24 March 2023: Term 1 - Week 8
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 families,
With NAPLAN completed and our final swimming events drawing to a close, we look forward to inviting families to celebrate their childrens' success.
Student-lead Conferences
During weeks 10 and 11, our students are excited to present their learning progress with families. Empowering students to talk and share their achievements enables them to internalise their understanding and take ownership of their learning.
Questions such as, “Can you tell me a little bit more about…?’, What did you find most challenging?, or ‘What are you most proud of?’ will support your child to engage in a meaningful conversation.
Spotlight on Maths
A recent visit to Nicole Grant and the Room 4 learners gave insights to the mathematical minds of our Year 2 students. Children were asked to find the most efficient way to count a quantity of counters.
I observed students confidently discussing and sharing the strategy they chose with their classmates. It was the students’ ability to discuss these which indicated a deep understanding of the strategies they had selected. The diverse range of strategies included; Base 10, groupings of 2 & 5, arrays and doubles in order to tally the quantity. Students gave each other positive feedback and excitedly exclaimed that they would try strategies they had seen the next time they had to complete the task. The recording was also personalised with a range of numerical and pictorial
Safety Concern
Can I remind families to check that students are not bringing glass containers or products made of glass to school. One of our students was accidentally injured as a result of a child’s glass perfume bottle that was dropped and broken in a play area.
Introducing the 2023 Students Ambassadors (two of nine)
At the end of 2022, Year 5 students were given the opportunity to apply for a range of leadership roles and we were fortunate enough to appoint nine talented learners. The ambassador role is to promote LPPS as a school community rich in its diversity, relationships, innovative learning programs and partnerships with families. Ambassadors lead school tours, speak to visiting guests, prepare newsletter articles and facilitate activities that promote our community.
So who are these amazing individuals? I am proud to introduce: Chloe and Harshitha and will take the opportunity to introduce other Ambassadors in forthcoming weeks.
Fiona Voigt, Principal
Pastoral Care Worker
As many of you know Tegan Jolly is now our Pastoral Care Worker. Tegan worked in the Front Office for over five years and has a Bachelor of Health Science and a Masters in Counselling Practice. Tegan is passionate about student wellbeing and enjoys supporting students with their social, emotional, and academic success.
What is the role of a Pastoral Care Worker?
Pastoral Care Workers provide a wide range of support services, strengthening the wellbeing of students and the school community.
Pastoral Care Workers (PCWs) are positive role models who exemplify school values. They offer students, families and staff compassion and empathy, leaving the people they interact with feeling listened to, cared for and valued. PCWs work with people facing a wide and varied range of issues, with a specific focus on improving their social and emotional wellbeing. For students, this often leads to improved educational outcomes.
Student Wellbeing Focus
The Wellbeing letter box is an initiative to help students to have the opportunity to seek support when they feel they need it. Kids Helpline talks about how empowering children to seek support is an essential skill. We want the students at Linden Park PS to see seeking support as a strength and a positive thing to do.
Students are able to send a letter or a note to the Wellbeing Team and someone will follow up with them.
We would love students to feel that they have access to support no matter how big or small their issue may be.
Some of the issues students may seek support for include, friendship issues, struggling in class, transition to high school, grief support, calm down strategies, general wellbeing check ins.
How can my child seek support from the PCW?
If you would like your child to receive support from the PCW you can, email the front office, call the school, or talk to their class teacher. Teachers may also refer students to the wellbeing team should a student present with social emotional needs. (The PCW will only work with students who have parental consent to participate in one on one or group support sessions).
What’s the Buzz? @ LPPS
‘What’s the Buzz?’ is an evidence-based social skills program that was written in South Australia by Mark Le Messurier and Madhavi Nawana Parker. Both Mark and Madhavi have spoken at our Q & A on Hay parent workshops over the last couple of years, organised by our Student Wellbeing and Learning Committee.
The program is now run throughout hundreds of schools and organisations around the world! LPPS has implemented ‘What’s the Buzz?’, for many years, delivered by Caroline Regan, a truly valued SSO educator. Caroline develops very strong connections with the children during her ‘What’s the Buzz?’ lessons and supports them at a personal level throughout the program.
The program is designed to support ALL children but is especially valuable for those who struggle in social circumstances. It has been proven to be helpful for children with autism, those who have language disorders, auditory processing disorders, anxiety, reactive behaviours or learning difficulties.
Caroline runs the program each semester. Our semester one, Reception - Year 6 groups have all successfully started. Students are nominated by their classrooms teachers who then inform and discuss the nomination with parents. If you would like to know more about ‘What’s the Buzz?’, please contact me via the front office. If you believe your child would benefit from this program, speak with your child’s teacher about a possible nomination for semester two of this year.
Kind regards,
Rachel Pontifex, Student Wellbeing Leader
Culture spotlight
Linden Park Primary School is an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program school. The philosophy underlying the PYP encompasses global education, intercultural communication and international mindedness. Students make connections to their global community and assume a sense of responsibility towards its members.
The profile of our students is highly diverse, with more than 70 different cultures being represented across the school. The Student Learning and Wellbeing Committee acknowledges this and has made a commitment to ensure that culture is more visible and represented across the school.
Happy Ramadan!
Ramadan is held in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed globally by billions of people, as a month of fasting from sunrise to sunset, prayer, personal reflection and community. It lasts for 29-30 days, depending on the moon cycle.
This year, Ramadan started in the evening on Wednesday, 22 March. It is expected to end on the evening of Friday, 21 April. The end of the holy month will also be marked by a rare celestial event — a total solar eclipse.
During Ramadan people fast, or refrain from eating and drinking, while the sun is shining. Once the sun sets, families meet for big meals. People may also have a morning meal before the sun rises.
The month is a time for reflection to focus on family, faith and to be charitable to one another. People donate money and supplies to help others in need. And many fast to remind themselves about those in the world who don’t have enough to eat.
After the fasting, comes the feasting. After the last day of fasting, people celebrate with a three-day festival called Eid. During Eid, families and friends gather together to celebrate, indulging in a feast and eating traditional foods only made during this time. Some decorate homes with lights and exchange gifts.
Nicole Scrivener, Deputy Principal: Innovation and Inquiry
Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP)
Last call out for Reconciliation Action Plan Committee members……
Linden Park Primary School would like to invite you to join our Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group. We are looking for members of the community to establish a diverse working group that ensures the responsibility of implementing reconciliation. So far we have two parent representatives but would love more.
Anyone can join our RAP working group. If you are interested, please email Nicole Scrivener with your interest at Nicole.scrivener83@schools.sa.edu.au.
We will then organise our first meeting after school hours in Week 1 of Term 2.
Nicole Scrivener, Deputy Principal: Innovation and Inquiry
School Sport SA (SAPSASA) District Swimming
Linden Park Primary take out the ASE District Swimming Championship for the second year in a row!
On Thursday, 9 March, Linden Park Primary had 23 students participate in the Adelaide South East District Swimming Carnival at the Norwood Outdoor Swimming Pool. Students were selected based on their results at the LPPS swimming trials earlier in the term. The carnival included 13 schools from the local area and all came together to compete.
Despite the cool weather, it was a really enjoyable day with everyone cheering one another on and putting in great efforts in the pool. A special mention to the following students who achieved incredible results in their events:
- Baron Z : 1st Place Open 100m Freestyle, 1st Place 12yr Freestyle, 1st Place 12yr Breastroke, 1st Place 12yr Backstroke & 1st Place 12yr Butterfly
- Kaitlyn O: 2nd Place 11yr Breastroke, 2nd Place 11yr Freestyle, 2nd Place 11yr Butterfly, 3rd Place Open 100m Freestyle
- Blake M: 1st Place 10yr Freestyle
- Amelia L: 3rd Place 12yr Breastroke
- Luc H: 3rd Place 10yr Breaststroke
- Noah S: 3rd Place 10yr Backstroke
- Lara T: 3rd Place 10yr Backstroke
The most exciting part of the day was that LPPS went home as the highest scoring school of the day. We scored a total of 74 to be crowned the champion school for the Adelaide South East District for the second year in a row.
A special congratulations to Baron Z, Kaitlyn O, Blake M and Genevieve C who have been selected in the Adelaide South East District team to compete State SAPSASA Championship in Term 2.
Harry Slee, Sports Coordinator
Harmony Day
Thank you to all our families who supported our students dressing in orange or clothes that represented their cultural heritage for Harmony Day this year! It was truly breathtaking to see the colours and cultures represented. (Traditionally orange signifies social communication and meaningful conversations.)
Harmony Day is a day that we acknowledge and celebrate Australian multiculturalism and the successful integration of migrants into our community. At Linden Park Primary school, our educators spoke to all students about inclusivity, respect and belonging for all students, regardless of culture, abilities, disabilities or any other differences. It was wonderful to visit classrooms and see students engaged in conversation or lessons reflecting our school values and the acknowledgement of cultural diversity.
Of course, it is not just Harmony Day when we acknowledge inclusivity and the rich multiculturalism within Australia and Linden Park. Our educators continuously discuss inclusive practises throughout each school day and will often highlight the significance of our first nations Australians to the newest arrivals from around the world.
Over the last couple of weeks, our Student Ambassadors have worked tirelessly on developing posters, which will be displayed in our peace garden for classes to access. Each poster reflects a cultural group represented at our school. There are QR codes on each poster that will allow our students to read fables or stories from those countries, find out specifics about population, traditional food and other culturally significant information. Our classes will have the opportunity for this wonderful learning next week.
There are some fascinating statistics about Australia's diversity that can be good conversation-starters:
- Nearly half (49 per cent) of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was.
- We identify with over 300 ancestries.
- Since 1945, more than 7.5 million people have migrated to Australia.
- 85 per cent of Australians agree multiculturalism has been good for Australia.
- Apart from English, the most common languages spoken in Australia are Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Italian, Greek, Tagalog/Filipino, Hindi, Spanish and Punjabi.
- More than 70 Indigenous languages are spoken in Australia.
Kind regards, Student Ambassadors & Rachel Pontifex, Student Wellbeing Leader
Reception : Sprout cooking
As part of the Reception’s Unit of Inquiry, 'Who We Are', reception students participated in a healthy cooking class on Monday, 20 March. The cooking class was run by Sprout Cooking School. Sprout cooking instructors teach the children the importance of nutrition, where food comes from, and how fantastic it is for their growing bodies. Children will also learn the importance of safety in the kitchen. The recipes featured a variety of interesting ingredients and techniques to encourage students to get involved and excited in the kitchen.
Reception Teachers
Year 2: Back to School Day
On Thursday, 23 March we had a school day like it was for previous generations!
We are currently exploring the Central Idea ‘Every generation has different childhood experiences that connect to the present.’ The children sat in rows and did work like they did way back then. The day started with an assembly with our Deputy headmistress’ Miss. Rohrig, Miss Scrivener and Miss Pontifex. This culminated with some marching practice!
Children came dressed as a child of any era, from late 1800’s to present day.
The children decided that teachers were much stricter in the past!
Year 2 Teachers
Cake stall
The Community & Fundraising Committee have arranged for a Cake Stall on Thursday, 30 March to raise funds to resurface our courts.
On the day we will ask for families to donate cupcakes, biscuits or muffins to be delivered to the Gym Kitchen early that morning. Please include a small label listing the ingredients, plus your child's name and room number. Please remember we are a Nut Free school.
Students will be able to purchase items ranging from $1.00 - $4.00 each from the stall during allocated class times, plus any remaining items at recess. Please ensure your child brings some gold coins to purchase on the day.
We need parent volunteers to help on the cake stall. If you are able to help, please click link https://signup.com/go/dTbxpqb to register as a volunteer.
LPPS Community & Fundraising Committee
Cake stall: Thursday, 30 March 2023
Sushi day
Linden Park Grocer (our lunch order provider) is having a SUSHI DAY on Tuesday, 28 March.
Orders must be placed on the QKR app - under the Linden Park GROCER customer (normal lunch orders) by Monday, 27 March @ 10.00am.