Dear Parents and Friends,

Evacuation practice this week. This week we practiced evacuating over to St. John’s church. In our emergency management plan we allow for different places to evacuate to depending on the emergency. It was the first time we have had an evacuation over to the church. We have our practices at different times of the day and week so that a variety of people are on site and get to know our procedures. Wednesday’s evacuation went very smoothly and we were all out of the school and inside the church in less than 10 minutes. Our students were very calm and our staff managed the evacuation in a very orderly way. Once inside the church we had a discussion about reasons why we might evacuate to the church. For example, it is unsafe for us to remain at the school. Maybe there is a fire inside a building and it is spreading to other buildings. Maybe there is a gas leak from a heater. Back in our classrooms we had a discussion with our grades about how they thought the evacuation went. Our students thought we had all done a great job. One of our Grade 1/2 students said that it was the first time he didn’t have butterflies in his tummy. That’s great! It means that all our practices are helping our students to feel comfortable about the emergency signals and the procedures. This term we review our emergency management plan and a copy is then passed on to our local emergency services and DEECD. Once our plan has been reviewed there will be information in our newsletter about our evacuation and lockdown procedures. We use the Konnective app as a way of quickly informing parents about events such as Code Red days, evacuations and lockdowns. Make sure you have the app on your phone and have registered to receive our messages. As the bushfire season approaches I encourage you all to review your own emergency plans at home and to practice them.

Signing in at the office. All visitors to our school are required to sign in at the office upon arrival and to sign out when leaving. This is part of our emergency management plan– we need to know who is on our site at all times. If you come to school to hear reading or help in your child’s classroom you must sign in at the office.

Whole school excursion. Junior School Council is currently costing a couple of options for our whole school excursion. The excursion will be held on a day in the last couple of weeks of term. More information soon!

Warm regards, Carolyn Tavener

Thursday 30 October 2014 - Issue #31

At Malmsbury PS we value: Respect, Honesty, Responsibility and Inclusiveness

Malmsbury Primary School

Newsletter

Learning, Sharing, Growing together.

Term 4 CALENDAR

NOVEMBER

Mon 3 Preparation for puberty

session in Grade 5/6.

Wed 5 Kyneton Cup Holiday.

Mon 10 Careers Dress up Day. What

do YOU want to be/do when you grow up?

Tues 11 Jump rope for heart- Jump off!

Thurs 13 Preparation for puberty

session in Grade 5/6.

Baked potato lunch order.

Fri 14 6:30pm School

Performance.

Thurs 27 Bushdance supporting

Malmsbury CFA.

Fri 28 2:15-3:15pm Prep transition. DECEMBER

Fri 5 2:00-3:30pm Prep transition.

Tues 9 Year 6 student transition day

to Secondary school.

9-11am Prep transition.

Fri 12 1:15-3:30pm Prep transition.

Thurs 18 Whole school end of year

celebration and Year 6 Graduation.

Fri 19 1:30pm End of Term 4.

Time to enrol for 2015!!

Phone 03 5423 2284 Fax 03 5423 2044 Email malmsbury.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au Web www.malmsburyps.vic.edu.au Twitter @MalmsburyPS

Grounds Maintenance Roster. As the bushfire season approaches we rely on our parents to keep our school grounds neat and tidy. If you don’t have a whipper snipper and would like another job to do, please contact Carolyn. There are always jobs waiting to be done! ► If you can’t do your week, you must arrange a

swap with another family and let the school know who you have swapped with and what date you now have on the roster.

► When you have completed one of the jobs, please let the office know so we can cross it off our list.

Please help us to keep our school looking great.

Our Sunsmart policy. Malmsbury Primary School is a Sunsmart school. This means that our students wear a broad brimmed school hat from September 1st to April 30th. Our uni-form is chosen to provide coverage of necks and shoulders. We encourage parents to send sunscreen along for their child/ren to use, especially as some students can only use certain types/brands of sunscreen. If your child has a tube of sunscreen in their bag make sure their teacher knows. We do provide sunscreen at school and students are regularly reminded to apply it before heading outside, especially in Term 1 when the weather is the hottest. Parents are welcome to send along sunglasses for their child to wear. The sunglasses should be labelled AS 1067. A note about vitamin D. The sun’s UV is the best natural source of vitamin D. From September to April in Victoria, most people need just a few minutes of sun exposure mid-morning or mid-afternoon on most days of the week to help with vitamin D. Even with sunscreen you can still get some vitamin D. Sun safe outdoor play throughout the day should not put your child at risk of low vitamin D. Children with naturally very dark skin need even more sun exposure to help with vitamin D and don’t usually don’t need to apply sunscreen. However ALL children should still use the other SunSmart steps during sun protection times. Our 2014 School Performance– Friday November 14 Please help your child get their costumes ready! Grade Prep - 1930's. Boys in black pants and white shirts, girls in lovely dresses. Grade 1/2 - 1920's. This one's simple, all black. Students need only wear the darkest clothes they can (with no prints or text on). Grade 3/4 - 1960's. Pool party, surfing, beach fun. Appropriate swimming costumes would be fab. Grade 5/6 - 1950's. Think rockabilly or early rock and roll styles, dark pants, short sleeve shirts, slick back hair (for the boys). Full skirts and lots of colour for the girls.

Week Beginning-

Families rostered on

Jobs to be done

October 20

Kuyateh Card Betts

Whippersnipping– *in the flagpole area. *Around the portable next to the French/music room. *Near the Art building *On the slopes near the soccer pitch. *Weeding in the vegie garden.

November 3 Coutts Gamble Davies

*Sweeping path at front of school. *Mowing grass in vegie garden area. Stick pick up around yard. *Check trees in tree guards and weed. *Whippersnipping along side fence near rain tanks and around rain tanks.

November 17 Davis Timcke-Wallwork Donald

*trimming bushes and trees along path at front of school. *Whippersnipping areas near soccer pitch. *Whippersnipping the slopes near the basket-ball court.

Careers Dress Up

Day!

Monday 10th November

What do you want to be/do

when you grow up?

Clown? Accountant? Artist?

Scientist? Vet?

Geologist?

We hope to see lots of won-

derful ideas. You never

know, your idea might inspire

someone’s future career

choice!

World Kindness Week 10– 16 November

World Kindness Day (Nov 13th) and World Kindness Week encourage us to think of oth-ers and to do kind deeds for others without

expecting anything in return.

At Malmsbury Primary School one of our school values is ‘Inclusiveness’ and our stu-

dents are encouraged to think of their fellow students and how they can include them in

their play. We also encourage them to find ways to help each other and our staff, and their parents at

home!

What could you do during World Kindness Week?

☺ Hold the door open for someone. ☺ Pay for a ‘Suspended coffee’

☺ Mow your neighbours nature strip. ☺ Hand out a voucher promising baby

sitting, or weeding a garden bed or … ☺ Bring flowers to someone.

☺ Be kind to someone you find it hard to get along with.

☺ Send a note of appreciation. ☺ Hand out some free hugs!

Sleep Strategies for the whole family. Information from the Kids Matter website.

These expert tips from Associate Professor Harriet Hiscock, paediatrician and sleep researcher, are great for managing common sleeping speed bumps or simply getting the family into the swing of a great night’s sleep.

Golden rules for kids’ sleep

Establish a bedtime routine - so they know what to expect and have time to wind down.

Keep bedtime consistent (within 30 mins), even on the weekends - big variations can disrupt their body clock and undo all your good work.

Make sure they fall asleep in their bed - snoozing off on the couch or in front of the TV can affect their routine and make them less likely to want to sleep alone.

Remove all TVs, computers and mobile devices from their bedroom - the light stimulation alone will make it harder for them to settle down.

Avoid caffeinated foods and drinks after 3pm - caffeine is a stimulant which is likely to keep young bodies awake.

Have a wind-down period yourself - show kids that a bedtime routine is important for the whole family.

When your child won’t stay in bed

Limit the number of times they can come out of the bedroom (one or two times works well).

Reward them for complying with the rules (eg a stamp or sticker in the morning).

If they keep coming out, take them back to their room with minimal fuss or arguments.

When your child won’t fall asleep alone

Identify who (eg mum or dad) or what (eg music)

they need in order to fall asleep and return to sleep

if they wake in the night.

If it’s you, slowly withdraw from the bedroom in

stages (also known as ‘camping out’).

If it’s something else (such as music), gradually re-

duce the amount of time the child spends with it

before going to sleep. Looking after yourself Go to bed soon after your child - if your child wakes

often in the night, you may be up again shortly after you turn in.

Follow good sleep hygiene rules - ie limit media use in the bedroom and have time to wind down.

Limit your consumption of caffeine and alcohol be-

fore bedtime - they can lead to poor sleep. Do some stress-busting - try things like relaxation,

yoga, and mindfulness meditation as often as you can.

Dr Sarah Blunden, the head of Paediatric Sleep Research at Central Queensland University, says that fear is the big-gest factor when it comes to common sleep issues like bedtime nervousness and nightmares.

How to deal with nightmares Talk it out - explain to your child that dreaming is a

natural process, that they are safe, and that the dream will not come true. This is particularly im-portant for young children who cannot yet under-stand that dreams aren’t real.

Change the ending - have your child describe, write or draw a more positive ending to their dream (eg the robber is caught by police). This is an example of ‘cognitive restructuring’.

Seek help - speak to a health professional like your GP or a psychologist if nightmares continue and are overwhelming for your child. The great news is that nightmares are easily treated.

How to deal with bedtime worries Help them to be brave - use a reward system (eg

stickers or treats). Try not to get frustrated - kids naturally want to do

the right thing, so try and understand why they are fearful and avoid escalating emotions.

Give the child some control - allow them to choose a tool to help them be brave (worry dolls, ‘monster spray’, a radio to cover noises, a torch etc) and con-tribute to their sleep environment (eg a special blanket, pillows, toys).

Negotiate - get their input on aspects of their rou-tine, like how many stories to read before bed, and when you will return to check on them.

COMMUNITY NEWS

Malmsbury Village Fayre

Come along to the Malmsbury Botanical

Gardens on the 16th of November to ex-

perience a great day of food, fun and

wine at the Malmsbury Village Fayre.

With over 60 food, wine and craft

stalls, in the picturesque gardens and

inside the hall, there is surely some-

thing for everyone! The Zingaro Music

Festival will be providing live music,

dancing and entertainment all day.

Children’s entertainment includes

jumping castles, face painting, plaster

painting and roving entertainers. Bring

along a picnic rug and enjoy the atmos-

phere.

Entry by gold coin donation and we

look forward to seeing you all there!

COMMUNITY NEWS

It is time to prepare for the coming fire

season.

Visit

http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/plan-prepare/

for more information and resources.

Download the FireReady app which is available for

iPhones and Android.

http://www.firereadyfaq.emergency.vic.gov.au/