29th August 2014

DANDENONG NORTH

PRIMARY SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Calendar of Event

School Website:

www.dandenongnorthps.vic.edu.au

School Pledge

I will do all that I can to

make sure that Dandenong

North Primary School

remains a great school.

I will try my hardest to fol-

low the 4Cs to keep our

school a safe and happy

place.

I promise to treat others as I

would like to be treated.

News From the North

September 2014

3rd— Fathers Day Stall

5th— District Athletics - Grades 5 & 6

7th— FATHERS DAY

9th - MCG Excursion—Grades 5 & 6

10th—Pizza Lunch

11th & 12th— NO SCHOOL

STUDENT FREE DAYS

19th— End of Term 3

October 2014

6th—Term 4 begins

Peer Activity Leaders

Over the last few terms a select

group of Grade 6 students have

taken part in the Opt into PAL

(Peer Activity Leadership) train-

ing. This program is aimed to pro-

mote physical activity, school con-

nectedness and social competency

in younger school participants and

leadership skills and responsibility

in the trained Grade 6 students. A

key aspect of the program is in-

creasing participation among those

who may be isolated at school or

not normally involved in physical

activity.

The PAL leaders wear an official

PAL Leader badge and have a flo-

rescent vest so as they are easy to

be identified. Any student within

the school is able to participate in the

variety of activities run by the PAL

leaders from Monday –Thursday at

recess time.

Mrs Karene Blachford

Peer Activity Leaders Tuesday 26th saw students mak-

ing their way to school in their

Pyjamas in a fundraising effort

organised by the SRC.

Students were encouraged to

come to school in their pyjamas

and to give a gold coin that will

be donate to the Dandenong Hos-

pital.

The Preps ran a special Teddy

Bears Hospital on this day, where

students were able make x-rays

out of cotton buds, plaster fingers

and practice bandaging them-

selves.

Many other grades had special

breakfasts to make this day a cel-

ebration. Some students were

lucky enough to be awarded a

prize for best pyjamas, slippers or

bedtime toy.

The SRC wish to thank everyone

who participated and who donated

on this day. This successful event

raised over $550.00 for the Dan-

denong Hospital.

Page 2 News From the North

Eyes, Ears, Heart & Mind Awards Monday’s Assembly was

highlighted by the award-

ing of three Eyes, Ears,

Heart and Mind awards.

The first was to Miss

Pomponio who was genu-

inely surprised and im-

pressed by the courage of her students:

Eyes: Miss Pomponio has eyes like a wise owl. Every

day in class, Miss Pomponio watches everyone with

her own two eyes.

Ears: Miss Pomponio has ears like a koala; she can

hear from miles away. She has the best ears out of our

whole classroom.

Heart: Miss Pomponio has a heart full of care, gold

and the 4 Cs. She has the heart of teaching because she

wants to keep the children learning new things every

day and every minute.

Mind: Miss Pomponio has a creative mind. She thinks

about fun and hard stuff for us. Miss Pomponio is al-

ways creating fun and good stuff for us to do. She has

the mind of a scientist because she is always testing

out peoples’ minds.

Next was an award for our

fantastic P.E. teacher Mr

Malone - a crowd favourite

- who stated that if he is get-

ting this award he must be

getting soft!

Eyes: Mr Malone’s excel-

lent roving eyes can instantly notice when someone is

not trying their hardest. It’s like he has eyes in the

back of his head!

Ears: Mr Malone’s excellent ears can hear a student

chatting during the 15 minute run, even from the other

end of the school!

Heart: Mr Malone is very comical although his gold-

en, old heart is still pumping with enthusiasm and ex-

citement. On the outside he looks as hard as a rock,

but really he is a caring and thoughtful person.

Mind: Mr Malone encourages us really strongly by

pushing us forward in our fitness activities and saying

“garbage!” He makes us fitter and healthier by making

us run really fast. He always thinks up brilliant activi-

ties for us to do, which lets us practice and learn dif-

ferent sports and activities.

It was great to see one of our superstar students

receive an award and Mrs Hilton was proud to

present this award to Tiffany (5H).

Eyes: Tiffany is a willing assistant around the

school. She is always looking to see if there is

something that she can do to assist others. Her

selfless acts make her a popular team player in

the classroom. Tiffany always watches to see if

there are people in trouble in the playground

and willingly helps them to find what it is they

are looking for or she takes them to seek further

help.

Ears: Tiffany is always interested in what her

peers and teachers have to say. She listens with-

out making a comment and then she wisely pro-

vides pieces of advice. Tiffany can listen to

what people are saying and she has an ability to

understand exactly what people are feeling—

simply by listening to their tale and showing

empathy towards everybody.

Heart: Tiffany looks out for everybody because

she cares. She makes an effort to speak with

new children to make them feel comfortable at

school quickly. Her beautiful smile instantly

puts people at ease and makes them want to be

around her all of the time. Her happy personali-

ty and kind heart are loved by all who are privi-

leged to be around her.

Mind: Tiffany works hard to keep her mind as

sharp as a tack! She always completes her work

and is one of the first to answer the questions

asked in class. She has shown a huge improve-

ment in the quality and quantity of work com-

pleted this year and she should be very proud of

her achievements.

I can not praise Tif-

fany more. She de-

serves this award

because of her hard

work, dedication,

her all round “can

do” attitude and of

course that beauti-

ful personality that

makes her a joy to

be around.

Page 3 News From the North

Book Fair 2014

Afghani Mother’s Group

Connect to Reading

We will be celebrating Book Week by having a

Book Fair in the Library, starting on Thursday 28th

August at lunchtime. There will be plenty of fun

activities and prizes to be won by all. All purchas-

es will benefit our school, so come and join us and

look at all the fantastic range of books that are

available to buy.

Thurs. 28th Aug. Morning—Books arrive

11.00am

Lunch 1.15—2.15 After School 3.15—3.45

Friday 29th Aug. Morning 8.30—9.00 Lunch 1.15—2.15 After School 3.15—3.45

Mon. 1st Sept. Morning 8.30—10.00 Lunch 1.15—2.15 After School 3.15—3.45

Tues. 2nd Sept. Morning 8.30—9.00 Lunch 1.15—2.15 After School 3.15—3.45

Wed. 3rd Sept. Morning 8.30—9.00 Lunch 1.15—2.15 After School 3.15—3.45

Thurs. 4th Sept. Morning 8.30—

9.00(Finishes)

Times:

Dates Topics Speaker

2nd September 3 year & 4 year old kinder Barbara Paice Kindergarten &

Community Child Care

Support – Dandenong Council

9th September Parenting in Australia Issues

Parenting Styles

Jaweria Kalid AMWCHR

16th September Parenting in Australia

Intergenerational Conflict Sibling Fights

Jaweria Kalid

AMWCHR

Each Tuesday Morning between 9am-11.30am,

Afghani Mothers get together in the Multi-

Purpose Room, to participate in a Parenting

Program.

This term we have had over fifteen mothers at-

tend this program discussing parenting issues

and other matters that are important to this

group such as tenant rights and responsibilities.

This group which is organised by Alia Hussain is a

good opportunity for mothers to get together and to

socialise with other parents of a similar background

and language.

There are refreshments provided as well as an inter-

preter and childcare. Details of the upcoming group

sessions are tabled below, so please come and join in.

Page 4

Maths Games Day 2014 On Tuesday 26th we sent 13 children to partici-

pate in the Greater Dandenong Maths Day.

There were 22 schools from the Greater Dan-

denong Area involved with more than 200 chil-

dren. It was the biggest Maths Games Day ever

held in Victoria!

Our students competed in teams of four and one

of our student was called upon to participate in

another school’s team as they were short on num-

bers!

The types of activities they competed in were

problem solving, mental maths, tangrams and

strategy games. Gokul (6P) won a $10 voucher

for coming second in the Mental Maths competi-

tion and Callum

(5/6V) also won a

voucher for beating

all 200 children and

answering a ques-

tion about the pro-

tractor.

Our students performed well on the day, represent-

ing Dandenong North with great sportsmanship.

It was a fun event and it really challenged our high

achieving maths students.

Thanks to Mrs Graf for helping to teach our students

the “24” card game and for supporting them during

this event.

We already have 90 Prep students

enrolled to begin at Dandenong North

in 2015. This number of Prep enrol-

ments is at an all time high for this

time of year.

With a pattern of increasing student

enrolments over the past few years,

we are keen to ensure that all our cur-

rent families are enrolled for 2015 to

assist with planning and to keep all

class sizes as small as possible.

We are aiming to keep our Prep classes below twen-

ty to give children the best possible attention during

this most important foundation year. Therefore it is

important for us to have an idea of how many stu-

dents may be enrolling at our school for next year.

If you know of a neighbour or a relative who has a

child that turns five before the 30th April 2015,

please ask them to come to the office to complete an

enrolment form.

Parents are asked to bring proof of birth, pass-

port/visa documents, if applicable, and an im-

munisation certificate (obtained from the local

council offices).

Early enrolment also ensures children are included

in our Prep Transition Program which begins in

Term Four.

2015 Prep Enrolments Competition