2nd June

2020

• Calendar

• Principal’s Message

• Return to School Arrangements

• Library Renaming

• Seesaw Trial

• From the Classrooms

• Somerton PS Playgroup

• P & C News & P & C Pie Drive

• Community Classifieds

• Staffing

• Thank You

• Small School Camps

• Semester 1 Reports

• Noticeboard

W Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

6

1 June 2 June 3 June 4 June 5 June 6 June 7 June

7

8 June Public Holiday

9 June 10 June 11 June 12 June 13 June 14 June

8

15 June 16 June 17 June Book Club due

18 June 19 June 20 June 21 June

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22 June Pie Drive money & orders due

23 June 24 June 25 June 26 June 27 June 28 June

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29 June 30 June ! July 2 July 3 July 3 July 4 July

Term 3

1

20 July Staff Development Day

21 July 22 July School Photo Day

23 July 24 July 25 July Reports distributed

26 July

2

27 July 28 July 29 July 30 July 31 July 1 August 2 August

3

3 August 4 August Small Schools’ Spelling Bee

5 August 6 August 7 August 8 August 9 August

4

10 August 11 August 12 August 13 August 14 August 15 August 16 August

Principal’s Message

Last week, we were delighted to welcome students

back to fulltime schooling. After a challenging few

months during the Covid-19 period, it was great that

we have students back at school, connecting with their

peers and teachers.

The staff would like to thank families for their

contribution to your children’s education, through

supporting participation in remote learning activities.

We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively

with our community to create opportunities for our

students.

Return to School Arrangements

In line with the advice of the NSW Department of

Education, the school will continue to implement

physical distancing and good hygiene practices. To

support, we ask that parents:

Pick up and drop off will occur at the front of the

school. We ask that parents limit their interactions with

other adults as per social distancing restrictions.

refrain from entering the school grounds. If you need

to access your children during the day, please contact

the front office beforehand.

If your child is unwell or has flu-like symptoms (cough,

runny nose, fever) we ask that they be kept at home.

School attendance: As of Monday 25th May, students

are expected to return and attend school. Students

who are absent are required to provide an explanation.

The school will keep you updated as these

arrangements are amended. Thank you for your

support during this period.

Library Renaming

Over the past few months, staff have worked

diligently to reconfigure the library into a multipurpose

space. We plan to run a variety of extra curricula

activities such as art, STEM and host community

events such as re-establishing the playgroup for

prospective enrolments and their families.

In recognition, we wish to rename this space using

the language of the local indigenous community, the

Gamilaraay people. This signifies the connection

between our school, with the land and community

which we meet upon. Mrs Markwick and Mr White

have shared some names with students, who will

vote as part of this process.

To coincide with the renaming, students will be

contributing to a community mural, highlighting links

between local wildlife, habits and waterways. We look

forward to sharing future developments.

Seesaw Trial

This term staff will continue to trial the application,

Seesaw. This product allows staff and students to

share learning undertaken during the school day. We

will look to utilise Seesaw as a communication tool, in

addition to our fortnightly newsletter, emails and

Facebook updates.

If you haven’t yet connected to your child’s Seesaw

journal or require support around using this app,

please contact your child’s teacher.

Mr Stephens’

Message

Staffing

This term, we welcome Mr Stephen Lalor to our

teaching staff. Mr Lalor will be in our school on

Thursday and Fridays, working with the wombats and

covering release from face to face across the school.

Ms Chris Hudson finished up at Somerton Public

School at the end of Term 1. She has chosen to

pursue family commitments, and we wish her best of

luck in her future endeavours. Ms Hudson has made a

significant contribution to our school over several

years.

Thank you

Local community member Lynde Bartel has created

and donated a table, decorated with indigenous

artwork. This piece pairs up with a similar work

donated to the school last year. On behalf of the

school community, we would like to thank Lynde for

sharing her talent and contributing to the cultural

presence in our school. Hopefully, we can invite Lynde

and her family into the school later in the year to work

with students and share the cultural importance of

both pieces.

Small School Camps - Stage 2 and 3.

It is looking likely that the Years 3/4 and Years 5/6

camps will be offered later in the year. If you have a

child in either of these year groups, it would be great

if we could have an indication of interest.

Camps dates are:

Years 3 and 4: Great Aussie Bush Camp (25th, 26th

August)

Years 5 and 6: Canberra (Term 4, dates TBC)

For further details, please discuss this with your

child’s teacher.

Reports - Semester 1

Written progress reports for students in Terms 1 and

2 will be provided to families in Week 1, Term 3. As

per the guidance provided by the Department of

Education, these reports will be abbreviated and

provide parents with a snapshot of your child’s

current progress in English and Mathematics. Other

key learning areas and key information will be

provided through a general comment. No A to E

grades will be awarded.

Parent interviews will be conducted during weeks 2

and 3, Term 3. The purpose of these will be to clarify

any questions regarding the formal report and to set

individual learning goals for each student.

Mr Stephens’

Message continued...

The latest Book Club catalogue is included in today’s newsletter. If you would like to

purchase any items from the catalogue please complete the order form on the back page

and return it to the school with the correct amount of cash or cheque by

Wednesday, 17th June

Alternatively orders may be placed online at www.scholastic.com.au/LOOP

Book Club benefits Somerton Public School as every Book Club order placed earns us

20% (10% for home deliveries) of the order spend in rewards enabling us to purchase

valuable education resources.

Breakfast Club

Each morning before school, we are very grateful

to have Mrs Markwick prepare a simple breakfast

for all students.

From next week Mrs Markwick would like to

include scrambled eggs 2 or 3 days a week.

If your child, for any reason, cannot eat eggs

please let the school know before next Monday

morning.

From the classrooms….

Wombat Wag This fortnight, the Wombats have enjoyed the return of school and have been busy refamiliarising

themselves with classroom routines and reconnecting with peers. It is a big adjustment after a couple

months away!

During literacy sessions, the Wombats are participating in Daily 5 activities. Daily 5 consists of Read to

Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Word Work and Work on Writing. These experiences go

together to form a balanced literacy session. Library sessions will continue to be run on Monday

afternoons, where students are encouraged to borrow for home. Please send a borrowing bag in with your

child.

In Mathematics, the Wombats have been looking for a chance and data. This has included answering the

question of the day, creating our own questions and collecting data. Topics have included;

What is the most valuable thing in the world?

What is the largest thing in the world

What is the oldest thing in the world?

Our PE focus has been on exploring

environments at school. The wombats

venture out twice a day to participate

in movement challenges on the

playground equipment and/or a whole

class game. Gross motor sessions will

be run twice a week on Tuesday and

Thursday afternoons, supporting the

development of fundamental

movement skills.

The wombats have been learning how

to Seesaw their own learning. Check

the family regularly for further updates.

Mr Stephens - Head Wombat.

From the classrooms…. Kangaroo Kickstart Term 1 and 2 have not turned out at all how we would have

expected. Our almost 8 weeks of home learning gave our

class lots of opportunities to explore out-of-class school work.

We learnt how to "Zoom" and read stories from afar and how

to "Seesaw" with tasks that get us all doing the same thing, but

perhaps at different times.

Back in the classroom we've continued on with the learning we

started at home, focussing on the past and seeing what things

have changed over time. We've discovered about trams and

treehouses, swaggies and drovers. We've spent time working

with students in both the Wombats and the Koalas classes and

we are growing every day.

From the classrooms….

Koalas Koala’s News

After starting this term with our remote

home learning, the Koalas have returned

eager to learn.

Koalas learning have been gearing towards

boys in education and we have had some

successes in their excitement and

enthusiasm with our learning.

In maths we have been working

mathematically to work out problems.

Learning our spelling words have had a make over and the boys need

to order and sort the list of words.

Once we looked and discussed the items, the boys were keen to get writing their stories.

Writing has become exciting with our

Bump Up Wall and Writing Stimulus table.

Our visitors Kobi and Jack loved working on our spelling and writing tasks as well.

Next Term, Somerton Public School is looking to

establish a playgroup.

This will operate weekly and is open to parents and

children of prospective enrolments at our school.

The group will be run by Mrs Jodie Markwick and will be

held in our multipurpose space.

To express interest or for further information please

contact the school.

P & C News

Hi Everyone, Just a quick note from your P&C… I’m not sure how we did it but we have had quite a busy 2nd term already. We have installed our kitchen for the canteen - thank you Wes, Lynde and Kayla…, replenished the vegetable gardens with vegetable plants—thank you Kayla and The Kneipp’s and started our annual Pie Drive. If you need another order form you can get one from the school, the back of this newsletter or our P&C Facebook page. Please make sure you get out there, (whilst social distancing of course) and sell them to any and everyone you know. We are offering a delivery service for reasonable distance of Somerton. They are a great winter warmer just in time for the school holidays. Our uniform pool is also open for new and second hand uniforms. Please contact Emily (VP) if you need anything. We have a few projects in the pipeline for our P&C but if you have any new ideas or simply something you would like to see in the school that the P&C can help with, please let us know. We love fresh ideas and new faces. We will schedule a meeting when restrictions allow us to. Until next time, stay safe, stay warm. Kind regards Leianna Kneipp President

Somerton War Memorial Hall

If you would like to hire this great

facility please contact:

Ph: 0427 697 566

Somerton CWA

The CWA meet on the second Tuesday of

each month.

All interested ladies are welcome.

Please contact:

Carol Bank (President) 6760 6250 or

Judi Swain (Secretary) 6743 1701 for more information.

2020 Somerton P & C

Winter Pie Drive

We will deliver to anyone in the Somerton area.

Order your pies now for early July delivery.

Please contact

Leianna 0427335280 or Karen 0448451639 to arrange home delivery

If you can pay EFT, details are below:

Account name: Somerton P&C Association

BSB: 062-602

Account #: 00940242

Please use your name as the reference

Thank you for supporting our local Somerton Public School