26 July 2023
Principal’s Report
Dear Parents/Caregivers
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. We want this to happen within a safe, supportive learning environment that caters for the present and developmental needs of every student.
Welcome back to school for Term 3, it has been delightful to see everyone back and energised for the learning experiences ahead. Thank you to our families for all your efforts to get your children to school on time and prepared for the day. We appreciate this can be difficult during the Makuru Season - winter months - as the mornings are cold.
If you have walked around the school over the past week you may have noticed we now have our own long jump pit located behind Room 20, just in time for our sports carnival this term. We also have two very brightly painted four square games near the undercover area for students to access during recess and lunch. There are also new readers being distributed in classrooms to promote our reading program. These initiatives have all been granted through the P&C from the funds raised by the Somerly Primary School community. Thank you - I’m sure all the children will enjoy these resources.
Wastewise
We have some very exciting news! The Somerly Primary School Wastewise program has been recognised as a finalist for the WasteSorted School Awards 2023. The winner will be announced on 14th September 2023. I would like to thank the team that keeps the energy going for our sustainability program, Teresa Sanders, Renae Mulder, Gail Esson and Silvia Caratozzolo (aka Captain Clean-up). I would also like to thank our school community who support our Containers for Change program. Saving thousands of containers going to landfill, we are making a difference for our future.
Staffing
This will be our Chaplain Mrs Estelle van Niekirk’s final week at Somerly Primary School. I would like to thank her for all the time and support she has given our students and families during the past semester and for the time taken to ensure a smooth handover to our new Chaplain. I would like to welcome Mrs Marena Epiha to our Somerly Primary School community. She will be available on Mondays and Thursdays, starting in Week 3.
I would also like to welcome our new Deputy Principal, Mrs Shylie Elliott who is a dedicated, highly knowledgeable and accomplished educator with extensive experience in early childhood education and in various leadership roles.
Please extend the Somerly Primary School welcome to our new staff, as they familiarise themselves with our school community.
Assembly Friday 28th
We are excited to share that the Mindarie Rotary Club has selected Somerly Primary School to receive a Peace Pole to enhance our memorial garden. Somerly Primary School will be the first primary school in the City of Wanneroo to have a Peace Pole installed. The Peace Pole is a symbol of World peace and has the message “May peace prevail on Earth”. The message is written in four different languages - English, Noongar, Maori and Italian. We will be unveiling the Peace Pole at our first assembly of Term 3 on Friday, 28th July. Our Year 5 students in Mrs Brown’s class will be hosting the assembly. We are honoured to have several Dignitaries attending this official event. We hope you can attend this special event. If not, we will also be conducting an assembly on Thursday, 21st September for World Peace Day.
Term 3 events
Please ensure you check your SeeSaw app for updates on events that are occurring during the term and any posts of your child’s work.
We are very excited to be able to offer the Year Six camp again this year, which is 3 days at Ern Halliday Camp from 16th – 18th August. It is important that you check SeeSaw, as much of the information will be sent via SeeSaw. We will also be using the Consent2Go App to provide information and take payments. Families are welcome to speak to Mrs Susan Rose about payment plans to ensure you can cover the costs of the camp. Please note that payments need to be finalised before going on camp.
Thank you for a great start to the term, I look forward to seeing the amazing work being completed in classes and the exciting events ahead.
New students
I would like to extend a warm welcome to Athie and Kendra who recently commenced at Somerly Primary School.
Louise Carroll
A/Principal
Stars
Behaviour Focus
Our behaviour focus for Week 2 is:-
Responsibility
- We immediately follow all staff instructions
Students Late to School
If your child arrives late to school, they are missing critical morning routines and learning activities. The school day begins at 8:40am and students will be considered late if they do not arrive by this time. If your child arrives after 9:00am you are required to enter through the front office and provide us with a reason for the lateness. A late slip will be printed for you to give to the class teacher.
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.
Kindy Enrolment for 2024
We have limited spaces available in our Kindergarten program for 2024. If you have a child who was born between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2020, please complete an Application for Enrolment and return it to the school office as soon as possible.
As Kindy is non-compulsory, enrolments will be on a first in basis.
If you know someone who has a child due to start Kindergarten next year, please let them know that we have limited spaces available.
Please click on the link below to access the Application for Enrolment.
NAIDOC Excursion 2023
In Week 10, students from Years 2 to 6 attended Herdsman Lake Discovery Centre as part of our NAIDOC week celebrations. We were very lucky with amazing weather at this stunning location. Students enjoyed learning about the cultural significance of the lake through a cultural walk and a smoking ceremony, as well as learning how to make Mia Mia Shelters, throw spears, speak some Whadjuk language and complete rock art. All activities were expertly led by Uncle Neville and Nathan the Lake Educator. All students represented Somerly Primary School proudly by being respectful, responsible and safe. We thank all parents for having their students at school on time and prepared for the day.
While students attended this excursion, activities also ran throughout the week, with recounts being written about the experience, artworks created and stories shared. The year 1 students are still to experience an incursion later in Term 3 with Bush Tucker Gardens coming to the school to educate students about the Noongar seasons and the bush tucker available in each season. Students will have the opportunity to plant these in our Indigenous Garden at this time. So, for now, we hope you enjoy some of the photos from Herdsman Lake and other cultural activities carried out at the end of last term.
Book Fair 2023
Waste Wise Schools
Gardening Club
Welcome back to Term 3. Gardening Club continues to be run at lunchtimes on Monday and Wednesday. Unfortunately, due to the weather in week 1, we were unable to do any work in the garden, but we have now started clearing 2 of our garden beds in preparation for some planting on Wednesday. Our soil and compost are looking very healthy and moist and we even found some fat white grubs!
Don’t feed the fill!
Be the Change!
Thank you to all our staff, students and community for continuing to support our Containers for Change challenges. We reached our Term 2 total of 22000 containers. For the year to date our total is 23666!
Thank you!
We are currently running our Helping Hand Challenge during weeks 1, 2 and 3 to help support our year 6 student who are attending camp in week 5, This is our yearly challenge and your child will be in year 6 in the future, so please give our year 6 families a helping hand!
A special thank you to the wider community, Harper Smith and her family from Butler for your donation of $34.50 (345 containers) to our Camp Challenge!
During Term 3 we are running our new Winter Warmers Day!
Let’s Celebrate
Great news we have reached the finals of the 2023 WasteSorted Schools Awards!
Congratulations to everyone as this is a fantastic community achievement!
FIFA Women’s World Cup Colouring Competition
A reminder that the closing date for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Colouring Competition is Friday 28th July.
P & C
TERM 3 WEDNESDAY LUNCH – SAUSAGE SIZZLE AND A JUICE BOX - $5
*VEGETERIAN OPTION NOW AVAILABLE*
Orders MUST be given to your teacher at the start of class
Correct money MUST be included with your order, NO CHANGE GIVEN
Please ensure the following is on your order:
NAME AND ROOM No.
SAUCE PREFERENCE (Tomato, BBQ, Mustard)
AND JUICE PREFERENCE (Apple, Orange, Tropical or Apple and Blackcurrant)
Online Canteen www.QuickCliq.com.au
Orders must be placed online no cash orders.
YOUR CHILD’S CURRENT 2023 ROOM NUMBER MUST BE UPDATED OR THEY WILL NOT RECEIVE THEIR LUNCH!
Somerly Primary School
Phone: 6206 4200 Dental Therapy: 9407 9457
Email: Somerly.ps@education.wa.edu.au
Website: www.somerlyps.wa.edu.au
To advise of your child’s absence text mob: 0437 480 486