It has been a,

Friday 4th May 2018

News from the Principal

ABC TV Stargazing Live at Dandenong Primary School On Wednesday of this week we had Grace and Lawrence and the crew from ABC ‘ME’ along to work with around 30 students in Year 5 and 6.

Our students were working on three ‘missions’ involving modelling the solar system, making sense of the wider universe and an alien ‘dress up’. As well as having plenty of fun, the children had an incredible time being immersed in the sciences for the day and learning hands on about the production of television for the national audience.

Once details are confirmed I will let everyone know about exactly when our students’ work will be aired on the ABC but at this stage we know the Stargazing Live project will broadcast from 22-24 May 2018 at 8:30pm. According to ABC: ABC ME's Launchpad will countdown the 15 minutes ahead of Stargazing Live each night, taking on daily space themed missions, stories from Siding Spring Observatory, interviews with some very young space experts, and loads of space trivia. For more information about ABC’s Stargazing Live project, visit: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/programs/stargazing-live/

Icy Poles The Year 6 Icy Pole sales fundraising campaign was discussed by parents and staff at last week’s School Council meeting. At present, students in Year 6 have been selling icy poles at lunchtimes on Fridays to raise funds for their Year 6 Graduation. Some members of School Council see this as a great student led activity that raises funds for the Year 6 graduation and provides learning around ideas of trade and commerce. Some, however, wonder about how this initiative sits in light of the school’s valuing of healthy eating. In between, we have members who champion the idea of personal choice and parents’ roles in shaping the habits Should you have a view around the above, please speak to one our School Council parent members who include: Knowles TIvendale (President) Narelle Jacka (Vice President) Lucy Calabro Summaya Batool Ahmad NaserParen Emhudin Jelacevic Peter Ogunyemi Samantha Purton Staff Car Parks & Maintaining Student Safety Another topic raised in last week’s School Council was that of safety in the school’s car parks. Please be reminded that it is a School Council policy that school car parks are not to be used for dropping off or collecting students to and from school. Our New Dandenong Primary School Basketball Squad Last Friday saw the beginnings of something special with the inaugural Victorian Primary School Basketball League Dandenong Primary School squad! We have six teams from Year 1 to Year 6 taking part in the Friday after-school competition at Dandenong Stadium. Big thanks to Mrs Carpenter, Mrs Presti and Miss Smith for helping to get us on our way! Well done to mums and dads for getting the

children organised for their first meet on Friday after school. It's not too late to get on board. If you would like your child to join one of our teams, please contact the school for more details... Research shows there are many benefits to

participating in team sports. Some of these include:

• Providing children with important lessons on personal values

• Children less likely to feel isolated • Parents being more likely to be physical

active with their children • Helping children deal with winning and

losing • Helping children overcome shyness

For more information about the benefits of team sports, visit: http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/wellbeing/fitness/benefits-of-team-sports Year 5 Doxa Malmsbury Camp and Year 6 City Camp Teachers are busy organising our upcoming camps to Malmsbury and the city. Both of these camps are provided by ‘Doxa’. According to Doxa, the Malmbsury camp provides the opportunity for students from urban and metropolitan areas with the chance to experience the Australian bush. For more information about this camp, visit: https://doxa.org.au/malmsbury-camp/ The city camp takes place in the heart of the Melbourne CBD and can include a range of city experiences such as visits to the Melbourne Zoo and the Melbourne Museum. For more information about this camp, visit: https://doxa.org.au/city-camp/

Enrolments for 2019 Information about our school will soon go out to local early years education providers including kindergartens and childcares. If you have children or know other families with children beginning Foundation (Prep) in 2019, please encourage them to collect and complete a Dandenong Primary School Student Enrolment Application soon so that we can begin to plan our staffing for the 2019 school year. Daniel Riley Principal

News from Jelena of Year 5 My Big Trip To Sydney Last weekend I went to Sydney for a big Karate competition, it was the AKF (Australian Karate Federation). Over there I competed in two different events Kata and Kumite. Kata is lots of different Karate moves put together to make a Kata, and Kumite is just fighting. Firstly, when we got there we got our competitors bands, when I got mine I went to the changing rooms to change into my gear because I was first up at 8:30am for my Kata event and there were about 30 girls from all around Australia in my age group. I didn’t get anything in Kata because most of the girls did Karate longer than me but it’s fine. After that I went to watch my friend who was also competing in Kata. When he finished I had a little snack and then put on my gloves and insteps and got warmed up to fight. While I was warming up I felt pressured because I was the first to do Kumite and I was the only girl from the club who was competing. When I got into the area that I was doing my kumite in we found out that I had a by the first round, which means I don’t fight the first round… Some time passed and it was my turn to go up when I went up I tried my hardest but I lost. When I got off the mats I started to cry because I couldn’t breathe. I recovered after that but by the time I did it was time for me to go on and fight for bronze. I started the match well and I was fine but then when there was 20 seconds left to go I had a panic attack and I couldn’t breathe again, I had medical time out for about a minute and then the man asked me if I

wanted to keep going with the match. I said that I wanted to keep on going with the match and by the end of it, it was all worth it because I won the match 2-1. Finally, we had the medal ceremony and when I got off of the mats and I went to my coach and family they were all proud of me because I was third in Australia and I stayed strong and kept on going. Jelena, Year 5.

Well done Jelena!

Did you know that karate lessons take place every Saturday throughout each school term in a our school hall from 10am for boys and girls alike? For details, visit: http://www.lionbushido.com/site2017/dandenong.php

News from Sama, Zainab, Sopak and

Habiba of Year 5 and 6 ABC ME at Dandenong Primary School The 2nd of May was a blast for the kids at Dandenong primary School. We had the exciting opportunity to get filmed by ABC ME for the Stargazing Live TV show, which is set to be on channel 23 from May 22 to 24. We got to meet Grace and Laurence who were hosting the show. We worked extremely hard to practice our dances, get our costumers ready and to create some really cool Solar Systems with our brilliant craft skills.

It was really fun to meet the ABC Me Staff and seeing how all of the behinds the scenes worked. There were many cameras, gadgets and bloopers! They brought a really big sun, the sun was bigger than Mr Riley! The kids that were involved in the solar system crafts made some little planets that were based on the planets in our galaxy. Some kids painted different sizes of Styrofoam balls and used other craft materials. A lot of work was put into making our alien costumes look fantastic. We used different kinds of materials and we are really happy how they turned out. We worked with Ms Wood who is a really good dance teacher to help us choreograph some moves to represent the Big bang, Dark ages, The stars and the beginning of life on earth. We had a really fun day and it was a really great opportunity for us to be on tv. We really hope this happens again! Written by Sama Sopak Zainab and Habiba

Making Anzac Biscuits in Our EAL Class

Yummo! Our English as an Additional Language class made ANZAC biscuits as part of learning about Australian history!

News from Dandenong High

School Student Leaders’ Canberra Trip At Dandenong High School we value Student Leadership, and in order to support and foster such an important aspect of our school, we have developed an extensive Student Leadership Program that involves many activities and experiences aimed at developing and supporting our Student Leaders. A key aspect of the program is a Student Leader’s trip to Canberra. This camp was undertaken over four days from Monday 26th – Thursday 29th March and allowed students to experience and develop an understanding of how our Nation’s leadership structure operates and the various levels of leadership. Students also experienced exhibits of significance such as Government House, Parliament House, Australian Institute of Sport, High Court of Australia, the War Memorial and National Art Gallery. The following are reflections of student leaders on their experiences in Canberra: Our visit to Government House was a highlight as I was able to meet the Governor General and ask him questions about not only his role, but his personal experiences too. It was an absolute honour, something I will never forget. He talked about the importance of leadership and highlighted integrity as a key quality that is vital to any leader, so I related to him on a personal level. At the War Memorial, I was able to immerse myself in outstanding examples of bravery by Australians, who were serving their country. Their courage to persevere and work together through the greatest of hardships is inspiring. Personally, I enjoyed the National Portrait Gallery and Parliament House as these two locations highlighted unique examples of leadership and how ordinary people, just like me, can make a significant contribution that benefits so many people. It was interesting to meet Mr Julian Hill MP, who represents the community of Dandenong. He provided us with an insight into his role in Parliament and how we can enact change as leaders.

Around Our Community

Lion Bushido Karate Academy at Dandenong Primary School Did you know that karate lessons take place every Saturday throughout each school term in a our school hall from 10am for boys and girls alike? For details, visit: http://www.lionbushido.com/site2017/dandenong.php or simply drop by the school hall from 10am on a Saturday morning…

Dandenong Art Club Check out the 'Art Club' running on Saturdays from 5th May - 30th June. Details here: http://www.greaterdandenong.com/events/4072/art-club/19981