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Florey Primary School Newsletter
An ACT Government School
Phone: 6205 8011
Upcoming
Events…..
Term 4
Week 2 and 3
Preschool
Farmyard
Excursions
Week 3
Tues 28 Oct
P&C
And
Board
Meeting
Fri 31 Oct
National
Bandanna
Day
Week 4
Sun 9 Nov
Laura Jean
Fundraiser
Week 5 & 6
Mon 10 Nov
To Fri 21 Nov
Swim and
Survive
Program
Week 8
Thurs 4 Dec
Jump Rope
for Heart
Week 10
Mon 15 Dec
Year 6
Graduation
and dinner
Wed 17 Dec
Last day of
term 4
2015
Mon 2 Feb
First day for
kindy and
new students
Tues 3 Feb
First day for
All returning
students
T E R M
4
W E E K
Fax: 62058002
PO Box 223, Kippax, ACT, 2615
e: [email protected]
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www.floreyps.act.edu.au
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O C T O B E R
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Principal’s Message...
Dear Parents and Carers
Thank you to Kelly Booker and the executive staff for looking after the school while I was on
long service leave last week. I have returned refreshed and ready for the ever busy term 4
and preparations for 2015.
Preschool are participating in their annual Farmyard visits which are always fun filled and
exciting for the students. Thank you to Yasmin and Ellen for organising these excursions.
On Tuesday we had a wonderful skipping demonstration from the Heart Foundation’s Jump
Rope for Heart volunteers. Florey students were amazed to see what children their own age
could do with a skipping rope! There were many keen skippers out at lunch time and many
skipping their way home on Tuesday afternoon. More information will be sent out soon
providing you with more information about this event which will be held on December 4
2014.
Today Family Planning visited year 5 to talk about the changes they can expect as they
move through puberty and about relationships. This session builds the foundation for further
learning across the year 5 /6 unit. Year 6 attended the session last year.
Next week will be busy with the Talent Show auditions occurring in each unit; Melba Dance
Technical rehearsal in preparation for the excursion; Board and P&C Meetings.
The School Board is reviewing and updating the Florey Primary School homework policy. As
a first step, the Board is seeking input from the school community about current homework
practices, benefits and challenges of homework, and preferences for a revised homework
policy, which will be finalised in early 2015. Following initial consultation with the Florey
P&C, the Board is preparing to conduct separate surveys with parents, teachers and
students, as well as reviewing recent research findings about homework, to develop a draft
revised policy. The draft policy will be available for comment before being finalised.
The parent survey will be open until the end of week 5 (14 November) at
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3ZTW28K and should only take around 5 minutes to
complete. A paper version of the survey will also be available at the front office.
We would like to gather views on homework for students of different ages and so ask that
you please complete a separate survey for each of your children at Florey PS. Should you
wish to explore what is happening in other jurisdictions or some of the research behind the
value of homework, the following websites may assist: 
NSW Guidelines for homework:
https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/curriculum/schools/homework/Hwk_Pol_guide.pdf

Qld State Policy http://education.qld.gov.au/parents/pdf/homeworkpolicy.pdf

The Case For and Against Homework http://www.ascd.org/publications/educationalleadership/mar07/vol64/num06/the-case-for-and-Against-Homework.aspx

Homework Literature Review: http://education.qld.gov.au/review/pdfs/homework-textfor-web.pdf
The Board is looking forward to hearing your views on this topic.
Felicity
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Preschool News...
It has been another busy start to a new term with lots of things happening at preschool. The children
have started transition into Kindergarten and have been working with the Kindergarten children to
complete activities, read books and walk around the school to find ‘their’ special place. This will continue
for the rest of year and we will be attending assemblies and whole school activities.
In class we have been talking about different animals on a farm and what happens on a farm. The
children will be visiting the Farmyard Nursery this week and next week to learn further about farm animals
and the life cycle of animals on the farm. We are very excited about going to the farm and can’t wait to
meet and pat all the different animals.
Continuing on from our unit on life cycles we have tadpoles at preschool. We are busily watching them
swim and begin to grow into frogs. We can’t wait until they develop some legs and their tail shortens.
Term 4 is going to be a very busy term with lots of wonderful and interesting things
happening. Keep our eyes peeled for photos of us at the farm and information
about upcoming events.
Ellen, Yasmin, Bella and Kristie
Kidd and Neumann Cottage News...
The teachers have been busy exploring new iPad Apps that are useful and consolidate students learning.
I Can Count Money, Money for Kids and Kidspiration are a few of the Apps we have downloaded at school
and are using in the classroom. If you know of or are using other educational apps at home please let us
know as we would like to expand our App Library.
We have been looking at the concept of money and fractions in mathematics. A good way to consolidate
this learning at home is to discuss money when shopping, looking at catalogues, canteen price lists etc.
This week we started IExCel Writing groups. These writing sessions are aiming to target students
individual writing needs. For example focusing on handwriting, sentence structure, compound sentences,
maintaining correct tense, proofreading and editing and linguistic devices.
Our writing genre focus is persuasive writing. To help students gain a greater understanding of persuasive
texts you may like to discuss the avenues that we see persuasive language and images. For example
through advertising, junk mail, movie trailers and signs etc.
You may have noticed that our Talk Time has changed. We would like your feedback in regards to the
new layout, topics and options available for students to choose from.
Adam, Maria, Louise, Adrienne, Suzi, Kelly, Erin, Robyn and April
SUPER STUDENTS
Congratulations to the following
‘SUPER STUDENTS’
Week 2
Vinaya from KKT
Bree, Nina and Hayley from 3/4DB
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Worrell Cottage News...
Welcome back! Students have come back settled and well rested, ready for our final term! Our
Year 6 students have only 8 more weeks of primary school! The cottage is buzzing with
excitement this term as we work towards graduation, fun day, yearbooks, talent show, Year 6
Bandstravaganza, Jump Rope for Heart, Melba Copland Dance and many more Florey events.
This term our geography unit is called ‘The Great Florey Race!’ We are
looking at the seven continents and creating a geographical challenge across
the four classes. Each class is focusing on a different continent: 5/6NT – North
& South America, 5/6MH – Asia, 5/6RP – Europe and 5/6AF – Africa. Students
will be inquiring into the location and features of countries and places, different
types of cultures, landmarks, landforms and celebrations. The students are
very engaged and can’t get enough. We love it!
Sexual Health and Family Planning visited Florey Primary this week to talk to our year 5
students about changes that are happening as they grow older and friendships. Both boys and
girls will start the session together as a whole group, then separate into a boy and a girl group to
engage in specific activities and discussions.
Fun Fitness Friday is continuing this term until week 4. Students have been doing a wonderful
job engaging in leadership opportunities and organising sport and skill based activities for K-4
units. Keep up the good work 5/6!
Jeremy, Nikki, Shelly, Rosemary and Aaron.
Social Skills Update...
Well what a fun week we have had looking at our fears and how we can be courageous and brave!
We have looked at what fear and courage are and will move into our final week of the topic by
helping ourselves to be brave not foolish!
This week we looked at:
What is fear?
1/2: What makes you feel nervous?
3/4: What is the difference between nerves, fears and worries?
5/6: The difference between a risk and a thrill?
Next week we will move onto;
Helping ourselves to be brave not foolish?
1/2: Focusing on tough self-talk and the difference between being silly and brave.
3/4: Looking at silly thrills.
5/6: Will extend by looking at rational and irrational fears.
Thank you for all your support,
The Social Skills Committee
TERM
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WEEK
Snack Shack...
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Save Time! Order Online! - www.flexischools.com.au
Please use the Summer Menu when ordering
Thank You
We appreciate how hard it is to get back into routine after the holidays. We had a good first week back
with lots of lovely positive comments and encouragement. Thank you to all of those families who placed
an order during the craziness of first week back and thank you everyone who dropped in to say hello. We
love seeing the Florey community and getting your feedback on things we are doing well as well as areas
in which we can improve to serve the Florey Primary School community better. We take all suggestions
seriously and try to incorporate them into what we do if possible.
Sorry
To any Preschool parent who tried to order a Preschool lunch order online in week 1 and was unable to
due to the menu not being available we sincerely apologise. There was a break down in communication
and a little confusion between Flexischools and us due to the school holiday dates being different in some
states. It is all fixed now and we encourage you to try again in coming weeks ahead. Thank you to those
parents who filled in a paper bag lunch order and let us know that there was a problem. Please let us
know if you are having issues with the Flexischools ordering system as most problems can be fixed
quickly if we know about them.
Birthday Packages
Just in case you missed it on the Facebook page we would like to remind you that you can order
cupcakes or fairy bread to celebrate your child’s birthday with their class. The birthday child receives
cupcakes or fairy bread for their class, a treat box (to take home) and a birthday hat delivered to their
classroom just prior to recess on their chosen day. Orders may be placed online via Flexischools or in
person at the Canteen a minimum of 1 WEEK prior to the birthday to avoid disappointment. Contact Lisa
in the Canteen for further information.
Parent Canteen Volunteers for this term:
We still need volunteers in the canteen. If you would like to join our little team and enjoy a bit of a laugh,
we would love to have you. If you have a spare hour or two please see Lisa in the canteen and she will
add you to the roster.
Parent Roster Term 4
WEEK 3
28/10/2014 to 24/10/2014
Tuesday 28/10/2013
AM – Carol Boucher
PM – NIL
Wednesday 29/10/2013
AM – Effie Papadopoulos
Thursday 30/10/2013
AM –Yeshi Debel
PM – Kaelah Manson
Friday 31/10/2013
AM – Catherine McCallum
PM – Kelly Gooch
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Community News...
Dear Families,
This year Florey Primary School will be participating in the Heart Foundations ‘Jump Rope for
Heart’. A pamphlet will be sent home later this term with more details and a fundraising form.
On Thursday 4 December the school will be holding a ‘skip off’ day where students will
participate in a variety of skipping activities that promote positive physical activity as a part of
looking after our hearts. The day will be split up into sections and each age group will get a
timeslot to learn and perform in a variety of skipping rotations. All money is to be returned to the
front office. The funds raised by the school will help support life saving research and health
programs to improve the health of all Australians. Stay tuned for further updates.
Louise Tominich
Dear Families,
Florey Primary is holding a $15.00 Family Portrait Fundraiser on Sunday 9
November 2014.
You will receive a giant 10”x13” framed portrait for your donation - a great
family gift idea.
These funds (plus bonuses) shall go back to our school. You will also have the
chance to purchase additional portraits at exceptionally good prices.
Visit the Laura Jean Photography facebook page: www.facebook.com/laurajeanphotographyfundraising
Like the page and we receive a bonus.
Place your completed voucher plus $15.00 in an envelope marked ‘family portraits’ including
your name and contact number and return this to the front office.
Kind Regards,
Nikki Beljanski
CONGRATULATIONS
Lara from 1/2SF and Hayley from 3/4DB were chosen to participate in the
Australia Diamonds v England Netball Test Match on Wednesday at the AIS. They
walked out with the Australian Diamonds Netball team and also took the court at half
time to showcase netball skills learnt this year at NetSetGo.
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Community News...
The SRC will be selling bandannas ($4 each) and
pens ($3 each) to support National Bandanna Day
which will be held on Friday 31 October (Week 3). All
money raised will go to CanTeen which is an
Australian organisation that supports young people
who are living with cancer. Students can wear their
bandannas right up to and including National
Bandanna Day.
With Shirley
Enrolments are now open for Term 4 Zumba Kids @ Florey Primary School. The sessions are run in
the school hall every Friday during lunchtime. The first session for Term starts Friday 17 October 2014.
If you would like to enrol your child please contact Shirley from “Funkshirlnal Fitness” on 0417282173 or
[email protected].
If your child would like to come along to a trial class this Friday please fill in the form below. Please
note your child will not be able to attend unless they have permission from their parent/
caregiver.
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CHILD’S NAME:__________________________
PARENTS/CAREGIVERS NAME: ________________________________
EMAIL: ______________________________________PHONE:_________________________