18 November 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

My congratulations this week go to Grade 4 students who presented a respectful and reflective Remembrance Day assembly last Friday. Our students spoke about the freedoms we enjoy because of the sacrifice of others. All students in the school placed a red poppy along our memorial wall and placed flowers at the monument as a sign of our respect and our thanks.

Presently our teachers are working on report writing and collecting evidence of student achievement for our end of year reports. I would like to thank the teachers in advance for their time and professionalism as they sum up the learning year for our families to celebrate. There have been wonderful achievements in student learning outcomes, motivated by our dynamic teaching team.

With only 23 learning days remaining this year, we encourage all families to arrive punctually for our 8:50 start so not a moment of learning time is lost. We encourage every family to take the challenge not to miss another day of school before Wednesday 21st December.

Finally, a wonderful moment in our school recently was seeing the Kindergarten students as they transitioned into the playground with their older friends. The smiles and joy on the faces of our youngest students reminded me about what a special community we have here at Snug.

Bonnie Jeffrey
Principal

Kath’s Spot

What a lovely day we had yesterday! The sun was shining, and the mood was happy, and it made me feel like summer is on its way!

I grew up in a little country town named Cobram in Victoria, and being inland and on the Murray it got very hot! Like I mean hot hot hot!! for half of the year, you didn't need a jumper at all, and in summer the days generally didn't go under 30degrees, more like 30-47degrees. We lived in the local pool or the Murray River. I still love the heat, and love swimming and being out at the beach.

It makes me think though that a lot has changed over the years. I was the baby of 6 children, and by the time I was growing up there was really only the brother 18months older than me, and I still living at home with Mum & Dad. When we got home from school we would chuck our bathers on, grab the towel, a drink and something to eat, then we would head off to the pool. We walked there from home, by ourselves, and we stayed there till the set time that Mum and told us to return home by. Now days, I couldn't imagine sending my kids off to the pool by themselves!

Although our generations have changed the way we do things, we also need to remember to allow the freedom to our children to become independent, while being safe. We don't want our children to be too scared to climb a tree, or have fun with friends outside. But there is ways we can set our children up to be independent while we are looking on...so to speak. Steve Biddulph encourages us to find ways for the children to be in charge of cooking dinner for the family, and there are other ways like trusting them to complete tasks (even if its not quite how we would do it), or drop things off to the neighbours house.

We are fortunate to have had wonderful neighbours over the years, and it feels very old school to see our kids all outside playing together, or riding their bikes to and from each others houses to "hang out". Even giving the boys tasks like putting the rubbish bin out, or going and asking literally for a cup of flour or the like from the neighbours has been a great learning tool for providing skills to our children that will serve them later in life.

Hopefully this fortnight you may have an opportunity to upskill your child by having them grow in independence. I love hearing about all the wins you are all having, so keep up the great work!

Many Blessings

Kath Dolliver
Chaplain

Assembly Awards

Class in Focus – Grade 6A

In Maths, Grade 6 students have been exploring ways they can learn and demonstrate their understanding through technology. Students have been making short films to show what they have learnt. Many of these films have then been uploaded to our classes YouTube account.

Here you can see Oliver, Bree and Vincent unpacking the concept of adding and subtracting negative numbers.

You can check out our class’ films on YouTube by searching ‘Mr Mac’s Maths’

In 6A, we have been have been studying the way authors create a visual picture for the reader through the use of adjectives, expressive verbs, similes and metaphors, as well as the use of speech to scaffold a story.

An excerpt from Rhys’ narrative

Drama News

“The Dream Machine” will be presented by The Grade 3 team on Wednesday 30th November. Tickets are now available in the office - cash only please.

Adults $5.00
Children $3.00
Family (2 adults and 2 kids) $10.00
DVDs $10.00

Photos will be available for ordering in the office for the first week or so of December.

Interschool Athletics Carnival

Chaplaincy Program Feedback Wanted

We are looking for some parents and Grade 6 students to provide some feedback via an online survey about our Chaplaincy Program. This kind if feedback is very important to highlight the benefits of the program and to inform future planning.

If you are able to participate in this 15 minute survey, please contact Mrs Jeffrey for details.

Wombats Occasional Child Care Survey

Wombats has been providing child care at West Winds for over 25 years. We currently offer occasional child care for 2 – 7 year olds on a Thursday for a 7 hour session.

Wombats provide families in the Channel the opportunity for their children to develop valuable social skills, learning opportunities and the potential to mix with and develop friendships with their future kindergarten cohort. Wombats operates within the Early Learning Framework focussing on play based learning and well prepares children for school readiness.

We need to ensure that Wombats continues to cater for families in our community and would appreciate your input into our 2017 program.

Please access this link to complete our survey online. All responses are confidential.

Thank you.
Sue Sagewood
Director at West Winds Community Centre

Registration to Work with Vulnerable People

If you volunteer at Snug, you will be required to register for “Registration to Work with Vulnerable People” This will be mandatory by 1 September 2016.

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Coming Events

Flying Frisbee Golf

Term Dates for 2016