Kew Primary School Newsletter Diary Dates

Sept

Mon 17 CARE Disco

Free Dress Day

Wed 19 School Council 7.15pm

Fri 21 Bike to Hays Paddock –

Bike Ed Ride for Level 3

Fri 21 End of Term.

2:30pm dismissal

Oct

Mon 8 First day of Term 4

Curriculum Day

Pupil Free Day

Tue 9 Second Hand Uniform

Shop 3.15pm

13th September 2012

No.27

KPS Ph 9853 8325 www.kewps.vic.edu.au E kew.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au Www.OSHClub.com.au

Term Dates 2012

Term 3: 16 Jul to 21 Sept

Term 4: 8 Oct to 21 Dec.

Message from the Principal

School Review Feedback

On Monday afternoon (and evening) school reviewer Jill Jackson presented

her final report to staff and school council. Jill’s report gives the school

specific goals and targets to work towards achieving over the next 4-year

period. In delivering her final report Jill acknowledged the many positive

attributes about Kew Primary School’s achievements. Highlights from the

report are published below.

During the period of the strategic plan enrolment increased to

a high of 532 in 2011 and is currently 473. The student family

occupation (SFO) density index has increased from 0.13 in

2008 to 0.22 in 2011 indicating a slight reduction in the

socioeconomic profile of some of the school’s families. This

score places the school in a percentile range above the 85th

percentile in comparison to Victorian Government schools. It

is expected that school means for student outcomes will be in

the top fifteen per cent of outcomes across the State.

Teacher judgements against the Victorian Essential Learning

Standards (VELS) suggest that teachers have ensured that the

school is able to ‘value add’ as most year level means are well

above the State and within the expected top 15% of the State.

The Attitudes to School survey completed annually by Year 5

and 6 students indicates that student morale has remained

relatively strong over the period being just above the State

median each year.

The school has developed an impressive student leadership

profile for year 6 students with all students involved in action

teams that plan authentic leadership responsibilities.

There are vibrant programs in the Arts, physical education and

French. The school is trialling an immersion language program

in the Arts through the Content and Language Integrated

Learning initiative.

The school is keen to prepare students to live and work in our

increasingly globalised world and to provide pathways to

strengthen intercultural and language capabilities. Recent

introduction of an iPad program at years 3-6 has highlighted

the benefits of technology for promoting engagement in

learning.

The school offers specialist classes in visual arts, French,

iPad

This week’s iPad websites to visit:

http://www.skoodle.com/d/skoodle-learning

Skoodle is a safe social network

where children experience

first-hand how to keep themselves

safe online. It gives young children

the guided experience, the

confidence, the skills and the

knowledge to better protect

themselves online.

2

performing arts, physical education and a reading recovery intervention program. An exciting

innovation is the participation in a trial for the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

initiative. Years 4-6 students are immersed in French during their visual arts classes; this is in

addition to their regular 8 School Context French classes and enables greater exposure to the lan-

guage. This is well aligned to current government policy as language learning has been given greater

prominence by the State government along with ICT and intercultural studies.

An iPad program has been introduced and commenced at the start of the second semester 2012.

Planning to resource and maintain ICT hardware and software to support learning as well as

improving the skill base of staff in the innovative use of ICT will continue to be an ongoing budget

and planning consideration.

School Council provides support for the school and a forum for parent participation. Parents provide

assistance with a range of classroom programs, sporting events and excursions. The school is keen to

build parent and staff partnerships through special curriculum focussed events such as cultural

diversity day, book fairs, musical performances including opportunities for students to audition for J

Rock and the State Schools Spectacular.

During the strategic plan period there have been some strong student learning outcomes which affirm

the work of individual teachers as they focus on teaching and learning and purposeful teaching and

build their skills through professional learning. Teacher judgements indicate learning achievement

commensurate with the expected SFO band especially at years 3-6. Sustained performance within the

SFO band is evident by Year 5 on NAPLAN assessments with particularly pleasing outcomes in

numeracy each year and writing in 2011.

To a visitor touring the school, classrooms appear orderly and students are engaged in their learning.

Most classrooms have a task board or daily time table displayed for students. The school self-

evaluation affirms that the school has a stimulating and secure learning environment.

Classroom observations conducted by the reviewer would suggest that most students enjoy school and

are engaged in their learning in stimulating classrooms.

As with any worthwhile review, there are areas that the school needs to focus on in the upcoming 4-year period. In

broad terms priority action will focus on:

the next work for the school should be developing and implementing scope and sequence framework

aligned to AusVELS to drive curriculum planning for reading, writing (including spelling and

grammar and punctuation) and speaking and listening. There is a need for a strong focus on

improvement through implementing an agreed teaching and learning policy that drives whole-school

professional learning.

there has been a concerted effort to document and introduce transparent management procedures and

to lift the morale of teaching staff. As the school moves to appoint substantive leading teachers the

capacity for strong distributed leadership will enhance the school culture and enable the school to

implement a sustained improvement agenda.

Build positive home school links through strong communication, celebration of student achievement,

parent training programs and parent helpers.

Establish consistent and common communication links between teachers and parents (e.g. for

communicating concerns/absences, class newsletters, curriculum term outlines, information evening,

student led conferences etc); continue to foster community partnerships. –

revisit the shared vision and goals for education at Kew P.S.

Resources to support improved learning outcomes:

Targeted professional learning for school leaders and to build teacher capacity for explicit teaching;

Provision of support for students not achieving expected levels as well as English as an Additional

Language (EAL) support;

Coaching, mentoring and ensuring time for peer feedback to improve teacher practice;

Time table changes to ensure literacy and numeracy are prioritised and to accommodate team

planning;

Fully develop a resourcing plan for ICT including expenditure on ICT hardware, software and

additional technical support for ICT as well as staff training.

Jill has been commended for the manner in which she has worked through each level of the school review. As a

result of her efforts and experience the school now has a document that provides direction and a positive, productive

way forward building on the evident strengths the school community has in offering the very best education for all

students at Kew Primary School.

Barry Archibald

Acting Principal

State School Spectacular Report

By Katrina and Michelle For the last half year, 19 students in year 6, have been practising really hard on a big performance called State

School Spectacular (SSS). The amazing students involved in this performance were: Alex Sullivan, Billie Papado-

poulos, Cassie Bradley, Daniella Zitnich, Emily Hua, Hailley Hunt, Joshua Kline, Kai Te Koha, Katrina Fu, Laura

Flood, Lilly Pacheco-Pizarro, Lucy Turton, Michelle Surgijati, Millie Black, Olivia Ma, Rachel Buchart, Rishab

Shirastav, Rosalyn Tan and Sara Curran.

We started practising at a high school quite far from here, Boronia Heights. The choreographers that taught us how

to dance were Deon Nuku and Troy Phillips.

We went to Boronia Heights 4 times to practise our dance. In SSS we performed 5 dances: All You Need is Love

(opening song), On the Floor, Lean On Me, Young Heart Run Free and Hello Goodbye (ending song).

We practised at Boronia Heights 4 times with other State Schools. After 3 practises, we received our fans for On the

Floor and on our last practise, our costumes had arrived. For our costumes we each had 2 pairs of pants (1 black and

the other 1 was different colour for each person ) and 3 shirts ( 1 one sided top, 1 singlet with either a sash or sparkly

dress and a big t-shirt with a love heart and streamers).

After J rock was over, we started practising at school. A video was sent from Deon and Troy showing all the dances.

Our practises were on Tuesday and Thursday lunchtimes. We gave up most of our lunchtime but it was worth it. Our

big performance was on 8th of September so we could only have 6 practises. By the end of those 6 practises we

pretty much knew all of the 5 dances off by heart, but we couldn't make mistakes on the stage so 2 days before, we

had practises at Hisense Arena going through the whole performance between the 2 days.

Our first performance on Saturday was at 11am. Seeing such a big crowd made us even more nervous and excited at

the same time. Other State Schools encouraged and supported us and we did too, to give them good luck. Our second

performance was at 5:00pm. This time we were not so nervous because we did great in the first performance. It was

our last time performing and wearing our costumes. We were sad to leave but happy to be a part of it. This has been

a wonderful experience for all 19 of us and we would like to thank Chrystal Sumpton and Tahnee Planner for

supporting us and organizing this.

4

Message from the Assistant Principal

An integral part of teaching and learning is the planning that teachers do within their teams so that they

can deliver curriculum to all students that is age appropriate, open ended and challenging. School Council has

approved a pupil- free day for the first day of Term Four- Monday 8th October so that teachers can do this

planning as well as work on the new Strategic Plan that will dictate the direction for Kew PS over the next four

years. Please note that OSH Club has planned for this day and will operate a special program for students who are

booked in.

Parents often ask me how they can specifically help their children to further their learning and with holidays just

around the corner I have a number of suggestions. There are many things that you can do at home to promote

learning and address areas of their learning requiring some focus. Often, the best thing you can do for your child is to

spend time with them and enjoy activities together. This allows for language development as you use complex

vocabulary, and enables general knowledge to grow as you identify, question and inform your child about things

going on in the world around them. Children need a break from routine school work in the holiday period so take the

opportunity to use different teaching and learning activities. Here are a few suggestions:

Play board games. Children need to learn to take turns, to count on from the roll of a dice and importantly

they need to be a good loser. Games of chance are important for that very reason. Try and remember some of

the games you played as a child and take your family on a trip down memory lane. Older children enjoy

learning card games and can develop terrific skills in strategy and logical thinking in the process.

Read books, magazines, maps (if you are taking a trip), websites, ebooks, newspapers and signs. As 2012 is

the National Year of Reading, the local library is a great place to visit and if you haven’t been to the State

Library lately give yourself a treat.

There are many places around Melbourne that are worth a visit over the school holidays. A day in the city can

provide a range of places including ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) that has daily screenings

of short films and a variety of multimedia workshops for children. Following this day trip your children could

design a brochure, create an ipad presentation or write a review of the place you visited.

Don’t forget that children love to make things. A roll of masking tape, and a collection of discarded boxes,

cost little and give hours of pleasure. Kids can cook, draw, design, knit, garden, sew and make cubbies. All of

these activities are very beneficial to their learning, allowing for use of fine motor skills, planning and

measuring skills.

I dare you to have some “screen-free” time built into each day.

For more ideas on activities you can do at home check out suggestions in “Shine@home” on

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/aboutschool/participation/201tips.htm

Robin Grace.

Buddies

Buddies is a very good program in Kew because older students and younger students can interact with each other!

Recently Ms Grace and the Ambassadors have been planning on a new type of buddy program. One suggestion was

to write a letter to their assigned buddy before they start school so that the parents have an idea of their buddies

personality. The other suggestion was that Grade 5 get buddies for two years ( 5 & 6 ).

In the buddy program every week the buddies meet up for a session together sometimes they play games and have

fun. Also Grade 6 help the buddies with their education! Sometimes when it gets closer to Christmas, Easter or other

special days the buddies sometimes makes little things to do with the special day. An example is, recently Grade 6

helped the buddies make Father's Day cards or Easter egg hunts that Years 5 & 6 prepare!

By Emily, Laura and Michelle

CARE School Disco

Monday 17th September 9.05am-

9.45am

Free dress day.

No donation expected.

School Council

On Monday the 10th September, School Council had the privilege of hearing our school reviewer Jill Jackson

present her findings on Kew Primary School. As parents will know, this is part of a 4 yearly review process

mandated by the Education Department that allows each school to formulate their next strategic plan and thus

capture what they would like to achieve and where they would like to see their school develop over the following 3

years.

We just wanted to share with the school community that overall Jill’s findings were very positive. She commended

the staff on their thorough and professional self -evaluation and their honesty and openness. Her main message was

that Kew Primary’s academic achievements are excellent. Jill recognised that the school has been through a difficult

time in the last year and this was evident in the feedback provided by staff and parents, though interestingly not so in

how our kids view themselves and the school. Particular areas of excellence highlighted by Jill were our Grade 6

leadership program (outstanding!), the recent introduction of iPads and the programs provided by our specialist staff.

Jill suggested some areas for attention and development in the future: strengthening a whole school approach to

appropriate classroom behaviour, exploring the breadth of the writing curriculum in the junior years and addressing

gender differences in school engagement and self confidence in the upper years. Her advice that leadership

opportunities be developed amongst the school staff (beyond the positions of Principal and Assistant Principal) and

improving the academic tracking of students throughout their school years are areas that Barry and Robin had

already highlighted to school council and which are already under development.

We congratulate the staff and students of Kew Primary School on achieving these results and look forward to

sharing the Strategic Plan, once formulated, with the whole community.

Nikki Schwarz: President, Kew PS School Council

Dominica Zentner: Vice President, Kew PS School Council

Monday 17th & Tuesday 18th

September

Computer Maintenance

System maintenance will occur at Kew Primary School so the

computers will be down for all of Monday and probably most of

Tuesday. Please do not send any emails as we will not be able to

access them. If you need to contact the school, please phone.

Apologies in advance for any inconvenience this may cause.

6

Scholastic Book Club Volunteer Needed

for 2013 and beyond.

Would you be prepared to coordinate the distribution of

brochures, ordering and distribution of books for the

Scholastic Book Club which raises about $1000 dollars

of books for our school library each year?

The time commitment is about 12 hours per term spread

over several sessions which can be done in your own

time. The role can easily be shared by a small group.

I will be available to help the new volunteers with train-

ing and on the spot queries. If you can help, contact

m.eldridge8@bigpond.com or phone 0410447891.

Canteen helpers needed The canteen is a happy and fun place and is a way of getting to know other parents from the

school.

The role of the canteen volunteer is to help prepare nutritious food for the canteen.

The job includes serving the children if desired, making sandwiches and spreading cheese on the toasties, grating

and chopping, occasional dishwashing and other small tasks allowing Sally to do the cooking.

Big Thank You!

The 'Kew Katz' (Team 4) Netball Team & their families would like to say a big thank you to Toscano's , who kindly

donate oranges for the team every Saturday. Thanks also to Xavier & the other Teachers who have come along to

watch games. We appreciate your support!

WANTED....!

Thanks to all those parents who made purchases at last week's Uniform Shop Sale. As a result however, we have

hardly any short sleeved polo shirts (in light or dark blue) left on the rack!!

With Summer on the way (as well as the upcoming pre-school Orientation days), I am hoping to have more good

quality uniforms on offer early next month.

If you have any summer items in good condition that your child has outgrown, (especially sizes 4, 6 & 8) and no

longer need, we would be very grateful if you could donate to the Uniform Shop. All donations to the Office please.

The next Second Hand Uniform Sale is scheduled for the first week back in Term 4 (Tuesday 9th of October).

Many thanks for your support,

Nikki McConnon

OSHClub News

Before School / After School Care Program

OSHClub News

Before School / After School Care Program Program Update Hello everyone and welcome to week 9, We have been informed of a Pupil Free day on Monday 8

th October (First day back from the school holidays). We will be open from 7am-

6.30pm, all parents requiring care will need to book in online on the After School section to attend. We do require minimum numbers to operate so please ensure you book in!!! We are making the most of the lovely sunshine as much as possible…with loads of fun outdoor games. Indoors we are continuing our Spring festivities… creating butterflies, bumblebees, flowers and other bugs to add to our big Spring mural. Our mini chefs will be creating “melting moments” in 1/2 and 3/4 cooking this week, so we look forward to Osh being filled with glorious, mouth-watering smells. Kathi is being both missed and envied while on her sunny holiday. BREAKING NEWS ….......BREAKING NEWS ….......BREAKING NEWS ….......BREAKING NEWS ….......BREAKING NEWS ….......BREAKING NEWS

Here at Oshclub, Kathi has gone to Greece for two weeks!!! Fiona and Nikki have been cooking up a storm… YUM! 5/6’s have been to Bejans as part of their 5/6 activities. Holiday Program will be starting here soon, and I can’t wait to see what fun things we will be doing there! – Tania , year 3. I would like to keep this as an open invitation to the families of OSHClub children, if everyone could possibly donate any empty glass jars with or without lids, old newspapers, children's books, cardboard, paper, old magazines, wool, fabric scraps and anything else that is recyclable, even plastic drink bottles from soft drinks. A HUGE THANKS TO THE FAMILIES WHO ARE BRINGING IN RECYCLABLES :) If you have any questions or queries please call the program on 0400 394 489, alternatively feel free to pop into the program between the hours of 7:00 – 9:00am and 3:00 – 6:30pm and talk to one of our staff (Remembering that between 3:30 and 4pm is our busiest time and we might not be able to assist immediately). If you would like to book your child/ren into before or after care please log on to www.oshclub.com.au and follow the prompts to enrolling (Children MUST be enrolled to use the service). We hope to see you soon at OSHClub. Come and join in on the fun!! OSHClub Staff

This Week’s Activities

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Before &

After School

Draw/paint Bumblebee craft Footy finals fun

Follow the Leader

Paint Bird Craft

Soccer Blind Man’s Bluff

Basketball Spring craft

Octopus Painting

Multi-skill ball games Stuck in the mud

Flower chains Drawing

Painting Portraits

Children’s choice games

Special

Activities

5/6’s Special Activity

P/1/2’s Creative Cooking

5/6's Special Activity

3/4's Gourmet Cooking

Children’s Choice

AASC ACTIVITIES: Term 3 – Soccer on Tuesdays ~ Multi-Skill Ball Games on Thursdays Term 4 – Dancing on Wednesdays ~ Self Defence on Thursdays

A weekly updated Program Plan is located at the entrance of the OSH room for viewing. We also offer so much more every day, including our 'special activities'. Children also have a huge input on the daily activities.

Parent Information OSHC program phone: 0400 394 489 Operating Hours: BSC 7am-9am ~ ASC 3:30pm-6:30pm Coordinator: Kathi Rowan Assistants: Niki, Fiona, Cindy, Paul OSHClub Head Office: 03 85649000 *Please note: All families must be enrolled online to attend the program, remember it is FREE to enrol!! Please create an account online at www.oshclub.com.au all bookings and cancellations can also be managed via your online account. For on the day bookings please contact the Coordinator direct at the program.

8

Chess Ideas

Ph: 9532- 8370

Fax: 9532- 8360

P.O. Box 3158

Ripponlea 3185

admin@chessideas.com.au

Established in 1994

Teaching in over 100

schools in Melbourne

and Ballarat.

Coaches to the top

junior students in

Victoria.

CHESS REGISTRATION TERM 4, 2012

(Kew Primary School) NAME OF CHILD: __________________________________________________ GRADE: ______________

CONTACT PARENT/GUARDIAN: _____________________________________ Ph. #: ________________

SIGNATURE OF PARENT/GUARDIAN: _______________________________________________________

Credit Card Details:

NAME ON CARD: ________________________________________________ CARD TYPE: _____________

CARD NUMBER: ________________________________________________ EXPIRY DATE: __________

CCV # __________

Please enclose $95.00 and return to school office with completed form.

PLEASE NOTE THAT CHEQUES SHOULD BE MADE OUT TO – ‘CHESS IDEAS’.

Dates: 12/10– 14/12: (10 weeks)

Time: Friday’s 1.00pm – 1.50 p.m. – Library.

Cost: $95.00 (10 lessons) for the term.

PLEASE NOTE: If chess lessons coincide with swimming or school

camp, please deduct the cost of these lessons from the total amount. Otherwise students will not receive a refund for classes missed.

Students commencing after the first week do not pay for the earlier lessons.

Cheques should be made payable to “Chess Ideas” or we take payment via Visa

and Mastercard. The completed form should be handed into the school office.

PAYMENTS CAN BE MADE ONLINE AT:

www.chess.ideas.com.au

If your child has a medical condition we should know about please ring our

office with details.

Play Chess at home against the computer.

Go to www.chessideas.com.au home page.

Click on “play chess”. It’s fun!

Kew Primary School

Chess Club, 2012

Term 4 commences on Friday 12

th October

The Department of Education and Early

Childhood Development (DEECD) does not

endorse the products or services of any private

advertiser. No responsibility is accepted by

DEECD for accuracy of information contained in

advertisements or claims made by them.

TAKE HOME A BIG BROTHER OR BIG SISTER

Give your children the wonderful opportunity to have an international big brother or big sister by hosting one of our exceptional international students arriving in Australia in February 2013 for their 3, 5 or 10 month programs. Our international students from France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Colombia, Canada and the U.S.A. will live as a local, attend a local secondary school, arrive with their own spending money and comprehensive insurance cover – all arranged by Southern Cross Cultural Exchange. Visit us at www.scce.com.au, email scceaust@scce.com.au or call us toll free on 1800 500 501, request a selection of international student profiles to check out, and capture the spirit of family and friendship!