunt!

3:15pm - Assembly in the Amphitheatre to showcase best students’ work pieces in the ART SHOW

and to announce the various winners in the fun activities.

Please come along and spend your afternoon enjoying

time with your children.

Who owns these pieces of Art

work? Please come to the

Art Show and find out.

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

On Saturday 5th

November, we have organised a School Working Bee. We have many outside jobs that need

doing around the school and we need help from our school community. The Working Bee will begin from 8:00 a.m.

and continue throughout the day (hopefully finished by lunchtime).

The Working Bee is an opportunity for families to help. Without your help these improvements will not be able to go

ahead in 2016. Over the last few years we have had fantastic support during our working bees. Jobs are listed below.

Please mark the day on your calendar!

Job No 1. Amphitheatre needs sweeping and tidying up

Job No 2. Old play equipment needs checking and fixing

Job No 3. Garden Beds weeding

Job No 4. Mowing and whipper snipping

Job No 5. Roof gutters need cleaning

Please return the attendance slip below to indicate that you can come and what job you would like to help with.

The more people there, the better the chance to be completely finished by lunchtime. Even if you can only attend for an

hour or so please do. Do not hesitate to contact the school if you have any questions.

Tools

Working Bee Attendance Slip Yes, I/we can attend the Working Bee on Saturday 5th November, 2016.

Name - ______________________________________________

I would like to help with Job No ___.

Tools I can bring _____________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Job No 6. Asphalt and gutters swept and cleared

Job No 7. Veggie garden work

Job No 8. Chainsawing dangerous tree branches

Job No 9. Clean sand pits

Job No 10. Paint school seats

Some Cyber Safety Tips We have recently had some concerned parents call into the school to chat about their children’s use of social media- particularly our grade 5/6 students. No matter the age of your children, as a parent, you should always be in sight of the computer or device that your children are using when accessing the internet. Here are some additional tips that might help: 1. Put computers in a communal area of the house and don’t allow portable internet devices (laptops, phones, tablets etc) in the bedroom. 2. Find out what your child is doing online. Talk to them regularly about what websites they visit and take the time to sit with them as they use the internet. Make sure you’re familiar with how the sites that they visit work. 3. Encourage your child to tell you if they ever have a problem on the internet or if they’re ever unsure about anything. Reassure them that you won’t take away their connection to the internet if issues occur. 4. Remind your child to keep personal information private. YAPPY is a useful acronym to remind children of the personal information they should not share on public online spaces (blogs, forums etc.) – Your full name, address, phone number, passwords, your plans. 5. Remind your child that not everything on the internet is true and not all internet users tell the truth. 6. Don’t support your child to sign up for sites that are 13+ if they are under age (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram etc). Make sure your child sets their online accounts to private to limit access to people they know well (when they are old enough to sign up). 7. Encourage your child to balance their leisure time so they’re not spending all of their time online. 8. Create your own internet rules for your household and have your child agree to adhere to them. 9. Explore government resources so you can educate yourself and protect your children by Googling ‘Cybersafety’. 10. Always talk with your child about what they are doing on the internet or internet based Apps like Facebook, Instagram etc. This is not being a ‘sticky beak’, its good parenting!

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

Post Separation

Co-Operative Parenting Program

3 Hour Seminar to help separated parents have healthy and strong relationships with their

children.

Seminar includes:

Ways of communicating with the other parent

Impact of separation and conflict on children

Setting goals for future parenting

Once participants complete the Intake Process they are registered to attend the seminar.

To register or for more information please contact:

Berry Street, Post Separation Services. Phone 5822 8100

Kid’s Turn Around

Kids Turn Around (KTA) is a program for children aged between 7 – 11 who have or are experiencing

family separation.

KTA operates for three days during school holidays.

Family separation is a major change for children that can leave children worrying about their future,

feeling uncertain and anxious. KTA provides an opportunity for children to explore and express feelings

associated with parental separation or divorce and conflict, with other children going through similar

experiences.

Children develop coping strategies, stress management and problem solving skills– to assist them to make

a more resourceful and confident transition.

Topics explored are:

Getting to Know You

Recognising Feelings

Exploring Feelings

Learning New Skills and Coping Plans

Promoting Positive Self Esteem – What’s Special About Me

Moving Forward and Celebrating the Future

To register or for more information please contact:

Berry Street, Post Separation Services. Phone 5822 8100

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887