1. education
2. school

School
Community
News
Date: 11th March 2015
Number: 6
Student of the Week
Apologies to Abigail Raymer from PK who
was left of the student of the week list from
last week.
Welcome to Term 1 - week 7,
2015!
School Attendance
At Tucker Road Primary, we are committed
to providing your child with an excellent
education. Going to school every day is the
single most important part of your child’s
education. Students learn new things at
school every day - missing school puts them
behind. The building blocks of a great
education begin with all students coming to
school each and every day.
Regular school attendance is vital and
missing school days can have a big impact
on a child’s future - missing one day a
fortnight will miss four full weeks by the end
of the year. By year 10 they’ll have missed
more than a year of school.
There is no safe number of days for missing
school - each day a student misses puts them
behind, and can affect their educational
outcomes.
If for a reason your child must miss school,
there are things we can do together to ensure
they don’t fall behind:

Speak with you classroom teacher
and find out what work your child
needs to do to keep up.

Develop an absence learning plan
with your teacher and ensure you
child completes the plan.
Remember, every day counts. If your child
must miss school, speak to your classroom
teacher as early as possible.
If you’re having attendance issues with
your child, please let your classroom
teacher know as we can work together to
get your child to school every day.
Tucker Road, Bentleigh Primary School No: 4687
16 Tucker Road Bentleigh 3204
P.O. Box 1341 Moorabbin 3189
Phone: 9557 2044 Fax: 9557 2181
Web Site: http:/www.tuckerroad.vic.edu.au
Email:
[email protected]
ICT News - Konnective App
(push notifications)
ICT News - Konnective App (push
notifications)
Don’t forget we launched the TRBPS
Konnective app live last Wednesday!
Konnective is a mobile app solution that
will allow us to communicate with you
straight to your smartphone (via push
notifications). We will be sending news,
events, photos and more so that you can be
even more connected with your children’s
activities and events at the school. Via the
app, we can send communication to
specific class levels, so you will receive
information specific to your child’s class as
well as general news, events and updates
that will go to everyone. This will enhance
our
existing
communications
(e.g.
Newsletter and new website to be launched
shortly). For those without a smartphone
you can still register and receive alerts via
email.
Please ensure you have downloaded the
app
and
follow
the
directions
accompanying this newsletter. We look
forward to welcoming you to our new
school communication App!
Website News
We had several photos taken last
Wednesday by Mr John Warren working
with Ms Robyn Donoghue for our new
school website. They were all amazing and
we look forward to seeing the temporary
website in the next week or so with the aim
of launching it before the end of term.
School Event
reminders:
news
and
P-2 Literary Ford Street Festival is
scheduled for March 17 at TRBPS in
the SOL centre
Thank you to Ms Robyn Donoghue for
organising this Literacy event and we look
forward to meeting all of the authors and
illustrators who will be involved in the
Ford Street Festival. This event will
provide workshops for the students to take
part in and discussions with various
authors. It commences at 11.10am and
concludes at the end of the school day. A
special parent / guardian time has been
allocated to meet the authors and for book
signing between 3.30-4.15pm (see the flyer
sent home) Robyn will provide us with a
more in-depth article about the outcome of
this special day in next week’s newsletter.
DATES TO DIARY 2015
Thursday 12th March
House Sports - Field Events
Years 3-6 (9.00am-2.00pm)
Held at Tucker Rd Primary
Saturday 14th March
Family Picnic & Outdoor Disco
Tuesday 17th March
House Sports - Track Events
Year 3-6 (9.00am –2.00pm)
Duncan McKinnon
Friday 20th March
Student Sausage Sizzle
Harmony Day
Wednesday 25th March
Prep Open Morning 9.15-10.00am
Friday 27th March
Last day of Term One
Dismissal at 2.30pm
School Camp Dates for 2015
Year 6 Camp
Monday 23rd March-Wed 25th March
Camp Marysville
Year 5 Camp
Wednesday 3rd-5th June
Sovereign Hill
Year 4 Camp
Wednesday 18th-Friday 20th November
Maldon
Family Fun Night Saturday March 14
Please attend and be a part of the school
community FACEs family fun evening
scheduled for this weekend. This will run
form 4.30pm until 8.30pm. This event is a
great opportunity all of the TRBPS families to
get together as a school community,
especially for our new families to make new
connections and for others to rekindle old
friendships. It is a great chance for TRBPS
families to catch up and have a chat, as they
enjoy a picnic together on the school oval. In
our busy lives we have good intentions to
catch up with friends but do not always have a
place and time organised to do so and this
event provides an avenue to do this and have
loads of fun! I really hope many of the
TRBPS families can support this event by
attending and enjoying the ambience and the
planned FUN!! Thank you in advance to the
FACEs committee for their hard work and
effort in orchestrating such an event.
Principal’s Professional Learning Conference –
March 4 - 6
Last week Peter and I enjoyed a few days of Professional Learning with our
colleagues from SaGE (Stonnington and Glen Eira), Bayside and Kingston Principal
Networks at the Inner South Region Principals Conference. We listened to both local
and international guest speakers throughout the three days. Dr Anthony Muhammad
(international speaker) was a former teacher and principal in the USA and has now
formed Frontier 21 Consultancy. Dr Muhammad was born in Flint Michigan (USA)
and worked in many disadvantaged schools; he spoke about the importance of
Educational reform in schools and his personal journey as a school leader in the
USA. He focused his presentation on the importance of ‘school culture’ to improving
student learning outcomes and teacher capacity. He believes that to maximise student
learning schools need ‘High Skill and High Will’ cultures which provides us with the
ideal conditions for nurturing and developing organisational change. His quote of the
day was, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a
different result.” (Albert Einstein) He explained that the worst tools to motivate
behaviour and / or instigate change are punishments and rewards incentives whereas
the greatest motivational tool is intrinsic. When Dr Anthony Muhammad became a
Principal, he focused on producing a ‘Professional Learning Community’ where
culture was the major vehicle for change to improved learning outcomes. He
described School Culture as a ‘set of norms (behaviours), values and beliefs, rituals
and ceremonies, symbols and stories that make up the ‘persona’ of the school
(Peterson). He finished with an analogy relating a school culture to a garden – the
culture is the soil and the technical aspects, the seeds. For true growth in students you
can’t focus on the seeds at the expense of the soil.
He defined a healthy school culture, as one where there is an unwavering belief in the
ability of all students to learn and achieve success. Policies and procedures are
created and practices adopted that support the belief in the ability of every student.
He went on to say that to develop a healthy school culture we must be transitional
leaders that lead people to better behaviour, we help them to improve rather than
focus on criticising current behaviour. A transitional leader needs a variety of skills
incorporating ‘Balance of Support’ (trust, empathy, tact, respect, vision and belief)
and ‘Accountability’ (a demand for performance). The support is the investment with
the accountability the return. He finished the first day by stating that one person
cannot possess all of the necessary skills you need a team of people; a leadership
team. This is a definite requirement for true success! We need a healthy level of
support as well as accountability and expected achievement.
Canteen News
Reminder
Orders are to be written clearly on a lunch
bag in blue, black or red ink, any other
marker is difficult to read. Please do not
sticky tape lunch bags up. A reminder to
enclose .10 cents for a bag if an envelope is
used.
Canteen Roster
Thursday 12th March
Carmela
Shai Golden
Tuesday 17th March
Anna Lake
Help Needed
Thursday 19th March
Adeline Raymer Natalia Tripp
Tuesday 24th March
Alzira Redfern 11.30 Kerri Collins
Thursday 26th March
Kylie Brkic
Dianne Anton
Tuesday 14th April
Kate Wengier
Thursday 16th April
Carmela
Shai Golden
Tuesday 21st April
Nelle Johnston
Thursday 23rd April
Adeline Raymer Help Needed
Tuesday 27th April
Alzira Redfern (11.30) Kerri Collins
Thursdsay 30th April
Kylie Brkic
Natalia Tripp
Tuesday 5th May
Nelle Johnston
Zuhra Balic (10.30)
Thursday 7th May
Shirley
Mandy Griffiths
Tuesday 12th May
Anna Lake
Thursday 14th May
Carmela
Natalia Tripp
Tuesday 19th May
Other speakers included Stephen Harris (Principal and Founder- Sydney Centre for
Improved Learning) and Bruce Armstrong (Executive Director, School Leadership,
Professional Practice and Accountability, DET) who shared their great educational
experiences and wisdom. I look forward to sharing some more of my learning over
the next few weeks.
Have a great week!
Robyn Farnell
Principal - TRBPS
FOOTY TIPPING 2015
To our Parents & Friends at Tucker Road
It’s back!
Footy tipping competition for 2015.
MORE DETAILS AND WEBSITE DETAILS
IN NEXT WEEK’S NEWSLETTER
Spelling at TRBPS
The development of a student’s spelling is often a popular discussion. Like all areas of student learning,
there is no simple one way to support this development. However it is important to know that there is a big
difference between Spelling and Word Study. In Spelling sessions, students are learning how to spell.
Sessions and word lists that are not based on spelling features are Word Study.
A student’s development in Spelling begins in the early years through letter recognition and letter-sound
connections. The basis of development at this stage is phonics and this leads to recognising initial sounds of
words, final sounds of words and then blends of letters.
Another teaching strategy for students in the early years is our ability to remember – however research in
memory continually shows that even when something is in our long term memory, rehearsal and practise are
crucial to it remaining there. This is where teachers take advantage of frequently used words. There are
many published versions of the one hundred, the two hundred, even the five hundred most frequently used
words. Regardless of the publisher, this approach uses our ability to remember and provides the constant reenforcement required to remember.
At TRBPS we use the M100W approach that sorts the most frequently used words into coloured grouping.
Students bringing home their Golden Words is etched in all families’ minds.
However with the number of relevant used words in the English language in the hundred thousands, we
cannot rely on our memory alone. This is a limitation of spelling approaches that are just based on generic
word lists and learning isolated words. There is a difference between having words to study and spelling
words. Our minds need connections – these connections can be structural or based on meaning.
For students to become independent spellers, they need to learn about spelling and the features of words.
These spelling features are on a continuum that students move along at independent rates; the continuum is
not age related, it is development related. A teacher will have a variety of developmental stages in every
class. Some students are working on their blends, some on their syllable combinations and some on their
affixes. Developing understanding about these features of spelling provides students with additional strategies to attempt unfamiliar words. If your child is bringing home Spelling Words focussing on their developmental stage, they should be able to tell you the spelling feature that those words are attending to. If there is
no spelling feature connection to your child’s words, they are Word Study words, not Spelling Words. As the
developmental stage for students is different, words for Spelling will differ from student to student in the
class. Students who have words the same as all the other class members are again in a Word Study program.
Sometimes words that the student already knows how to spell maybe included as Spelling Words as they are
being used to re-enforce the spelling feature that that word has in common with other words on their list.
Students should have weekly/fortnightly Spelling Word lists of five to ten words.
We promote students to demonstrate their thinking, to see evidence of the strategies they are using. Even as
adults we know there are some words we need to ‘attempt’. To see a student attempt to spell beach by
recording beech, bech, beich, beche is great feedback to the teacher about the different strategies the student
knows to make the long E sound. Encourage your children to ‘attempt’ spelling of words rather than being
focussed on instant correct spelling.
Development as a speller is about greater understanding of spelling, not just spelling more words correctly.
Do not hesitate to speak to your child’s class teacher or myself about Spelling at TRBPS.
Pete Seddon, Assistant Principal
Harmony Day
Friday 20th March
This year is the 15 anniversary of Harmony Day. The message of Harmony Day is everyone belongs. It’s a
day to celebrate Australia’s diversity – a day of cultural respect for everyone who calls Australia home.
Harmony Day is about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.
The official colour of Harmony Day is orange and students can join in the celebrations in a variety of ways:
wear a national costume (from their/or their parents’ country of origin)
item of clothing (e.g. orange t-shirt, tie, socks, shoes, scarf, hat etc.)
orange ribbons
spray their hair orange or wear a wig
orange wristband
The values embedded in Harmony Day are the values we foster at Tucker Road Primary:
Friendliness – being kind, caring welcoming and inclusive
Co-operative – working together to achieve our best
Respect– having regard for others
th
At a very special assembly on Friday 13th March at
3.00pm, Jim Souvatsis, one of our Grade 6 students,
will be shaving his head in order to raise money for
the Leukaemia Foundation.
To help support Jim, we are asking all students to
bring in a gold coin donation. The money will be collected on the Friday morning and sent to the office and
then donated in Jim’s name.
PREMIER’S ACTIVE APRIL
Registrations are now open to participate in The Premier’s Active April
initiative. Students/Parents/Carers can log in daily activities in order to
reach the challenge of 30 minutes a day of physical activity. All
participants receive the following: 10 free YMCA passes, 15% off at
Sportsmart (instore and online), one free hour of court hire at Melbourne
Park or Albert Reserve, 2for1 ticket offer at Sea Life Melbourne
Aquarium, entry into draw for 2015 AFL Grand Final. There will also be
an opportunity to join the tucker-road-bentleigh team, earn certificates
and hopefully win some great prizes for the school! Join ACTIVE
APRIL today at: www.activeapril.vic.gov.au
PARENTS AND FRIENDS ASSOCIATION
The Annual General Meeting of the Tucker Road Primary School Parents’ and Friends’ Association for 2015 will take place
on Monday 16th March
immediately following assembly
in the School Hall.
All current (paid up) members of the PFA are entitled to attend, and vote, at the meeting.
If you would like to become a member of the PFA (and attend the AGM and other meetings) it is not too late!
Applications for membership are available at the Office – $5.00 for a full year subscription.
If you would like to attend the meeting to see what the PFA does, please feel free to join us.
Babies and toddlers are always welcome!”
Hot Cross Bun Fundraiser
The PFA will be running its Hot Cross Bun Fundraiser again this year, in conjunction with Baker’s Delight!
Look out for the order forms that will be sent home tomorrow and buy your hot cross buns through TRPS (for the same price they
are available in store).
For every 1/2 dozen buns sold, Baker’s Delight contributes $2.50 to the school.
Buns will be distributed on Friday 27th March (last day of term).