Term 1 Week 6

5 March, 2009

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:

Tuesday 10 March 7.30pm P & C Meeting

Friday 13 March Zone Swimming Carnival

Thursday 19 March Selective High School Test

Dear Parents & Caregivers,

SCHOOL COUNCIL

The School Council meeting will be held today at 5pm. We will keep you informed regarding the focus of the meetings.

VISITORS TO THE SCHOOL

Parents if you are coming to the school to see a teacher or visiting your child for a particular purpose, you are required to come to the front office to sign in and collect a badge. Please do not come to the school and wander around the playground. The safety and welfare of the children at Carlton is most important and we would like to know who is in our school at any time of the day. Our new Kindergarten children are settling in well and often become scared and unsettled when they see strangers wandering around the school especially without an orange sign in badge..

ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR

When we have assembly we ask all students to join in the singing of Advance Australia Fair. Some parents have asked me for the words as they would like to join in also but have said they are unsure of all the words. Most people will know the first verse but we also sing the second verse. So parents, here is your homework.

STAGE RESOURCES

We would like to thank those parents who have already paid their child’s resource amount over the last few weeks. A note was sent out recently telling you the date that payments can be made for different stages. We have sent the note out early so that you will be prepared. We realise that some families are not in a position to pay all the amount at once and you can make arrangements to pay weekly if necessary (please see your teacher). However, if you can afford the stage resource amount we would greatly appreciate you sending the money along to school. In the past most parents have been able to meet this request.

The school needs to pay for the items on the resource list and we need your financial support to help run interesting programs for your children.

MATHLETICS - PARENT INFORMATION SESSION

An information evening about Mathletics was held on Monday night. A representative from Mathletics visited the school to explain the program and how parents are able to receive information about their child’s progress. Any parents wishing to know more about this program can visit the website, http://www.mathletics.com.au/ Look down the bottom of the page and click on Guides. Thank you to Mrs Ferguson for organizing this information evening

CONGRATULATIONS TO 4A

Mrs Aitken is very proud of the achievements of 4A in Mathematics. Her class has been working on another Maths program called “Maths on the Net” (see the link following) http://www.cap.nsw.edu.au/motn/brainwaves/stage2/Brainwave2.html

This program also enables children to compete against others and develop problems solving skills. 4A won gold in their latest Maths quest.

ADOPT- a- COW

The Canteen has registered the school in the “Adopt a Cow” program. It is important for children without allergies to drink milk. The canteen is now going to stock CalciYum Milk with chocolate and strawberry flavours. The milk is a lighter variety without as much fat content. For every carton of milk purchased 10c will be donated to the Country Women’s Association in NSW to support farming communities. The adopted cow for Carlton School comes from Garth Farm in Cohuna Victoria and is one of 240 cows on the farm. Please visit the Canteen to see how this initiative works.

HEALTHY LUNCHES

We have a fabulous canteen that caters for the tastes of all students. The canteen is accredited with the Healthy Canteen Association and also caters for children with dietary requirements such as those who require Halal food. The canteen is nut free and offers a range of special meal deals each week. There is absolutely no need for parents to come into the school bringing Mc Donalds food for children. The food from the canteen has the recommended levels of sugar and salt. If you do not want to use the canteen, food from home can be equally as nutritious. It is also very disruptive to teachers and students when there are the interruptions when parents deliver food to the class. Please take the time to consider these points.

COMMUNITY CLUB ACTIVITIES

Our wonderful community club members are busy organizing activities for families this term. Profits from these activities will be used to buy extra resources for the classrooms.

Family Portraits: If you are planning to have a family portrait taken please send your form and money to the office ASAP. Many of the time slots have already been taken but you can still book between 11am and 5pm.

Easter Raffle: Tickets will come home next Wednesday for our Easter Raffle. Please support this activity by selling the booklets of tickets. The draw for prizes will taken place on Monday 6 April, 2009

P&C MEETING

On Tuesday, 10 March, we will hold the next meeting of the Parent’s and Citizen’s Association. The meeting will start at 7:30pm and will be held in the staffroom. This meeting will also be the Annual General Meeting for the year where the President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer will be elected.

If you would like to nominate for one of the positions please give your name to Mrs Tollis beforehand. This is a great opportunity to meet other parents, find out what is happening in the school, learn more about particular items of interest e.g., asthma, allergies and discuss issues in or around the school.

GAMES AT SCHOOL

Parents; sometimes new games come onto the market which are fine but some games can cause upsets. There is one such game that has come to the attention of the teachers. It is called “Crazy Bones”. Children purchase a set of figures outside of school and unfortunately when they come to school to play, other children play for “keeps”. Please talk to your children and suggest to them that the games are “friendly” games where they return any figures at the end of the game. If this is not adhered to we may have to ban this game. The teachers are happy for children to be occupied during lunch but not at the expense of others and not if fights erupt.

HIGH SCHOOL SELECTIVE TESTS

Year 6 students who have applied for a place in a Selective High School in 2010 will need to sit for the Selective High School Tests on Thursday, 19 March. Parents will have information on the venue and the starting times for these tests. Parents will need to collect students from the test site at the end of the time. Carlton Public School is not responsible for students attending the Selective High School Tests. Thank you to Ms Flowers for all of the hard work in helping to prepare the students for this test.

TAEKWONDO

The Taekwondo lessons will begin on Thursday next week. There are still five (5) places left for children in Years 3-6. The instructor, Tui who works for the Instructor Paul Mitchell, took classes last year and is a black belt Taekwondo instructor. All students who participate will be part of an anti bullying program.

PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE 2009

Congratulations to the great readers who completed the 2008 Premier’s Reading Challenge as part of the biggest children’s book club in Australia. Welcome to the 2009 Challenge which runs from 1 February to 1September. Books read from 1 September 2008 can also count towards the 2009 Challenge. The Challenge website is https://products.schools.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html

Students register by using their DET username and password and then start their online reading record. All students completing the Premier’s Reading Challenge will receive a PRC Certificate and appear in the PRC Honour Roll. Privacy information about the certificate and Honour Roll can be read on the website. It is not possible for the school to register children.

SWIMMING CARNIVAL