Weetangera Primary School Newsletter | Week 7, Term 3 2024

From Mel

It’s been a wild and windy week but what fun we’ve had! It’s so nice to have some warmth in the weather. There are flowers popping up here and there and this week we even had a kangaroo on the playground (it made for a very exciting lunch!). Spring is here!

School Review

In term 4 (week 1 in fact), our school will undertake a student-centred school review. During the review, an external panel of school leaders will visit our school and talk with students, staff and the community about a range of topics. The outcome of the school review will help us develop our strategic priorities for the next few years. We will provide more information about this in the next newsletter, so please stay tuned to learn more about how you can be involved and have your say.

Just Be Kind

Our school values are Respect, Responsibility, Resilience and Inclusion. I think it’s fantastic that our students can articulate these values so well, and through their learning in PBL understand how these values translate to all the things they do each day. Some great examples that I’ve seen lately include:

• A group of year 5/6 students who spontaneously burst into a round of ‘happy birthday’ when they learned that a younger student – just passing by – was celebrating their birthday.
• The patience and kindness from our senior ‘buddies’ as they play and learn with our preschool and kindergarten students.
• A group of our year 3 boys helping a kindergarten student that was ‘stuck’ on a playground structure to get down safely.
• The students that are out in the playground every day picking up and sorting rubbish (though I really do wish they didn’t have to do this! I wonder how we can be more waste wise in the things we bring to school).

These are just some of the things I notice, and I know that there is a lot more I don’t see.

Sadly, sometimes we do need to remind (and teach) our students about respect and inclusion, and how their words can be as hurtful as their actions.

I have noticed that there is a trend among young people to say unkind things in quite a casual way. Sometimes they might describe this as ‘roasting’, and other times it does seem like there is an intent to hurt. It’s important to remember that when we make a comment about someone else, whether it be about their appearance, gender, race, religion or anything else, it has the potential to be hurtful. This is defined as harassment.

My advice to everyone is always lead with kindness, and I think the good old adage of ‘if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything’ still applies today. We are continuously reminding children of this, and they learn some good strategies as part of learning about our values. But, sometimes they forget or make mistakes. I like this quote from Dr Jamie Howard:

“Kids engage in all kinds of behaviour that isn’t a reflection of who they are as a person. They’re still figuring things out. They can be nice kids who have made some mistakes.”  

But when they do, children also need to know how to manage it and what to do next. We talk to them about that at school too. If your child does tell you that people are saying unkind and hurtful things to them, here are some things you could talk about (this information is taken from the Bullying No Way website).

• Turn your back and walk away.
• Tell someone. When it happens at school tell a teacher on duty, or your classroom teacher.
• Try to stay positive. Focus on the things you do well and people who like and play with you.
• Hang around with people who help you feel good about yourself.

Coming up! Dates for your calendar:

Friday 13 September (week 8):

SRC Dress-up fundraiser for Craniofacial Australia: Superheroes vs Villains.

Tuesday 17 September (week 9):

ACT Track and Field Carnival.

P&C Meeting – 6pm (online – see below).

Wednesday 18 September (week 9):

Year 4-6 excursion to Belconnen High School musical performance.

Galleries of Learning – 4-6pm. You should have received an invitation by now. Come along and share in the amazing learning of Weetangera students. 

Tuesday 24 September (week 10): Year 5 combined band excursion.

Thursday 26 September (week 10): Lapathon – dress as our favourite character and walk to raise money!

In between we have lots of amazing learning still to come. What fun we have!

Enjoy your weekend.

Mel

Melanie.Bezear@ed.act.edu.au

School Satisfaction and Climate Survey

You should have recently received an email inviting you to participate in the 2024 School Satisfaction and Climate Survey. This survey provides the school with valuable information on how we are meeting the needs of our students and the broader community. It is a great opportunity for parents to provide feedback on things we are doing well and things we may need to review. At present, the response rate for parents stands at just 10.4% meaning there are many families whose views have not been represented. If you are able, please complete the survey as soon as possible. If you require assistance with this please contact the school.

Parent Portal App

Parent Portal at Weetangera

Parent Portal is now available. It is a secure online platform used to share student information between you and your child’s teachers.

Some reminders about Parent Portal:

• If you already have a Parent Portal account, use this Parent Portal access link to start using the great features.
• You can’t access Parent Portal directly through the ACT Digital Account website, you need to use the link above.
• When you are logged into Parent Portal, we recommend saving the browser as a favourite or to the homepage on your mobile phone for quick access in the future.
• The website can only be viewed using a web browser on your computer, mobile phone or tablet. An app is not available at this time.
• If you still need to register, you will need an access key and a Parent Portal registration link via email to link your existing account to your child’s records. If you haven’t received this, please contact the school’s front office team for assistance.

Head to our website for all the details:

https://www.weetangeraps.act.edu.au/For_Parents/parent_portal

What's Happening in the Bumble Bees

In Week 6, we started a new Global Concept ‘Voice’. For Voice, we have a focus on the past. Our overarching question is ‘How do objects tell the story of time?’. We started with an activity where we looked at some objects from the past and then came up with some wonderings. From those wonderings, we will look at some some different aspects of the past each week. Our first week, we had a look at Family structures and roles of family members in the past. This was inspired by Zoe, who wondered why it was that in the past women couldn’t fight in the war.

From there, we explored lots of information about what family life was like in the past, then did our weekly ‘Draw, Talk, Write’ writing cycle on this topic. In the afternoons, we enjoyed having a go at some chores and roles of children in the past, such as washing clothes, scrubbing floors, and churning butter. This was a big novelty for the Bumble Bees!

Below are some examples of our writing about families in the past.

Comparing Families in the Past & Present

In the past, at war, men were allowed to fight. The women had to stay at home and look after the children.

In the present, women can go to work. If they have children, one of them has to stay home.

By Finn.

In the past, Families were big. In the past, women weren’t allowed to go to war. In the past, family photos were black and white. Now, families have less kids. Some have two mums. After the war, women were allowed to go to work.

By Fletcher.

In the past, families had lots of kids.

Now, families look different. Some families have one child.

By Caylene.

In the past, families had to do lots of work so the house was clean.

In the present, you can marry whoever you want.

By Anna.

Tarnii Boland 

What's Happening in the Fantastic Foxes

Our term 3 focus has been investigating different environmental issues. The Foxes have been using their knowledge of persuasive writing and information researched to persuade audiences to make a more sustainable choice to help our planet. We have practiced writing a lot of arguments for and against statements such as ‘Dogs Make Better Pets Than Cats’ or ‘Uniforms should be Banned’, using strong modality words to convince their listeners. Here are some environmental issues that the Foxes care deeply about.

My chosen environmental issue is plastic pollution in The Great Barrier Reef. It’s important because it’s home to thousands of little animals. We must not throw rubbish into the reefs and oceans because turtles are mistaking it as jellyfish and eating it. We must put our rubbish in the right bins and use more reusable products. – Aarya

We need more trees and native plants for our animals, and for our planet to survive. If we keep cutting down trees for too long we have higher risks of this Earth dying quicker. We could make more native plant forests or stop littering rubbish. – Suki

I chose to talk about fossil fuels because fossil fuels are one of the most important environmental issues in the world. Fossil fuels are one of the most pollutive in the world too. We need to use more renewable energy and fossil fuels SHOULD be banned. – Samuel

We should help the Great Barrier Reed because it gets bleached a lot. We need to do better to help the reef and protect the coral from dying. – Mila

Do not litter instead reuse rubbish including putting it in the right bins. If we keep littering we will kill the animals without even noticing. – Paddy 

Last Monday, Year 2 went on an excursion to Mulligan’s Flat Sanctuary to meet with Rangers and understand the work that they do to help animals and their habitats. We were able to explore water quality by bug testing water, learn about the tracking and trapping job the rangers do to help monitor an animal’s health and wellbeing.  It was such a beautiful day to be outside walking in an important sanctuary and noticing how much knowledge Year 2 have about the concept of Sustainability. We look forward to sharing our final artefacts in Week 9’s Galleries of Learning.

Alongside our investigation of environmental issues we have been mapping our case studies and natural landmarks around Australia to develop our understanding of how places can be spatially represented in different geographical divisions. The Foxes loved sharing their connections to various parts of Australia and locate where familiar landmarks are located as well as where popular animal species reside.

Rosie Kingelty 

What's Happening in the Kookaburras

Hello from Year 3 Kookaburras.  We have had a very busy couple of weeks.  We have focussed on science this term, looking at living things and life cycles.  At the moment we are creating our own made up creatures.  We are drawing them and labelling any distinguishing features.  We are describing our animal’s habitat and diet and how they meet their needs as living things. We are also creating a life cycle for our creatures.  Some of our creatures are very creative.

Joanne Lawson

What's Happening in the Big Fishys

In Maths and Art this term we have been learning about tessellations. We investigated the language used and what it means. Translation = slide, reflection = flip and rotation = turn. We created 3 artworks that reflected, translated, and rotated a rectangle and a hexagon.

• Harrison said the hexagon tessellation was the hardest because it was a different shape.
• Hunter enjoyed the second artwork (rotation) the most because it was fun to make and create the pattern and it was very eye-catching.
• Avery said the first tessellation was the hardest because I had never done it before, and the last one was the most fun because it was fun to do all the dots on it.

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Through our global concept of Sustainability, we have been investigating waste and looking at different ways we can reduce our waste. The Big Fishys have been tasked with writing letters to a Member of Parliament about a sustainability issue that they feel passionate about. We have been looking at high modality words, rhetorical questions and inclusive language.

We wrote 3 paragraphs and gave them to a peer to identify the TEEL structure and give some positive feedback. Here are a few of our letters.

Dear MP,

I am going to talk to you about fast fashion and how we should stop wasting clothing. I think we should stop putting useful materials in landfills after only a few days. Fast fashion is a really big problem.

Shops are stealing and copying ideas which is causing some arguments between stores. They make their clothes cheaper and cheaper, making sure that their shop gets more popular than the other one. This is a problem because to make cheaper clothes they have to get different materials of what is bad for the environment. The cheaper the clothing the worse for the environment.

373,000 tonnes of new clothes are imported each year with the average person only wearing 20% of their clothes. It’s such a waste of resources that could maybe be useful for something else. For example when producing a cotton shirt there is 700 gallons of water required and one single pair of jeans takes up 2,000 gallons. This is a giant waste of materials that should definitely not have to be dealt with.

Of the 80% of the clothes that are not worn, they are thrown out to landfill, and they break down to micro plastic. The micro plastics then get into your and the animals’ body which makes us and the animals sick. Some animals even die from them. Micro plastics are getting more and more common and the impact is getting more and more worse. Clothing is a big part that keeps our earth clean

Please change something about fast fashion.

Ben

‘Letter to MP

Dear Andrew Leigh

It has come to my concern that there has been a lot of food waste. There are a lot of reasons for this that will be shown in this letter. I do hope that you take this letter and listen to me.

One reason is that the supermarkets are too strict on the fruit and veg that can come on to the shelf. Like this carrot

It is to not strait so it will be chucked out.

The supermarket have tried to start a odd

bunch which is a good start, but it is not the

 end, we can do more!

Another reason is, so much of the food is

transported from other countries. This

is bad because it can carry diseases into Aus which then sees the food being chucked out. On the journey the food can get mouldy and go bad, with sadly gets the food chucked out.

Conclusion

I hope you take something out of this letter and not get rid of it because I am 11 years old. If you listen to people's voices this world can be better.

Kind regards

Siddhik Patel

Fast fashion

Fast fashion is destroying our environment and it has to stop!!

Hello, this is a letter about fast fashion about fast fashion and the chaos it’s putting us in.

Fast fashion is only making us throw out more and more clothes into landfill which is not helping our environment.

Sure fast fashion might be good in the sense it's affordable and always in trend but it’s bad in the sense that it’s all just copy write, which means they copied these designs off other people and made it cheap and with it being so cheap it will only last you a little bit. The fast-fashion industry, of which SHEIN is a part of, has been criticised for using harmful chemicals in the production of its garments. These chemicals can have negative effects on the environment, as well as on the health of workers and consumers. Big fast fashion companies such as Shein and Temu, need to start taking responsibility for their impact on the environment and encourage people to buy better quality goods which are better for the environment. And us consumers. Something  you probably  didn't know, but Clothing that is worn less than 5 times and disposed of within 35 days (i.e. fast fashion), generates 400% more carbon than an item worn 50 times and retained for a year. 13. 60% of garments were made with polyester. Polyester is three times more carbon-intensive than cotton. Plus the fact it takes in average 1500 gallons of water to produce a single pair of blue jeans. That includes growing the cotton and the manufacturing, but it doesn't include the water that you'll use to wash your jeans over time. One third of the water needed to make a pair of jeans is used to grow the plants (e.g. cotton).

Fun Facts:

• 30% of our clothing we don't wear
• The term, “fast fashion” was first used at the beginning of the 1990s, when Zara opened in New York.13 June 2024
• it takes 700 gallons of water to make a cotton shirt
• Shoes can take up to 1,000 years to break down.

Now, I know that people wear clothes to look good just as well as protection but how will it make you look if you're destroying our environment where some people live because they can't afford  all this fashion.

 Passing down is a great idea if your clothes don't fit, give it to a sibling or friend or swapping your clothes at a centre or with friends for fun that way  people get to try something new including you. Something people do is upcycling, it's when you turn an outfit you don't want or like into something new.

What I would like you to do is share these ideas to the public and tell them the harm it's doing to the environment. That way, they know the harm that they’re doing, and  will stop. Someone has to tell them ,because if they don’t know, they won't stop. 

Alaya

Bec Spoors

What's Happening in the Green Machines

This term 5/6 EM has read a book called Hatchet. Hatchet is a book about a boy named Brian, Brian was trying to go to his dad after finding a horrible secret about his mum. As he was going to see his dad the pilot had a horrible accident and the plane crashed, that was it. Brian was all alone, no family no home. He was all alone and he was hoping someone would find him, but no- three days go by, one week goes by and no one found him. By then he had found out how to fish, how to be friends with animals and how to make a fire. One day a plane came by Brian, he tried to get help but he was too slow. He became sad again but the next day when he woke up he realised it was time to turn his life around. I really liked this book because it gets into the action right away, I love how there is always something going on and it gives us something to think about as you turn the page.

-Jessica JC

Year 6 are doing Business and we have been planning our Market Day stalls. So far we have chosen what we are going to do on Market Day and our slogan and name. Our group is called ‘Figure It Out.’ The customer plays by shooting a tower of cups and there are pieces of minifigures in each cup full of heads then another tower of cups full of bodies. Next, the player shoots a cup and then they get whatever is in the cup. So far it is a fun experience to plan the market day stall.

- Anish G

This semester, Year 5 have been participating in business. In this subject, we learnt about what a consumer is and the rights consumers have. We played a game where we pretended to own a fishing shop with $200 and then the dice decides whether our shop profits or goes bankrupt. Next we looked at what are wants and what are needs. In summary, it was a very fun unit and great practice for adulthood!

- Kevin C

Recently in year 5/6 we have had the opportunity to learn some new soccer skills from two coaches, Aiden and Luke. They taught us a range of skills including dribbling and passing the ball. We also played a few mini games where we had to dribble the ball past tippers, as well as a few actual games. In my opinion the overall experience was fun and I would like to do more soccer clinics in the future.

- Adam S

The soccer clinics were fun to play and helped us get better at soccer. I also think that if we play more soccer we can increase the exercise for all the students in 5/6. If we do that we could get better at running and more sports so that way we can get more students in the athletics carnival and we can potentially win a title in the state championships. I know Mr McRae will be really happy about that and this is why I think we should start having these soccer clinics every Tuesday and Friday and also use this opportunity to practise for all the year sixes to crush the teachers in the soccer match!

- Lachlan P

This term Year 5/6 have been watching a show based on sustainability called “War on Waste.” A guy called Craig has been trying to help our community by showing everyone how much waste we make, instead of just making posters. The topics we have been focusing on this term are plastic, food waste and fast fashion. Because we’ve watched these episodes everyone now knows that we have impacted the earth a lot!

- Annabelle L

In Sustainability we made a hexagon. We researched and tackled dot points on certain topics and then put this information on a hexagon and drew a diagram of our topic. Your topic could be recycling, batteries, plastic, wind turbines, bins and fast fashion. I enjoyed this because it was fun to write and draw.

- Archie B

In 5/6 we've been learning about Sustainability, e.g. food waste, fast fashion, plastic bags and fast furniture. For sustainability we’ve been working on a persuasive letter to MP Member of Parliament.

- Norah N 

Recently in 5/6EM we have been looking at Sustainability, specifically topics like food waste, plastic bags and fast fashion so we can write a letter to our local MP about the problems with our community’s lack of sustainability. We’ve been researching our own topics to write about including fast furniture, agriculture, recycling bins, and renewable energy which all play a big part in our Earth’s environment. I think this is really fun because I like learning about the environment and the things we can do to help it. If we don’t think about sustainability, not only will it affect people and animals right now, but it will also affect the next generation and their future. I don’t think I want to live in a generation where turtles don’t exist because of our bad choices!

- Poppy P

Earlier this term, we started our new global concept of Sustainability. As an introduction, the Green Machines got the opportunity to make a hexagon to display in the classroom. The hexagon had a mix of information and illustrations based on a sustainable topic (Food waste, plastic bags, renewable energy etc.) I liked how this was a gentle introduction to sustainability but we still learned things. I also liked that we got to pick our topic because it just makes it easier to learn about something you are passionate about. One of the challenges that I faced was the illustrations. I am not a very talented artist but I still wanted some sort of illustration on my hexagon. The topic I was doing was FOGO bins (Food Organics and Garden Organics) so I decided to draw a set of bins. But at the end of the day, what stood out to me the most was that all the classes did it because you got to see everyone else’s work and their view on sustainability. 

- Maddy O

This term the Year 5/6 cohort’s global concept is Sustainability. We have been learning about the three r's: reduce, reuse and recycle. To learn more about the three r’s we watched some episodes from a show called War on Waste. The Green Machines learned all about fast fashion, food waste and plastic bags. The host Craig documented how much food we waste, how we throw out clothes we wear once or twice and also how some people don’t care as much because they’re cheap. Craig also talked about how we use too many plastic bags. 

I’m disgusted by how much we waste or throw out. The whole of year 5/6 were able to write a letter to a member of parliament about what we think is a problem with our environment and I chose meat consumption. I love this task! I think it’s important that even though we’re in year 5/6 we can still make a difference to our planet that we live on and care about. We all need to make a change!

- Lottie F 

Year 5/6 has been visiting the younger years in a program called Buddies. Year 5s have preschool buddies and the year 6s get kinder buddies, year 5s eat lunch with their buddies. The program was designed to help younger students feel better about going to primary school and to have a familiar face on the playground. Sometimes matches don't work out and buddies may be changed. Most buddies are the same gender, but they can be different and that is good for diversity and new friendships. Buddies spend the time before lunch on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to play together and talk about school and what each buddy likes. It is a nice time for each person to bond with a younger or older student.   

- Dora SF

Erwin McRae 

Student Congress

Last Friday we attended the Minister's Student Congress with Ms Cottam. This was run by students from year 10 and 11 from schools all across Canberra. Leaders from years 2-12 attended to discuss topics that were important to students, this included: artificial intelligence in schools, mental health, community connections and student centred learning. 

The main topics that we focused on were community connections and student centred learning. In community connections we talked about how we could link things we do outside of school into our school community. Then in student centred learning we discussed the ways people learn and how everyone learns in different ways and how we work in different environments. 

Something we enjoyed about it was that it was run by 15-17 year olds meaning that they could relate to our problems. Another thing we enjoyed was that at break times all the kids and even some of the leaders running the congress came out to play soccer with us. We also liked that near the end of the day, a panel came in and told us about their own experiences and we got the opportunity to ask them questions. 

What we think the congress could improve on was discussing all topics that were advertised. Unfortunately we didn't get to discuss Artificial Intelligence or Mental health. But overall it was a great opportunity to learn more about how other schools thought and talk to leaders from other schools to see their point of view. 

MJ, Maddy, and Vix

Dress up day - Gold Coin Donation

Christian Education in Schools

Christian Education in Schools volunteers will provide a session at Weetangera PS on Monday 16 September, 1.45-2.45pm. This session will be provided only to students that have opted in via the permission note. Please visit the school front office to get a copy of the permission form.

Library News

Scholastic Book Club Issue 6 is available now. Orders are due by 13 September 2024.

Scholastic Book Club: Issue 6 2024 by Scholastic Australia - Issuu

PBL

P&C Update

Fathers Day

What a great day it was starting out with a coffee, bacon & egg rolls and baked treats to kick of Father’s Day weekend. We had a fantastic turnout and lots of smiles and family hangs.

A huge thankyou to Zoe, Max and all those who baked to make the morning a huge success!!

Lap A Thon

We have a theme! The SRC have been deliberating and have come up ‘favourite character’ theme for this years Lap A Thon.

The kids will be running up a storm on Thursday 26 September and you should have received sponsorship forms through your email this week. Time to hit up family members, friends, neighbours or anyone else to raise some funds towards the playground upgrades and school improvements.

Be sure to block out the diary and come along to watch one of the best days on the school calendar.

Fete

Raffle baskets

Heading to the shops this weekend? Why not pop something extra in the bag to donate to our fete raffle baskets?

We are looking for donations for our five raffle basket themes: pamper, garden, toys, games, and sports. Donations of any size are welcome and we’d love some creative ideas to go into the baskets! Simply drop donations in to the basket at the front office. Remember the raffle baskets are for NEW items only - if you have second hand items for the fete please hand onto them for now and we’ll have more details soon!

No time to shop? You can make cash donations via the school front office and our raffle basket fairies will use them to purchase items for the baskets. 

Pick-a-jars

The pick-a-jar is how we do a lucky dip at the Weetangera fete, and we are looking to have more than 1,000 jars available this year. To make a jar simply follow these 4 steps:

1. Collect your empty jars
2. Collect small items to go in your jars - wrapped lollies, fidget toys, stationery are just a few ideas 
3. Fill your jar and pop the lid on
4. Wrap the jar in paper - wrapping paper, newspaper, old artwork, however you’d like to cover it!

Then simply drop your jars off to your child’s classroom anytime from now until the week of the fete (week 5 in term 4), or directly to the stall on the Saturday or Sunday morning on fete weekend. 

Kids enjoy making jars almost as much as picking them, so why not make a few jars as an activity these coming school holidays?

Canberra Southern Cross Club – Community Rewards

Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday 17 September @ 6pm online – if you would like to receive the online invite, please email Ben at Weetangera.pc.secretary@gmail.com . Be sure to clear the calendar and come along and share your ideas or just listen in to whats happening around the traps.

Key Dates

Lap a thon – Thursday 26 September

Fete – Sunday 17 November

Stay Connected

Stay up to date with what is happening with the P&C and the canteen by following us at:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/WeetangeraPandC

Instagram: www.instagram.com/WeetangeraSchoolPandC

Communication at Weetangera

Community Notices

The Team at Pro Performance Cricket are excited to announce our upcoming T20 Smash Cup Tournament & Holiday Cricket Camps. We offer intensive individual and group skill development for our players across all facets of the game. With an excellent coach to player ratio, and a focus on a positive and fun environment it’s a perfect opportunity for the kids to enhance and develop their games while having heaps of fun, making new friends and taking their game to a new level. 

Pro Performance Holiday Cricket Camps info and Booking link: https://properformancecricket.com/about-us/cricket-camps/

T20 Smash Cup Booking info and Booking Link: https://properformancecricket.com/t20-smash-cup/