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The uniform shop is situated in the covered

assembly area. Opening hours for 2019 are:

TUESDAY 1.30PM - 3.30PM

THURSDAY 8.15AM - 10.45AM

UNIFORM SHOP

Rivergums Newsletter Term 3 Week 5 2019

Whole School Review

Our School went through a Whole School

Review, conducted by representatives of

the Education Department. These reviews

are conducted on Independent Public

Schools every three years. The purpose of

the review is founded on how effectively

our school creates and sustains these

conditions for student success through six

key areas:

E ngag in g re la t i o nsh ip s a nd

partnerships

A positive learning environment

Effective leadership

Quality teaching

Use of resources

An analysis of student achievement and

progress

In respect to this review the Review

Summary was put together in consultation

with the staff, School Board and P & C.

This has enabled the school community to

take ownership of the school review

process. Part of this summary included:

“The school community wish to highlight

the following areas including our Positive

Behaviour Program, which was introduced

last year, and our Pastoral Care approach

which is highly regarded. Staff have

highlighted our Distributed Leadership

Model and the professional learning that

surrounds this. This includes the

collaborative nature of the staff and a very

positive staff culture. The community also

value our whole school learning practices

which gives consistency across the school.

Our literacy intervention program is

especially valued by both parents and

staff. There were very positive comments

regarding the ‘feel’ of the school and that it

is an inclusive and safe environment that

has a ‘community feel’ to it. The Board and

P & C felt that they had a very strong

connection with the school and the support

it has of the staff...I also believe that they

school has achieved so much over a very

short timeline and we can see a very

positive school culture evolving. This is

testament to the hard work and dedication

of all staff at Rivergums Primary School.”

The Reviewers gave glowing reviews of

the school, its programs and processes

that have been established and they were

very impressed with the student leaders

they met with. They acknowledged the

very positive feel of the school and the

highly collaborative nature of all staff, both

teaching and non-teaching. They felt the

school was operating and performing at a

Continued ….

IMPORTANT DATES Thu 22 Aug Triple P Parenting

Program Tue 27 Aug, Thu 29 Aug, Fri 30 Aug P & C Fathers Day

Stall Wed 28 Aug Book Week Parade

Fri 30 Aug P-6 Assembly (C4)

Tue 3 Sep Yr 3-6 Championship

Day Fri 6 Sep K-2 Faction Carnival

Tue 10 Sep Yr 3-6 Faction

Carnival

DISCOVER • BELIEVE • ACHIEVE • COMMUNITIES

Principal’s Message

...very high level. A report is being developed which will be shared

with the community once it is completed. It will include

acknowledgements and some areas which we may need to focus

on.

Staff Changes

As some families may already be aware, I will be on Long Service

Leave for most of the remainder of this year. The following staffing

arrangements have been made:

Acting Principal Mrs Jackie Redfearn

Associate Principal Mrs Kat Meyer

Associate Principal Mrs Kerrianne Mills

Acting Associate Principal Mrs Donna Moore

A huge congratulations to Mrs Redfearn on her appointment to

Acting Principal in my absence and I have no doubt that she will do

an excellent job. I would also like to congratulate Mrs Moore for her

appointment to Acting Associate Principal over this period.

Planning for 2020

This is well underway already and we are expecting our enrolments

to increase once again. We expect to open the school in 2020 with

around 670 students and should reach 700 by the end of the year.

This would mean two or three more transportable classrooms for

the school. Two have been ordered for delivery at the beginning of

next year.

Following on from Term 1’s national Clean Up Australia Day, D1 and B5 hosted their third Clean Up Rivergums

Day to keep up with the waste around our school. The results this term are:

It was great to see such a big reduction in loose rubbish from the junior and early childhood end of the school.

The Year Ones and Twos know to BIN IT OR BAG IT! Our middle school students in C and D block have

increased their litter - it was a shame to see so much

around their area and through their garden beds. The

seniors in E block are doing well to reduce their litter

too!

Our third clean up for the year has shown the

enthusiasm our students and leaders have in keeping

Rivergums clean, as well as protecting the natural

environment from waste related dangers. We were

even able to recycle some scrunchy food wrappers

and water bottles. Our

excursion to the Millar Road

Landfill Facility this term has

supported our understanding of

what can and can’t be

recycled . The most interesting

item we found - a detention

note from the high school!

Clean Up Rivergums Term 3

Term 1 Week 5 Term 2 Week 7 Term 3 Week 5

A block, B block, Junior

Playground

210 pieces of rubbish 202 pieces of rubbish 136 pieces of rubbish

C block, D block, Senior

Playground

134 pieces of rubbish 138 pieces of rubbish 168 pieces of rubbish

E block & Oval 357 pieces of rubbish 243 pieces of rubbish

240 pieces of rubbish

RoboCup Jr

What a fantastic RoboCup 2019! This year we had four teams enter the Rescue category and one team enter

the Soccer competition.

Our rescue teams did particularly well on Friday with two teams finishing inside the top eight and returning on

the Saturday for finals. Tweaks to the team’s robot saw one of these teams blitz the three rounds with near

perfect runs, finishing the rounds first. This booked them a spot in the Grand Final. Our other team did very well,

finishing fourth, just shy of the top three.

During the Head to Head Grand Final, the top three teams lined their robots up to simultaneously take on three

difficult tracks. Each team had two minutes to complete their track before rotating. The winner would be the team

with the most points at the end. Rivergums PS was up against teams from All Saints College and Wickham PS.

During the first two tracks the Rivergums robot decided to misbehave and it failed to navigate some of the

challenges or save the object. A restart before the last round helped the robot complete the round perfectly.

They finished third and were presented with a bronze medal at the presentation ceremony.

The Soccer competition was always going to be challenging as the league has no age restriction, meaning they

were up against predominantly high school students. Our team showed plenty of determination, resilience and

persistence to not only build a robot that can play soccer, kicking and defending, but code it to do so. A rather

difficult and challenging feat. The Rivergums team, The Bin Chickens, won the first game 3-0, however lost the

following three games to difficult opposition. Although they didn’t make the finals, they certainly made the

community of Rivergums proud of their efforts and for having a go!

All of our teams were highly commended by the RoboCup staff, saying that they loved having our students at the

event and how they competed with great sportsmanship, used manners and were consistently well behaved.

I follow eating procedures.

Positive Behaviour Support at Rivergums Primary School focuses on creating a positive school culture. We are implementing a

whole school behaviour matrix with a consistent approach to behaviour and expectations. The PBS framework is modelled on

teaching positive behaviours, meaning that teachers will explicitly demonstrate to the students how to follow the expectations

using role play and visual cues.

This fortnight we are focusing on the following Rivergums Behaviour Expectations:

I move safely around the room.

PBS Focus

I follow eating procedures.

At last week’s assembly E3 and the Newz Team presented a fantastic assembly. They delivered the news in style with their roving reporters and interviewed staff and students on ‘What does Resilience mean to you?’. E3 students did a fabulous job with your reporting and putting together your newsreel!

News with E3

On Waste Wise Wednesday, August 7th, B5 and D3 undertook an excursion provided free by the City of Rockingham to their Waste Education Facility at Millar Road. We had a bus tour of the surroundings where we saw a 25 year old, rehabilitated landfill cell (rolling green hills with small trees and grass), a 10 year old landfill cell (which the students were surprised they could still see the rubbish under the dirt), a current landfill cell (with rubbish being pushed in and covered) and a future cell (the sand and rock were being excavated). We played some games to upskill ourselves in recycling rules (no food or drink, lids off, no scrunchy plastic, rinse out) and what goes in which bin (because the bins go to different facilities). Students were looking forward to using their skills in their next Clean Up Rivergums session in Week 5.

B5 and D3 at the Millar Road Landfill Facility

SCHOOL EVENTS School Disco Huge thank you to Sharon Ross and Nicole Allen for organising the superhero disco. It was the best one we’ve had so far! Thank you to Jen Howard for being our DJ for

the night, you did a fab job!

The biggest thank you goes to everyone that volunteered

their time to help the disco run so smoothly.

I would like to thank you all personally:

Monte W Danni C Sam M

Ronni-Lee Haley J Sharron W

Renee P Michelle I Megan B

Sue A Kerrie M Michelle H

Tracy F Colleen G Paris W

Stuart F Chantelle H Wade P

Tara S Kathryn k Carmen G

Fathers Day Stall The Fathers Day Stall will be held in Week 6 on Tuesday 27th, Thursday 29th, and Friday 30th of August. The stall will be running from 10am - 2pm. We need volunteers to help out with this event, so if you can spare some time p l e a s e e m a i l J u l i e a n n e B r u c e a t rivergumspspandc@yahoo.com CANTEEN Our Canteen is always looking for volunteers, if you can

help out, even for an hour, Lorraine and Amanda would

be very appreciative. Please email rivergumcanteen

@hotmail.com or pop in and see Lorraine.

P & C News

Aim: To provide families with an understanding of

the Method of Shared Concern in managing bullying

incidents and how it works.

The Shared Concern method

The key to stopping bullying is getting those involved to talk about what is happening and decide how to overcome

the problem. The Friendly Schools Plus Program recommends that schools use the Method of Shared Concern to

encourage children to talk about bullying incidents. Families can also use this strategy at home.

The Method of Shared Concern aims to change the behaviour of students who are bullying and to improve the

situation for the student being bullied. This method helps students develop empathy and concern for others and

gives them strategies to help them get along better with others in the school and at home.

How does the method work?

1. Individual meetings are held with each of the students involved in the bullying incident: the student or

students bullying, the person being bullied and any bystanders who may have seen what was happening.

2. Each student is asked about the bullying behaviour and to suggest ways he or she personally could help to

improve the situation for the person being victimised.

3. The student being bullied is also given the opportunity to discuss what happened and is encouraged to think

of ways to improve the situation.

4. There are follow-up meetings, discussions and planning that give students the opportunity to change and to

put these new behaviours into practice in a supportive environment.

E4