3 December 2021 Week 8 Term 4
Principal's Report
What an amazing year at Linden Park Primary School. At this time of the year, we need to acknowledge the staff and students who are leaving us for the next chapter in their lives.
To our Year 6 and Year 7 students, we wish them all the best at high school and hope they take the values of Linden Park with them throughout their lives. I know they are excited for the new adventures that are ahead of them.
It is with mixed emotions that we will be farewelling a number of staff members, however we have been really fortunate to maintain a large number of staff across all of the year levels. There have been some movements with teachers changing year levels and some classroom location changes to accommodate our new structures without the year 7s next year. I am hoping that our staffing will be finalized by next week and that you will be informed of your child’s teacher for 2022 on Monday.
Class Placement and Student Reports
On Monday 6th December students will receive their class placement letter for 2022. Students will visit their 2022 class on Monday morning and reports will be published to the Sentral Parent Portal on Wednesday. If you have any questions or concerns about class placement please direct them in writing through your child’s teacher in the first instance. If you need any assistance accessing the parent portal please contact Tegan or Mel in the front office.
2021 Governor’s Civics Awards for Schools
We have just been advised that five of our LPPS Year 5 students have been successful in being selected as an awardee in the Group category of the 2021 Governor’s Civics Awards for Schools. Aniela, Prisha, Alexa, Isabelle and Nathan will be officially presented with their awards in February in a ceremony at Government House. Their group project was to raise awareness and funds for Downs Syndrome SA and we are so proud of their achievements and look forward to the awards ceremony in the New Year.
End of 2021
Friday 10th December is the end of Term 4 and a reminder to parents that we will finish early at 2:10pm. To celebrate the Student action committee (SAC) have arranged for the last day to be a casual clothes day with a gold coin donation to celebrate the end of term. The money raised will be going towards purchasing a park bench seat to have near the primary play equipment. We will be hosting a special free sausage sizzle for Rec-Yr 5 students on the last day of term.
The Future
I would like to welcome Ms Fiona Voigt as the new principal of Linden Park Primary School beginning in January 2022. Fiona has been the principal of Woodville B-7 school and brings a wealth of experience and expertise in educational leadership. I know you will welcome her in her new role.
It is also my last opportunity to formally thank all of you for the amazing five years I have spent at Linden Park. The whole community works so hard to make this school the outstanding world class education setting that it is today. I truly admire the teaching and support staff of the school who work so hard to meet the needs of each child in their care. I see out school values of respect, responsibility, creativity and diversity being lived each and every day and it is has been such a privilege to have been part of this journey.
I will be deeply saddened to leave next Friday and say goodbye to your wonderful children, however as I have been saying to them, I am a risk taker, and I am going on an amazing adventure into the desert. I hope to continue to hear of Linden Parks successes and wish you and your families all the best for the future.
Deb O'Neill, Principal
Sapsasa Tennis FINALS
On Tuesday 23rd of November, both of our boys’ and girls’ tennis teams participated in the School Sport SA Knockout Tennis Finals Day at the Tea Tree Gully Tennis Club. Both teams won their first round match ups easily the week before and were coming into the day full of confidence.
It was not the best day for tennis, with the forecast predicting some early showers. We arrived to a cold and wet venue, with the courts basically underwater. This resulted in an hour and a half delay to the day. The format had to be changed in order to try and get through the scheduled matches. The day changed from a 6 game match to a fast 4 format, where it was the player and team to get to four games first is deemed the winner.
Finally the heavens cleared and the brooms were out to sweep the excess water off the courts. The girls were scheduled to play Westbourne Park Primary School in their first match while the boys drew Concordia College. Isabella Y and Qingyi P started off on fire, playing great together and winning 4-0. Olivia S and Tamarine T continued their form from the week before smashing their opponents 4-0 as well. The singles results were very similar with all girls winning convincingly, only dropping one game between them. Katrina S came in to the singles and showed her talent, winning 4-0.
The boys’ team put on a dazzling display against Concordia. Ian L and Daniel X made the perfect start, getting the job done 4-1. This was mirrored with a strong performance by Neal M and Shane H who only dropped 1 game en route to their victory. Concordia made a comeback in the singles, making it a little more difficult for the boys. However, Linden Park showed their class winning the matchup 5 sets to 1.
The Linden Park Primary School boys and girls team had one more group match up and both needed a win to finish top of their respective pool to qualify for the grand final. The girls came up against St Francis Lockleys and put on a clinical performance. Isabella Y, Qingyi P, Olivia S, Tamarine T and Katrina S all cruised to victory. The boys continued the red hot form, convincingly beating Cobdogla Primary School from the Riverland. Ian L, Daniel X, Neal M and Shane H made sure that they would be joining the girls’ team at the top of their pool and qualifying for the grand final.
Our boys’ team were up against a quality Trinity Gardens Primary School side in the grand final. This contest was absolutely fantastic to watch as it was played at such a high standard. All games went down to the wire, there were tie breaks and come from behind victories. Unfortunately, we had met our match and narrowly lost to Trinity Gardens. The boys did a fantastic job but just fell short of being state champions. A tremendous achievement to finish runners up in South Australia.
It was up to the girls’ team to see if we could walk away with gold. Their grand final matchup was against an undefeated Fulham North Primary School. This was going to a good challenge for our girls and the nerves kicked in just before the first match. They just had to focus on what got them to this point and go out and execute it. We reminded them that win or lose, they should be proud of how far they had gotten. The girls did not want to hear this talk and went out and played a great standard of tennis. They performed really well in the doubles, both beating their opponents 4-1. This meant that they only needed to win at least two of the singles match ups to be crowned state champions. Similar to the boys contest, it was very tight and we had two tie breaks. The girls were determined not to fall short and gritted out a great overall win. We won 3 out of the 4 singles matches to win overall 5-1. It was the first time in 28 years that a girls Linden Park Primary School team had taken out a School Sport SA (SAPSASA) Tennis State Championship. A wonderful honour for Isabella Y, Qingyi P, Olivia S, Tamarine T and Katrina S.
Linden Park was the only primary school in the state to have both their boys’ and girls’ team qualify for the finals. For them to finish #1 and #2 in South Australia is an incredible achievement. I would like to thank all the students for representing our school the right way and to teacher Geoff Mills for assisting throughout the knockout championship.
Harry Slee, Sports Co-ordinator
Staff versus Student Sports
STAFF NARROWLY WIN BEST OF 7 SERIES, 4-3
As it comes to the end of another schooling year, we held our annual Staff vs Students sporting contests over the last 4 weeks. There were double the amount of games this year with the Year 6’s joining the Year 7’s graduating from Linden Park Primary School in 2021.
There were a total of 7 friendly battles between the staff and students throughout the 4 weeks. The relay, soccer, netball, cricket and basketball games were all held to celebrate the end of the year. The students got off to an impressive start, easily beating the staff in the Year 7 soccer game. This was followed by a dazzling display by the students in the relay, as they easily beat both staff teams on Sports Day. This lit a fire in the belly of the staff as they were completely embarrassed by the students in the first two contests. 2-0 to the students.
Year 7 Netball was where the teachers kicked into gear, convincingly beating the students despite an ankle injury to valued staff member Abbey Boord in the dying moments. There was no mercy from the teachers as they won by 30+ goals. The Year 6 netballers thought they had what it took to knock off the staff team the following week. However, the teachers continued their hot form and made light work of the Year 6 team as well.
The overall tally was locked at 2-2 after the first 4 contests, the teachers had made it a series and it was onto the cricket. During lunch time on Wednesday of Week 7, it was a beautiful day and the students elected to bat first. The teachers bowling was dismal and the students took full advantage, dispatching the ball all over the school yard. After their 6 overs, they set the teachers 49 to chase. A few cheap wickets early made life very difficult for the teachers. Luckily, Geoff Mills came to the crease and got off to a hot start. The librarians needed to duck for cover as he sent the ball in that area multiple times. The final over had arrived and it was neck and neck. The teachers needed 2 more runs off the last ball of the day but with some great bowling from the students, they were able to come away winners by just 1 run. The students had regained the lead and had snuck in front 3-2 in the overall score.
Two days later it was the highly anticipated basketball matchup and the students were full of confidence. A bit of trash talking had been occurring during the lead up from some of the students, so it was a ‘take no prisoners’ approach from the staff. The teachers were on from the start, using their height and length to full advantage, comfortably winning by close to 40 points. The teachers had again evened up the overall tally 3-3, and the upcoming Year 6 soccer game was going to be the decider.
Friday 3rd of December was the grand finale, the Year 6 soccer against a staff team who needed to make amends from their disappointing loss to the Year 7’s a few weeks ago. It was ‘winners takes all’ and the classy Year 6 team were raring to go, dancing around some of the staff. They had a lot of possession but with some great goal-keeping from teacher Mack Haynes, the students could not find the back of the net. The staff broke through with a great team goal finished off by Year 6 Teacher Josh McGuire. It was the beginning of the end for the students, as the teachers started to pile on the goals. The recess bell sounded and the final score had the teachers comfortably ahead.
The Year 6 soccer result meant the staff had won 4-3 against the students in the best-of-7 series. It was a fantastic contest with a high level of standard on display. It was an incredibly enjoyable experience and it was a great way to celebrate the end of the year. Congratulations to the staff on narrowly winning the annual Staff vs Students contest and all the best to our graduates as they transition to high school in 2022.
Harry Slee, Sports Coordinator
My New Gallery
Library News
Thank you to those families and children who have returned all their books to the library. If your child still has a book that has not been returned yet, please help them get it back to school as soon as possible. Apologies to the families who received an overdue notice/invoice for a chrome book last week. That was an error. Loan chrome books are due back next Monday, week 9.
We have farewelled our senior library monitors and given them each a gift at assembly last Friday to thank them for their dedication to the library over the past 2-3 years. We are so grateful to these students:
In year 7, Alannah, Allegra, Chloe, Jasper, Jiani, Raeva, Tharinsa, Theeshan, Vito and William
In year 6, Ava, Hanya, Immy, Jasmine, Lucy, Marie, Sara and Stella
We are also appreciative of the year 6 and 7 library monitors who started in the role this year, Ethan, Qingyi, Sam, Sara, Sophia and Tanishka.
All the library monitors, including the year 5s, enjoyed a big celebration and thank you party in the library at recess on Monday.
Premier’s Reading Challenge awards were presented to students last Friday. We had a record of 825 students participate in the PRC this year. Caroline and Nicole H from our library team, escorted Stella G., one of our senior library monitors, to the PRC awards ceremony at the Adelaide Zoo last month. We were one of the top 55 performing schools in 2021. Well done LPPS!
We are wishing all families a wonderful holiday break and a happy Christmas and New Year. Please encourage your child to read and hopefully you will have many occasions to share books together over the holidays. The LPPS Wheelers ebook subscription allows currently enrolled students to continue borrowing ebooks throughout the holidays. Please refer to our page on the library website to find out how to use the ebook platform: http://lindenparkprimaryschoollibrary.weebly.com/ebook-platform.html
Of course, public libraries will be open throughout most of the school holidays. A visit to an op shop is another great place to find books to treasure.
Best of luck to all our year 6 and 7 students who will be starting high school next year!
My New Gallery
SEEK Week Term 1, Week One, 2022
During the first week back to school in 2022, the students and staff will be celebrating SEEK Week.
SEEK Week stands for Social Emotional Education and Kindness Week. This will be the second year that our staff and students have started our school year learning about, developing, and acknowledging the roles we play in our relationships at school.
As educators we know that teaching our students the skills in increasing self-awareness, supporting student with their emotional regulation, developing social competencies when working with others and strategies to develop resilience and empathy can be the foundation to feeling success at school.
SEEK Week allow the time for your child and their peers and teachers (as well as specialist teachers) to establish a really positive relationship. Your child will share books, have circle time, will be expected to reflect on their choices and strengths, set goals, develop friendship skills, get to know the expectations in the class room, learn the classroom routines and have a whole lot of fun. School is a positive and wonder place for learning and enjoying time with friends.
During SEEK Week your child will be involved in a range of activities to support their development of emotional intelligence. We will be collapsing all curriculum content for this week; there will be no testing, no inquiry units being started, and no curriculum lessons. Your child may not bring home readers and won’t get formal ‘curriculum’ homework.
All teachers, SSO’s and Leadership are starting to prepare for SEEK Week at the end of this term. We look forward to our first week back at school, especially enjoying the time getting to know your child.
If you have any questions or feedback, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Regards,
Rachel Pontifex, Student Wellbeing Leader
Reception Art Incursion
As part of our Term 4 Unit of Inquiry “How We Express Ourselves” our Reception students had their art incurstion today with local art school, “Blip! Art School”. With a festive theme each class was able to enjoy a 45minute session with using a variety of materials and media. https://www.blipartschool.com/
My New Gallery
2021 School Sport SA at Linden Park Primary School
Congratulations to all students who represented Linden Park Primary School in the School Sport SA State Wide Knockout Competitions throughout 2021. We had a record amount of teams participate in knockout competitions this year, fielding both a Year 6 and Year 7 team in most sports. We also had a total of 42 students who represented the Adelaide South East District at various carnivals throughout the year. A huge achievement for our school.
Harry Slee, Sports Coordinator
My New Gallery
Athlete’s Foot Donation
Burnside’s The Athlete's Foot presented Linden Park with a cheque for $225 this week as a result of a fundraising initiative Linden Park has with the Athlete’s Foot Burnside store—they donate $5 to the school for every pair of shoes purchased by a Linden Park student. Thank you to Henry & Eliza for collecting on behalf of our school!
Donation of Dog/Cat food
As part of our Unit of Inquiry “Sharing the Planet” the Year 1 students would like to collect and donate cat and dog food for the animals housed at the Animal Welfare League in Wingfield this festive season. https://awl.org.au/
We would appreciate all our LPPS families to support the students’ action by donating dog and cat food. A “Giving Tree” will be set up in the front office. Please support the students’ worthwhile action by bringing in donations of dog and cat food.
Thank you,
Year One Students & Teachers