In this Issue: The Arts Festival Some of the Room 18 Circus Group

Harmony Day Harmony Day celebrations are conducted throughout Australia each year to celebrate our cultural diversity and to give people the opportunity to celebrate what makes each Australian unique and share what we have in common. It's also about community participation and celebrating the different cultures that make Australia a great place to live. It was wonderful to celebrate our Harmony Day this year with a Parade of Nations in which many students wore clothing representing many cultures from around the world. This was a very colourful event and it was pleasing to see so many parents and families also join us for the parade. Our “Garden of Harmony” created by our Visual Arts teacher, Ms Carly Randall, consisted of the children’s harmony messages written on cut out hand shapes atop bamboo stems and placed in the village green. This was a wonderful creation and truly depicted some very thoughtful messages in an artistic and creative display. In the library, a photographic display, created by our library teachers, Mrs Ann Pomatti and Mrs Nicole Briggs, provided an amazing visual map of Australia and the faces of many children from our school. A range of other activities were conducted in the classrooms, with many teachers also taking the opportunity to make great use of the kitchen facilities in each learning block by cooking some delicious food from around the world with their students.

AN INDEPENDENT PUBLIC SCHOOL

27 March 2014 The Official Newsletter of Wattle Grove Primary School Term 1, Issue 4

Mathematics This year, Mathematics continues to be an area for whole school focus, with children in each year level expected to achieve the Australian Curriculum year level standard. It is essential that Mathematics be as rewarding as we can make it for our students, and that students develop a positive attitude towards this learning area to ensure their own success. For Mathematics to make sense to children, they need to know the fundamentals of Maths – with basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division recall. Children need to know how to calculate and to know why, when and where to use these calculations to solve everyday problems. Children’s progress in Mathematics is monitored at all year levels from Kindergarten – Year 7 through our School Numeracy Standards. Copies of these are available to parents from your child’s class teacher. The Numeracy Standards provide a clear understanding as to what children are expected to achieve by the end of this year. Parents are encouraged to provide their children with the necessary support at home. The more support students have in Mathematics, the better their progress will be. If you have any queries about the School Standards in Numeracy, please don’t hesitate to ask your child’s teacher. To further help encourage children with the development of sound numeracy skills, the P&C has once again agreed to fund the online Mathletics programme (Years 1-7) so that children can access this wonderful programme at home, as well as at school. Students can login to www.mathletics.com.au.

Julie Roberts Principal

From the Principal

IMPORTANT DATES - Term 1

March

28 Interschool

Summer

Carnival

April

1 Early Close

2.30pm

4 Jnr Assembly

11 ANZAC

Ceremony

9.00am

Last day of

Term 1

28 Teachers

Only -

Professional

Development

Day

29 Students

Return

Day 1 Term 2

8 School Closes

11.45am

Parent

Interviews

In this Issue: Harmony Day

Interschool Summer Carnival: Tomorrow, Friday 28th March, students from Wattle Grove Primary School will be representing our school at the Interschool Summer Carnival which will be held at the Maida Vale Reserve. We wish all our student competing in Cricket, Softball and Volleyball well and hope they have fun.

Assembly News: Thank you to Mrs McIlwraith and Mrs Hoskins, and the students from Rooms 9 and 16 for last week’s wonderful assembly. They performed a fantastic skit about a Beauty Contest in Fruit and Vegie Land. Characters included Miss Peach, Miss Apple, Mr Plum, Miss Pear and Mr Potato. Mr Potato won the contest because he was perfect inside. They also sang the Vegetable Song. The Senior Choir, accompanied by students from Room 22 playing percussion instruments, sang “A Beautiful Noise” by Neil Diamond. Congratulations to the following Merit Certificate winners: Yr 5/6, Rm 6: Mychael, Hadleigh, Brodie Yr 4, Rm 9: Joshua, Chandrea, Alyssa Yr 7, Rm 10: Aimee, Jason, Madison Yr 3, Rm 11: Jake, Dylan, Chloe Yr 3, Rm 14: Aldrich, Tahlia, Benjamin Yr 6/7, Rm 15: Issabelle, Joshua, Ben Yr 4, Rm 16: Connor, Emma, Tyson Yr 4/5/6, Rm 18: Tyler, Lili-Mae, Max Yr 5, Rm 20: Phil-Ausy, Isioma, Anthony Yr 7, Rm 22: Qian Jet, Bianca, Khaled Yr 3, Rm 23: Asher, Venzel, Siena Sports Awards: Karan, Emma Art Award: Room 20 Music Awards: Room 9 Science Awards: Cathy - Rm 9, Erin - Rm 16

Congratulation to the Values winners for Resilience - Blake - Rm 16 and Biance - Rm 9

Reporting To Parents –Term 1 As this term draws to a close, teachers are beginning to prepare for our Term 1 Reporting to Parent Interviews. This is a most important aspect of the school’s Reporting Policy as it provides all parents with the opportunity to discuss their children’s progress during these initial months and to establish areas requiring improvement for the following term. This year Parent Interview Day will be held on Tuesday 8th April and the school will be officially closed on this day for students at 11.45am. This will enable teachers to conduct the Parent Interviews throughout the afternoon. Teachers are very keen to speak with all parents during this afternoon. This process has been supported by the School Board and the Regional Executive Director as a valuable component of reporting. All parents should have received information in regard to these interviews.

Safety - Before & After School: We wish to make parents aware of some issues that have come form Wattle Grove students using the new park on Lenihan Corner, near Jordan Place. Some students are meeting there before school, when perhaps parents are expecting them to be coming straight to school and into our care. Secondly, there have been some issues spilling over from there into our school. We have no jurisdiction over the park and what happens there is really the responsibility of parents. Please be aware of where your children are playing and whom they are playing with at all times, as it is in the best interests of their safety and welfare.

Room 20 - Art & Tidy Bag Awards Room 9 - Music

Cathy & Erin - Science Awards Blake & Bianca - Values

Darling Range Sports College: Baseball & Cricket Trials We would like to invite students who will be in Year 7 or 8 in 2015, and currently play club level baseball or cricket, to trial for our specialist programs. Trials for both programs will commence the week beginning Monday 7 April. The Sports Expression of Interest form can be downloaded from our website: darlingrangesc.wa.edu.au.

Helping with Maths at Home... If your child is struggling with Maths, there are many things that can be done at home to support them. Teachers are keen to assist parents, so make an appointment to see them at school, or call the office and ask for the teacher to call you, to talk about how you can best help your child. Maths is everywhere around us and we are using it in everything we do. You can help your children to see that it is important for them to develop their skills in this subject and realise it is important to have those skills in their everyday lives. We use Maths at home, out shopping and at work. Talk to your children about how you use maths to do the everyday things; money, measuring, adding, subtracting, multiplying, buying the right size, taking a trip, going on a holiday. Maths is used everywhere, everyday. Becoming good at Maths is about practice, just like football or playing guitar. To be good at many things, you have to practise them regularly and Maths is the same. It is also about confidence and mastering the simple things first, helping to build that confidence with maths . Learning the basic facts is a good start and regular practice develops confidence to tackle the harder things, so start with the easy ones and work up to the harder ones. Making it fun is also important, so making some flash cards to practise times tables is one way to help, and challenging children to improve the time they can say the tables in, can add some fun to the task. Having your child challenge you can make it fun too! Finding ways to make it fun, will make the task a lot easier and the time will go a lot more quickly. There are a lot of tips and support online, where you can find help with Maths for children, much of it free, as well as some good resources that you can pay for, to help your child get the regular practice and so, improve their Maths. There is only so much time and effort that teachers can provide at school, so completing homework and practising at home are important additional things that can assist children to build their confidence and skills with Maths and start to find it easier and to really enjoy it. There are a lot of free sites online, so try to Google some of the maths topics your children are doing, or ask the teacher for some sites that can help with practising Maths at home. Remember Maths is like football and guitar, it needs regular practice to become good at it and when they become good, they will enjoy it a lot more. Making it fun is important and Maths games can help to make it fun too. These sites have some Maths tips and practice activities: • http://school.familyeducation.com/homework/activity/ 34550.html • http://www.aaamath.com/ • http://www.math-drills.com/ There are many more to online to try… Stuart Meachem Deputy Principal

P&C News: Don’t forget to get your Hot Cross Buns order in before Friday 4th April. Choc Chip, Fruit and Plain varieties are available, at a cost of $6.00 for 1 pack or $10.00 for 2 packs. Order forms and payment can be dropped into the School Office. The Movie Night is sold out, so there will be no gate sales tomorrow (Friday 28th April) night. Thank you to everyone for your support. Guess the Number of Easter Eggs in the Jar.

Come to the Undercover Area on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays between 8.30 and 9.00am to nominate your guess. 50 cents for 1 guess, with 2 egg-normous chances to win.

Road Safety: We have had some concerned phone calls from local residents about some students not taking care when crossing the roads before and after school. Please remind your child/children that they need to stop and look both ways to make sure there are no vehicles coming, before they cross the road, whether they are on foot, on their bikes or scooters. Our students’ safety is very important and we would hate to hear of anyone being in an accident on their way to or from school.

Dogs on School Grounds / Oval Just a reminder to all parents and families that dogs are not to be brought on to the school grounds or oval at any time. This is a health and safety issue for students and it is most important that students are not put at any risk.

Student Rep Profile: My name is Nikole and I am a Student Rep for Term 1, 2014. I have been a proud student at Wattle Grove Primary School for two years now. It is my responsibility to do tidy bags everyday, which is based on a points system. I also have to give out birthday certificates and congratulate students who have recently had their birthday every assembly for two weeks. These are only two of my jobs so far…So make sure all your bags are zipped! We could come around at anytime!

Student Rep Profile: My name is Peng and I am 12 years old. I have been at this school for only one year so far, and I am really looking forward to this term. I have been nominated to be a Student Rep this year, and I take my job seriously. . I clean up the sports shed and put away the sports equipment used by the little kids. I also hand out sports equipment to the older kids. I think I am really going to enjoy being a Student Rep.

Student Rep Profile: My name is Adam and I am 12 years old. I am delighted to be one of the Student Reps for Term 1. I am currently on the job of Tidy Bags, making sure every senior class’s bags are tidy. I enjoy being a Student Rep for many reasons. Some, but not all, are: I get to help around the school and do jobs that other students don’t get to do. My ideas can be used to help improve the school, and last but not least, I get to wear my shiny badge around the school.

Student Rep Profile: My name is Rhian, and I am one of your Year 7 Student Representatives. Unfortunately, we are the last of the Year Seven Student Representatives and that’s what makes us unique. This week, I am on flags and paper recycling, meaning I must work twice as hard, however I am still as boisterous as ever. I have also done lunchies and assisted in the tidy bags before. Every recess and lunch, I am required to assemble the multi-age class (MAC): the year 4, 5 and 6’s. Outside of school, I play volleyball and have recently finished basketball. It keeps me fit and strong, working on my core fitness. Student Rep Profile:

My name is Alyssa and I am 12 years old. I have been at Wattle Grove for two years. Some of my duties as being a Student Rep are tidy bags, where we have to go around to the class rooms and check if there bags are undone and making sure the bags are neat and tidy, paper recycling, flags, lunchies, sport shed, birthdays and power rangers. We also have to run the senior assemblies, have student council meetings and we have to line up classes and make sure they are quiet by the time the teacher comes.

Student Rep Profile: My name is Aidan and I am 12 years old and I have been at this school 6 years now and have been enjoying every moment at this terrific school. As a Student Rep, some of the jobs we have to do include Tidy Bags, where at the end of every lunch, 2 Student Reps go around to the class rooms and check if the bags are neat and tidy. If not, they lose points. There are also flags, lunchies, sport shed, birthdays, and power rangers. We also have student council meetings where the Student Councillors bring up issues or fund raisers for the school.

Student Rep Profile: My name is Henry and I am 12 years old. I am a Student Rep for Term 1, 2014. As a Student Rep, my core job is to be a power ranger; to check in every senior class if their lights have been switched off before going to the staffroom. I thoroughly enjoy being a Student Rep: helping younger fellow students, showing leadership and of course, being a power ranger.

Student Rep Profile: My name is Bella and I am 12 years old. I have only attended Wattle Grove Primary for 1 year and a term, yet I feel like I have been a part of the school forever. My hobbies are reading, singing (in my room with the door closed, I’m normally too shy to sing outside a choir) dancing and talking with my best friend, Jessica. My dream job would probably be teaching, as I love to share my knowledge with others. My Student Rep duties include: lining up Room 10, Year 7. Sometimes it’s hard lining up kids your own age, and taking care of the sports shed as well. I am thrilled to be a Student Representative for Term 1.

Student Rep Profile: My name is Cassandra and I’m a Student Representative of Wattle Grove Primary School. I am eleven years old and I love to play netball. My favourite book is ‘The One and Only Ivan.’ My duties are to line up the Year Ones in Room 19. I also have the role of taking down the flags. I’m looking forward to all the council meetings and the representative meetings. I can’t wait for the Year Seven camp to Kalgoorlie at the end of Term 4.