Westlawn Public School

Newsletter Term 3 Week 1

23rd July 2019

Strive to Achieve

North Street, Grafton. 2460 6642 7466 westlawn-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Welcome back to Term 3. I hope all our Westlawn

students are feeling rested, revitalised and ready

to learn!

Our Teaching Team hit the deck running

yesterday, with a day of professional learning. The

morning session focused on school planning and

was led by Principal School Leadership, Sam

Rowsell. The second session, presented by

Education Consultant, Sharon Gayle, workshopped

aligning Creating Texts and Additive Strategies

with the Learning Progressions. The day

concluded with a session run by our Project Team

Leaders on the Science and Technology Syllabus.

This term sees many exciting events at Westlawn

Public School - Science Week, the Clarence and

MNC Athletics Carnivals, Education Week, the

Aunty Peach visiting performance – to name a few.

The biggest event by far though, is our biennial

Spring Fair to be held on 20 September at the

school. It will be my first Westlawn Spring Fair

and I am really looking forward to it! The Spring

Fair is an excellent example of student and adult

collaboration, community connectedness,

creativity and result for effort. Save the date on

your calendar now. This is an event not to be

missed!

Kind Regards,

Sandra

FORTNIGHTLY NEWSLETTERS FROM TERM 3

ON

The school has added the Skoolbag App to its

communications package, so our newsletters have

moved to fortnightly on odd weeks. Information

will continue to be communicated regularly as

required via FaceBook, the school website and

Skoolbag.

PARENTING INFORMATION FROM MICHAEL

GROSE

Recently, I saw a mother give a simple, yet

profound resilience lesson to her three year old.

The toddler fell into his dog’s bowl, saturating his

t-shirt and giving himself a fright. His mum

quickly helped him saying, “Oh well!” The three-

year-old bravely parroted his mother, saying, “Oh

well!” and dashed off to play.

Adult reactions matter

It’s in our reactions to these and other every day

mistakes, mess-ups, muck-ups and hurts where

the big lessons in resilience are taught and

reinforced.

The lessons for the three-year-old were simple

but profound. “Oh well” meant:

Stuff happens Don’t look for fault or blame Keep your perspective

Principal’s Message

Strive to Achieve

North Street, Grafton. 2460 6642 7466 westlawn-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Pick yourself up and continue with what you were doing

How to react

The resilience lesson for older children and

teenagers was equally as profound. When a minor

mishap occurs:

Match your response to the incident Stay calm and be positive Don’t look for fault or blame Remember, stuff happens

Resilience lesson for parents – “Oh well”

Every day there are opportunities for parents to

give their children lessons in resilience.

A child misses being picked for a team that he had

his heart set on joining. “Oh well. Let’s see how you

go next time.”

When a boy experiences rejection in the

playground at school. “Oh well. You’ll find that

some people don’t want to be your friend.”

When a teenage girl doesn’t get the mark she

thinks she deserves in an assignment. “Oh

well. Sometimes we don’t get the marks we think

we deserve.”

Match your response to the challenge to

promote resilience

There are times when “Oh well” won’t cut it.

When a child is bullied he needs your continued

support.

When a student’s continuous efforts at

improvement are constantly met with criticism

then you may need to act on his behalf.

When a child always struggles to make the grade

and is never picked for a team then you may need

to help him make different choices.

These types of situations also present

opportunities for daily lessons in resilience, but

they require more parental support and teaching.

The resilience lessons learned are deeper and

include concepts such as ‘things will eventually go

your way,’ ‘there are times when you need to seek

help’ and ‘this too shall pass.’

Promoting personal resilience focuses on helping

kids cope with life’s hurts, disappointments and

challenges in the present, while building strengths

for the future.

Daily lessons in resilience are everywhere. You

need to be ready to make the most of these

valuable lessons when they come your way.

PARKING AROUND OUR SCHOOL

Please note that parking restrictions apply around our school. Non compliance with these may result in parking fines. A number of families have been fined for parking illegally. The school has no jurisdiction over this process and cannot offer support other than to encourage all families to abide by the parking rules.

Primary Athletics Carnival Results

Westlawn’s Primary Athletics Carnival was held on the last Thursday of Term 2. Major results were:

Age Champions

Congratulations to:

Junior Girl Champion – Ashlea Blair

Junior Boy Champion – Mason Cone

11 Years Girl Champion – Shanae Crispin

11 Years Boy Champion – Orlando Denham

Senior Girl Champion – Eliza Berrick

Senior Boy Champion – Chayse Bullock

Thanks

Huge thanks to the following people who helped out enormously to make our carnival a great one:

Sporting News

Strive to Achieve

North Street, Grafton. 2460 6642 7466 westlawn-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Mrs Hadley and Mrs Taylor (WPS Office) for organising everything we needed to run our carnival.

Thank you to Belinda Bowling who organised the canteen for the day and to the canteen helpers Shayna Delaforce, Justine Crispin and Donna Ford for the food and service they offered to parents, family members, staff and students.

Thanks also to Mr Hughes for cooking the BBQ and for all the work he did in setting up and packing away. Thank you also to any other parents who helped out in any way.

The Clarence Athletics Carnival will be held next Friday 2 August at Terry West Oval. Students who finished in the first three in track events and the first two in field events at the Westlawn carnival have qualified for this carnival.

The Clarence discus and 1500 m events will be held on a separate day - next Tuesday 30 July at Terry West Oval. Notes for both days went home with students today. Please return permission notes and the $5 nomination fee to the office ASAP.

The first four in track events and the first three in field events at the Clarence carnival will progress to the Mid North Coast carnival to be held in Coffs Harbour on Friday 23 August.

Champion House

Mercury House was the champion house on the day.

Congratulations Mercury.

PSSA Touch Football Knockout

Both the boys and girls teams had a bye in round 1, so they will play their second round matches at Grafton High School tomorrow morning from 9:30 am. The girls team will play Grafton PS. A win will secure them a round 3 clash against the winner of the Bellingen PS v Urunga PS match at a date to be confirmed.

The boys can potentially play two games tomorrow. They will start their campaign against Grafton PS. A victory in that game will earn them a round 3 clash with Gillwinga PS.

ARCO at Westlawn PS

ARCO stands for Anti-Racism Contact Officer. This year Mrs Heidi Gough is the ARCO for Westlawn PS.

The role of the ARCO is to receive and mediate complaints of a racial nature.

Should you have any concerns please make contact through our school email address with RE: Heidi Gough- ARCO and Mrs Gough will contact you.

Diary Dates

Term 3 Week 1

Wed 24 Jul Canteen & P&C Meeting 6pm

Touch Football Knockout

Thurs 25 Jul PSSA Boys Soccer v Coffs

PSSA Girls Netball v Casino

Fri 26 Jul Girls Hockey v GPS

Lamingtons arrive

Strive to Achieve

North Street, Grafton. 2460 6642 7466 westlawn-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Canteen News

The canteen urgently needs additional volunteers, especially on Mondays and Fridays. If

anyone is available please let Belinda or Deb know in the canteen. If we are unable to find

additional volunteers the canteen may need to close on some days.

Lamington Drive

The lamingtons will be delivered on the 26th July.

If you are able to help out on this day with sorting and packing orders, please let the office

know.

School Fair

Our school fair is fast approaching.

The fair will be held on the 20th September.

To organise a successful fair requires many volunteers. If you are able to assist in any way

please let the P&C know or contact the school office. Any assistance will be warmly

welcomed.

P&C Secretary Position- Vacancy

The P&C urgently needs a Secretary as part of the P&C Executive.

This role primarily involves attending P&C Meetings and taking minutes once a month.

There is also the need to send outgoing correspondence and check for incoming

correspondence. If interested please speak to any member of the P&C Executive.

Canteen Roster

Wednesday 24th July Debra Watts, Shane Masters, Christine Cowan

Thursday 25th July Sue Ulrick, Campbell Timmins, Debra Watts

Friday 26th July Shelly Thompson, Anita McLennan, Belinda Bowling, Kristie Ward

Monday 29th July Jacinda Fletcher, Deb Barlow

Tuesday 30th July Debra Watts, Liz Hamlin, Belinda Bowling

Westlawn Public School P & C Newsletter

Term 3 Week 1

Strive to Achieve

North Street, Grafton. 2460 6642 7466 westlawn-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au