LONG STREET PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Term 3 2021 | Week 9

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News from the Principal

Welcome to the last school newsletter for the term.

I would like to acknowledge the hard work performed by staff during the term. Many students have performed extremely well and reached and/or exceeded benchmarks in reading this term. Congratulations on your achievements.

For the past 3 years we have been tracking student achievement in reading for our Year 3 cohort of students. Our site improvement targets are set in line with how many students reach SEA (Standard of Education Achievement). I am extremely proud that as a cohort of students we achieved and exceeded the target set for these students. This is down to a combined effort from all staff and students. Congratulations on your success.

Next week we begin the process of interior painting for classrooms. This will be a scheduled process and will be completed by the end of term 4. We look forward to the end result later in the year.

New LED lighting is also being installed in the school hall. All fluoro lights will be replaced with LED lighting to increase the amount of light for this space. This lighting will support all staff and students and decrease the amount of eye strain for our students. This job is scheduled to begin in the very near future and will be completed in less than a week from the time they begin, cutting down on any learning interruptions.

This week staff participated in some intensive mathematics training whilst SSO’s also participated in learning to support student development. All courses were well received and will make a difference to how we continue to improve as a school.

If you are travelling during the holidays please stay safe.

Bryan Rotherham

Principal

 

Senior Leader

Students have all participated in the annual PAT testing for Reading and Maths over the past few weeks.  These tests give us valuable data on where our students sit and what aspects of the curriculum they need to develop.  These tests are targeted to each individual student’s academic level according to their One Plan if they have one.  The data from these tests follow our students throughout their schooling and will allow the Whyalla Secondary College to begin analysing the data for Year 6 and 7 students ready for 2022.

As we enter the final term of 2021 we are busy collecting other Department for Education required data, on top of PAT test data this includes Running Records data for Years R-2.  The Department uses this data to ensure that funding is allocated where required.

I trust that you will all enjoy the school holidays, that your children will have a nice break and return in Term 4 re-energised and ready to learn.

Jodie Turpin

Senior Leader

Student Wellbeing Leader News

Is it shyness or social anxiety?

Shyness can be very common and kids usually grow out of it. On the other hand, kids with social anxiety have intense feelings of fear and worry that something bad will happen to them in a social situation.

Social anxiety affects the body, mind and behaviour. The fear underlying social anxiety is usually related to a belief or thought about something bad happening. They may think “I might say something stupid and people will stop liking me”. This can lead to a number of symptoms including:

· Physical – racing heartbeat, muscle tension, sweating, sore stomach, nausea

· Psychological – difficulty concentrating, negative thoughts of being judged by others, mental blanks where they have nothing to say, an urge to get out of the situation

· Behavioural – avoidance of certain places, not answering the phone, avoiding achievement so as to not stand out

 What can you do to help?

· The first step is tuning into your child and noticing if they're particularly anxious about social situations. Be attentive to how this affects them and then try some of these ideas: 

· Help them practice being in social situations – start with easier ones first and work up from there

· Do some role plays – if your child needs to have a difficult conversation with someone practice with them first

· Teach them relaxation techniques such as breathing, meditation, muscle relaxation

· Teach assertive communication and how it is different to being passive or aggressive

· Give them lots of positive feedback by pointing out their strengths and letting them know they're loved

· Put any setbacks into perspective – give them space to feel upset but also encourage them to not give up

 

Becc O’Neil 

Wellbeing Leader

Diary Dates

August/September


SEPTEMBER
Thursday 23rd

Sports Day

2.10pm Finish

Friday 24th

Last Day of Term

2.10pm Finish

OCTOBER
Monday 11thFirst day of Term 4

What's Happening in ........

Room 10

Over the course of the year Room 10 has been looking at how we can use different mediums, patterns and colours to create our excellent pieces of artwork. We have explored using pastels in great depth and how different colours can blend together to create new colours and shades.

Art for Room 10 has not only been a great way to have students express themselves and their creativity but also to provide them ideas for activities they could try to help relax and rewind in stressful situations.

Creating a purposeful and thoughtful piece of art requires a great deal of focus, patience, resilience and self-belief! These skills are important across all curriculum areas and the growth many members of Room 10 have made in these skills is impressive!

Below you will see some examples of the scratch art that Room 10 created this term. We first created patterns with pastels to cover the entire piece of card. Then, we painted over these using black paint. Once dry, students then carefully started to scratch out their masterpieces using skewers to create mandalas, pictures or patterns.

Well done Room 10 on your amazing creations!

Miss Hart

 

Room 10 Art

Around our School

COLOUR EXPLOSION

Community Informaton

Masks in Schools