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LINDISFARNeANGLICAN GRAMMAR SChOOL

Primary Editionprincipal@lindisfarne.nsw.edu.auwww.lindisfarne.nsw.edu.au

Postal AddressPO Box 996Banora Point NSW 2486Mahers Lane CampusTerranora NSW 2486 07 5590 5099

Sunshine Avenue CampusTweed Heads South NSW 284607 5523 1143

Absentee Line 07 5590 5927

Term 2: Week 14 : 15/5/2015Upcoming Events

MayWeek 15aMon 18 First Aid Schools Program

Chapel - Sunshine Avenue campus 2:15pm

Tue 19 ICAS Digital Technologies Stage 3 Public Speaking Finals

Wed 20 First Aid Schools ProgramSat 23 TNA Netball Round 7Week 16bMon 25 Year 3 camp 2015Tue 26 Year 3 camp 2015Wed 27 Stage 1 Public Speaking Finals

NSWCIS Primary Touch Championships

Thu 28 Stage 2 Public Speaking FinalsFri 29 Kindergarten Open Classroom -

9:00amCoffee Van - Sunshine Avenue campus - 8:15am

Sat 30 TNA Netball Round 8juneWeek 17aMon 1 Principal’s Tour - Mahers LaneTue 2 P&F Meeting - 7:00pm

Life Education Van visitWed 3 Principal’s Tour - Sunshine Avenue

Lindisfarne Public Speaking CompetitionLife Education Van visitICAS Science

Thu 4 Life Education Van visitKindergarten Speaking Stars

Sat 6 QLD Netball State Age Championships

Sun 7 QLD Netball State Age Championships

From the PrincipalDear Parents

Our Gifted and Talented Policy continues to be reviewed. As part of our further Professional Learning for all staff, all teachers have received training this term regarding:

• Understanding Giftedness and Talent• The Dynamic of Talent Development• Exploring myths associated with high ability

students• Learning needs and optimal learning

environments

• Cognitive and personality characteristics of gifted students• Identifying gifted students in the classroom and beyond• Levels of giftedness and the range of natural abilities• Intervention strategies appropriate for high ability students

We will keep you informed as to our continued attention to these students and how to enrich their learning as ALL students benefit from the strategies employed by our teachers to differentiate the curriculum.

I’m seeking your help, inspiration and great ideas regarding Master School Planning for 2020 and would like to invite you to attend the Parents and Friends Association meeting on Tuesday 2 June 2015 at the Mahers Lane campus. At this meeting we will be completing some activities to allow parent input for Master School Planning and we welcome the opportunity to hear feedback from members of the Lindisfarne community. As parents, we are seeking your directions and opinions on how you would like Lindisfarne to evolve, to be and to look and how you think your student’s future learning environment should feel and the culture it should evoke.The meeting will be held in the Mahers Lane Library and begins at 7:00pm.Your contribution to this vital aspect of the growth of Lindisfarne is highly valued.I look forward to seeing you there.

Gillian Anstee, Principal

From the Head of PrimarySH-Links and your Child’s Class BlogAs part of our commitment to creating strong links between school and home we have implemented a number of new initiatives this year. Instead of your child bringing home a portfolio at the end of each semester, we have created a more timely approach to sharing your child’s learning journey with you.Teachers will share student learning experiences with you on the blog, providing prompts for discussing and reinforcing learning at home. Please remember to check your child’s class blog weekly.S-H Links Open ClassroomsInformation will be provided on class blogs in relation to open classrooms. These provide an excellent opportunity for parents to share in their child’s learning throughout each term.

Coffee @ Sunshine AvenueThank you to all who stopped and had a coffee on Friday morning. It was wonderful to see so many parents and friends chatting and catching up.

With all of the happenings in life we understand how difficult it can be to find the time to reconnect and we look forward to offering this opportunity to the Lindisfarne community at the Sunshine Avenue campus again on Friday 29 May.

French NewsLes Nouvelles de FrançaisIt is often forgotten that learning a second language can enhance literacy in a student’s first language. By comparing features of their first language with those of another language, learners are better able to understand the structure and workings of English. To support your child at home learning French, please look at the French blog at blogs.lindisfarne.nsw.edu.au/sunshinefrench

Years 2 – 6 have this linked to their class blog.Madame Cronk, French Teacher

Stage 3 NewsGRIP Leadership Program

On 8 May, Lindisfarne Primary Leaders had the opportunity to attend a GRIP Leadership Program at Twin Towns. This program teaches students who are captains and prefects what leadership really means and what makes a good leader. GRIP stands for generosity, responsibility, integrity and people.

It was a day full of activities and discussions on how to help us become a great leader.

We learned about ‘Pay it forward’, which is when you do a random act of kindness and don’t expect anything back. We watched a few clips and discussed how we could spread the word of “pay it forward”. After that we discussed different ways of making the most of opportunities.

We were made aware that you are not a leader because you have a shiny badge or having people like you, it is about supporting and serving your community, teachers and students.

A PLAN is the steps you need to take to get to the part that you introduce your PLAN. PLAN stands for priority areas, listen, activity, next steps. Then we had a question and answer session where we could ask any questions that we may have had. Finally, we had a ‘Loud Noises’ session which involved games and dancing.

Thank you Miss Affleck and Mrs Chandler for this great experience. We hope we can do Lindisfarne proud as Primary Leaders in 2015.

Jacob Sands and Lucy Tandler, Year 6 Students

St John’s First Aid TrainingYear 3 and 4 students will be participating in a forty five minute first aid program in Week 5 of this term. This is a free program offered by St John’s New South Wales, providing school age children with first aid skills they can use in an emergency. The sessions are run by a St John’s volunteer and will cover things such as calling an ambulance, recovery position, burns and management of bleeding.

Murwillumbah FestivalSome Kindergarten to Year 4 classes will be performing in the speaking choir sections at the Murwillumbah Festival of Performing Arts on Tuesday 16 June.More information regarding times of these performances will be sent home in the next few weeks.

Brain Builder AwardsCongratulations to our winners:

Callum Wines Lucas Greaves Taylah Field Christopher Anderson Cameron Davis Mia Henry Olivia Moloney Georgia Wilson Phoenix McDonald

Brain FactsSocial Media Age Restrictions Matter

The minimum age to open an account on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Kik, and Snapchat is 13. For Vine, Tinder and Yik Yak it’s 17. YouTube requires account holders to be 18, but a 13-year-old can sign up with a parent’s permission. Despite these clearly stated and published age restrictions, large and growing numbers of children 12 and under are using social media networks, often with their parent’s knowledge and consent.

In short, as a society we have largely given up, giving age restrictions a collective shrug and “so what?” But, guess what? Age does matter, and here’s why:

Children under 13 don’t have the hardware upstairs to make smart decisions online.

Just because children seem tech-savvy at increasingly younger ages, doesn’t necessarily mean that their brains are developing at the same rate as their digital acumen. Research shows that it takes children about 12 years to fully develop the cognitive structures that enable them to engage in ethical thinking. Before 12 it’s difficult, if not impossible, for a child to fully grasp the impact of their actions upon others, online or otherwise. Yet young children are increasingly joining social networking sites, sometimes even putting themselves in harm’s way by becoming victims of online harassment, solicitation, and cyber-bullying before they are ready to respond appropriately.

Lying is just plain wrong.

Living in a civilized society means we have some implicit agreements: we take turns, play fair, stop at red lights, and hold the door open for old ladies. And we tell the truth. Sure, giving a fake birthdate to Facebook seems like a harmless white lie, but it’s a lie nonetheless.

An excerpt from The Huffington Post ‘3 Reasons Why Social Media Restrictions Matter’.

Michele Chandler

Music NewsSinging LessonsThe Sunshine Avenue campus is very fortunate to have Rachel Ferguson offering singing lessons for students in Preschool to Year 4. Group lessons are available at a cost of $17.50 per half hour group lesson and individual lessons are available at the cost of $35 per half hour lesson.

Group lessons are subject to availability with a minimum of three and maximum of four students per group.

Lessons will be aimed at grouping together similar aged students of the same or next year. While Ms Ferguson hopes to group students of the same year together, this may not always be possible. For example a Year 2 student may be grouped with two Year 3 students, or a Year 4 student may be grouped with two Year 3 students and so on.

Benefits of group lessons:

Some children enjoy singing but feel too shy to sing on their own. Singing in a group creates a fun scenario for these children to find their voice and learn to share it out loud in

public. Learning singing builds confidence in children as they learn new words, melodies, rhythm and basic music theory.

If you are interested in enrolling your child in group or individual lessons an enrolment form can be collected from Administration.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour DreamcoatOne of our very own students at Sunshine Avenue campus, Jye Walker in Year 4 (along with Mary Walters our choir accompaniest), is involved in a Neptune Production musical, Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. The final shows are on this weekend at the Tweed Civic Centre. How amazing would it be to take your child/ren along to see him perform as part of a larger musical cast.

For further information please see the end of this newsletter for the flyer.

Tina Ross, Music Teacher

KindergartenLearning About Area in Kindergarten

One of the concepts that we have been learning about in Mathematics is area. Area is the amount of space that a flat or two dimensional shape covers. The area of a shape can be measured in numerous ways. In Kindergarten we are experimenting with informal units and in a recent session we investigated the ways in which a rectangle of carpet could be measured.

PreschoolMother’s Day Morning

We hope that all our Mums enjoyed the special Mother’s Day morning that Preschool hosted for you and that you all got to put your feet up on Sunday.

The children were very excited to have their Mums visit our classrooms to celebrate Mother’s Day. We wanted to help make them feel special and thank them for all that they do for us. The children displayed confidence and demonstrated their self help skills when helping to give their Mums a drink and a yummy piece of slice that they had personally cooked earlier in the week. They did a wonderful job when giving their Mum a special hand massage and they remembered what we had practised in class. We read a story called ‘Why I love my Mummy’. This is a lovely book with words from children around the world giving reasons why their Mum is so special. We sang and changed the words of the song ‘Where is Thumbkin?’ to ‘Where is Mummy?’ The Joey’s decided as a group to have a sleeping, dancing, cuddly, kissing and a special Mummy. All the children sang beautifully.

We value the importance of having parents join us in our classrooms and enjoy celebrating these special occasions with you.

Mrs Margo, Joeys’ Teacher

The Building Blocks of Literacy Many studies have shown that when children start school with higher levels of early literacy skills, they have greater academic success later on. What early literacy skills should your child learn before they start school? Conversation Your child’s ability to speak and understand speech is directly related to their literacy development. The better their conversational skills now, the easier it will be to understand what they need later. Vocabulary The more words your child knows, the easier it is for them to learn new words and gain meaning from the stories they read. Story Comprehension Lots of experience listening to and understanding stories will eventually make it easier for your child to read and write stories. Print Knowledge Before your child can read or write, they must understand how print works. For example, they will need to know that print is made up of letters of the alphabet, that letters combine to make words and that print is read from left to right. Sound Awareness To be prepared to read, your child needs to understand that words can be broken down into syllables and smaller sounds, and that letters correspond to certain sounds. From: ‘I’m Ready! How to Prepare Your Child For Reading Success’, by Janice Greenberg & Elaine Weitzman For more information please visit the Hanen website: http://www.hanen.org/Guidebooks---DVDs/Parents/Im-Ready!.aspx

Parents & FriendsAssociation

CoffeeSunshine AvenueThe Lindisfarne Parents and Friends Association and Parent Representatives have arranged for a coffee van to visit the Sunshine Avenue campus for morning drop off.

This is a wonderful opportunity to have a coffee, relax and chat with other parents in the Lindisfarne community.

Please note: 20% of profits from coffee sales will be donated by the P&F Association to a local charity.

Friday 29 May From 8:15am (Beginning of drop off time)

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Please note that the information contained within the following pages does not necessarily carry the endorsement of Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School. The credentials of providers have not been checked by the School. Interested parents are strongly advised to closely check the credentials of any person or group offering activities that would directly involve the participation of their children (e.g. camps, coaching classes, babysitting etc)

Community Notices