10 June 2022 - Week 6 Term 2

Principal's report

Colour Run Postponed

The cold and wet weather has well and truly set in and the forecast shows no immediate change.  Whilst the colour fun run is a fundraiser, we are committed to making the event a great experience for our students. At this stage we haven’t identified an alternative date; waiting for the oval to drain and the rains to subside.

We thank everyone for their patience and hope that postponing hasn’t created issues for our community.

Instrumental Music Program (IMS)

Research across a range of studies shows a positive correlation between academic achievement and those students who participate in Instrumental Music Programs. Often parents and teachers express concerns that students are missing out on other curriculum areas but the relationship between achievement and learning an instrument is well recognised – these students generally out- perform their peers. At Linden Park Primary we have a range of IMS programs established including our beginning and established Bands, strings ensemble, violin, percussion and woodwind and brass.  Towards the end of each year, the band students perform an Instrumental Music Concert and Demonstration. The purpose of this Concert and Demonstration is for children to get a feel for an instrument they may like and for Instrumental Music teachers to see if an instrument is suited to the child. Students learning an instrument privately cannot learn that same instrument in a DfE group tuition lesson. The Strings program is offered to Year 3 students with the Percussion, Brass and Woodwind programs offered to the Year 5 & 6 students.  Opportunities to participate in these programs are offered annually the year before the children are due to start eg Term 4 in readiness for the following year. The students nominate (Expression of Interest) and are selected by the by the Instrumental Music Teachers.

The program offers selected students group instrumental lessons and an opportunity to play/perform in a band. 

• Lessons are provided by Department for Education-Instrumental Music teachers.
• Lessons are free, and will be held during normal school hours.
• Once selection has been finalised, students are required to organise their own instrument hire and tutor book from a private music company like Winston Music, Musicorp or Size Music .       Percussion requires the purchase, nothire, of the relevant equipment.                                                  

As well as the financial commitment, learning a musical instrument requires dedication and persistence. Students benefit most from instrumental tuition when they are clear about their responsibilities. These responsibilities include the following:

• Developing a regular practice routine (as specified by your teacher)
• Regularly attending instrumental lessons and band sessions
• Bringing all equipment to every lesson and band session
• Cleaning and maintaining their instrument (as specified by your teacher)

In allocating an instrument to a student, the following criteria will be considered:

• Students physical size (e.g. hand size or arm length)
• Instrument weight in relation to size of student
• Ensuring a balance of instruments for ensemble playing
• Feedback from Principal 

Our musicians are complemented by the Year 6 Choir, which provides opportunity for students to perform as part of the Festival of Music. This year we have two IMS students, Ella Sima and Aditi Neyyalga, who have been successfully selected to perform as part of the Festival of Music Orchestra. Individuals have also been rehearsing an auditioning for solo roles as part of the festival.

Uniform Policy

We are currently revisiting the Linden Park Primary School Uniform policy as we wish to reinforce the importance of the policy. The policy promotes a sense of belonging for all students; they identify as being part of a community – the Linden Park Primary School community. Research recognises having a sense of belonging as an important strategy against bullying. As we are all aware, uniform is also supportive of families as they are not having to supply clothing that is impacted on the latest fashions, usually quickly replaced by new trends. Uniforms make morning routines easier; students are exempt from having to make decisions about what to wear on a daily basis.

Students are expected to wear school uniform and school colours in the accessories eg tights, socks etc. The exception of wearing a SAPSASA top, where a child has been selected to represent the school, is currently being reviewed. Any other affiliated items of clothing, eg club tops are not considered uniform. The review of when children have the opportunity to wear their SAPSASA items will take into account student voice. 

Road Safety Alert

Feedback from community has been alarming where reports of three point turns, pulling over and allowing children to enter vehicles whilst in the middle of the road and not stopping when children are standing at the crossing.

Governing Council and staff are constantly exploring ways to keep our children safe and we implore all of our families to support. It might be inconvenient or take a little longer but the potential dangers and cost of not keeping our surrounding roads safe for our young people can’t be stated strongly enough!

I will be requesting a presence from SAPOL in future weeks to monitor and address those who are not keeping the periphery of the school safe.

Fiona Voigt, Principal

Internationalising Schools Project

As an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme school Linden Park Primary School embraces the philosophy of ‘international mindedness’ and ‘global citizenship’.  Developing global citizens through the implementation of the learner profile and developing transdisciplinary Units of Inquiry is essential to the success of the program.  Our aim is that intercultural understanding and international mindedness is a part of every child’s learning across all year levels.

To develop a whole-school focus on building intercultural capacity and understanding LPPS participated as a lead school in the ‘Internationalising Schools Grant Program’ in 2021.  As a lead school with experience in implementing international and intercultural practices the school participated in action research and a case study to develop resource tools for all schools to use in internationalising practices.   The case study was developed as a result of the ‘Internationalising Schools Leading Global Schools Project’, facilitated by the Research Centre for Languages and Cultures at the University of South Australia.

The key focus of the case study was to incorporate intercultural understanding across the curriculum in the development of a scope and sequence for one year level. The Year 2 teaching team (Abbey Boord, Di Blowes, Annie Christie, Liz Dawkins, Tina Farmassonis, and Caroline Wilson) volunteered to work with our Deputy Principal (Nicole Scrivener) to develop such a framework. The team worked tirelessly to develop an exemplar that depicts the development of intercultural capability across all learning areas. The process and resources of this case study is published in the Department’s new Internationalising schools guide under the ‘Curriculum teaching and learning for international mindedness using the general capabilities’ section.

Where to next?

As a continuation to this project the school applied to participate in round 2 of the ‘Internationalising Schools Grant Program’ for 2022. We won the grant and it is intended that the process of integrating the intercultural capability into a scope and sequence of the curriculum be extended to the Year 6 cohort.    Teachers will be supported to make their intercultural learning practices visible and deliberate. Our Deputy (Nicole Scrivener) and our Year 6 teacher (Georgina Zawada) will lead this project over the course of the year. We look forward to providing updates as the project unfolds.

Nicole Scrivener, Deputy Principal

Library news

The Year two students have been investigating the importance of "key words" and "notetaking" during their current unit of inquiry - Where we are in time and place.     

The students have been working with Mr. Hanson and enquiring about shopping, schools and toys in the past! The students enjoyed viewing various artefacts from the past too! 

Andrea Kipperman & Russell Hanson, LPPS Teacher Librarians

SAC News

Both of our SAC groups have been thinking about best ways we can improve the wellbeing of our students at LPPS this semester.   They have divided wellbeing into four groups: 

• Learning Wellbeing 
• Physical Wellbeing 
• Social Wellbeing 
• Emotional Wellbeing 

The reps then brainstormed a range of actions that can possibly be introduced across the school. Last week they started refining those ideas. We have narrowed the brainstorm down to 3 actions per area of wellbeing. The SAC reps will now talk to their classes about which action is most popular. 

Our Odd Bod and Even Steven reps look forward to sharing the agreed actions soon. 

Rachel Pontifix,  Student Wellbeing Leader

NATIONAL RECONCILIATION WEEK

We acknowledged and celebrated reconciliation week through literature and videos.     We viewed videos that explained the importance of future generations “Making the Change” and taking responsibility for change.     We borrowed and read books from the library created by Indigenous authors, our favourite was “Common Wealth” because of the art work. Throughout the week, we completed our mindful colouring, we were inspired by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, natural and Indigenous colours and used them to represent what we wanted to portray in our colouring.                                                                                                 Claudia McEntree/Harry Slee (Room 16)

Room 16

LPPS students on BTN

We have some TV stars amongst us! 

Year 5/6 students Dinithi, Vinuk, Tinaya Y, Tinaya G, Isaac and Onitha were featured on BTN Newsbreak, on ABC ME (channel 23/Foxtel channel 723).

These talented students spoke about their cultural connections to the Buddhist festival of Vesak and what the celebration means to them.

You can also watch the episode on ABC iVew or Youtube: https://youtu.be/UatLtEAdvCA 

Adelaide South East District Cross Country carnival

On Friday 3^rd June, 30 students represented Linden Park Primary School and attended the Adelaide South East District Cross Country carnival at Kensington Oval.    Battling the cool and wet weather, the students put in a tremendous effort in their events and supported one another throughout the course of the afternoon.     We had some terrific results with students getting personal bests and pleasantly surprising themselves with the times they ran.

A special mention and congratulations to Gianluca Z. (10 YR Boys) and Oliver S. (12 YR Boys) who came third in their respected events and to Myles K. who came first in the 12 YR Boys Division 1 race.      All three students have been awarded with selection in the Adelaide South East District Cross Country team to compete at the State Cross Country Championships on Thursday 9^th June at Oakbank Racecourse.

A big thank you to Geoff (EY PE Teacher) and our parent volunteers for assisting in the smooth running of the afternoon. Sports excursions would not be able to go ahead without the support of parent volunteers, we really appreciate it.

Harry Slee, Sports Coordinator

State Diving Championships

On Friday 27^th May, School Sport SA held the annual State Diving Championships at the South Australia Aquatic and Leisure Centre. Linden Park Primary School’s very own Nar O. in Year 5 competed in the 10 Year Girls Springboard competition.   Nar did exceptionally well, coming first in her event. Huge congratulations to Nar from everyone at LPPS on a tremendous achievement! 

Harry Slee, Sports Coordinator

Year 5/6 Girls Knockout Netball

Year 5/6 Girls Knockout Netball – School Sport SA

On Tuesday 7^th June, Linden Park Primary School’s Knockout Year 5/6 Girls Netball team played their first round matches against Highgate School, Black Forest Primary School and Hawthorndene Primary School at Highgate School. The girls had been training most lunch times for a number of weeks leading into their first round match ups and were well prepared.   There was a last minute change to the make-up of the team, with coach, Miss Low being a late out. Thankfully, parent volunteer, Peta T was able to assist to fill in for Miss Low.

It was a cold and drizzly morning at Highgate School and the girls were excited to have their first game scheduled in the gym against the host school. It was a rollercoaster of a game for LPPS, with Aniela K and Lori M working tremendously hard up and down the court, transitioning the ball from our defensive third to the attacking third. Jiorjana P and Amelia L put in great performances in defence but some sloppy passes from our girls kept Highgate at arm’s length. At three quarter time, LPPS trailed 14-10. Coach Peta T needed to make a few changes; with Mia K moving back into goals, making plenty of great plays to keep us in the game. Amelia N and Madeline S tried their heart out and with under three minutes to go, Highgate had the lead by 2 goals.

It was a close battle the whole game, with Highgate leading for the entirety of the match. Our girls showed a great deal of resilience and determination to stay with the talented team. The atmosphere was electric making it difficult for the teams to hear their coaches in the final stages of the match. LPPS was awarded a free pass in the centre third as the clock was ticking down. The girls stayed calm and got the ball into the sharp shooter’s hand. Ava T, with ice in her veins shot the ball and hit nothing but net as the final whistle went. The game was tied at 18 apiece. It was an 8-4 final term for the girls to claw their way back and earn the draw after being down all game.

Our next game was against Hawthorndene Primary School on the outside court in the slippery and wet conditions. The girls came into the contest full of momentum and started well, the combination of Mia K and Ava T in goals got the girls off to hot start. Beatrice L came into the game with energy, making some great interceptions and setting up her teammates in the open court. Jiorjana P continued to be a rock in defence and ran off her opponent to create an option for her teammates. To Hawthorndene’s credit, they would not go away. Again, some questionable passes from our girls, lead Hawthorndene right back in the game. Our Amelia’s worked great in tandem, with Amelia N putting a lot of pressure on her opponents allowing Amelia L to read the play and snap up the passes. The girls held on and the final score was 18-13.   The only sour note of the game was a wrist injury to Madeline S, who landed awkwardly after a contest.

The final game was going to be the toughest of the day, going up against Black Forest Primary.  The girls needed a win to keep the hopes of progressing to the second round alive. Lori M and Beatrice L proved to be great linking players for LPPS. Black Forest got out to an early lead went into quarter time in front. Madeline S made a return to the court for the first time since her injury and inspired a spirted comeback from our girls. Aniela K, Ava T and Jiorjana P continued to try their hearts out as they had all day. The girls defended well and worked hard but Black Forest were a classy outfit and made it difficult for our girls to attack. When the final whistle went, Black Forest had the lead 16-11.

It was a tough end to a fantastic campaign for the Year 5/6 girls. They worked incredibly hard in trainings and played great across the three game knockout competition.   A massive thank you to Peta T for giving up her time to coach and support the girls throughout the competition.   Thank you to Miss Low who unfortunately was unable to be at the games but gave up her lunch times to hold trials and trainings for the girls.   Thank you to all the players for their commitment and great team environment they created with one another.

Harry Slee, Sports Coordinator

SAPSASA State Cross Country Championships

Myles came 4th and Oliver came 13th in the U12 Boys Race at the SAPSASA State Cross Country Championships held at Oakbank Racecourse on Thursday 9th June.  Both Myles and Oliver were part of the U12 Boys Adelaide South East District Team who won the U12 Boys Team Gold.     Gianluca came 46th in the U10 Boys Race. 

Link to the live results  https://www.education.sa.gov.au/schools-and-educators/programs-students/school-sport-sa/choose-sport/cross-country-running/cross-country-state-championship

Year 3 - Science incursion

Last week the Year 3 students attended a science incursion based around the topic ‘hot and cold’.  The students attended as a provocation into their next unit of inquiry ‘How the World Works’ which has a big focus on Heat Energy.

Enrol now in preschool - 2023

OSHC - July Vacation Care

Short story competition - 2022

Is your child interested in entering the national short story competition?

The competition has three age groups: Kindergarten to Year 2; Years 3-4; and Years 5-6.

A panel of judges, led by award-winning author Jackie French, will choose the winning entries, with the first prize winner in each age category scoring 10 copies of their short story published into a printed book with a personally designed cover, plus an iPad and a HarperCollins book pack.

There are also prizes for one runner-up and three highly commended entries in each age group.

If you are interested submit your child’s story to the front office and staff can submit the students’ entries using the online entry. A consent form, signed by the student’s parent or guardian, must be attached to the entry form below. 

The 2022 Kids News Short Story writing competition opens at 9.00am (AEST) Monday, May 30, and closes at 5.00pm (AEST) Friday, June 24, 2022.

https://www.kidsnews.com.au/short-story-competition/find-the-2022-short-story-competition-entry-form-here/news-story/4be527b568dbd15737e1df995a97be5b

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.