Around Antonio

Principal

Karen Patten

Assistant Principal

Tim Howarth

Assistant Principal

Annette Hayes

631-639 Whitehorse Rd

Mitcham 3132

Ph 9874 4371

Fax 9873 5505

E-mail address : antonio.park.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

Web Site : www.antoniops.vic.edu.au

Our School Values

ERRIC

Empathy Responsibility Resilience Independence Confidence

For your Diary See our website for more

3 December 2015 Issue 37

Dear Antonio Park Families,

Transition Sessions

Transition stages for children can be both exciting and

daunting. For a child it can involve negotiating and

adjusting to a number of changes including the physi-

cal environment, learning expectations, rules and rou-

tines, social status and identity, and relationships.

APPS is very proud of its transition programs from

kinder to school, between levels and from Yr.6 to Yr. 7.

Transition and pathways of students into, within and

from the school assists with a child’s academic and

social potential at different stages of schooling. We

held our Literacy transition session on Monday 23rd

November and this Wednesday we held our Numeracy

transition session. The students have also spent time

just having lunch with students in the next level. A love-

ly way to get to know one another.

Time of Year to Celebrate & Say Thank you…

APPS is well known for its school-home partnership.

We have many events throughout the year where you

see students, parents and staff working together to

create a wonderful learning environment which is full of

opportunities and experiences. Events such as:

Parent helpers program

Fete

Camps and excursions

Working bees

School Council and its sub-committees

Production

Environment program

Extra-curricular activities:- GATEWAYS, Aerobics,

instrumental music.

APPS Fete Saturday 19th March

2016 12:30pm – 7:00pm

On Monday we held our Parent Helpers’ Morning tea. We

had a lot of people there. It was lovely to celebrate the

wonderful year we have had and it was an opportunity to

say a big thank for our community’s support and involve-

ment. This poem below captures the heart and soul of

APPS community: I dreamed I stood in a studio

And watched two sculptors there,

The clay they used was a young child's mind

And they fashioned it with care.

One was a teacher; the tools being used

Were books and music and art,

One a parent with a guiding hand

And a gentle, loving heart.

Day after day the teacher toiled

With touch that was deft and sure,

While the parent laboured just as hard

And polished and smoothed it o'er.

When at last their task was done

They were proud of what they had wrought,

For the things they had moulded into the child

Could neither be sold nor bought.

And both agreed they would have failed

If they had worked alone;

For behind the parent stood the school

And behind the teacher, the home.

By David Bowen Karen Patten

Congratulations to everyone celebrating a

birthday this week.

Monday

7 December

School Council

Thursday

10 December

Christmas

Carols

Friday

11 Decmeber

Foundation

Meet the teacher

12.30-1.30

Tuesday

15 December

Graduation

Friday

18 December

Last day

1:30pm finish

Thursday

28 January

School starts

All Levels

Aussie of the week

What’s Happening in Level 1?

Maths In maths this week the Level 1 students are learning about addition. We are using number facts, doubles, near doubles and the counting on strategies to solve equations. The students are also completing num-ber problems. Next week we will be looking at subtraction. Literacy Our spelling focus this week is at and turning y into ied at the end of a word. The students are writing explanation pieces at the moment. Come down and have a look at our amazing writing on display! Walk-a-thon A big congratulations to all the students who participated in the walk-a-thon last week. It was a huge success and the students should be very proud of the efforts. Thank you to all the helpers who came down on

the day to lend a hand and support the kids. Well done on all the mon-ey raised! We can’t wait to hear the final count. Parent Thank you The Level 1 classes would like to say thank you to all our parents for their help and support this year. Please come to your child’s classroom on Tuesday 15th December at 3.10pm. Transition There was another whole school transition session on Wednesday. The Level 1 students went to a Level 2 classroom where they complet-ed a numeracy activity. The Level 1 Team

Assistant Principals

You Can Do It! - Positive Parenting Parents play a crucial role in support and protection of their child's development by fostering self-esteem and self-reliance through a close and warm

parent–child relationship from infancy throughout adolescence. Things you can do:

Make time for one-on-one connection with your kids.

Get to know your kids through interests, activities, humour and quiet talks.

Don’t stint on how many times you let your kids know they’re loved, cared for and appreciated.

Give appropriate praise.

Show kids how much you care through a parenting style that sets boundaries and reinforces consequences.

Encourage independence but also get to know your kids’ friends.

Keep the door open to communication, especially when they’re ready to talk.

Source: “You Can Do It Parents! ParentingWorks - The Number 1 source of research on positive and effective parenting.” Team Planning Next week the teachers will meet as a team to plan for Term 1, 2016. This time allows teachers to organise the learning and teaching in their levels

with a consistent approach. Monday – Level 4 Tuesday – Level 3 Wednesday – Specialists Thursday – Level 2 Friday – Level 1 Students will attend their specialist classes on the days their teachers plan. Peace Makers It has been lovely to see the Peace Makers on duty in the playground this term. The Peace Makers display impressive communication skills and medi-ation techniques that they learnt during their training and are available to assist students who may be experiencing an issue in the playground. It is

great to listen to the collaborative methods they use to resolve these issues. Reports Our teachers have been busily working on the student reports which are due to go home on Monday December 14 th. The time and care they have taken to write these wonderful reflections on your child’s learning this semester is truly admirable. A sincere thank you to all our class teachers and

specialist team for the dedication they have shown to crafting these reports. Parent Morning Tea What a lovely Parent Helper’s Morning Tea we had on Monday. It was a special event held to thank all of our wonderful parent helpers for all of the amazing work they do around the school. Staff made some delicious (home-made of course) treats to share. It was great

to have some to catch up with parents, have a cuppa and a chat! We hope you enjoyed the morning! Have a great week. Tim and Annette

What’s Happening in Level 2?

What’s Happening in Level 3?

Wow, what a fantastic day we had today at Werribee Open Range Zoo. There were some tired eyes this morning as we left at 8:30 to beat the peak hour traf-fic, but once we arrived we had a blast! (Stay tuned next week for some photos

and stories of the shenanigans).

On Tuesday we all had a great time dressing up for our ‘Holiday Theme’ day, there were some Santas, Sports uniforms and HEAPS of kids in pyjamas! Alt-hough maybe some of the kids were just running late and didn’t have time to

change?!

We are hard at work with our film making unit, where students are in groups creating videos to teach resilience to the school community. We started with explosion charts that included ideas of what to include, such as strategies to use, as well as what resilience is. This infor-mation was then turned into a script that was used to develop a storyboard. We are now at the most tedious part, rehearsing. In the next few days we will be filming and then it’s straight to the editing suite to put all of our hard work together! Stay tuned for some sensational

premiere events! As the term winds up we are also hard at work completing our Indigenous inquiry task and learning the songs for next Thursday’s carols night… never a

moment to lose in Level 3! Wishing you all a sensational week! The Level 3 Team

Wow! Only three weeks until the end of the year and still so much to do! We have been hard at work writing explanation pieces about how Bal-loons are made in a factory. It’s very interesting and I bet you’d be sur-prised by how it’s done. This week we are finishing up our unit on multiplication and beginning to look at division. We will be learning about equal groups and sharing evenly so start talking about sharing fairly at home. Don’t forget to return the Level 2 Movie Excursion notices on time! We are all looking forward to spending a great day together to celebrate a fantastic year!

Make sure to keep reading at home and don’t forget to take home a reader every night! Finally congratulations to everyone for completing the Walkathon last week! What an amazing achievement. You should all be extremely proud of yourselves. Hope everyone has a great week, The Level 2 Team

DVD Orders

DVDs have arrived and will be sent home today. We would like to assure parents that we are very much aware of the difficulty they have experienced in receiving their DVD

orders from Aardvark Media. We are extremely disappointed in the situation and would like to assure parents that we will not be using this company in the

future.

What’s Happening in Level 4?

Transit Excursion Last Tuesday all the Level 4s participated in our safe travels to school excursion. Please enjoy some student’s recounts of their experiences. The day began with an informative talk from Chris from the Whitehorse Council. We learnt all about being safe on Public Transport. I feel more confi-dent to go on a train or any public transport when I go to high school now. We all had a terrific time and I would love to do it again. Olivia G A person who works in the local government called Chris came to give us a talk about public transport and travelling safely. Then we took the train to Box Hill from Heatherdale Station. After that we went to a park where we had snack and lunch. We stayed there for 2 to 3 hours. I thought I would be bored but luckily Mrs Fittolani brought a sports bag! Then we walked back to Box Hill station and caught the train back to school. Overall we had lots of fun and learnt that you have to watch out for many things. For example you need to be looking for the gap between the platform and the train and it is courteous to give up your seat to someone in need. Nelson S We began our excursion with a walk to Heatherdale Station where we took the train to Box Hill Station. Then we walked to Box Hill Central Park and stayed there for about 3 hours. We played cricket, footy and many other games, the playground was also AMAZING, it had many fun things like swings. After lunch we got mouthwatering icy poles and continued with what we were doing. We then walked back to Box Hill Station and caught the train back to school. We had a great time at the park and wish to go there again. Aivy, Amelia W, Georgia F After a short walk to Heatherdale train station we had to wait at the train station for about 15 minutes. But it felt a lot longer. Finally we hopped on a train to travel to Box Hill Station. From Box Hill station we had a 10 minute walk to a big park. We stayed there for about 3 hours. All the students had lunch and snack. It was a very fun excursion. We then all walked back to the station and took a train home. The excursion was about learning how to take public transport. I learnt about the emergency button that is at every station. For year 6s, they will most likely be taking public transport to their school next year. Thank you to the staff for organising such an amazing excursion. JP We had the Whitehorse organisation visit all Level 4 students. A member of Whitehorse came to speak to us about safety around train stations and roads. I learnt if you get off at the wrong station, look for a train that will take you back to where you want to go. We then caught a train to Box Hill and had snack and lunch at a park. We all had a wonderful time and I hope to do this again. Laura

What’s Happening in PE?

INTER-SCHOOL SPORT IN 2016 Level 4 inter school sport is conducted on Fridays in Term 1 (9 – 11am) and Term 2 (1 – 3 pm) for grade 6 and some grade 5

students. With growing numbers in Level 4, the teacher ratio for sport is not sufficient to cater for all sports and we have to rely on using staff from outside Level 4 plus the assistance of parents. In the past our parent helpers have been sensational either as coaches or in a

supervising capacity. In 2016 we invite parents to participate as coaches or as assistants once again. If you can find the time and the desire we would really appreciate it. In Term 1 we play cricket, rounders, basketball, teeball, tennis and volleystars. If you are able to assist please speak with Bonnie Ratten (Level 4 Co-ordinator). The first inter school sport fixture next year is played on the Friday of the second week of school. Congratulations to Chantelle U who last week represented Victoria in Adelaide at the Pacific School Games. Her swimming performances were excellent including top 10 finishes in 10 of her events of which 4 were podium results. She also won gold, silver and bronze medals as a member of

various relay teams. What a wonderful performance Chantelle. Darren McMenaman & Ben Clark Physical Education

Level 4 Transit Excursion

Numeracy Transition Sessions

Prep Information Packs

The Prep (Foundation) Information Packs will be posted to families on Monday 7th

December. The school has confirmed staffing for our Prep

classes; ready for 2016

Prep students will meet their teacher on Friday 11th

December. Levels 2-4 staffing is still being finalised.

What’s Happening in ICT?

What are the roles of a Cyber Warrior? If you don’t know what a Cyber Warrior is, they are 24 students from both Antonio Park Primary School and Laburnum Primary School. We help people with problems online. We bring knowledge to schools in hope to inspire young students to be cyber safe. We are here to lead by example to prevent

cyber bullying. Here are our top 5 tips if you are being cyber bullied. 1. Tell a trusted adult 2. Block the bully

3. Keep evidence 4. Remain calm 5. Do not retaliate to the bully

We hope you found those tips useful. Remember, we always have a box in the foyer at Antonio Park and we now have an online survey for you to

send us your problems. Click on the cyber warrior below to access the survey.

Click the images above to access some recommended websites.

What are the roles of a Cyber Warrior?

Unfortunately, as well as great people, there are some really strange people who use the internet - people who aren’t friendly or who have bad inten-tions. If someone is being mean to you online or on your mobile, have a look at our previous bullying article for help and practical advice. If someone is being inappropriate; saying sexual things or asking you to do things that you feel are wrong, start by saving the conversation, blocking them and then report it to the AFP here. Sometimes, people can seem really friendly and then do things which make you question the friendship and make you feel strange. Remember: it’s never too late to tell a trusted adult what’s going on, even if you’ve done some things you regret.

Whole School Assembly

Next Monday, 7th December will be the last assembly held for items such as the National An-

them, awards, reports, birthdays, Aussies and performances. The last Whole School Assem-

bly for the year will be held on Friday 18th December. The time for this special assembly is be-

ing finalised and will be printed in the newsletter dated 10th December.

Certificates

Semester two JSCs will be presented with their certificates at assembly next Monday, the 7th of December.

Fish & Chips Lunch As a thank you for all the hard work the JSC representatives have put in this semester they will be receiving a special fish & chips lunch next Thursday the 10th of December so they will not need to bring their lunch that day. We look forward to celebrating all the hard work they’ve put

in!

Christmas Post Christmas Post has started again for the year and the JSCs have been overwhelmed with the amount of cards that they are sorting through! Our wonderful helpers have been very excited to go around to all the grades with their special deliveries and each grade have been excitedly awaiting to hear “It’s Antonio Park Christmas Post Special Delivery”! Christmas Post will be running for one more week and next week we will have the Semester 1 JSCs helping. So remember to keep writing those cards and a huge thank you to Semester 2 JSCs for your help this

week!

Mathletics Mathletics Awards

Firewood

The is an abundance of firewood in Nature’s Classroom at the moment.

If there are any families interested in collecting, please see Geoff at the

school on any Monday or Friday.

Thank you

This week we have been getting into the Christmas spirit, we’ve started making a Christmas tree to go up on our wall using paper plates that we have painted and decorated. We are also making and creating decorations to take home. In the kitchen this week we have made a chocolate brownie slice and delicious smelling cakes. Outdoors this week the boys have been playing lots of games of cricket, we’ve been enjoying the warmer weather and spending a lot of time in the sandpit and bush playground. Inside everyone is still enjoying the air hockey and table tennis tables. We also have lots of Lego builders this week, creating amazing structures and lands. Next year bookings Just a reminder for those that are not continuing to use the OSHC service next year, such as children going to high school or parents changing work arrangements. You will need to contact Camp Australia and cancel any permanent bookings as any permanent bookings roll over into the next year. Please log on to the parent portal or contact customer service by phone or email. Last day of school School finishes at 1.30 on Friday the 18th December. We will be running from 1.30pm until our normal close of 6.15pm. If you require care on Friday please make sure you book in, permanent bookings will already be booked in. Summer Holidays Please ensure you book in now for the summer holidays. The programs available on the website or come in and grab a copy from the parent desk. We are having a colourful theme these holidays with lots excursions and incursion to keep everyone entertained. If you have any inquiries or questions please call us on 0412 545 042, alternatively you can call customer service on 1300 105 343 or visit our website at www.campaustralia.com.au

Aussie of the Week

1EA Alex For carefully looking through his writing when editing.

1LC Rohan For completing an excellent explanation piece about how caterpillars become butterflies.

1SG Charlie W For his impressive skills when adding money. Outstanding job!

2AF Zeke J For mastering the use of extended notation when working with double digit multiplication sums. Fantastic work

mate!

2BC Senna For continuing to be a great role model to all around her! You will be a great leader in years to come.

2BW Alexander For working enthusiastically on developing his knowledge of times tables. Well done Alexander!

2CC Matilda Your improved productivity in writing sessions! I am so impressed! Keep up the fantastic work!

2KD Sasha For playing the piano for us. We were really impressed with your performance. Well done!

2JS Madeleine For working diligently to master multiplication equations with extended notation.

2MN Chevelle For working hard to use arrays to solve multiplication problems. Great job mate!

2MN Micah For your fantastic explanation writing about how balloons are made. Great job buddy! Keep it up!

3AB Hannah L For always focusing on the task at hand and giving it your all! You are a sensational worker who strives to make

everything perfect, whilst kindly offering assistance to your classmates! What a fantastic role model you are! I’m

super proud of you!

3DH Olivia For her wonderful explanation on ‘How to be resilient.’ You had some interesting points Liv, Well done!

3KS Allie G For approaching all of your learning tasks with interest and enthusiasm. You give everything you do 100% and

should be proud of all you have achieved this year.

3RM Hannah For contributing your boundless energy and enthusiasm to the classroom. You are such a fabulous learner!

4BR JP For your kindness towards your buddy during the walkathon. You made sure he was enjoying himself and kept

walking for the full 25 minutes. You consistently demonstrate ERRIC values and we are really proud of you.

4CE Blake M For your kindness towards your buddy during the walkathon. You made sure he was enjoying himself and kept

walking for the full 25 minutes. You consistently demonstrate ERRIC values and we are really proud of you.

4CH Georgia F. Working exceptionally well on her Reading contract and completing some excellent book responses.

Well done Georgia!

4CN Grace A For sharing your IT skills with your partner to achieve a great outcome in Mathematics. Super Effort Grace.

4RF Connor H For being a good role model during our literacy sessions. Your insightful opinions about the texts you read and

view are well supported with evidence. Keep up the awesome work Connor!

Mr Howarth Dion C His excellent and insightful contributions to our reading discussions. Keep up the awesome work!

CASH OR CREDIT CARD ACCEPTED

COMMUNITY NOTICES

(Please check the Community Noticeboard for further details)

Mitcham Junior Football Club is pleased to announce that it will be entering teams in the EFL Girls Football Competition next sea-

son. U12, U15 & U18 age groups avbailable. Contact Glenn on 0403 121 096 or email mitchamjnr@efl.org.au

Op Shop Volunteers Needed Doncare needs friendly volunteers to assist them in their Op Shops. Funds raised in the shops by our volunteers provide substantial funds to our programs in Domestic Violence, Emergency Relief, Family Services, Counselling and So-cial Support for Seniors.Call us on 9856 1500 Email us at Opshops@doncare.org.au or drop into one of our shops and ask for an

application.

Rangeview Pre-School will be offering a new fun based program call ‘Gumnuts’ for 3 year olds. It is separate to the 3 year old pro-gram offered and is for those students who have not commences a formal 3 year old program but who would like something extra.

Visit www.rangeviewpreschool.vic.edu.au/gumnuts

Vermont Uniting Church will be ;Celebrating Christmas for Pre0Schoolers’ on Thursday 10th December 9:30-11:00. Please register

by 4th December to Melanie on 9874 2058 or 0447 369 994.

Nunawading Market, Sunday 13th Decmeber 1pm-5pm, 379 Whitehorse Rd, Nunawading. Visit www.artsnunawading.org.au Or Ph

0412 324 249

Blackburn High School—Second Hand Uniform items in excellent condition. Suitable for year 7 male student. Please phone Prue on

0425 701 796.