Dear families & friends, 

We are well into term 2 now and students and staff are busy delving into this term's inquiry 'I can make a difference'. Everyone enjoyed an excursion to KESAB to learn more about how we recycle in South Australia and already students have new ideas about what they might be able to do to make a difference. 

Pupil Free Day 

Last Friday we had our Pupil Free Day. While many families enjoyed the extra long weekend, staff worked together to build our collective understanding about quality teaching practices. With many new staff on our team this year it is important that we take these opportunities to work together to understand how we work at Felixstow and create consistency in approaches in every class.

It was a jam packed day of learning with a large portion of our day focusing on our Berry St Education Model (BSEM) and wellbeing practices (see later in the newsletter for more information about BSEM). We have several staff that have previously completed the 4 day training and several that are in the process of accessing training. We have now been working with this model of practice for a couple of years and students now use the language such as being ‘ready to learn’, ‘brain breaks’, ‘escalation and de-escalation’, ‘mindset’ and ‘stamina’.  

We also deepened our collective understanding of High Impact Teaching Strategies (H.I.T.S.) which includes such practices as questioning, feedback, reflection and formative assessment. Along with this we revisited the importance of supporting students to develop their ‘Growth Mindset’. These strategies are shown to have the greatest effectiveness on student achievement and progress and are what we have worked on as a staff for a number of years for both students and staff to develop these approaches to teaching and learning.

While it was a long and intense day of learning for all staff, we all enjoyed the opportunity to learn and reflect together and know that this learning will support us to build our effectiveness as a team of educators.  

Mid-Year Receptions and enrolments. 

We enjoyed meeting our new mid-year reception students this week who visited for their first transition visit. we look forward to seeing them again in a couple of weeks and then starting next term. 

We are now accepting enrolments for 2025 beginning and mid-year. If you have younger siblings due to start, or know people in the area looking for a school, contact Gillian at the front office regarding the enrolment process. 

Reports and 3-way conferences

Student learning summary reports will come home today (Friday 14th June). We encourage every family to make a time to meet with your child’s class teacher/s to discuss you child’s learning progress, learning data and future steps to focus on for the year ahead. 

Conferences are approximately 15 minutes each with a maximum of 20 mins allocated. You can access bookings through the Audiri App.  

Students are invited to attend these conferences with their parent to discuss their learning. 

We are looking forward to a busy 3 weeks to the end of the term which will include our annual Morilata Day, Learning Expo and an end of term community breakfast on the last day of term. All are welcome to join us at these 3 days in the last week of term. keep an eye out for more information about these and other things happening at school and the calendar dates at the end of every newsletter. 

Cheers Skye 😊

Hi! My name is Ellie, and I am currently completing my placement at Felixstow Primary School. I have been extremely lucky to have been placed in Laura & Leigh's primary class.

 A little about me - I am currently in my third year of studying my Bachelor of Primary Education (Honours) at University of South Australia, and major in Mathematics. I work at an OSCH, at Woolworths and I tutor students in maths! I like listening to music, spending time with friends and going camping!

I have been absolutely loving my time at Felixstow Primary. The students, staff and community have been so welcoming and have made my placement here incredibly beneficial. I am looking forward to the weeks to come! Ellie 🙂 

For Volunteers month we celebrated our wonderful volunteers with a coffee morning on Friday 31st May.  

We are asking for volunteers to listen to children read in the class rooms this term, please see Di or Gillian and we will add your name to the list. We will be providing some training to support you in this role. Kelly is also looking for one or two volunteers to support the knitting club at break times on Monday - Thursday each week. 

If you are not already a volunteer, we will happily help you to get your clearances and complete your application process so that you can work with our children. Any questions please see either Di or Gillian.

Breakfast Club remains very popular with our students with an average of 139 student visits per week. Students especially enjoy Fairy Bread Friday and Toastie Tuesdays. A surprise doughnut breakfast was held for National Doughnut day. 

As we celebrate our wonderful volunteers, here at the Breakfast Club we would like to say a special thank you to Claire (Adelaide's mum) who helps out every Monday and contributes to the success of this program.

Breakfast Club is open from 8.30am to 8.50am, Monday to Friday in the OSHC kitchen. All students and their families are welcome, just drop on by (there is no need to book a place). 

If anyone is able to donate some vegemite we would really appreciate it (unfortunately Kickstart only provide marmite) and we would like to thank Tom (J1) and his family for a previous gift of Australia's favourite spread!

Breakfast may include:

Toast and various spreads

Fruit

Cereal

Milk

Tea/Coffee (for adults)

Its a great opportunity to have a bite to eat and socialise with other students/families. 

In Environment Club, we have been waiting for the rain to come so we can get cracking on our planting! Steve and Camille are collecting plants this weekend from State Flora and our next step will be organising a working bee with parents in the next few weeks. Watch this space; as we will be asking for volunteers!

Environment Club meets on Tuesdays at second break.

National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) is held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, family day cares, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. Now in its 24th successful year, it is a colourful, vibrant, fun event that aims to promote the value of reading and literacy, using an Australian children's book that explores age-appropriate themes, and addresses key learning areas of the National Curriculum.

By facilitating NSS we aim to: 

• promote the value of reading and literacy, 
• promote the value and fun of books,
• promote an Australian writer and publisher, 
• celebrate and promote storytime activities in public libraries, school libraries, classrooms and communities around the country.

 This year's chosen book Bowerbird Blues is a new picture book from Aura Parker and stars a beautiful bowerbird on the search for blue! It’s a moving story of longing and connection, that unfolds as the bowerbird’s search sends him soaring across the sea, sky and city. He swoops and snatches vibrant treasures for his collection, and soon his bower—a mix of natural and unnatural objects—attracts something greater and more fulfilling than he could ever have imagined. 

'I am a collector. Always looking, finding ... and keeping! Bowerbird loves blue. Magnificent colbalt. Brilliant, vibrant blue! But something is missing. What could it be?'                                                 

AURA PARKER is a writer, illustrator and designer who creates prints, textiles and picture books. Her work is joyful, imaginative and brimming with details to explore. She works from a studio in Sydney.

On Wednesday 22nd May, both junior classes came to the library to be part of the NSS live book reading of Bowerbird Blues by the author Aura Parker, who also demonstrated how to draw a bower bird. After the reading the students created their own bower and filled it with blue objects.

Scholastic Book Club

Book Club issue 4 has been distributed to students,  if your child didn't receive a copy they can see Kelly who has extras in the library. Families who ordered books in Issue 3 can spend the $5 promo code they earned on Issue 4. Plus, they will get another $5 promo code to spend on Issue 5.

Student orders are placed online at http://www.scholastic.com.au/LOOP or you can download the LOOP app.

The school receives reward points on all orders placed which are then used to purchase books for the library.

The closing date for orders is 3pm Friday  21st June

Wellbeing Breaktime Activities

The Resource Pod continues to be open at one breaktime a day, students can participate in a variety of activities or they can just use the space to relax and read a book. A new activity that has started this term is knitting. We have two knitting groups of four students in each and are looking for some help, so if you can knit and are free on Mondays or Wednesdays 11am to 11.45am  and Tuesdays & Thursdays 1.30pm to 2.15pm, please see Kelly, Di or Gillian.

Volunteer Month

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Casey (Oliver's mum) for her weekly support in the library, she is very much appreciated.

Library lessons

In their latest library lesson, both  Juniors classes learned about the different parts of a book and book terminology, such as, the  front & back covers, spine and pages, title, author and illustrator.

Book Borrowing & Returns

Students have the opportunity to borrow books from the Resource Pod during scheduled class times and when the Pod is open at break times. All books are on loan for two weeks and the due date can be found on a slip attached to the inside back cover of the book or on a book mark. Please return the books by the due date or before if finished, as other students may be waiting to borrow them.