Issue No: 29 15th October 2015

THE DORSET EDITION INSPIRE ACHIEVE SUCCEED

From the Principal’s Desk Rescorla Avenue, Croydon 3136 phone: 9725 5038 www.dorsetps.vic.edu.au dorset.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

Diary Dates Oct

Fri 16th Maths-A-Thon

Wed 28th 6.45 - 7.30pm Governance and Community & Development Meeting

7.30pm School Council Meeting

27th - 29th Dental Screening

Wed 28th Grade 5/6 Starlab Incursion

Nov

Mon 2nd Curriculum Day

Tue 3rd Public Holiday Melbourne Cup

Fri 6th Prep Healesville Sanctuary Excursion

Grade 2 Sleepover

Tue 10th Prep 2016 Parent Information Evening 7-8pm

Fri 13th Grade 1 and 2 Healesville Sanctuary Excursion

9th - 13th Swimming Seniors Grade 3-6

16th - 20th Swimming Juniors Prep-Grade 2

Tue 24th Grade 3/4 Fizzics Incursion

Fri 27th Grade 2 Sleepover (new date)

Dec

Thu 10th Christmas Carols Evening

Tue 15th Grade 6 Graduation

Wed 16th Grade 6 Big Day Out

Thu 17th Last Day of year (1.30pm early dismissal)

Fri 18th Curriculum Day (Pupil free day)

2016 The leadership team have been interviewing over the past few days to finalise staffing for next year. I am pleased to say there will not be any changes in staffing for 2016. Teachers grade levels may be changed but the personnel remain the same. It is pleasing to have consistency and the staff that have been reemployed are excited to be part of the Dorset team for 2016. Next year is already shaping up to be a fantastic time for all our school community. Welcome back Steve Lynch as returned to work this week after an extended period of leave to care for his family. Steve’s role this term will be working on NAPLAN and the new Victorian Curriculum. Stuart Jones will continue his role in the Prep area. It is great to have Steve back and he has been welcomed back by our parent community which has been greatly appreciated. Dorset Song Michael Gibbs introduced our new school song to the school community on Monday. The children, teachers and parents seemed to love it! I am really pleased we have a new school song because it engenders pride and connects us as a community. A sincere thank you to Michael for taking the time to compose the song and donating his talents to the school. Below are the lyrics if you can persuade your child to sing it to you - have a listen! OUR DORSET PRIMARY SCHOOL SONG

This is the place that we # love the best

The place where we go and we # do our tests

There's fun and there is play and there's learning everyday

It's our Dorset # Primary School ##

There's our kitchen and our hall

a big music room for all

a chicken coop, a garden and our vegie patch

There's a place to learn our French

and a quiet reading space

and of course a place for all our carers, Mums and Dads

This is the place that we # love the best

The place where we go and we # do our tests

There's fun and there is play, where there's learning everyday

It's our Dorset # Primary School ##

Our own Dorset # Primary School ##

Our lovely Dorset # Primary School ##

Spelling Spelling is going to be a major focus in all grades this term. Cheryl Lawson has been employed to enhance our teachers’ skills in this area. Encouraging children to recognise and spell words randomly would greatly assist improving spelling throughout the school. LRC The children are enjoying and using the LRC daily. Marnie Blakeman has started a drawing club and the children seem to be really engaged during it. If you haven’t had a chance to see the LRC please pop down and visit this amazing space in our school. Get a grip! Tackling pencil grip right from the start In primary school, your child will need to master their pencil grip so they are able to write quickly and without getting a sore hand.

Here are some clever ways to develop their fine motor skills and teach them how to hold a pencil correctly:

•Fine motor skills Fine motor skills involve the small muscles in our hand, which are the muscles required to hold a pencil. You can help your child strengthen these muscles by doing exercises like: ◦squeezing a small ball, like a tennis ball ◦squirting with a water spray ◦stringing beads onto a piece of string. •Pencil grip If your child continually holds a pencil incorrectly, here are some ways you can help them: ◦Put a cotton wool ball in their hand and encourage them to hold it with their pinkie and ring fingers. This will free up the other fingers and thumb to hold the pencil correctly. ◦Put two holes in the end of an old sock and encourage your child to slip their hand in it and poke their index and thumb through the holes. Then pick up a pencil and write. ◦Wind a rubber band around a pencil in a figure eight fashion. Slip your child’s wrist into the bottom circle formed by the eight. This will give them more control of the pencil. Regards, Palma Coppa Principal

Grade 2 Sleepover

Date changed to

Friday 27th

November

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Menu

Broad Bean, Pea & Chorizo Risotto

Silver beet Mini Quiches

Moroccan Carrot & Beetroot Salad

Apple, Rhubarb & Berry Muffins

Chocolate Drive Don’t forget, if you have finished selling your chocolates, could you please return the money to the office. Thank you to all the families that have sold chocolates for our major fundraiser this year! We still have plenty more chocolates to sell if you would like another box. Please come and see Cynthia or Nicole in the office.

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Garden News

In the past 4 weeks we have had some extreme weather conditions from 12 to 35 Degrees Celsius. The poor plants and trees seem to have adjusted somewhat however we are bracing for a hot and dry summer. The increased temperatures have influenced more growth in the garden and the students are enjoying creating mandalas with flowers, leaves, petals, sticks and stones. We have observed the beginnings of fruit forming from blossom on the fruit trees. A truly interesting and amazing sight. Anna Clarkson

We are in urgent need of someone to help in the canteen and with our wonderful Breakfast Club Program!!

If you are able to help on a Monday morning making toast and a milk drink for 20 or so students from 8.45am your help would be much appreciated. Please see the office if you can help.

We also urgently need helpers in the Canteen on Tuesday and Thursday and Friday afternoons. Please see Robyn in the Canteen if you can help!

Chaplain’s Chat with Dave Resilient Questions Long-term learning happens in positive situations. Success is sticky and draws us back for more. Failure scares us away. We shrink from failure and we grow from success.

Growing up is all about making mistakes and learning from them for next time. But, to help our kids learn quickly and effectively, we need to change those negatives into positives as quickly as possible. Using questions is a great way.

With toddlers and early primary school students, mistakes often come in two areas: Time and Place. Helping them realise this is the wrong time or place for a particular activity gives them the understanding to choose when and where to do it next time. Using positive questions to deal with wrong actions allows children to understand what it is they are doing wrong and why.

Positive question sets (three examples):

“Is this the right place to be drawing with crayons?” “Where is the right place?” “Before we go to that place, how will you clean this?”

“Is this the right time to be eating cake?” “When is the right time?” “If you are hungry, what is ok to eat right now?”

“Is this the right time or place to be tackling people?” “When and where is rough play ok?” “What could you do with your energy now?”

Each one of these examples takes the child from the negative behaviour to positive behaviour while also giving them questions to think through their actions. Next time, they will have some tools to use in considering whether they should draw on the walls, eat cake for breakfast or tackle their sibling on the way into the school grounds.

We create resilient kids by teaching them positive questions to use

in reviewing mistakes and planning for success next time.

Your family could be eligible for free or low cost dental care at Inspiro. Inspiro welcomes everyone, including those with or without: The Child Dental Benefits Schedule Health care and pensioner concession cards Private health insurance 17 Clarke Street, Lilydale. Free undercover parking and a 5-minute walk from Lilydale train station. Open business hours, Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings.

Visit our website at inspiro.org.au or call our clinic on 9738 8801 to find out if you and your children are eligible for free, low cost or prioritised (i.e. no wait list) dental care. Find us on facebook.com/InspiroCHS to learn more about our children’s and families’ services.

Maths-A-Thon The Maths-A-Thon questions

will be answered by the children tomorrow

(Friday 16th October). Keep collecting

sponsors to raise money and earn a prize. If you need

a sponsorship form, please collect one from the office.

A sample of the great prizes are on display in the

foyer.

Good Luck!!

RSPCA Fund RaiserRSPCA Fund Raiser The Junior School Council are running a fund raiser for the RSCPA. There are two parts to this fund raiser, a colouring competition and a dress up day. Students can enter the colouring competition by bringing a gold coin donation and collecting a colouring sheet from a Junior School Councillor, who will be coming around to each classroom Thursday 15th, Friday 16th and Monday 19th October. All entries are due back to school on Tuesday 20th, which is when a panel of students will select winners. Our dress up day will also be held on Tuesday 20th October. Students are welcome to make another gold coin donation and wear their animal costume the same day. Please note that costumes must be animal related, must be Sun Smart (shoulder’s covered and hat be able to be worn) and if a ‘Onesie’ is being worn, a change of clothes is a must (they get hot!). Thank you for your support and well done to the JSC students for organising this fund raiser. Mr. Jenkins Junior School Council Co-ordinator.

Uniform Shop School uniforms can be purchased from our PSW Uniform Shop located near the Prep rooms. It is open: Every Wednesday from 2.45pm to 3.45pm Order forms are available at the office if you can’t make it on Wednesday.

Birthdays

Hudson White Isaac Spruit Soraya Maclean Bonnie Haworth-Hooker Cameron McMillan Remy Maclean Rosie Forno Chanae McLaughlin Emily Doyle

Jasmine Thivant Thomas Keays Chloe Riddell Mitchell Knight Chantelle McKercher Mason Bendall Charlie Smith Joshua Lamanna Jorja Keays Reese Mason

Bonnie Haworth-Hooker Thomas Zachar Morgan Jalocha Aiden Higgins, Hayley Wilkins Mackinley Bruce Elise Davies Sarah Merchant Shayan Nazarian Lucas North Jessica Mang Keeley Dymott Georgia Owen

Students of the Week

Joshua Fidler Axle Harrison Lucas Voigt Olivia Nash Phoebe Phillips Savannah Ferguson Isaac Chow Alex Bartlett Saraya Landy Luca Bevilacqua Jake Garrity Natalie McKeown

Namish Nehru Luca Bird-Romano Renee Zarb Cooper Calderwood Callum Billimoria Tania Kaivan Sergey Metlenko Cleo Tzilves Amber Majic Ruby Taylor-Barnett Charlie Smith Chantelle McKercher Mikayla MacKintosh

Chirnside Park Shopping Centre School Rewards Program

We are pleased to be part of the Chirnside Park Shopping Centre School Rewards Program again this year. It is running from the 21st September to 8th November. You can donate your points at the customer service desk at Chirnside Park Shopping Centre by presenting your receipts from purchases made in the centre dated during the promotional period.

School Prizes (School Grants)

· 1st Prize: $5,000

· 2nd Prize: $3,000

· 3rd Prize: $2,000

Customer Prizes

· Weekly $100 Chirnside Park gift card

· $2,000 Chirnside Park gift card (Grand prize for the customer who

donates the most points during the competition).

Customer Service Office Hours: Monday – Wednesday: 9am – 5.30pm Thursday – Friday: 9am – 9pm Saturday: 9am – 5pm Sunday: 10am – 5pm

Division Athletic Finals Last Thursday Dorset had 11 children

competing at The Maroondah/Manningham and

Yarra Division Athletics Carnival. These

children qualified for this competition by

winning their events in the district

competition (against nine other competing

schools).

Congratulations to these students for making it through to this high

level competition –

Soraya Maclean – relay, discus and shot put

Campbell Latimer – 100 metres & triple jump

Samantha Triangelo – relay & high jump

Remy Maclean – 800 metres Joel Burch – shot put

Haley Wilkins – relay Chloe Olsen – relay

Elise Davies – relay Bree Whitehead – 100 metres

Brayden Franken – hurdles Kaylyn Perry-Pivac - 100 metres

Soraya won all her events (shot put, discus and relay)

Remy won his event (800 metres)

Joel came 2nd in his event (shot put)

The girls 12/13 years relay team of Soraya, Hayley, Chloe, Samantha

and Elise also won their event.

These children will go on to compete in the Regional Finals this week

and if successful, will compete in The State Championship. Production Photos

Just a reminder that Production Photo Forms

are due back to the office by

Friday 16th October.

Communication Review Parent Survey

At Dorset Primary School, we view effective communication as being vital to maintaining a strong home school partnership. As part of our commitment to communication processes that need to improve. Please double click on the link below to complete a short confidential survey. The questions in the survey target our school website, communication with parents, our school newsletter and our interview/reporting system. Findings and recommendations arising from this process will be shared with our school community and used to guide future direction.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/58H592L Surveys closes on Monday 26th October at 3:30pm Shannon Young & Geoff Gowans

Apple Man The apple man will be delivering

apples to the school on:

Friday 23rd October He only has available at this

early stage:

Granny Smiths $10.00

Pink Lady $10.00

Fuji $10.00

Please place orders with Cynthia in the office by Thursday!

Camp Australia Dorset OSHC Phone: 0417 604 663 Customer Service: 1300 105 343 www.campaustralia.com.au Dorset P.S. Camp Australia hours: Before School Hours: Mon - Fri 7:00 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. After School Hours: Mon – Fri: 3:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Camp Australia Staff.

GET YOUR FRESH FRUIT AND VEG AND HELP US RAISE MONEY! This year, we have joined forces with Tessa’s Harvest Box for a major, ongoing fundraiser. Not only is this a great opportunity for us to raise a large amount of money over the year, but a fantastic opportunity for you too. You can have your fruit and vegetables delivered right here to school every Tuesday.

This is how it works…

Fill in the order form and attach payment

Hand it in to the office by 9am Monday morning

Your box of fresh produce will be delivered here for you to pick up on

Tuesday after 1pm $5 from every order will be donated to us for every cash payment. $3 from every order will be donated to us for every credit card payment. We need a minimum of 10 orders per week to get the full donation.