Achievement, Confidence & PrideThursday, 20 May 2020.

Dear Parents and Carers,The move to online learning has presented some challenges for students; the need to think and act independently and to interpret the instructions provided has tested some students.

Student Free dayMonday may 25 is a student free day.

Return to SchoolAs you are aware the Premier of Victoria has announced that students will return to school in a staged fashion: Prep, Grades 1 and 2 will commence on Tuesday 26 May. The Grades 3-6 students will continue to learn online until June 9th when they will return to onsite learning.To facilitate this the Minister for Education has put in place a number of restrictions. While we are still working out the fine detail some of the changes include:

- parents are not permitted on the school grounds. To implement this we will have students enter from designated gates and parents drop their child at the gate and leave.Grade Prep will enter from the pedestrian gate on Clarendon StreetGrade 1 will enter from Gate 1 on Clarendon StreetGrade 2 will enter from Gate 4 on Sydney Street

- students are not to use the drink taps/fountains. Students are to bring their own water bottle and refill as required

- playground equipment is not to be used.The playground equipment will be fenced off to ensure limited student access.- library processesWe will send out a detailed outline of how students will return books and borrow new ones.

These processes will be in place to create a safe work environment for all staff and students.

We will continue to develop information sheets to keep you informed as we determine the new processes.

Student learningTeachers are planning for the end of semester reporting so students will be involved in a range of assessment activities over the next few weeks and on their return to school. You can support your chid by checking if they have submitted work requested by their teachers.

Student well-beingStudents are looking forward to catching up with their friends back at school – the social isolation has been a big adjustment for many students.

Dr Bette PrangeActing Principal

Inspirational Quote:“You are braver than you think, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think”. Christopher Robin

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Reminder; Grade 6 Transition formsAll forms must be filled in, signed and returned to Avondale Primary School by Friday 29th May, 2020(extended).

Shared Materials and Resources – Library

Students must wash/sanitise their hands prior to and following accessing library books.

Library book returns must be returned individually (by the child who loan the item) into the returns chute in the library. No books will be available for immediate reborrowing as they must complete a sanitation period of 48hrs minimum. At this time reservations will be suspended.

Library books may be browsed, read and borrowed. A strict No Bag, No Borrow policy will be adhered to. No loan bags will be available.

Book Review The Bug Girl – a true story

Written by: Sophia Spencer with Margaret McNamara and Illustrated by Kerascoet

This is the true story of Sophia Spencer, Bug Girl, who first fell for bugs at two and a half after she visited a butterfly conservatory. This magical experience inspired her as her fascination with bugs grew. In kindergarten her friends thought bugs were pretty cool but as she got older children at school just thought she was weird. Sophia was dejected and bullied and tried to stop liking bugs but that didn’t work. So her mother reached out online to entomologists around the world, eventually many supportive messages encouraged Sophia to pursue her interest and dreams in bugs. Sophia’s life changed forever as she did just that by studying entomology at university. Additional bug facts are included in the final six pages of the book. This is a great story for budding entomologists, but it applies equally well to anyone who is bullied and judged because they are different. by Liz Oruba

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Saving (Y)our World Instalment 8: Wasting Water by: Morrigan R

I’m sure you’ve heard something like this before…“limit your shower to 3 minutes”, “don’t leave the tap on while brushing your teeth”, “only use as much water as you need”. Maybe you have heard it before, but have you really listened? The thing is, water is something we all need to survive. But we also use water for lots of other things. How do we make sure we have enough to drink? Right now, we have enough in Melbourne but what about the future? Climate change predictions suggest we may have less water in years to come. You never know, we may be wasting ourselves into oblivion…one drop at a time.

Did you know that only 2.5% of all water on Earth is fresh? And of that, 70% is frozen in glaciers that are slowly melting into the sea. So, although we live on a ‘blue planet’, not much of the water that is present on Earth is available for us to use. Yet almost every organism on this planet that lives on land depends on fresh water. Our lives depend on fresh water. Indeed, the human body is made of 60% water! This means we are literally sending our lifeblood down the drain when we are careless with our water.

How can you stop wasting our precious water? You can start by limiting your showers to 3 minutes or less and making sure that you tighten the taps after you are done so that they don’t drip. Other ways you can help are: turning the tap off while you brush your teeth and pouring your water on a plant or in a pet’s water bowl if you still have some left in your drink bottle. There are even more effective and complicated ways, like grey water usage, where you use rain water and recycled water on your garden and in the toilet bowl. After all, even though we need fresh water to drink, our toilet water and hose water don’t need to be fresh. You see, there are other ways to do things if you only look beneath the surface.

Did you also know that the dams that provide Melbourne with water are only two-thirds full at the moment? What if we have another drought? Will there be enough for people to drink? Droughts are common in Australia and there might be another one just around the corner. We need to always remember this and be careful with how we use water all the time.

I hope you consider this from now on and try not to waste any water. I hope that you start taking shorter showers and use fresh water only on the things that need it. You can help save our water supply, one drop at a time.

Morrigan R signing out. I hope you join me next week for another instalment of saving (Y)our world.

“We never know the worth of water till the well is dry,” -Thomas Fuller

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