Friday, 13 March 2026 / Published in NEWSLETTER

Newsletter Issue 3 Term 1

Centre School for Excellence 2023-2026

Great Students, Great Staff, Great Parent, Building Greater Communities

Dear Parents and Carers,

It is amazing to think that we are already in Week 6 of our first term of the year.

In our classes, we are encouraging our students to become more independent, as we know that this fosters their confidence and supports their development of resilience. Our teachers are encouraging self-care tasks – such as packing their own bags, promoting problem-solving skills, etc. We would like to ask for your support in encouraging your child/children in developing these skills as well. The key strategies that support our children in developing more independence is through setting high expectations, establishing routines, and fostering a growth mindset to build confidence and resilience. Some ways that you can help your child/children and support what we are doing at school is to:

· Encourage Self-Help Skills – encourage children to manage their own belongings, such as packing school bags, organising homework and managing their lunch boxes.

· Foster Decision Making – offer limited choices (e.g. choosing between 2 options) to teach responsibility and reduce power struggles, allowing them to take ownership of their decisions

· Promote Problem-Solving – instead of immediately fixing issues, ask prompting questions to help children navigate challenges and learn from mistakes

· Establish Routines – create consistent daily routines for morning preparation, homework, and evening, which helps children become self-sufficient

· Encourage Accountability – assign age-appropriate chores and responsibilities, such as cleaning their room, or preparing snacks, to build a sense of duty

· Support Risk-Taking – allow children to take age-appropriate risks, such as managing social situations or navigating school independently, to build confidence and resilience.

· Maintain Open Communication – keep in touch with your child’s teacher/s to support your child’s learning and encourage them to share their accomplishments.

· Praise Effort, Not Outcomes – focus on the process and effort, rather than just the result, to encourage a growth mindset

· Listen and Support – take an interest in their schoolwork, hobbies and social life, while allowing them space and privacy as they grow.

So, what else has been happening at our school – we have had a busy few weeks. This week we welcomed our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families to share their ideas. Last year when we met, we discussed having a plaque in our school acknowledging the First Nations people and looking at creating a ‘yarning circle’ for our students and community. This recent catch-up gave our families the opportunity to share their ideas on the wording that they would like on a plaque and what they would like to see in the design of the ‘yarning circle’. We will be creating plans and seeking quotes to determine the costing for the ‘yarning circle’ and then create a timeline for it. We are hoping to include our families as well as local Indigenous communities to support us and involve our students in this project. We are hoping to start this project soon.

Also, this week, our Year 3 and Year 5 students have been involved in NAPLAN assessments, and this will continue through until next week.

Next week the Kindy classes are having their incursion from ‘Fairy Rebecca’. We are looking forward to hearing from the students about the incursion. ‘Fairy Rebecca’ has visited our Kindy and Pre-Primary students before, and the children always enjoy her visits.Swimming is due to start next term from Week 3. Please check your child’s folder to make sure that you have received the information. We do require consent and forms to be completed by families so that students can attend swimming lessons. If you haven’t received the information, please contact the administration office and they will be able to provide you with new forms. It is important that we get the forms back as soon as we can, so that the staff at the recreation centre can organise the different swimming groups for our students.

Our P&C have organised for a ‘second hand uniform’ and icy pole sale on Friday 13 March.

Both of these events will be held in the undercover area starting at 2:30pm. The P&C are always looking for volunteers and would appreciate as much help as they can get.

The P&C also have the Bunny Breakfast Event – a school favourite – on Thursday, 2 April. This event starts at 7:45am and goes through until 8:20am. It would be great to see everyone come along and enjoy some time together. Again, if parents can help out for this event the P&C would be grateful for your support. Alongside this event the P&C hold the Easter Raffle, make sure that you get your tickets in – we all know that you ‘need to be in it to win it!’

I continue to look forward to talking with you all as I move around the school before and after each school day. If there is anything that I can assist you with I am happy to talk with you.

Kind regards,

Paula Asplin

Principal

Thoughts:

“Practise isn’t the thing you do once you are good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”

– Malcolm Gladwell (author).

School Events

Assembly

Our next Junior Assembly will be on Wednesday 25 March, it will be held in the undercover area. The Assembly starts at approximately 8:40am. We look forward to seeing you all there.

School News

School App

Our school App is called School Stream and you can download it for free. It is an essential resource for parents to have as we use the app for all communication. It is also advised to keep your notifications setting turned on as, at times, it may be the only way the school can communicate.

Download the School Stream app today!

Student Achievement

At Caladenia, we love showcasing our students’ sporting achievements and events, as well as any other interests that they would like to share with our Caladenia Community.

If you have something your child would like to share, please email along with photos to the email address below:

Justine.arnold@education.wa.edu.au

Class News

Year 1 Room 10 – Miss Lewis

Room 10 has had an exciting and creative week! As a class, we have been practising how to write structured recounts, and this was the very first-time students wrote one independently. Students followed an instructional video to learn how to make their very own paper plane, carefully folding and testing different designs. Once the planes were ready, everyone headed outside to see how far they could fly. Some soared an impressive distance across the playground. After the fun of flying, the students reflected on the experience by writing detailed recounts about making paper planes, capturing the challenges, discoveries, and joy of hands‑on learning.