ISSUE 14
Things to Know
Save the Dates:
Monday 19-23 October Book Week- More information coming soon
Monday 26 October (Week 3) School Photos- Notes sent home today
Tuesday 27 October- 3 November (Week 3)Book Fair- More information coming soon
Chris Shaddock
Principal
Dear Kaleen Community,
Happy Father’s Day to all our dads in the Kaleen community! We hope you get spoiled rotten this weekend and that you are able to spend some quality time with your families. It has been a busy few weeks here at school with lots of fabulous learning opportunities and achievements. Thank you to the parents who have taken the time to fill out our school satisfaction surveys. At this stage we have only had 197 (37%) completed surveys and would love some more. The parent survey has been extended until Sunday (6/9) evening in an effort to get as many parent surveys completed as possible. The results of the survey help us to celebrate our achievements as a school community and give us valuable information about how we can further enhance our practice.
Please read on to hear about some initiatives happening in and around the school.
As a part of our PBL program, we are updating our classroom management procedures to get better consistency across the school. This week I led a whole staff professional learning session to support teachers to transition to this new ‘On Track’ system. This new approach:
· reinforces good behaviour (more effectively)
· improves consistency of response (supporting students with disability)
· promotes positive relationships and enhances school culture
· supports transitions from teacher to teacher year to year
@On Track System VideoI look forward to hearing your feedback about the impact our new system is having on our children.
Last week we celebrated Science Week, keep reading to find out more. Thanks to Kelly Reeves, Joanne Keens and Lynn Leon for all their hard work and organisation
Bye for now,
Chris Shaddock
Principal
Science Week
Wow! What a huge success our KPS Science Week has been. We had all our 2020 Science Fair entries up for viewing in the STEM and Sustainability Centre and all classes visited this display through the week. We had entries in all areas and experiments ranging from invisible eggshells to understanding how your eye worked to powering your iphone using fruit. Just amazing!Click HERE to view our 'Virtual Science Fair'. Congratulations to all our participants on making this year’s Science Fair such resounding success. A huge thank you to Mrs Reeves who worked with individuals and groups to help them with their projects; often in her own lunchtime. We are so lucky to have such a dedicated and inspirational teacher at our school. Congratulations everyone on a job well done. All of the projects now automatically go on to the SeaACT Science Fair, good luck!
Our individual and group winners for each category are:
Year 3-6 individual winners
Hansini 6BH - First Place in Biology Science
James 5RL - First Place in Earth & Space
Jacob 3FC - First Place in Physical Science
Pinipa 4TL - First Place in Chemical Science
Year 3-6 group winners
Anya and Riya 3IS - First Place in the group section Biology Science
Vivia and Jiya 5NV - First Place in the group section Physical Science
Masaki, Campbell and Hunter 4SC - First Place in the group section Chemical Science
Year K-2
Drew 1KA - First Place in Physical Science
Olive 2CL - First Place in Biological Science
Shresht KJB - First Place in Chemical Science
Kushal 2SB - First Place in Earth and Space Science
Science Week Activities at Home
Last week during Kaleen’s Science Week our students had the opportunity to complete a variety of science activities at home and upload it to Seesaw. We had so many great seesaw posts across our school and our teachers commented on how our students were able to explain the science behind what was happening. We did have a competition running and our teachers found it really hard to find just one winner but here they are.
The winners for our KPS Science Week Home Science Fun are:
Preschool to Year 2 category – Laith, Marcus and Nina
Year 3 to 6 – Shrestha, Angus, Emma and Jasmin
Congratulations to all our winners and for everyone for uploading your science fun onto Seesaw. Even though Science Week has finished you can still enjoy some science fun by completing any of the activities by clicking HERE.
Our Satellite Selfie Journey
For our 2020 Science Week, the PBL and Green Team leaders organised a plan for the satellite selfie. To symbolise our school, we were originally going to use A3 paper to form the letters: K P S. After calculating the amount of paper we would need for the selfie, we soon realised that the use of paper wasn’t environmentally friendly, since we couldn’t reuse it after completion of the selfie. We then resorted to bin liners which were bigger, darker and reusable. We then recalculated how many bin liners we needed for students to hold on the day, we finally had a project worth sharing.
We first planned to present the finished product on Monday 17 August but due to weather conditions we had to postpone the selfie to Friday. However, on that Friday, it was too cloudy to take the selfie, therefore we missed the satellite selfie. Luckily, Mrs Keens was already thinking about Plan Z to capture our hard work.
So on Tuesday 1 September it was selfie day and our whole school came together to take a drone photo. We went up to the senior oval and our Year 6 and Year 5 students took their spots next to their partners to form the letters, K P S. The rest of our school formed a rectangle around our letters.
We want to say a huge thank you to Mr Buesnel the Principal of Maribyrnong Primary School who came out and took the drone shots for us.
Click HERE to see the video.
-Cara, Holly, Hansini and Zain
Kindergarten Chickens
What an exciting fortnight it has been in Kindy. Two weeks ago, an incubator arrived at school with 10 eggs inside keeping warm. Every day we would check to see if any had hatched. On the first day there was one chick. The next day there were three chicks. On the fifth day there were seven chicks! Finally the last eggs hatched including two ducklings!. We loved watching them walk around, peck, fluff their feathers and cheep. Most of all we loved holding them carefully and feeling how light and soft they are. The ducks are hilarious. They can paddle in a tub of water even when they are only a day old. We have been viewing information to record facts about chickens. Did you know that the chicken is related to a T-Rex? We have made pictures of their life cycle. We have kept a journal about the chicks. We have also read lots of chicken and hen stories to inspire our writing and reading. What a great experience!
Library News
Library Monitors
Introducing the semester 2 Library Monitors!!! We welcome a fantastic and eager group of year 4 and 5 students who dedicate their lunch times to help out with various tasks in and around the Library. We appreciate and look forward to their help over the next couple terms. Thanks team!!!
Sustainability Section
Resource Management System Classroom Bins
Our Year 6 Student Parliament saw a discrepancy in our school Resource Management System and have been working hard to come up with a solution. They worked with classes to replicate the outside bin system and carry it into our classrooms. KPS has been trialling this throughout the year with huge success. The containers Student Parliament have selected tie in with our outside resource management bins and stack on top of each other to save valuable classroom space. These containers are made in Australia from post manufacturing recycled content and will be introduced by our Green Team into classrooms soon.
Our Student Parliament and Green Team leaders would like to thank the P&C for contributing half of the cost towards these new inside bins to further support our Resource Management System.
Floriade Re-Imagined 2020
Our students have been busy making tulips and bees for an amazing Kaleen Primary School Floriade display that will feature in the Floriade Re-Imagined 2020 display in the Canberra Centre. This display will run from 12 September to 11 October 2020. So take a trip to the Canberra Centre and see if you can find your tulip or bee. During this Floriade time you will also be able to partake in workshops, talks, and fitness classes to help keep your gardens green and minds inspired. Click HERE to see what else Floriade Reimagined 2020 has in store.
In further Floriade news our bulb display at the front of our school is continuing to bloom. Take a moment to see how many bulbs are popping up in our pot plants. There’s a bit of a competition going on between the classes with the Kindergarten and Year 1 students keeping a close eye on what is unfolding.
-The Sustainability Team, Mrs Reeves and Mrs Keens
Japanese Corner
Are you looking for support to assist with Japanese Learning from home?
Check out these easy to follow books.
Healthy Minds
R U OK? Day is Thursday 10 September 2020. Student Parliament representatives will be visiting each class to share different ways to say R U OK?
Asking, ‘Are you OK?’
R U OK? seeks to create a world where we’re all connected. We’re never too young to look out for one another and meaningfully connect. R U OK? have produced a comprehensive and curriculum aligned K-6 package for schools to introduce and emphasise the value of close connections and strong relationships. Being able to meaningfully support someone and strengthening peer-to-peer support skills should begin in the early years of a child’s life through teaching them to look after themselves and their peers.
A range of circumstances can lead to a child feeling low, including: big life changes like moving house or school, experiencing grief or loss, being around people going through tough times, being bullied, arguing with someone, problems with school work, being bored, having a medical condition or chronic illness, not sleeping well, not exercising enough, hormonal changes, special needs.
Be aware of certain behaviours and signs that can indicate a child might be struggling. The first thing to look out for is changes in behaviour. When people feel low, they often: withdraw from their friends or their family, lash out at people and get angry or upset really easily, including towards the people they care about, cry or become emotional, lose interest in activities and things they usually love, have changed sleeping patterns. They might be sleeping all the time, not sleeping much at all, or sleeping at strange hours (such as in the middle of the day), have a changed appetite. They could be eating more than usual, or less.
Useful contacts when a child is not OK: School counsellor GP or psychologist Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 Lifeline on 13 11 14 ‘000’ if life is in imminent danger.
Student Parliament Report
Team Colours Day
Reporter 1 is on the oval next to AJ’s team. Reporter 2 is at Ruby’s team. It was incredibly quiet only the faint noises of the people discussing but that was soon to change. The event will start soon. My friend started to head down the oval to the Junior end to check in on the leaders there when we heard a noise. Mrs Turner says GO, the storm has arrived. The majority right now is Year 6s at the senior area and maybe Year 4s. While walking I realised that the Junior end was more active with people.
The Junior end is bustling. Almost all the students are participating. The parachute seems to have fewer people but that's bound to change. The obstacle course event has 32 people playing. We convinced 2 students to join, more to come as well. We went to the parachute again and I guess the colours attracted the Juniors as we counted 44 students! The first parachute team were playing the game where they would go underground while team 2 made them keep a ball in. Both teams were doing great. The obstacle course was also full of laughs and enjoyment. While they had fewer students, that meant more people could do it.
The Senior end has a pretty good amount, far less in comparison to the Junior end but a surprising amount. Relays had 18 students (most were Year 4) and touch footy had 14 people but was only Year 6 though. After checking out the Senior area we went back to the Junior end to finalise the points.
Parachute team one stopped but parachute team two was still going strong. The obstacle course, while still doing well, had lost a couple of students but I could also see some new faces. The students were smiling and the hosts of the game (while tired) also seemed to enjoy hosting it. Me and my fellow reporter finally headed to the classroom to publish our report and to make the script for the reveal.
Thanks to everyone for dressing up and participating. Together we raised $450 for the Fight Cancer Foundation!
Results: 4th: Hawkesbury, 3rd: Snowy, 2nd: Murrumbidgee, 1st: Cotter
-Zaric 6KT
Heroes Corner
Last week Commander Col O’Rourke along with a very special visitor, Sparkie attended KPS to present Joe Chadburn with a special appreciation certificate from the ACT Fire and Rescue Chief Officer for his role in the production of the video, “Fire Safety with Sparkie”.
Joe and his mum, Julia both feature heavily in this resource. If you would like to see the Chadburns in action, click HERE to head to the ACT Fire and Rescue Site.
Well done , Joe!
If you would like to have your child’s achievements acknowledged here, please email a short blurb to KaleenPSAdmin@ed.act.edu.au.
Community
Kaleen Connections
Do you have a business you would like to promote? Do you find yourself seeking trades and services and you would like to support local?
We would like to share KPS family business information in the form of a Yellow Pages section in our newsletters called “Kaleen Connections”.
If you would like your business to be included, email the following information to christina.mccombe@ed.act.edu.au.
Business name, Your name, A brief description of your services, Contact details, A small logo image (If you have one).
Kaleen Connections good - Copy - Copy.pdfBuy-Nothing-flyer.pdf
Child Development Service Clinic - booked appointments only
The Child Development Service (CDS) offers assessment, referral, information and linkages for children 0-6 years where there are concerns relating to their development. Previously, CDS provided a drop-in service. CDS has now moved to offering booked clinics for speech pathology, physiotherapy and occupational therapy.
Parents and guardians are welcome to contact the Intake Service on 02 6207 8884 or child.development@act.gov.au if they have concerns about their child in the areas outlined in the attachment. To raise awareness, please share the attachment with staff and families.
