Principals Report

May 22nd, 2014 Issue 12

Private Bag 1, Mine Road, Korumburra. 3950 Telephone: 5655 1309 Email: korumburra.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au Fax:: 5655 2861 School Hours: 9.00 a.m.—3.30 p.m. Web address:: www.korumburraps.vic.edu.au

K.P.S. PRESS

Curriculum Planning Day On Monday all staff were involved in our school Curriculum Planning Day. The day was broken into 2 sessions. In the first session we looked at student achievement, wellbeing and engagement data, over the period of the school’s 3 year Strategic Plan. This exercise led into discussions of: what has been successful? Where do we sit relative to the state norms? Where to from here? These important discussions and reflections will provide the framework for establishing our next 4 year Strategic Plan, along with the feedback we received from the broader school community late last year. Reviewing and reflecting on ‘Student Engagement and Wellbeing’ was the focus for the second part of the day. Here, we also looked at data to make decisions on how successfully we are engaging students in their earning and supporting their social and emotional needs. I would like to thank all of the staff for their enthusiasm and positive contributions on the day. The day again highlighted to me just how passionate and professional our teachers and support staff are at KPS. Superheroes and Villains Dress Up Day Thanks to all students and families who supported our Superheroes and Villains Fancy Dress Up fundraiser. There were some scary little people wondering around the school. As mentioned in Mr Gray’s newsletter report last week the money will go towards supporting our World Vision sponsored child Elisa as well as other JSC school based projects. We raised $ 433.70 towards our JSC projects – a great effort!

Open Classrooms As part of our Education Week activities, today, (Thursday) we had our open classrooms from 9:00am till 11:00am. Parents and grandparents were welcome to visit the classrooms. I know that our students are always proud to have a visitor in their class so that they can show off their learning.

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Principal’s Report

Walking School Bus Tomorrow we have our annual Walking School Bus morning. Betty Hall has just reported that we currently have 240 students registered to walk to school – an amazing number!. Our walkers will be provided with a healthy breakfast on arrival at school. Parents are encouraged to also walk to school with their children where possible. Working Bee A reminder to all parents that at 12:30 pm on Sunday the 25th May we have a Working Bee here at the school. It would be great if families have time to help out on this day, even if only for an hour or so! The focus of the working bee is a tidy up our storage areas in, under and around the school. There will also be some garden bed mulching and other tidying done. Marley’s return to work Thank you to everyone who has sent their best wishes to Marley. Marley was recently sterilised and hence has been away on sick leave over the past 2 weeks. Marley was desperate to return to duties at KPS this week. This morning she mentioned to me that joining in on our morning Action Stations activities has been the highlight of her week.

dlNAPLAN I would like to thank the parents, staff and students involved in last week’s NAPLAN testing. The students’ cooperation and efforts throughout these tests was outstanding. The results of these assessments will not be available for some time but eventually all students will receive an individual summary of their performance in these tests.

(Continued from page 1) 5 Positive Benefits of Reading At Assembly, I have been reminding the students of the importance of finding time to read. It was interesting to go around to the classes and speak to children about their reading. It highlighted to me again, that we as adults, need to consistently make time for providing children with the opportunity to read and discuss what they have read. The discussion after the reading is as important as the reading itself. Reading with your child should always be seen as a great opportunity to share a book in a relaxed and fun atmosphere. The benefits of reading: 1. Increase Your Vocabulary: Reading helps you to learn new words, not just synonyms for words and concepts you already know, but words you may never have even thought of. Articulate people make good first impressions, whether meeting new friends or in a job interview. It may not be fair, but people who express themselves well just seem smarter. 2. Exercise Your Brain: The concentration and comprehension required when reading books gets those synapses firing in your brain. Reading is an active pursuit that forces you to think, compared to watching television where you simply sit and take everything in. And many studies show that older people who continue to keep their minds sharp are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. 3. Broaden Your Knowledge: Reading about a subject that might be foreign to you such as a law drama, an adventure with a physicist as the protagonist, or a military thriller can open you up to all kinds of new ideas. Your friends will be stunned when you can explain the in-depth details of the latest sensational media trial. You don’t have to tell them you learned it all from a John Grisham novel. 4. Reduce Stress: What’s more relaxing that sitting outside and reading a novel on a lazy summer day? Many of our lives are packed full of responsibilities from morning to night. Taking a few minutes to slow down can do a great deal for your mental health. Reading is an activity you can do at your own speed, without flickering images in your face. 5. Flex Your Imagination: A good writer will paint a picture of characters, settings and scenes, but they can only do so much for you. The rest is up to your imagination. In TV and movies everything is given to you, but with books you have to come up with the details on your own. Reading encourages an active imagination, in adults as well as children. Given the benefits of reading we should all try and find time in our busy schedules to read more. Have you ever considered having a TV free time? Is it worth trying? I know that it will definitely be a shock to the system but you can be guaranteed it will make for interesting discussion amongst family members.

Nathan Pirouet

Principal

P E News

House Cross Country

This is a reminder that the House Cross Country will be held on Wednesday 28th May (next week)! This is a whole school event and all

students are expected to participate! If any parents are able to help with marshalling on the day can they please return the slip at the bottom of

the student note or see me at school.

Our school Cross Country will have students who qualify to compete in the Division Cross Country to be held on Thursday 5 th June at Stony

Creek. Good luck runners!

SSV team trials

Congratulations to Mitchell Nicholas who continues in his endeavour to make the Primary School football and basketball state teams. Mitchell

must travel to Melbourne on Sunday for football and Monday for basketball for his second trial day. Good luck Mitch!

Winter Sport-Round 3

Winter sport continues to be a great source of fun and team spirit for the Year 5/6 students. This week we are host to the Prom Coast schools

(Foster/Toora/Welshpool). All games will begin a little earlier this week due to the distance our visitors need to travel. Games will start at

1.00pm and conclude at 2.00pm. Good luck and have fun everyone!

Shelley Snooks

PE Coor4dinator

WORKING BEE

Sunday 25th May, 2014

12.30 p.m. All families are welcome to come and help on Sunday.

The focus will be on cleaning up our storage areas, but there will

be some mulching and other tidying up to do.

We hope to see you there.

SCHOOL CROSSINGS

Could all parents, teachers and the whole school community please be aware of their speed

and be prepared to stop around our school crossings, especially, while flags are displayed.

Calendar of Events

2014

23rd May - Winter Sport Round 3

- Walk to School Day

25th May - Working Bee 12.30 pm.

26th May - Finance Committee Meeting 9.30 am.

- P & F Meeting 9.30 am.

27th May - Publicity & Marketing Meeting 4.30 pm.

- Building & Grounds Meeting 5.00 pm.

28th May - House Cross Country

30th May - Winter Sport Round 4

4th June - School Council Meeting

5th June - Division Cross Country

6th June - Winter Sport Round 5

9th June - Queen’s Birthday Holiday

13th June - Report Writing Day

(Pupil Free Day)

16th June - Parents & Friends 9.30

19th June ` - Regional Cross Country

23rd—25th June - Year 5 Urban Camp

27th June - Term 2 ends

14th July - Term 3 begins

16th July - State Cross Country

21st July - Parents & Friends 9.30 am.

24th July - Regional Winter Team Sport

6th August - School Council Meeting

18th August - Parents and Friends

3rd September - School Council Meeting

10th—12th September - Year 4 Allambee Camp

11th September - Division Athletics

15th September - Parents & Friends

Library News

Book Club – Orders for the latest Issue, no. 4, are due back at school by Thursday 5th June.

Premiers’ Reading Challenge – This week two students have completed ‘The Challenge’ and congratulations go to

Sophie McKenzie and Jorja Whyte. Well done girls.

National Simultaneous Storytime was celebrated yesterday at 11:00am in the Library with the reading of “Too Many Elephants in this House” by Mr Pirouet. Students enjoyed the story and some came back at lunchtime for

‘elephant’ activities. Thanks Mr Pirouet .

Every day next week we have some wonderful parents coming in at lunchtimes to read a favourite book so please come along and listen in.

Helen Cripps

Library Technician