PORTARLINGTON PRIMARY

Peanut & Cashew Free School Newsletter

Friday 22nd of June

Newsletter 9 2018

Respectful, Responsible, Safe and Kind Learners

Odd Socks Day This week we were all celebrating our differences. Understanding that we all have different talents and strengths helps to promote and model respect, positive attitudes and behaviours. It also helps us all to learn how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence. Congratulations to the respectful relationships student team (Lewis, Maddi, Tom, Trey, Luella, Finn, Flo and Ruby) for bringing back all their learning from their student forum in Torquay and spreading the important messages around promoting respect for one another. Thank you also to Ms Waterman and Ms Sgarbi for all their work in supporting the students to spread the important message about RESPECT.

Dittos, Keep Safe Adventure The FLC and JLC children had a wonderful visit from Ditto this week to teach them the valuable lesson around keeping safe. It is always a fun and entertaining presentation and the children just love Ditto explaining to them about their ‘Yes and No feelings’ and the warning signs that they may feel when they do not feel safe. Empowering our children is a priority for us. Keeping Our Children Safe-Listening to Children

The children at Portarlington Primary School are encouraged to openly discuss any concerns related to child safety. The children are informed about child abuse, the forms it can take, preventative strategies and how to report any occurrences-(eg-Kids Matter, Wise Child, Brave Hearts programs). The school has developed a safe, inclusive and supportive environment that involves and communicates with children, young people and their parents/care givers. We encourage child and parent/ care giver involvement and engagement that informs safe school operations and builds the capability of children and parents/care givers to under-stand their rights and their responsibilities. When the school is gathering information in relation to a complaint about alleged misconduct with, or abuse of, a child the school will listen to the complainant’s account of things and take them seriously, check understanding and keep the child (or their parent/carer) informed about progress.

School Calendar of Events 2018 -See Page 4

Last Day– Friday 29th of June at 2.30pm

Respectful, Responsible, Safe and Kind Learners

PORTARLINGTON PRIMARY …….

ROBOTICS Congratulations to our Robotics team who competed last Friday at Christian College in the Geelong Championships. Our teams have worked over many lunch-time throughout the year to create and program their robots. The children had an amazing time at the championships. They had to collaborate in a team to problem solve, design, create and engineer their robots. They then had to program the robots to move using software on their laptop computers. Some of our teams ‘placed’ in the overall competition- 2nd Place – Emily, Aiden and Jordan and Abbe Equal 3rd – Jackson, Tom and Ben Equal5th – Mitchell , Oliver and Seth Equal 5th – Emily, Ethan, Bailey and James The following students worked as a team and used their thinking skills to get through their events. Some children were absent on the day however they contributed to the team success throughout their lunch-time breaks at school. Polly , Erika, Savannah, Katherine, Liana , Keely , Kai , Locky, Brenden, Anthony, Aurora, Angel, Emma, Matilda , Alex , Adrian , Blake , Trey and Harry Students who qualified through having a robot that ‘survived’ the day through determination and persis-tence will attend the Victorian Robotic Champion-ships in August at Melbourne University.

STUDENTS AWARDS…..

Aurora Boothroyd...solving problems during the robo soccer

Trey Ziebowski...solving problems during the robo soccer

Bethany McLeod...demonstrating her visualisations with detailed pictures

Jordan Robinson...explaining the strategies he used to solve addition equations

Jordan Nash...showing bravery and resilience and of course talent in your performance at camp

Olivia Davie...sharing your kindness with everyone and helping others to enjoy camp

Brock Stephenson...being a great role model on camp and trying his best in the classroom

Emma Ballard...always using her manners and trying her best!

Seth Beaton...being a kind friend and always including others

Joshua Cardamone...challenging himself and extending his own learning

Myah Taylor...always adopting a positive attitude to learning making her a pleasure in the classroom!

Adrian Barrios...engaging himself in tasks on the Robotics excursion and upholding our school values

Lachlan Duffield...improving the quality of his writing by adding tier 2 and tier 5 words

Hannah Barrios...extending her learning by completing math tasks in her own time

West Ansell...using strategies to improve reading

Lexy Phillips...using schema and clues from text to answer questions

Oliver Wilkie...Representing our school so enthusiastically at robotics

Keely Dowie...showing amazing continued growth in reading

Havanna Sykes...settling in quietly and confidently into our classroom

Seth Perry...always trying your hardest even when you find things challenging

Cruz Walsh...having a fantastic maths addition story about hippos

Cameron Duffield...fabulous descriptive writing about his rocket

PRINCIPALS AWARD…

Edie Elliot...a persistent and determined learner with her OWL Words

Frankie Brain...for leading the learning in our school

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REMINDERS-2018 School Calendar

Please check the calendar regularly as some events are subject to change.

Hats return on the 1st of September until May the 1st, 2019.

Child Safety Standards

Enter at the Office only

To maximise safety we request that parents and visitors do not use other doors to enter the school. Parents and visitors are not permitted to go directly to classrooms at any time without signing in at the office and discussing their needs with an office staff member.

Thank you for your understanding.

Child Safety Policy –http://www.portps.vic.edu.au/page/185/Child-Safety

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2018 (further dates will be added as they come to hand) Term 2 11th Jun Queen’s Birthday (no School) 19th Jun Brave Hearts Incursion (F-2) 21st Jun ODD SOCKS DAY 22nd Jun Robotics Excursion 29th Jun Last Day of term at 2.30pm Term 3 16-20 Jul NAIDOC Week for PPS 23rd Jul Student Led Interviews 30 Jul-1 Aug SLC Camp to Phillip Island 13 Aug SCIENCE WEEK- 20th Aug Curriculum Day (no school) 21st Aug Division Athletics Carnival 4/5/6 23rd Aug BOOK WEEK-Book Week Parade 27th Aug Digital Tattoo (online safety) Parent Information Session:-6-7.30pm 11th Sep District Athletics 21st Sep Footy Dress Up Day Last Day of term at 2.30pm Term 4 19th Oct Buddies Excursion 24th Oct Geelong Cup Day (no school) 2nd Nov Pink Day 12th Nov Curriculum Day (no school) 23rd Nov White Ribbon Day Year 2 Sleepover 18th Dec Last day of formal class instruction 19th Dec Final Assembly Year 6 Graduation 21st Dec Last Day of Term at 1.30pm

2019 Term 1 29th Jan Staff commence at school 30th Jan Year 1 to 6 start school 30th Jan– 8th Feb—Foundation student assessments

(appointment times for individual children will be provided. 11th Feb Foundation students start school.

2018 TERM DATES 2018– School Procedures & Operations There have been lots of changes to our school operations and procedures for 2018 due to the changes in the school facilities and the changes to the school yard. We will endeavour to keep families as up to date as possible with any further changes to our procedures as the school site continues to change. 2018 School Starting Time

Our school grounds are supervised from 8.30am each day. This will support many of our parents and caregivers who have work or appointments first thing in the morning.

Classes start at 8.50am and children will be required to be on time each day.

Students arriving after 9am will need to enter through the Front en-trance of the school.

Period Start Finish Length

Term 1 Tuesday, January 30 2018 Thursday, 29 March 2018 9 weeks

School Holidays Friday, 30 March 2018 Sunday, 15 April 2018

Term 2 Monday, 16 April 2018 Friday, 29 June 2018 11 weeks

School Holidays Saturday, 30 June 2018 Sunday, 15 July 2018

Term 3 Monday, 16 July 2018 Friday, 21 September 2018 10 weeks

School Holidays Saturday, 22 September 2018 Sunday, 7 October 2018

Term 4 Monday, 8 October 2018 Friday, 21 December 2018 11 weeks

2018/2019 Summer School Holidays

Saturday, 22 December 2018 Tuesday, 29 January 2019

7.15am Kelly Club-Before School Care

8.30am Drop off Yard Supervision by a Teacher Breakfast Club on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

8.50am Classes Start Session 1

10am Session 2

11am Eat/Play

11.30am Session 3

12.30pm Session 4

1.30pm Eat/Play

2.15pm Session 5

3.15pm Classes End Kelly Club-After School Care Yard Supervision by a Teacher until 3.30pm

3.30pm Yard Supervision ends

6pm Kelly Club-After School Care finishes

PORTARLINGTON PRIMARY …….

Order your NEW 2018/2019 En-tertainment Membership from Portarlington Primary School and receive it in time for school holidays!

Help us raise funds for our fundraising by buying an Entertainment Member-

ship, and you can enjoy value the whole family will love this school holidays.

You'll receive hundreds of valuable offers to keep the kids 'entertained' and help our fundraising at the same time

FRESH LUNCH FAIRY

IT’S SIMPLE!!! Go to freshlunchfairy.ecwid.com/

ORDERS MUST BE PLACED BY 9.30AM

ON THURSDAY

PORTARLINGTON PRIMARY……..

All volunteers at the school work within our Child Safety Guidelines and the Victorian Law. They all have Working With Children Checks.

Yard Supervision Every day Please discuss this with your child. Our school yard is always supervised. Staff wear fluorescent vests for easy identification. Staff members may also be found in the office and staff room during break times. Passive play operates (with a teacher), at lunch time in the hall.

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Extreme Weather At school we can experience days of extreme weather—this could be rain, wind or heat. We have guidelines and procedures for extreme weather conditions which include ensuring the children are inside so that they are safe. Depending on the weather, we may implement one or more of the following processes according to the conditions- Seek shade or cover Wear hats/coats/scarves Drink plenty of water Open the school hall Direct children to passive play in the hall. Instruct staff and students to remain in classrooms for break times Provide sunscreen Encourage parents to apply sunscreen and provide water bottles for their children

There is an urban myth that schools send children home when the thermometer hits a certain temperature-this is not the case and normal school hours apply.

Kids or Animals in Cars Melbourne and greater Victoria will experience extremely high temperatures for the back to school period. Parents and/or guardians are reminded that on hot days it is important never to leave children or pets alone in a car. Temperatures inside a parked car during summer can be around 20 to 30 degrees hotter than the outside temperature. Leaving children or pets in hot cars, even for a moment, can result in serious injury or death. Young children’s smaller body size and underdeveloped nervous system places them at a much greater risk of life-threatening heatstroke, dehydration and other serious health risks. If a parent or guardian is travelling with a child, never leave them alone in a parked car, not even for one moment.

Reminder-Student Supervision Staff supervise the school yard between 8.30am—8.50am, 11.10 -11.30am, 1.40-2.15pm and 3.15-3.30pm. Children arriving at school before 8.30am must be accompanied by an parent/carer or booked into the before school care program (Kelly Club) as no supervision is provided by the school before this time.

PORTARLINGTON PRIMARY……..

Information and Reminders

Communication to Parents Portarlington Primary uses electronic systems of communication as the main form of communication. The online system at our school is called COMPASS- https://portps-vic.compass.education/ Our friendly office staff can help you with any login issues or show you how to use COMPASS. 1. COMPASS- attendance, student assessment and reporting, consent/permission and payments for school activities, bookings for parent information sessions (including the February and July parent/teacher/child interviews). 2. Newsletters are produced every fortnight. They can be accessed via COMPASS and on our school website -www.portps.vic.edu.au On our website you will also find the web link to COMPASS. The whole school calendar is on page 2 of the newsletter. 3. Social Media – for school updates and information (facebook). Please contact the school if you have any questions as we only use facebook to share information and to celebrate events. 4. SMS messaging system– important information is sent to parents via a text messaging service. Please do not respond to any requests sent out through the SMS service. Do not reply using texts as the school does not receive reply messages. 5. Student Diaries and phone calls are also used to communicate to parents. 6. Staff are also available for meetings with parents. We want to make sure that we provide you with our full attention so please phone the office to make a suitable time for an appointment. Staff have their professional meetings everyday between 3.30 and 4.30pm. Staff are preparing for student learning, attending briefings or yard duty from 8.30am. 7. Interviews - Parent, Teacher, student conferences (interviews) are held in February and July. Student Support Group meetings are held regularly for some children. 8. Hard copy information-Some hard copy information is distributed such as year level newsletters, health safety notices, for example.

Health and Safety

No Smoking with in 4 me-

tres of our school boundary .

Speed Limit– There is a 40k speed limit in designated areas during school times. The main street is always 40km per hour

Consent and Permission Please ensure that you are providing consent for your children to attend events and excursions. It is a legal requirement of all schools to ensure parent/guardians provide informed consent to at-tend extra-curricular activities such as sports, excur-sions, visiting performers etc. Children do not attend if there is no permission provided prior to the event. Communication is sent to parents via COMPASS and SMS messages are followed up prior. It is distressing for the children (tears) and the staff when children are not able to attend because parent permission has not been received. If you have any queries at all, please contact our friendly office staff who can help you with any event information on 52592572

N O S M O K I N G i s p e r m i t t e d

o n t h e s c h o o l s ’ g r o u n d s o r

w i t h i n 4 m e t r e s o f t h e

s c h o o l b o u n d a r y.

T h i s i n c l u d e s n o s mo kin g in

c a r s p a r k e d o u t s i d e t h e

s c h o o l .

Cough, Colds and Lots of Germs

Teaching children how to blow their nose, cough into their elbow and wash their hands is

important at school. It is also important to teach this at home to prevent the spread of

germs. We also have hand sanitiser available in the classrooms and other areas of the

school. For a great little video visit :-

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/campaigns/soapy-hero

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Keeping Your Children Safe– School Policy and

Guidelines- http://www.portps.vic.edu.au/page/185/Child-Safety

Breakfast Club 2018 WHEN: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday every week 8.25 am until 8.45am WHERE: In the Jill Graham Hall, Portarlington PS WHO can enjoy some food? Any early bird students What’s on the menu? Fresh fruit, toast, cereal, muesli, yoghurt, cheese/baked beans toasties, smoothies, pancakes, tinned fruit. Thanks to all the volunteers who are giving their time and talent to make a

nutritious breakfast for our children.

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NO PEANUTS OR CASHEWS-IMPORTANT INFORMATION Please remember that we are a PEANUT and CASHEW free school which means that we cannot have any of these on our school site. We have students in our school who are anaphylactic to these nuts meaning that it’s a matter of life or death when these students come into contact with these

Each fortnight Even weeks 2.45-3.15pm In the Hall However there are times when assembly needs to be cancelled or even extended. When this occurs, families will be informed.

10 WAYS KIDS INVOLVE PARENTS IN SIBLING FIGHTING BY MICHAEL GROSE

Sibling fighting is common but not inevitable. Parents can easily become embroiled in the conflict so that they help create the problem rather than solve it. Children usually become quite adept at drawing their parents into sibling fighting. Be mindful of the following ten common ways children involve par-ents in their sibling disputes: 1. Beware the teller of tales because they can draw you into disputes you don’t need to be in “Tell Tale children” tend to involve parents in fights and disputes when they don’t need to be. Tales also invite parents to take sides, which may mean a fight stops momentarily. However it will begin again at an-other time as there may be lingering resentment about you taking sides.

2. Beware the blamers for it is never, ever their fault! Some children will blame other siblings for wrong-doing but will rarely see their side in a dispute. It usually takes two or three to tango so make sure you point out their place in the dispute.

3. Beware the tantrum-throwers as they divert attention away from themselves. Kids who throw a ‘wobbly’ when a sibling even looks at them in the wrong way have discovered a great way to keep mum or dad busy with them.

4. Beware of children’s tears as they can make us feel pity, narrow our fo-cus rather than look at the whole story.A child who comes to you with tears in her eyes and a tale of woe sure knows how to get their parents onside. Empathise but don’t sympathise. And remember that sometimes the child who cries the loudest is the child who caused the dispute in the first place.

5. Beware of children who say that they couldn’t help hitting, hurting or misbehaving. Children always have a choice. They just choose the easy way or a way that suits them a lot of the time. Sibling fighting doesn’t have to happen.

6. Beware of the child who is always, always the victim. Sometimes they revel in this role. Some children, particularly youngest kids, love to play the victim in fights and arguments with their siblings. “He always picks on me” is their catch cry. Don’t give these children too much attention and give them some options about how they can keep away from their siblings if things look likely to ‘cut up rough’.

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10 WAYS KIDS INVOLVE PARENTS IN SIBLING FIGHTING BY MICHAEL GROSE

7. Beware of the child who acts like the deputy sheriff, always giving orders and bossing others around. They can make life unpleasant at home. First born boys can sometimes act like a parent’s deputy and believe it is their job to keep peace on the ‘family range’. They often use methods more akin to the ‘wild west’ than those they would learn in any negotiation skills workshop. Aggression and power is their preferred methodology. Keep a firm eye on these kids and don’t put them in charge of the ‘family range’ too often.

8. Beware the donkey who whines and whinges about his siblings -“Hee Hawlways picks on me!” Give them some ideas about how to deal with their siblings and refuse to drawn by incessant whining. Like water torture, whining wears a person down after a while.

9. Beware children who bring home poor attitudes and behaviours that they learned at school or pre-school. You can tell sometimes what is happen-ing in the schoolyard as children can bring home poor conflict resolution skills that they see in the schoolyard. ‘We treat each other well in this family’ is the message!

10. Beware of the home environment that uses power to resolve disputes and conflict. Children will often reflect the ways that the significant adults in their family resolve conflict so make sure you use the same methods to sort out issues and disagreements with your partner that you want your children to adopt. Children tend to live what they see so make sure they see concilia-tion and compromise rather than bullying and power. It helps if they see as-sertiveness rather than aggression. And make sure they see you looking at both sides of the picture in sibling fighting, rather than your side all the time in disputes.

Most of us as parents are as predictable as washing machine cycles. Kids fight and we react, tends to be the default mechanism in many families. Rather than react habitually to sibling disputes stand back, take a deep breath and work out first, whether you need to get involved. If you do then consider carefully how, as the parent you will respond. Do you guide them to resolve the problem themselves? Do you need to change anything in the environ-ment? Do you acknowledge their feelings? Do you encourage problem-solving? Do you need to step into provide safety? Do you simply need some peace and quiet? Is there a power imbalance?

When you take an active approach to helping children resolve their fights, you are teaching them a valuable life skill as well as reducing the incidence of fighting over the long term.

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