Issue No: 33 12th November 2015

THE DORSET EDITION INSPIRE ACHIEVE SUCCEED

From the Principal’s Desk Rescorla Avenue, Croydon 3136 phone: 9725 5038 www.dorsetps.vic.edu.au dorset.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

Diary Dates

Nov

9th - 13th Swimming Seniors Grade 3-6 (Croydon Memorial Pool)

Thu 12th Prep Healesville Sanctuary Excursion

1:1 Laptop Program Information Night - 7.00pm

Fri 13th Grade 1 and 2 Healesville Sanctuary Excursion

16th - 20th Swimming Juniors Prep - Grade 2 (Croydon Aquahub)

Tue 24th Grade 3/4 Fizzics Incursion

Fri 27th Grade 6 Graduation Photos (9.10am)

Grade 2 Sleepover

Dec

Wed 2th Twilight Working Bee

Fri 4th Grade 6 Principal Morning Tea

Thu 10th Christmas Carols Evening

Fri 11th Leaders’ Lunch 1pm

Tue 15th Grade 6 Graduation

Wed 16th Grade 6 Big Day Out

Thu 17th Last Day of Year (1.30pm early dismissal)

Fri 18th Curriculum Day (Pupil free day)

Jan

Mon 4th Book Selling Day

Wed 27th Book Selling Day

Thu 28th First Day of Term 1

Swimming Program I have attended the pool several times this week and have been pleased to see the program in progress. I know there were many concerns regarding the outdoor pool but I do believe it has been a success. As I mentioned to some parents our children should learn to swim in all conditions in order to survive an accident. The instructors have kept our children engaged and the children have gained invaluable skills this week. The swimming program has always been a positive program and we hope parents are just as pleased with this week’s outcome.

Grade Teachers Teachers are busily structuring grades for next year keeping in mind the many aspects required to ensure a grade is balanced and effective. I realise parents are keen to know teacher placement for 2016. I discussed at the Principal Morning Tea the importance of placing teachers in the best area that provides the best possible education for all our children. As this is the first time I have allocated the staffing in all areas I am excited and looking forward to an amazing year.

FA - Grant Wilkinson FB - Lenis Quigg FC - Luke Seymour FD - Catherine Holt Lenis and Catherine will be co-ordinating the Foundation Area.

1A - Sarah Sablinskis 1B - Stuart Jones 1C - Kursten Tan 1D - Emily Bowman 2A - Justin Mackay 2B - Nicole Bell/Megan Ward 2C - Steve Lynch Justin Mackay will be co-ordinating the 1/2 area.

3A - Daniel Sullivan 3B - Morgan Clohesy 3/4C - Shannon Young 4A - Michael Jenkins 4B - Kate Black 4C - Jodi Wilkins Shannon Young will be coordinating the 3/4 area.

5/6A - Brett Speed 5/6B - Jessica Hinkins 5/6C - Michael Gibbs 5/6D - TBA Brett Speed will be co-ordinating the 5/6 area.

Specialist Areas LRC - Marnie Blakeman P/E - Andy Bell Music/Drama - Braid Matthews SAKG - Gregg Hansford - Jane Humphrys Science - Sally Matheou Art - Mel Rowe Reading Recovery - Pauline Keogh French - TBA

Foundation Information Evening Catherine Holt and her Prep/Foundation team ran the 2016 Information Evening on Tuesday Night. Lots of vital information was passed onto the parents. The Foundation Team gave the parents the following advice which I feel can be applied to all students:

Preparation During the Holidays

Talk to the children about how they will get to school

Establish routines with sleeping times

Create a visual check list for your child

Read stories nightly

Develop some positive ‘goodbye routines’

Talk positively and enthusiastically about school

Thankyou Foundation teachers for organising the evening.

Fees & Booklists The Fee schedule was sent out this week. Book selling days have been changed to Monday 4th January and Wednesday 27th January. These changes have occurred to assist parents with budgeting and avoid paying out more money just before Christmas. There have been a few queries about supplies. The Dorset Primary School policy has always been to purchase the supplies for the children. This is done to maintain consistency (all children using the same materials) and buying in bulk ensures we purchase better quality at a reasonable price. I realise that some families find it difficult to pay the amounts required please see Cynthia or myself to discuss a payment plan. The teachers spend many hours selecting the materials required for each level and do value all children having the same materials to support their programs. Please see me if you have any queries. I would prefer to discuss this in person rather than it becoming another ‘Facebook’ featured article.

Puberty Education Puberty Education has begun this week in the 5/6 area. Madame Glenda runs these very informative sessions. The sessions are designed to inform the children and help them understand that everyone goes through puberty. Glenda prepares a thorough program designed to address any issues/concerns the children may have as they enter the various stages of puberty and adulthood. The program is Ausvels aligned and always informs the children appropriately and accurately. Please see Justin Mackay if there are further questions regarding the content of this program. Regards, Palma Coppa Principal

Reminder: 1:1 Laptop Program

Information Evening

7pm tonight in the

staffroom

Thank you, Shannon Young

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Menu

Silverbeet & warrigal greens pizza

Broad Bean salad

Garlic Bread

Five minute strawberry ice-cream

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Garden News

Spring gardens are busy places. Spent crops are removed, new ones sown, creatures are stirring and returning. We’ve been discussing beneficial creatures with all our students as well as the ways we can attract them to the garden. Pictured is an example of ladybird larvae stage as well as the adult. Both are extremely beneficial to our garden, with the larvae eating up to 40 aphids in a day and the adult, 90. We are always very glad to see these garden residents return. To attract them, we sometimes leave plants that are home to many aphids as an invitation, so that they are ready to protect the next crop. We also keep cosmos, nasturtiums, calendula and marigolds to tempt green lacewings, hoverflies and benecicial nigh-flying insects. In this way the balance in the garden is maintained as we work with nature in the garden without harming it. Jane Humphrys

Chaplain’s Chat with Dave Tough Choices “It’s your choice,” I said to my 17 year old son as we finished driving the long way home so we could conclude our conversation, “deal with it or sell the puppy.” One week before, we had achieved the impossible. Since early childhood, he had been listening to stories of dogs I had as a boy and how much I loved them. “A boy and his dog,” I would say, “there is no greater love.” For a decade and a half we had presented this maxim to the boss and she always said, “Cats are fine. Dogs are not.” So we had cats. Still do. Then came the week of the father-son deal-with-it-or-sell drive-time chat. She had finally said yes! We found the perfect puppy. We brought it home. We arranged my son’s room so he could train and entertain a puppy. And then the week from hell began. The puppy whined. It bit. It peed. It barked. It pooed. It chewed on things. It attacked pant legs. All the things that had been endearing to me when I was a boy were driving my son insane. His gentle nature would not allow him to be firm with the puppy. He even grimaced when I played with her because of how rough I was. But then he would say, “You’re so good with dogs.” I could see something was up. He needed to toughen up and roughen up or she was going to eat him for breakfast – for the rest of his life. Five days later, as we drove, he said, “Dad I can’t do it. I need to be more firm with her but I feel mean when I try. You can do it because you are more relaxed. I am stressed around her and I can’t relax and be in charge of her.” “You mean, in control,” I said. “You can’t control her.” “Exactly!” he said. “She doesn’t do what I say. I know she can’t understand yet and I need to train her but I don’t think I can get that far. I worry about her all the time. When I’m at school, when I’m trying to sleep. Every noise she makes and everything she does – I feel like I need to be there watching and making things safe for her.” “She’s a dog,” I said. “Not a baby. She can spend hours on her own and be just fine when you get home from school or wake up in the morning.” “I know,” he said, wiping his eyes. “I just have a lot of work to do on myself before I can work on her.” He often says insightful things like this. 17 years of living with him and I’m still not completely used to it. “What do you mean?” I asked. “You know I like learning things about my character,” he said. “And I like working on it.” I nodded my head. Everyone in our family knows this well. Never have I heard of another teenager calling a family meeting and saying, “I need your help. I know there are things about my character than I need to work on but I can’t see them because I’m not watching from the outside. What can I work on? What needs to change? Be honest, I can take it.” And so we were. He’s been that way since he first learned to say, “No.” And now, he had realised something that only a dog could teach him. He has an overwhelming need to be in control of anyone or anything for which he is responsible. “Well son, you’ve got a choice to make,” I said. “And I’m not making it for you. Raising this puppy would be one way to work on your control issues. Or recognise, this is not a required relationship. We can find a home for the puppy where she is a better fit.” He nodded, quietly. “So, it’s your choice,” I said as we drove up the driveway, “Deal with it or sell the puppy. What’s it gonna be?” And to his credit, he chose to sell the puppy. Not an easy choice, believe me! As we watched the puppy and her new family drive down the driveway, my son said, “Dad, I have learned so much about myself. I would never have known how much I struggle with control if I hadn’t had the puppy. Now that I know this about myself, I can think about it, work on it, plan for it and conquer it when it resurfaces.” And I know he will.

Maths-A-Thon Don’t forget that the Maths-A-Thon

sponsorship form and money are due back to

the office ASAP. If you need a sponsorship form,

please collect one from the office.

JJJUNIORUNIORUNIOR SSSWIMMINGWIMMINGWIMMING TTTIMETABLEIMETABLEIMETABLE Croydon Aquahub

11 Civic Square, Croydon VIC 3136

SESSION 1 PA & 1A Depart -9-00 Return – 11-30 * in water – 9 40 – 10 40

SESSION 2 1B & 1C Depart -10-00 Return – 12-30 * in water – 10 40 – 11 40

SESSION 3 PC & 2A Depart -11-00 Return – 1-30 * in water – 11 40 – 12 40

SESSION 4 PB & 2B Depart -12-00 Return – 2-30 * in water – 12 40 – 1 40

SESSION 5 PD & 1/2D Depart -1-00 Return – 3-30 * in water – 1 40 – 2 40

Uniform Shop School uniforms can be purchased from our PSW Uniform Shop located near the Prep rooms. It is open: Every Wednesday from 2.45pm to 3.45pm Order forms are available at the office if you can’t make it on Wednesday.

Chocolates If you have finished selling your box of chocolates, could you please return the money to the office. Thank you to all the families that have sold chocolates for our major fundraiser this year! We do still have more chocolates to sell if you would like another box. Please come and see Cynthia or Nicole in the office.

Birthdays

Lara Dibble Aiden Bailue Jade Majic Coco Owen Raiden Shaw Lucas Cook Xing Xing Li Sarah Jones Eryn Glanz Tarj Calderwood Sophie Wallis Mollie McGregor Charlotte Rose

Angus Kay-Lynden Elizabeth Mung Edward Mang Suchit Rawat Juliet Tetlow Tessa Findlay Mitchell Vella Aaron Doyle Emily Stokes Taj Hurrell

Madisyn Prior Lachie Hewitt Lachie Jensz Lachie Davidson Ben Carey Hannah McKeown Aidan Fox-Wright Samantha Triangolo Aaron Doyle Mikaela Haw Vivian Chen Declan Campbell

Students of the Week

Lucy Bendall Hasan Merchant Josh McKenzie Mackenzie Grant Jolie Nguyen Rahil Shah Angel Papworth Leo Yuan Lara O’Shea Shayan Nazarian Thomas Keays Matilda Evans

Reese Mason Bailen Newton Jasmine Thivant Shashank Ambekar Abbey Owen Sang Sang Mia Lamanna Mia Colling Robert Thang Caitlyn Young Daimon Payne Campbell Latimer Johnnie Rooks

Notices sent home Notices sent home Recipient Healesville Excursion Notice Prep to Grade 2 (Due ASAP) Swimming Notice Whole School (Due ASAP) Fizzics Incursion Notice Grade 3/4 (Due 6th Nov) Sleepover Form Grade 2 (Due 9th Nov) Graduation Notice Grade 6 Due 23rd Nov) Math-a-thon Notice Whole School (Due ASAP) Notebook November Instalment Notice Grade 3 (Due 13th Nov) Notebook Lease Info Night & Contract Grade 2 Teacher Conference Notice 2016 Foundation Students (Due 16th Nov)

During October 2015, the

Junior School Council organised

and ran a colouring competition

to raise funds for the RSCPA.

The RSPCA was chosen as a

charity to support after gaining

feedback from across the

school. JSC also held a ‘Dress

Up As An Animal’ day. There

were three separate colouring

competitions, one for the

Prep- Grade 2, another for the

Grade 3-4s and a third for the

Grade 5-6s. Gold coin donations

were made to enter the

competition or to dress up as an

animal. A total of $391.40 was

raised, which has been forwarded

to the RSPCA. The three winning

entries are shown here.

Thank you to the students of

Junior School Council for

organizing this event and a big

thank you to all the families and

students who supported it.

Mr. Jenkins, Junior School Council

co-ordinator.

PARENT COMMUNICATION SURVEY PARENT COMMUNICATION SURVEY UPDATEUPDATE

Thank you to the families who responded to this recent survey. We had thirty one responses to the questions. This data is valuable since we are always trying to improve communication within our school community. Apart from satisfaction levels, we received constructive feedback concerning the effectiveness of our school website, the interview and reporting system as well as the school newsletter. Whilst the results are highly favourable, our leadership team is currently analysing the data and clarifying what actions need to be taken to further improve communication at our school. A report will shortly be presented to School Council and then be published in the school newsletter.

Shannon Young & Geoff Gowans

Save The Date:

We are having our last working bee for the year on: Wednesday 2nd December

Communicating With Our Parent Community

Our school is using an App to send instant messages, newsletters and notices. The Tiqbiz app will help our school keep parents fully informed and up-to-date with newsletters, notices, news and events. It’s easy to use and also has the benefit of helping reduce our paper consumption by printing less.

The first step is to download tiqbiz to your phone, tablet, computer … or all of them.

Search for : tiqbiz

Remember to click “allow” notifications when asked. This will allow us to send you important alert notices. For technical information please see the school for a flyer.

Camp Australia JUNIOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP PROGRAM Camp Australia has created the Junior Global Citizenship Program to encourage children to explore their personal values and share their opinions while being respectful and accepting of others. We are currently making Christmas gifts for the less fortunate children in South Africa. Many of these children will only receive these Christmas presents. So far we have been able to produce literacy and numeracy games along with puzzles representing Australia and it has been a delight to see the creative sides of children develop and shine through these activities.

Dorset OSHC Phone: 0417 604 663 Customer Service: 1300 105 343

www.campaustralia.com.au

Dorset P.S. Camp Australia hours: Before School Hours: Mon - Fri 7:00 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. After School Hours: Mon – Fri: 3:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Camp Australia Staff.

We are always in need of helpers in the canteen !!

With a new year approaching, we need new helpers in the Canteen on Tuesday and Thursday and Friday afternoons as some of our wonderful helpers will be leaving. Please see Robyn in the Canteen if you can help!

GET YOUR FRESH FRUIT AND VEG AND HELP US RAISE MONEY! This year, we have joined forces with Tessa’s Harvest Box for a major, ongoing fundraiser. Not only is this a great opportunity for us to raise a large amount of money over the year, but a fantastic opportunity for you too. You can have your fruit and vegetables delivered right here to school every Tuesday.

This is how it works…

Fill in the order form and attach payment

Hand it in to the office by 9am Monday morning

Your box of fresh produce will be delivered here for you to pick up on

Tuesday after 1pm $5 from every order will be donated to us for every cash payment. $3 from every order will be donated to us for every credit card payment. We need a minimum of 10 orders per week to get the full donation.

Apple Man The apple man will be delivering apples to the school on:

Friday 20th November

He only has available at this stage:

Granny Smiths $10.00

Pink Lady $10.00

Fuji $10.00

Please place orders with Cynthia in the office by Thursday!