5 February 2021 Week 2 Term 1
Principal's Report
Dear Parents & Caregivers
Welcome back. We hope you all had a very relaxing holiday and are looking forward to a great year ahead.
Last year was our 70th birthday and although we were unable to celebrate due to COVID restrictions, we have some exciting events planned over the next few terms. We will keep you informed of these in the coming weeks.
We are looking forward to the completion of the Cover Outdoor Learning Area (C.O.L.A). The initial preparation work is almost complete and the roof structure will be erected in the coming month. We are looking forward to it being finished before the end of term so we can utilise it for additional outdoor activities. We would like to thank the LPPS community for their fundraising efforts over the past 18 months which have contributed to this structure becoming a reality.
This year we have welcomed 37 new students across Years 1-7 and 121 Reception students and we are pleased to see how quickly they have settled into their new experiences at Linden Park. We welcome a number of new staff to the school in 2021: Karen Selkrig (Year 3), Anita Cervelli (Year 4), Kane Watkins (Year 7) and Megan Stewart (Enrolment Officer). Welcome back to Geoff Mills (PE Teacher), Tricia Millan (Year 1) and Jocelyn Carter (Year 4) who are all returning from leave. Students and staff have settled well into the school year and we have an exciting term planned with Year 7 and Year 5 camps, the LPPS Swimming Carnival, Swimming Programs and much more.
Congratulations to Derek Woodcock who has won a position at Wilderness School as the Sport & Recreation Administrative Assistant. Derek started at Linden Park in 2016 managing and co-ordinating after school and team sports. He has been a valued member of our community with his work increasing the enjoyment and participation in sports for many children at the school. We will miss him but wish him all the best in his new role.
The Linden Park Governing Council Annual General Meeting is on Monday 22nd February 2021. Being a member of the Governing Council is a wonderful opportunity for your to be involved in the school and a good opportunity to offer your expertise and contribute towards future directions. Details about how to nominate are in this newsletter.
Deb O'Neill, Principal
SEEK Week
Towards the end of Term 4 2020, I proposed that all staff will focus solely on our students wellbeing; developing relationships with their classroom peers and teachers during week one. The proposal was that all curriculum content, introduction of units of work, formal and structured lessons would be collapsed for week one to allow for all LPPS staff to focus more on social and emotional teaching and learning. The staff unanimously voted in favour of this proposal. The 2020 staff and SAC committee decided upon the appropriate name, ‘SEEK Week’ (Social and Emotional Education and Kindness Week).
As educators we know that the relationships we form with students are the foundation for them to feel success and happiness at school. If students feel validated and connected with their teacher they are more likely to engage in the learning. Just as important, it is our hope for our students to feel safe and secure with the peers in their class. Our teachers understand the importance of teaching social skills and friendship skills at the same time they are delivering curriculum content. Teaching these skills will continue to be taught, reinforced and modelled every day after week one at Linden Park Primary School.
SEEK Week has been a great success! The feedback from students and teachers has been really positive. Teachers timetabled activities during this week focussing on;
- teaching and modelling friendship and social skills
- playing games where children are getting to know their peers, specialist teachers, Leadership and classroom teachers on a deeper level
- teaching emotional literacy and reinforcing good behaviour choices
- spending time having conversations with the students in their class to get to know them on a personal level
Please speak with your child about the types of activities they participated in during SEEK Week.
If you have further questions or comments, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me via the front office.
Rachel Pontifex, Student Wellbeing Leader
Year 3 Art
To welcome students back to Art class this year, the Year 3 students were asked create an artwork portraying a ‘Place they feel connected to.’
The idea for this task was derived from The Art Gallery of South Australia’s educators site, which encouraged students to respond to the work of Betty Muffler.
Muffler’s work depicts Tjukurpa (ancestral creation story) and healing sites, places she has a connection to.
The art gallery has chosen a selection of student works to be displayed on their online gallery. You may view the artworks on the link below.
Kara Loan, LPPS Art Teacher
Teacher Professional Development
In the week before school started our teachers worked together to develop their learning and understanding of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (PYP). We reviewed our staff essential agreements. Essential agreements set the tone for collaboration and teamwork. It encompasses our beliefs about learning and outlines our shared expectations. Students will be developing their own class essential agreements during week 1.
The key concepts we used on our professional learning days were;
- Function- how does it work?
- Form- what is it like?
Teachers reflected on how they learn best and the importance of the why in learning planning, not just the what. We worked in year level learning teams and as a whole school to evaluate and revise our PYP Program of Inquiry. We used Visible Thinking Routines as a tool to communicate our thinking about conceptual learning in our planning and curriculum. The dedicated days in week 0 provided an opportunity for staff to curriculum map ensuring that all aspects of the Australian Curriculum are embedded in our units of inquiry.
My New Gallery
LPPS 70th Anniversary Pavers
As part of our 70th Birthday celebrations, we are offering families the opportunity to order a personalised paver. The pavers will be incorporated into the existing named pavers at the gym entrance to the school. Purchasing a paver is a great way to be remembered as part of Linden Park Primary School’s history.
Families can purchase a paver to display your family’s name which continue our "legacy walkway" acknowledging some of our past pupils and staff.
Pavers can be ordered on the Qkr app or via the webstore: https://qkr-store.qkrschool.com/store/#/home. Orders close on 5rd March 2021.
LPPS Governing Council
Dear Parents
An election is to be conducted for parent members of the Linden Park Primary School Governing Council Inc. Successful candidates are required to attend Governing Council Meetings and to join and work on one of our subcommittees – which equates to a minimum of four meetings per term and some commitment to progress subcommittee initiatives. Full details of our subcommittees can be found on the school website.
A Nomination form is available on the link below and must be lodged at the front office by 3:00pm on Wednesday, 17th February 2021.
The ballot will be conducted at the Annual General Meeting to be held on Monday 22nd February 2021 at 7:00pm. Following the closing of nominations a list of the nominations received will be posted at the school. There are currently 8 vacancies for elected parents members of the Council. The term of office is for a two year period.
Nominees may be required to present at the AGM in support of their nomination.
If the number of nominations is less than the number of vacancies, a notice to that effect and calling for further nominations will be posted in a prominent position at the school.
If at the time of the ballot there are more nominees than vacancies then a contested election will be conducted at the AGM. All eligible nominees will be listed on a ballot form.
The voting method used is ‘first past the post’ (voting method is one in which voters indicate on a ballot the candidate of their choice, and the candidate who receives the most votes wins) – there is no preferential voting. In a multiple-member election (or multiple-selection ballot), each voter casts (up to) the same number of votes as there are positions to be filled, and those elected are the highest-placed candidates corresponding to that number of positions. For example, if there are three vacancies, then the three candidates with the greatest numbers of votes are elected. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-past-the-post_voting. In the event of a draw for a single vacancy we will conduct a re-vote for the drawn candidates only. A ballot form will be declared invalid if more or less than the requisite number of votes is not selected (if there are seven vacancies, there must be seven votes on the ballot form).
Any nominee wishing to appoint a scrutineer to be present at the counting of the ballot must advise the returning Officer of their nominated scrutineer by 3:00pm on Wednesday, 17th February 2021 in writing to the school.
Please note:
Any additional information or questions in relation to this process should be directed to the principal as returning officer to address.
No campaign literature supporting candidates or groups of candidates may be distributed or posted in the school and no school resources whether human or material may be used to support particular candidates or groups of candidates.
Community Notices
Kaurna acknowledgement
Niina Marni. As we feel the earth beneath us, the wind around us and the sun above us, we acknowledge the Kaurna people, the traditional owners of this land. We pay our respects to past Elders and will work with present and emerging Elders to protect and care for this unique land of ours. We also extend this respect to other First Nations peoples.