Newsletter No 13 Date 23rd August 2019

Every day from

8am

MERRIWA NEWS

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK…

Dear Families,

Merriwa Reads Over 8 Million Words

We have a new reading programme! Lexile Reading , part of Literacy Pro, is

making an incredible difference to our reading. At the beginning of the year we

set a target for our Year 3 to 6 students to read a million words in 2019.

So far your children have read over 8 Million Words!

The children read library books at their level for their reading programme,

followed by a lexile quiz. Congratulations to Rooms 21 and 22 for the most

improved and most words read last fortnight. The Pre Primary to Year 2 students

have a home reading competition which was won by Room 7 again. Help your child to win by reading at home.

Look At the Amazing Events at Merriwa (Mostly Free!)

We offer incredible programs and activities here at Merriwa. Here are a few

recent ones:

NAIDOC Day

Cockman House visits by the Year 2 students

Kalamunda History Museum visit by the Year 3 students

Glen Swift, a visiting author read and presented his latest book to our Year

Five and Six students. Thank you to the City of Wanneroo Libraries.

SCi Tech visited for National Science week.

Constable Care came to help the students learn how to keep safe.

3D Printers Solar Car Challenge at Clarkson Community College for Year 6

Science Team

SKIPS Mental Health Workshops for Year 6 students

Edith Cowan University Senior Extension Science Group Old Ways New

Ways, learning about traditional Aboriginal and cutting edge modern

science.

Triple P Parent Workshops

Kind Regards, Mrs Sue Waterhouse PRINCIPAL

VISIT OUR

WEBSITE

www.merriwaps.

wa.edu.au

For parent information

23rd August

Assembly

Room 19

P & C NEWS

Learning Journey

Cake Stall

Donations of

cupcakes, cookies,

muffins needed!

More information to

follow.

4th September

Jumps and Throws Day

6th September

Faction Athletics

Next Pizza Day

Wednesday 11 September .

Order forms will be sent home next

week.

Kind Regards Karen Macri—Principal

Athletic Carnivals The students are busy preparing for two big events in the coming weeks. Our very inclusive Merriwa Schools

faction carnival is taking place on the oval on Friday 6th September. All parents and carers are encouraged to

attend to support students in novelty events and year level running races.

In the following week the students of the ESC will be involved in an interschool carnival hosted at Beldon ESC.

There are several education support centres attending this fabulous day of novelty games and running races.

Again parents and carers are welcome to attend.

Car Park concerns

Please be advised that you will not be allowed access to the staff car park without a

valid ACROD pass. You cannot use this area to pick up or drop off your child.

Showcase Several staff attended the showcase event at the WAESPAA

Conference last week. Our Kiosk proved to be very busy with great

feedback given about the programs we offer here at Merriwa ESC.

Upcoming Events Faction Carnival Friday 6 September

ESC Interschool Carnival Tuesday 10 September

Please note the ESC assembly has been moved to next term – Friday

25 October.

Merriwa ESC News

Year PP-2 HOME READING

Junior Champion

Class Award Year 1/2

Room 7 AGAIN!!

Best participation in

HOME READING PROGRAM

Year 3 - 6 LITERACY PRO

Merriwa Primary

School

Total Words Read 8 380 104

Senior Champion

Class Award 242 241

Year 4/5 Room 22

Senior Rising Stars

Award Year 3/4 Room 21

Byron Leonard

203 285

Keren Mbafumoja

214 936

Highest Scoring

Students

Attendance

The school has just completed our semester 1 attendance. Our

attendance for the semester is significantly lower than our

targets. To get the most out of a good education, children

need to go to school every day. School attendance has a

major influence on education outcomes. Research shows that

every day missed affects your child’s achievement. Your child’s

NAPLAN scores are reduced for every day missed. If you child

attends 90% of the time, we regard them as attending

regularly, but if they attend 90% of the time, they miss:

1 day a fortnight.

1 week a term or

4 days a year.

1 year by the end of year 9.

If they attend 80% of the time, they miss

1 day per week.

40 days per term.

8 weeks per year.

2 years by the end of year 9.

For semester 1, this year, we had only 63% of our students at-

tending on a regular basis. This dropped from 74% for semester

1 last year.

If you are having trouble with regard to school attendance

please contact your child’s class teacher to discuss your

situation.

Jeff Hoskins Associate Principal

On Tuesday 13th August the year 5/6 classes had a visit from local

author Glen Swift and Sharon Carnegie from the Clarkson Library.

Glen told the students stories, read one of his books and performed

magic tricks! All of the students enjoyed listening to Glen and

some even got to act out part of a story. Thanks Mrs Perkins for

organising the visit.

CITY OF WANNEROO STORY TELLER

Mobile Phone and Electronic Equipment Policy

Recently children have been wearing watches to

school that have the capability to communicate and

record photos and videos.

Our policy on mobile phone and communication

devices falls within the School Education 2000,

Regulation 70. Student mobile phones, or electronic

equipment brought to school are to be given to the

teacher or the front office for safe keeping during the

school operating hours 8.30am to 2.40pm.

If a child is seen with a mobile phone or electronic

device they will be required to hand it to their teacher

of the front office where it can be collected at the end

of the school day.

The policy is about protecting the safety of all students

in our care and maintaining good order in our school.

In the case of emergencies your child can be

contacted via a message at the front office. Our

contact number is 62062340.

Jeff Hoskins

Associate Principal

Our 2019 NAIDOC celebrations were held on Thursday 15th August. The whole school participated

in activities designed to celebrate indigenous culture under the theme Voice, Treaty, Truth. We were joined

by representatives from ECU's Centre for Indigenous Australian Education who shared some indigenous

games and hunting skills and the Butler College Indigenous girls dance group. We created individual sand

murals, rainmakers and Australian animal scratch artworks. For the first time ever on NAIDOC Day, we got to

meet some furry and scaly native Australian animals. As usual, one of the favourite parts of the day was the

food tasting where we tried sauces and chutneys made from native fruits and vegetables on our sausages

and delicious damper and jam made by our wonderful parent volunteers! A great day was had by

all! Thank you to Mrs Duffill and her team for organising the day.

NEWSLETTER RAFFLE I have read newsletter 12. Parent signature________________________________

Child’s Name ____________________________________________ Room No.__________________

Congratulations to the last winner Logan Jose-Hansen

If your child was born between 1st July 2015- 30th June 2016

registrations are now open to enrol in kindy. Please see the front office for application forms and return completed forms to the office with copies of Birth Certificate, Immunisation Records, Proof of Address and $40.00 for

Voluntary Contributions.

Cross country interschool Our Merriwa PS students performed extremely well and can be very proud of their efforts in the first Cross

Country carnival in the North Coastal District Sporting Cell. The students who trained hard in the mornings

before school were rewarded with high places in their races. Every person finished their race strongly and

never gave up. Special mention must go to Baoyi Wang, Aguk Makuei and Jack Murray who filled in at the

last minute for three students who were injured that week.

Below are the place getters for the top 10 (and a couple of 11th).

Narteisha Winmar Year 4 – Second place

Jade Winsor Year 4 – Third

Keren Mbfumoja Year 4 – Sixth

Donrichie Tribunali Year 4 – Tenth

Sophie Williams Year 5 – Second

Connor Robertson Year 5 – Sixth

Jeremiah Kori Year 5 – Ninth

Gus Waaka Year 5 – Eleventh

Olivia Williams Year 6 – Second

Elisha Pickett Year 6 – Tenth

Chantalee Hanekom

Year 6 – Eleventh

Titchiang Chol Year 6 – Third