Churchlands Primary School Newsletter

From all accounts, the Welcome Picnic was a great success! Many thanks to the P & C and all the volunteers for their amazing efforts in getting this organised. It is a wonderful way to welcome in a new school year.

The Board and P & C work collaboratively to develop open communications between the two bodies. The Board and P & C each play important yet different roles in supporting the school. While they have separate functions which are legislated, they collectively work together to achieve common goals.

The Churchlands Primary School Board is a team of parents, teachers, and community members who works with the school to achieve the optimum outcomes for students. It plays an important role in contributing to good school governance so that school resources are used efficiently, and community expectations, and the school’s priorities reflect the needs of students. The Board promotes the school in the community and takes part in establishing and reviewing the school’s objectives, priorities, and general policy directions and evaluating the school’s performance in achieving these.

The P&C is made up of supportive school parents to provide support to our school community. Not only does the P&C contribute to the funding of many exciting venture, but they also have an equally important role in the building of a positive and engaging school community. The key to all P & C initiatives, whether it is a fundraising event, providing feedback to the school organising an event, it is about bringing parents, students, and teachers together.

The development of ways to effectively communicate to the school, and from the school, is a key focus at CPS. Building positive, balanced communication structures between the teacher and parents helps to support and optimise the quality of education and wellbeing of your child. Our 'Talking with My School Guidelines, FAQ' (please see link below) was developed to support parents with ways to communicate with the school, Board, and P & C on any issues that you may require support on.

The school and P & C have been working together on developing further play areas for the children. Expanding on our Creative Nature Playspace plan, we would like to develop an enriched play environment around the boundary of the oval where children can explore through climbing, swinging, balancing, and just exploring through play. To ensure we get it right and develop it as a community venture, we would like to invite our parent body to join our staff and students in a focus group. If you would like to be part of the focus group, comment on what you would see as a beneficial part of the design or help out in any way, please complete this form below and email me at  Kim.Fraser@education.wa.edu.au                               

 The P&C is still seeking a SECRETARY. If you feel you may like to be part of this wonderful team of P & c members please contact the President on: churchlands.pc.president@gmail.com It is vital that this position is filled. If we cannot find a Secretary in the next couple of weeks, we will not be able to form a full P&C Executive and the Canteen and Uniform Shop will be forced to close.

Following on from last newsletter's notice, a reminder that the CPS ANZAC Assembly will be held on Friday 23th April (Term 2 Week 1) at 2 pm in the undercover area.

As part of our ceremony, we like to invite any parents or family who has served or is currently serving, as special guests. If you are interested in attending the assembly in full-service uniform, please contact Luke Johnson at Luke.Johnson@education.wa.edu.au to arrange a designated seat. Please be aware that we are required to follow COVID-19 guidelines of adults maintaining physical distancing of 1.5 metres, where possible, and venue capacity rule of one adult per two square metres applies.

This year's theme is Women in Conflict. Students are currently researching and learning about the various, important roles, females have played in times of conflict over the years. At our ceremony we will be having students from Year's 4, 5, and 6 share their discoveries.

In CPS tradition, we will be asking for donations of flowers to be delivered on the day of the assembly where the P & C will coordinate the creation of a commemorative wreath for each classroom.

NAPLAN Practice tests were carried out yesterday, Thursday 25th March by our Year 3 and 5 students. This practice put us through our operational paces, where teachers and students got familiar with how the assessment tool operates before the actual assessments early in Term 2. 

Stay tuned for the NAPLAN timetable and more information early next term.

With our RoboCup Jr 2021 campaign underway, we are looking for some expertise in the community that can help our students prepare for the big event in July.

The open-maze competition environment is a wooden maze where robots need to navigate through to compete. (See photo attached) We are looking for a community member who can assist in creating the segments that make up each maze. Materials will be provided. If you would like to offer your expertise, please contact Luke Johnson at the school.

SCULPTURE

Many students have enjoyed the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition at Cottesloe Beach. Thank you to all the families for attending this unique event. I am enjoying the responses from my thoughtful students through Seesaw. I have posted a challenge to all students to have an adventure in the next few weeks to find a Professional Public Art sculpture to respond to. It could be one of the many sculptures in the Perth city, Fremantle, along the coast or around the river, or even at your holiday destination.

Please take a photo of a sculpture of your children’s choice and share this with their class through Seesaw. Record or label information as guided on the activity.

We are holding our Sculpture by the School Exhibition on Thursday 29 April in week two next term. Students with their families are invited to create individual or collaborative sculptures to enter our People’s Choice competition. Great prizes to be won.

You can re-vamp last year’s sculpture or get building your new creation. Just get building and share your ideas.

HELP

The year four students are making soft sculptures and hope that soft stuffing could be donated.

COMPETITION

Your children may be interested in entering this art competition or even going to see the Perth Observatory. Look on the website for more details.

https://www.perthobservatory.com.au/shop/events/lowells-50th

Enjoy the Easter break and I am looking forward to seeing the amazing sculptures and responses to sculpture.

 Many thanks,

Melinda Cockerill

Swimming Carnival 2021

It has been a couple of years since CPS has hosted a swimming carnival and I am sure everyone will be super excited for when it happens.

What: CPS Faction Swimming Carnival

When: Thursday 22 April 2021 at 9.30 am

Where: Churchland's Senior High School swimming pool

 The structure of this year’s swimming carnival will be a bit different than in previous years due to not having access to time the kids before the event. 

·         In each race, there will be TWO swimmers per faction, that were nominated by the kids.

·         Each race is allocated the same amount of points for the overall team totals

·         Each race is timed and overall individual standards for champion girls and boys will be determined on their time on the day.

·         Each race is 25m so all times are consistent.

·         Just think of each race is like a heat at a swim meet, it does not matter what race you are in as you have a chance to be an OVERALL CHAMPION.

In regards to swimming abilities,  the safety of all kids must be put first.  With this in mind, all swimmers need to have passed level 5 to participate in the stroke events.  As to pass level 5 you need to be able to swim 25m.  If you feel your child is capable but is in level 4 or below please contact Mr Marshall at michael.marshall@education.wa.edu.au

Those swimmers who are in level 4 and below will participate in some novelty events such as; kickboard race and noodle race.  As this will be the first swimming carnival for a lot of our students we must make them feel comfortable in the water and make it as fun as possible.

 If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask Mr Marshall at michael.marshall@education.wa.edu.au

 Parent helpers are needed for this great event!! If you are available to help out in any way on the day, could you please contact Mr Marshall.

 Interschool Swimming Carnival

 Thankyou to all those swimmers that took the time out to come down and try-out for the CPS Interschool Swimming Team.  Congratulations to all those individuals who have been selected to represent Churchlands.  Remember all permission notes are due NOW.

 The Interschool is being held at HBF Stadium in Mt Claremont on Wednesday 31 March from 10 am.  We are after a few parent helpers to help out on the day with various roles.  If you are available to help out could you, please contact Mr Marshall at michael.marshall@education.wa.edu.au .

Before and After School Activities

During the school term, there will be activities happening every day of the week to keep your kids active before and after school.  Over the next few weeks you will see flyers promoting various activities, if you are interested please contact those organisations directly.  There are a couple of school run activities that all kids are encouraged to attend; running club and student circuit training.

Running Club

The Running club is on Tuesday mornings starting at 8 am. For new families to Churchlands PS, the running club is where students run laps around the school earning points for their faction. Exercising in the mornings has many health benefits and is a great way to start the day.

Some benefits include:

·         improved physical and mental energy,

·         a better night’s sleep,

·         help maintain a healthy weight

·         reach your fitness goals,

·         enhance your metabolism. 

A reminder that mugs for Milo need to be placed on the table outside the undercover area before 8.15 am.  Milo is a reward for the effort put in during the running club.

It is encouraged that students need to run at least 4 laps to get a Milo. Turning up late won’t allow enough time to 4 laps done in.  

Can you please click on the link and fill in the attached form, so Mr Marshall can organise your QR code card before your FIRST running club. Kids of all ages are welcome to join in the fun, that is running club.  Remember to bring your QR code to every running club.

 https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=-RaA4P3Ru0yDsLdutDYWJ_ta-44XuOhFnLPfOphBNplUMUJaMUtYNkg0TU5STkIwSVRQOUZKUk5QUS4u

Student Circuit Training

On Wednesday at 8 am our Faction Captains will be running circuit training for all students at CPS. This is a great opportunity to get our bodies moving in the morning, work hard together to support each other to reach some personal goals all the while listening to some great music, and have heaps of fun. We encourage all parents and family members to join in.  No sign-up required just turn up on the day.  We hope to see heaps of happy and smiley faces on Wednesday.

Congratulations to the 2021 sustainability Environmental Officers who received their badges at a special assembly on Friday.

Thank you to Benita Di Giovanni for sourcing Bunnings donations of gloves and aprons for each environmental officer.

Environmental Officers are very important environmental ambassadors for our school and they are involved in many projects around the school. Some of their responsibilities include lunch bag shredding, attending to the chickens, worms and compost, taking care of the Waste Free lunches that are held every Tuesday, collecting old batteries and looking after the Containers for change bins.

Wow-what an incredible collaborative effort from our school community! Thank you for contributing to our Harmony Arch. Together we have created a beautiful structure that celebrates and acknowledges our multicultural school. The arch also acts as a gateway to learning and inclusiveness, and is such a fabulous portrayal of the Harmony Week theme “Everyone Belongs!” 

What have you spotted woven into our Harmony Arch? Did you see the awesome knitted flags for USA, Greece, and Germany? Could you spot the hand-painted South African flags too? Did you see the Chinese lanterns? Could you spot Mr Marshall’s New Zealand rugby sock? There were even some Bavarian pretzels hanging from the top of the arch, as well as some exquisite and sparkly dresses and fabrics from our Bengali, Marathi and Malayalam families, plus a few Australian flags too! It was heart-warming to hear the shared conversations while parents, children, and our school staff tied on a ribbon or weaved a piece of fabric through the arch. Thank you to all who contributed.

 Thank you,

Mrs Sasha Key

sasha.key@education.wa.edu.au