BLAIRMOUNT PUBLIC SCHOOL Cnr Clydesdale Drive & Badgally Road, BLAIRMOUNT NSW 2559

Phone: 02 4626 1794 - Facsimile: 02 4628 0594 Website: www.blairmount-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

Email: blairmount-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Principal: Mr Greg Turnbull

Week 10, Term 3 Learning Together 20/9/2012 Dear families, Last Tuesday I accompanied Mr Collins and our Drumbeat group to Mawarra Public School to participate in their multicultural day.

They performed superbly and received numerous accolades from the staff and students at Mawarra. It was an absolute pleasure to travel with this group and see them perform with such pride and confidence.

We have once again come to the end of a very busy term. I trust that everyone in the Blairmount school community has a relaxing and enjoyable break spending quality time with family. I look forward to seeing everyone back with energy and enthusiasm ready for term 4. Just a reminder that there is NO pupil free day at the beginning of term 4, students will resume on Monday 8th October. Regards Greg Turnbull Principal

Important Dates Last Day Term 3

Friday 21st September Students Resume for Term 4

Monday 8th October (There is NO pupil free day at the start of term 4)

NAPLAN 2012 Students in Years 3 and 5 have received their NAPLAN results this week. If you have a child in Year 3 or Year 5 and have not received their NAPLAN results please contact Ms Brown or Mr Turnbull as soon as possible. Oracy Competition Proudly representing Blairmount Public School in the Campbelltown/Macarthur 2012 Zone Oracy competition at are: Stage 2: Raven-Lee Nouta and Rachel Khouri and Stage 3: Siona Walters and Ryan Revere Dropping Off and Picking Up Students This is just a reminder about the drop off and pick up zones on Clydesdale Road. These zones are for your convenience, children’s safety and to assist drivers and passengers to enter or exit a vehicle safely. Please remember to stop your vehicle as close to the top of the zone, allowing vehicles behind you easy access to the zone. It is important to ensure that the rules of these drop off zones are followed to ensure that all of our students remain safe coming to and from school.

P&C Update Our next P&C meeting will be held on Monday 15th October at 6pm in the staff room. As always everyone is welcome to attend. Kindergarten Enrolments for 2013 It seems that enrolments are getting earlier every year! If you have a child turning 5 by the end of July you are able to enrol them for Kindergarten next year. At the moment we have a number of applications for students who are ‘out of area’. These will only be accepted if there are vacancies after local enrolments. Please pick up an enrolment form from the office as soon as possible. Please remember when you come in with your completed enrolment application form you also need to bring;

Proof of student’s residential address Birth certificate or identity documents Immunisation history statement Copies of any family law or other relevant

court orders (if applicable) Please be aware without these documents we will be unable to accept your enrolment. Kindergarten orientation will be held in Term 4. More information about orientation will be supplied at a later date. Please continue to check the newsletter. Parental Access to the Computer Lab It’s great to see students and their parents using the computer lab to access Mathletics on Wednesday afternoons. Our Computer Lab located opposite the hall is open every Wednesday from 3:15pm to 4:00pm. Please note no supervision is provided so all children must be accompanied by a parent or carer.

1L Meets Zoom And Learns How To Be Safe Around Dogs On Monday 27th August, 1L went to a talk in the hall given by the Responsible Pet Ownership Program. I patted the dog and it felt good. The dog was great, it was fantastic. (Francis) Some people got to pat the dog. They had to hide their thumbs and show the back of their hands. (Hayley) We had plays. We patted a dog. We pretended we were dogs and the dogs name was Zoom. (Regina) Today we all went to the hall and a lady came with her dog. It had an id tag and we learned how to be safe around dogs. (Helen) Today we went to the hall and a lady came with her dog. The dog had an id tag and we learned how to be safe around dogs. (Grace) Today we went to the dog handler visit. We saw a dog and learned about happy dogs and dangerous dogs and angry dogs and sad dogs. (Andrew) Today we went to the hall and we learnt to be safe with dogs. We got to pat the dog. (Lyle) Swimming Scheme Unfortunately there are no more places available in the 2012 swimming scheme. The 120 students who have a place in the swimming scheme will receive further information after the holidays indicating which group they are a part of and what week they will be going. We have also been notified that our two swimming groups will have the first pool session of the day, which means that they will need to be at school at 8:30am for the week that they are going swimming. The bus taking the students to the pool will leave the school promptly at 8:45am. If this is a problem, please let me know so that we can discuss what other arrangements can be made. Mrs Sammut

What Tips Can I Use To Help My Child Learn Maths At Home?

TTiipp 44:: GGeett yyoouurr cchhiilldd ttoo wwoorrkk tthhiinnggss oouutt

iinn tthheeiirr hheeaadd

Encouraging your child to use mental strategies will help them to use the skills that they know to work out an answer.

TTiipp 55:: AAsskk yyoouurr cchhiilldd ttoo eexxppllaaiinn hhooww

tthheeyy wwoorrkk tthhiinnggss oouutt

A child’s way of thinking is just as important as finding out the answer. When your child works out a maths problem, such as adding the total when two dice have been rolled, ask them how they did it. When you ask your child, ‘How did you get that?' they may at first say, ‘I don't know'. Try questions like:

‘What numbers did you have in your head?’ ‘What did you do with the numbers?’ ‘Why did you do that?”

By explaining the way they came to get their answer, you and your child will be more likely to see where they have made an error, and then be able to correct it. Attendance Champions

Making a Regular Time for Reading Every Day v Let your child know that

you ENJOY the time together.

v Make listening to reading a SPECIAL time.

v Be seen as a reader YOURSELF. v Encourage your child to make use of the local

and school LIBRARIES. v When reading be PATIENT – give your child

time to work out words: Ø 5 seconds or more is reasonable Ø After 10 seconds encourage your child to

use the following strategies when they come across an unknown word:

v ‘What do you think the word is?’ v ‘Read the sentence again and see if you can

work it out.’ v ‘Have a go.’ v ‘Look at the picture.’ v ‘What does it start with?’

Remember reading is not just something that

should happen during the school term – encourage regular reading during the holidays

too!

Adapted from R.E.A.D. I.T Home Reading –Junior Level.

Kluwell Publications

Blairmount Birthdays Natalie Cutler, Michael Saraikin, Tamila Owens, Jack Burns, April Haake, Rihanna Asgill, Liam Marurai, Rana Abdo, Jetara Phommaly, Charli Espinosa, Sarah Anne Brown, Hussain abbas, Faith Faleali’I, Carter Everingham, Spencer Kavapalu, Radif Kanj, Seth To’O, Payten Fretton, Alaa Alkhafaji, Isabelle Velasquez, Melissa Rako, Ashleigh Brock, Chloe Fox, Georgia Cresswell, Zahraa Alkhafaji, Anneliese Cordoba, Bassair Al-Salemi, Halamehi Neiufi, Jack Hardacre, Epeli Taumalolo, Noah Ward, Gabriel To’O, Caprice Nussbaum, Sammy Ryan, Cruz Ieremia, Saymon Sengal, Anna Marie Fuesaina, Hayley Bennett, Francis Mochang, Emily Cooper, Janaiya Hanson, Alexandra Manivong, Maila Safia

Year 5 students attend the Macarthur Sustainable Schools Expo On Wednesday the 12th September, 4 students from 5T and 4 students from 5M went to Belgenny Farm for the Macarthur Sustainable Schools Expo. On the day we learnt how to recycle, reuse and reduce products by placing them into the proper bins, hold chickens, reuse tin foil cans to make plant pots and we looked at water bugs. The day also included meeting the King and Queen of Green, which was pretty awesome! We hope Mr Turnbull can take on our ideas of recycle bins in the playground, worm farms for each grade and composting food to make our plants grow. We also had the opportunity to take home plants for our front yard garden! We all enjoyed the day and we hope to go next year! Thank you Mrs. Bagley and Ms. Fakes for taking us on the journey! By Piper, Liam, Corianne, Tyrone. J, Anneliese, Tamara, Naketa and Kahlelia.

Reflections – Australian Artisits Recently students in class 3/4S completed a series of art works inspired by a variety of Australian artists including Pro Hart, Sidney Nolan, Judy Watson and Ken Done. Students were asked to reflect on these works of art and the artists. Here are some comments by Alyssa K in 3/4S: Judy Watson uses lots of different colours in her paintings. You can tell it is Aboriginal because of the shapes and style that she uses. Ken Done’s art works are in sort of childish style. I think he does this to attract children. His paintings have lots of features. He puts colours in the wrong places such as a pink ocean and a blue Opera House. I think his paintings are worth 4 to 6 thousand dollars.

Pro Hart’s art work called “Red Dragon Fly with Ants” is bright and colourful and has been painted viewed from above. As Pro Hart has passed away, his paintings are now very valuable. Sidney Nolan paints things that have happened in real life. I find his paintings a bit dull. He has done many paintings of Ned Kelly on his horse. I liked Ken Done’s paintings the best. They make me feel happy and excited as they are really bright. I think Ken Done is trying to tell us that he loves Sydney a lot and that he loves the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. He uses lots of colours to show this. Artwork inspired by Ken Done By Rachel K 3/4S

Premier’s Spelling Bee – Regional Final On Wednesday 19th September three students represented Blairmount Public School at the South Western Sydney Regional Final of the 2012 Premier’s Spelling Bee held at Prestons Public School. Rachel Khouri of 3/4S represented in the Junior section – Years 3 & 4, and Sophita Korkeaw of 5M and Ana Ali of 6C represented in the senior section – Years 5 & 6. All three girls did a wonderful job and represented our school with pride. Rachel made it through to the fourth round in the junior section and Ana through to the top eight of the seniors going out on the word ‘adagio’- a musical term. A big thankyou to Ms Lavers for organising the 2012 Premier’s Spelling Bee within the school and congratulations to all the Blairmount students who took part. Mrs Richardson