Principal: Mr Stephen Crossley Ph. 55232218 Fax. 55217839

PO Box 317 Portland Vic 3305 portland.bay.sch@edumail.vic.gov.au www.portlandbayschool.vic.edu.au

School Council President: Deb Robinson 0428 995 987

Date: Thursday 25th June 2015. Issue 20

From the Principal’s Desk

Term 2 has been a very busy term and everyone is looking forward to a well-earned

break. Interschool Cross Country last Friday went well with Brady Howard,

Jamie Roosa and Kate Carter making into the State Finals in Melbourne in July.

Best wishes and good luck. We look forward to your reports & hearing all about it.

Yesterday was the graduation lunch for the students completing the Passport to

Employment (P2E) program. Congratulations to Ashley, Jamie, Lachlan and Alisha

for completing the course and graduating yesterday. The students all look very

smart in their interview clothes. Students learnt about presenting themselves for

employment including searching for

jobs, preparing CV’s, and preparing

for interviews.

The P2E program has been nominated

for a State government innovation

award which is greatly deserved. We

wish the team all the best at the

awards night in July. Well done to

WDEA, Glenelg Council, SW Tafe, GLLEN and all the schools involved in

presenting the program.

Casual Day tomorrow - R U OK ? / Whole School Well Being Day.

Tomorrow will be a great day of fun activities. Don’t forget you are welcome to

wear casual dress and we have 3 staff members having their “Locks” shaved for

coin donations to our Michael Ward Memorial Award.

New Building

When we return the new building on the Bundarra front lawn will be operating and

group 2 (Kylie) and group 3 (Charlotte) will be moving into this space.

Group 5 (Phil) will move into Charlotte’s room.

Reminder – Early finish Friday 26th June

As usual, school will finish at 2.30pm on the last day of term 2 and the buses will

be running about 45-minutes earlier.

There may have been some confusion about this in the last newsletter but it is

always a 2.30pm finish on the last day of term.

Caught being good

It was great to catch Bart and Shandarra Sherrard (twice) being good over the last

week. Thanks for your efforts.

Reminders - No horse riding in term 3

- No swimming in term 3 except for group 1

Both programs will resume in term 4.

Student Reports

Student reports will be posted via Australia Post on Friday, direct to homes.

I hope you all enjoy the break……. Steve Crossley, Principal

Website - www.portlandbayschool.vic.edu.au We remind the community that our website is open and continuously being updated.

Currently added is ABC 774 interview with James Merlino, Education Minister, on

Friday 19th June 2015 in relation to visiting our school.

COMING EVENTS

TERM 2 Friday 26th June Last day Term 2 2.30pm Finish

Well Being Day / R U OK Day? casual day & activities gold coin donation - See details further in the newsletter

Next 2 Weeks -School Holidays

Monday 29th June to Friday 10th July Important Dates to Remember. Monday 13th July First Day Term 3

Monday 10th August Finance Meeting 1pm

Tuesday 11th August School Council Meeting 7pm

Camp Dates 2015

Group 1 Aug 3 – 5

Group 2 Aug 5 – 7

Group 5 Oct 26 – 30 (tenting)

Cameron with

some ”Kinetic

Sand” for the

therapy program,

We thank Taylah

& her family for

the kind

donations of

several items,

Thank you.

At our whole school assembly,

we draw the

“Caught Being Good” raffle.

Throughout the week, staff give

students a raffle ticket for

displaying positive behaviour either

in their classroom, on the

playground or in any school events

such as excursions, outings or

community access.

Stars of the Week “Caught Being Good”

Well Done Bart Rowley &

Shandarra Sherrard, Great Effort.

Term 3 - 1st week’s focus is:

Words on Wellbeing Like a fish…

Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability

to climb a tree, it will live life believing that it is stupid.

Albert Einstein.

As you get ready for the term break, I want you to think

about these wise words. Your children are unique. All have

their strengths. When happy and engaged in their learning,

children thrive. That is why at Portland Bay, caring teachers

understand how to cater for individual learning needs. Like

that fish, a child also needs that ‘habitat’ to flourish.

When school is a positive environment and social

connections are formed, another form of ‘intelligence’

develops. That is, the ‘Emotional Intelligence’ of a child; an

ability to be kind, to care about each other and to assess the

needs of others in a compassionate way.

There are certainly more ways to think about our

intelligence. There is a need to develop the wellbeing of

everyone. And there is an emphasis on ability rather than

focussing on disability.

The brain plays a part in everything we do: It allows us to

learn, laugh, cry, walk, talk, create, hate, and love. You may

have heard about the Left Brain and the Right Brain. And

you may know that there is a critical learning period of

0 – 6 years where the early-life experiences are a learning

time.

We hear ‘High-Functioning’ and ‘Low –Functioning’,

‘Intellectual’ and ‘Cognitive’. Yes, there are differences but

we all share connections: brain, mind and body. And this is

what we know as ‘learning’ and ‘memory’.

We know that attachment and social connectedness are at

our core. Researchers such as Martin Seligman (2011) in his

book Flourish, state that empathy and positive human

connections are one of the single most important elements

in childhood neuro-development. So our wellbeing is far

more than just our ‘intelligence’.

“The physiology we are born with is not as important as the

psychological and social context in which we grow” Seligman

from Learned Optimism (1990)

Have a safe and happy break. See you next term

(Wednesday and Thursdays). Sue Cowie - Wellbeing

Happy Birthday And best wishes to our student

Graydon Rudd - 13th July

Portland Bay School is participating in this years

“Earn & Learn” program at Woolworths.

Donation of stickers would be greatly appreciated. They

add points to obtain valuable resources for our students.

Stickers may be dropped into the office. Thanks in advance.

From 15th July to

8th September 2015

Inter School Cross Country

Last Friday 19th of June in

Warrnambool.

“I ran fast and

had a fun time”

- Kate Carter.

“It was fun”

- Rory

“Great fun and

excited to make

it to Melbourne”

- Brady Howard

These 2 brochure have be sent

home separately with students

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