6 March 2024

Principal’s Report

Our vision is to foster every individual’s academic and social development driven by high expectations for success and aspirations for them to become resilient, respectful individuals.

Kaya Families,  

I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend, a little change to Buruk season which is the hottest season with little to no rain, with a glorious abundance of sunlight and exceptional heat. We have been thankful, the extreme weather conditions settled during this fortnight, as our senior students have been attending swimming lessons at Yanchep Lagoon. We are very fortunate to be offered a beach swimming location for our students, this is an important opportunity for our students to learn about water safety at the beach. Thank you to our staff who attend to support with supervision and thank you to families for having the children prepared for lessons.

Student Leaders

Mr Brompton and Mrs Mulder attended the Perth Dream and Lead Conference with our four Student Councillors. The students were inspired by the messages from the guest speakers and returned to school with goals for their own leadership. We will be including a student leadership message in our newsletter, to promote student voice within our school community. All our senior students will also be participating in activities in the near future, aspiring them to be resilient and respectful individuals.

Teacher, Parent and student Interviews

We will be opening the invitations on 13^th March for families to attend the teacher/parent/student interviews that will be conducted in week 8 Friday 22^nd March from 12pm – 4:45pm. We have made this time available to families as this was something requested in past surveys. It is a wonderful opportunity to sit and discuss your child, as a three-way discussion, expectations are clear and aspirations stated. Please ensure you book in early to get your preferred timeslots. Interviews will be conducted in your child’s classroom. The school will be closed at 11:45am on Friday 22^nd March, please ensure you plan for your child’s pickup. TheirCare is available on school site if you wish to contact this childcare provider for your child after school care.

It is very important that we have your correct details for the purpose of communication, particularly if we need to contact you regarding the welfare of your child. If you have changed address, phone or email please notify the front office.

NAPLAN 

Please be advised students in Years 3 and 5 will be sitting NAPLAN during the next two weeks, from the 13^th – 22 March. During this time students will be completing the tests online, using school laptops. All Year 3 students will continue to complete the writing assessment on paper. NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards. As a school we value the data provided to inform our teaching directions. NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress. However, we do not impose any pressure on our students, it is a snapshot assessment, please be mindful that your child be experience some anxiety over the tests. Please reassure them it is a learning experience.

Further information can be obtained at NAP - For parents and carers

Community

Thank you to our Chaplain Sophie, who is coordinating our Breakfast Club and a big thanks to the volunteers who have nominated to help. If you are around in the mornings and can assist, even for a few minutes please speak to Sophie and let her know, or just drop by and help. Breakfast club is running Wednesdays and Fridays this term, with more volunteers we are hopeful to offer Mondays next term.

Thank you for your support with our sustainability programs, in particular our Containers for Change program. We promoted Clean Up Australia Day on Friday 1^st March. Classes selected areas around the school to clean, ensuring we are looking after our environment. Thank you to those who dressed in green or blue and brough in a coin donation to show their support of our greenhouse project.

Bunnings

We have a positive partnership with Bunnings and they have reached out to invite us to participate in their Easter Fun Night on 21st March from 6pm – 8 pm. Our P&C will be hosting a stall there so please invite your family and friends to attend the event to promote our community.

School Board

The Somerly Primary School Board met on the 29^th February. We thank and farewell our out-going members, Arthur Ventham (School Board Chair), Nik Chauhan and Dee Bell. Their contributions over the past years have set us in good stead for moving forward. In 2024, we welcome back to the board Kayleigh James, Harry Turnbull, Mark Folkard and Louise Lipman, and as new members Sharni Coster, Janelle Smith and Shylie Elliott. During the first meeting we voted in Harry Turnbull as Somerly Primary School Board Chair.

During our first meeting we discussed the opportunity of Somerly Primary School partnering with ECU (and UWA) Children’s University. The Board was impressed with the various opportunities our children can experience through this partnership. It was decided to present this information to our senior students (Year 5 & 6), their families and their teachers to confirm our school involvement. The School Board will announce the decision in the coming week.

Harmony Week

Harmony Week will be celebrated in the final week of this term. Events during the week will be to promote the wonderful diversity of culture within our school community. One event will be the Easter Hat parade, occurring on the last day of term, a twist to the Easter Hat will be to add your own culture to the hat. This could be in the way of colour, animals, patterns, materials used or hat designs. Students are welcome to wear their culture dress on the day to add to their Easter Hat design.

Term 1 Events  

Please ensure you have access to Seesaw to keep up to date with all the events occurring this term .

Save the dates;

13^th March – 22^nd March: NAPLAN for Year 3 & 5 Students
22^nd March: Early school closure for Parent/ Student/ Teacher Interviews (12.00pm – 5.00pm)
25^th March – 28^th March : Harmony Week
28^th March: Easter Hat Parade and Easter Raffle
28^th March: Last day of term

Welcome to our new students:

Welcome to Elijah, Austin, Maia and Eunice who joined the Somerly PS community in February and early March.

Louise Carroll
A/Principal

Term 1 Calendar

Dream and Lead Youth Leadership

Last Friday, the Year 6 student councillors, Mrs Mulder and Mr Brompton attended the Dream and Lead Youth Leadership Conference. Led by some inspiring speakers, we learned about the value of being yourself; how the keynote speakers overcame challenges to be successful; and some strategies we can apply to respond to challenges ourselves and how we can support others. We learned about the positive change that we can have on the world and were asked how we can be change agents in our lives and in our schools and communities. Students and teachers left the conference feeling energised and considering the action we could take next to make a difference to those around us.

Thank you to Somerly Primary School for the opportunity to go to the conference. Last Friday we travelled by train to the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, joining lots of other schools with over one thousand people attending. We learnt about what leadership is all about. We also learned that self-leadership is the best kind of leadership and that our age does not determine our ability to achieve extraordinary things. We all appreciate Mrs Mulder and Mr Brompton for taking us to this wonderful conference.’ – Sophie Jai, Amir, Zain

Merit Awards

Congratulations to the following students who received Merit Awards at the last assembly.

Room 2: Oscar S,
Room 3: William K, Te Iti
Room 4: Emily, Rohan
Room 5: Noelia
Room 7: Althea, Aryan
Room 8: Phoenix, Ember, Vanessa
Room 9: Ryder B, Amarni, Alliyah
Room 10: Rashaad, Lilly G, Riley G
Room 11: Ahaana, Chayse
Room 12: Jayden, Evelina
Room 13: Lilly, Kai
Room 14: Prince, Summer
Room 15: Ava, Hashim
Room 16: Blake
Room 18: Savannah, Laura
Room 20: Elsa, Deyana
Room 21: Lorenzo, Giselle

Behaviour Focus

Our behaviour focus for Week 4 and 5 is:-

Whole school Safety: We keep hands, feet and objects to ourselves.

We are learning to: keep our hands, feet and objects to ourselves 

This is Because:

It keeps everyone safe

We all have the right to feel safe at all times

What I am Looking For:

Use objects for there intended purpose eg: hats on heads, library bags in hands etc

We solve problems by talking eg: saying STOP poster

Waste Wise Schools

Gardening Club

Kaya Somerly community, due to the extreme hot weather unfortunately we have not been able to get into our garden just yet but watch this space.

We had a very special guest on Friday at our whole school assembly!

Captain Recycle showed up to present our classroom Waste Warriors with their new Bibs!

Thank you, Waste Sorted Schools!

Somerly Primary School was a recipient of a Waste Sorted Schools Grant to continue our commitment to waste avoidance and resource recovery. This project is supported by the Government of Western Australia and administered by the Waste Authority.

A grant of $4849.90 (including GST) was approved for funding from the Waste Authority to Somerly Primary School to purchase indoor recycling bins with coloured lids for every classroom at our school to build on existing recycling and waste stream sorting.

The 65 litre bins with the red and blue lids were put into every classroom and the coloured lids now provide a more visual aide to our students and staff to help identify and place the waste into the correct bins. (Blue for Paper and cardboard and red for general waste).

The 90 litre bins with red, blue lids were placed in the wet area of our year blocks and green and yellow were placed in our staff room and canteen areas. (Green for our fruit and Veg waste FOGO and yellow for recycling).

Our students love the colours, and we believe that these colour lid bins have already improved our waste management at our school because we have noticed less rubbish is going into the wrong bins therefore, we are reducing and recycling better as no rubbish is being contaminated.

Once again thank you to Waste Sorted Schools for helping us with our Waste Management Schemes.

Students helping with unloading our new bins.

Students have cleaned bins ready for implementation.

Captain Recycle and our Students Councillors introduce our new bins at our Monday morning Communication Assembly.

Our students love our new colour lid bins.

This project is supported by the Government of Western Australia and administered by the Waste Authority.

Containers for Change

Well done everyone! During weeks 4 & 5 we had our Clean Up Australia Day Challenge!

Congratulations as a community we collected 3074 containers from going to landfill!

Our grand total so far this year is 8417 containers!

Our Challenge Champions were:

Mrs Hobson’s room 3 who collected 366 containers.

Thank you everyone for participating and remember every container saved goes onto another life!

Classroom Totals:

Thank You!

Our next challenge in weeks 6 & 7 will be “All about the Worms!” to raise funds for our new worm farm and incursion for our Pre -Primary and Year 1 classes.

So please help us to Save our Planet Save our Future!
We are the Change!

Students Late to School

Please ensure that your child arrives to school at the appropriate time, classroom doors open at 8:30am. If children are at school before 8:30am they are expected to wait in the undercover area. Please also make use of the before care facility, TheirCare. Any student arriving after the siren should present to the office for a late pass.

Not Feeling Well?

If your child is not feeling well before school, please keep them home and notify the office by phoning 6206 4200, sending an SMS to 0437 480 486 or emailing somerly.ps@education.wa.edu.au.

Late Collection of Students

Somerly Primary School has a student finish time of 2.45pm each day. If your child has not been picked up before 3pm, you will be required to come to the front office to sign them out.

Everyone experiences anxiety occasionally, and it’s a normal response that can be helpful and typically passes quickly. However, anxiety can sometimes become overwhelming and interfere with our ability to cope with day-to-day activities. Learning to manage anxiety effectively is a vital life skill that begins in childhood, and this FREE two-hour seminar can help you.

P & C

Please welcome our P&C members for 2024.

The P&C play an active role in supporting Somerly Primary School and education.  The P&C involve parents, caregivers, and community members who collaborate to enhance the educational experience for students. Some of our activities include fundraising, organising events, advocating for educational policies, and fostering a sense of community within school. If you would like to be involved, please come along to our next meeting on the 20^th March 2024 at 5.30pm, held in the staffroom near the front office.

This year we have already purchased:

• More student councillors blazers for Year 6 students who hold these roles.
• A new noticeboard to replace the old one on the library wall.
• New baskets for the Wednesday Sausage Sizzle

Upcoming purchases:

• Personalised hi-vis vests for members to wear at events to make it easier for staff, parents, and students to recognise us.
• A Faction Leaderboard sign for the students to see how many points each team have.
• A new playground, we are still in the planning stage.

Free Dress Day

Clean up Australia free dress day that was held on Friday 1^st March raised $148.30 towards our school greenhouse project.

Weekly Wednesday Sausage Sizzle

What a great start to the term with having our whole roster full with volunteers. We appreciate all the support. Volunteers’ kids will receive a free sausage sizzle on the day you volunteer as an appreciation for helping.

Easter Raffle

We kindly ask for any Easter donations for our Easter raffle that will be drawn at the Easter hat parade on the 28^th March. Donations can be anything Easter related; chocolate eggs and bunnies, baskets, lollies, décor, painting or activity books. Please leave any donations at the school office by Friday 8^th March.

Some of our members will also be down at Bunnings Easter Night on the 21^st March 6pm – 8pm fundraising another raffle. Come down and have a look.

Anzac Day

The P&C will be selling Anzac biscuits out of the canteen after the ceremony on the 24^th April, and during lunch time for purchase. All money raised will be going towards a new playground.

Breakfast Club

Breakfast Club will be running every Wednesday and Friday mornings 8.15am – 8.40am with the help from our lovely new Chaplain, Sophie. Volunteers are always needed, as are food donations; butter, cheese, juice, spreads. If you would like to assist in serving breakfast to the students or have any food donations, please contact the school.

Subcommittees

As more is happening at the school we are needing more help. If you don’t want to join the P&C but you have an interest or have a friend that would like to help out in one of our subcommittees, please do! The more input we have the better, and easier it becomes! Subcommittees will be determined at the next meeting, 20^th March.

Community Fete

This year we are planning on having a big community Fete. We are still in the planning stage, however if you have a business that you would like to promote at this event with a stall, please keep an eye out for more information in the coming months.

We look forward to an amazing year!

Thank you

Kylie Wilson
Secretary

CONNECT AND RESPECT EXPECTATIONS

SCHOLASTIC

COMMUNITY