30 July 2021 Week 2 Term 3
Principal's report
Welcome back...Take 2!
COVID update
Thank you to all of our school community, staff, students and parents who moved so quickly into the online learning platform again with the announcement of the recent lockdown. Needless to say, we are really thankful it was only for a week and that we are back at school again. We still have some families who are in isolation due to Covid hotspot site proximity and we hope to see them back at school next week.
We will continue to provide updates of any changes but the following procedures will remain in place for the beginning of next week, week 3 commencing 2 August.
- Teachers will wear masks except when they are interacting with children and teaching.
- Parents are asked, where possible,
- To use the kiss and drop areas to deliver and collect their child/children or meet them at the gate to pick up at the end of the day.
- For younger students this may not be possible but we ask that you collect your child/children from the grounds and leave promptly.
* For student late arrivals or early pick up, one adult, wearing a mask, may come directly to the front office to sign students in/out.
* Students must stay home if they are unwell. If students are at school and become unwell during the day, parents/carers will be phoned to collect their child.
School Access
- Please avoid coming into the school, wherever possible, instead please phone or email the front office.
- All adults please wear masks when entering the school grounds and QR codes will be at gate and building entrances, check-in is mandatory.
- The library will not be open to adults before or after school, children may still borrow.
- The uniform shop will be open for normal trading hours with strict capacity, masks required and social distancing.
- Parents/carers are not to enter school learning spaces or classrooms.
Staffing
We welcome Rachel Khuu and Daniella Bollella to our LPPS teaching staff. Rachel will be teaching the year 7 class in Room 32, replacing Henry Nicholson who has won the position of Operations Leader for the remainder of the year. Daniella will be teaching in Room 20 (Year 3) on Fridays. Josh McGuire will remain as LPPS Numeracy Coach for the remainder of the year with Mack Haynes continuing to teach in Room 38 on Thursdays and Fridays.
We also have some new SSO's across the school – a warm welcome to Donna Blackwood, Vonnie Gooding and Toni Coleman.
Student reports
We hope that parents have had the chance to log in and view their child’s Semester 1 report on the Parent Portal https://sentral.lindenpkr7.sa.edu.au/portal. One important aspect of the portal is attendance and parent’s can view a live reflection of student attendance and lateness. The Department for Education and Linden Park set our attendance target at 96%. A few minutes late every day adds up and students miss important morning information and setting up learning for the day if they arrive late.
Deb O'Neill, Principal
Library News
Book Week is fast approaching!
Book Week is an annual celebration of Australian authors and books, sponsored by The Children’s Book Council of Australia. This year Book Week will be held from Monday 23rd August to Friday 27th August. The theme for this year is ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds.’ https://cbca.org.au/
The children will be involved in a variety of activities throughout Weeks 5 and 6 (16 August - 27 August).
BOOK WEEK PARADE : Advance Notice - 27 August
The children are invited to dress as their favourite book character or a Book Week theme-related character (Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds) on Friday 27th August for a whole school Book Week Parade and assembly.
Please note that we do not want the children to hire costumes but to give some thought to things they might have at home or could make that can be incorporated into a costume. Below are some links that you might find helpful in thinking about simple costumes.
https://www.rainbowskycreations.com/post/easy-book-week-costumes-for-teachers
https://www.stayingcoolinthelibrary.us/simple-book-character-costumes-for-students
Due to COVID, we are not sure if parents and friends will be able to attend the assembly at this stage.
We also look forward to hosting authors Sally Heinrich (R-2), Tim Harris in a virtual format (Yrs 3-4) and Roseanne Hawke (Yrs 5-7) during Week 5 and 6, permission slips will be emailed via Edsmart soon.
Thank you in advance for your support of our Book Week celebrations.
LPPS Library Staff
Teachers are Learners Too!
Teacher training and development is in a time of considerable change. While teachers have always engaged in working together to develop and build up their expertise and knowledge of how children learn, there are now many more complexities introduced with COVID-19 restrictions.
The last two student free days of term 2 were originally set aside for teachers to work face-to-face with PYP workshop facilitators from interstate. Understandably these plans were postponed. Instead staff worked together through some online Nano PD Workshops with our Deputy Nicole Scrivener. Staff spotlighted on some key areas that were recommended from our 2019 PYP Evaluation. These included developing stronger central ideas including student voice and focusing on ensuring that teaching and learning addresses human commonality, diversity and multiple perspectives. Teachers used the online learning platform Visible Thinking Routines to communicate thinking and collaborated in teams to develop their PYP understanding. Specific courses that teachers completed included; ‘Strong Central Ideas’, ‘Student Agency in Learning Communities’ and ‘Learning in a Transdisciplinary World’. Afterwards teachers were allocated time to review all their Units of Inquiry and deconstruct/ reconstruct the big ideas of learning.
Nicole Scrivener, Deputy Principal
Sport News
Four Linden Park Primary School students bagged medals at the recent South Australian and South West NSW Regional Championships. The championships are run annually by South Australian Snowsports Association Inc and Snow Australia in the July school holidays.
In the first interschools snowsports competition since the coronavirus pandemic began, the 2021 event drew 141 entries from students representing 26 South Australian schools. SA interschools president David de Lacy said SA Interschools encourages participation of school students of all ski and snowboard ability levels as the emphasis of our event is fun and participation. Our 141 competitors in 2021 ranged from reception to year 12 students. All students who holiday in Falls Creek Resort in the annual July holidays are invited to enter next year’s SA Interschools event. For further information, contact interschools@snow.org.au
Congratuations to William B (Yr 4) and Charlie B (Yr 6) who secured gold medals and Emily B (Yr 3) and Lucy B (Yr 6) who both won bronze medals.
Results:
Division 5 male alpine GS: William B 1st
Division 5 female alpine GS: Emily B 3rd
Division 4 male alpine GS: Charlie B 1st
Division 4 female alpine GS: Lucy B 3rd
Harry Slee, Sports Coordinator
Sports News
Congratulations to Myles K (Year 5) who won the Silver Medal in the Under 11YO Boys (2km) Little Athletics State Cross Country Championship at Bonython Park on Sunday 18th July 2021.
Wellbeing
There's been lots of change going on lately, especially to the way students are learning. Restrictions and school procedures are still in place to help keep the whole community safe during COVID-19. Right now, it is hard to know how long these new changes will stay in place, or if more will be needed as the year goes on.
All these changes and uncertainty might make your child feel confused, angry or overwhelmed but there are things we can do to look after their health and wellbeing. Remember, the kind of support they need may change as time passes. It is also important to remember our teachers and school community are there to support students and make school a safe place to learn.
Please find attached a flyer and a couple of articles that may be of assistance.
Rachel Pontifex, Student Wellbeing