50 Main Rd GEMBROOK 3783 Ph: 03 5968 1313 Fax: 03 5968 1548 email: gembrook.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

www.gembrookps.vic.edu.au

Gembrook Primary School

Diary Dates Term 3

ESC The Wiz Performance (grade 6)

Melbourne Excursion (MLC)

Notes that have gone home

31 July-3 August Ride, Walk, Scoot to School Week

2- 3 August EMR Principal’s Conference

8 August Produce Market: all donations welcome

13 August PFA 9am

14 August The Wiz performance @ ESC (grade 6) No charge

15 August Basketball Clinic (all grades)

16 August Step into Prep Night

20 August City Excursion: IMAX & Museum—MLC $20 (TBC)

20-24 August Green Week

22 August Building & Grounds 6pm School Council 7pm

27 August EDEC Basketball

27-31 August GemBOOK week

27 August EDEC Basketball (5/6 )

31 August Special Friends Day

31 Aug-4 Sept Life Education Program

1 September Trivia Night

5 September Everyday Hero Fun Run (all grades) Produce Market

13 September EDEC Girl’s Footy (TBC)

15 September Working Bee 9-11am

21 September Last day term 3: 2.30pm dismissal

31 October Run Gembrook

Wednesday 1 August 2012

A view to the future

Produce Market in action

Scholastic Book Club Orders Extended by popular demand Orders MUST be handed in by Thursday 2 August! Don’t miss out!

2012 Term Dates Term 1: 3 February to 30 March

Term 2: 16 April to 29 June

Term 3: 16 July to 21 Sept

Term 4: 8 October to 21 Dec

Produce Market

Wednesday 8 August

Circle of Harmony

3-4pm (set up 2.30pm)

Come & buy fresh produce from the school gardens and local community

Support our Eco-Warriors, especially the organizers for this market:

Natalie, Hollie, Phoebe, James D, Mia H, Sam K, Paris K.

Bring your produce to sell

Enjoy a great community event!

Contact Details If your contact details have changed please inform the school

office. 5968 1313

A VIEW TO THE FUTURE

Kym’s comment

Kym Peterson

Principal

Dear Families & Friends Coach Approach Last week the Coach Approach team were in the school provid-ing sessions for all students. This incursion proved to be very popular. The school was fortunate to have some amazing ath-letes facilitate the sessions with the students.

Thank you to Andrew from Gembrook IGA for the fan-tastic sponsorship of the Free Fruit Friday program. Our students thoroughly enjoyed the strawberries and oranges this week.

Mathletics and Reading Eggs at home and at school Both of these are great computer programs that we use at Gembrook. Each child has their own password for these pro-grams and the programs can be used at home and at school. The program recognises each child by the password and the program adapts to the child’s responses and keeps the learning progressive. These are ideal programs to use for learning at home. Ride, Walk or Scoot to school Well done to everyone who has been taking the opportunity to ride, walk or scoot to school this week. It was great to see that many people took the opportunity yesterday morning in the fine weather to ride to school. Walking School Bus The walking school bus provides opportunities for our students to walk together to school with a team of volunteer parents in

term 1 and term 4 each year. You may have noticed the signs around the township. The Cardinia Shire supports this program. If you are interested in assisting with this please contact the school office. Car Park- Please keep our children safe! Please find attached to this week’s newsletter the school car park brochure. Some parents came and spoke to me concerned about student safety in the car park. For the safety of all chil-dren please ensure that when children are getting in and out of the car that they are doing this in the drop off zone, preferably on the side of the car closest to the footpath. It is also im-portant that children do not walk through the car park. Unfortu-nately the car park is of limited size so is for the use of staff and visitors to the school. Parent survey A survey was sent home last week to some school families. The-se surveys provide valuable information to the school and pro-vide the basis for the future direction of the school. Thank you to the families who have completed the forms and returned them to the school office. Car Raffle tickets Thank you to everyone for supporting this activity. The school has raised nearly $500 which will be used to support the intro-duction of ipads to the school. Ipads Technology is an important and integral part of the learning program at Gembrook. The school has purchased five ipads. These are presently being used by students in the Middle Learn-ing Centre for literacy and numeracy learning activities. The ipads are also being used for a literacy intervention program for some grade 1 students. These are a great addition to the school’s resources. A Picasso Cow Our school will be participating in this project which aims to provide information about the benefits of Australian dairy prod-ucts and the dairy industry through a creative and interactive art project. The school will receive a life size fibre-glass cow to decorate. Thank you to Chris Bourne for offering to pick it up. The cow will remain at the school for us to enjoy! Principal Conference Next week on Thursday, 2 August and Friday, 3 August, Tabitha and I will be in the city at a conference. The conference will have keynote speakers around the themes of educating the whole child, literacy and numeracy and quality teaching. Please leave a message with Shelley if needed. Dale will be in charge of the school in my absence. Thank you Thank you to Kath McLennan for collecting a new BBQ from Bunnings in Pakenham. We are very grateful for this kind dona-tion. Thank you also to Tracy and Damien for kindly donating a great BBQ, This means that we now have two BBQs for all school events and for use at the Gembrook Market. Fantastic!

July

27 Jillian D

29 Jazmine D

HAPPY

BIRTDAY

Family Maths Work as a family to solve the weekly

maths puzzle and you could be re-

warded with a Computer Pass to be

used in your classroom.

Put your entry in the box in the foyer

near the office.

Have fun!

MATHS IS MARVELLOUS!!

Answer to our last puzzle:

(D) 9 bottles of orange juice

Premier’s Reading Challenge

Four weeks to go! Remem-ber to log in and enter your books. Log in details have been given to all students

Name Reason Grade Teacher

Owen For being such a positive and cheerful classmate. We love your sense of humour Owen! :) Prep 1/ S Mrs Smith

Bella Welcome to Gembrook Primary School Bella! You are a great addition to our class. :) Prep 1/G Miss Gardiner

Billy For being a positive classmate Billy! :) 1H Miss Hutcheson

Annabelle For excellent results and showing initiative and independence in her learning. 2/3B Mrs Bigwood

Paige For excellent work finding key words and using them to write a summary. Super literacy skills Paige! 2/3B Mrs Bigwood

Taya For being resilient and showing confidence and respect when talking with others. 3/4A Mrs A

Lainey For winning the master Chef Super Challenge taste test. Well done! 3/4A Mrs A

Leon For consistently trying his best all week. Thank you for a fantastic effort. 3/4E Mrs Liston

Shaun You are doing a fantastic job as Eco Warrior. You always make sure the bins are empty keep up the great work! 5/6W Mrs Wescombe

Robbie For a positive attitude towards all of his learning tasks. Well done Robbie, keep it up! 5/6F Mr Fraser

Jeremy M You are consistently a great listener and work well with others. Keep up the fan-tastic effort Jeremy. ICT Mrs O'Brien

Prep/1 S You are sensational learners. Thank you for your lovely manners and for coming into class so quietly. LOTE Mrs Failla

Friday 10 Aug Ipads and how they can be used for learn-ing with Tabitha

Friday 24 Aug CAFÉ reading with Dale. Find out about what is happening in the classrooms with reading.

Friday 7 Sept Maths – how can I help my child - Jude

Friday 14 Sept Coffee & school walkabout with Kym. Come along with questions and ideas.

Parent Sessions: after assembly

Wed 8 Aug/Thurs 9 Aug 8.30-9.30am

Prep Teachers / Principal will visit the Kinder and talk to parents about starting school. This will be a good opportunity to ask ques-tions and find out some of the things you may be unsure of.

Starting School

Thru 16 Aug 6-7pm

Future Prep students and families are invited to visit the prep classroom to experience reading, writing, craft, construction and maths activities. This is a great opportunity to see our classrooms in action, meet teachers and parents and ask questions in an in-formal setting.

Step into Prep Night

Wed 12 Sept / Wed 19 Sept 9.30-10.45am

During this session children will experience two of the specialist programs we provide at Gembrook Primary School. They will have an Information Communication Technology (ICT) 30 minute lesson with Tabitha O’Brien, our ICT and Teaching and Learning Leader. They will also have a 30 minute art lesson with our art teacher, Lynne Huberts. During the time the children are involved in these activities, we invite you to join us in the staff room for morning tea, with a chance to have an informal chat about our school with our principal, Kym Peterson.

Art & ICT

Wed Oct 10 (Group 1) Wed Oct 11 (Group 2) 11.30-12.30am

During this session the children will participate in a series of activi-ties which are designed to develop motor skills such as balance, coordination, strength, eye tracking and memory. This session will take place in the malty-purpose room and will be taken by one of our prep teachers. Parents are welcome.

Perceptual Motor Program (P.M.P.)

Wed 14 Nov/Wed 15 Nov Prep teachers from Gembrook primary School and the grade 5 future prep buddies will visit the kinder and meet with the chil-dren informally.

Teacher and future prep buddies visit kinder

Wed 28, Thurs 29, Frid 30 Nov 9.15-10.45am

Small groups of children will join the preps on one of the above dates, for a reading and writing session. The children will join in with our current prep children and complete some activities to give them a taste of school life. This is a good opportunity for the kinder children to meet some of our preps and to experience life in the classroom.

Classroom visits

Thurs 6 Dec Our grade 6 buddies for next year will come and visit the children at kinder and join in with an activity during the school year.

Buddy Visits

Tues 11 Dec 9.15-12.30

The children will participate in a range of activities which will help familiarise them with life at school. They will play in the play-ground and walk around the school to familiarise them with their new environment. They will need to bring their lunch and play lunch.

Orientation Day

Tues 11 Dec 6-7pm

Information Night During this meeting we will outline information that will help you and your child prepare for their start at school. We will have a sausage sizzle (5.30-6.30pm) prior to the meeting. Baby sitting will be available during the meeting.

Thurs 13 Dec (NB: date may change due to weather)

School Christmas Concert Families are invited to our school Christmas concert. This is a great opportunity to get to know Gembrook families and teachers and enjoy the Christmas festivities together.

All enquires, please phone the school 5968 1313 Taryn Smith & Perri Gardiner Prep Teachers at Gembrook Primary School

50 /

(2 course restaurant lunch including main & desert)

Beyond Primary for Parents

Is your child starting secondary school next year? Would you like hints and tips on how to

support your child through the transition to secondary school? Then subscribe to the De-partment of Education and Early Childhood

Development’s new weekly Beyond Primary email.

Every Thursday during school term you will

receive an email that will include tips, advice and information on supporting your child to

make the transition from primary to secondary school.

Subscribe to Beyond Primary at:

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/aboutschool/prepare/beyondprimary/

default.htm

Dear OSHC Families

Please note that if your child is to be absent from their Before or After School Care booking, we require you to call or email OSHC Administration. Office in advance of the cancellation (details are below) . When emailing please note your child’s school name, first and last names and details about your cancellation. If you no longer require your permanent booking we would appre-ciate the cancellation provided with 24hours notice given. This will ensure no charge applies from the day of your cancellation, otherwise your booking will be placed as absent and count to-wards each child’s 42 allowable absences per financial year. If you have any further queries please don’t hesitate to call 1300 787 624 or email OSHC@cardinia.vic.gov.au. OSHC administration hours are 8:30am to 5pm Kind Regards, OSHC Management

Education Maintenance Allowance Instalment Two 2012 The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is provid-ed to assist eligible families with the costs associated with the education of their children. Parent and guardians may be eligible for the EMA if they have a valid Centrelink Health Care Card or Pen-sioner Concession Card. The second instalment if the EMA payment is due to be paid into bank accounts from mid August for families who elect to receive the payment directly into their bank account. Cheque payments will be made in late August to early September. If parents have made changes to their bank account details please let the office know as soon as possible. Parents who lodged an EMA application at the begin-ning of the year do not need to lodge another form to receive the second payment. Parents whose children have transferred to Gembrook Primary School since February 28th or those that have become eligible since February will need to complete an application form by August 3rd 2012.

Thank you Shelley McLaren Business Manager

Cockatoo Little Athletics Invites you to our annual

Cross Country Hills Challenge

Saturday 11th August 2012 Mountain Road Cockatoo

9.15am walk course, 10.00am 1st event Cost $5 per person, all age groups welcome, including par-

ents, family event. Canteen open along with BBQ

Great day out for the family, have fun watching the kids run or why not join in yourself.

Entries via Wendy Neagle 0413 512 123 wen-dy.trk@bigpond.com

or Lisa Jordan-Hill 0408 338 724

Further enquiries:

Natasha

0412183329 Send a text if too late to phone.