MOORAK PRIMARY AND PRESCHOOL

Phone (08) 8726 6261 Fax :(08) 8726 6225

Email: dl.0279.info@schools.sa.edu.au P.O. Box 961, Mount Gambier. SA 5290

Student Representative Council (SRC)

Congratulations to our 2021 student representatives.

Rec class: Hayne and Isabelle

1/2 class: Stella and Kobe

1/2 class: Alyssa and Zaid

3/4/5 class: Levi and Will

5/6/7 class: Tyson, Sarina, Ben, Charlotte, Abbey, Josh. Makayla and Ethan

We look forward to seeing what positive changes and fundraising activities our representatives will

organise in what we hope is a more normal year. Congratulations and well done once again.

Sports Day Captains

During the past 2 weeks the Year 6/7 students have been very busy planning and writing

applications for the 2021 Sports Captain positions. They are to be congratulated for putting their

hands up to lead their team. The teachers were very impressed with their written applications and

confidence in speaking to their teams, their thoughtful responses and then going through the

voting process. It was a daunting task for them but they should be very proud of themselves.

Congratulations and good luck to all the sports captains. We wish them well with their training and

hope that they get the best from their respective teams.

Wattle

Captains: Abbey and Paige

Pine

Captains: Charlotte and Tom

Bluegum

Captains: Makayla and Georgia

Banskia

Captains: Bradlei and Josh

Health and Safety

In 2017 there was a health and safety concern raised by the Department. This stated that cords,

drawstrings and toggles in hats and children’s clothing may become entrapped in small gaps

found in play equipment causing strangulation, severe injury, lacerations to the throat and

damage to the vocal cords. As a result of this, a directive was sent to all schools stating the

following.

All Sites should:

inspect school hats worn by students and remove any cords.

ensure that all stock of hats and clothing in their uniform supplies have all cords, including

draw strings on hooded tops removed.

prohibit the wearing of any uniform or other hats that do not meet the above safety

recommendations.

This directive is still in place and this reminder is mainly for our new families who may be wondering

why none of our hats or hoodies have drawstrings on them.

If you send your child to school with a clothing item that does have a drawstring then we are

under a health and safety obligation to prohibit the student from wearing the item at school.

NEWSLETTER

Principal: Peter Mitchinson 0416 650 178

Preschool: L Baudinette Reception: J Doll 1/2: M Wilson 1/2: S Hocking

3/4/5: K Hammond 6/7: L Altorfer & A Otta NIT: P Paltridge

SSOs: C Wallace, J Reid, V Gabriel, K Ellis, A Hein Finance: K Wright J Taylor

ECW: T Ashcroft ICT: S Grosvenor Governing Council Chairperson: Travis Turner

Date: 26 / 02 / 2021 Issue: 3

DATES TO

REMEMBER

Friday 5th March

Hot Lunch Day

___________

Monday 8th

March

Public Holiday

___________

Wednesday 17th

March

Assembly 2:30pm

___________

Tuesday 23rd

March

SAPSASA Athletics

___________

Thursday 25th

March

NAPLAN Online

Practice Test

___________

Tuesday 30th

March

Sports Day

(Please note date

change)

___________

2nd - 5th April

Easter

Date: 26 / 02 / 2021 Issue: 3

Attendance

The Department for Education says; ‘Regular attendance and participation in schooling is an important factor in

educational life and success. Students who are regular non-attenders are at risk of alienation from education

that can lead to decreased options for future pathways.’

It is a requirement that the school is contacted if your child is absent. This can be a phone call, a

note written in the diary or a chat with your child’s teacher. If an explanation is not given within a

reasonable time, generally 2 days you will be contacted by your child’s teacher. Please notify the

school if you are taking your child out of school for a prolonged period of time during the school term.

Loose Parts Play

Loose parts play is based on using everyday materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined

up, and taken apart and put back together in multiple ways. They are materials with no specific set of directions

that can be used alone or combined with other materials. Loose parts can be natural or synthetic. These

materials could include items such as stones, stumps, sand, gravel, fabric, twigs, wood, pallets, plastic pipes,

balls, buckets, baskets, crates, boxes, logs, rope, tyres, shells and seedpods.

Moorak Primary School is looking to replenish our loose parts play materials over the next few weeks and we

need your help. Please find time to have a look in your sheds for any items that may be of use and bring them

into school. The link below will give you an insight into how this influences the play that takes place in the yard

along with some ideas of the type of things we are looking for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqi1KyJJeKg

School Uniforms Hi everyone. We have decided to handover the purchasing of school uniforms to Hip Pocket in James Street,

Mount Gambier. This will mean that you will need to deal direct with them.

They will keep a supply of all sizes in their store however there may be times when stock will need to be ordered.

If so this could take up to two weeks.

At present we have a good supply of uniforms on site which are slightly cheaper than Hip Pocket prices as shown

below. Once our current stock is sold, we won’t be holding any uniforms on site.

New Pricing from Hip Pocket

Kids Navy/Sky Contrast Polo - $22.15ea Including Logo

Adults Navy/Sky Contrast Polo - $25.45ea Including Logo

Navy Surf Hat - $14.85ea Including Logo

Kids Navy/Sky Pullover Contrast Hoodie - $38.35ea Including Logo

Adults Navy/Sky Pullover Contrast Hoodie - $40.90ea Including Logo

PARENT CLUB NEWS

Hot Lunch Day

Yay! We can finally offer the children a hot lunch day again, it has been a while.

Our next hot lunch day will be held on Friday, March 5th and we will be offering Hot Dogs.

Please fill in the order form attached and return to the

front office by Wednesday 3rd March.

Voucher Books

If you would like to purchase a voucher book at the

reduced price of just $10, there are still a few available

from the front office. All money raised from the sale of the

books goes directly back into our school.

PARENT CLUB NEWS

Date: 26 / 02 / 2021 Issue: 3

Year 1/2 with Miss Hocking

Literacy

The past few weeks we have explored some new diagraphs like sh, ll, ss

and ay. We have learnt and revised syllables, vowels and letters. We

have had lots of fun making our words and sounds out of playdough,

sensory rice and magnetic letters. This is allowing us to learn hands on to

consolidate our learning from our whiteboards during on the mat time.

Numeracy

In Maths we have been exploring a range of strategies to help us solve

problems and number facts. We have looked at subitising, counting on

and doubles. We have played lots of games using cards and dice. We

have even played Uno to help us recognise numbers. Below are some

photos of us doing a count on activity.

Date: 26 / 02 / 2021 Issue: 3

Miss Wilson’s Year 1 /2s

Science Investigations!

In Science, we have been learning about Living and

Non-living.

Did you know scientists have come up with 4 rules that

helps us work out if it is living or non-living.

1. Living things need energy (food and water)

2. Living things grow and change

3. Living things need to reproduce

4. Living things respond to the world around them

Miss Wilson had sunflowers which were ready to

reproduce seeds! She brought them in and we got to

investigate them.

Then we used tweezers to pick out the sunflowers

seeds. We took them home to dry out and ready to

plant after Winter and the cold frosts.