25 October 2024 | Term 4 | Week 2

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.

Principal's Report

Dear Parents/Caregivers

Term 4 is underway with feelings of excitement and renewed enthusiasm: with Sports days, Excursions, Reception transition are fast approaching with Graduation and End of Year Assembly on the horizon.

Teachers are busily shaping the final Units of Inquiry for the year, starting to write reports and at the same time we are preparing for 2025.

This term promises to be a busy and enriching time as we approach the end of the school year.

World Teachers’ Day

The Wellbeing and Learning Committee could not have imagined the generosity and appreciation shown by our community on World Teachers' Day.

Families from across the school shared food from a diverse range of cuisines; providing a truly wonderful luncheon for a deserving team of educators.

When you consider how busy the lives of families are, to be acknowledged by so much effort is humbling!

On behalf of such a dedicated team of educators, my heartfelt thanks.

Sports days

Today’s Early Years Sports Day was a resounding success! Our younger students enjoyed an action-packed day filled with energy and enthusiasm as they cheered each other on through the tabloid activities, culminating in the thrilling ‘sprints’ finale.

Our Primary Sports day, (Years 3-6) is scheduled for next Friday, 1^st of November. We are eagerly anticipating another day of friendly competition and camaraderie among our students.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the tremendous efforts of our Physical Education faculty and the Governing Council Health & PE Committee. Their dedication and hard work have made these events a highlight of our school calendar, providing our students with memorable experiences.

We are still looking for parent volunteers to help out on preparations for the day. If you are able to help: Primary Years volunteers - Friday 1 November : click https://signup.com/go/bAjByPN to volunteer!

Our Sports-day Houses of Gleeson, Waite, Cleland and Davenport are long established, named for land holders in our area in the early 1900s. House Teams provide opportunities for students to; develop relationships beyond their classes, learn to compete, to win and lose respectfully, comradery and to explore values such as loyalty. As a school we are attempting to keep children in the same house from year to year and families together but as you can imagine when we establish new classes at the beginning of each year the numbers become unbalanced.

On Sports-day students will be asked to balance up the teams by competing for another team at varying times. These students will be awarded points for being principled. Teachers will try and rotate the students who compete for different teams across the day.

Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to seeing you next week at the Primary Years Sports day

Class Placement - Reminder

Class groupings are being shaped over the next two staff meetings so I would ask that if you have decided your child is not returning in 2025, please let the school know.  We currently have 116 children on our waiting list and would love to be able to welcome new students and their families to our school community.

As previously communicated, if family have any information critical to their child’s learning or wellbeing needs, please request through dl.0647.info@schools.sa.edu.au

As is best is practice across our department, requests for desired teachers are not considered. The educators and students themselves provide us with important information that is used to configure classes.  Consideration is given to:-

• Friendships
• Separations: where children are not productive/supportive of each other.
• Learning strengths and challenges
• Learner profile attributes
• Wellbeing data

This information is used to shape classes for 130-150 children for each year level, considering their needs individually and as a group.

Fiona Voigt, Principal

Celebrating World Teachers’ Day 2024: Hats off to teachers

Today (25th October) is World Teachers Day.

Teachers are at the heart of every student's learning journey. They inspire, challenge, and guide students to reach their full potential. Whether it's creating engaging lessons, offering support during challenging moments, or sparking curiosity and a love of learning, their dedication is what makes our school a nurturing environment for growth.

This year, we celebrated World Teachers’ Day by inviting our community to express their gratitude through food. Families were invited to contribute to these celebrations by bringing a dish in to provide a shared lunch for teachers. Thank you to all who contributed.

Our SSOs were kind enough to also provide a shared lunch last week and teachers were given small gifts of gratitude from SSOs throughout the week.

Students were encouraged to get creative and make something special for their teachers. Many students made cards, letters, artworks and poems to give as a way to say “thank you” to teachers for their dedication and hard work.

Thank you for helping us to honour the teaching profession and expressing your appreciation for our LPPS teachers. Happy World Teachers’ Day!

My New Gallery

Early Years (Reception - Year 2) Sports Day

Today (25th October) the Reception, Years 1 & 2 students participated in the annual Early Years Sports Day.  Through a variety of events, the students did an excellent job of demonstrating many of the skills they have learned during their PE lessons this year. Events included: gymnastics, chicken throw, three legged races, parachute, a variety of relays and sprints.  

Students were so excited to see the early years teachers in their inflatable costumes racing in the sprints! 

I would like to give a sincere thank you to the fantastic Year 6 student helpers, who managed and organised their stations, staff and parent volunteers who assisted throughout the day.

A special mention must also go to Simply Fresh on Kensington Road, Erindale for their generous donation of fruit that the students thoroughly enjoyed.

Geoff Mills, PE Teacher & Harry Slee, Sports Coordinator

My New Gallery

2024 LPPS House Captains

Assembly Student Awards

Congratulations to all the students listed below who demonstrated the Learner Profile Attributes last week.

2025 LPPS M&S Fee

As mentioned in our previous newsletter (Term 3, Week 10) the Linden Park Governing Council have reviewed the Materials & Services Fees and the Incursions & Excursions Levy for 2025.
The Materials & Services Fees for 2025 will increase to $490 and the Excursion/Incursion Levy will increase to $170.  A copy of the ‘Notice’ of the proposed charge for 2025 is below.

An invitation is extended to all members of our school community to attend an Open Governing Council Meeting on Monday 28 October at 7.00pm in the staff room.  This will be an opportunity for parents/caregivers to discuss with the Governing Council.

 LPPS Leadership Team & Governing Council

Yr 1 Gorge Wildlife Park Excursion

This week as part of their  Unit of Inquiry - “Sharing the Planet” - our Year 1 students visited the Gorge Wildlife Park over Wednesday and Thursday. Students got a hands on experience with a variety of different animals, birds or reptiles. We would like to thank all our wonderful parent volunteers who assisted teachers on the day, without your help our excursion could not take place.

Wellbeing News

Welcome back to Term 4. This is always a busy term but it is one that I really enjoy. It’s a time when we can look back at our students - your children - and reflect and celebrate on how far they have come in one year. I look forward to celebrating their achievements with you.

Transitioning to a New Year Level
For many students starting a new year in a new class is an exciting time but for some it can be an overwhelming and anxious time. I have found over the years that this can become more evident, the closer we get to the end of the year. This can be particularly apparent for Year 6 students as they transition to high school and students in the Early Years.
If your child is feeling anxious please let their teacher know and I am more than happy to meet with families and work on strategies which can alleviate these uncertain feelings. Please feel free to make a time to sit down and have a chat.

Student Action Committee
A huge thank you to the Student Action Committee (SAC) students who decided to hold a Pyjama Day at the end of last term to raise money for Backpacks 4 SA Kids. We raised $952 which will go towards helping disadvantaged children in South Australia. 

The origins of the school four-term system
As we celebrate World Teachers’ Day and start a new term, did you know that South Australia used to have a three-term school year system before transitioning to the current four-term system? The three-term system typically included:
Term 1: Starting in late January and ending in early May.
Term 2: Beginning in mid-May and concluding in late August.
Term 3: Starting in early September and finishing in mid-December.

The shift to four terms was made to better balance the academic workload and provide more frequent breaks for students and teachers to reduce fatigue.

The four-term system, introduced in the early 1980s, aimed to:

1. Improve student and teacher well-being: More frequent breaks helped reduce burnout and maintain higher levels of energy and focus throughout the year.
2. Enhance academic performance: Shorter, more manageable terms helped students retain information better and stay engaged with their studies.
3. Align with other states: Many other Australian states had already adopted the four-term system, and aligning with them helped standardize the school calendar across the country.

Kind regards,
David Molloy, Student Wellbeing Leader and Autism Inclusion Teacher

2024 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 2024 please nominate them for the 2024 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 Wednesday 6 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

South Australian State Junior Chess Championship

In the recent school holidays, students from Linden Park Primary School attended the South Australian State Junior Chess Championship. All students enjoyed the experience and put in a tremendous effort to achieve their best.

Congratulations to the following students who achieved fantastic results, with a special mention to Charlotte for competing in the Under 18 event

SA Junior Chess Championship:

• Charlotte C (Year 6) - Under 18 Championship 2^nd
• Lucas Z (Year 5) Under 11 Championship 2^nd
• Evan T (Year 1) Under 8 Championship 2^nd

Library News

As of week 3 students who have an overdue book will not be allowed to borrow from the library.  Many of the current overdue books have been overdue for many weeks. 

If your child cannot locate their overdue books, please speak to a library team member. Invoices will be sent home for any overdue books.   

The last week for all students to borrow will be in week 5. All students must return their library books to the library by week 7. 

Students will be able to continue to borrow take home reading texts (readers) until the beginning of week 8. Weeks 8 and 9 will see a stock take of the take home reading texts and library books.  

Thank you for your support

Russell Hanson, Teacher Librarian

Student Free Day Reminder - 8 Nov

In Term 1 the LPPS Governing Council School ratified a Student Free Day on Friday 8th November 2024.

The purpose of this day is to provide teachers with the opportunity to develop their professional learning with a focus on Literacy and Numeracy aligning to the Linden Park Primary Site Improvement Plan.

LPPS Out of School Hours Care will be operating if your child/ren require supervision - please book online via Xplor app or contact LPPS OSHC directly on 8379 4610. 

Community News