Newsletter 23rd March 2022
Principal's Message
Early Close for Parent Teacher Interviews via Zoom - Wednesday 6th April
We have sought, and received, approval from the School Board and the Regional Executive Director to have an early close on Wednesday 6th April (Week 10 of Term 1) to run our usual ‘speed dating’ (12-minute meetings) version of parent-teacher interviews. However, this year they will be via Zoom (online or via phone link). These meetings will provide an opportunity for you to discuss your child’s progress this term with your child’s teacher.
This will mean we have our early close on the last Wednesday of the term (6th April). School will close at 12 noon. Some interviews will need to occur before or after the scheduled day so some timeslots will be available outside the 12 noon – 6pm timeslot of Wednesday 6th April. Once the bookings have closed, the teachers will send you information on how to login to Zoom and how to name yourself using your child’s name so that the teacher can recognise you in the ‘waiting room’.
We encourage all parents to collect their child(ren) on that day at noon. If that is not possible, your child will be supervised until the normal collection time (3pm). Please also note that traffic attendants will not be available before 3pm so if your child walks home and crosses roads with the assistance of these attendants, then they would be better to stay at school until 3pm when the attendants will be back on duty.
EduDance
Unfortunately, as we are not allowed to have whole school assemblies, we can’t have our planned EduDance concert at the end of the term with an audience. However, we do plan to make a video of each class’s performance and send a Vimeo link via SeeSaw to parents. Each class will also provide a small audience for a performance. These will be completed over the last Thursday and Friday of the term and the links will be sent out afterwards. See the Sports section for more information.
Intruders
On Saturday afternoon (between 3:30pm and 4:15pm) we had six people visit the school and climb onto the senior block roof. Two looked like primary school aged children – a boy and a girl with dark hair – the girl with long hair tied in a plait down her back. (They were separate to the other four.) They took pumpkins from the vege patch and snapped a banana tree in half. Two adults, 7 minutes later, came by to inspect the damage. Two teenage boys moved the kindy boat and then they and another two teenage boys climbed onto the senior block roof to place safety cones on the air conditioners. If anyone knows who these people are, please let the school know as we have good CCTV footage of their exploits and would be interested in organising some restorative justice opportunities. Last year, when we had similar issues, our community were instrumental in identifying the children. We are hoping for a similar result this time.
Interschool Carnivals Cancelled
We had a wonderful factions swimming carnival on Thursday 10th March (see below for details). Thank you to the parent helpers, the staff and the spectators for supporting the children. They represented our school with honour, showing wonderful sportsmanship. A big thank you to Mrs Stanford and her team of staff and parents (and ex-parents - thanks, Martine).
Unfortunately, both the interschool swimming carnival and this term’s interschool summer carnivals have been cancelled due to being in a very high caseload environment.
Harmony Day – Monday 21st March
While we couldn’t have our usual dress-up parade, the children were able to parade in their classrooms across the school while on Zoom. They also kept their buddy class in mind by writing to them or drawing a picture for them. Some had Zoom meetings too.
Delays to Re-roofing - update
It seems to be one step forward and two steps back. While they have not yet been able to re-roof a classroom, they have started preparatory work. This was following the discovery of some unexpected issues with the way the building has been constructed that required the builders to consult engineers to ensure they can tie down the new roof safely. Meanwhile, they have been able to re-roof the staffroom and they hope to complete the classrooms before the start of next term.
Ms Hasson’s Baby, Alfie
It is lovely to see Ms Hasson holding her baby. The obligatory mask is a sign of the times!
Gardener
We have a new gardener starting on Monday 28th March – Mr Noah Birch. We welcome him to our school. He is also a trained carpenter and an artist – working in metal. One of his sculptures was included in Sculptures by the Sea this year.
We are so grateful for all the work Mr Geoff Leatt-Hayter has done for our school - keeping everything going while we found a new gardener. We thank him from the bottom of our hearts and wish him all the very best. His care for our school has been amazing.
Values and Honour Awards
SAFETY
Securing and protecting everyone, including our school's reputation and our environment.
Foyer Display
Friendship Flowers
Room 3 have been learning about friendships and what makes a good friend. By doing some self-reflecting, we have discovered what makes each one of us a good friend.
Sports News
Faction swimming carnival
Well done to all our competitors in the faction carnival. We had a fantastic, but hot, day. The inside activities were fun with Mrs Jetta and Mrs Backhouse. The faction captains did a great job organising their factions for the events. Thanks to the parents who assisted on the day- Mel, Martine, Claire, Shannon, Amy, Janet, Leanne and Brendan. We could not run the carnival without you. Thanks to the staff for their support at the carnival.
The results of the faction carnival were:
1st – Parmelia (1186)
2nd - Endeavour (1036)
3rd -Investigator (805)
4th – Cygnet (741)
Congratulations to our individual champion winners.
This year there were no records broken at the carnival. It was very disappointing that the interschool carnival was cancelled, as I am sure we would have had an excellent team to represent Kensington.
Summer Carnival
The Summer Carnival for Year 5/6 students has also been cancelled - it was due to be held in Week 9 at Curtin University.
State Trials
State trials for the 12s state teams are coming up in March/April. Interested students, please go to the School Sport website to nominate: https://www.schoolsportwa.com.au/interstate
Edudance concerts
Parents will not be able to attend the final Edudance sessions. The performance for each class will be filmed and made available to parents. Costumes will be worn at the final sessions (last week of term) so please make sure you know and have organised what your child needs for the day. Classroom teachers have a list of what is required for their class.
Winter Sport
Winter Sport registrations in the community are now open. Click on the following link to find details of a local sport club.
Music News
Massed Choir Festival
Once again our Senior Choir has been invited to be a part of the WA Primary School Massed Choir Festival. This festival at the Perth Concert Hall provides students with the exciting experience of performing in a massed choir of 500 voices. All of the students in Years 5 & 6 are in the Senior Choir. We will be learning 11 songs for this amazing concert on Wednesday evening September 21st.
IMPORTANT DATES TO MARK IN YOUR DIARY
Thursday 25th August 11:30am – 3:00pm Rehearsal at Churchlands SHS Concert Hall.
Tuesday 20th September 9:00am – 1:30pm Rehearsal at Perth Concert Hall.
Wednesday 21st September 5:00pm – 9:00pm Tech Rehearsal and Concert at Perth Concert Hall.
There is a website for students and parents that provides a wealth of information : www.massedchoirfestival.org.au
To access the student page that contains the lyrics and choreography, students will need the password (together22).
Our amazing Massed Choir Festival app
Students have access to an app where all the songs and information are available. You will need to download the MCF app from the Apple store of Google Play store. You will then need to use the password (together22). Please encourage your child to use this very useful app to listen to the songs, learn the words and harmonies, and rehearse the choreography.
ANZAC assembly
The School Band and the Senior Choir will be recording four items for this year’s (COVID modified) ANZAC assembly which will be broadcast into the classrooms. The whole school will also join in with the chorus of “Brown Slouch Hat.” Perhaps you could ask your child to sing this song to you this week.
Junior Choir
Because of COVID restrictions that limit combining children from different classes, we are not able to run Junior Choir yet. As soon as restrictions are lifted we will resume Junior Choir Rehearsals.
P & C News
Icy Poles
Please note that icy poles will not be on sale this coming Friday 25th March.
Next Friday - 1st April - will be the last day of icy poles sales for Term 1.
School Board
School Board Members
We have five new parent Board members and three new staff Board members this year. Our first meeting with the new members will be on Monday 28th March. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the outgoing Board members (Brendan Joss, Linda Kut, James Ramsay, Wayne Smith, Claire Backhouse and Emily Hasson) for their wonderful commitment to the school. Their guidance, advice and efforts have made a great difference to our school. A special thanks to Mrs Susan Lees who has been a community representative on the Board for many years, representing Kent Street SHS. She has moved to a new school in the country and so can no longer join us. We thank her for her many years of service and wish her all the very best.
Our new parent representatives are:
- Renee Farmer – 2 years
- Naomi Ivala – 2 years
- Liam Lynch (also the P&C’s fundraising leader) – 2 years
- Claire Stone – 1 year
Returning for a second term is Simon Keen – 2 years.
Our new staff representatives are:
- Kate Dash – 2 years
- Rhonda Skinner – 1 year
Returning for a second term is Clare Brook – 2 years.
Community members will be decided by the Board members at the next meeting.
We will print all their profiles in upcoming newsletters and publish them on our website too.
Next Board Meeting
Monday 28th March at 5:30pm via Zoom. The Board will elect a Chair, a Deputy Chair, a Secretary and select two community members. We thank our outgoing Chair, Brendan Joss, for his wonderful leadership and thoughtful contributions to the Board and our school over the last four years. We also thank our Secretary for the past four years, Claire Backhouse, who has kept us organised and connected.
Containers for Change
We have a wheely bin and/or a wool bale in the quadrangle where you can deposit containers, help the environment and fundraise for the school all at once. We hope, with sufficient support from everyone, to expand this program.
Community News
