50 Main Rd GEMBROOK 3783 Ph: 03 5968 1313 Fax: 03 5968 1548 email: gembrook.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au www.gembrookps.vic.edu.au

Gembrook Primary School

Mission Statement

A view to the future

Diary Dates

Gembrook Primary School is a welcoming and

respectful community that provides modern, flexible

learning spaces that support a personalised, engaging

and challenging learning program so that students will

achieve the social, emotional, academic and physical

growth to succeed in a global society.

26October 2016

Vision: To provide every student with every opportunity to be the best they can be. Value: Respect.

1 November Cup Day (public holiday)

4 November Rescheduled Swimming Lesson (JLC & MLC)

7 November Produce Market 2C

10 November Kinder transition visit

11 November Orienteering grades 3-6

11 November PFA Disco

16-18 Nov HPV Maryborough

17-18 Nov Gilwell Leadership

17 November Kinder transition visit

21-25 Nov Bike Ed

24 November PFA Fruit Salad & Yoghurt Day Kinder transition visit Family Bike Ride

27 November Puffing Billy Car Parking

28 November Produce Market 5F

30 November Enterprise Market School Council 7pm

5 December Swimming SLC

6 December Step Up Day (grade 6) Foundation 2017 Information Night 5.30pm

7 –12 Dec Swimming SLC

Notes that have gone home

Rescheduled Swim Session (MLC & JLC)

SLC Swimming

Orienteering (MLC & SLC)

Headlice alert (JLC) & Chickenpox alert (MLC) All notices can be accessed from the school website: www.gembrookps.vic.edu.au

14 December Christmas Concert 6pm

15 December Big Day Out (Grade 6)

19 December Graduation

20 December Last day of term 4, 1.30pm pick up

SLC Swimming Program Permission for the Grade 5 & 6 Swimming Program is over-

due.

If you would still like your child to participate

please return a note as soon as possible.

It would also be appreciated if you could inform staff if your

child is definitely not participating.

Winners of the Dandenong Rangers Division

boys basketball 2016. The Gembrook boys

won both their games by a convincing mar-

gin. The boys now will play off in the

Eastern Regional Championship on the 2nd

November at Maroondah Basketball Stadium.

Thank you to all the parents and family

members who came down to support Gembrook

Primary School on a great day.

1/2H inside the

Life Education

Van

A VIEW TO THE FUTURE

Bren’s Banter

Brendan

Principal

Dear Families and Friends,

Dear Families and Friends,

It’s said that music is the international language. Last Thurs-

day, students from the Emerald Secondary School Choir per-

formed and provided us with a wonderful music experience in

the Circle of Harmony. It was such a lovely setting with the

afternoon sun providing warmth for our bodies and the beauti-

ful music, voices and harmonies providing warmth for our

hearts. Superbly led by music teacher Sally, the choir per-

formed a rich variety of music including songs from the musi-

cal ‘Wicked’ and songs from David Bowie and even Elvis! We

are very proud to say that the choir included three past Gem-

brook students – Ayden, Layton and Jillian. Well done and

thank you to the Emerald Secondary School Choir.

Day Out With Thomas

It’s fair to say that lately the weather has been quite a mixed

bag. Definitely some lovely spring sunshine, but somewhat

overshadowed by wild winds, hail and torrential rain! Such

was the case last Saturday when Puffing Billy attempted to run

their ‘Day out with Thomas’ weekend. Following a highly suc-

cessful two days over the previous weekend under brilliant sun-

shine, last Saturday provided the opposite. Gembrook Scouts

and Puffing Billy did a great job managing the parking on the

school oval, however the downpour proved too much and parts

of the oval became quite boggy. This lead to the cancellation

of the Sunday Day out with Thomas Program. The Puffing

Billy Events Team will be working to repair the oval over the

next week. Fingers crossed for some fine spring weather!

Curriculum Day

Last Friday, all teaching staff participated in a brilliant curricu-

lum day with highly regarded education consultant Lyn Watts.

Lyn inspired us with her strong passion for government school

education and her total commitment to school improvement.

The focus of the day was ‘Best Practice Classrooms’ and

‘Evidence-based Teaching and Learning’. Topics covered in-

cluded current

best classroom

practice (with

a particular

emphasis on

literacy), visu-

al literacy,

CAFÉ ap-

proach to

reading and

dialogic teach-

ing in writing

classrooms.

Champions! - Boys/mixed Basketball

Last Thursday our senior school basketball stars participated in

the Division Basketball Finals at Dandenong Basketball Stadi-

um. Callum, Sam, Jamie, Konnor, Mitch, Jett, Jack and Ham-

ish represented Gembrook Primary School superbly and played

equally well, resulting in a fantastic win which sees them now

through to the Eastern Metropolitan Region finals to be held at

The Rings Basketball Stadium in Ringwood on Wednesday 3rd

November. Thank you to P.E. teacher extraordinaire Jono

Hawes and to all of our parents who attended to support and

cheer on our wonderful basketball team!

Produce Market P1B

What a lovely day that students

from P1B spent on Monday

with Mrs. Bigwood and Angel.

Throughout the day, student

gathered and prepared superb

food and produce, and then had

lots of fun selling their wares

after school. It was great to see

so many mums and dads join in

the fun and our wonderful P1B

students raised a total of

$166.80. Great job everyone

and a very special thank you to

Angel.

Life Education

This week, all students have participated in a Life Education

session with Suzanne in the Life Ed. van.

Each class engaged with a curriculum based module that fo-

cused on issues including food and nutrition, personal safety,

physical activity, cybersafety and safety with medicine and

legal drugs.

By taking a comprehensive approach to drug and health educa-

tion, the modules help students to develop relationship skills,

positive communication (both face to face and online), problem

solving and decision making skills. Students have the oppor-

tunity to develop strategies, and practise the skills required to

avoid the harms associated with an unhealthy lifestyle.

Working Bee Saturday 3rd December 9:00am – 11:00am

We are holding a final 2016 ‘Summer Cleaning’ working bee at

school on Saturday 3rd December from 9:00am to 11:00am.

There are several jobs that we would like to complete in readi-

ness for end of year events including Step Up Day, Christmas

Carols and Graduation. Pruning, weeding, sweeping, pressure

cleaning and a general tidy up of school grounds will be the

order of the day. A light morning tea

will be provided at 11:00am. As the old

saying goes: ‘Many hands make light

work’, so please sign up for a job at the

front office and come along and join in

the fun!

Have a great week everyone and all the

best, Brendan.

Please remember to label your children’s school clothing. Unnamed and unclaimed

lost property will be sold as 2nd hand uniforms!

October

27 Shannon

30 Sonny

31 Tom W

November

2 Lily W

School Chaplain The Chaplaincy Service at Gembrook Primary School aims to sup-

port the emotional wellbeing of students by providing pastoral

care services and strategies that support the emotional wellbeing

of the broader school community.

Pastoral care means looking after the person-

al needs of students, not just their

academic needs, by providing general spiritual

and

personal support.

If you would like me to support your child /

children through any

issues they may be experiencing, please fill out a permission form

at the school office.

It is HAT season once again. As a

SunSmart school, all stu-

dents MUST wear a hat for

all outdoor activities. No

hats means play is limited

to shaded

areas only.

School Canteen

Now available

Mondays & Fridays

11th November 2016 $5.00 entry

Prep—Year 3 5:30—6:45pm

Year 4 –6 7:00– 8:30 pm

Glow in the dark items and Zooper

Doopers for sale starting from $1

Lila, Aiden, Ziggy, Will and Mitchell enjoying Frog in the Hole (eggs in bread) for breakfast at Before School Care.

We love Before School Care because we get to have special breakfasts, like pancakes, French toast and eggs cooked lots of different ways. Thank you Tanya. From Lila

OSHC Come and have fun with us and learn new skills in our Outside School Hours Care Program

(OSHC). All students are welcome—come along and enjoy the activities and spend time

making new friends. Before school care begins at 7.30 (earlier start available on

request). After school care ends at 6pm. Collect an OSHC enrolment pack from the

school office or download an enrolment form from the school website:

www.gembrookps.vic.gov.au

Register with Centrelink for a 50% child-care rebate. You can

do this by logging into your Centrelink online account through the myGov site. Select the Approved child care service to reduce your fees option and it will be set up for you. For more details on Child Care Benefit and

Child Care Rebate call the Department of Human Services on 13 61 50.

Cockatoo Neighbourhood House is running

classes in Circus Skills for primary school aged children on Mondays 4.30pm-5.30pm. The first class of this fun 6

weeks course is on Monday 7 November. Benefits of circus skills classes are incredible. It helps to

improve hand-eye coordination, flexibility, strength, in-

creases flexibility and develop self-confidence. It also teaches children about teamwork and trust.

For more information please contact Cockatoo Neighbourhood House on 5968 9031 or email

cnhouse@iinet.net.au

It is very important for girls to develop confidence and strength to stand up for themselves, therefore Cockatoo Neighbourhood H o u s e o r g an i s e d a 6 w e e k c o u r s e S e l f Defence for Girls between the ages of 11 and 18 years. The course covers: Threat and Risk Awareness, Environment Awareness, Verbal Self Defence Techniques, Assertiveness and Confidence Building, De-escalation Strategies, Night Awareness, Training Ground Self Defence, Multiple Attackers Defence. There will also be some videos to watch. The course starts Tuesday 7 November, 5.30-6.30pm. For more information please contact Cockatoo Neighbourhood House on 5968 9031 or email cnhouse@iinet.net.au

Newsletter Advertising

$10 per business card per term (businesses

belonging to school families only)

$25 quarter page for 2 weeks (for business-

es outside school community)

$25 quarter page per term (school families

only) Please contact the school office if you would like to place an add in the school newsletter

Fencing / Retaining Walls / Decks /