Newsletter 8th March 2023

Principal's Message

School Board Nomination

We have had three parents elected unopposed but still require one more. If you are interested, please check the Board section below for more information on how to nominate yourself and what the role entails.  Or speak to Bronwyn Jones, Principal, or Simon Keen, Chair. Nominations should be sent to the school office by Thursday 16th March.

Faction Swimming Carnival 2023 Results

Thank you to Mrs Stanford, her team of parent helpers and the staff for the effort they put in to ensuring this carnival ran smoothly.  It was a great day to be in the pool.  Thanks to Martine for returning again, as a past-parent volunteer.  Thanks also to the wonderful student leaders who prepared their teams well and to the students for their great sportsmanship and determination.

Stationery Donations

Thank you to all those families that found some school stationery items from last year that they didn’t need any more, which they donated to the charity, Starting Over Support.  This charity supports families who are experiencing domestic crisis and who now lack the resources for their children to start school with their school supplies (pencils, rulers, erasers, sharpeners etc) ready. 

Introducing our Staff

As you will know from the last newsletter, we have a number of new staff.  We introduced you to four of them in the last newsletters and this newsletter we are introducing you to the remaining four.

• Mary Adam Fridays in P3
• Katherine Herne Room 5 (returning after a year’s absence)
• Conrad Lubich Library and leadership release
• Georgie Baxter, Special Needs EA working with a variety of students across a variety of classrooms.

Large Desk with Hutch Available - donation

We have a large grey malamine desk with hutch available for a donation.  

Its overall dimensions are: 160h x 241w x 101d cms.

Upcoming Events

NAPLAN

NAPLAN starts for Year 3 adn Year 5 students on Wednesday 15th March.  The schedule was published in the last newsletter

Harmony Day – Tuesday 21^st March

We will be celebrating Harmony Day as per usual this year. Students are encouraged to wear orange or dress in a national costume representing their heritage.  Students will be working with their buddies from another (younger/older) class in the afternoon.

ANZAC Ceremony

The ANZAC ceremony will be held at the school on the morning of Wednesday 5^th April.  This will should at approx. 9am (time TBC).

Early Close – Wednesday 5^th April

We will be having an early close on Wednesday 5^th April at 12 pm (noon) in order to run our annual parent-teacher meetings a la ‘speed dating’.  This means teachers are able to meet with parents for 10-minute bookings that afternoon, along with other time slots before and during that week.  Teachers will focus on providing parents with information on how their children are doing in literacy, numeracy and socially/emotionally.  The meetings on Wednesday afternoon (starting at 12:30pm) will be held in the senior block.  Parents are asked, if they are able, to collect their children at noon that day.  If you cannot do that, supervision (but not classes) will be provided at the school until 3pm. While there are no supervised crossings surrounding the school, please be aware that no crossings will be manned at noon anywhere, so students should remain at the school until 3pm if this is a concern. No phone/online meetings are available on Wednesday afternoon and face-to-face meetings are always the best and most preferred.  The SZapp booking system will be opened for bookings soon.  You will be notified when this has occurred.

Foyer Display - Room 1

Room 1 have been busy settling into their new Year 1 routines. Part of our focus has been to find out about ourselves and our capabilities, and to also find out more about our fellow classmates. The display shows off our efforts using a variety of mediums.  We hope you can see just how well we are all 'blooming'.

Foyer Display - Room 2

In Room 2 the children have read the story, The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright and Jim Field.  The story taught them the importance of being brave.  It also led to an investigation about koalas.  The children learnt what they have, need, are and how we can help protect their habitat.  They learnt how to write a 'super sentence' when they wrote about a time when they were  brave.  They also made some gorgeous information books about koalas and wrote a 'super sentence' on each page.

Honours and Values awards - 01/03/2023

Honours and Values awards - 08/03/2023

Sports News

Faction Swimming Carnival

Congratulations to all our swimmers who participated in our carnival last week. Well done to our medallion winners. Special thanks to our parent volunteers and staff who assisted. Thanks to Mrs Jetta and Ms Chatfield for organising the inside activities where the swimmers had lots of fun.          

The interschool carnival is on Tuesday 4^th April 12.00 – 2.30pm. Swimmers will be selected from the results of the faction carnival.

Sporting Schools

We have completed our volleyball sessions and next week we commence tennis with the assistance of an outside coach.

Winter Sport

Now is the time to sign up for winter sport in the community. Please see the noticeboards around the school for flyers with information for hockey and AFL. Active kids learn better.

Japanese News

I hope everyone is enjoying the Year of Usagi, the rabbit. In classes, Year 3-6, have been discussing and learning about the New Year celebrations and customs held in Japan.

A number of Year 4s have joined Japanese club held on Fridays at second break. They have been learning about cultural events and associated activities including a traditional funny face game, oni origami; New Year card making and a March celebration game for the dolls festival.

In the final week of March, five primary school students will visit our school. They will attend English classes in the morning and spend the afternoon and break times with some of our students and classes. The students will be hosted by families from within our school community. Thank you to all families who offered to host one of these students, giving our school this unique opportunity.

Whittle sensei

School Board

SCHOOL BOARD

The school board consists of a balanced mix of teachers, parents, and community members. Parent and community members provide an integral link between the school’s academic and administrative staff and the community, informing the decision making and direction of the school.  We have several parent-representative positions vacant for 2023, so I encourage you to consider nominating. The positive influence that the parent community has on the school, through sharing their experiences, knowledge and desires for the parent community to ensure informed decisions are made in the best interests of the students, is inestimable. In setting and monitoring the business plan for the school, it is a great way to learn about how the school operates, its challenges and its successes. If you would like to get involved in continuing the positive development of the school and share your, and your fellow parents’, experiences to guide the school, I encourage you to consider nominating for the school board.

If you are interested in finding out more, please consider speaking with the principal, or any of our current board members.  A list of current board members can be found on the school website. 

Our School Board – NOMINATIONS OPEN

The School Board will be meeting twice a term - on the third and ninth Wednesday of each term at 5:30pm.  Simon Keen is the current chair of the school board.  There are some vacancies on the board this year.  If you are interested in nominating yourself, please complete the nomination form linked below and return it to the school by Thursday 16th March.  Below is also an information sheet, which gives potential nominees an overview of the board and how it runs.  Below is a list of functions of the board as outlined in the Department’s policy.  Please note – all Board members are now required to give consent for the Department of Education to undertake a National Police History Check into their backgrounds.

The functions of the school board are:

1 to take part in:

a) establishing and reviewing from time to time, the school’s objectives, priorities and general policy directions;

b) the planning of financial arrangements necessary to fund those objectives, priorities and directions;

c) evaluating the school’s performance in achieving them; and

d) formulating codes of conduct for students at the school;

2 to determine in consultation with students, their parents and staff a dress code for students when they are attending or representing the school;

3 to promote the school in the community;

4 to approve:

a) charges and contributions for the provision of certain materials, services and facilities;

b) extra cost optional components of educational programmes;

c) items to be supplied by a student for use in an educational programme; and

d) any agreements or arrangements for advertising or sponsorship in relation to the school;

5 to provide advice to the principal of the school on:

a) a general policy concerning the use in school activities of prayers, songs and material based on religious, spiritual or moral values being used in a school activity as part of religious education; and

b) the implementation of special religious education;

6 with the approval of the Minister, or the Minister’s delegate the Director General, or sub-delegates the Deputy Director General, Schools or Regional Executive Directors for government schools in their regions to:

a) take part in the selection of, but not the appointment of, the school principal or any other member of the teaching staff.

The board cannot:

1 intervene in the educational instruction of students;
2 exercise authority over teaching staff or other persons employed at the school;
3 control or manage the school unless the intervention is by way of performing a function prescribed for incorporated councils or boards (see section 3.3- Incorporated councils or boards); or
4 intervene in the management or operation of a school fund.

The council or board must comply with any conditions imposed on it by the Minister pursuant to section 130(3)(c) of the School Education Act 1999, and any directions issued by the Minister pursuant to section 135(1) of the School Education Act.

An induction process is provided for all new members.  If you have any questions about the function of the board or what is expected, please email the principal at Kensington.ps@education.wa.edu.au

You may wish to check out our website School Board - Kensington Primary School (kensingtonps.wa.edu.au)

P & C News

Movie Under the Stars 

Yr 6 Fundraising and the KPS P&C are excited to announce that tickets are now on sale for our Movie Night! Don’t miss out - click on the link below to book!

Containers for Change

We have a wheely bin and 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