Casa Mia Montessori C S n

Casa Mia Montessori
Community School Newsletter
from the principal
Issue 59
22.05.2013
Welcome to two new students Amber
Bonnie (Koomal class), parents Deborah
and Darryl, and Oscar Ashton (Karak class),
parents Eloise and Craig.
NEW BOARD OF GOVERNANCE
30.05
03.06
19.06
24.06
05.07
Nature Day excursion
to Woodbridge
Riverside Park
Foundation Day
public holiday
board meeting
coffee morning
term two ends
The Annual General Meeting was held on
May 8, and the school was also able to pass
the Special Resolutions as needed for the
Rules of Association. Congratulations and a
big thank you to the parents who offered
to take on School Governance. For those of
you who were unable to attend the AGM,
copies of the Annual Report are available
at the trolley by the office. At our first
Board meeting the newly elected members
accepted the following positions: John
Proctor; Chairperson; Fionna Wheatley,
Vice Chairperson; Lynn Ollsen, Secretary;
Mark Imrie, Orinary Member; and Jeremy
Wray, Ordinary Member. We are still
confirming the Treasurer position and
seeking any members of the community
with experience in this area.
Belinda Johnson, our previous Chairperson,
organised a professional learning session
for the new Board which was held at the
school on May 15 with Mike Horabin. This
proved to be a very positive and informative
beginning for the new Board.
Many thanks to Belinda Johnson and Marc
Canet for their time on the School Board. The
School Board of Governance is now mainly
responsible for developing, reviewing
and ratifying school policies while the
Principal is mainly responsible to see that
these policies are carried out. This shows
an important growth in the overall school
management and the ongoing compliance
expectations of modern schooling. This
change was a ‘grassroots’ change for our
small community school Board, who worked
through current legislation requirements.
At times there was considerable opposition
from members of the community in regard
to these necessary changes. Belinda
steadfastly worked through the issues,
did the research and wrote the policies
to see that these important changes took
place. I would like to thank Belinda for her
excellent and hard work. Best wishes on
your retirement from the School Board!
Susan
POLICY REMINDERS
Before
and
Duty
happy birthday!
May
Maea
Amber
June
Lilit
Amelia
Alexis
Aika
11 Hamilton St
Bassendean
WA 6054
After School
of
Care
Student Drop-Off and Pick-Up
Procedures
The school does not provide teacher
supervision in the playground before and
after school hours. For courtesy and safety
reasons, students will not be able to play in
the school’s outdoor learning environment
or on the outdoor equipment at these
times. Under certain circumstances, such
as parent – teacher conferences, students
are permitted to sit at the outdoor tables
for snack and games. To discuss concerns
about or view school duty of care legislation
and school policies, please see the Susan.
It is important to see that children arrive and
leave the school under appropriate parental
care. Parents need to notify the classroom
teacher via the classroom communications
book or written note about changes in
pick-up procedures. This may be afterschool-care changes, grandparents or other
community members who will be picking
up students. In an emergency, please ring
the school to notify of a late change. School
staff are not permitted to release children
to unknown persons without parental
permission.
Office Hours
Mon – Fri 08.30 – 14.30
Tel: 9279 2209
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.casamiamontessori.wa.edu.au
Classroom News
Primary News (Karak
and
Maali)
Welcome to term 2 everyone!
Firstly, a warm welcome to the
newest member in the Primary area,
Oscar, who has joined the Karak class.
This term the Primary classes will
be continuing with their semester
themes of Sustainability. Already
work has begun on our own vegetable
garden, for which we thank those
who helped in the set up.
Maali is learning about the Fairtrade
movement and continuing with a
geography focus this term.
Karak is learning about Australia and
its environments, the land and water
forms, animals, emblems, events.
On May 30 our school will be
participating in an international
Montessori celebration, Nature Day.
To enjoy this day, we will all travel by
train to Woodbridge Riverside Park.
Families are welcome, and more
details of this will be available shortly.
We hope to see you there.
Finally, just a reminder to please
provide your children with a wastefree, healthy fruit snack only. We
were commended last term for how
little waste we produce as a school,
and we should all try to maintain this,
and eating healthy food will help us
concentrate.
All the best,
Marta and Mechtild
Additional recipe books
($10 each) can be
ordered at the office,
please see Lynette.
2/3
Children’s House News (Koomal)
School Wear
Welcome back to term two. We hope
you enjoyed your break and the
recent Mother’s Day celebrations!
We are sure you will have plenty of
ideas of what to cook for a while.
This term we are welcoming a new
student into The Children’s House;
Amber.
Our theme this term is Australia
and Antarctica. So far we have been
learning the names of the states and
capital cities of Australia.
In Science we will be focusing on
weather, and in Maths, geometry
and pattern.
One of the virtues we will be focusing
on this term is respect.
If anyone have any interesting items
related to Australia or Antarctica
please let staff know, or bring them
in as additional news. If anyone has
didgeridoos, aboriginal artwork,
handicraft, etc., which they would
like to lend to us for display in the
classroom this term, please see a
staff member regarding this.
We hope to have an industrious and
happy term.
Katja, Astrid and Karen
I currently have a few outstanding
orders from families, but am unable
to place an order with our suppliers
as we don’t yet meet their minimum
order.
I am also waiting on the school Board
and P&F to finalise uniform/school
wear policy documents. I am unable
to do any ordering until this process
is complete.
Apologies to any families who have
paid and are waiting on school wear
items. Please contact me if there are
any problems or concerns with this
delay.
School Uniform Pre-Orders
If you wish to purchase hats, polo
shirts or dresses, you need to fill in
an order form and submit along with
payment. Order forms are located on
the trolley by Lynette’s office. Lynette
is happy to take money for this and
to provide you with a receipt. Please
contact me if you have any queries
relating to orders or school wear in
general.
Best wishes,
Shane Mazandarani
[email protected]
Doctorate Research Request
My name is Susan Smith, and I am a Doctorate of Psychology candidate at the University
of Western Australia. I am researching separation anxiety in kindergarten children
across Australia, and how this predicts anxiety when children enter school. I am
looking for parents of Kindergarten aged children who are interested in participating
by completing a short online questionnaire.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to ask questions, or let me know
that you are participating and would like me to send out the study results when they
are ready later this year.
My phone is 6488 2644. The link to the study is http://tinyurl.com/kindykids
Grounds and Maintenance
Wow! We had our best turn out ever at
our May 5 busy bee. Thank you, thank
you, thank you to the following people:
Maddy and Wendy Shoebridge, Sylvia
and Cambell Lindsay, Marc and Steph
Canet, Leonie and Lorenzo Wight,
Kelly and Clay Barnes, Greg and Fionna
Wheatley, Rob Karl, Nicolas Broughton,
Edwina Ryan, Shane Mazandarani,
Emily Migdale, Chian Ghosh and Jodie
Cooper. Many were first-timers which is
really great. We all shared in the lovely
morning tea prepared by Jodie and the
new families were able to meet some
of the school community. We really
achieved a lot and I hope to see you all
again next busy bee!
Thank you also to Nick Sibbel who
always does an excellent job at mowing
the lawn and to Emma Saurus who
waters the pot plants during the school
holidays.
There are still a few jobs to do this term:
•Jacob Lehrer is going to sand and
oil the remaining four wooden
benches;
•we need help to assemble a shelf
unit (easy) for the outdoor play
equipment shed and arrange the
equipment into it;
•path sweeping job is available for
Monday, Tuesday and Thursday;
•next big project will be to sand and
oil/varnish the wooden fort.
There are also two positions available:
Parent Liaison and Secretary for the
P&F group (Parents and Friends).
Please see me if you are able to help
out with these tasks or positions.
Rachel Seeds
Grounds Coordinator
School Care Hours Coordinator
[email protected]
0417 772 838
parents and friends
Our P &F kicked off its first meeting for
the year on Friday May 17 May having
spent the first term establishing a
Constitution to work within. The 9 am
meeting time seemed more popular
with parents and it was lovely to have
so many attend with such thoughtful
input and enthusiasm that goes such a
long way to establishing a functioning
P & F committee for our community.
Ideas for P & F activities are on the pink
notice board by the office door if you
would like to know the items being
discussed by your P & F. All are welcome
to participate in these discussions and
if you have any ideas that are not on
the ‘Ideas List’, we would love to hear
from you. Please email or phone me
and it will be shared at the meetings.
We are looking forward with much
anticipation to launching an online
social networking system that Megan
3/3
Gill, Edwina Ryan and Mark Imrie
are working on. This is very near to
completion and will be launched very
soon. Congratulations to all that have
worked so well behind the scene
working on this and being so sensitive
to parent’s views, needs and concerns.
It is anticipated that this will be a
better tool to give parents enough time
leading up to events and generally keep
everyone more informed about school
activities so no one is missed out.
From all accounts it seems that the
P & F are off to a good start for the year
with some P & F run activities that our
families can be excited about and keen
to participate in.
P&F Coordinator
Leonie Wight
[email protected]
0404 942 443