Dear families,

WA Day

Thank you to everyone who came to school dressed up for WA Day.  It was wonderful to see our State represented through a range of sporting uniforms, splashes of gold and black, and pioneer costumes. 

Congratulations to the following children who won the colouring in competition: 

• Keira - Room 13
• Benny - Room 8
• Evelyn - Room 32
• Bailey - Room 27

Thank you to Mrs Stacey Young who organised the day’s activities, and to the staff for supporting WA Day through the learning program in class.

DETECT COVID-19 in Schools Study

As you will be aware, Joondalup Primary School has been randomly selected to be part of the Government’s DETECT COVID-19 in Schools Study.  The study is run by the Telethon Kids Institute and its purpose is to collect information about the possible spread of COVID-19 in schools, and how the community is managing in this difficult time.  A total of 150 consenting JPS staff and students will be selected from the total number of people who would like to be part of the study. Not everyone will be selected. There will also be an online survey for selected staff, parents, and students.  If you did not respond to the email or letter sent last week and/or have not returned your paper copy to opt in or out of the study, you may be contacted by the school on Tuesday to follow up. The Education Support Centre families are not included in the study.

School guest

Today Ms Jo Harris, Assistant Regional Executive Director, visited the school.  Ms Harris is one of the directors for the North Metropolitan Education Region, of which Joondalup Schools is part.  She took the opportunity to tour the grounds and talk about the future direction of the school and Education Support Centre. 

COVID-19 update

As you are aware Government announced a further easing of COVID-19 restrictions for the community.

From next Monday the school hours will revert back to the 8.50am start and 3.00pm finish for all children. The gate system will remain in place and children can be dropped off and picked up from their designated gates at those times. Children with siblings will remain going to the younger siblings gates. The school gates will continue to be surpervised by staff to ensure safety of the children. To comply with distancing, parents must not enter classes.

Arrivals after 8.50am will need to come through the front gate and speak to office staff and will be marked on the roll as late.  Children should not come to school before 8.30am as staff are not available for supervision.

If your children need to be picked up from school for an appointment, please sign them out at the office. We will call the classroom and have the children come to you at the front gate.  

We have learnt:

1. Children show greater independence because parents are not here to do everything for them. The staff have been very impressed with children’s ability to get themselves ready for the school day.  The children are also very proud of themselves for being independent.
2. There has been a significant reduction in the number of children who outwardly show any form of separation anxiety. Children know that they need to be brave, their teacher is waiting for them at the classroom, and once their day is started, it will be o.k.
3. Whilst our traffic issues have not been 100 percent resolved, families leaving the area straight after school has reduced the congestion.
4. Student behaviour issues that continue because of what happens after school are now zero.
5. Teachers are able to more effectively use before school time to listen to reading and follow up any learning and behaviour matters from the previous day. Teachers love having this time with your children!

There are no assemblies or whole school events until we can invite parents and friends to be part of the audience.  The school will have ‘housekeeping assemblies’ for smaller groups of children. 

Play and Learn, Breakfast Club and Running Club will resume in Term 3.

Parent-teacher interviews can be arranged with an appointment. We need to continue to monitor how many adults are on site and maintain a 1.5 square metre distance between adults.

School Uniform

As the mornings become colder everyone is in desperate need of a jumper, jacket or long pants to wear to school. We encourage everyone to find their Joondalup Primary School jacket and/or track suit pants and not the nearest one available or their favourite weekend one. Don’t forget every Friday is Faction shirt day. It has been great to see most students remembering to wear theirs. It is also a very good idea to label hats and jackets so they can be returned to their owner, if misplaced.

Gifted and Talented Selective Entrance Test

Congratulations to Foram who has successfully ranked for the option to attend a Gifted and Talented program for Year 7 in 2021 at a public school.  It is a wonderful achievement in a highly competitive area for schools.

P&C Association News

The P&C Association have generously donated $3000 to the school to subsidise the cost of the Year 6 Camp.  This amount is far beyond what the school requested and it makes a huge difference to the final payment for our families.  It is greatly appreciated.

The next meeting for the P&C Association is on Wednesday 10thJune 2020 at 7.00pm in the library.  Please come along!

School Photos

School Photos will be taken by Kapture in Term 4 on Tuesday 10th and  Thursday 12th November 2020.  Traditionally photos are taken in Term 2 but COVID-19 has meant that many things have been rescheduled for later in the year. 

School Board nomination

There is still one vacancy on the School Board for a parent representative.  If you have children enrolled at the primary school and would like to be involved, please call the school on 92335800 or email me at carol.selley@education.wa.edu.au.  I am very happy to talk to you about what you need to do as a Board member.  It is not difficult and the only requirement is that you have an interest in the school and its activities and direction.

New transportable classrooms

This week two new transportable classrooms have been positioned on the school grounds – one by H Block and the other near the Kindy playground.  Both of these transportables will be used by the Education Support Centre.  Whilst the work is done, the play area has been restricted to ensure children’s safety.

Maths whiz with parabolic curves

This week Danny showed me some amazing work using parabolic curves.  We talked about the need to be careful when measuring the distances, being meticulous with drawing the lines and what it would be like if the original shape was different.  Well done Danny!

Head lice

They are out there!  We have had a recent spate of head lice dramas particularly in the junior primary years.  Please make sure that you check your children’s hair regularly looking for lice and eggs.  You can purchase treatments from the pharmacy.