Around Antonio

Principal

Karen Patten

Assistant Principal

Jan MacDonald

Assistant Principal

Annette Hayes

631-639 Whitehorse Rd

Mitcham 3132

Ph 9874 4371

Fax 9873 5505

E-mail address : antonio.park.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

Web Site : www.antoniops.vic.edu.au

Our School Values

ERRIC

Empathy Responsibility Resilience Independence Confidence

For your Diary See our website for more

5 December 2013 Issue 39

Friday

6 December

L2 Aquarium

Excursion

Monday

9 December

School

Council

Monday

9 December

Parent Helpers

Morning Tea

Thursday

12 December

APPS

Christmas Service

Thursday

12 December

Special Lunch Day

Café Antonio

Monday

16 December

Whole School

2014 transition

Tuesday

17 December

Year 6 Graduation

Tuesday

17 December

Level 2 Picnic

Wednesday

18 December

Level 3 Picnic

Level 4 BBQ

Thursday

19 December

Level 1 Picnic

Friday

20 December

Last day of school

1.30 finish

Dear Antonio Park Families,

Getting Things Ready for 2014…

As we approach the end of the 2013 school year,

students and teachers are very much participating in this

year’s learning and teaching program. All of our

students are finalising their learning and progress at

primary school for 2013. Our Year 6 students are

currently involved in learning activities that will complete

their preparation for secondary college. These students

have their graduation ceremony on Tuesday 17th

December.

During this time, the school is well underway with its

preparations for 2014, they are:

finalising class structures and student placements

finalising staffing roles and responsibilities

completion of the end of year student reports

Staffing roles and allocations are still being finalised. The

students will meet and work with their 2014 teacher on

Monday 16th December as part of A.P.P.S’s transition

program.

New Playground

We can look forward to having our new playground built in

February next year. Once the playground is built we will

invite our 2012 School Captains: Jarrod P. Mae E., Patrick

L., Emily S. and our 2013 School Captains: Natalie G.,

Tom N., Eliza K. and Ben N. to celebrate the building of

our new playground.

Working Bee last Friday….

We had a terrific turnout for our last working bee for the

year. Quite a few new faces. It was lovely to see the

pride that is taken in the school...lots of hard work took

place. Nature’s classroom was tidied up with the

clearing of the path and weeding. Mulch was placed in

garden areas to further beautify our surrounds.

Thank you to the following families and their children for

the great work they did: Bonetti, Gurry, Heathcote,

Armistead, Mitchell, Goldsmith, Holschier, To and

Marrs. We were all rewarded with some delicious buns

and there were icy poles for the children. Thank you

Dallas Boulton for your tireless commitment to this area

and the enthusiasm and pride you take in our school.

Karen Patten

Aussies of the week

Congratulations to everyone celebrating a

birthday this week.

Assistant Principals

All the Level 2 students are really excited about our excursion to the aquarium tomorrow. Please make sure you bring lunch and snack in

separate bags to make it easier for your classroom teacher to organise. The students are loving the Christmas post. The post is going for one

more week so keep writing those cards!

The C.R.E concert is next Thursday, your teachers will let you know when

your student is performing. The Level 2 Team.

What’s Happening In Level 1?

What’s Happening In Level 2?

Well it is week 9 and we cannot believe where the year has gone. We are so proud of all of the Level 1 students and the work they are producing at the moment. Please feel free to take a walk through our corridors and classrooms to see the Explanation writing that they are producing, it is quite exceptional! This week the preps are completing the final explanation piece of writing about how plants grow. As we have grown plants in our classroom recently, they are all experts! When we finish this piece of writing the students will have the opportunity to select a particular genre that they liked, and we will also be selecting genres for them that we can relate to Christmas, like writing letters or an explanation piece about how Santa delivers presents. Our spelling focus this week is ‘at’, so the preps are writing silly sentences using as many ‘at’ words as possible. They should be bringing them home soon, so we hope you enjoy them. The extension rule we are looking at is dropping the ‘y’ and adding ‘ies’ to make a word plural, like in baby and babies. Our maths focus this week has been number, specifically looking at addition and subtraction and using these operations in open-ended problems and will be continuing this next week.

This week is our last week of PMP and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the fabulous parent helpers that have been part of this program throughout the year. All of the students in Level 1 look forward to participating in this program and it is only made possible by the incredible support and commitment of our parent helpers. There are a few dates to mark in your diaries as we get closer to the end of the year. The following are the ones that concern the prep students.

Monday 9th December – Parent Helpers Morning Tea Wednesday 11th December – Maths Level 2 Transition Session

12.00pm-1.30pm Thursday 12th December – CRE Christmas Service Monday 16th December – Meet the 2014 Teacher – 12.30pm

- 1.30pm Thursday 19th December – Level 1 Picnic

The Level 1 Team Elizabeth, Lauren, Stacey and Lauren

ICT Project This week, sees the completion of our STEP UP Project digital stories.

This project is part of the government initiative of

the BULLY STOPPERS Program. Earlier this year, we applied for and received a $5,000 grant from the government to create short films with students, centred on our school’s

values and expected behaviours. Under the guidance of Christine Ewan and Sandra Collinson, a group of students from each Level 3 class, worked tirelessly over the last few months with storyboarding, scripting, filming, editing etc and the films are now complete and can be accessed through the Department’s site. The article in last week’s newsletter highlighted the amazing work from the

students and provided a link to the site, to view the films. We are very excited about the published films…we hope that many other

schools will be able to benefit from the messages in our films! Thank you… to Christine and Sandra for their work on the project, to the Level 3 teachers who assisted, to all the Level 3 students who featured in

the films and to the ‘experts’ from 2012 who helped along the way. It has been an exciting journey! PARENT HELPERS’ MORNING TEA We are looking forward to catching up with all our par-ents on Monday morning at 10.00 in the hall for a chat

and some light refreshments. See you there!

Team Planning This week, the teachers have been meeting as a team to plan for the first term in 2014! This time allows teachers to organise the learning and teaching in their levels with a consistent approach. Students have been

attending their specialist classes throughout the week. Peace Makers On Tuesday, it was a pleasure to meet the Peace Makers for 2014. They had an amazing session together, under the guidance of Courtney Camm and Jana Densem. The workshops give the students an opportunity to discuss their roles as Peace Makers and to gain knowledge around working with resolutions to issues and communicating with other students.

Well done on a very successful day! Junior Rockers performance What a great night it was last night and a celebration of students work throughout the year in Junior Rockers. Congratulations to all our performers and thank you to the families who attended on the night. A big thank you to Patrick and Josh from Junior Rockers for their great

organisation of this event. Piano Concert It was a privilege on Monday evening to listen to some wonderful piano performances from the students of Margaret Lewis. Congratulations to all of the students who performed and thank you to the families for being part of an encouraging audience. A huge thank you to Margaret for organizing such a lovely concert and for producing such passionate pianists!

Have a wonderful week ahead. Jan & Annette

What’s Happening In Level 4?

There is lots of hard work happening in Level 4 ready for our Gold Rush Expo next Thursday. All Level 4 classrooms will be open to the rest of the school before lunch and last session. Parents and other family members are invited to join us after lunch from

2:45 until 4:00pm. We encourage parents to stop by or stay for a bit after school and see all of the hard work the students have put into their presen-tations. A lovely way to finish off our unit and share the students’ learning with the wider community! Check out the photos over the page of the stu-dents’ hard at work. Year 6 Graduation Not long now until this exciting celebration! Thank you to the students and families for sending in photos for the slideshow and a huge thank you to Mr Newman for putting it together. Invitations to families were sent home on Wednesday. We would also like to thank everyone on the graduation committee for their hard work in putting together the decora-tions, food and other details of the evening. Families who have not paid for graduation are kindly asked to do so immediately. We look forward to a special night for everyone involved!

Literature Contracts We are nearing the end of our contracts and encourage students to keep working on their tasks at home if they still have a

considerable amount to do. Homework will not be set for the last few weeks, rather students are asked to work on activities to complete their contract. Lots of the student work is on display in the Level 4 corridor, come and have a look at their amazing progress so far! Level 4 BBQ Our end of year BBQ will be held on Wednesday 18th December. A notice regarding the small payment due towards food and drink was distributed to students today. To help us shop and prepare, we ask that money be returned to school no later than Thursday 12th December. Sport and bus permission forms will cover student attendance on the day. If you are able to help out on the day with cooking or preparing food, please indicate on the slip provided and return to your classroom teacher. Kate, Mitch, Clive, Rachel and Karen Level 4 Team

Lost Property

The pile of unnamed clothes is building up in Lost Property (located in the Disabled toilet just past the office). Please check for any of your child’s lost school and casual clothing as soon as possible, as we will soon be donating unclaimed items to our school second hand uniform

shop. Please remember that named items can be easily returned to your child. Thank you.

What’s Happening In Level 3?

We had a great celebration on Wednesday, with many students dressed in the Christmas spirit, even a few pjs and some lovely summer gear. I hope the student’s costumes are a great representation of the holiday you are going to have. Level 3 students have been working extremely hard on their literature contracts, please ensure your child is continually reading each night and recording a weekly response into their reading journal. Students have been reading non-fiction, novels and picture fiction books of their own choice.

Our final homework for the year is due tomorrow, we hope you have put a little extra effort into the last one. Thanks again to all of the students for their amazing efforts throughout the year with homework, your teachers have been extremely impressed. Have a great week, Level 3 Teachers

What’s Happening In PE?

PHYSICAL EDUCATION AWARD: This year we have introduced a Physical Education Award in the Junior and Senior levels of the School. This award recognises the positive contributions made by two students throughout the year in Physical Education lessons. Recipients of this award have not only shown improvement with their knowledge and skills but have consistently displayed the values we at Antonio Park Primary School all aspire to: Empathy, Responsibility, Resilience, Independence and Confidence. This years Award winners are: JUNIOR Scarlett Beddoe SENIOR Sean Holschier Congratulations to these students who have also developed excellent relationships with their peers and teachers during the year. It is hoped that all students strive to become a recipient of this award in the future. SEAN HOLSCHIER Sean Holschier has been a model student in Physical Education lessons and Sport. Sean is consistent in his endeavours to improve his skills, always trying to do his best. He asks questions about how he can improve his performance and applies the information passed onto him. In the games he plays Sean gets enjoyment not from winning or losing but from having played the game. Sean always considers his peers and displays excellent sportsmanship. He understands the rules of the games and never disputes the umpire’s decision. If required he will quietly come and ask for any clarification at the end of the lesson.

THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING IN THE NOVEMBER - WALK/RIDE/SCOOT TO SCHOOL Many thanks to all the families who made the effort to change their method of travel to school. We hope you are feeling healthier for making the effort to

walk or ride or scoot to school this month. CONGRATULATIONS TO 1LC for being the class with the most participants last week. I think they enjoyed their tub of fruit on Monday. To celebrate Novembers’ Walk to School month we will be providing EVERY CLASS WITH A BOX OF FRUIT VERY SHORTLY! Thank you to the Semester 2 Environmental Leaders for counting each day, to Mrs Fittolani for purchasing the fruit and Mrs Nisbet for keeping the ELs

on their toes! WELL DONE EVERYONE. NOW WOULD YOUR FAMILY LIKE TO WIN AN IPAD – COMPLETE THIS QUICK SURVEY AND IT COULD BE YOU! 5 minute survey for your chance to win an iPad! On behalf of the Ride2School program, we would like to invite you, as a parent of Antonio Park Primary School, to participate in their travel to school survey. Your responses will help us better understand the concerns of parents of school aged children across Victoria. We are keen to hear from all parents, whether your children are driven, walk, or cycle to school. For your chance to win an iPad, simply complete the following 5 minute survey by 24 December 2013: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/R2Sparent The winner will be notified by email and announced on the Ride2School website in January 2014. For more information about our Ride2School program please visit our website or send me an email. Yours sincerely, Kate Butler Bicycle Network's Ride2School Team Manager

Sean always asks if there is something he can do to help me at the start of the lesson as regards to assisting with setting up the equipment and thanks me for his enjoyable experience at the end of the lesson. Congratulations Sean. You are a very worthy winner of the Senior Physical Education Award for 2013. SCARLETT BEDDOE Scarlett Beddoe has been a great role model for her peers during Sport lessons. She tries her best during all lessons and the improvement can be seen week to week in her skills. Coach Scarlett is always there to help friends and offer feedback to her peers. Scarlett takes to every lesson with a positive attitude, a helping hand and big smile on her face. Congratulations Scarlett, you are a very worthy winner of the Junior Physical Education Award for 2013 LEVEL 3 CRICKET CLINIC: Last week Level 3 students participated in a Milo Cricket Clinic conducted during their PE lesson by a coach from Cricket Victoria. LEVEL 4 BOWLS: Yesterday all Level 4 students took part in a Lawn Bowls clinic at the Ring-wood Bowls Club. Darren McMenaman Lewis Randell Phys Ed

Environmental News

COMMUNITY NOTICES (Please check the Community Noticeboard for further details)

Nunawading Market are having their Christmas Market on Sunday 8th December 1pm-5pm. Whitehorse Civic Centre 379-397 Whitehorse

RD, Nunawading. There will be live music and a special visit from Santa. Enquiries 0412 324 249

Box Hill Community Arts Centre are running a school holiday program 13-17th January 2014. For more information please visit

www.bhcac.com.au

Camp Australia: We welcome summer this week, let’s hope we can all stay cool in those really hot days this week and look forward to the cool change that is coming. Some of our activities this week are: Craft: This week to celebrate summer we will be doing summer craft, we will still have plenty of Christmas craft to keep us all busy. We also do craft in the mornings which is mostly kid’s choice. Outdoors: This week we will be enjoying the warmer weather playing games of football, cricket and basketball. Along with group games of octopus, and as always, free time. Cooking: We will be making bread tarts with jam and cheese, French toast, popcorn, banana cake and of course we have our pancake Fridays. Indoors: The mobilo is a popular construction activity, with children making cars and racing them, we also have plenty of games and puzzles, dress ups for imaginative play and lots more. Just a reminder holidays are approaching quickly, information for Holiday Club is on the parent board in the after school care room and also on the information board in the office. We hope you have a lovely week. If you have any further enquires or questions please call us on 0412 545 042 or 1300 105 343 or visit our website www.campaustralia.com.au

Office News

Could all families please ensure that any outstanding cash payments are settled at the office no later than

Tuesday 17th December.

Cash payments cannot be accepted after this date due to end

of year processes.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all APPS families

a wonderful Christmas and a relaxing holiday break.

Donna, Cheryl and Leonie

HOLIDAY FREE DRESS DAY Yesterday we had our ‘Holiday Fun’ themed free dress day which was great to see everyone dressed up and supporting

our World Vision Sponsor Child. Thank you to our school community for supporting this event.

CHRISTMAS POST Christmas Post has started again for the year and the JSCs have been overwhelmed with the amount of cards that they are

sorting through! Our wonderful helpers have been very excited to go around to all the grades with their special deliveries.

Each grade have been excitedly awaiting to hear “It’s Antonio Park Christmas Post Special Delivery”! Christmas Post will be

running for one more week and next week we will have Semester 1 JSCs helping. So remember to keep writing those

cards and a huge thank you to Semester 2 JSCs for your help this week!

FISH & CHIP LUNCH As a thank you for all the hard work the JSC representatives have put in this semester they will be receiving a special fish &

chips lunch on Wednesday 11th December. We look forward to celebrating all the hard work they’ve put in!

CERTIFICATES

Certificates for the Semester 2 JSCs will be given out at assembly on Monday.

HELPING OTHERS AT CHRISTMAS

Christmas is a time of happiness and love, smiles and laughter and for the children the anticipation and excitement of wondering

what presents they might get. However thousands of kids won’t experience this kind of Christmas. At Antonio Park we are

helping our Indonesian sponsor child Davina have a very merry Christmas through our special ‘Holiday Free Dress Day’.

This Christmas talk to your children about how fortunate we are in this country and discuss any ideas they may have on how to

help those less fortunate than themselves.

Remember a little gesture can go a long way...so what can your family do this Christmas to help other people?

Looking for Christmas gifts or Christmas decorations?

The Fete Craft ladies will have a few tables of goodies set up at School on Friday 6th December from 8.30-9.30am and 3.00-4.00pm. Here is a chance to

grab a box of pretty decorations for $1 to finish the Christmas tree, find a gift for the "hard to buy for" person or even just some Christmas stocking fillers. A wide

selection of items will be available. Drop by and have a look. All proceeds to the School.

Sandy Ingram and Kaisha Gurry.

Mathletics

Aussie of the Week Awards

1LF Patrick For always having a beautiful smile on your face and brightening up our classroom with your

laughter. 1EA Stella K For her great work in maths when comparing the weight of objects. 1LC Isabella O For your resilience when you broke your arm and continuing to produce your best work. 1SG Zeke J For his excellent spelling skills and beautiful handwriting. Impressive writing!

2BC Hudson G For his improved handwriting. Great stuff! 2CC Alexia A For giving 100% to everything you do! It is fantastic to see you working hard every single

day! You are a great model! 2CE Oliver L For working hard in all class tasks. You share your ideas well and produce great pieces of

work! 2CN Patrick C We wish you all the best in your new school and country. We will miss you Patrick! 2JS Zach W For working confidently with larger numbers completing addition equations. 2LE Frankie B For persevering during maths sessions. You keep trying until you get it right. What a great

learner you are Frankie! 2SP Carlee D For your amazing explanation writing about how Octopuses defend themselves! It was very

informative Carlee. Well done. 3AB Joel M For showing great confidence when creating and identifying the footprints of different Austral-

ian animals. Top work. 3DH Dylan For his wonderfully detailed mind map outlining his experiences at camp. You worked very

well last week Dylan! 3RM Blake For being a reading super sleuth. The way you used every resource available to predict what

a text was about was fantastic! 3JD Tahli B For demonstrating maturity and initiative in the classroom and helping your classmates.

You’re a great role model. 3NM Lee M For always being a responsible class member and showing empathy towards others. 4CH Alex F For being a helpful member of the class and for working extremely well throughout the week

in all areas. Well done Alex. 4KD Alex G For all the extra time and effort you have put into your Literature Contracts. Your presenta-

tion is amazing. 4KT Ella G For your amazing efforts when directing your own extension work for Inquiry Learning. Well

done on going above and beyond! 4RF Ruby D For the creative ways you display your understanding of the texts you have read for your

literature contracts. You certainly have some wonderful insights and are always thinking

outside the square. 4MN Alicia P For the amazing effort that you have put into your literacy contract this term. Keep up the

good work.

Music Lessons

Piano, Keyboard, Guitar & Theory

Teacher with 25 years experience

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Vacancies available from Term One 2014

Beginners, both children and adults, most welcome

Call Glenda Tel: 9873 0285