Australia in 1976, he's

been telling stories and

singing songs about his

homeland, South Africa.

He spoke about growing

up under the apartheid

system, which forced

him to leave South

Africa, and how sharing

stories from his homeland

through performance and

song keeps his culture

alive.

This week is not yet over.

It has been a time of

sharing, celebrating and

marvelling at the happy

nature of our students and

witnessing the results of

their hard work and

persistence at school.

Thank you to everyone

who has attended an event

(or perhaps a few) this

week as we have opened

up our school for a wide

range of visitors; family

members and special

friends from far and wide.

It is not surprising to hear

staff professional learning

team (Community

Building) for their hard

work behinds the scenes

to make sure everything

worked like clockwork,

coordinated most

efficiently by Miss Lara

Mackie and Andrew

DeVisser. Well done!

Launching Place -’Education Week 2014’

Thursday Thoughts

L a u n c h i n g P l a c e P r i m a r y S c h o o l

Issue 16

Newsletter Date 22nd May 2014

Important Dates:

May

22nd

Book Character Dress

Up Day

22nd

WHYLD Market

3.30pm-5pm

23rd

Writing Workshop

Incursion

30th

Aussie Sport Expo

Grade 5/6 students

June

2nd-4th

Grade 3/4 Camp

6th

Book Club due

9th

Queen’s Birthday

11th

School Photo’s

13th

Disco

Student Absent

Hot Line Number

5964 7783

positive comments from

those who note the

positive tone of the

school, the outstanding

calibre of our teachers,

the cohesive nature of the

parents and friends group

and the quality of our

children.

We wish to make a

special mention to the

Due to flight cancellations,

our incursion with Sean

Choolburra has had to

postponed until later in the

year.

We were lucky enough to

have Valanga Khoza as a

replacement artist last

Monday.

Valanga Khoza was born

in the Limpopo province of

South Africa and grew up

in Alexandra, a black

township in Johannesburg

and one of the poorest

urban areas in the country.

Growing up in a

community where many

people could neither read

nor write; music and

storytelling became all the

more important for

Valanga. Since moving to

Incursion

throughout the day. They saw class

and aerobics performances as well

as joining the children in the

classrooms. They enjoyed their

morning tea, mingling with other

grandparents and friends over a hot

cup of tea or coffee and a plate of

delicious snacks. It was fantastic to

There have been many highlights

this week, including my favourite,

Grandparents/ Special Friend’s Day.

Photos are the best way to show

how successful our Grandparent’s

and Special Friend’s Day for 2014

was. There was an amazing turnout

with over 300 visitors to our school

see the children so proud and

excited about having the chance to

take their Nana, Pa or special friend

to their classrooms and for a tour of

the school.

Page 2 Thursday Thoughts

Launching Place Primary School Carter Street Launching Place 3139 Telephone 5964 7783 Fax 5964 6171 Email launching.place.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

ABN 96 199 518 803

Grandparent’s and Special Friend’s Day

progress to the Wildcard event with

yet another opportunity to progress

through to the ‘Finals’.

There were lots of videos and

photographs being taken. Just a

reminder about sharing videos of the

performances on social media - the

choreography is the intellectual

property of Candice Nyman and she

has requested that it be for your

personal viewing only.

Saturday saw an early start for many

families and staff as they journeyed

to Geelong for the Aerobics

Preliminary Championships. This

year we have seen 76 students,

participating in ten teams, involved

in the competition. It was a

successful day with six of the ten

teams automatically qualifying for

the ‘State Finals’ on Saturday, June

21st. The remaining four teams

Aerobics Preliminaries

Page 3

Please Note: That other advertisements and publications published in this newsletter do not imply

school or Department of Education and Early Childhood Development endorsement.

Presidents Report

School Council met last Tuesday night and discussed a number of items,

including:

Smoking on school grounds. Education Dept. policy dictates that there is to

be no smoking on school grounds, however, concern was raised that children waiting to be collected after school

at the rotunda and at the bottom carpark were still being exposed to smoke. School Council has recommended that

‘No Smoking’ signs be erected at both locations to discourage parents from lighting up. While we have no ability

to enforce this request, as it is on Shire land, we hope the school community will understand and abide by it.

Dogs on school grounds. A formal policy was prepared and presented to Council, which was subsequently

ratified. In essence, dogs must be on a leash and under the immediate control of an adult at all times. This in no

way prevents a dog from being bought along for ‘Show and Tell’ or as a part of ‘V.I.P.’ week. Just remember,

however, that any contribution the dog makes to our grounds must be disposed of appropriately by the dogs

owner! ( Policy has been attached to this newsletter).

The Hex building is having a facelift over the term break and we’ll need the help of 6 – 8 able bodied parents

(with trolleys) to help shift the contents of the rooms. If you’re able to help, contact Audrey in the front office.

Narelle and I met with representatives from the Shire and the Education Department last Friday to discuss the

bottom carpark. The work is likely to be undertaken over the Christmas break, spilling over into term one next

year. We were hoping to have the job done over the September break, but the timeline for tendering would be too

tight and unlikely to be achieved.

Cheers,

Andrew.

School Council

school, which includes stickers and

posters and for the first time, a

sophisticated Apple and Android

Walk Safely to School Day will be

held throughout Australia on Friday

24 May 2014. This annual, national

event encourages all Primary School

children to walk and commute

safely to school. The community

event seeks to promote Road Safety,

Health, Public Transport and the

Environment and communicates the

vital road safety messages. National

Walk Safely to School Day will be

sending a promotional pack to our

App called ‘Walk Safely to School

Day’. This App will assist our

children to map: kilometres travelled (to and from school), times spent

walking, average speeds and kilojoules burnt. We hope all

children are able to ‘stretch their

legs’ a little more in some way on

this day.

Regards,

Narelle Messerle and Deb Hobbis

National Walk Safely to School Day

Page 4 Thursday Thoughts

Parents and Friends Next upcoming event is the Disco on Friday 13th June, date will be confirmed and information will be sent

home soon.

Next meeting is Monday 2nd June in the staffroom just after assembly. So come along have a cuppa and chat

about future fundraising activities.

invented their own planet and space

colony. We have enjoyed learning

about space and beginning our

PowerPoint presentation.

Grade 5/6: Wow, what a busy week

we had. We have been revising the

four processes and started a Maths

journal. We have enjoyed learning

about characters. We loved playing

hockey with Mr Gray and cooking

with Miss Stewart from Upper

Yarra Secondary College. We are

super excited about our upcoming

Interschool Sports game at Badger

Creek on Friday.

Principal: Last week ended with a

highly successful Aerobics

weekend. Congratulations to all the

10 teams—you represented yourself

and the school well. Six teams have

automatically progressed to the state

finals. A special thanks to Miss

Nyman and Mrs Kemp for the many

early mornings and lunch time

practice sessions.

School Captain’s Report Prep: In Maths we have been

learning to name the days of the

week. We looked at different

versions of the ‘Very hungry

Caterpillar’ and sequenced the days.

We looked at numbers before and

after. In Literacy, we are really

enjoying using our book boxes and

have looked at the Café reading

strategy: ‘ can use the pictures to

read a word! We had fun at Photo

Trail.

Grade 1/2: In 1/2 this week we have

worked on the Café strategy of

reading on and going back to work

out the word and re-telling the story.

In writing we have been practising

the letter x and the number 3. In

Maths we have been working on

addition strategies and money. We

really enjoyed the Photo Trail and

had an awesome time.

Grade 3/4: Last week Grade 3’s

were busy completing the NAPLAN

test while the Grade 4 students

Canteen

Student Awards

Grade Prep F Hannah C

Max B

Grade Prep K Curtis D

Grade 1/2 B Ella T

Grade 1/2 N Taleisha B

Madison P

Aaron C

Darcy T

Grade 1/2 S Aden M

Luca L-H

Grade 3/4 F Kayla M

Bailee L

Grade 3/4 S Sophie G

Jai D

Zoe M

Grade 5/6 L Mason B

Chloe M

Holly B

Grade 5/6 R Erin S

Jack A

If you send your child/ren’s lunch order on an envelope please include

10¢ in the order for the cost of a paper bag.

Slushies are NOT available this term.

Roster

May 29th Maryann E, Janine K, Peta R

June 5th Fiona T, Gillian S, Bianca D

12th Janie G, Jodie D, Jaimie C

Page 5

Family Day Care

In

Hoddles Creek

Personal home based

childcare with small groups.

Play based learning with no

T.V.

Family Day Care is supported

by Murrindindi Shire Council.

Childcare Benefit and Rebate

can be applied for.

Vacancies for 2014 now

available

Enquiries welcome please call

Lisa 0402 730 126

Page 6 Thursday Thoughts

LET’S GO FAMILY DAY CARE

A locally run scheme, providing warm, nurturing care to

small groups of children

At Lets Go Family Day Care, we put the "Family" into Family

Day Care.

Children are cared for in a warm, safe, homely environment

that consists of only a small group of children.

We have vacancies for care in Warburton, Yarra Junction, Wesburn and Millgrove.

Our educators are qualified and trained to provide the best possible care for your child. Each

educator is monitored and supported by our coordination unit, to enable them to continually grow

professionally within themselves.

Reduced fees are available as we are CCB and CCR approved through the Department of

Education.

If you have any enquiries in relation to finding care for your child, or if you would like to find out

how to become an educator, please call Olivia Moller on 59 647 244 or 0402315332.

PIANO LESSONS ARE

HERE

BEGINNER PIANO LESSONS FOR YOUNG & OLD

Piano is hard work! Piano takes years to get anywhere! You need to

practice scales and exercises for a long time before you get to have

any fun and play great songs...

WRONG!!!

Piano can be fun straight away. You can learn to play two-handed

tunes in your first lesson! Piano instruction has come a long way in

the last few decades. New techniques and approaches allow for the

student to enjoy the learning process and experience making music

straight away. Piano is a journey, not a destination, so the experience

should be enjoyable.

I specialise in absolute beginners for children and adults. Cost is $20

upfront for materials, and $20 per 25 minute lesson. Students will

take home songs and exercises to practice. Private lessons are being

offered for the kids at Launching Place Primary School each

Thursday morning starting on the 13th of March. Private lessons are

also available for children and adults outside these hours by

appointment.

If you or your child have always wanted to learn piano, I would love

to help you make this come true.

Contact Corrie on 0401 096 079 or check out www.thefifthcorner.co/

music

Corrie Wade

THE FIFTH CORNER

"Choreography for Life"

www.thefifthcorner.co

www.facebook.com/TheFifthCornerDanceCompany

www.facebook.com/TheFifthCornerDivineMathematics

0401096079

Page 7