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NEWSLETTER
Week 3 Term 1 – 2014
URGENT REMINDER; Parents of class three and five students must return all NAPLAN request/exemption forms by TOMORROW. Thanks for this!
Dear Parents,
Greetings to you all as we (and our gardens and tanks!) enjoy the rain and the cool weather.
COMMUNITY MEETING AND FUNDRAISING:
Thanks to those who were able to come to our Community Meeting on Friday. This meeting was very successful, with much discussion about the options of raising fees, versus fundraising to supplement fees and different fundraising options. This is still an open question and a survey of the whole parent community is needed to establish what the majority of people choose. For the present time however, a Fundraising Committee was elected. This comprises Camilla, Bridget and Deslie.
It is the role of this Committee to decide on fundraising events and to delegate the work of these events to you the parent body. It was clearly identified at the meeting that in the past the organisers have done too much of the actual work of running the events on behalf of all parents, thus resulting in individual burnout. We identified the need to avoid this and re-clarified the actual role of the Committee members, as organiser and delegators. Thanks so much to our three dedicated parents, for putting your hands up as organisers, on behalf of the parent community! We look forward to having at least a couple of enjoyable fundraising events this year.
IN THE CLASSROOMS:
Life in class 3-6 is generally very harmonious, with the children happily engaged in their work and play. Our studies of Ancient Greece are absorbing, engaging and thoroughly fascinating. In addition to teacher directed work about various aspects of this important epoch of human civilisation, each child has competed an individual ’mini-project’ about an aspect or significant person from Ancient Greece, of their own choice. We will be sharing these in class over the coming week. Next week, we begin our truly awe inspiring discovery (and for the class 6 students, re-discovery and extension) of the magical world of the mathematical strand of geometry.
Last Thursday our class spent several hours at Scotts Head beach, having surf education and surfing lessons with Trent Monroe from Trent Munroe Surf Academy. This was a fun and educational day for the students; the topics covered were surf safety awareness, identifying and managing rips, learning about how waves are formed and of course, learning to ‘stand up’ surf. This day was so successful and so beneficial for the students, that we are having a couple more follow up surf lessons, the next one being week 5, Thursday 27th February. Please keep an eye out for the permission forms with this Newsletter.
Kinder/Class 1:
We have now finished our first Journey Through the Alphabet Main Lesson and the children have really enjoyed finding the letter hidden in the picture each day. Each child has participated well in daily recall and retelling our story and in forming their letters. We now move into our next Main Lesson, where we discover and explore the world of number. Here we follow the adventures of Felix and Rosa, Grandma and Grendel the Gnome and search to find the special quality of the numbers, where they exist in nature and in the world around us.
HEALTHY FOOD POLICY:
Many thanks for your efforts in supporting our Healthy food Policy. A friendly reminder about why this practice is so important and why the teachers at Tallowood are so committed to maintaining this, as part of our Safe and Healthy School ethos. When children eat foods that provide an instant and rapid sugar (energy) rush to their bodies, the results are immediately obvious in their behaviours. This is why we eliminate highly processed foods, only moderate amounts of fruit and high amounts of vegetables, proteins (eggs, meat etc) and complex carbs. (sadly nuts are not possible due to anaphylaxis possibilities). Supposedly ‘healthy’ sugars like honey, pure fruit jams and sugared yogurts are still pure sugar and the body assimilates them as such. (Try plain Greek yogurt with frozen berries: this is a treat!) Please refrain from sending these sugars on sandwiches and rolls and keep them for home time treats.
It may be comforting to know that even if your children complain to you they will actually eat what is packed; the teachers will ensure this! You can simply tell them that this is the school rule, and at the same time feel satisfied that all of their school meals support optimal behaviours and learning. I never cease to marvel at how quickly children adjust to clear expectations. We balance our very strict stance on this by providing the students with fruit juice icy-poles ( no added sugar) on Friday afternoons in summer, and the occasional ice-cream on excursions. Thankyou again for your support; for social harmony in school matters it is a case of ‘all for one and one for all’! If parents want to share some favourite healthy lunchbox ideas and recipes, I am happy to include these in the Newsletter.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Next Working Bee: Saturday 1st march.
Surf Lessons Class 3-6: Thursday 27th February.
Autumn Festival and Last Day of Term: Friday 4th April.
Best Regards to all,
Sue