Coordinator

Julianna…. Term 4 Week 2

Hello Currambena!

Our love and support goes out to Mikee , Martin and Marcus who are all in the Philippines for Mikee’s Dad and Marcus’s Grandad’s  funeral.

Great news – our 2010 calenders have arrived! they are $18 or $30 for 2.  We have boxes of them in the office, so get in quick so you don’t miss out.

 Our tradies have continued to be very busy with the staff bathroom renovation. The tiles are being laid today so it is all starting to come together and is going to be gorgeous!

 THANK-YOU..

 - to Tony for working on all our IT changes and desktop maintenance.

 - to Helen who is preparing our DA for the solar panels and skylights.

 Canteen.

Thank-you so much to Helen who was able to take on canteen last Monday at very short notice.  The roster is up on the notice board and I have also put it in the newsletter so please have a look and consider whether you can fill in any of the blanks.                                                                                                        For your information we have a full set of canteen guidelines written up in the office if you are wondering what to do, order, cook etc. Please just ask and I can give you a copy.

Reminder

All Casp invoices are being posted out today.  All fees for school and CASP  are due Thursday 12 th November

 With love,

  Julianna

Posted October 28th, 2009 in Coordinator by juliannam

Photo of the week

newsletter cover header

Wednesday 28th October 2009 Term 4 Week 2

peter

newsletter cover header

Posted October 28th, 2009 in Photo of the week by Newsletter

General

Chicken News!!

The chickens are an important part of Currambena now, giving children experience of looking after animals, providing eggs for cooking and eating all the pests in the garden. For the past 18 months Amba has been looking after the chickens each weekend, but we would now like to share the job amongst the community so we are setting up a roster for people to look after the chickens on the weekend.

What is required is for the family responsible for the chickens to let them out of their coop on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and then check their food and water and put them back in the coop in the evenings. This would suit someone who lives nearby.

I will put up a list of weekends on the big noticeboard. Please fill in a weekend or weekends that you would like to be responsible for the chickens. If you undertake the responsibility you have to remember to do the job or find a replacement if you are unable to do it.

Thanks!!!

Sue

Posted October 28th, 2009 in General by sueg

Preschool

Preschool Week 2 Term 4

Hello Everyone

It’s been a busy week so far! “Mr Insectus” came on Monday and fascinated all the children with his insect collection. Yesterday we made a “Pan de Muerta” or Day of the Dead Bread which was delicious. We have also been talking about germination, doing pen drawings with water colour sketches of growing things, talking about the Mexican Day of the Dead which is on Monday and learning a pinata song to accompany the pinata we are making in Craft.

In addition we are doing daily concert practice, watching the silkworms spin and monitoring the small bee swarm in the plum tree. If the bees don’t leave of their own accord in the next couple of days we hope Alex’s grandmother, Bronwyn, will come and get them for her hives.

Today we are going to practise the new lock down drill to see how it works for the community. This is a safety drill in the unlikely event of someone who is a danger coming into the school grounds and is required by the Board of Studies.

The STEPS Vision Screening for four and five year olds is next Wednesday 4th November at 9.30 am. There is no cost for this. Please fill in a permission form so that the STEPS people know how many people are planning to come, even if you are planning to bring your child yourself. The permission forms are on the desk. If your child does not attend preschool on a Wednesday you are welcome to bring them that morning.

On Friday I attended the I.E.U. Sustainability Conference which was very interesting. The gist of the conference was that there is undeniable evidence of radical climate change. This will result in more heat waves, less rain and higher ocean water levels. We all need to take whatever steps we can to reduce carbon emissions and live sustainably. We also need to be excellent role models for our children and educate them in the area of sustainability. It is essential to give them hope that the phenomenal human brain will bring about solutions to the problem and also adapt to this new way of living on earth. There are fact sheets about various school’s, including Currambena’s, sustainability programs on the website at www.ien.asn.au. Click on the “Countdown to Copenhagen” button. There is also a copy of the Currambena fact sheet in this newsletter.

Head lice need constant vigilance. Please check your child’s hair twice a week and treat if necessary. Children require at least two treatments to eradicate the lice. Thanks!!!

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela.

Posted October 28th, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

Olivia's Class

Olivia’s Class Week 2 Term 4

Hi Everyone!

Well, we have written our play for the concert and have begun rehearsals. The children have so many wonderful ideas and we are trying to make sure all are incorporated into the play. The children are beginning to develop their ideas for their costumes and I’m sure many have already started to collect things from home for this. I would really love some people’s help on Thursday and Friday to help collect materials and put together some costumes with the children. I also would love to have some help with our scenery over the next couple of weeks too. Please come and let me know if anyone can help with any of this stuff and of course it counts as maintenance hours.

Just a note about canteen: Canteen seems to be running a bit low on parent volunteers at times, sometimes to the point of being cancelled for the day. This means that many of the children who bring money do not have any lunch that day. I have two requests, if you would like to help in canteen for a day, please see the roster up on the main noticeboard. The other request is for all the children who bring money for canteen to please also bring something non-perishable in their bags that they can eat for lunch if canteen is not on. If it is non-perishable, that would mean that it would be still good to eat the next day if, in fact, it is not needed.

That’s it for this week, have a good one!

From Olivia

Posted October 28th, 2009 in Olivia's Class by oliviam

Building the Education Revolution

Build Team….

Building the Education Revolution

Commonwealth funded

Primary School in the 21st Century (PS21)

National School Pride (NSP)

 Hi Everyone,

 Baxter and Jacobson (our architects) have now met with the 2 construction companies with the lowest tenders. They have talked through some cost savings options which include design modifications.

 We are meeting with them tomorrow to discuss these options – so hopefully there will be more details next week.

In relation to the NSP grant money we are in the process of submitting a DA with Lane Cove Council for the solar panels on the heritage building and the skylights for Wendy and Olivia’s classroom.

Maintenance Job

We really need someone to take on the job of putting out and bringing in the bins for this term. It’s a simple way to tick of ½ hour maintenance each week! They need to be put on the curb every Wednesday afternoon and brought back in on Thursday morning – easy.

Please please please see myself or Julianna if you want the job.

 Jess (jkimber01@bigpond.com or 0411220111)

Posted October 28th, 2009 in Building the Education Revolution by Newsletter

Wendy's Class

Wendy’s Class Week 2 Term 4

Luckily one of our group remembered that we usually ask each of the Year 6 leavers to write a piece for the newsletter about their time at Currambena as a way of saying farewell to the community. Because this is a short term, only nine weeks, we only just have enough time to put one leaver on the cover each week before the end of term! I hope we manage to get the words ready on time, too, but if not, they will follow next week.

We had session three of our sex education program yesterday and, again, I was so impressed by the level of insight and understanding the children showed in their questions. There may well be more questions asked at home, especially about areas where a genetic factor might be involved. There were also some questions which would need a doctor to answer, I think! We will make a list of things requiring further investigation after the next (last) session.

Our student teacher, Judith, has begun her four week placement with us and we started a Maths unit on time yesterday, revising and learning about analog, digital and 24 hour clock time and converting between these. This could be good to practise at home or in the car… along with times tables which do still need constant revision for some of the children!!

Of course, our main effort at the moment is going into putting the finishing touches to our play for the concert on Friday 13th November. The plot is a secret, of course, but if you are able to assist with costumes that would be fantastic! Your child will know what they need. The script is almost complete and full rehearsals will begin today, I hope.

We enjoyed The Bug Man on Monday and it made a neat link with a Science unit we are starting on Living Things and their interrelatedness. We do still have some Chemistry experiments to do left over from last term!

Thank you to the people who have come and spoken to me about tents and/or helping with camp at Jervis Bay.  I still need a few more tents and drivers/helpers so please consider whether or not you might be able to come. Everyone in the wider community is welcome for the weekend reunion camp Friday 4th and Saturday 5th December... it will cost about $10 or $15 per person per night, take your own food, tents, sleeping bags etc and come and share this glorious site at Bristol Point in Booderee National Park. let me know if you are interested. It takes about 3 to 4 hours to drive down.

Lastly, I have received the application packages for entry to Selective High Schools in 2011 so if your child is interested in this please come and take ask me for the forms. they need to be completed and returned to me by 13th November.

Have a great week everyone!    Love,   Wendy

Posted October 28th, 2009 in Wendy's Class by wendyp

Fran & Jo's Class

Aussie kids…. Week 2 Term 4

Hi Everyone

We have been very busy over the past week as our preparations for the Concert continue. We are consolidating our ideas and beginning to act out our chosen scenarios. We will be making all our own costumes over the next few weeks in craft, we will also be making our own props and back drops. As the concert is going to be at Tambourine Bay we will be visiting again for practises and preparations.

We  had a visit on Monday from the bug man who brought many fascinating creatures with him and David  set up some experiments  around insects on Tuesday so will continue to investigate what we find.  This is a busy term for us, with many exciting events, and in between we are consolidating and extending our knowledge of the alphabet, spelling words and reading strategies. We are also revising and extending concepts of whole numbers.

We have taken our ideas for next year to Council. We spoke about the use of the spaces available to us and our ideas for structuring the classes. Given that the numbers will most likely continue to fluctuate until the end of the year and beyond, we will be continuing to look at how best to suit the diverse needs of the children and will continue to discuss options with Council as the year progresses.

We will try again to go swimming next Tuesday; fingers crossed that the weather will be clement. Please sign up on the door if you can drive us.

Cheers,

Fran, Jo, Sarah, David and Sisse

Posted October 28th, 2009 in Fran & Jo's Class by franm