Reynella Primary School Grapevine

It is hard to believe it is already week 6, a long weekend beckons and Easter is just around the corner. There have been so many exciting learning adventures happening around our school; it has been great to observe the pride in which students share their learning. We have recently updated our school vision, with input from Governing Council, staff and students. This statement underpins our approach to teaching and learning across our site.

OUR VISION:

Cultivating a community of powerful learners who are curious, creative and collaborative; well equipped to think flexibly and take their place as active global citizens in an ever-changing world.

The Department for Education’s new purpose for education, that is centred on students and children learning and thriving, has identified 4 Areas of Impact and accompanying resources to help sites, staff and learners explore and engage with the strategy for public education.

One of the strengths of our school is undoubtedly the ability of our students to articulate their learning. Effective Learners has been an area Reynella PS has been building on over several years. It was one of my proudest moments when I had the opportunity to speak at the recent Department for Education Leaders’ Day 2024 and share our journey and how we have developed effective learners at our site.

As partners in your child's educational journey, it's crucial for us to foster not just academic success, but also the development of essential skills that enable lifelong learning. In today's fast-paced world, being an effective learner goes beyond simply memorizing facts; it involves a multifaceted approach that encompasses curiosity, creativity, metacognition, self-regulation, meaning-making, and strategic awareness.

o   Curiosity: Learners ask questions to ‘get to the bottom of it’ and are less accepting of received wisdom until it is evidenced.

o   Creativity: Learners think ‘outside the box’, take chances, use imagination and intuition and are receptive to hunches and inklings.

o   Meaning making: Learners make connections between past information and/or experiences and new knowledge.

o   Strategic awareness: Learners know what to do when they don’t know what to do.

o   Metacognition and self-regulation: Learners who can stop and think about what’s needed to best achieve the task in front of them. Learners are able to understand and manage their behaviour and reactions to their environment

By nurturing these qualities in your child, you're not only preparing them for academic success but also for a lifetime of learning and growth. Together, let's empower our children to become curious, creative, and resilient individuals who are capable of thriving in an ever-changing world.

SCHOOL INTERVIEWS

These will be held commencing Monday March 25, week 9 through to Friday April 5, week 10. Please look out for separate note being sent out on Audiri to schedule your interview time.

TRAFFIC IN AND AROUND OUR SCHOOL

As we all know, the safety and well-being of our children is paramount. Every day, we entrust our precious little ones into the care of schools, where they embark on a journey of learning and growth. However, it's crucial to recognize that the safety of our children extends beyond the school gates, especially during drop-off and pick-up times.

We've all experienced the hustle and bustle of school drop-offs and pick-ups. The rush of cars, the flurry of activity, and the inevitable time crunch can create a stressful environment for everyone involved. Amidst this chaos, it's easy to overlook the importance of caution. Being mindful of traffic rules, designated drop-off zones, and pedestrian crossings is essential to prevent accidents. We encourage all parents and carers to use the school crossing when needing to cross Concord Drive.

As parents, guardians, and caregivers, we play a crucial role in ensuring the safety and well-being of our children, not only within the confines of the school but also in the surrounding areas. Let's approach these moments with mindfulness, patience, and consideration, prioritizing the safety and happiness of our precious children.

NEW LAWS REGARDING SMOKING AND VAPING

From 1 March 2024 new regulations will extend the smoke-free and vape-free areas to within 10 metres of site boundaries. This includes:

·         school drop-off and pick-up zones that are within 10 metres of the school fence, gate or boundary

·         school ovals and sporting fields and within 10 metres of the boundary of the oval or sporting field

·         footpaths, roads, public nature strips and public recreation areas that are within 10 metres of a school boundary.

FRUIT FLY NOTICE

Whether you pack lunch for school or work, if you live in a fruit fly outbreak or suspension area, pack your lunchbox responsibly to keep it fruit fly safe! You can continue to pack lunchboxes with fruit and vegetables purchased from retail shops providing it is secured in a lunchbox and the waste is disposed of correctly at school.

If you grow your own fruit and vegetables at home, please check to see if you are living or working in an outbreak area or suspension zone and follow the advice provided: https://fruitfly.sa.gov.au/outbreak-map

Find updated information from Department of Primary Industries and Regions here: https://www.fruitfly.sa.gov.au/

What an amazing first 6 weeks we have had in B1 so far!

Our first two weeks, we spent time setting up our routines for a successful classroom. At the end of the two weeks we drew up our Classroom Agreement, which we have all signed.

In Mathematics, our first topic was all about data. What does ‘data’ mean? How do we collect it? How do we record what we find? How do we use it? We had lots of practice developing our skills in tallying, recording the data as a graph, as well as then analysing the data we had collected by answering a series of questions. Students had the opportunity to collect data from other classes, then recorded their data as a graph and answered questions related to the data collected.  

Our next topic is all about Number. We are learning how to represent numbers; about odd and even numbers. What does place value mean? What is a digit? What patterns can we find when counting numbers and many more exciting adventures related to number!

In Science we have begun to look at the topic of ‘Our place in Space’. We are very excited to investigate this idea and discover all sorts of exciting new learning. We have so many questions about the planets, black holes, how space suits are made, how long it takes to travel around the sun/to other planets etc.       

These are just a few things that we have enjoyed on our learning journey in B1 so far!

The eSafety Commissioner (eSafety) is Australia’s independent regulator for online safety. They are dedicated to keeping people safer online.

They started operations in 2015 as the Children's eSafety Commissioner and are now at the forefront of the fight against online risks and harms faced by adults as well as children.

Their purpose is to help safeguard all Australians from online harms and to promote safer, more positive online experiences.

The eSafety website has an abundance of resources, ideas and advice to help you start the chat about online safety issues with your child.

There are downloadable resources, short videos and easy to read advice sheets to help you talk with your child about online safety.

Here is the link to the parent page of the website Parents | eSafety Commissioner

Children’s University (CU) is up and running again this year. It is open to students in Years 3-6. We have chosen to offer this program to students at this school to help them develop a love of learning and open their eyes to the endless possibilities that await them in their futures.

The program is run by the University of Adelaide and rewards the students for making positive choices in their learning journey.  Children’s University members can participate in a range of activities in order to gain credit towards their awards.  At no point during the program will children be graded, rather they will be rewarded for the time and effort they put in.

Each participating student will receive their own Passport.  When the students complete an activity, they will receive a stamp/sticker in their Passport to record their participation.  The Passports are an important part of the program as they act as motivation for the students to get involved and allow them to compare their achievements with their friends.

Students need a minimum of 30 hours to be eligible to Graduate at the end of the school year.

Hours can be achieved through:

In-School Activities: Volunteering (library, road crossing, breakfast club), attending OSHC, Festival Choir (any practices or performances outside of school hours.) and school sporting clubs.

Learning Destinations: A Learning Destination is an organisation outside of school that has been identified as providing quality learning experiences by Children’s University. There are over 380 Learning Destinations throughout the state - the full list is on the CUA Portal at www.cuaportal.com.  Here you will find all the relevant details about the Learning Destination including the approved activities that they offer.

CU Portal: The CU Portal houses over 500 online activities and Learning Destinations in both Australia and New Zealand.  You can search for activities at Learning Destinations via different filters such as your location, area of interest and availability.  Completed online activities will be added to the physical Passport by the CU Coordinator.  Login details for the CU Portal are found on the inside of your Passport.

Regular Restricted Learning Destinations: If your child is already participating in activities outside of school (e.g. sports, music, choirs, council activities etc.) members are required to fill in a Review Form through the Portal in order to receive a maximum of 10 hours per activity per calendar year.

The reason we keep a record of the students’ activities is for the graduation ceremony at the end of each year. This is a celebration of the positive choices the students have made, and the effort the students have put into their own education.  The students will be invited to attend a Graduation Ceremony at The University of Adelaide in early Term 4.  The more hours they complete, the higher their graduation level and the more certificates they receive. Each student will have the opportunity to graduate once per year, and their hours roll over to the following year so that they can continue to build on their total.  The graduation ceremony is free of charge as part of the CU annual membership fee and guests will be invited to attend.

To sign up for CU, please use the QR code.  Payment can be made through Qkr from next week.

If you have any questions about Children’s University, please contact either Fiona Brown or Amy Sheppard.

Not this breakfast club unfortunately! Breakfast club is run every Thursday in the hall between   8:15-8:45am. The Student Wellbeing Action Team set up and run the morning, however we are in desperate need of parent helpers to assist with the dishes and packing up.  We currently have 80 students attending each week and we serve toast with either butter or jam, fresh and tinned fruit, apple juice along with plain, chocolate and strawberry milk.

If you would like to help at Breakfast club, please contact Fiona Brown.

Fiona.Brown834@schools.sa.edu.au

Volunteers Needed

Our canteen staff would love to speak to any parents or grandparents who would like to consider volunteering.

Jillian (Canteen Manager) and her team are happy to answer any questions you might have and discuss options for days and times you are available to volunteer.

We are very flexible with times: if you can only volunteer for 1 day a fortnight or month, that would be a big help to assist our staff to prepare food for our hungry students.

Fundraising at Reynella PS has contributed to many great things over the years and we'd like to continue to do that.

As the personal commitments of our previous Fundraising Team increase, it's time to find new volunteers and grow our parent helpers list to ensure we 'spread the load'.

Our Fundraising Team are currently working on our 2024 fundraising Calendar, we'll send a notification on Audiri in the next couple of weeks asking you to let us know when you can help.  Helping on just 1 fundraisers will be a big help!

We need help at many times of the day and night and are very flexible with times:

• during school, after school, in the evening
• 1/2 hour, an hour, a few hours, a whole day.

There is no obligation to help when we ask for help on the Fundraising Helpers List, if you can't help, just reply with 'I'm unavailable this time'.

Please consider supporting the school in this way by adding your name to the 2024 list by:

• completing the Audiri eForm
• emailing dl.0379.finance@schools.sa.edu.au
• texting 0416 905 323
• phoning 08 8381 1493

if you would like more information on Fundraising at Reynella. please contact Kay.

Some new  phones are having issues accessing the Qkr app. Qkr technicians are away of this and are working to solve it asap. If you are having issues on your phone, you can access Qkr on your computer.

Click on this link to access Qkr on your computer.

https://qkr-store.qkrschool.com/store/#/home

If you're a low-income family with children attending a government schools, you can get financial help with school fees, materials and services charges, through the School Card scheme.

If you believe you are eligible, please apply now and DO NOT pay any of your fees until you receive a result from School Card.

Applications for 2024 are now open. Click on this link for more information School Card 2024

If you are experiencing financial hardship, please do not hesitate to contact us. We can help with instalment plans, delayed payments, financial assistance, School Card applications and more.

You can talk to Kay or Debbie in Finance, Carly or Karina in the Front Office, your child's class teacher or one of our Leadership Team.

If it's for an event, please make sure your contact us before the last day to pay, so your child doesn't miss out.

Co-ordinator: Mark Bennier

0419 867 389 or mark.bennier@gmail.com

Mark has registered seven Basketball teams to represent Reynella Primary School in 2024, all teams have enough players, but if your child is keen to play, please contact Mark and he may be able to put your child on a waiting list.

DUE NOW

All 2024 registered players must complete the following before Friday 8 March to ensure their child can play the next game.

Pay fees: full fee, minimum $75 fee, set up an Instalment plan with our Finance Team.

Complete 2 Audiri eForms:

- open Audiri app / Forms (centre bottom) / scroll down until you find the following 2 forms, you need to complete them both with your child/player.

- BASKETBALL PLAYER/PARENT contract 2024

- BASKETBALL REGISTRATION Form 2024

Are you in the Audiri Basketball Group?

open Audiri app / Resources / Groups / Sport - Basketball

Co-ordinator: Courtney Moule

0423 476 528 or cmoule@outlook.com

All families should have received a letter and invoice for each player last week via their child's Class Bag.

The letter includes important information to ensure your child/ren can play next term, please read it carefully.

Payment and 2 Audiri eForms must be completed by Friday 12 April.

Please read the information about registering each player on the FSA website carefully. When registering on Play Football you will be able to apply for a $100 sports voucher if your child has not already used one this year.

DO NOT PAY your Reynella Primary Soccer Registration fee if you are going to use your sports voucher. 

You also need to complete 2 Audiri eForms:

open Audiri app / Forms (centre bottom) / scroll down until you find the following 2 forms, you need to complete them both with your child/player.

- SOCCER PLAYER/PARENT contract 2024

- SOCCER REGISTRATION Form 2024

Are you in the Audiri Soccer Group?

open Audiri app / Resources / Groups / Sport - Soccer

If your child will not be attending school for any reason please send a text through at your earliest convenience to the school text number 0416 905 323 so we can record your child’s absence.

If your child is marked as 'unexplained absence' on the Class Roll, you will receive a text asking you to provide an explanation of their absence.

If you are planning an extended absence of 5 days or more for your child, you will need to apply for an exemption. Please see our Front Office staff for more information. We appreciate your support in keeping our students safe!

All school communication to parents is via Audiri, SeeSaw or text.

Audiri: To ensure you don't miss important communication relevant to your children, it is essential you have joined ALL groups relevant to your children on Audiri and have your phone notifications turned on (see Fact Sheets below)

SeeSaw: this is how teachers communicate with parents. If you haven't set up your SeeSaw account, please speak to your child's class teacher.

SMS: to ensure you don't miss out on texts, please ensure you notify our Front Office if your mobile number changes. Both parents can be on our SMS data base, please let us know if you'd like to be added.

Reynella Primary School

55 Concord Drive,

Old Reynella, SA 5161

phone 08 8381 1493

SMS 0416 905 323

front office email dl.0379.info@schools.sa.edu.au

https://www.facebook.com/Reynella.Primary.School

Reynella OSHC - YMCA

phone 0439 432 722