W.A. NAPLAN TOP 20 SCHOOLS – 2024
Centre School for Excellence 2023 -2026
Great Students, Great Staff, Great Parents, Building Greater Communities
Dear Parents and Carers,
Thanks
I begin today’s newsletter by saying thank you, for allowing me to be a small part of your Caladenia Primary School community and, farewell, as I return to retirement for the third time in less than a year. Spending the last two terms here has been an extremely memorable “book end” to a career/vocation as a Teacher, School Administrator and Principal spanning across 45 years since 1981. I will treasure the memories I have of this wonderful school.
Working in education can be, on occasions, a very tough job. It does also have its very special moments where we are acknowledged by those we have educated. These moments are the extrinsic rewards that maintain our passion for our job.
I am honoured to be able to share one such moment that occurred on Tuesday 1st April at 6:28pm, via an email from a former Caladenia student to one of our Teaching staff. The student and teacher have allowed me to publish a slightly redacted version of their communications. This is one of those very special moments.
Dear (Teacher),
I hope that you still remember me and you yourself are doing well.
If you don’t, I was in your year 6 class of 2022.
Time flies so fast, and it feels like high school is a never-ending adventure. Looking back, year 7 was one of the most interesting years of my life. Adapting to high school life is very hard, but we all get there eventually, but it takes time for everyone to click. The jump from years 6 to 7 is massive, but year 8 was a whole different ballgame. Our tests at Perth Mod were much harder than in year 7, and it is the true test for high school, as you have already been there for a year and the expectations rise drastically. Despite the sleepless nights I had in year 8, looking back it was very fun and definitely a big year for my development physically and mentally. Stepping into year 9 has been difficult, as now we are closer to the end and are perceived as one of the older kids, but I will never forget year 6, one of the best years of my life and the most nostalgic as well as interesting.
Time truly flies.
I’ve heard everything at Caladenia and how so many things have changed, but I still believe that it is a great primary school, and there is no other one that I could ever imagine would give me the same joyous experiences.
Hope you’re doing ok and remember to never give up (as you taught me on countless occasions.)
Lots of love,
(Former Caladenia student)
Dear (Former Caladenia student)
What I hear in your email is your resilience and ability to be flexible in the face of each year’s new challenges. Knowing they will present themselves and being ready to act appropriately to get through your year being the best version of yourself is key. I’m glad that Caladenia has in some ways helped ready you for life in general. It sounds like you are doing well.
Yes, things have changed here but it is still the wonderful nurturing Caladenia that you have experienced.
(Teacher)
THOUGHT: Maintain your passion for your job
“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work”. Aristotle
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”. Confucius
Have a great school vacation. Caladenia Primary School eagerly awaits your safe return to Term 2 on Monday 28th April.
Paul Bottcher
Principal (about to retire again)
School News
Our applications for Kindy 2026 are now open.
If you have a child born between 1st July 2021 to 30th June 2022, you are now eligible to enrol for Kindy in 2026.
Application forms can be collected from the front office. All applications are by appointment only and accepted between 9am and 2pm. Please call 6258 9350 to book.
School Stream 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.
Scan the barcode below or Download
the School Stream app today.
Harmony Week
In week 8 of Term 1, our school came together to celebrate Harmony Week with a range of exciting
events! A huge thank you to our wonderful school community for participating and making this week so special.
Tuesday 25th March – Wear Orange Day
We kicked off our Harmony Week celebrations with ‘Wear Orange Day.’ Students and staff were invited to wear something orange, the official colour of Harmony Week, which symbolises social communication, meaningful conversations, and mutual respect. It was wonderful to see our school filled with a sea of orange, celebrating inclusivity and diversity!
Wednesday 26th March – ‘Everyone Belongs’ Family Event
From 3-6 pm, families, students, and staff gathered for our ‘Everyone Belongs’ family event. It was a fantastic opportunity to relax, connect, and enjoy a variety of delicious cuisines from food trucks, including Vietnamese, Indian, ice cream, and more! The evening was filled with laughter, great conversations, and a strong sense of community.
Thursday 27th March – Kindy Traditional Dress Day
Our Kindy students embraced the beauty of cultural diversity by dressing in their traditional attire for the day. It was heartwarming to see the pride in our young learners as they showcased their cultural heritage.
Friday 28th March – Harmony Day Assembly & Harmony Tree
We concluded the week with our Harmony Day assembly, where students and staff dressed in their cultural attire. Parents were invited to view our beautiful Harmony Tree, adorned with leaves representing each individual’s culture, demonstrating the incredible diversity within our school. One of the highlights of the assembly was the much-anticipated Harmony video created by Mrs. Witt. With a few giggles along the way, we enjoyed seeing our students and staff star in this heartwarming video!
Harmony Week was a fantastic opportunity to celebrate and embrace our multicultural community. Thank you to everyone who contributed to making this week a success!
Caladenia Tree of Harmony
Harmony Week Visual Art Installation 2025
This year for Harmony Week each student celebrated the theme of Everyone Belongs by decorating an individual leaf. Students created drawings to represent different aspects of their own cultural backgrounds and produced some wonderful designs bursting with vibrant colours.
All the leaves were then brought together over two days and placed on to the giant 3D Tree installation that was set up in the centre of school to proudly celebrate every culture that makes up the wonderful environment, we as a whole school are very proud to call Caladenia.
Harmony Week is a wonderful celebration and acknowledgement of the beautiful cultural diversity we have here in Australia, of different cultures living, working and playing together in harmony.
Individually each leaf grows. Side by side each branch forms and all together a beautiful tree blossoms for everyone to enjoy.
Thank you to all our wonderful staff and students from Kindy to year 6 for working together on our beautiful Tree of Harmony. This has been my favourite Visual Art whole School project to date.
Kind regards
Ms Ewing.
Interschool Summer Carnival
Well done on a fantastic Summer Carnival!
A big congratulations to everyone who took part and managed to power through the strong winds and rain last Friday! It was incredible to see students competing with enthusiasm, proudly representing their schools, and showing excellent sportsmanship.
Results were as follows:
Volleyball A division 2nd B Division 3rd
Tee ball A division 2nd B Division 3rd
Cricket A division1st A division (Team 2) 3rd B division 3rd
Basketball A division 1st A division (Team 2) 4th B division 3rd
A special thank you to all the staff and parent volunteers who helped throughout the day, ensuring the carnival ran smoothly.
Kind regards,
Lachlan Bailey/Brent McCurrach/Tracy Holmes
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
It is hard to believe that Term 1 is almost over! To kick off the Easter celebrations, the students in Room 10 were delighted to discover small chicks in their trays. They were given the opportunity to adopt a chick for the week, choosing a name and creating a personal signature for it. Additionally, we read the story How to Catch the Easter Bunny, which inspired the students to brainstorm and compose their own procedures for capturing the Easter Bunny. The festivities continue as the students have designed and compiled a list of materials needed to create their own Easter or holiday hats, which they will construct and showcase later this week, tying in nicely with our design and technologies program.
In keeping with the Easter theme, students have been enhancing their understanding of addition and subtraction in mathematics, applying these skills through a variety of engaging Easter-related activities. Room 10 students have also refined their science senses knowledge by completing a senses activity of what they can feel, smell, hear, see and taste at Easter time. Hot cross buns and chocolate eggs were both popular choices for all our senses!
Year 2 Room 16 – Miss Sheed
On Tuesday this week, Room 16 visited Kalamunda History Village as part of our HASS program. We learnt about how the first pioneers in Kalamunda lived, worked and went to school. We got to play with old toys, sort the fruit for the market and even help with the household chores- the old way! We had a great time living in the past!
Year 6 Room 37 – Mrs Weissflog
Yr 6 have been learning the cycle of Brainstorm-Plan-Make-Test-Evaluate during our Design Technology lessons this term. Students were tasked with creating a step-by-step plan to use our Strawbees to make a 3D shape.
Students knew what the parts of Strawbees were and how they worked, but were not allowed to make the shape as they wrote their plan. The challenge was in creating exact steps to write in their plan. Once the plan was created there would be no adjustments made while they were making their shape following only the steps they had written as they were written… exactly!
Although most plans looked great and students were confident in this ‘easy’ task, there was a quick realisation that what you had in your head as a step, was not translated onto the plan as a written step. In this case many 3D shapes went… pear shaped 😊 Room 37 have enjoyed the process of laughing and learning especially from the initial epic fails. 
P&C and Community News
P&C Raffle and Bunny Breakfast
Easter Raffle Winners:
Congratulations to the following winners of the P&C Easter Raffle.
Bunny Breakfast
The P&C held another successful ‘Bunny Breakfast’ this year! Many families took the opportunity of enjoying a hot cross bun and a fruit drink before school commenced on Tuesday morning.
Lots of families and staff volunteered to ensure that everyone enjoyed the morning event. The Easter raffle was well supported with lots of families purchasing tickets in the hope of winning one of the amazing prizes donated by our families. It was great to see so many families join in and start the day a little differently to how we start most school mornings. The school wishes to thank the P&C for all their efforts and enthusiasm in hosting such a great event. We feel fortunate to have such great parents support our school.
The money the P&C are raising is to go towards gazebos for our school and interschool carnivals.
