Dear Parents/Care Givers,
COVID-19 Phase 4
The Premier issued a statement on COVID-19 on the 19 October, indicating that the current Phase 4 Restrictions will still apply until further notice.
This means that the restrictions on the 2m2 rule applies and parents will
- Not be able to enter classrooms as yet
- Must adhere to the 2m2 rule – keep a 1.5m social distancing from another adult.
- Restrict events, if held inside, to the social distancing rule.
It is not an ideal way to operate a community school but it is best to listen to expert advice and get it right than to ignore or close our eyes to the rules. We cannot do that and we ask all parents to observe the rules until we know otherwise.
Thank you.
Congestion of Traffic around the School
We continue to ask parents to
- Walk or ride with your children to school
- Use the Kiss n Drive bays as drop-off only and fast-pick up arrangements.
- Come into Bushy Gardens Drive from Boardman Rd and travel ONLY ANTI-CLOCKWISE around the school exiting via Westray St, Dornoch Wy or Beauly Pde onto Boardman RD. This keeps your car on the school side of the road at all times for drop off and pick up, thus minimizing the risk of accidents with students crossing the road from your vehicle. Please observe this at all times when school is attended.
- Park your car around the school (street parking) and walk the small distance from the back of the oval into the school.
We are following the YOUR MOVE program in school to teach students the advantages of walking/riding to school. We have over 900 students and the school was never designed to have that many students at Caladenia, so we must be very vigilant in trying to protect our students from the excess cars and traffic around the school.
We have requested the City of Gosnells to add another 6 Kiss n Drive bays around the school and to erect some signage for ease of access at certain times. We have been doing our best to keep our students safe over the years and I feel that sometimes we are not being heard by some parents – the last thing we would want is for a child to be hurt (or worse) just because we are not thinking or trying something different, like walking or riding to school.
Please help us to help your children be safe around the school – together we can make our school very safe before, during and after school.
I have noticed many more parents and students walking to school in the mornings. It is so good to see – walking is a great way of maintaining fitness but also a great way of connecting with your children for a little longer each day.
Thank you – the school staff thank you for your efforts.
Bag Racks (repeat)
We now have bag racks for every classroom in the school and should all be now safe from the weather and lunches not ruined anymore. Teachers have been instructed as to where they are able to store bags, especially if the students are in transportable classrooms.
Teaching and Learning
The Minister for Education has asked to visit our school on 4 December 2020 after receiving a congratulatory letter from her regarding Caladenia’s school progress excellence across all schools in Australia (mentioned on the My School website). The Minister will be providing more details fo her visit at a time closer to the event.
We look forward to the Minister seeing exactly what we do at Caladenia and why we have such a high success rate in academic and social/emotional development. We are very proud of our staff, students and parents.
Kindy Info Sessions
We have this week completed our in-house designed Kindy Info Sessions. The sessions help parents, students and teachers be better prepared for the following year’s first year at a regular school, learning to read, write and enjoy other students’ company in play and learning. I thank our ECE Team in preparing and delivering an excellent program for parents and students – it was a very professional process and teachers were fantastically prepared. Well done, everyone involved. I know Ms Asplin has spent an enormous amount of effort in bringing these days together – thank you.
Parliament Visit
Our Student Executive boys visited Parliament last week and were invited into the House to observe the Government in discussion.
The students also dined with our Local Member, Mr Terry Healy while addressing some key questions by students and Mr Healy. The students were typically Caladenia-styles of excellence in their manners, social graces and communication.
I thank Mr Healy for his continued support in organising this day for our students and for his magnificent appreciation he has for our school. We consider him highly not just for the things he does for us but for the gentleman he is to our whole community.
Thank you, Terry.
Website
Our new school website is live as of today. It is much more user friendly and has a Language interpreter function for the majority of our community’s language bases.
We hope you enjoy the new look and easy to use style.
THOUGHT: Bring joy to someone’s life – smile and enjoy the response.
Keep Well.
Kindest regards,
Ted Nastasi
Principal
Year 2 Room 22
In Room 22 this term, we had the opportunity to read ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’ by Drew Daywalt. We then chose our favourite crayon and wrote a letter to them, convincing them of why they should not quit. We used high modality words, rhetorical questions and used emotive statements to persuade them to stay. We had a lot of fun doing this activity!
Year 5 Room 38
Room 38 and all the Year Fives went to SciTech on the 3rd of September. Room 38 outside the Chevron Science Theatre where they saw many experiments on how to power light bulbs from windmills. Ethanol and Helium to power vehicles.
In the planetarium we watched ‘Habitat Earth. Explore the complex connections and relationships of life on Earth, and our place amongst them.’
Re think the Future exhibition. Students got to investigate how to be innovating and find solutions that will make their life more sustainable.
Mr Smyth with some of the Caladenia students Zexin, Akshayan, Viraat and Bryan in the Earth Matters.
Viraat thought that SciTech was scientific, splendid, superb and spectacular.
Akshaayan believed that SciTech gave him a unique, educational and entertaining opportunity to learn hands on activity.
Zexin states that SciTech learning is a billion times more fun.
Students wrote as newspaper reporters about their excursion to SciTech. Room 38 under the Caladenia Tree with their amazing articles now displayed in class.
We went on a Trip to the stars in the theatre where we saw two planets in our night sky and Antares (not Mars).
Anastasia loves SciTech and thinks that it is the best place to go to for a school excursion.
Raenah said that it was a unique opportunity to learn new things.
Mahesh felt like Albert Einstein working on an experiment during his time at SciTech.
Youssef assume that nothing beats SciTech.
Natasha thought that SciTech was a great experience and the people there were really smart and creative about it.
Carol loves SciTech because it was fun and her favourite part was the planetarium.
Sam thinks that SciTech is an entertaining place to learn about science.
Student News – Jonah Year 2
Last time we had Jonah in the newsletter he had won gold in his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament.
During September was the AFBJJ WA Competition (State Championships) and he won silver in his age and weight category. He is very happy with his achievement and is looking towards the next State Competition in November 2020.
Well done Jonah.
If your child has participated in an event outside of school and you would like to share with our Caladenia Community please email your article through to Justine.Arnold@education.wa.edu.au
Athletics Carnival
Sports Carnival Fun!
The 2020 Athletics Carnival went ahead without a hitch on Friday the 16th of October with a couple of extra COVID precautions to ensure everyone’s safety. Many students had already taken part in the jumps, throws and long distance events on the Tuesday before, as well as a few teachers who took part in the much anticipated staff race.
The big day started with a parade, after which students split off into team games for Years 3-6 and track events for 1s and 2s which were all hotly contested. The pre-primary students had their own tabloid sports happening in their area in the meantime, which showed a lot of talent which we will be sure to see in the years to come. After a break for recess the two groups swapped over with the year 1s and 2s taking part in their junior team games and finishing their rotation with the ever popular egg and spoon race. The last part of the day featured the relays which turned out to be telling for the final result.
In the end, it was Green faction who won their 3rd carnival in four years (7 out of the total 14 carnivals) from the previous champions Gold who were just 99 points behind having lead for the best part of the day. Blue and Red rounded out the results with very respectable points totals and our champions were announced and awarded medals. Well done to all involved, it was great to see the students enjoying themselves so much and showing all the skills they have been fine tuning in training.
We have several photos from the day including of champion students on the podium. If you would like them please get in touch. We now turn our attention to the Interschool Carnival and more glory on the grass!
Thank You, Mr Phil Crofts
Caladenia P&C committee, along with our School Board members, wish to acknowledge Phil, our school’s Gardener, for his continued efforts patrolling the Kiss and Drive zones around our school.
His dedication, prioritising our children’s safety and well-being on a daily basis is greatly appreciated.
Thank-you, Phil, for going above and beyond, in rain or shine. You are special to our school community.
VACSWIM – Jan 2021
Enrolments are now open for VacSwim swimming lessons during the summer school holidays.
VacSwim in January offers fun lessons at beach or pool locations during the long break. Not only are they a great school holiday activity, they teach valuable safety skills to help keep your child safe in the water.
Your children can start as young as five years old.
Don’t wait! Enrol your children in VacSwim now at education.wa.edu.au/vacswim
Further information about fees, locations and how to enrol are on our website.
Book Club
Issue 7 closes Thursday 29 October.
