50 Main Rd GEMBROOK 3783 Ph: 03 5968 1313 Fax: 03 5968 1548 email: gembrook.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au www.gembrookps.vic.edu.au

Gembrook Primary School

Mission Statement

A view to the future

Diary Dates

Gembrook Primary School is a welcoming and

respectful community that provides modern, flexible

learning spaces that support a personalised,

engaging and challenging learning program so that

students will achieve the social, emotional, academic and

physical growth to succeed in a global society.

20 April 2017

25 April ANZAC Day Public Holiday

26-28 April Camp Manyung (Grade 3/4)

2 May JLC Athletics Carnival from 2pm. Families welcome!

3-5 May Mother’s Day Stall

4-5 May Grade 2 Camp @ Gilwell Park

9-11 May NAPLAN (Grade 3 & 5 students only)

10 May Produce Market 1/2C

12 May PFA School Disco

13 May Gembrook Primary School Open Day 9-11am Gembrook Kinder Open Day

15 May Student First Aid Training

18 May PFA Food Day

19 May Curriculum Day-No students at school

24 May EDEC Cross Country grades 3-6 School Council Meeting 7pm

25 May School Photos

26 May Fire Safe Kids by Gembrook CFA

6 June EDEC Lightning Prem

12 June Public Holiday

13 June Division Cross Country

13-15 & 20-21 June

School nurse visits (preps)

14 June Produce Market 1/2H

21 June School Council

28 June EDEC Soccer Play Off

30 June Last day of Term 2-early pickup at 2.30pm

Vision: To provide every student with every opportunity to be the best they can be.

Value: Respect & High Expectations

Notes that have gone home

JLC Sports Day

Grade 2 Gilwell Camp

Camp Manyung (grades 3/4)

All notices can be accessed from the school website: www.gembrookps.vic.edu.au

# Betty’s will continue to provide school lunches on Mondays & Fridays.

There will be no school lunches on Monday 24 April.

Due to circumstances beyond their control, Betty’s will

be closed to the general public until further notice.

Grade 3/4 & Grade 2 Camps

Permission and medical forms for Grade 2 Camp at Gilwell are now overdue– if you haven’t already done so, please submit this week. Payment in full is due on Friday 28 April. Permission and medical forms for the Grade 3/4 Camp at Camp Manyung are now overdue. If you have not already done so, please submit immediately. Payment in full is due on Friday 21 April.

A VIEW TO THE FUTURE

Bren’s Banter

Dear Families and Friends, A very warm welcome back everyone to what is shaping up to be an exciting term of learning at Gembrook. I hope you all had a lovely holiday and Easter, and are now feeling energised as we resume our year of learning together. There is plenty happening this term (as always) including the start of our Blitzmaster Program (please see information below), Grade 2 Camp at Gilwell Park, Grade 3/4 Camp at Manyung, Mother’s Day Stall, Fast Footy Maths Competition, NAPLAN, School Disco, EDEC Cross Country, Our School Open Day, JLC Athletics, Murrundindi, Gembrook CFA Kids Safe and PFA Food Day. Further information regarding these initiatives and activities will be sent home shortly. Welcome Ms Irvin As a school, we are very excited to announce that Jess Irvin will be teaching Art and Environmental Education for the remainder of this year. Jess has been a valued member of our school community for a long time and in fact attended Gembrook Primary School as a student! We are very fortunate to have the artistic skill and environmental passion that Jess brings to her new role. Welcome Miss Irvin! School grounds: We are VERY proud of our buildings and grounds, as well as our awesome views out across the fields and valleys towards the superb Great Dividing Range. As a school, we are always striving to improve and this definitely includes our facilities. A big thank you to Stu Watson who completed lots of improvement work over the holidays including spraying, whipper snipping and pruning. Our maintenance man extraordinaire, Les Shane, also repaired lighting in the multi and constructed a new guard to protect the lights. Mathematics: Our two Applied Maths topics for this term are Mapping/Location and Mass, Volume and Capacity. These topics have brilliant links to ‘real life’ maths skills that our students will be able to take with them and apply throughout their lives. Teachers have planned some fantastic ‘hands on’ learning activities for these great maths topics. All students complete a pre-test at the beginning of each topic that establishes prior skills and knowledge, and informs lesson planning in order to maximise individual student learning and engagement. At the completion of each topic, all students complete a post-test that is used to measure student learning growth and to assess further areas for instruction. Blitzmaster: Blitzmaster is a maths program that we are very excited to implement this term across the whole school. Blitzmaster aims to improve every student’s automaticity in number

including improving skills and knowledge in relation to instant recall of times tables, basic number facts and oper-ations. Blitzmaster is a fully differentiated program and will assist improvement in number skills across all levels of ability. Blitzmaster begins at Level 1 and ends at Level 26. Students are given 8 minutes to complete a levelled number sheet three times per week and individual student results are recorded and collated electronically. A typical Blitzmaster session also involves time spent practising times tables. We are sending one completed Blitzmaster sheet home this week. Please use the completed sheet as a guide to how you can be helping your child at home with basic number facts and times tables. If you have any questions about this exciting program, please see me or Miss Hutcheson. ANZAC Day We would love to see students participate in the Gembrook ANZAC Day March on Tuesday 25th April. ANZAC Day is a public holiday, so students will need to be accompanied and supervised by their parents. Students will also be required to wear full school uniform and meet with me at the corner of Main St. and Redwood Rd. at 10:30am in readiness for the march to the cenotaph commencing at 11:00am. Our school captains will lay a wreath on behalf of Gembrook Primary School and the official ceremony at the cenotaph will conclude at approximately 11:30am. ANZAC Day goes beyond the anniversary of the landing on Gallipoli in 1915. It is the day on which we remember all Australians who served and died in all wars and in operational service. The spirit of ANZAC, with its qualities of courage, mateship, and sacrifice, continues to have meaning and relevance for our sense of national identity. Open Day Saturday 13th May Our Open Day will take place on Saturday 13th May commencing at 9:00am and concluding at 11:00am. We would love to see lots of new prospective families come and take in a comprehensive tour of our beautiful school during the morning. Families of students from ALL levels are most welcome and student work will be on display in all classrooms. This is a fantastic opportunity to visit Gembrook Primary School and experience the welcoming and lovely community spirit that exists, as well as getting a feel for the comprehensive teaching and learning program on which Gembrook Pri-mary School prides itself. Our chooks are very grateful! A big thank you to the Acott family who looked after our chooks so well over the holidays. Your generosity is very much acknowledged and appreciated. Have a great week everyone and all the best!

Brendan (principal)

PFA Mother’s Day Stall

3-5 May

Cost of gifts: from $2 - $10

Stall will run at lunch time & after school

(stall will only run on Friday 5 May if stock available)

Hey everyone, During the last week of term one, we had some excellent auditions for the role of Fast Footy Commentator. We also received many forms from MLC & SLC students who will help out in the roles of Time Keeper, Scoreboard & Goal Umpire. Below are the excellent volunteers who will help make Fast Footy FANTASTIC! Please congratulate the following students when you see them. MLC: Commentators: Harrison C, Charlie G, Airliah W & Poppi D Scoreboard: Amelie G, Brad K & Payton K Timekeeper: Phoebe M, Mitchell A, Matilda L & Lauren M Goal Umpire: Annabelle D, Natalie L, Milla A & Isabella W SLC: Commentators: Hollie K, Eva G, Jake R, Jackson A, Bradley W, Toby W, Liam W & Jack S Scoreboard: Holly N, Dani G, Bella M & Nerina R Timekeeper: Charlotte W, Emma A, Keilah D, Laura M & Hayley W Goal Umpire: Mackenzie B, Mia G, Vanessa M & Molly L Fast Footy begins on Tuesday May 2nd @ Recess in the Library starting with the Grade 3's. Stay tuned for more updates.

Parents, I am available to support your child through any difficulties

they may be experiencing. Please contact me through the school

office.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. Kind Regards, John Chambers aka Johnicles Chaplain

Chronicles of Johnicles

April

23 Eric L

25 Emily A

26 Jaimie M

27 Tobias G

Joke of the Week

Why did the cow cross the road?

To get to the udder side!

A safety reminder that student bikes should not be ridden in the school grounds during

school hours 8.45-3.45 Thank you

Mrs Everett’s Farewell Assembly

Mum’s Exercise Class

(dads welcome too)

Join Tarsh in the Multi

On Tuesdays & Fridays @ 9.30am

Boost Metabolism

Increase fitness, strength

& overall health

$10 per class

Bring a bottle of water, a towel

& a mat (if you have one)

For more information phone Tarsh 0412 183 329

Mum’s Exercise Class will have a break from Friday 21 April - Friday 5 May. Classes will resume on Tuesday 9 May

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$10 per business card per term (businesses belonging to school families only)

$25 quarter page for 2 weeks

(for businesses outside school community)

$25 quarter page per term

(school families only)