Boolaroo Public School Quality Education Through Community Cooperation

Find us at: Main Road, Boolaroo 2284 T 4958 1479 F 4958 2208

Tuesday 18th August 2009

Peer Support 2009 This year our focus is on ‘Anti-bullying’. Last Thursday the teachers led the students through a workshop on bullying. The students learnt what bullying sounds like, looks like and feels like. They investigated a definition of bullying and learnt about the bullying triangle. The bullying triangle looks at the roles and feelings of the bully, the victim and the bystanders. We also looked at the four different forms of bullying; physical, verbal, social or psychological. This was an excellent introduction to our anti-bullying Peer Support Program that will run over the next few weeks. This newsletter has a survey for parents and carers to complete about bullying incidents and how the school handles such incidents. By completing the survey we will receive information about the areas we need to improve in order to help all our students feel happier and safer at school. This information will also be instrumental in the development of a school policy on Anti-bullying. Anti-bullying is a shared responsibility. All staff, students, parents and carers need to work together to help eradicate this problem from our society. The definition we have been working on with our students is as follows: “ Bullying is any act that causes hurt or fear in another person. It is intentional involving an abuse of power in relationships. It may be physical, verbal, social or psychological. Bullying behaviours impact on the person being bullied, those doing the bullying and those looking on. Bullying incidents can be isolated or repeated.”

Dates for your diary 10

th Aug – 14

th

Sept ‘Join Forces and Win’ Canteen Campaign

21st & 24

th August Zone Athletics Carnival

24th - 28

th August Book Week/Book Fair

25th August Active After School Gala Day

27th August Book Week Celebrations

2nd September Awabakal Glenrock Excursion

4th September Fathers Day Stall

17th September Kinder Open Day

16th - 18

th Sept Senior Camp

2nd October Last Day of Term 3

19th October First Day of Term 4

Book Week Celebration Book Week is celebrated next week. A Book Fair will be run at school for the entire week. Purchases can be made before school and after school. The book fair will be held in the spare room as we did last year. A celebration with the school community will be held on Thursday 27th August at 9:30 am. This year we will be dressing with a theme in mind. The students are asked to dress as a ‘Punk.’ The teachers will share the book ‘Billy the Punk’ with our students this week and discuss costuming. This is an easy dress up for all. At our celebration the students will share the story with the audience and the winners of the ‘Best Punk’ drawing competition will be announced. The book fair will be open for everyone and morning tea will be available.

School Sports Carnival We had fantastic weather and a fantastic day. The students all participated with enthusiasm and persistence. Well done. I would like to thank our teachers for their superb organisation and the support they give all our students. Thank you.

Chemistry Show Last week the students attended the Chemistry Show by SMART Science, a Newcastle University student program. We were all most impressed by the quality and activities in the show. “It was loud! It was good! I liked the goo the best.” Angie “It was exciting! I especially liked it when the balloon exploded.” Darcy “It was excellent! The cannon was the best.” Christina “I watched a chemistry show today. We saw lots of good things. I liked the balloons because of the explosion they made.” Teliah “We saw a chemistry show today. I liked it when the balloon exploded.” Nicholas

School Promotion and Uniform Meeting A short meeting of the P&C and anyone interested in the changes to uniform will be held on Tuesday afternoon 18

th August at 3:30 pm. We need to make a

decision as a community to enable enough time to receive orders in time for our new enrolments. We have received several possible designs for our school emblem designed by a local graphic designer. The designs were based on the ideas of the students and reflect the long heritage of the school. The designs will also be presented to the P&C on 18

th August.

Everyone will have an opportunity to discuss and vote on the preferred options. Feedback from our community survey was very positively in favour of the new uniform.

‘Join Forces and Win’ Canteen Campaign Don’t forget our promotion for fruit and vegies continues through to Monday the 14

th September.

The Canteen is joining forces with the school to promote fruit and veg over the next few weeks. The canteen will promote The ‘Join Forces and Win’ campaign. The campaign offers each student the opportunity to win great prizes for purchasing fruit and veg from the Canteen. 1.Each time a child makes a fresh fruit and/or veg purchase, they receive a “Join Forces and Win’ sticker card. 2. The sticker card has two stickers, one large for the kids to keep and the other is a token sticker which is stuck on the entry form. 3.Once the entry form has been completed with tokens the child receives a Minor Prize from the Canteen. 4.The Canteen manager will then send all completed entry forms onto Sydney Markets and the entry forms will be placed in a draw for major prizes. Additional fruit and veg items have been added to the Canteen menu for the next few weeks. Please encourage you child to either order or buy these items from the Canteen over the next few weeks. The closing date for the campaign is Monday 14

th

September.

P&C Meeting I am sorry to report the Bunnings BBQ had to be cancelled this time as there were insufficient volunteers available on the day. Unfortunately we did receive offers from outside the school a little too late. We are continuing to raise money through the chocolate drive and I thank all those who have already returned money. Don’t forget to return chocolates as soon as possible. If you are able to sell extras there are spare boxes at school. Jane Crotty P & C President

School Vandalism Please report any vandalism or suspicious trespassers in school grounds to the School Security Number 1300 880 021.

Classroom Capers K-1-2-3 K-3 will visit Speers Point Council Library on Friday morning. We will be walking to and from the Library. This visit will be a great beginning to Book Week and a great introduction to the short listed picture books for this year. K-3 really enjoyed the chemistry show last week. Hope you enjoy some of our student’s comments about the show. “I watched a chemistry show today. I liked the cannon when it went boom and I liked the cups when they changed colour.” Brock “We saw a show today. I liked it when we saw the colours in the bottles.” Ashley “We saw a show today. I liked it when the cannon went off.” Layth “We saw a show today. I liked it when the balloon went boom.” Lincoln

Mrs Lewis 4-5-6 Plans are well under way for our school camp to Point Wolstoncroft. Some have started paying money. Please remember that all money must be paid by Monday 31

st August. Please return medical forms as

soon as possible. Homework for this term includes weekly spelling and Behind the News reports. In addition to this, each child is required to research 3 dates to find out about historical events/birthdays which occurred on those dates. It is important that the children complete all these homework tasks and return them by the due date.

Megan Meek Awards

Birthdays

Tiarna Condrit 10

Justis Gerrard 8

Tayla Pinkowski 9

Awards

Bronze

Ashley Pinkowski

Tyler Simmons

Madyson Hudson

Silver

Tyler Simmons