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Dear Parents
Our school was set ablaze with vibrant colours, warm smiles
and excited children on Spring Day last week! Beautiful,
handcrafted spring flowers created by our children adorned
the corridors, trees and classrooms as children hopped
along in their new Spring Day outfits! The day started off with
a tree planting ceremony – each Stage planted a Wild Olive
tree after sharing messages of goodwill for our school and
our future growth. A picnic was the treat of the day as
children huddled together on their picnic blankets sharing
their lunch and chatting happily under the beautiful warm
sky.
Our Spring Day most certainly afforded our children the
opportunity to enjoy the freedom to explore and appreciate
the day.
NEWSLETTER | 08 September 2016 | VOLUME 1:16
FROM THE HEADMISTRESS
Parents’ Coffee Morning
Date: Tuesday, 20 September 2016 @ 08:00
Topic: An overview of Tools for having ‘The Talks’
What children should know about their bodies at this age.
A discussion about what‟s „enough‟ information to answer their questions about bodies, touching
and babies.
Presenter: Casey Blake
Casey is a registered counsellor who specializes in trauma, relationships, sexuality and gender issues. Casey
has a passion for bringing light and information into areas that are kept in the shadowy silence of taboo. Prior to
beginning her Masters last year, Casey was in the media frequently talking about sexuality related issues,
specifically about helping parents speak to their children about sexuality and safety, in age-appropriate ways.
RSVP: Pat Nkonyane via email [email protected] or add your name to the list at our reception
desk by Friday, 16 September 2016.
Heritage Day and Grandparents’ Day - 08:30 Morning Ring
We have decided to end a busy term by celebrating our heritage with our grandparents on the last day of school
Friday, 23 September. Children are invited to come dressed in clothing that represents their heritage and bring a
plate of their traditional snacks. We respectfully ask parents not to attend, however, should grandparents be
unavailable please would a special person in the child‟s life join us in the celebration.
Concours D’Arts
This year our Stage 5s were invited by Reddam House Bedfordview to participate in the Concours D‟Arts
cultural festival. A selection of Artwork was sent and each child did exceptionally well. Well done to our Artists!
CONGRATULATIONS
Supervision of Children after School
We have noted that a number of children are left unsupervised after school. Whilst we do understand that some
children are waiting for siblings whose day ends 30 minutes later in the ELS, we do need to ensure that each
and every child‟s caregiver or parent closely supervises their children as teachers and educators are on duty ie.
dining hall or sleeping room duty. Children need to sit and eat their lunch if in holding class or if waiting for their
sibling to finish an extra-mural activity.
Late Comers
Some children are still arriving late for Morning Ring, some as late as 15 minutes. We once again urge parents
to have their children arrive punctually as late entry into a class is hugely disruptive for sound teaching and
learning practices.
Late Collections
Some children are being collected by their parents or caregivers after Adventure Zone rather late – by as much
as 30 minutes later which impacts directly on their children who have spent a long day at school and our staff
who need to access public transport. Please phone our Receptionist should you for any reason be late and we
will accommodate your child‟s needs accordingly. However, not notifying the school is unacceptable and
penalties will be put in place.
Warm regards
Dr Bev Evangelides
Welcome to Spring! This week the children have had such fun exploring the wonders of nature. We created our
own flowers using pasta for the petals and tearing small pieces of paper to make the centre of the flower.
The children and I also decided to paint some cherry blossoms to celebrate Spring Day by using pink paint for
the petals and black paint for the branches.
On Friday we made edible flowers using marshmallows as petals and a jelly bean for the centre. Baking is our
favourite activity and we can‟t wait to eat our treats afterwards.
With this lovely warm weather upon us please remember to pack a spare hat for the afternoons. Clearly label
the hat with your child‟s name. We also encourage the children to drink plenty of water in the afternoons and will
re-fill their bottles when necessary.
Healthy children are happy children.
Liz Miller and the Adventure Zone Team
THIS WEEK IN ADVENTURE ZONE
Over the past week or so, the Stage 1s have been focusing on the much anticipated arrival of Spring and we have been very busy in our little garden. The children have assisted us in preparing the pot plants and beds so that we can plant new seeds and seedlings, and I must say, they have done a wonderful job – I think the best part for them is the watering of the plants. Along with Spring Day, we also celebrated Arbor Day by planting a tree. We discussed with the children that we need to take care of our environment as well as the importance of trees and plants within the environment. Not only do these make our environment look pretty, but they also create oxygen for us. The children in Stage 1R were asked what plants need in order to survive and also what will happen to the plants if we don‟t take care of them, and these were some of their answers: Hannah said: If we don‟t feed them, they will die. We also mustn‟t play in them, cos they‟ll die. Kylie confirmed Hannah‟s statement and added: We must give the plants water. Tyler mentioned: The plants also need sun.
Teacher Katy, Bullie and Patience
This term our provocation is: “Up in the Sky…”
As a fun activity I decided to try a new technique with my Stage 2 class - Spaghetti Paintbrushes! Just the idea
had my children jumping with excitement. We had a discussion about how spaghetti felt hard and what we need
to do to make the spaghetti soft. We then made our spaghetti soft by placing it in boiling water. I showed the
children a picture of fireworks and encouraged them to make their own fireworks using spaghetti paintbrushes!
The children loved working with a new medium and luckily no-one decided to eat our wonderful new
paintbrushes.
Teacher Kelly and Thuli
Stage 2 – Up in the Sky
Stage 1 – Our Beautiful Garden
FOCUS ON | STAGE 1 TO 5
Exposing children to sensory play includes any activity that stimulates the child‟s sense of touch, smell, taste,
sight and hearing. Children learn best and retain information when their senses are engaged.
Stimulating the senses is important as it sends signals to the brain and this helps strengthen neural pathways
important for all types of learning. It teaches children about co-operation whilst playing alongside other children
involved in the same activity as well as giving the child an opportunity to use descriptive and expressive
language. Sensory materials might be warm or cool, wet or dry, rough or smooth, textured or slimy.
Characteristics such as sorting or classifying and math concepts such as more, less, full, empty also come into
play. Fine motor skills are strengthened whilst different materials are handled such as mixing, pouring,
measuring, scooping and squeezing. And lastly, sensory play is great for calming an anxious or frustrated child.
In Stage 3D, the children have been exposed to different sensory mediums, in the atelier and in the garden. We
have called any slimy medium, “mush, mush, mushane”. The best part of sensory play is that it is therapeutic
and gives every child an opportunity to succeed.
We hope that our parents will see the value of sensory play and encourage you to try some activities at home.
Teacher Astrid and Sarah
Stage 3 – The Importance of Sensory Play
Logan bought three huge marbles to school to show us what his dad had brought him. This sparked a
conversation about marbles. Suvir told us about the Marble Run his brother has at home. We decided to make
our own marble run. I asked the children what they thought we could use.
Suvir: Straws
Mishti: Corks
Max: Pool noodle
Tyler: Pipes Nyiko: Toilet rolls.
Kaylin: Let‟s make it on cardboard and turn the cardboard sideways, to make it longer.
Tristan: And stronger.
Suvir: We need something at the bottom to catch the marbles.
Aren: Let‟s start with the white pipe and then decide what‟s next. We can use hazard tape to stick the pipe on.
Mishti: Or masking tape. We need to make it so that the marble runs down and doesn‟t get stuck. Arran: I will be the one that puts the marble in and tests it!
When we can see that there is a problem and the corks are not directing the marble as we had hoped, Rungano
suddenly said: “I have an idea! Instead of the corks let‟s use another pipe so that the marble doesn‟t jump out
and over, like it did with the corks.”
The great thing about building our own Marble Run was that there was opportunity for trial-and-error,
therefore problem solving was required. We tried many different combinations. It is a complex construction
activity that is fun as well as an effective way to achieve a variety of goals.
Teacher Tanya and Nathi
Stage 4 – Children Engineered Marble Run
20 September
Coffee Morning 08:00 - An overview of Tools for having ‘The Talks’
Stage 3 Mornings of Song & Dance - Penny
Stage 3 Mornings of Song & Dance - Astrid
Parent Interviews 14:00 to 18:00 – By Invitation Only
Stage 5M‟s provocation is „Big and Small‟ so we took a closer look at hippopotamuses.
Our letter that week was „h‟ so it was the perfect opportunity to investigate this creature. We decided to draw
huge hippos. I took large sheets of paper and attached them to our exterior walls. This was something different
for the children to do and upright drawing is very beneficial to their development. Did you know drawing on a
vertical surface helps elbow and shoulder stability? The large movements encourage strength and stability for
the arms and shoulders. Bilateral coordination and mid-line crossing is improved as the surface is so large the
children have to use both their hands to stabilise themselves and their page.
Working on an upright surface brings the work closer to the children's eyes which helps the child to focus and
develops their hand eye coordination. Core strength and spatial awareness is improved as the children are
stretching to reach across the huge page.
You are welcome to pop into our class (Room 33) to see these huge pieces of work and I'm sure you will agree
we certainly do have some very talented children in our class. I find the children always want to share their new
found knowledge so I taught them a factual song about Hippopotamuses too.
Teacher Annie & Precious
Stage 5 – The Huge Hippopotamus
DATES TO DIARISE
23 September
08:30 Heritage Day/Grandparents‟ Day – End of Term 3 –School Closes 11:30
NEWSLETTER | 08 September 2016 | VOLUME 1:16
13 September
14 September
12 September