22 Oct 2021 Week 2 Term 4

Principal's Report

Staffing Appointments

Congratulations to Tina Farmassonis (Room 5) who has won a short term acting Deputy Principal position at Richmond Primary School for the remainder of the term. Tina will be replaced with Philip Seyfang and Eli Kratounis for the reminder of the term. Tina will still write Room 5 reports and be actively involved in the class placement process.

Tracy McEgan will be replacing Heidi Rohrig for the first three weeks of the term and Peter Farmer will be replacing Nicole Scrivener for this week whilst she takes some family leave.

Class Placements

We will soon begin the 2022 class placement process. This is a very complex exercise with 960 students to place and please note we do not allocate teachers to classes at this stage.  We try to consider friendship information that we receive from parents and balance that with recommendations from teachers.  Parents will be informed of their student’s 2022 class before the end of the year. We would also appreciate it if you could inform us if you are intending to leave LPPS at the end of the year as we still have a substantial number of students on our enrolment register.

Excursions & Events

Congratulations to all students and staff who participated in last night’s Year 7 PIP exhibition. It was wonderful to see the amazing efforts and enthusiasm that went into the children's projects and to discuss with students their learning over the term. With the easing of some Covid restrictions we were delighted that students were able to share their experiences with their parents last night.  

Minister visit

Yesterday we had the honour of welcoming the Honourable John Gardener , Minister for Education and the Honourable Vickie Chapman MP, Minister for Bragg and Deputy Premier to Linden Park Primary School. The students from Room 7 demonstrated their Phonics work and the Year 7 students dazzled them with their amazing Personal Interest Projects.

M&S Polling

You will be receiving an email to vote on the 2022 Materials and Services Charge (School Fees).  On behalf of Governing Council, I am writing to request your support of its recommendation to increase the legally recoverable amount for the 2022 Materials and Services Charge by $10 to $460 for Year Levels Reception – Year 7. Please vote ‘Yes’ as this will enable us to continue to maintain our current programs.

News from the Governing Council - Recruitment For New Principal

Following the announcement of Deb O’Neill’s departure from LPPS at the end of this year, Governing Council felt it was important to keep parents informed of progress and the important next steps.

Last term the Department for Education’s Regional Director, Sandy Richardson, met with Governing Council to discuss the recruitment process and has continued to involve our Chair, Susie Inat.  Since late September, the Principal’s role has been advertised on Edi – a platform used to promote vacancies in schools. Governing Council has also requested for additional online advertising on Seek and LinkedIn to ensure that we attract the largest pool of quality candidates.  Applications close at the end of October.

On Monday 11^th October the  Governing Council met to workshop a set of qualities, attributes and aspirations that candidates will be expected to respond to and will influence the selection of the successful candidate. Maintaining the high quality of leadership, exemplary education standards and a focus on student wellbeing and diversity, were just some of the areas featured so as to continue the tradition of excellence at our school.

Governing Council Chair, Susie Inat, will be representing our parent community on the selection panel along with a member from our teaching team.  Announcement of our new Principal is expected to be made in December.  If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the front office.

Linden Park’s new Art Mural

Earlier in the year the school applied for a NAIDOC grant offered by the National Indigenous Australians Agency and $700 was awarded to contribute towards a nominated funded activity of painting an Indigenous mural on grounds. The school funded the remaining amount.

Linden Park Primary invited a local Indigenous artist, Scott Rathman from Rusted Tin- Contemporary Arts to work with some of our Year 5 and a few Year 7 students to design and paint an Indigenous art mural that links with the NAIDOC theme of ‘Heal Country’. Scott visited our school on Thursday 12^th August to work with our students to design some unique symbols for the artwork. The mural was then painted on our current Year 5 transportable building during the school holidays.

Scott explains that the story of the mural is around what creates a sense of belonging for students at the school...what makes them feel connected on their journey. The iconography in the centre represents friends sitting together. Friends are important because they make school fun and they also encourage you when you are having a go at something new. The bottom right iconography represents a smile. Seeing a smile on someone’s face is all you need to feel comfortable, safe, not isolated and helps build new bonds. Lastly the iconography at the top on the left represents students learning from teachers. Teachers are people you can trust because they help you by explaining things. They teach you and support you when you are stuck and they fix things.

Our goal was to create a visual representation of our school on Kaurna land. The NAIDOC 2021 theme – Heal Country! – calls for all of us to continue to seek greater protections for country including, waterways, sacred sites and cultural heritage from exploitation, desecration, and destruction. More information on this year’s theme can be found at;

https://www.naidoc.org.au/news/2021-naidoc-week-theme-announced-heal-country

A big thank you to Scott for all his hard work and talent. We are thrilled that the end result turned out better than we could imagine.

2021 SAFTA / Alliance Française Winners

This year, several LPPS students from Years  4 to 7,  entered the annual French Poetry Recital Competition and the annual French Letter Writing Competition run by SAFTA (South Australian French Teachers Association) and the Alliance Française.

Well done to all students who entered these competitions. Your efforts and enthusiasm were amazing.  A well-deserved congratulations to the three LPPS students who won Awards.

Congratulations to Nabiha M. (Rm 33) who won the year 6/7 French Poetry Recital Competition out of 15 participants from 10 schools. The judges were impressed with Nabiha’s ability to recite La Tour Eiffel ( a “very difficult poem” ) with such “finesse”. Prior to the announcement of winners, the school received an email asking if Nabiha was a native French speaker. And no, she is not. She is an enthusiastic  student who perseveres and tries her best.

Congratulations to Charlie C. (Rm 33) who was selected as the best year 7 student for LPPS in the Letter Writing Competition. Students had to hand write a letter of about 100 words about themselves in French during a time limit in class. (Notes could be used but no Laptops.)

Congratulations to Jessica N. (Rm 40) who was selected as the best year 6 student for LPPS in the Letter Writing Competition. Students had to hand write a letter of about 100 words about themselves in French during a time limit in class. (Notes could be used but no Laptops.)

The Award Ceremony was held in the Memorial Hall at St Peters College on Wednesday 20th October 2021.

Alexia Millett, French Teacher: Years 4 – 7

Yr 7 Personal Interest Project

On Thursday 21st October, our Year 7 students showcased their Personal Interest Projects (PIP) to the community in the Bruce Gymnasium. The Expo was the culmination of a term’s learning with all students selecting one of the following conceptual lenses: Social Responsibility,  Environmental Sustainability, Identity, Creativity, Wellbeing and The Physical World as a contextual window for their personal inquiries. 

Innovation was a key concept that was developed through this process, and we viewed a diverse range of innovative final products. Topics and final products included: music and animal therapies, photography, forensics, aviation, mental and physical health, movies, coded games, models, parapsychology, clothing designed by students, and scientific models to name a few.

Students selected their topics for their personal inquiries based on personal passions and with the support of a mentoring parent, sibling or community member they developed their inquiry questions, undertook research, and created a final product. Year 7 teachers guided students through a scaffolded inquiry process, supporting them through the development of organisation, research, time management and reflection skills. Students developed a process journal and wrote a final statement in the form of a Weebly that was a reflection of themselves as learners and included the importance of a growth mindset, feedback on the PIP process and the skills that supported their learning. 

Several of our students were also given the opportunity to meet with the minister for Education, John Gardner, and our state's Attorney General and Premier, Ms Vicki Chapman, and showcase their learning prior to the evening's event. Additionally, on the Friday morning after the Expo, students from other year levels visited the Gym to view the Projects. It was an exciting time for the students and they can feel proud of their efforts.

It was wonderful to be able to share the student's projects with so many people, and to see so many families attend the expo. We appreciate your support and we are very proud of the way in which students articulated their learning and the efforts they put into their personal interest project.

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Yr 5-7 Girls Crows Cup

On Friday 15^th October, we had 35 girls across Years 5-7 participate in the Adelaide Crows Cup held at the Adelaide Lutheran Football Club in the Parklands. Having 3 teams from our school was a tremendous achievement, as we had the most participants to enter across the Sturt Football Club Zone.

Each team played 6 games throughout the carnival, including a final at the end of the day to determine the final positions. Our Year 5 and 6 teams, put in brave performances with majority of the girls playing organised football for the first time. The girls had incredible fun, and when it was time to rest between each game, our girls had a footy in their hands practising their skills for the next match. The Year 5’s and 6’s played against girls that were older from different schools who had plenty of experience. At the conclusion of the day, everyone had a smile on their face and it was a great way to get introduced to football.

There were AFLW footballers in attendance, holding dance battles and with support of the Crows Members Association, put on a free sausage sizzle, so there was plenty of fun to be had.

Our Year 7 team had an amazing day, going through undefeated and winning the whole carnival. The girls come up against a competitive St Aloysius College team in the final but played a remarkable match to come away champions by 5 goals.

Congratulations to the Year 7’s and a super effort by our Year 5’s and 6’s for coming out and giving it a go. A special thank you to Chris Allen and Brad Ebert for volunteering to coach and to Tegan for assisting on the day. We also had a lot of other parent support throughout the carnival which was really appreciated.

Harry Slee, Sports Coordinator

Yr 2 Aldinga Day Trip

Our Year 2 students, teachers and volunteer parents attended the Indigenous excursion at Aldinga Beach on Monday (Rms 1,2,3) and Tuesday (Rms 4,5) of this week.  Students looked into different aspects of Australian Indigenous culture and in particular the systems they use to organize their communities and learning the importance of the Aldinga scrub to the Kaurna people.   Each class completed a number of group activities including cooking fish in clay over coals, team games, bush walk and investigating indigenous artefacts including painting their own boomerang!  A big thank you to all our parent volunteers over the two day, without them this wonderful student experience would not happen.

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Yr 6 Aquatics

On Wednesday 13^th and Thursday 14^th October our Year 6 students enjoyed a full day of Aquatics at West Lakes Aquatics Centre.  As part of the PE curriculum, students enjoyed an action packed day participating in a variety of water activities including: surfing, kayaking, snorkelling, yachting and canoeing.  The outdoor learning environment encouraged students to try new activities and work collaboratively as a team to achieve common goals. There was a focus on sun and water safety prior to each activity and  the instructors commented on the positive behaviour of our students and the enthusiasm they displayed.

Below are examples of some poems that the students have written about the day.

   The Sail 

  by Xander

        The lake crystal clear

cutting through the water with ease

          sails in full flight.

Calm Sailing

   by Sean

     Kids touch the warm sea

boat swaying by the blue clouds

      heading back to shore.

Yr 1 Monarto Zoo

As part of our Unit of Inquiry into “Sharing the Planet”  Rooms 6, 7, 8, 12 and 13 visited Monarto Zoo over two days this term (Tuesday 12th October and Thursday 21st October). The children experienced a multi sensory, interactive program that acknowlegded the natural bushland of Monarto and their amazing array of animals.  Thank you to all the parents who generously gave their time to accompany us on the day!

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Yr 1 Nature Ed Incursion

As part of our Unit of Inquiry ' Sharing the Planet' an Education Officer from the Nature Education Centre at Netherby presented to our Year one students with a range of exciting native animals for our students to study and touch in their classrooms this week.  

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Reception Nature Play incursion

As part of the Reception’s Unit of Inquiry, “How we express ourselves” our Reception students had the  opportunity to work through 5 nature stations in the class groups on Monday 18^th October.

The children thoroughly enjoyed the hands on workshop in the beautiful sunshine, rotating through natural element stations facilitated by instructors from Nature Play SA.

• Station 1 - potions
• Station 2 - Cubby Building
• Station 3 - Natural playdough creations / ephemeral art
• Station 4 - Pigment painted pots / whimsical gardens (take home)
• Station 5 - seedballs - sunflower seedbombs

2021 LPPS Volunteer of the Year nominations

The Minister for Education Volunteering Award for Outstanding Service is a way to recognise people in school communities who make a significant contribution to enhancing and uplifting the lives of others by volunteering.

At Linden Park Primary School we have many volunteers who help make the teaching and learning at our school possible.

If you know of someone who has made an outstanding effort to support the Linden Park Primary learning & sporting environment in 2021 please nominate them for the 2021 LPPS Volunteers Award (e.g. helped on excursions, parent volunteer coach of after hours sport)

You can nominate as many people as you wish.

Please email your nomination with a short sentence as to why they ought to be shortlisted for the Award to dl.0647.info@schools.sa.edu.au before Friday 5th November.  We will then shortlist the candidates and conduct a community vote.

Please help us acknowledge our valued volunteers.

Linden Park Primary School Governing Council

School Notices