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From the Principal’s Desk...............

Welcome to Term 4!

It’s hard to believe I just wrote that!! Where has, or is 2019 going? It

is great to see students and staff well rested after the break ready to

make Term four another exciting time at DPS. I hope you and your

family enjoyed a nice break.

While there was an indication of the warmer weather to come, it feels like we are back to winter the

last few days. But it will be warming up, so it is important to remember hats. We have a no hat no play

policy because we don’t want our students getting burnt noses while out enjoying their playtime. The no hat

no play policy stands for term one and four each year, as these are obviously the warmer months. When this

first starts many students forget their hats, so we have given one week’s grace so they can find their hat or

purchase a new one. Hats must be broad brimmed with the school logo. We would hope all student wear the

school hat with logo with pride. Please remember to name your child’s hat, and rename it after washing. We

have so much lost property, and hats will start to fill up the lost property bins, so I encourage parents to

come and go through these bins for lost items as it is an ever increasing mountain. There is a lot of money in

the lost property bins, and it all belongs to someone.

As we commence the final term for the year I feel it is worth reminding our community that we have

enjoyed so much success thanks to many people in our community. We have a wonderful group of parents

in our Parent Group who do so much for our school, for your children, for example they raised well over

$2000 in the Father’s Day stall, and this is only one example of the work they do. They are always looking

for new members, so please let us know if you are interested in helping out at your school. You will be

welcomed with open arms by this fabulous group of parents. We have many parents who support their

child’s classroom activities, such as reading programs in the junior grades. We appreciate their wonderful

support and their children just love seeing Mum or Dad involved at their school. DPS is YOUR school. I

would like to thank and acknowledge the support and work of our school council who give so much of their

time throughout the year. This is a more official role overseeing administrative processes, policies,

important decisions and they also approve much of what takes place at DPS as a matter of course inline with

the department of education guidelines.

We also have terrific support from Kids Hope Mentors and other members of the Doncaster Church. While

there is a strong connection between the school and church, which by the way, goes back over150 years,

most of what the church does for DPS has very little to do with religion. We have a number of cultures and

DONCASTER PRIMARY NEWSLETTER

ISSUE 16 Wednesday 10th October

Dates for the Diary

OCTOBER Friday 11th - UBUNTU Monday 14th - L5 & 6 African Drumming - L6 Apple store visit Tuesday 15th - L3 BTYC Gymnastics - L6 Apple store visit Wednesday 16th – Prep Yoga Fun Starts - L6 Apple store visit Thursday 17th - China Tour Begins - L6 Apple store visit Friday 18th - Assembly 2P & 2E performing - L6 Apple store visit Monday 21st - L5 & 6 African Drumming - Kinder Reading 3D Tuesday 22nd - L3 BTYC Gymnastics Term 4 not only means beautiful weather

it always means it’s time for sun smart

hats. It is compulsory for all students to

wear a sun smart hat during term 4 at

recess, lunchtime and any outdoor

activities.

NO HAT NO PLAY

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religious backgrounds and beliefs at DPS and we embrace and respect them all. We are conscious that our

support and relationship with the church also respects all comers. Did you know, there is a group of Muslim

families who spend time at the church each week learning about English language and Australian culture?

This is just one of the wonderful community service they provide. I would like to add, that my beliefs are

irrelevant, my goal however, is to ensure members of the DPS community are provided the support they

desire or need where ever that may come from. I meet on a regular basis with Jim Catford from the church to

discuss school and how they can support us further, so as the Principal of the school I feel it is important to

nurture this very long standing relationship.

There are many activities and events planned this term including District Sporting events, the senior student

trip to China, Grade 2/3 Sleepover, Outdoor education day, Grade 6 Leadership days. Grade 4 Taskforce

day, Grade 6 graduation, Christmas concert, After School clubs, yoga Fun, Woorabinda Camp, Athletics

Day, UBUNTU, Grade 6 STOMP, BYTC Gymnastics, African Drumming, Choir, Prep Orientation, Grade 5

Sovereign Hill, Walktober walk to school, Radio Awareness, grade 5/6 T20 Cricket, Launchpad Book

launch, School Starters program – prep orientation…….and much more! Our teachers spend endless hours

beyond the classroom preparing for the extra curricular activities for our students, and that is all on top of

the usual curriculum planning and development. Fortunately, we have great kids to work with, they’re

appreciative and always willing to get involved and have a go hence we see so much growth and

development in them. However, as I have said many times, when parents and teachers work in sync for our

students, your children together we are better, DPS is a great school.

So here goes, for Term 4, it’s a big, busy term full of exciting opportunities!

Jim Hill

Principal

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Prep Level

Literacy Focus: In Reader’s Workshop, students will focus on developing the reading comprehension

skill of ‘Summarising’. They will choose ipick books and free choice books to fill their book boxes.

They will continue to use print strategies to assist their decoding of unfamiliar texts. In SMART

spelling and writing they will revise digraphs with a focus on the words BEACH and FEATHER. Prep

students will continue to develop their handwriting style with explicit teaching on dotted thirds.

They will write recounts about their weekend and use language experiences related to the word of

the week to further develop their writing. The will also be writing a ‘chicken diary’ as they observe

our chickens.

Numeracy Focus: The students will continue to develop their number sense with a focus on numbers

from 0-20. They will b exploring different patterns. They will begin a unit on ‘sharing’.

Theme: Prep students will be immersed into the term’s topic of Great and Small which focuses on

animals and how we can look after them.

Special Events: Living Eggs , Yoga Fun

Level One

Literacy Focus: In writing, students will be consolidating their letter formation daily. Students will

learn about writing information using a procedural format. During the first two weeks they will be

writing about how to plant tomato seeds and then see if their procedure is correct. Spelling words

studied over the next two weeks focus on words they will be using in their theme unit and the

trigraph ‘tch’ as in watch. Over the term we will be revising the ‘Super 6’ Reading strategies. During

the first two weeks, monitoring will be the focus.

Numeracy Focus: Pattern counting takes place as an introduction to each maths session. During

numeracy sessions students will be working on creating shape and number patterns and solving

number patterns.

Theme: Students will be learning about what their grandparents’ lives were like. Over the first two

weeks they will be compiling a family tree and bring along a photo of their first family member to

live in Australia. Parents will also be asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their parents’ lives.

Level Three

Literacy Focus: The Level Three students will consolidate their ability to monitor their reading by

‘tracking their thinking’ when reading a range of texts. They will develop their vocabulary relating to

our Theme topic of Civics and Citizenship. In Writing, students will be focusing on the trait of word

choice, thinking critically about the words they use in their written pieces.

Numeracy Focus: The Level Three students will develop their understanding of angles, including

comparing to a right angle and the different types of angle names and degrees. They will explore

how the transformations of flips, slides and turns affect a shape.

Theme: The Level Three students will begin their topic of Civics and Citizenship, learning about the

states, territories and cities of Australia and the three levels of government.

Special Events: Gymnastics, Tuesdays beginning 8th October.

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Level Four

Literacy Focus: The Level Four students will be revising over the ‘Super Six’ Reading Strategies during

Reader’s Workshop. Students will develop strategies for answering multiple choice questions. In

Writing, students will be learning about the structure of Information Reports.

Numeracy Focus: Students will be revising over the Four Operations of addition, subtraction,

multiplication and division. They will learn to use estimations to check the accuracy of their work.

Theme: In Geography, students will be learning about different environments and characteristics.

They will locate countries on a world map and find out about temperate and tropical climates.

In STEM students will develop real life coding algorithms.

Level Five

Literacy Focus: The Level Five students will make predictions and inferences when reading. They will

study plural nouns and discuss how adding prefixes change words. The students will plan and draft a

historical narrative based upon their life. They will include descriptive language, verbs, and adverbs to

add meaning and improve their written work.

Numeracy Focus: The Level Five students will participate in and complete a range of tasks to develop

their understanding of the place value of numbers up to six digits. They will revisit factors and

multiples and will learn about the binary number system. The students will use the area model and

lattice method to solve multiplication problems.

Theme: The students will discover why the why penal colonies were established in Australia. They will

investigate the differences in the way early settlers lived in the 1840s and the ways we do today. They

will develop an understanding as to the impact the colonies and settlers had on Aboriginal people.

Special Events: African Drumming Program - 5B and 5C

Level Six

Literacy Focus: Students will begin drafting their page for our Graduation book. They will be

contemplating highlights of their years at DPS and future aspirations. Revision of reading

comprehension strategies will assist students to consolidate work undertaken in terms 1-3.

Numeracy Focus: The Level Six students will consolidate their understanding of mathematics related

to money and personal finances. They will calculate correct change and percentage discounts as well

as work out the best value for money when comparing two items. Students will continue to improve

their mental computation skills through regular practice and games.

Theme: The students will explore our Universe and galaxy and the celestial objects within them.

They will expand their understanding of the great distances involved when learning about space, and

will learn about our methods for observing outer space such as the Hubble telescope and unmanned

space probes.

Special Events: African Drumming Program - 6K and 6R, Apple Store Visits

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The living Eggs is a very successful program which has been

operating throughout Australia for 23 years. Schools and Care

Homes love the program and re book year on year. The children

will write about the Living Eggs experience as one of their major

memories of primary school life. It touches everyone’s heart to

see a chick hatching no matter how young or old!

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DISTRICT ATHLETICS

A big congratulations to the wonderfully talented students who represented the school

with distinction at the District Athletics event at the end of last term. While there were

some outstanding individual performances, the comradery amongst Doncaster students

was on show for all to see. While we did not take home the top prize on the day, the

students’ efforts were outstanding none the less. We wish those students who are going on

to Division the best of luck.

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Congratulations to all our Year 6 students who lead a series of activities for Ubuntu on Friday August 13th. It makes me proud that every Year 6 student was involved, some stepping out of their comfort zone. What a great opportunity to develop leadership skills, confidence and team work. Thanks Year 6 students! Mr Johnson

On Thursday, September 12, Doncaster Primary School recognised R U OK? Day.

Thank you to all the children who wore yellow accessories or clothing items, the official colour of the day, to help

promote it. This day provides a great opportunity to check in with family and friends. It’s much safer to ask someone

are you okay? then to leave them are struggling alone. Even if they are okay, it’s a great feeling to know there are

others there who care for you and could support you in a future time of need.

Our fantastic school Chaplin, Carolyn, led an awesome lesson with the Year 5 and Year 6

students promoting the importance of checking in with friends.

The staff also recognised the day with a morning tea and dressing up.

This day provides a great opportunity of the way we can support others. We all have ups

and downs but friends can play a big role in helping us getting through life’s challenges.

Whenever you notice a change, big or small, trust your gut and start and are you okay

conversation.

Mr Johnson

Wellbeing Co-ordinator

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Badminton Victoria All Schools Championship

At the end of Term 3, 12 passionate badminton players from D.P.S. were entered in the Badminton

Victoria All Schools Championship at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Albert Park. All

players needed to attend an 8:30am briefing and were required until 4pm. Quite a commitment for

all who attended, including the parents who taxied their children as well as other children to the

event as well. A special thanks to all the parents, particularly Hristos’s parents, Zen Chin’s mother &

Jeveesh’s mother for helping out as Team managers on the day. The competition went off well with

all students competing at their best. Out of the 3 teams, Team 1 & 2 were put in the “Open Grade”

category, while Team 3 was in the Second Division category.

The Open Division had 9 teams & Second Division had 18 teams

Doncaster Primary’s Team 1 did the school proud by gaining Third Position in the Open Division,

maintaining the same position as the school team last year. Team 2 gained 7th position in the Open

Division & Team 3 was in the 10th position.

The day was a great success and all students were great representatives for the school in terms of

their effort and behaviour.

Many thanks to our coach Simon Gan for attending on the day and assisting with the students

coaching throughout the year.

I really enjoyed participating in the badminton competitions. There were some great games that we won

and games that we lost but I enjoyed it. We came third but it was still a good effort. There were two tough

schools that we lost to which were Serpell and Mount View. They were really good so we came third. We

lost all the rounds against them. But as I said it was still fun. By Zen

The badminton competition was so much fun. Being in a team has helped me improve so much. In my team

was Rainbow, Edward and Zen. The competition was a great experience. I got to meet new friends. Our

hardest competitors were Mount View and Serpell Primary. In the end we came third. By Chloe

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D.P.S., in conjunction with the City of Manningham are promoting Walktober, by recording

all students who walk, ride or scooter each day to school in October.

As the month of October sees the warmer weather finally arrive, we also enjoy more daylight

hours with daylight savings. It is now time to get out and start walking to and from school.

Walking ticks the boxes on so many levels; including fresh air, sunshine with its much needed

Vitamin D (before it gets to the hottest time of the day), keeps our bodies active and allows

us to socialize with our friends and family, by leaving devices in our bags and pockets. We are

also helping the environment by using our bodies instead of creating additional greenhouse

gases. This is even more important with the additional trucks and cars involved in the Council

Street Bunning development.

In addition, every Friday in the month of October will become Walk or Wheel to School Friday.

Children are encouraged to meet Mr. Spinks at the designated meeting point at the Hummel

Way playground opposite the Doncaster Bowling Club (see below) at 8:20am to begin the

journey with fellow students and parents at 8:30am.

On Friday 25th October we will celebrate a Walk or Wheel to School Day, where all active

travellers will be able to enjoy free fruit (kindly donated by the Manningham Council) outside

of the school staff room.

Students who regularly walk or wheel to school throughout the month (10 walks to school or

from school in the month) are also eligible for Rebel gift vouchers and the grand prize of a

Vivofit activity tracker (valued at $200) which will be announced at upcoming assemblies

throughout the months of October and November.

I look forward to see you out on the pavement.

Our Walk or Wheel to School Checkpoint has a drop-off

zone for our parents.

If you would like to assist in supervising the

checkpoint during this time, please let Mr Spinks

know

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ENGLISH CONVERSATION CLASSES

Come & improve your English & make new friends commencing Wednesday 16th October at 1.00pm & Thursday 17th October at 7.30pm at Doncaster Church of Christ (across the road from the school) All welcome. For enquiries contact the church office on 9848 1546 or call Marg on 0421 101 629. Thank you, Marg Wegner

Co-ordinator

Places still available for Prep 2020.

If your children turns 5 years old by 30th April 2020 you can enrol now.

If you would like a tour please call the office on 9848 1122.

Thank you

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