25 March 2022 - Week 8 Term 1

Principal's report

Swimming Sports Day

Congratulations to all who coordinated, participated and contributed to the LPPS Swimming Carnival last Tuesday. Held at the Payneham Pool, our Years 4-6 students participated in a range of water games and races aimed at building confidence and capacity for students to be safe in the water.

The House captains whipped their teams into a frenzy of support, cheering on those students who had been selected to participate in the championship races. 

The meet closed with the prestigious Staff versus Student relay where Henry Nicholson, Kathy Wall, Jackie Tavener, Josh McGuire and Harry Slee took home the trophy for the first time in years. There is definitely a thought that the students took pity on their opposition, allowing them success to build their self-worth.

More importantly the Cleland team were victorious over their competitors with Naya, Aniela, Olivier and Massi rewarded for their efforts by taking home the shield. Congratulations must also be extended to Baron Z. and Ava T. who are our 100 metres Freestyle champions.

Student Led Conferences

Our Student Led conferences will commence next week and are just one of the ways in which we share and communicate student learning throughout the year.  At Linden Park Primary School we are committed to activating student voice and action in all aspects of their learning. The upcoming student led conferences are designed to put the student at the centre of this process and gives them the opportunity to share their learning verbally. They take the lead in the interview; sharing a snapshot of what they have learned, how they learn and how they are progressing.  They will show you evidence which may include work samples, sharing of goals, assessment pieces, portfolio documents and self-reflections.  Parents and teachers collaborate to establish and identify the student's strengths and areas for improvement as well as supporting the development of learning goals.  Learning Journeys, Exhibitions, Student Portfolios and semester student reports (mid-year and end of year) are the other formal ways we report student learning throughout the year.  If you have yet to book your conference - please refer to the SZapp app in the main feed section for details how to book.

Harmony Day - Monday 21^st March 2022

Monday saw the celebration of Harmony Day, with children and staff across the school wearing orange to symbolise cultural diversity and inclusion. Many children chose to wear their cultural costumes with pride; promoting the varying cultures that contribute to the richness of our community. We are fortunate to have such a diverse community here at Linden Park and enjoy the many opportunities we have to learn from each other.  For more information about Harmony Day, visit https://www.harmony.gov.au/ 

Fiona Voigt, Principal

Student Action Committee (SAC)

Each semester, two students from each class in Reception to Year 5 are elected to represent their class at SAC. These students continue to demonstrate the characteristics of the IB Learner Profile.  

Due to the high population of students, we have two SAC committees;

• EVEN STEVENS (Reception, Years 2 & 4 students meet during even weeks)
• ODD BODS (Years 1, 3 & 5 students meet during odd weeks).
• Each group is supported by some year 6 leaders.

We meet each fortnight and discuss issues brought up at class meetings, the students make any decisions that may need to be made on behalf of students, i.e., playground equipment and they also generate action based on the general wellbeing of our students.

The SAC is one example in our school of authentic student agency, i.e., students having the control and opportunity to make decisions for the benefit of their own and their peers learning and school experiences. Students in the SAC will be part of learning opportunities where they will;

• Question current behaviours, practises and procedures at LPPS;
• Explore data on the wellbeing of students;
• Take responsibility in communicating ideas and information to their classes and within the SAC;
• Make decisions based on data and feedback for the benefit of the school community;
• Action the decisions;
• Support their peers;
• Reflect on any action taken.

Stay tuned for the future reports from students about action they are implementing within our school.

Congratulations to the following students who have been elected SAC representatives of their classes.

(Due to some classes experiencing high numbers of students and teachers in isolation, there are some classes who have not yet elected representatives due to not being inclusive of all).  

Regards, 

The ODD BODS & EVEN STEVENS SAC committees and Rachel Pontifex (Student Wellbeing Leader)

Meet the Even Stevens students (Reception, Years 2 & 4) next newsletter.

What’s an essential agreement?

At Linden Park Primary School your child’s learning program is based on the unique blending and strengthening of two curricula: The Australian Curriculum and the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IBPYP) in years Reception to Year 6.

The philosophy underlying the PYP encompasses global education, intercultural communication and international mindedness. We strive to develop students who will build a better world through intercultural understanding and respect. These aspirations are summed up in the school’s ambitious mission statement;

“Linden Park Primary School aims to develop resilient, innovative, curious and creative lifelong learners who appreciate diversity and who will ultimately make a difference through their actions”

Collaboration is two or more people working together towards shared goals. Our mission statement builds collegiality and shared understanding about our philosophy. Staff collaborate within and beyond their year level teams, the school and the community. The success of this collaboration can be attributed to the co-construction of essential agreements.

Essential agreements set the tone for collaboration and teamwork. They are not a set of rules and directions, but rather state what the shared norms and expectations are. Essential agreements are the expected behaviours, routines and codes that are used to maintain an atmosphere conducive for teaching and learning. Every class, staff team and the whole school develop an essential agreement. Everyone works collaboratively to establish an agreement of how the class, team or school will function.

Before developing the agreements, it is important to identify our own beliefs about learning. In the case for classroom agreements teachers work with students to consider what helps them to learn and what hinders their learning. Together the class unpacks what is learning (what does it look like, sound like, feel like), what learners value, what the school values, and the dispositions or characteristics of a successful learner (the IB learner profile). From here students brainstorm a set of class norms.

Similarly, staff delve deeply into their understanding of agreements before creating their norms of working in teams. Reflecting on the importance of establishing norms;

• Why do essential agreements matter to me?
• Why do essential agreements matter to students?
• Why do essential agreements matter to other stakeholders (parents)?

It is important that students have a voice and agency in the decision making process of developing essential agreements. This ensures understanding and promotes ownership of the norms.

Below are some examples of classroom agreements:-

Nicole Scrivener, Deputy Principal

NAPLAN (Withdrawals & Exemptions)

In special circumstances, a parent/caregiver may withdraw his/her child from the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy.   This can be for philosophical or religious reasons.

The Principal may approve a student exemption for a student who has a:

• Non-English speaking background and has arrived in Australia from overseas and has been in school for less than a year before the NAPLAN test period, or
• Significant intellectual disability and/or significant co-existing conditions which severely limit capacity to participate in the tests.

For further advice and support regarding student exemptions, please contact the school.

There will be paperwork to complete, accessible via Fiona Voigt, Principal

Tina Farmassonis (Assistant Principal: Operations)

Swimming carnival

On Tuesday 15^th March the Linden Park Primary School Swimming Carnival was held at Payneham Pool.   We had some terrific performances throughout the day and a big thank you to all the parents who assisted on the day. The teacher/student relay was the big crowd pleaser with the teachers snatching victory

This year was the closest house competition in many years with the lead changing a few times in the last three races. As can be seen below the final scores reflect this, with a one point victory to the winning team.  Results were as follows:

• Open 100m Boys—Baron Z.
• Open 100m Girls—Ava T.

 House Results

•  1st place =  Cleland             358
• 2nd place = Davenport      357
• 3rd place = Waite                 331
• 4th place = Gleeson            309

Well Done to all participants.

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Harmony Day

Room 7 - Year 1

To celebrate Harmony Day we read the book 'The Paper Dolls by Julia Donaldson and Rebecca Cobb' and made our own paper-people chains, drawing out each one carefully to illustrate and celebrate our differences.                                                        Peter Farmer, Room 7 Teacher

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School snap shot

Reception students enjoying their tennis lessons.

Uniform shop - new opening hours

Please be advised, commencing in week 9 (28 March) the Uniform shop's new opening hours will be:

• Mondays - 8.30-9.30am & 2.00-3.30pm
• Tuesdays - 8.30-9.30am & 2.00-3.30pm
• Fridays - 8.00-9.00am     

Naomi Butler, Uniform Shop

We know what your child’s app did last summer!

Too many popular children’s apps are gathering and on-selling your child’s personal data.    It’s hard to know which apps these are, and this puts your child at risk. 

Help is at hand.  ACCM (Australian Council on Children and the Media)  has partnered with the US research agency AppCensus and Macquarie University to provide a range of new privacy resources and checks.      These resources include a regularly updated list of top 50 Android apps played by children in Australia that have had AppCensus privacy checks to identify app data collection activity.

Click here for more information:

https://childrenandmedia.org.au/app-reviews/apps-can-trap-tracking

School 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.