Exford Primary School

Where Children Count!

www.exfordps.vic.edu.au

At Exford, these qualities are really important:

Respect Kindness Personal Best

… and it’s up to all of us to show them every day in

every thing we say and every thing we do!

Principal: Ms Lisa Campo Phone: 9743 5025 exford.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

NEWSLETTER 2017 No.19 Term 4, 2017) Thursday 7 December 2017

You are represented on School Council by: Parents: Adele (Olivia & Alexander), Amanda (Caitlyn, Ava & Hayley), Belinda (Nicholas and Kade), Jacki (Claire), Jenny (Aimee), Katy (Adele & Hamish), Sarah (Lily & Oscar), Sharon (Charlie & Archie) and Susan (Jessica). EPS Community: Graham Staff: Ms Campo, Mrs Farrugia, Mr King and Mr Parker

Follow this link to Exford’s YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRQsi70kyo0V7OFJsBcOF3w

Ms Campo’s News...

Christmas Concert items This newsletter has information about the (simple!) Christmas Concert costumes for your information, a reminder our Concert night is on Wednesay 20 December starting at 6:30 pm.

Concert seating Our Concert seating is a BYO event and we ask that our families only bring chairs with big flat feet (see picture). Any chairs with small feet will dig holes in the synthetic oval surface and will make our warranty ineffective. I will have staff at the gates to check incoming chairs to make sure all chairs are safe for the oval - I doubt we’d be successful in asking for a second oval!

The style of chairs pictured are safe for our oval – due to the way their feet distributes body weight.

Chairs of this style with small feet cannot be used on our oval.

Cut out & stick me to the fridge!

------------------

Dates to Remember: Please add them to your calendar!

2017 Dates Term 4 Dates

Thursday 7 December

Canteen closed today

Tuesday 12 December

2018 Prep Transition Day (final) 2018 Year 1-6 Transition Day No 2

2018 Year 7 Transition Day

Wednesday 13 December

Red Food Day No 2 at the Canteen

Thursday 14 December

2017 Parent Helpers Morning Tea

Canteen closed today

Monday 18 December

Classroom Moving Day – all helpers welcome!

Tuesday 19 December

2018 ‘Meet the new class & teacher’ 2018 Yr 1-6 final Transition Day

Wednesday 20 December

Christmas and Year 6 Graduation Concert & BBQ night

Thursday 21 December

Semester 2 reports sent home Last day for the Canteen for 2017

Friday 22 December

End of Term 4 Assembly at 1:15 pm Dismissal at 1:30 pm

2018 school dates

Monday 29 January

Staff only

Tuesday 30 January

Year 1-6 students begin

Tuesday 30 Jan – Friday 2 Feb

Prep children only by appointment

Monday 5 February

Year Prep students begin

2018 Classes and teachers Now that we have our teachers in place, I can confirm our 2018 staff.

Prep Class C Mrs Elisse Christensen

Prep Class J Ms Justine Ciantar

Prep Class M Ms Amy McFarlane (Team Leader)

Year 1/2 A Mrs Karen Ambrose (Team Leader)

Year 1/2 H Mrs Annie Humphries

Year 1/2 M Ms Kellie Monagle

Year 1/2 R Mrs Simone Roe

Year 1/2 W Mr Jack Wurf

Year 3/4 G Ms Samira Gashi

Year 3/4 K Ms Roxanne King

Year 3/4 L Ms Jaclyn Littlewood (Team Leader)

Year 3/4 M Ms Maddi Lynch

Year 3/4 P Mr Nathan Parker

Year 5 A Ms Katherine Anderson

Year 5 E Mrs Elle Pelly

Year 5 P Ms Tracy Pengelly

Year 6 G Mr Ross Gundry

Year 5 OMG Ms Olivia Graham (Team Leader)

The Arts Mrs Tori Quayle

Auslan Mr Andrew Welshe

Physical Education

Ms Alanna Kappler

Classroom ES Team

Mrs Kelly Bissell Mrs Maureen Callow Mrs Michelle Cassar Mrs Joanne Comer Mrs Robbie Farrugia Mrs Megan Harper

Mrs Rachel MacLeod Mrs Sandra Pugh (Sound Check) Mrs Loren Ward Mrs Jan Was Mrs Lisa Van Gemert

Office ES Team

Mrs Lesley Bennett Mrs Kerry Kun Mrs Kerrie Kelly Mr Philip Bowden (Grounds)

Leadership Team

Ms Lisa Campo – Principal To be appointed – Assistant Principal Mr Nathan Jenner – Leading Teacher Mrs Natalie Talbot – Leading Teacher

Mr King and I have almost finalised placing our staff to best suit the needs of all the children in our school. Class lists are in the final stages of being confirmed and parents will receive their 2018 advice sheet on Tuesday 19 December after our ‘Meet the Teacher and New Class’ activity. As always, we are happy to hear from parents about their thoughts for their children and we invited you to do so earlier in the term. At this stage of the year, when making final placements for students and staff, we do so with the needs of the whole school in mind. Changes to class lists or placements at this stage of our 2018 planning are very unlikely.

2018 Book Packs The 2018 Book Pack information will be sent home on Monday to all our families. The cost of these stationery materials is asked of parents each year. These items are not provided by the Department of Education and Training – the cost of teachers and facilities is what is provided by DET.

Unfortunately, only 73 % of this compulsory cost was received this year from our families, which will have a flow-on effect on our sub-program amounts (e.g. English, Maths budgets) for next year as we absorb the cost of unpaid for 2017 Book Packs.

Christmas Concert Raffle tickets The Christmas Concert Raffle tickets have now been sent home and we ask that all our families sell as many of these as they can. This is our last major fundraising event of the school year, along with the BBQ sales on the concert evening. There are some great prizes, at last count we were up to at least 25 major prizes.

Parent Helpers Morning Tea Thank you to all our parents who have been regular Classroom Helpers throughout the year or who have helped out at particular events. The invitations to the Parent Helpers Morning Tea have been sent home today for our event next week and we hope our helpers can come!

Congratulations to Mr Welshe and Mrs Pelly Congratulations to two of our staff members who will be re-joining us in 2018. Congratulations to –

• Mr Welshe who will be teaching LOTE Auslan

• Mrs Pelly who will continue with us as a classroom teacher

iPad Survey We’ll be sending out a link to a Surveymonkey survey next week about our future direction with iPads.

This survey stems from many of our Year 3-6 students asking if they could bring the iPads they have at home for their own use at school. The survey will ask about iPads available and if families are interested in their children bringing these to school, so that we can begin to explore our options. We will continue to provide school iPads through our Fundraising efforts – we have 250 iPads in our classrooms which are paid for through our Fundraising.

Any iPads brought from home would need to be IOS 11 capable, fully charged on arrival at school and the school would not be responsible for any damage whilst at school (e.g. if your child were to drop it).

We had a lengthy discussion at last week’s School Council about thinking about a voluntary Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program being introduced. Here is the link to the survey for you to complete – we would love everyone’s input as we move forward with our

Exford ICT. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2018ICT

5000 Poppies Well, we more than reached our goal of 100 poppies made by the end of this year, with another 100 poppies to make by the end of Term 2 2018). With the help of Anita, our knitting helper, Ebony (Mitchell and Jayli’s mum), Sophie M’s nan, Oakleigh, Cailin and Slater’s nan and Mr Campo’s mum, we have made 125 poppies to send to the 2018 Remembrance Day event at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Thanks to the Exford Knitter’s Club who have made the poppies:

• Ava

• Charlotte D

• Emily T

• Hudson

• Mackenzie

• Madelynn

• Mia Ga

• Mia Gr

• Millie

• Oakleigh

• Rachel

• Raima

• Ruby

• Sarai

• Stella

• Symone

Have a look at our lovely poppies!

Thanks to Oakleigh’s nan Lyndall for her contributions.

Thanks to Sophie’s nan for her contributions.

125 Poppies …coming right up!

And ready to send off tomorrow.

Generator We have been negotiating with the Department for a replacement diesel generator (approx. $20,000) throughout this year and have had the funds granted to us. Having a diesel generator means that if the power in the area goes down, we are still able to run our water pumps.

Moustache Thank you to all the kids and staff who wore their moustaches to school last Thursday for the end of Movember. Our children raised $283.15 for this very worthy cause. Thanks to our menfolk for organising – Mr Gundry, Mr King, Mr Parker and Mr Welshe.

Year 1 Camp Thank you to all the kids and staff who enjoyed a fabulous Year 1 Camp on Thursday November 23. Pete the Magic Man was a huge success and the kids were entranced by all his tricks. We hope you enjoy the photo spread later in this newsletter. Thanks to our staff who generally gave up their evening to provide this time for the children.

Renovated Boys toilet Thank you to Mr Bowden who has now finished the renovation of the Boys toilet next to the Prep rooms. This was a large job, involving removal of not only the old linoleum surface, but also the urine soaked timbers beneath. New flooring and industrial strength linoleum have been installed and there are no joins anywhere near the urinal (boys and their not-so-accurate-aim!). The toilets opened today for the boys to use. During the holidays, Mr Bowden will spruce up the other 3 toilet buildings.

We talk regularly with the children that it is their responsibility to keep them in the cleaned state that our cleaners leave them in every evening. Our message is they need to behave in the toilets as they would at home or if they were at guest at someone’s house.

‘No Hat, No Play’! As recommended by SunSmart Australia, children are required to wear their school hat from September to April…so...’No Hat, No Play’!

Attendance … Every Day Counts

Did you know that:

If your child has missed 5 days or less this school year.

This will support your child to achieve their best at school – academically and personally.

If your child has missed more than 10 days this school year.

The amount of time your child is missing will impact on their learning and their friendships.

If your child has missed more than 15 days this school year.

Your child is missing so much time from school that it will be extremely difficult for them to keep up with their learning, their friendships and to feel connected to school.

A reminder that all holiday absences (3+ days) require an Absence Learning Plan, developed with your child’s teacher and signed by the Principal or Assistant Principal to cover your child’s absence.

Fundraising News

Our 2017 target is…

$18, 000 - $25, 000.

Our Tally so far… $13,629.57!!

Our Fundraising efforts work hand in hand with our ICT budget to provide our kids with iPads, laptops and other technologies.

Volunteering A reminder that parents / family members must have provided the school with their Working With Children Check. This is a Department of Education and an Exford PS requirement.

Christmas Concert Our annual Christmas and Year 6 Graduation Concert will be held on Wednesday 20 December. This is our major and final event for the year and we need lots of helpers.

Can you help in any of these ways?

• Source / provide donation of goods to go into our selection of prizes for the Christmas Raffle

• Help with the BBQs – cooking, serving, shopping

• Costume / stage props making (see your child’s class teacher)

McDonalds Burger Night Thank you to the families who attended the McDonalds Burger Night to support EPS fundraising. We raised $168 from this evening. Appreciated!

Happy Birthdays!! To our students who celebrated their birthdays

from 7 – 20 December Tyson, Levi, Natahsa G, Noah N, Abbie K, Seth H, Zoja, Serena, Julian B, Lucy , Lucas I, Lachi B, Charlotte B, Phoebe, Michael, Emma K, Kai, Bailey and

Caityn V.

Happy Birthday to you!! Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear kids, Happy Birthday to you!

We love celebrating birthdays at school, making a fuss over the child who is celebrating and birthday cup-cakes are always welcome! We also love for birthday children to visit us in the Office for a sticker and birthday song and a photo of this is posted into Seesaw.

Having birthdays at school is a very special event and if your child is absent on their birthday, they miss out on all the fuss made over them.

Hope you enjoy reading our

newsletter!

Please see the pages from: • Year 1 Camp pages from Year 1/2 Ambrose,

Gashi, Monagle, Roe and Wurf

• Christmas Concert information

☺ Ms Campo

No shoe string

straps please

Christmas Concert Information Our end of year Christmas and Year 6 Graduation Concert is a lovely Exford tradition and we hope all

our families are able to come and join us.

Extended family members and friends are also welcome. There are no ticket / entry costs, however, our Concert evening is also our last major fundraising event of the year and every cent of our Fundraising dollars provide technology for every student at our school. We always aim to raise between $3000 - $5000 on the evening, through BBQ sales and sales of the Raffle tickets (pre-sales included).

STRICTLY NO ALCOHOL OR SMOKING – as a school event, our Concert evening has a strictly NO ALCOHOL

policy and no smoking is permitted within the school grounds or within 400 metres of a school entry.

Student Arrival time – The children need to be at school and in their classrooms by 6 pm, rady for the final

costume adjustments. They will come out to the stage area ready for a 6:30 pm start.

BYO Seating – As per the front page, seating for our families is BYO, either on picnic rugs or camp chairs – please

adhere to the chairs’ feet surfaces so as not to damage our oval.

Reserved Seating – there is some reserved seating for our families who are involved in the Fundraising group

who work at the FR efforts until the start of the Concert. There is also a student seating area – students need to remain with their classes throughout the Concert.

BBQ Sales – We ask our families to support the school by buying their dinner and non-alcoholic drinks at the BBQ –

vegetarian options on offer (cooked to order)

BBQ Help needed – We need helpers to cook the BBQ and to help with sales – please volunteer your services if

you can.

Raffle Tickets – We ask our families to support the school by buying and selling our Raffle tickets. There are

many great prizes available to be won. We will acknowledge all the wonderful local businesses who have supported us in our final newsletter.

Dining area – we will set up a dining area in the Assembly space as NO FOOD can be eaten on the oval – only

water can be consumed on the oval (chemicals / sugars in other drinks will damage the oval surface).

Christmas Concert costumes

Prep Christensen Our Christmas costume is to look like a crocodile. Plain green top, Black shorts or skirt (rock and roll style if possible), Black shoes I am hoping all kids can wear a crocodile inspired headband or hat like this one: https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/362399101249948508/ Please see Mrs Christensen if you require help with this.

Prep King Our Christmas costume is to look like a pet cat.

Prep Jenner/Pelly Black top and pants ( can be t-shirt and shorts) Butterfly wings – can be home made.

Year 1/2 Ambrose Girls: Dress (bright colours -plain or patterned) Boys: Shorts (any colour) T Shirt (bright colours- plain or patterned)

Year 1/2 Roe White singlet, Blue/denim shorts, Thongs/sandals, Christmas hat

Year 1/2 Wurf School shorts or skortss Red, green or white t-shirt

Year 3 Littlewood The students will need to dress up in genie pants and a singlet top (any colour – the more colourful the better!). They can add decorative head pieces if they like. For example:

Christmas Concert Costumes continued Year 1/2 Gashi Girls: Think Olivia Newton John Black legging, Leotard (or t-shirt), Scrunchies (provided) Boys: Think ACDC Jeans or shorts, Tucked in shirt Beret (if you have one)

Year1/2 Monagle

Arbab - Aaron Mooy, Callan - Donald Bradman Cruz - Boxing Kangaroo Ethan - Jobe Watson Gus - Ned Kelly Harry - Dr Harry Jeremy - Business Man Liam - Mick Doohan Lucas - Paul Hogan Talan - Jimmy Barnes Tidus - Shane Warne

Xavier W - Peter Brock Xavier Z - Steve Irwin Allyson - Kylie Minogue Anna - Michelle Payne Arya - Maria Sharapova Cailin - Terry Irwin Eva - Bindi Irwin Heidi - Tim Cahill Indi - Olivia Newton-John Maddison - Dame Edna Phoenix - Danni Minogue

Year 4 McFarlane Black jeans/acid wash/'leather look' pants, White/black t-shirt/'muscle tank' plain or with logo that matches theme (e.g. band logo), Leather/denim jacket or vest, Shoes: Black boots or black lace up shoes/runners, Hair: 80s style, Accessories: mullet wig, sunglasses, leather look gloves, bandanas etc.

Year 4 Humphries Girls: Colourful skirt or dress, Clashing top Flat shoes, Optional – belt/s Optional – colourful hair Boys: Denim Jeans (blue or black), White t-shirt Sneakers, Slick Hair-do, Optional – cap Optional – sleeveless vest

Year 5 Pengelly Girls: Ripped jeans, Black or white top Cap Boys: Basketball jerseys, Shorts, Cap

Year 3 Anderson Students are to wear plain black pants, shorts or skirt and bring a washed plain white t-shirt with their name clearly written on the tag to school by Monday 11 December. The T-shirts will be decorated in class as part of our costume and then sent home ready for concert night!

Year 3 Parker Bird Dancers - Emily, Grace, Olivia, Ruby, Brodie, Seth, Madelyn, Sophie, Max, Tara and Thomas to wear black shorts and a blue shirt.

Lion Dancers – Tika, Ella, Charlotte, Millie, Leo, Jake, Chloe, Riley, Landon, Oliver to wear black short and a yellow shirt.

Year 4 Lynch Girls: Neon colours, big hair, Poofy skirts or leggings, Free choice top, Leg warmers/big socks, Headband/bandana, Closed toe shoes Boys: Jeans or denim shorts, White shirt or singlet, Closed toe shoes, Optional extras: Headband/bandana, Wig

Year 5 Ciantar Students from Year 5C are encouraged to wear weird, bright and wacky clothing such as; sequined/glittery clothing, top or round sun hats, comic clothing and/or circus clothing such as, a ring master and as an added bonus, modern bright clown face paint. Their accessories may include, big jewellery and loud accessories and their hair can be styled in a crazy, bold way, with glitter and colour.

Year 6 Gundry Girls: black dress, white dress, black and white dress Boys: black shorts, plain white tees, baseball caps

Year 6 Graham All: Black Pants & a white T-Shirt Special items Group 1 (Beat It): denim jacket Group 2 (Jam): basketball jersey Group 3 (Thriller): zombies Group 4 (Bad): black, white or red bandana

OSHClub News

Program Update

The past week children have been very busy with our different types of construction items. Children explored big and

small blocks, mobile blocks, train tracks, Lego and marble runs. Children started working on their Christmas decorations and activities, please came in and have a look at our Celebrations wall.

We started updating our belonging and sustainability displays. Feel free to have a look and provide us with feedbacks so we can improve our program to better fit our children's needs.

Friendly reminders:

Term 1 & 4 are ‘No Hat No Play’ days. Please ensure your child has a hat in their school bag so we are able to go out and enjoy the outdoors. You can leave a spare hat at the program as well.

PLEASE ensure that if your child/ren are booked into OSHClub that they are NOT booked on the School bus this is very important as if your child does not remember to go to OSHClub they may end up leaving the school on the bus.

If your child is due to be absent or needs to be booked in on late notice (less than 24 hours) please ensure you call and leave a message to ensure we have adequate staffing, although this is only for emergencies. Please make the

bookings online as much as possible

Please keep your child’s enrolment form updated all the time. If you want someone other than yourself picking up your child, please add them to the emergency list or provide us with a written request.

Thankyou from the

OSHClub Team!

Contact Number: 0419 207 638

Parent Information

OSHC program phone: 0419 207 638 OSHC program email: exford@oshclub.com.au

Co-ordinator: Diya Assistant: Rebecca OSHClub Head Office: 1300395735

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 Co-ordinator direct at the program.