From the Principal... Welcome back to the beginning of another term. Despite

the wet and wintery weather, the term has begun

smoothly with everyone settling back into their learning

quickly.

Recently I have attended two different Professional

Development opportunities with well renowned

international speakers. On the last Friday of the last

term, Sir John Jones (knighted for his services to

education) spoke about the business of weaving magic,

that is, the job of teaching. Yesterday, Anna and I

attended a presentation by Phil Beadle (known for the

TV series The Unteachables) based on working positively

with students. The message from both is that it is vitally

important that teachers develop a positive relationship

with their students, and teachers have the power to be

hugely influential on a child’s future. I wrote the

following piece for The Pennant but I thought it would

be worth including in the newsletter:

Before any meaningful learning can happen in a

classroom, there has to be a strong relationship between

the teacher and student. When you think back to the

teachers that you admired, and/or those who got the

most out of you, it is most likely to be the ones with

whom you held the closest personal connections, not

necessarily those who were the most knowledgeable. Sir

John Jones often states, “Children will forget most of

what we tell them, but they will never forget how we

made them feel.”

Children come to school from a variety of different home

experiences; research shows that some of these

students may been exposed to 30 million less words by

the age of four than other children. This has nothing to

do with ability and it is important that the aspirations of

these children are just as high as others. This is where

the influence of the teacher is so critical to believe in

every child and create a connection to inspire them.

Sir John Jones talks about all the students he interviews

and asks what they want of their teacher. Six of these

traits were based on an emotional connection. Children

want their teachers to:

Notice me Ask about me Really listen to me Smile at me Laugh with me Believe in me

When you are in a good mood, your ability to solve a

problem goes up by 33%. Creating these environments

isn’t about heaping contrived praise on students (that’s

a topic for another article!), but it is about building a

genuine connection with the students through

meaningful interactions. Hopefully we can all remember

a teacher who was genuinely interested in us as a

person, and how it made a difference to us as students,

just as we can probably also remember the opposite.

Quality teachers will have passion, warmth and a strong

moral imperative to make a difference. At Penola

Primary School we are indeed fortunate to have

teachers who fit this criteria and can truly make a

difference for our young people. Our kids are entitled to

good teachers to give them the hope and aspirations

they deserve.

Welcome

We welcome two new students who will start at Penola

PS on Monday. We welcome Riya and Rima who will be

in Year 3 and 1 respectively. We hope you enjoy your

time at Penola PS.

RESPECT AND RESPONSIBILITY

PENOLA PRIMARY NEWS Issue 11 28th July 2017

Governing Council Chairperson: Mark De Garis PO Box 125

Principal: Paul Harmer paul.harmer381@schools.sa.edu.au Penola SA 5277

School Management Coordinator: Tony O’Connell P: 87372300

Early Years Coordinator: Olivia Thomas F: 8737 2877

Student Wellbeing & Intervention Coordinator: Anna Copping W: http://www.penolaps.sa.edu.au

We would also like to welcome Marnie Smith, who

is undertaking her final placement in the F/1

classes. She will be with us for this term.

Welcome back also to Tony and Brad, who return

after stints away.

Classroom improvements

Over the holidays, Ms Dihm’s Year 2/3 classroom

was given a fresh coat of paint and new board

coverings and is looking great. The students were

very pleased with their new classroom and set up

when they arrived on the first day this week.

JP Games Day and Disco

Last term was concluded with a great day on

Thursday with the JP Games Day and Disco. There

were some amazing costumes and the outfits at the

80’s disco were

not dissimilar to

what was in

fashion at my

own senior

discos! There

should be some

great photos

later in this newsletter.

Basketball

School basketball will return this term with games

after school on a Monday night. Initially it will be

open to students from Year 4-7. Notes have been

distributed this week and need to be returned to

Tony and Sam as soon as possible.

Canteen News

The canteen has started the term with lots of

yummy offerings such as biscuits, muffins, apricot

balls etc. Hot chocolates will also be back for those

cold winter days.

On August 16th we will be having another canteen

special. This time it will be delicious hot baked

potatoes. With a choice of toppings, make sure you

get your order in!

Thanks again for all our wonderful canteen

volunteers and munchies providers. Without your

assistance, the canteen wouldn’t exist!

Here is the next few week’s roster:

Canteen Roster 4th August - Trish Wooding 11th August- Colleen Rasmussen Munchies 1st August - Olivia Thomas Heidi Boyd Angela Tongue 8th August -Amanda Gerritsen Melissa Hunter Sue Bell

Community News

It’s not too late to register for Magic Hoops and

Under 10’s!

McDonalds Magic Hoops is again being offered to all

kids between the ages of 5 and 7 on Monday or

Thursday nights. Kids who participate in hoops will

take part in a training session each week that will

focus on introducing basketball and learning some

basic skills, whilst having fun.

The under 10’s Magic League, suited for all children

aged from 7 to 10 years, is also set to start soon on

Thursday nights. The main focus for players in this

league is to learn some basic ball handling skills, team

work and of course enjoyment. The format of Under

10’s is a half hour of skills training, where all players

train together, followed by a half hour game.

If your child would like to participate in any of these

programs this term please fill out a registration form

and drop it into Denton’s Sportspower or email to

Millicent Basketball by Saturday the 5th of August for

under 10’s and Saturday the 12th of August for

Hoops. Forms are available from Denton’s

Sportspower, the Millicent Stadium, or can be found

on our website: millicent.basketball.net.au

Millicent Basketball also accepts School Sports

vouchers; so if you haven’t already done so, please

feel free to use this when registering.

Staff Profile How well do you know... Name: Anna Copping Class: Foundation/Year 1 and Wellbeing Coordinator Town / City of birth: Mount Gambier Favourite band/s: Ed Sherran and Pink Which football team do you barrack for? Crows and then Carlton (but only to save arguments in our house) You have four kids, so we assume you can cook, so what is your specialty dish? You should never assume…but homemade chicken nuggets are a hit in our house, and a stir fry. What goes on the perfect pizza? Seafood and a creamy garlic sauce. Still or sparkling water? Still Schools attended: Penola Primary School, Bute Primary School and Kadina Memorial High School If you weren’t teaching, what do you think you would be doing? Hmm that’s a tough one, I have only ever wanted to be a teacher. If I wasn’t teaching though I would be travelling. We hear you are quite the dancer on a night out, any tips or favourite moves? Improvisation is my speciality, you just let the music lead you. I have been known to do the ‘W’ which is just the worm without the ‘orm’ – that takes talent! Having four active kids on a farm is a challenge. Have you ever lost one? Is going ‘on an adventure’ losing one? They always come home, so technically no. You also have your bus licence, did you get that before or after you had multiple children? Ha that’s funny! I got my bus licence well before having children but turns out it has come in very handy. You are also studying for your master’s degree, so what do you do in all your spare time? Spare time? I am confused, what does that mean? Going on trips with my family, catching up with friends and reading a good book are the things that I enjoy most. Who, or what inspired you to become a teacher? My Year 11 and 12 English teacher, Mr Bowman, wrote to me in a card when I was trying to make career decisions. In it he wrote “Children are the only future the human race has so teach them well.” This has always stayed with me and I still have that card as a reminder of how important it is to teach our children well and prepare them for the future. What is the best thing about working at Penola Primary School? Definitely the school community. The children, parents and staff value education, they are involved, engaged, supportive of one another and progressive. We have a lot of fun which makes coming to work easy and enjoyable. What are you looking forward to most for the remainder of 2017? To continue working with my fabulous students and their parents, transition for the kindy children, staff show and finishing study for the year.

JP Games

Penola Primary School Planner -Term 3

Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

1

24/7 25/7 26/7 27/7 28/7

2

31/7 SAPSASA Golf

1/8 Environment Forum N/C

2/8 Science Planetaruim Performance SAPSASA B’Ball Millicent

3/8 4/8 Assembly – Yr 7

3

7/8 8/8 Governing Council @ 7pm

9/8 Parent Information Morning

10/8 11/8

4

14/8 15/8 16/8 17/8 18/8 Assembly - Yr 5/6 SM SAPSASA B’Ball

5

21/8 22/8 23/8 24/8 African Drumming@ 9am

25/8

6

28/8 29/8 30/8 31/8 1/9 Assembly - Yr 4

7

4/9 5/9 Year 5 Camp

6/9 7/9 8/9

8

11/9 Proposed Pupil Free Day

12/9 Year 6 Camp

13/9 14/9 15/9 Assembly –Yr 2/3 SW

Adelaide Festival of Music—Saturday 16/9

9

18/9 19/9 20/9 21/9 22/9

10

25/9 SAPSASA Athletics

26/9 27/9 28/9 29/9 Assembly –SRC