1

‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

Principal -Kevin Warne

Assistant Principal – Allyson Dixon

School Council President – Matthew Postill

Telephone - (03) 57931288

Fax - (03) 57931412 Web - www.puckapunyalps.vic.edu.au

Email - puckapunyal.ps@edumail.vic.gov. au

Alamein Road

Puckapunyal, Vic, 3662

Postal: Military P.O.

ABN: - 74134967962

Term 1 Issue 9

April 2nd

, 2014

Friday 4th April

Last Day of Term 1

1:10pm Assembly

1:30pm Dismissal

Tuesday

22nd April

First Day

of Term 2

Friday

25th April

ANZAC Day

Public Holiday

Dawn Service (Choir to Sing)

Website Address -

http//www.puckapunyalps.vic.edu.au/

Inside this Issue: DSTA Message/Birthdays 2

ANZAC Day Commemorations 2

Positive Behaviour Awards 2

Handy Reading Hints 2

1/2 R Diary Writing 3

Assembly Reading 3

Student Awards of the Week 4

SRC Minutes/Adopt a Granny Day 4

Teaching/Learning Focus Week 10 5

Zumba at PPS 6

Community Events 7-8

***Sunday Nights - a

great night to check for

Head Lice. ***

Crazy Hair Day

On Friday the 4th

of April (last day of Term 1) the SRC will be running

a Crazy Hair Day to help raise money for people with blood cancer.

The SRC encourages everyone to be creative and come to school with a

crazy hairstyle. There will be prizes awarded for the craziest hair on the

day. A morning parade at 9am will take place at the front of the school.

All families are welcome. Ms. Lewis is also going to shave her head to

raise money!

It will be an out of uniform day and gold coin donations will go towards

the Leukaemia Foundation World’s Greatest Shave. ***Have you heard your child read

today? We encourage all students to

practise their reading at home about 5

nights per week. Therefore, by now,

most students should have read at

least between 40-45 nights. Well

done if you have kept up!

Friday 4th April is the last day of the term. All students will be dismissed from

school at 1:30 p.m. The students will only require a morning play lunch as they

can have their lunch once they are home that day. We will finish off the term with

a 1:10 p.m. assembly which all parents are invited to attend. We have some

awards to hand out, some presentations and some performances for assembly.

Please come along.

It will be an Out of Uniform Day on this day as it is always on the last day of

term.

There will not be any afternoon school buses available for our children on the

last day of term. Good luck to all students and their families during the term

break!

* The first day of Term 2 for students will be Monday 15th April, 2013.*

We wish all of our families a safe, enjoyable and

restful break and we look forward to seeing everyone

return to school on Tuesday 22nd

of April for the start

of Term 2. Happy Easter!

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

Easter Raffle fundraiser – Thanks so much to

everyone for your support. Our school community is

awesome!! Just a reminder that all tickets and money

are due in tomorrow to be drawn at Friday’s assembly.

Mothers’ Day stall – Any suitable gifts for this are also

appreciated. Thank you for gifts already received.

Mobile ‘phone recycling – We receive money for

‘phones that you no longer use, so please keep bringing

them in. Thanks!

Happy holidays everyone! Enjoy a well-earned break.

Sue Ranger, Defence School Transition Aide.

POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR

REWARD UPDATE We have a winner!! Congratulations Melba

house and well done to the other houses that

weren’t far behind. Melba house students and

other students with high positive behaviour

points enjoyed some Easter activities today,

including an Easter egg hunt!

CURRENT SCORES Melba- 236 points

Hume- 225points

Bradman- 224 points

Chisholm- 213 points

Happy Birthday to Izabella Meiselbach,

Jesse Carter, Kade Altas, Liam Irwin, Mark

Porter, Elizabeth Gardner, Alex Potts,

Marisa Zantey, Lachlan Taylor, Renae

Pennycook, Eric Sharp, Ethan Sharp,

Jordan Haywood, Erol Yildiz, Jake Tanis and

Somaiya Harriden who are all having their birthdays

this week or over the school holidays. On behalf of the

Puckapunyal Primary School Community, we wish them

all a very Happy Birthday!

Anzac Day is on Friday the 25th of April (first

week of Term 2). It is a public holiday and the school

will be closed. We hope that all families enjoy the

day. On Thursday 24th April, at a special 9am

morning assembly, we will have a short

commemoration to pay respect to the ANZACs. We

encourage students to bring wreaths to school and any

child in cubs, scouts, guides, etc, can wear their

uniforms for the commemoration. All parents are

welcome to attend our commemoration. It will be

held in the school amphitheatre or the PC Centre

(depending on the weather). As in previous years, our

school choir will be attending the dawn service at

Memorial Park on ANZAC Day. We will be

performing 2 songs at 5:45 a.m. We would encourage

all school community members to attend the service.

At both ANZAC commemorations, our school

captains will be laying wreaths on behalf of the

school.

Ms O’Connor has begun choir rehearsals for the

Dawn Service.

The Years 2-6 students in the choir have been

practising during some lunch eating times.

We still require some more helpers to volunteer for Friday

Canteen lunches. If you can spare the odd few hours on

a Friday to help in the School Canteen, please let the school

office know. Thanks!

*When hearing your child read make sure he/she holds the book and turns the pages!!

They are the reader and need to have control of the text.

*Read regularly with your children and make it fun. All children learn to read at different rates

and at different standards. When they are learning to read, giving them as much practice as

possible is important. Let your children see you reading books, magazines and newspapers as

well. This will model reading as a normal and important part of life.

Mrs Challis, Literacy Leader

Keep practising to read! Enjoy your children!

Our school staff has just completed their annual CPR

update as part of our first aid and safety training. The school

has also purchased a DEFIBRILLATOR. An automated

external defibrillator (AED) is a portable device that checks

the heart rhythm of people. If needed, it can send an electric

shock to the heart to try to restore a normal rhythm. AEDs

can be used to treat sudden cardiac arrest. While we hope that

we never need to use it, we are glad that we have it. The

school with the help of our school community has raised the

funds to purchase the AED. We also thank the Seymour

Lion’s Club who also donated $500 to the purchase.

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

‘On the weekend, I stayed home. I had lollies, Jett had fun.

I had fun too. Mum did too.’ Tallen Miller

‘I had a wonderful weekend. I went to the park. I watched

a horse show.’ Chantelle Benson

‘I had a great weekend.yesterday. I went to a christening. I

saw Maddy and Zac. Then I went to a cafe and then I got

some ice-cream!’ James Thwaites

‘On the weekend we went to watch dad play football. We

played with Alexis at her home.’ Chloe Hogan

‘On the weekend it was my mum’s birthday. She was 37.’

Zahra Kelly

‘I had a good weekend. Last week I went to the skate park.

I had a lot of fun. On Sunday I went to the horse races. I

had fun.’ Jackson Spinaze

‘On the weekend I saw my baby cousin called Rocko and

my Aunty. After that we had fish and chips. It was the best

time in my life.’ William Andersen

‘On Sunday I went to my dad’s friend’s house. I watched

my sister play minecraft with my brother’s friend. That

was Eric. Finally I had to go home.’ Hayden Freeman

‘On the weekend I stayed at my home. I had popcorn and I

watched a movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.’

Aaron Bennett.

Did you hear Tessa

Thompson read at

assembly this week? We

did! She did a wonderful

job reading her story,

‘Picasso, the Green Tree

Frog’. By the way, the Frog

lived happily ever after.

Come along and see who

reads next term. P

uckapunyal/Tallarook Junior Football

‘On the weekend my family helped me clean up my house.

My home looks like a normal house.’ Matthew Munn

‘On the weekend I went to my Nan’s house for a

sleepover. While Tim and I were there we played mine

craft.’ Alex Potts

‘On the weekend I went to nan’s and pop’s house. Me and

my cousin made blings.’ Shaneequah Bridges

‘On the weekend I had a swim in our pool and mum found

a dead frog. It was funny because it had its mouth open.

When we hopped out we had an ice-cream. It was

raspberry and vanilla and it was fun.’ Tessa Thompson

‘On the weekend I got a new texta packet for my

minecraft and it had animals.’ Jesse Carter

‘On the weekend I had some peace and quiet because

normally my sister is noisy. Natalie and I did a colouring

of an Easter egg and started a fairy home. On Friday I

went to Adam’s Pool Party. Lake, Blake, Cooper, Max,

Harry, Emma and Sara went.’ Pippy Mallett

‘On Friday I went to Ballarat Lodge and stayed 2 nights.

The next night our fire alarm went off. At the start no-one

knew why it went off. Dad rang the hotel owner. They

said it is playing up because it was pouring with rain. But

they called 000 for the firemen. They came in the blink of

an eye.’ Emily Watson

Aaron Bennett thought that his class

did well with their diary writing!

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

Defence School Transition Aide Message Back at school: I trust that everyone has had a smooth

and satisfactory beginning to the school year. Changing

schools, beginning school for the first time and even

returning for another school year can be daunting for

students and parents. It is great to see parents eager to

support their children at this time and be an integral part

of their education. If you have any concerns, or just feel

like a chat about school and your child, please find me!

SWAPP Select Program

I have information about the ADF partners career

assistance program if anyone is interested.

NEW UNIFORM

We have recently had a new shipment of uniform arrive

that includes shorts, tops, tracksuit pants and hats. Some

parents have been waiting on this to arrive.

Best wishes for the week.

Sue Ranger, Defence School Transition Aide

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Congratulations to the following students who

were ‘Students of the Week’ for last week.

Winners – Landon Scott, Lake Robertson, James

Thwaites, Will Hastie, Ashby Murphy, Nikolas

Van Jaarsveldt, Dominic Plessey and Eden Free.

These students were selected because they were

modelling ‘Confidence’. This week teachers are

looking for students who are modelling

‘Enthusiasm.’

Congratulations to the following students

who were ‘Authors of the Week’ for last

week. Winners – Koby Leak, Declan Reyne,

Tessa Thompson, Henry Billen, Renae

Pennycook, Lochlan Worden, Skye Saunders

and Mitchell Carrick. These students were

selected because they showed great skills as an

author.

3/4 B in Room 13 won

the Yard Duty

Competition Trophy. Somaiya Harriden and

Rhys Billen are both very

happy to show off the

winning trophy for their

classroom this week!

Defence School Transition Aide Message Back at school: I trust that everyone has had a smooth and

satisfactory beginning to the school year. Changing schools,

beginning school for the first time and even returning for

another school year can be daunting for students and parents.

It is great to see parents eager to support their children at this

time and be an integral part of their education. If you have any

concerns, or just feel like a chat about school and your child,

please find me!

SWAPP Select Program

I have information about the ADF partners career assistance

program if anyone is interested.

NEW UNIFORM

We have recently had a new shipment of uniform arrive that

includes shorts, tops, tracksuit pants and hats. Some parents

have been waiting on this to arrive.

Best wishes for the week.

Sue Ranger, Defence School Transition Aide

5/6 P in Room 1B won

the Senior School

Times Tables Trophy. Daniel Allen and Mackai

Harriden were both very

delighted to showcase the

winning trophy this week!

3/4 A in Room 11 won

the Middle School

Times Tables Trophy. Naomi Pennycook and

Saskia Truter are very

happy to look after the

winning trophy for their

classroom!

Congratulations to

Isabela Eastman and

Shaneequah Bridges who each received

‘Recycling Cans’

Awards this week.

Every little bit counts!

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

Each week in the newsletter, we will give families a summary of the Teaching/Learning Focus for the week.

That can help families by: being aware of what classrooms are covering; with discussion topics at the dinner table when

discussing school (eg. ‘How are you going with addition in Numeracy this week?’); helping their children study at home,

etc. Parents have indicated that this information would be very useful. We also ask families to be aware that schools are

very busy places and events can be unpredictable at times. We therefore must remain flexible. That means, we can plan to

cover certain topics at particular times and have to change them according to arising needs.

Junior School – Preps/Foundation Rooms 3 & 6 Literacy: We will continue to develop early writing skills with a focus on pencil grip, capital letters and full stops. We

will be focusing on the letter ‘Qq’ and the sound it makes.

Numeracy: We will practise counting to 20 by 1s. We are still exploring 2D and 3D shapes.

Junior School – Year 1s Rooms 3, 8 & 9 Literacy: We will be revising basic writing skills including correct pencil grip, correct letter formation and the

construction of sentences. Letter focus is the letter ‘Qq’. We are focusing on capital letters, full stops and questions.

Numeracy: We will practise our addition and subtraction work. We continue our work also on fluency tasks. We have

been exploring 2D and 3D shapes.

Junior School – Year 2s Rooms 8, 9 & 10 Literacy: We will continue to revise our writing skills including correct pencil grip, correct letter formation, use of dotted

thirds and the construction of sentences. We have also been continuing to focus on questions and nouns.

Numeracy: We will continue to practise addition and subtraction as well as counting patterns forwards and backwards by

1s, forwards by 2s, 5s and 10s. We continue our work also on fluency tasks and exploring 2D and 3D shapes.

Middle School - Years 3/4 Rooms 10, 11 & 13 Literacy: During writing sessions we will work on persuasive texts. We will also revise all topics covered in Term 1.

Numeracy: We will continue to revise the four processes, place value, fractions, tables and skip counting.

Senior School - Years 5/6 Rooms 1A&1B Literacy: During writing sessions we will focus on persuasive texts. We will also revise all topics covered in Term 1.

In reading we will continue to focus on fluency and expression while also identifying key words and phrases during

note taking.

Numeracy: We will continue work on place value (including decimals), processes and estimation. Another focus will

be work relating to Cartesian planes. Tables facts will be practised throughout the week.

On Thursday 24th April our Years 1/2 students

will be involved in the ‘Adopt a Granny’

Day program. For many years Di Grant has

been visiting our school bringing some

grandparents from the Country Women’s

Association (and their friends). The idea has

been to run some fun activities involving a

particular year level of Pucka kids. This is

because most of their grandparents do not live

nearby. It has been a fun tradition and it’s the

Years 1/2 kids’ turn this year! From 9am until

lunchtime the visitors will be involved with our

students. Any of our grandparents who would

like to attend the day can also come and join in

with the Years 1/2 kids.

Thanks, Di!

Minutes 1/4/2014

Present: Bryce, Saskia, Cherie, Hamish, Jossy, Abby, Taylah,

Mitchell, Jordan, Giselle, Holly, Dom, Tessa, Shontay

Absent: Ethan, Sofia

Term 2 Lunchtime Activities Timetable

23rd

April-Phoenix and Giselle- Skipping

30th April- Taylah and Matilda- Chalk Drawing

7th May- Mitchell and Sofia- TBA

14th May- Hamish and Jossy- Bubble Blowing

21st May- Saskia and Bryce- Soccer

28th May- Cherie and Ethan-Skipping

4th June- Holly and Dom- Chalk drawing

11th June- Jordyn and Abby- Bubbles??

18th June- Shontay and Tessa- Skipping

25th June- Giselle and Phoenix

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

Zumba AT PPS Students in F O’C, F/1 O’M, 1/2R, 1/2 I and 2/3B were very lucky this week as Mrs Fry came in and gave us all a Zumba lesson. We did some great stretches, learnt some new dance moves and then finished our session with some lovely cool down actions.

It was lovely to see all of the smiling faces at the end of the sessions. Thank you Mrs Fry!

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

Tallarook Playgroup's wonderful holiday show is on again

this Easter holidays and as always, is sure to be a wonderful holiday activity, aimed at toddlers to grade six. This holiday show is by the Pinnacle Puppet Theatre and is titled The Three Little Pigs - with a twist. Tickets are $10 for children over one year old - Adults are free. There will be activities and fairy bread provided for the little ones and slices, tea and coffee will be available to purchase also. Please contact Clare on 0409142110 if you have any questions.

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‘Striving for Excellence’

Open since 1887

Cyber safety information session

DCO Puckapunyal

Come along to a free cyber safety information session, presented by Nola Marino MP.

Ms Marino is a Member of the Federal Parliamentary Committee on Cyber Safety and will be presenting fresh from a three day conference on the subject.

Topics to be discussed include:

Your mobile phone and its security weaknesses

Your digital footprint and privacy

How to protect yourself and your family from cyber crimes

Social media hazards

How to spot scams

When: Wednesday 9 April from 6.30 pm to 8 pm

Where: The Pitman-Coffey Centre, Puckapunyal Primary School

RSVP: by Thursday 3 April to lisa.mchattie@defence.gov.au or call 5735 7731