1

‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

Principal - Kevin Warne

School Council President - Anne Trevena

Telephone - (03) 57931288

Fax - (03) 57931412 Web - www.puckapunyalps.vic.edu.au/

Email - puckapunyal.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

Alamein Road

Puckapunyal, Vic, 3662

Postal: Military P.O.

ABN: - 74134967962

Term 2 Issue 3

May 3rd 2017

Tuesday-Thursday

9th-11th May

NAPLAN

Tuesday 9th May

School Council

Meeting

Thursday

11th May

Bravehearts Visit

F-Yr 4

Friday

12th May

Mothers’ Day Stall

Monday 15th May

Family Chat Group

9:30am

Thursday

18th May

House Cross Country

F-Yr6

Monday – Friday

22nd - 26th May

Education Week

Thursday 25th May

District Cross Country

Inside this Issue:

Happy Birthday 2

DSTA Message 2

Resilience 2

Responsible Pet Program 2

Visiting Artist 2

Adopt a Granny Day 3

School Value 3

Canteen Lunches/Mothers’ Day

Stall

3

Student Awards for the Week 4

Indo Lingo 5

School Cross Country 6

Years 3-6 Bike Education 6

Teaching/Learning Focus 6

Bravehearts 7

Before School Sport 7

Family Chat Group 7

***Have you heard your child read today? We encourage all students to

practise their reading at home about 5 nights per week. Therefore, by now, most

students should have read at least between 60-65 nights. Well done if you have

kept up!

Our School Working Bee which was due to take place this Saturday is

now cancelled. It will be rescheduled for later in the term. Stay tuned!

Yesterday, our Visiting Artist, Rhonda

Tallnash entertained our whole school with

poetry. Thank you, Rhonda! What did our

students think?

‘It was good because Rhonda taught a lot of

rhyming words. Her books were good with

lots of funny words. It was great!’ By Evie

Bennett Room 3

‘Rhonda’s stories were great. She told us lots

of rhyming words and stories. She was very

funny.’ By Chayce Mackie Room 3

Next week on Tuesday 9th May, Wednesday 10th May and Thursday 11th May,

Years 3 and 5 students will be participating in the National

Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy

(NAPLAN). These are national tests that are conducted by our teachers at

school. The idea is to test all students throughout Australia to attain a measure of

progress of all students. These tests are marked by the Department of Education.

Individual reports will be given to parents later in the year.

***We can all work together to rid the

community of Head Lice. Let’s check our

heads once per week!***

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR

REWARD UPDATE Well done Bradman for getting the most

tickets last week! Keep up the good work,

everyone!

FINALSCORES

Melba - 73 points

Chisholm - 71 points

Bradman - 60 points

Hume - 55 points

Happy Birthday to Reagan Ritchie, Lilly Mackay,

Chase Riegel and Savanah Bradford who are having

their birthdays this week. On behalf of the Puckapunyal

Primary School Community, we wish them all a very

Happy Birthday!

Mothers’ Day/Special Person Stall: This will be held

on Friday, 12th May, from approximately 9-10:30am.

Thank you for the wonderful donations we have received

for this stall; we try to ensure that there are enough gifts

for each child to purchase two items and your generosity

helps us with this.

Healthy Tip: Still on breakfast, here are some answers

to those excuses you may hear for not eating breakfast:

No time? Toast is quick and so is cereal.

Not hungry? Perhaps because of a late snack the night

before. Try not to eat after about 6.30pm.

Gain weight? Eating breakfast actually helps you reach

and maintain a healthy weight, by reducing bingeing

later and kick starting your metabolism.

Don’t like breakfast foods? It doesn’t have to be a

traditional breakfast….healthy leftovers, a sandwich, in

fact anything healthy is fine. So….enjoy breakfast!!!!

Have a terrific week!

Have a wonderful week!

Sue Ranger, Defence School Transition Aide

The Language of Resilience Resilient families develop their own words to help each other get through the inevitable tough times that each person

experiences. These words reflect coping strategies such as empathy, humour and acceptance. Michael Grose, a

parenting and educational expert offers us examples of coping skills and the types of situations where they are

applicable. There will be different strategies each week in Wednesday notes.

I know it looks bad now but you will get through this – Strategy: offering hope

Good for kids experiencing loss, bullying, change or extreme disappointment

There are times when parents can do nothing else but keep their children’s chins up and encourage them when life

doesn’t go their way. Being the “hope” person can be hard work, that’s why parents need to be supported by resilient

people and workplaces too. It helps to be mindful that a child or young person’s resilience is nurtured by the presence

of at least one supportive adult.

The Responsible Pet Ownership Primary

School Program came to our school last week.

What did some of our kids think?

‘Last week in the Responsible Pet Program we learned

about safety when coming towards other peoples’ pets.

The dog’s name was Pepper and was a Border Collie.

The dog was black and white. It was fun and we learned

lots and lots.’ Sophia Brooks Room 11

‘The girl who came taught us what we need to know to

look after dogs. She taught us what angry dogs, scared

dogs and happy dogs looked like. I thought it was

awesome! I liked how she let us go up and pat Pepper.’

By Zahra Kelly Room 11

‘I learned that when an angry dog approaches you, you

need to put your legs together, your arms down and put

your head down. The whole show was very

entertaining. Pepper was the cutest dog I have ever

seen.’ By CJ McQuire Room 11

1.

3

‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

At assembly this week Honesty was announced as our School Value of the week. That means teachers are looking for

students who are demonstrating ‘Honesty’ to be eligible for the Student of the Week award. We encourage parents to

talk to their students about our values throughout the year.

What is Honesty? ‘Honesty is being truthful and trustworthy. It means that you can be relied on not to lie or cheat.

Honesty means telling the truth regardless of the consequences. It means that you don’t promise things to people that

you know you can’t deliver. It means not being tempted to exaggerate to impress others. Honesty means that you can

trust things to be as they appear to be.

.’

Thank you to Di Grant, the visiting grandparents from

Seymour and our own grandparents for coming to school for

‘Adopt a Granny’ Day last week. The kids had a great

time with the many fun activities!

‘We got to dress up and do the big parachute. I liked the

parachute best’ By Nate Shortt Room 8

‘I liked the parachute. We had to take steps and then it fell on

us. It was an exciting day’ By Zoe Landell Room 8

‘When we sat down it was so much fun. We played dress ups.

I wore a belt, a cape and a mask! It was fun’ By Muhammad

Shah Room 8 ‘I had fun with the parachute. We got to run under it by taking

7 steps. It floated when we let it go then it trapped us.’ It was

fun. By Oliver Crichton Room 8

The School Canteen is open for Lunch Orders this

Friday. Each and every Friday students can order lunches

from the school canteen. The menu will be different each

week. Please ensure that a paper bag comes with the

order. Please indicate on the lunch bag if the money is in

another sibling’s bag.

This week the menu is - Pizzas Supreme or Ham and Pineapple $2.50 each

Chocolate or Strawberry Milk $2.00 each

Apple or Orange Juice $1.50 each

No charge for tomato sauce

On Friday 12th May we will have our annual

Mothers’ Day Stall. Students will be able to

purchase lovely gifts for their beloved mums.

Gifts will be for sale ranging from $1 to $10.

We are still gratefully accepting any donations

for the stall too!

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

2.

3. 4.

Last week, Clodagh McCarthy competed in the 50m Freestyle

event at the Victorian

Primary Schools State

Swimming

Championships in

Melbourne. She came an

impressive 5th! That means she is

the 5th best in the whole state in

her age group! Wow! Very

impressive, Clodagh!

.

Congratulations to the following students who were

‘Students of the Week’ for last week. Winners – Eli St

Leone, Muhammad Shah, Kirrah Horton, Amelia

Duna, May Kelly, Zahra Kelly, Owen Pippin, Jack

Lindner and Lachie O’Connor-Hudson.

These students were selected because they were

modelling Excellence. This week teachers are also

looking for students who are modelling Honesty.

Congratulations to the following students who were

‘Authors of the Week’ for last week.

Winners – Eli Matangi, Lilah Blaxland, Kiara Miller,

Evie Bennett, Jack McGechan, Jack Quinn, Owen

Brown, Nannah Taylor and Caitlan Morton. The

students were selected because they showed great skills as

an author.

3/4 H in Room

11 won the Middle

School Times

Tables Trophy. Lucas Clarke was

delighted to look after

the winning trophy

this week!

5/6 D in Room 2 won

the Senior School

Times Tables

Trophy. Josh Moses will

look after the winning

trophy this week!

Defence School Transition Aide Message Back at school: I trust that everyone has had a smooth and

satisfactory beginning to the school year. Changing schools,

beginning school for the first time and even returning for another

school year can be daunting for students and parents. It is great to see

parents eager to support their children at this time and be an integral

part of their education. If you have any concerns, or just feel like a

chat about school and your child, please find me!

SWAPP Select Program

I have information about the ADF partners career assistance program

if anyone is interested.

NEW UNIFORM

We have recently had a new shipment of uniform arrive that includes

shorts, tops, tracksuit pants and hats. Some parents have been waiting

on this to arrive.

Best wishes for the week.

Sue Ranger, Defence School Transition Aide

Defence School Transition Aide Message Back at school: I trust that everyone has had a smooth and

satisfactory beginning to the school year. Changing schools,

beginning school for the first time and even returning for another

school year can be daunting for students and parents. It is great

to see parents eager to support their children at this time and be

an integral part of their education. If you have any concerns, or

just feel like a chat about school and your child, please find me!

SWAPP Select Program

I have information about the ADF partners career assistance

program if anyone is interested.

NEW UNIFORM

We have recently had a new shipment of uniform arrive that

includes shorts, tops, tracksuit pants and hats. Some parents have

been waiting on this to arrive.

Best wishes for the week.

Sue Ranger, Defence School Transition Aide

Congratulations to Lewis McGee. Lachie

O’Connor-Hudson. Skye Lucas and

Kieran Gibbons who won the raffle

prizes for ‘Positive Behaviour’ this

week!

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

Binatang kesayangan (pets) and angka (numbers) is the focus for younger children this week in Indonesian. The

students will start their lesson with a greeting, responding to a question about how they are feeling and marking

the roll in Indonesian. They'll make a labelled poster of a pet and sing/play an Indonesian song/game

called Sepuluh Ikan (Ten Fish). Vocabulary will be:

Selamat pagi = Good morning

Selamat siang = Good day

Apa kabar? = How are you?

Baik-baik saja = Well

Baisa saja = So so

Kurang baik = Not good

Siapa ada? = Who's here?

Ada = Here

Siapa tidak ada? = Who's not here?

Tidak ada = Not here

satu = one

Older students will continue their topic of binatang kesayangan (pets) and Indonesian questions and answers

about themselves. Their main focus will be learning pet words, how to say 'I have a ___ (pet). and saying their

age in Indonesian. Vocabulary will be:

Selamat siang = Good day

Apa kabar? = How are you?

Saya ___. = I'm ___.

Saya merasa ___. = I'm feeling ___.

Baik = Good

Bagus = Great

Senang = Happy

Sedih = Sad

Lapar = Hungry

Haus = Thirsty

Panas = Hot

Dingin = Cold

Sakit = Sick

Siapa ada/tidak ada? = Who's here/not here?

Ada/Tidak ada = Here/Not here

Berapa umur kamu? = How old are you?

Umur saya ___. = I'm ___ years old.

Kamu punya binatang apa? = What animal (pet) do you have?

Saya punya ___. = I have a ____.

anjing = dog

Salam (Regards) Bu Hooper (Mrs Hooper) Guru Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian teacher)

kucing = cat

marmot = guinea pig

ikan = fish

kura-kura = turtle

ayam = chicken

kodok = frog

tikus = mouse

kelinci = rabbit

burung = bird

kadal = lizard

domba = sheep

babi = pig

sapi = cow

ikan emas = gold fish

kuda = horse

ular = snake

spider = laba-laba

Sampai jumpa = See you later

dua = two

tiga = three

sebelas = eleven

dua belas = twelve

tiga belas = thirteen

anjing = dogs

kucing = cats

ikan = fish

Sampai jumpa = See you later

Every day is a

great day to be at

school,

particularly when

you’re here at

Puckapunyal

Primary School!

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

This term, all students from Foundation-Years 6 will

participate in a House Cross Country

Carnival. They will be trying to gain as many

points as possible for their House team. All of our

children have been training for the event which will be

held at school on Thursday 18th May.

- Foundation-Year 2 students at 1:00pm

- Years 3-6 students at 2:30pm

Our students are keen to do well again this year. Some

families may like to continue some extra training with

their children.

Distances for the big day

Foundation-Year 2 students - 1 km

Under 9 and 10 age group - 2km

Under 11 and 12/13 and over age group - 3km

Good luck with the training, kids!

All Years 3-6 students will be involved in a Traffic

and Safety Education Program during Physical

Education and Sport classes.

For students to attend any future school bike ride

excursions or camps, they must attain a Bike

Excellence Award Card by the end of the course.

To receive the award they must: pass the riding skills

test, pass the road rules written test, have a helmet

deemed ‘road worthy’ and have a bike deemed ‘road

worthy.’

Students are currently doing theory sessions and

getting ‘bike checks’ done.

Each week in the newsletter, we will give families a summary of the Teaching/Learning Focus for the week.

That can help families by: being aware of what classrooms are covering; with discussion topics at the dinner table when

discussing school (eg. ‘How are you going with addition in Numeracy this week?’); helping their children study at home,

etc. Parents have indicated that this information would be very useful. We also ask families to be aware that schools are

very busy places and events can be unpredictable at times. We therefore must remain flexible. That means, we can plan to

cover certain topics at particular times and have to change them according to arising needs.

Junior School – Preps/Foundation Rooms 6 & 8 Literacy: We are learning about the letters ‘w’ and ‘h’ this week. We are learning the difference between a letter and a

word and writing recounts. We are discussing verbs.

Numeracy: We are learning about the number ‘9’ and revising all numbers from 1-10. We are learning about clocks,

seasons and time.

Junior School – Year 1s Rooms 3, 4 & 8 Literacy: We are learning all about the letters ‘w’ and ‘h’. We are revising capital letters, full stops, question marks and

exclamation marks and introducing nouns. We are also discussing adjectives.

Numeracy: We are focusing on number lines to order and sequence numbers. We are looking at 2-digit numbers.

Junior School – Year 2s Rooms 3, 4 & 10 Literacy: We are learning all about the letters ‘w’ and ‘h’. We are revising persuasive texts, exclamation marks, nouns

and adjectives and trying to make our sentences more interesting.

Numeracy: We are focusing on number lines to order and sequence numbers. We are looking at 3-digit numbers.

Middle School Years 3/4 Rooms 9, 10 & 11 Literacy: We are learning Narratives and VCOP components.

Numeracy: We are focusing on Place Vale and Measurement.

Senior School Years 5/6 Rooms 1 & 2 Literacy: We are learning Narratives and VCOP components.

Numeracy: We are focusing on Fractions, Perimeter and Area.

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

On Thursday 11th May, Bravehearts will be presenting their message to our Foundation through to Year four

students. Their educational material has been produced in consultation with experts from both child protection and

education sectors to develop non-confrontational educational resources that engage children. Their resources teach

children to:

•Differentiate when they feel good or bad about a situation

•Respect the right for everyone to feel safe

•Recognise when they feel unsafe or unsure

•Recognise and identify what parts of the body are private

•It's ok to say no if you feel unsafe or feel unsure

•Secrets and what to do if you feel unsafe or unsure

•Talk about their 'no' and 'unsure' feelings with a trusted adult, even if it's yucky

•Identify a safe network of people to talk to

If you have any questions about this program please contact the school.

There is also additional information on their website.

The school is organising a Family Chat Group. The idea is for any parents to come

and have a cup of tea and have a chat with each other and with Kevin (Principal) about

anything! We could chat about school, our kids, our community, anything!! etc, etc!

When: Monday May 15th

Time: 9:30am (after assembly)

Kevin will supply tea, coffee and something tasty!

Please come along, It could be fun!

Don’t forget that Before School Sport has started!! If you have brought a permission slip back you can do the

following:

Tuesdays - Triathlon (Jogging and Swimming) at the Area Swimming Pool for Years 3-6 students (students will

be walked to school by staff after the sessions). This activity is a great opportunity for students who want to enter

the Team Triathlon in early August (meet at the pool).

Wednesdays - Triathlon (Cycling) at school (using Sanananda Rd) for Years 3-6 students. This activity is a great

opportunity for students who want to enter the Team Triathlon in early August or practise their bike riding skills for

the Bike Education Program in Term 2 (meet at the sports shed behind the school).

Thursdays - Golf and Bat Tennis/Tennis at school for Foundation to Year 6 students (meet on bat tennis courts

behind the school).

Riley Gilmour showing a new student around the school! Cheeky!