15 Darling Avenue, Upwey 3158 Vic Phone: (03) 9754 2369 Fax: (03) 9754 8148

Email: upwey.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au Website: www.upweyps.vic.edu.au

IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Friday 17th March 2017 Thursday 23rd March McClelland Sculpture Park Excursion, Whole School Friday 24th March CURRICULUM DAY, STUDENT FREE Wednesday 28th March Life Ed Van incursion, concludes Thursday 29th March Friday 31st March Last for Term 1, 2.30 pm finish; Free dress day, gold coin donation Tuesday 18th April First day for Term 2 Tuesday 25th April ANZAC Day, Public Holiday

Well, after the busy events of last week, this week has been much quieter! Classroom Activities As I visit the classrooms it is wonderful to see all the students busy and engaged. The ‘Spelling Mastery’ program has been successfully implemented and the teachers are tracking the students’ progress. We are looking forward to analysing the student learning data in spelling and the NAPLAN spelling results later in the year, and evaluating the success of this approach. The teachers are also at varying stages of implementing the ‘Oxford Maths’ program. The ‘Oxford Maths’ program incorporates the use of technologies, as well as workbook based activities. There’s plenty happening in the Art program under the dedicated direction of Ms Kittredge too. The Year 5/6’s are busy creating self-portraits. In Grade 4/5 the students have made some very creative ‘Giving Trees’ out of wire and beads and you can see these on display near the Library. All of the students across the school have contributed to canvases of ‘Beach Houses’ which will be sold by auction later in the year.

TODAY AT UPWEY PRIMARY SCHOOL!

Curriculum Day, Friday 24th March

We do apologise for the shortened notice for our Curriculum Day. The Oxford Maths program is a significant investment for the school. However, it has become increasingly evident, following the introduction of the new ‘Oxford Maths’ program, that teachers need the opportunity to comprehensively unpack the program and have robust professional conversations as to how to successfully implement the program into the teaching of the Victorian Maths Curriculum. We also need to form the framework of the ‘Upwey Primary School Mathematics Instructional Model’ which is a key improvement strategy of the 2017 Annual Implementation Plan. As our dedicated staff already work late into the afternoon (and often into the evening and weekends), it is difficult to find that time during our normal working week. Having a Curriculum Day gives teachers the time and opportunity to have those discussions. The timing is such that teachers can incorporate their understandings and information into their planning for Term 2. We thank you sin-cerely for your understanding and support. As we already have the minimum number of students required, we are able to operate the BASC program that day, should you require it. However, you do need to book to ensure your child is catered for in the num-bers. McClelland Sculpture Park Excursion We are all looking forward to the whole school excursion for all students, Prep – Year 6, next Thursday the 23rd March to McClel-land Sculpture Park. The coaches will leave at approximately 9am. As we have a specific time that we need to arrive at the park, because we are participating in organised workshops, it is very important that all children are at school by 9.00am. It promises to be a very enjoyable day as the students will have the opportunity to participate in workshops focussed on such topics as collage art and ephemeral art work. Students will need to bring their own snack, lunch and water bottle and wear full school uniform, including their school hat. For further information please see the Excursion Notice. There are still a number of families who have not returned their permission notice and not paid the cost for the excursion. This needs to be paid as soon as possible. If you are having difficulty in paying the cost or have any questions regarding the excursion, please don’t hesitate to contact me. It promises to be a fun filled day! Woorabinda Camp At 9 a.m. nine very excited students from Years 4 and 5 set off on the coach to Woorabinda Camp. Jack H and Zach P joined the

others later in the day. I called during the evening to see how they were settling in. I have been keeping in touch with Bruce, the

Principal, and he’s been making sure that they have been having a great time doing activities such as rock climbing, cooking dinner

on an open fire, hiking, cruising down the river, and the hi-ropes course! I’m sure the staff have an ulterior motive for keeping the

children so active…so that they sleep well at night! I am looking forward to hearing all their news when the students all return. I’m

sure we’ll have plenty of stories for next week’s newsletter!

Grade 5/6 Camp Although it is still some time away, it is never too early to plan! This year’s Grade 5/6 Camp is to be held at Forest Lodge near Yarrum, 18th – 21st July this year. It has always been a very popular camp in the past and includes activities such as the Giant Swing, animal feeding, bush cooking, ropes course, archery and orienteer-ing. Other activities include a visit to Korumburra’s Coal Creek Historical Park and Wilson’s Promontory. We are waiting for a final costing to be confirmed for the 4 night camp but we anticipate that it will be similar to last year’s and be in the range of $450 - $480. If you would like to make a payment plan, please don’t hesi-tate to contact either myself or Cindy at the Front Office. As soon as we have a final cost confirmed we will distribute the information regarding all the finer de-tails. Working Bee today starting 3.30 Well the weather is looking good, not too hot, for our Working Bee. We have quite an extensive list that includes many projects including, pruning, replacing lights, whipper snipping, sweep-ing, gardening, collecting rubbish, laying soft fall mulch on the playground, helping out with the sausage sizzle etc. Many hands make light work so we are looking forward to seeing as many members of our wonderful community helping us. We are very fortunate in having such a beautiful environment and we would like to continue to keep it that way. We are very apprecia-tive of whatever time and ‘person-power’ you can give us. If you are also able to bring tools such as whipper snippers etc. that would be helpful also. We will wrap things up by 6.00 pm to enjoy a yummy sausage sizzle. I look forward to seeing you all at the Working Bee this afternoon at 3.30pm.

Anni Smart Acting Principal

SOME OF OUR PREPS

AND THEIR BUDDIES

P.A. NEWS Our Easter Raffle is on again.

Raffle tickets were sent out yesterday, they are $5 for a book of

10. If you require more tickets, please pop into the office.

We are also asking for donations towards our raffle. The raffle will be drawn at

the final Assembly on Friday 31st March. See you there at 2.15 in the hall.

Please support Jai in the World’s Greatest Shave.

Jai will be shaving his hair on Monday 20th during assembly.

Donations can be made on the day. Congratulations for raising more than

you hoped!

https://secure.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?RegistrationID=672419

A huge thank you to

James Murray for

coming in today to show us how a Drone works.

The session was amazing, we saw the drone flying around the hall.

In grade 5/6W, we are reading ‘The Dragon in the Garden’ by Reginald Maddock. This is a very engaging story about a young

boy living on a farm, who finds a dinosaur fossil in a nearby quarry. Jimmy Stewart faces many battles and new choices

each day, but none as important as deciding whether a muse-um should be allowed to take his dinosaur, or use the explosives

he found to blow it up so nobody can take it from him. The students were to decide what happens next, finishing the

paragraph beginning with

I held the end of the fuse…

I held the end of the fuse as the fire crawled down the match. I swayed my hand towards the fuse and… “Jimmy Stewpot!” my father said. “Put that match down!” Jimmy didn’t put the match down, instead he said “You best start running.” He threw the match onto the big, fat fuse and it bub-bled down the fuse onto the big red sticks of gelignite.

Finn A

I held the end of the fuse between my shaking fingers. Bill was now gone but I could feel the breathe of four nervous kids on my neck. I struck a match but, shaking too much, I dropped it and the flame quickly went out. “What a chicken.” Molly said. I knew it was a bad idea but Molly made me angry, ooh so angry, and that anger was what fuelled my stupidity.

Liam G

I held the end of the fuse and hesitated as I didn’t want to hurt my dragon. I lit the fuse then regretted it. I ran faster than I ever could. I hear a boom and the adults ran outside. “What happened, Stuart?” Mr. Ferriby said. I found this hard to say. “I blew up my dragon.” “What!?” Mr. Ferriby said. “You heard him. Stew blew it up,” Joe Belshaw said. There was an awkward silence.

Ben M

I held the end of the fuse. I told everybody to move off and get to the house. I waited till everybody got there and then lit the string. As soon as the fire started I ran to the others and half way there… BOOM! I nearly went death! Dad came out to see what the boom was. I was going to be grounded for the rest of my life. As soon as Dad say the dragon in pieces, he told everybody to go home and then to me he said, “Get in.” I knew what was going to come next. Good-bye world. I wish I’d never lit that dangerous fuse.

Ryen F-R

I held the end of the fuse. I wanted to strike the match, I really did but something inside of me stopped me. Everyone around me seemed as though they were standing at deaths door, until Molly broke the silence. “Ha! He can’t do it. He’s a baby!” and then cracked up laughing. Joe tried to make her stop but in the end he just joined in. Midge was telling everyone that I was just waiting for the right moment, and that’s when it hit me. I said “forgot to lay them out.” I rushed in the quarry to move the gelignite to the cave and make sure it was well away from my dragon. I made my dragon face away from the entrance and chiselled some holes in the back to mimic the explosion. I rushed out just in time to light the fuse.

Laura G

I held the end of the fuse… I looked up and saw mixed emotions written on everybody’s faces. I sighed and whispered “I’m sorry.” I pressed the button and the countdown was on. “No!” screamed Midge. “I’m outta ‘ere,” said Joe grabbing Gladys’s arm and running like my dragon was chasing him. “You did have the guts,” sighed Molly, “but I must bid you adue.” She taunted, running faster than a cheetah. Midge followed screaming. “Wait for me,” I screamed as the clock ticked down to one minute. And just like that, I ran.

Emily W

This week was short and quiet as there was a public holiday on Monday

and a few Grade 4 boys went on the Somers camp for the entire week.

We were fortunate with beautiful weather so we tried to spend a lot of

time outdoors.

We tried to beat our personal best (and that of our friends) on an obsta-

cle course taking turns over and over again .. We played hockey and bas-

ketball, made a yo-yos, climbed and jumped at the old adventure play-

ground. We made delicious banana milkshakes and pancakes, munched

on fresh fruit and rolled some yummy sushi rolls. And a few lucky early

birdies had a chance to admire beautiful sunrises this week …

Remember it is a Curriculum day next Friday and we will be running BASC program for the

whole day. Anything you would like to do – please let us know.

Thanks, Zdenka

Tuesday during Library time we had eye witness news reporters Miss Uphill and Miss Gannon interview each of us about how we liked A.S.C with Hayley.

Some interesting comments were made---very funny. Creative play: learning outcome 4

Mondays is Hall day our Favorite games is PINAPPLE. Next week we will be constructing an obstacle course.

This Thursday’s movie while munching on fresh popcorn was ----CAMP

ROCK

17th March - 24th march

RILEY

MILES