REFLECTIONS NEWSLETTER - ISSUE # 6 2018

What’s in this edition….

Diary Dates

Our Mission To provide a Montessori environment in which the needs of the whole child are met in a nurturing, safe and caring school, by encouraging independence, mutual respect and self-discipline so that students are prepared to take their place in the global community.

Principal News 2

Barn Dance 3

Jump Rope for Heart 4

School Events & Admin 5

RMS School Values Program 6

Playgroup 7

Adolescent Program 8

Dental Screening 9

Community News & Events 10

Inc.

Barn Dance

Wednesday July 18 Students Return

Sunday July 15-Friday July 27 Senior School Odyssey

Thursday August 2 Community spirit Meeting

Tuesday August 7

Open Day

It is with great sadness that we farewell Paula Flynn, our Seahorse Education Assistant,

this term. Paula and her family will be relocating to the Eastern States for her hus-band’s work. Paula has been with RMS since 2010 and during her time with us she has had two of her children and has been such a wonderful asset to the School having worked in Lower Primary, Children’s House and the Infant Toddler Program. We have loved having Paula’s friendly face, vitality and caring nature each and every day for the children and all at RMS will miss her dearly. We wish Paula and her family every suc-cess and happiness in their new journey.

We are very pleased to inform that Paul Robertson will be moving to the Seahorse class as the new full time Education Assistant. We have been trialling new Education Assistants in the Starfish class over the past three weeks and are currently finalising this recruitment process.

We are delighted to welcome Scarlett Farrell to our Adolescent Program staffing team as the new Narwhals advisor to replace Katherine Shearer. Scarlett has a strong back-ground in The Arts and English and is very eager to meet her advisory group along with

developing our Creative Arts program for our high school students. Jennifer Langford has been one of our regular relief teacher’s across both the Primary School and Adolescent Program and she will be joining us for two days per week in the Adolescent Program in her specialty areas of Health and Physical Education as well as Mathematics. We warmly welcome both new teachers and whilst it is a very sad time to be having Kath leave our RMS family we wish her every success with the great work she has ahead of her to re-establish the Adolescent Program at the Bali Montessori School. I know many of our staff and families will take the time to visit Kath in Bali and we thank her for the fine work she has undertaken with all of the students in her care over the past six years.

I am delighted to inform families that Jodie Borgia, our previous Penguin’s teacher and Primary School Program Coordinator, will be back in Perth from the US in July and will be coming to the school to catch up with children and families.

The end of semester is always a busy time and I would like to thank the staff for their commitment to the report and transition meetings. Unfortunately due to the number of meetings required to be undertaken by the teachers we apologise if parents have been unable to attend at their scheduled time and whilst teachers try to accommo-date an alternative timeslot this is not always possible. If you have not met with your child’s teacher over the past few weeks please email any concerns directly to the teacher.

We have many children who are transitioning at the end of this term and we wish them all well in their new classes. It has been lovely to watch these children familiarise themselves with their new learning environments over the past three weeks. To all fam-ilies enjoy your holiday time to-gether and we look forward to seeing all of the children at the beginning of term 3.

Vanessa Aikins

NEWS FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Barn Dance

Jump Rope for Heart Our school participated in Jump Rope for Heart on 21 June, 2018. Jump Rope for Heart has been getting little Aussies active for 35 years while raising vital funds for the Heart Founda-tion who fund research, education, prevention, support and other activities to stop heart disease - Australia's biggest killer. The current total amount raised by RMS students is $3939.00 The link for any additional sponsorships will be open until the end of the school holidays. Please visit our school's site at: https://jumprope.heartfoundation.org.au/2018/Rockingham_Montessori_School_-_ROCKINGHAM_WA_-_132710

Please note the office will be closed from Friday 6 July and reopen on Monday 16 July.

Dental Bus

In-School Events - Administration

Social Media Please visit and like these pages to keep up to date with Montessori information Montessori Australia Rockingham Montessori School RMS Community Spirit

It has been fantastic to see such interest in the new Dental Bus program we have recently made available. We are still accepting forms for families to take advantage of this valuable service. Please note the following change in dates, the dental bus will now be visiting the school in week 2 of term 3 Monday 15 October to Friday 26 October. Please see page 8 for further information.

School Office

Rockingham Montessori School Values Program

At Rockingham Montessori School we value the development of the whole child. It is through the teaching of values that tools and strategies are learnt to help shape a child’s character thus creating a positive, empowering culture and environment that promotes learning and growth. Staff have workshopped and highlighted 12 values that Rockingham Montessori School will focus on for the coming year. Each month staff will empower students to learn and practice a different value through hearing, reading and telling stories that model these values. The following values will help guide students to lead constructive and meaningful lives. Confidence Honesty Kindness Patience

Compassion Respectfulness Courtesy Helpfulness

Responsibility Gratitude Independence Perseverance

It is important to remember that the staff at Rockingham Montessori School are not only educators of values, but also models for living virtuous lives. At home, parents and caregivers can support these values by joining our staff and living virtuous lives. Common support for these values at school and at home is vital for children to positively participate in the school’s learning environment. The current focus value at Rockingham Montessori School is: compassion

The value of compassion is about being empathetic towards others and their situations. It is demon-strating understanding and caring when someone is hurt or troubled. Offering help, even if all you can do is listen and say kind words this is still showing compassion. Compassion is showing kindness to-wards others and being a friend when someone needs this. Your child’s teacher will be talking about examples of compassion that are seen at school and would ask you to discuss and pay attention to this value in your home and community environment. You can practise compassion by:

Offering help to someone in need, even if it just listening to them

Showing appreciation through actions and words ‘Thank You’

Showing respect to those who may upset or anger you

Visiting your local library and finding a book that features compassion and compassionate practices.

“We must help the child to act for himself, will for himself, think for himself; this is the art of those who aspire to serve the spirit”.

Maria Montessori, Education for a New World, pg 69.

Playgroup

Orla Dinneen

Infant Toddler Program Leader

We are already at the end of the Term! Thank you Asti and Nicole for running our group last week when I was away. Please note that we are no longer eligible to be members of PGWA inc. Your fee ($35) will be returned to you if you no longer wish to return to our group next term, or credited to your account if you continue. Please call the office on 9528 2118 to discuss your option. Farewell to Benjamin, Alexandra and Theo who are starting Children’s House next term. We wish you all a smooth transition. Return dates for next term are: Wednesday 18 July Monday 23 July Tuesday 24 July Enjoy a peaceful winter break and we look forward to seeing you again next term.

Adolescent Program

Tony Gillespie

Deputy Principal

Going out to learn

“Success in life depends in every case on self-confidence and the knowledge of one’s own capacity. The consciousness of knowing how to make oneself useful, how to help mankind in many ways, fills the soul with noble confidence and digni-ty. The feeling of independence is bound to the power to be self-sufficient.” (Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, 1948)

Maria Montessori was writing about the natural tendencies of adolescents to strive for independence and to seek knowledge of their place in their communities, within society and the world in general.

There are many opportunities outside of school and in the wider community for young people to develop independ-ence and feelings of self-worth. Part time jobs, volunteering at sporting clubs and similar activities are terrific oppor-tunities for young people to make contributions. Through their work in the Adolescent Program our students en-gage in our Community Service program. They also benefit from our comprehensive approach to Learning Through Internships (LTI’s).

In the AP this year, volunteering and community service activities have included child care activities, beautification of the community and working with elderly residents in aged care. The highlight so far, the Mad Hatters’ Tea Party at Coolibah Total Caring in Mandurah, was an outstanding success. The residents were thrilled when served morn-ing tea by our adolescent students and happily bopped away on the dance floor, once the music was turned up.

Based upon the premise that the community is a huge resource and we need to take advantage of it, our LTI pro-gram has students accessing a diverse range of opportunities. Numerous students have been gaining insights into an assortment of industries and work places. The list is diverse, including: law firms, hospitals, veterinary surgeries, child care facilities, carpentry workshops, dolphin tours and automotive workshops, to name a few. We are always seeking such opportunities for our students and encourage members of our Montessori community to consider tak-ing on an Adolescent Program student for an LTI. Even a single day where a student can ‘shadow’ an employee, is a wonderful opportunity to find out about the world of work. Please contact the AP if you can help us with place-ments.

More KIC iProject success

Our wonderful year ten student, Kurt Bombara, participated in the 2018 Kwinana Industries Council (KIC) iMen pro-gram. He joined 32 students, selected from high schools in the Rockingham, Kwinana and Cockburn areas and took part in a six-day program, aimed at providing an insight into the many career opportunities available in the Kwinana Industrial Area (KIA). During the program, Kurt was guided through a series of workshops, including research into industry, career choices and education pathways, the use of social media, resume writing, and preparing for an in-terview. Kurt feels that he benefitted from this very special program, commenting that he “enjoyed learning about different careers, making connections with people outside of school and developing the skills to write a resume”. Following on from his success in the iMen program, Kurt is now pursuing an internship at the Fremantle Port Au-thority (FPA). The iMen activities gave him opportunities to establish a connection with Richard Collet, HR manager at the FPA. This relationship will soon bare fruit.

Dental Screenings FREE DENTAL SCREENINGS AT SCHOOL FOR SCHOOL STUDENTS

Dear Parent / Guardian, The Australian government has an initiative for schools to have access to mobile Dental clinic ser-vices. Rockingham Montessori School is trialling a new service provided by OZ SMILE DENTAL SERVICES where they will check children’s teeth on site at school between 15-26 October 2018. OZ SMILE DENTAL SERVICES company will be offering FREE DENTAL CHECK-UPS to children at our school via their mobile dental clinic. This service is provided under the CHILD DENTAL BENEFITS SCHEME of the Australian Government. The dental screening is free of cost for eligible students aged 2-17 and provides the child with basic dental services that include: • Dental examination • Dental X-rays • Preventive Oral Care, such as oral hygiene assistance, cleaning of teeth and the application of fluoride to the teeth. Reports of a child’s dental check-up will be sent to parents. Early detection of decay and other dental disease is vital in preventing bigger, more painful and expensive problems in the future. Left untreated, dental disease is progressive and will result in greater discomfort and is likely to lead to permanent problems, such as tooth loss or lasting pain. Attached to this letter is a form which needs to be filled out and returned to the school office no later than 28 June 2018. As this service comes under the Medicare CHILD DENTAL BENEFITS SCHEME, parents will need to provide their Medicare number on the form. Please make sure you fill in both sides of the form. Please note only children eligible for the CHILD DENTAL BENEFIT SCHEME can avail the offer. We would really like for our students to benefit from this service, we request parents to take the time to fill in the form. Kind Regards, Vanessa Aikins Principal

Be quick - offer ends 30 June 2018

Community News

Anytime Fitness - Gym Special

Community News PCYC

Community News

Community News

Kids' Courses Enrolments Now Open! The July school holidays are rapidly approaching which means it's almost time for kids' courses to return. As always we have a great program of clas-ses on offer across a variety of artforms including animation, painting, fash-ion, felting, music, jewellery, pottery, drawing and craft. There are dedicated streams of classes for younger kids (5–8 years), older kids (9–12 years) and teens and small class sizes, taught by experienced artists. We have a host of great new classes these holidays, like Mystical Mosaic Mir-rors, Arm Knit Your Own Infinity Scarf and Pop Art Selfies.

Enrolments are now open. You can enrol your child online or call 9432 9555 between 9am and 5pm daily. Courses run Mon 2 – Fri 13 July

Browse the full program and enrol here!

Community News

For more information and courses on offer in July-December 2018 click this link.

Community News

Community News