Congratulations to

Thank you to Special Thanks to

Bus Travel Walking School Bus—Friday 20th May

This Monday is a STUDENT FREE DAY. Permission notes for the Graeme Base excursion need to be re-

turned to school ASAP. Friday the 4th of September is our Father’s Day stall, limit of 2 gifts

per child. Read for Australia Event and Family Reading Time, 9.00-9.30am

Friday 4th September. We are still after newspapers to help mulch the garden beds out

the front. Please place them outside the sports shed.

Thank you to Lee Donoghue for his ongoing work in the kitchen.

The latest update is the hot water service is in!

Thank you to Chris Bills for erecting the ‘Non Smoking’ and

‘Caution Children’ signs at the front of the school. Please note that

smoking is prohibited within 4 metres from the entrances to our

school grounds.

Thank you to the Willow Grove Lions Club for their hospitality in

hosting the Public Speaking Competition. It was a great night all

round.

Thank you to Clarry and Brodie for their leadership in running as-

sembly. Our new students leaders for the remainder of the term are

Damien and Angus.

Willow Grove School and

Community Newsletter 2 7 T H A U G U S T 2 0 1 5 V O L 1 5 : I S S U E 2 6

DATES FOR 2015

28th Aug—Principals’ Day

31st Aug—School Closure Day—

Teacher Professional Develop-

ment

31st Aug—6th Sept—National

Literacy and Numeracy Week

1st Sept—Basketball Competi-

tion (selected Gr 5/6)

3rd Sept—Graeme Base Excur-

sion

4th Sept—Father’s Day Stall

4th Sept—National Literacy & Numeracy Week—Read for Aus-tralia Event 9.00-9.30am (children

to wear PJ’s)

8th Sept—Division Athletics Day

8th Sept—Curriculum & Policy

Committee Mtg 7.00pm

9th Sept—Parent Association

Meeting

9th Sept—Finance Meeting

14th Sept—Building & Grounds

Meeting 7.00pm

15th Sept—School Council Meet-

ing 7.30pm

16th Sept—Cricket Victoria Clin-

ic—whole school

18th Sept—Last day Term 3—Footy Colors & Pie Day— 2.00pm

dismissal

5th Oct—First day of Term 4

24th Oct—Goods & Services

Auction

MON TUE WED THU FRI 31

School Closure

Day—Teacher

Professional De-

velopment

1

Basketball Compe-

tition (selected Gr

5/6)

Music catchup

Sporting Schools—

Hockey Program

National Literacy &

2

Brekky Club

Numeracy Week

3

Brekky Club

Graeme Base Ex-

cursion Gr 2-6

4

Brekky Club

Father’s Day Stall

Literacy & Numeracy

Week—Read for

Australia (PJ’s)

7

8

Division Athletics

Day

Sporting Schools—

Hockey Program

Curriculum & Poli-

cy Meeting

9

Brekky Club

Parent Association

Meeting

Finance Meeting

10

Brekky Club

Mobile Library

11

Brekky Club

August 2015

Childcare Reference Number

407144619S

Willow Grove Primary School

Find us at—

www.willowgroveps.vic.edu.au

TERM DATES 2015

Term

3

13th July—18th Sep-

tember

Term

4

5th October—18th De-

cember

ATTACHED

Like us on

It’s not okay to be away … it’s not great to be late …

Thank you

Reminders

Congratulations

Happy

Birthday Rory Wilms

Ella Robinson

News from Ann

School Working Bee—Saturday

Name of children participating _____________________________________

Days of the week (tick the days your child will be participating)

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Please return by Thursday, 18th September

NAPLAN

Parents play a major role in assisting and supporting their child to ac-quire strong literacy skills. Literacy learning started when your child was born. Parents play a vital role as their children’s first literacy teachers. Consider all the things that children learn before school as they mix with others, observe what others do and try to do the same things. Much of this learning happens naturally and within a social context. Oral lan-guage is the foundation of learning to read to write. Encourage your chil-dren to talk about and express their feelings and ideas. Provide experi-ences that expand their concepts and vocabulary. Children do not al-ways needs loads of money spent on them. Varied family outings, games inside and out, just pottering around with you as do jobs will ex-pand their notion of the world. They will bring their knowledge and under-standing of the world to their reading and writing. Literacy learning is a social experience because it depends on demon-strations from, collaboration with, and continuous feedback and re-sponse from, other people, it happens, at home and at school, when chil-dren are surrounded by people who listen, talk, think, read and write. Children need to see the purposes for reading and writing.

Here are some ideas for you to support your child develop literacy skills over the year levels. Share experiences (a picnic, camping, gardening, cooking, farming) which are then talked about at home Share books (especially stories) and talk about them with more experi-enced readers Have plenty of books to handle and read See print all around them Have models of how people read and write Have opportunities to read and write Know that people expect them to read and write Are given choices about what they read and write Feel free to ‘have a go ‘ at reading and writing (including spelling) Are able to talk about their reading and writing Experience feelings of success Feel responsible for their own reading and writing Have confidence in their own ability Understand what reading, writing and learning can do for them We need to work together, parents and teachers, to develop a part-nership which will support our literacy learners and to ensure a life- long learning. As adults we know that literacy provides the keys to life.

Can you help?

News from Ann

Student Achievements

P A G E 2

W I L L O W G R O V E S C H O O L A N D C O M M U N I T Y N E W S L E T T E R

What an enjoyable night students, families and members of the community had this Monday as the Willow Grove Lions Club hosted the Public Speaking Competition. The six students who participated, Natalie, Emily, Gus, Mark, Ewan and Clarry, were all winners in the eyes of the crowd. The confidence and attitude to approach and attack an experience that was unfamil-iar to them showed the exceptional qualities each student has. All students received excellent comments and feedback from the judges. Public Speaking can be a fearful experience and for the students to embrace the competition and speak confidently about a topic (which each student had taken the time to rehearse and research thoughtfully) was a fantastic achievement. The two winners, Natalie from Grade 4 and Ew-

an from Grade 5/6 will compete in the next

stage in early October. We wish them the best

of luck!

It seems to be a busy time of year, with a few sporting competitions currently operat-ing across the Latrobe Valley Division. Tuesday the 8

th of September sees our Ath-

letics Team compete at the Latrobe Valley Division Athletics, comprising of the best student athletes across the Latrobe Valley. Students will be attending on the bus and accompanied by myself and Michelle Byrne. Please note that the event sched-ule given to each student is a guide only and that the first event, the 1500m will start at 9.30am.

I was also given the opportunity at the last minute to enter a basketball team in Latrobe Valley Basketball Competition. This will take place at the Latrobe Sports Stadium on Tuesday the 1

st of September. The team has been practicing at recess

and lunchtimes. I’m sure they will have a great day and enjoy the experience.

Hockey continues to be a big hit as part of our involvement in the Sporting Schools Program. Louise has been excellent with all the students, building up their hockey skills and knowledge. This program will continue to operate for the next three weeks. The students in the senior grade will also get the opportunity to try their hand at golf

over two, 1 hour sessions, the first of which started today. This is funded again by

the Sporting Schools initiative. I would like to thank Alison Abbott for her hard work

in organising these wonderful opportunities for the students of Willow Grove.

Sports Update

Acting Principal’s Report

Parents play a major role in assisting and supporting their child to ac-quire strong literacy skills. Literacy learning started when your child was born. Parents play a vital role as their children’s first literacy teachers. Consider all the things that children learn before school as they mix with others, observe what others do and try to do the same things. Much of this learning happens naturally and within a social context. Oral lan-guage is the foundation of learning to read to write. Encourage your chil-dren to talk about and express their feelings and ideas. Provide experi-ences that expand their concepts and vocabulary. Children do not al-ways needs loads of money spent on them. Varied family outings, games inside and out, just pottering around with you as do jobs will ex-pand their notion of the world. They will bring their knowledge and under-standing of the world to their reading and writing. Literacy learning is a social experience because it depends on demon-strations from, collaboration with, and continuous feedback and re-sponse from, other people, it happens, at home and at school, when chil-dren are surrounded by people who listen, talk, think, read and write. Children need to see the purposes for reading and writing.

Here are some ideas for you to support your child develop literacy skills over the year levels. Share experiences (a picnic, camping, gardening, cooking, farming) which are then talked about at home Share books (especially stories) and talk about them with more experi-enced readers Have plenty of books to handle and read See print all around them Have models of how people read and write Have opportunities to read and write Know that people expect them to read and write Are given choices about what they read and write Feel free to ‘have a go ‘ at reading and writing (including spelling) Are able to talk about their reading and writing Experience feelings of success Feel responsible for their own reading and writing Have confidence in their own ability Understand what reading, writing and learning can do for them We need to work together, parents and teachers, to develop a part-nership which will support our literacy learners and to ensure a life- long learning. As adults we know that literacy provides the keys to life.

Can you help?

News from Ann

P A G E 3

All of the staff at Willow Grove, value the strong connections that we have with each of our

families. Please take the time to ring, pop in or write a note if you have any concerns or

feedback (we like hearing the good things too!). A strong partnership between the school

and home is vital in creating happy, successful learners, so please come and see us about

your child’s progress or any issues that they might be having. Graham our school chaplain

is also available to lend a listening ear and offer support.

Our family reading event is happening on Friday the 4th of September. It would be fantastic if

you could join us for the first 30 mins of the day to come into the classroom and celebrate all

things BOOKS and READING. Bring along your favourite family book, grab one from the li-

brary or take for free from our school’s discontinued stock and enjoy reading. Students will

also participate in the Read for Australia event on this day, reading Banjo and Ruby Ren

and the Stone Lion and completing associated activities. Don’t forget to wear your PJ’s!

Students in grades 2-6 will also be celebrating National Literacy and Numeracy Week with a

visit to the Graeme Base exhibition at the Latrobe Regional Gallery on Thursday the 3rd

of

September. Students will be leaving after recess and returning around 2pm. Graeme is an

author and artist of picture story books, most famously Animalia. It will be an excellent op-

portunity for students to discover his most loved books through images, activities and ani-

mations.

Each Wednesday Thursday and Friday the school runs a breakfast club. Each day has a different menu but there is always fruit and hot milo available which the kids love. It's a great way for the children to start the day with good healthy food and chatting with their friends. Friday is pancake day, always popular!

W I L L O W G R O V E S C H O O L A N D C O M M U N I T Y N E W S L E T T E R

Name of children participating _____________________________________

Days of the week (tick the days your child will be participating)

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Please return by Thursday, 18th September

Chaplain News

Communication

Family Reading Time

Graeme Base Excursion

P.E. Award

P A G E 4

W I L L O W G R O V E S C H O O L A N D C O M M U N I T Y N E W S L E T T E R

Playground

Award

Keegan

Dustin Kafil

Izabella

Monday No school

Wednesday Jodie Parton

Friday Kristy Williams

Lunch Order Roster

Student

of the Week

Claire

P.E. Award

Darcy Paul

JUNIOR CRICKET U12’s AND U14’s Any children interested in playing junior cricket for Willow Grove this season in either U12’s or U14’s please contact Pauline Blackshaw on 0401 947630 or Kristy Mitchell on 0421 238537.

Training for both teams will commence on Monday 14th September 5-6pm at the Willow Grove Cricket Ground. There will also be training on Wednesday 16th September 5-6pm.

Route 1 - Robyn Dureau, Kate Schultz (Coordinators)

Route 2 - Rachel Bills, Sally Alexander (Coordinators)

Route 4 - Carolyn Balfour, Lynda Earl (Coordinators)

Cnr School & Tooronga Roads

Main Road starting at Davies Road

Old Tanjil Road and Moe/Willow Grove Road

Time - 8.30am Time - 8.30am Time - 8.30am

Jordan Garratt Charlie-Anne Garratt Harrison Schultz

Kate Wheildon Nathan Wheildon Pat Bills Natalie Bills Katie Palmer-Hull

Katie Earl Nathan Balfour Luke Balfour Jacob Balfour

Executive Positions Sub Committee Convenors

President Andrew Francis Finance Steve Powell

Vice President Andrew Balfour Policy & Curriculum Jenny Turra

Treasurer Steve Powell Building & Grounds Chris Bills

Secretary Heather Ferguson

Proposed Pre-school Orientation Program

6th December 12.30-2.00pm

10th December 9.00-1.00pm

P A G E 5

Last week we worked on Saying No! This week we are working on Managing Our Emotions Last week we looked at how we can use our emotions when saying no. This includes the expression on our face, the tone of our voice and most importantly our body language and our demeanour. Saying No is something that we all need to practice and it is important that kids have the confidence to express how they feel and it also helps if they can keep their emotions in check when doing so.

However, sometimes our emotions can become so strong that they are over-whelming. When feelings become overwhelming they often stop us from thinking about how we are acting and stop us from solving our problems in the best way.

When anger becomes over-whelming rage we can sometimes break things or hit other people or say really hurtful things to someone who we actually like or who we are trying to impress and become friends with. When nervousness becomes overwhelming fear we can sometimes just freeze and become completely unable to say or do anything, even though we want to.

We need to have ways that we can manage our strong emotions before they become over-whelming. That way we can avoid the bad things that result from them. Different people use different ways to manage their strong emotions. Some methods are; walk away from the situation, take ten slow breaths, imagine a calming place or experience, tell yourself to stay calm, go for a run or a bike ride, pat and talk to your pet.

Remember it is much better to try to manage your feelings before they become overwhelm-ing. Once the volcano has exploded it is much harder!

DO: - Think about the different ways that you can stay calm

- Practice different ways when your feelings are not yet too strong

- Allow other people to use their ways to stay calm, even if they don’t make sense for you DON’T: - Assume that the same things work for everyone `

- Leave it too late to start managing your strong emotions

W I L L O W G R O V E S C H O O L A N D C O M M U N I T Y N E W S L E T T E R

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