DEPT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

ISSUE 16 25 OCTOBER 2012

Merit Awards ~ Daisy De Souza, Brooke Sherwood,

Renee Nicols, Jesse Louden, Manolie Thomas, Jakeb Kennedy-Scott, Stella Murray, Jayde Ralph, Flynn McMaster, Emma Neale, Danielle Norris, Kumpa Solien, Autumn Sengpho, James Read, Hayley Downie, Tommy Bell, Samuel Mahomet, Ryan Coombes, Ryan Coombes, Dillon Thomsen, Dylan McPharlin, Matilda Walker, Shenae Murphy, Blake Cummings, Paige McCourt, Taleeha Dawn Ramsay, Ika Ryan, Matthew Westaway, Bailey Mayfield, Mya Gregory, Liam Gardner, Ashlie Sherwood, Caitlin Linfield, Alana McEwin, Jordan Coble, Mason Coomber, Charlize Nomoa, Katie Martin, Jamie Spencer, Mystique Mason, Braidon Ireland, Sarah Neave, Amber Miles, Zak Thompson, Elyssia Pinheiro, Alana Erlandson.

PrinciPal’s awards

Ellen Orton

Denzel Tomlins

Ashley Hyde

Taleeha-Dawn Ramsay

Our Book Fair costume parade showcased some terrific costumes

Book Fair Costume Parade and Colouring Competition

Recently the SLC group distributed a colouring in poster to all classes from Transition to Year 6, and invited all students to participate in the Book Fair Colouring Competition. As a bonus, Scholastic offered a voucher to the value of $60 to be

distributed how the school saw fit.

We decided to break the voucher into three separate prizes, $20 for the best early childhood entry won by Khe-Sanh

Duke from Room 4.

$20 for the best middle and upper primary entry, won by Shenae Murphy from Room 20. (Entries were judged by the

SLC team) .

$20 prize was awarded for the best costume at the Book Fair Costume Parade, which was held after the week 2 assembly and judged by our four school captains with the help of Mr Presswell. After much deliberation because of the exceptional quality of costumes, it was decided there would be two winners, Eva Enguell from Room 20 and Stella

Kathopoulis from Preschool.

Thank you to everyone who participated. Special thanks to Mrs Bulasch who organised the Book Fair, and everyone who helped make it a huge success. We have earned $1475 in

commission from the sale of books.

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From the leadership team

As you may be aware, the Leadership Team has been clamping down on behaviour which doesn’t align to our school values. We have had two special assemblies and are addressing serious issues as they arise. We would like to congratulate the vast majority of our students who are being safe, respectful of people and property, are being active members of our learning community and are also striving to do their best at school. The most powerful way to target the minority of inappropriate behaviours is when school and home work together for the benefit of the child. Thank you to those parents who have been contacted and are working with the school to promote positive behaviour and encouraging school community members to make good choices! Key messages for today are around our upcoming Professional Learning Day on Friday 16 November, our relentless focus on student attendance, and some safety tips. Due to our focus on following up on behaviour we haven’t completed our NAPLAN presentation for this newsletter. This will be available in the next newsletter. Professional Learning and Pupil Free Day Friday 16 November

The Driver Primary School Council has approved a day for all school staff to undertake professional development on Friday 16 November. This day will be focused on the development of Driver’s future direction through our

strategic planning and analysing school and NAPLAN data. These types of days are invaluable to ensure our staff have a clear direction for the future needs of Driver students and are equipped with the latest skills to maximise outcomes for Driver students. As this is a pupil free day, there will be no capacity for staff to supervise students at school. Therefore, parents will need to make their own arrangements for their children. The YMCA program, will however be operating a full day program, for Driver students who have been enrolled. Please contact YMCA on 8935 9080 for more information on this program. These days enable our school to continue to strategically focus resources in 2013 on high priority areas which will enhance student learning and well-being. The creation of the farm and kitchen is an example of an idea which emerged from a planning day and is now a very important part of our school culture. School Council members are most welcome to be a part of the strategic planning session. Safety Tip – Bicycle Helmets

From both the Leadership Team’s and Mr Mick’s observations on the school crossings, there are many students riding scooters, bikes and skateboards who are not wearing safety helmets. Could all parents please ensure that students do have and wear their safety helmet to school. Driver Primary School Attendance for Week 2 Monday 15 October – Friday 19 October

WOW. What a fantastic effort to see almost all year levels achieve 90% attendance or above. We still have a little further to rise to achieve our target of 94%, but what wonderful progress we are making so far. Transition has almost reached our target having achieved a staggering 93.33% attendance. Super effort! Please also remember to notify the school if your child is absent for any

reason!

Swimming Carnival

Our upper primary swimming carnival has been cancelled this year. PARCS are holding a twilight swimming meet on Friday 2 November for year 4 - 6 students. Concert 7 December at DEC

Our concert theme this year is ‘Once Upon a Driver Time. A celebration of Reading’. Tickets will go on sale soon and will cost $20 per adult and $10 per child/concession. A note will go home advising when the tickets arrive.

Every Child, Every Day - improving student enrolment, attendance and participation is everybody’s business.

Thanks for your ongoing support of our great school!

The Driver Primary School Leadership Team

Transition 93.33%

Year 1 90.60%

Year 2 92.71%

Year 3 88.75%

Year 4 92.67%

Year 5 91.43%

Year 6 92.62%

PARENT INFORMATION SESSION – 2012 For families of Year 6 students who reside in the RMS Priority Enrolment Area. Come along and see the state of the art facilities, meet the staff and have your questions answered. Thur 8 Nov 2012 5:00pm until 6.00pm in the library Cnr of Belyuen Road & Forrest Pde, Rosebery Please contact the school on: 8930 5200 or

admin.rms@ntschools.net. for further information.

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Defence Family Update

Have you looked at the DCO (Defence Community Organisation) website lately? It is full of useful information for Defence families. There is a wide variety of resources and informative brochures related to many topics, such as; changing schools with confidence, state and territory education information, deployment and time apart, childcare support, and education assistance. The website address is; http://www.defence.gov.au/DCO/index.htm I hope you get a chance to look at it. If your child is planning to add a photo of the serving member in their family to the Remembrance Day assembly slide show, please have it in by Monday 29 October. The photo will then be scanned and added to the slide show presentation which will be shown at the Remembrance Day assembly, held on Friday 9 November. Please Note: The photos will only be used for the purposes mentioned and the slideshow will only be shown as a one off at the assembly. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. My hours at Driver are Monday and Tuesday from 8am –

2:30 pm. I can be contacted on 8935 9000 or by email on cazz.smith@ntschools.net

Regards

Cazz Smith

Dates for your Diary

16 Nov - Farm working

bee 5pm-7pm

21 Nov — Council

Meeting

7 Dec - End of year concert Darwin

Entertainment Centre

11 Dec - Year 6

Graduation

Tuesdays - Student

banking

TERM DATES 2012

Term 4 2012

Mon 8 Oct - Thurs 13 Dec

Term 1 2013

Fri 25 Jan—Fri 5 Apr

(students resume Tues 29 Jan)

Driver Primary School’s hours of supervision are

7.45am - 2.45pm. The gates are opened at 7.30am and closed after 8.15am. School community members are asked to enter the school via the front office. Children should not be dropped off earlier than 7:45am as they will be unsupervised.

Have you seen our web page?

Follow the link to all the school news, newsletters, photos and happenings.

www.driverprimary.nt.edu.au

2012 and 2013 Term Dates

This year, Department of Education schools, will be finishing classes a day earlier - on Thursday 13 December. This will allow teachers to return to work a day earlier to prepare for classes to start on Tuesday 29 January next year (the 28th is the Australia Day public holiday). Therefore: The last day of school this year will be Thursday 13 December 2012. Teachers will return to school on Friday 25 January 2013 for their usual professional development day. Students will return to school on Tuesday 29 January 2013. The earlier completion and start dates will help ensure a more settled start to 2013. If you have any concerns or queries please contact the office on 89359000. Further details can be found on the Department of Education website:

www.det.nt.gov.au

Vote for Driver Primary - in the CREATivE CHANGE GenerationOne School Competition!

This year staff and students at have been working extremely hard to prepare and film a video clip to enter into the CREATivE CHANGE GenerationOne School Competition. GenerationOne is a movement to bring all Australians together to end the disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in one generation. We are very proud of the efforts put in and are happy to announce that our clip is featured on the

GenerationOne website as well as YouTube for viewing. Please help us to win the People's Choice Award by following the link below to find our clip and vote! Please feel free to share this with your friends and families and help Driver Primary become 2012 CREATivE CHANGE People's Choice winners.

Generation One - http://peopleschoice.generationone.org.au/

The link above will take you to the website where you can find our clip, watch it and click to register your vote.

Thank you for your support!

PARCS SWIMMING

Palmerston and Rural Cluster are holding a twilight swimming meet on Friday 2 November. Any students from years 4 - 6 who swim for a club are welcome to compete. Selections for the Northern Territory Swim Championships that take place in Term One, 2013, will occur during this event. Please email

majella.jaunay@ntschools.net for further information or to register your child by Monday 29 October

This week at Farm Driver

Our first sweet corn for the season was harvested this week. Students were also harvesting: chillies, banana leaves, bananas, passionfruit, lettuce, rainbow chard, cucumber, carrots, beans, luffa, tomatoes, watermelon, rockmelon and paw paws. We have also been busy weeding, as the recent increase in humidity has seen not only our crops and fruit trees start growing vigorously but also our weeds. Students have started some experiments with our Rosella plants to see which type of fertiliser produces the best results. We have used D.P.M. (densified poultry manure), weed tea and a high nitrogen fruit tree fertilizer. Working Bee

Friday 16 November 5-7pm . We are inviting all parents to attend our farm working bee. We will have various activities that we need help with including: fitting new galvanized mesh benches to our greenhouse benches, installing shade panels to our greenhouse, irrigation repairs and other activities. Karen Johnson

Farm Driver Garden Specialist

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Harvesting Sweet Corn

before the birds get it!

HEAD LICE

A reminder that head lice often become a problem in the warmer months. Below is some helpful information.

How are head lice spread?

Head lice are spread by contact occurring between one human head and another human head. The head lice move along the hair shaft from the head of an infested person to the hair of another person. Head lice cannot fly or jump and they do not crawl along furniture or hop between car seats. Head lice cannot survive off the

human head for more than a few hours.

General advice

Regularly check your children’s hair. Young girls growing up often become very independent about their

hair care and it can become difficult to convince them that it’s important for you to continue checking

their hair. Try to persist or show them how they can check their own hair when they wash it.

Tying long hair back or braiding it, may help to reduce the transmission of lice.

Keep a good quality lice comb in the shower so that every time anyone washes their hair they use the

comb. The more people know about simple management methods the easier it will be to reduce the

problem.

Head lice and detangle combs should be cleaned between treatments in hot soapy water and rinsed in

running hot water.

From the kitchen

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Trudy Dacey and I am the new Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Specialist. I have been a volunteer in the kitchen since the start of the year and have enjoyed cooking with the year 3 -6 children during this time. I have a passion for pickling and preserving food. Some of you may have sampled, or purchased jams or pickles at the food festival. We had such a busy time last term. We catered for the Student Sustainability Summit, helped prepare some of the food sold at the Food Festival, and cooked some lovely dishes from around the world like chicken tacos from Mexico during kitchen classes. We are currently making pasta called orecchiette, which means little ears. We have also made pumpkin salad, banana smoothies and banana picklets just to name a few of the delightful dishes prepared and eaten by students in the kitchen. This term, the grade 5/6’s are working on kitchen safety videos, which we will use next year to help teach about safety in the kitchen. I am always happy to have volunteers come in to help cook in the kitchen with the

classes. You don’t have to be great cooks, you just have to want to have fun and you may even learn a new skill yourself. Our menu can include anything from making sushi, to pasta, or pickles and jams. So come and have some fun in the kitchen and enjoy some of our tasty treats.

ISSUE 16 PAGE 5

Wanted

Second hand uniforms.

Donations of second hand uniforms always appreciated.

Community Notices

PROPOSED COMMUNITY GARDEN HAVE YOUR SAY .....What is a Community Garden ? Community gardens are places where people come together to grow food and engage in communal activities. They are a great way to

foster good health, support life-long learning, cultivate vibrant communities and ‘green’ urban environments. Community gardens have the ability to bring people together from all walks of life and cultures and instill a sense of ownership and pride. Why a Community Garden ? As well as growing food, community gardens can be

an educational resource where people of all ages can learn about food production, contemporary environmental issues and sustainable practices for everyday living such as composting, recycling and water management. The physical health benefits of community gardens extend to access of locally grown produce, recreation and exercise. Access to community gardens has positive impacts on emotional wellbeing as it allows people to reconnect with natural processes, alleviating stress and providing opportunity for reflection, respite and relaxation. City of Palmerston would like to hear your ideas for a community garden at the Gray Community Hall. The garden would aim to extend the Council’s ‘Healthy Palmerston’ program that encourages healthy eating and physical activity. If you are interested in hearing about a potential community garden or would like to provide feedback on what you would like to see in a community garden you are invited to attend the community workshop. 3.30pm Gray Community Hall, 8 Nov 2012 RSVP: By 5 Nov 2012. Email: healthy@palmerston.nt.gov.au Ph: 8935 9929.

Rural Christmas Market Friday 9 November, 5 - 8pm @ Sattler Christian College (Bees Creek) If you are interested in setting up a stall at the market please call 89831268 by Friday 26 October.

COPAL – working with the community to help Palmerston children and families to eat well and be active! Do

you think feet first? Being active is important for everyone's health, especially kids. Walking, riding or scooting to school is a great way for kids to start the day, and parents can enjoy the benefits too. Studies around the world show that active children are healthier, happier and more socially connected. Physical activity allows kids to burn off pent up energy which creates a calming effect while increasing blood flow to the brain. Kids arrive at school with higher concentration levels and a greater ability to take in and understand curriculum. Active travel can also help kids develop their coordination, balance and flexibility. It takes time for active travel to become a habit but you can start by going part of the way once a week. Increase your activity from there until it becomes a part of the daily routine for your family. If you want to be healthier and happier, It's time to Think Feet First!

Guitar Lessons Darwin - Call Steve 89327397 www.guitarlessonsdarwin.com.au

Palmerston Markets presents The Largest Kids party EVA. Friday 26 Oct, 5pm-9pm. Many free activities throughout precinct, prizes for the best kids dress and costume @ 5.30pm, Exciting entertainment 6pm-9pm, Dora and Diego will come exploring with free giveaways. Goyder Square, Frances Mall, Palmerston. Visit www.facebook.com/PalmerstonMarkets for more information.

End of Year Excursion

This year our end of year excursion to CMax Cinema in Palmerston will be on Wednesday 12th December. The Transition to Year 2 students will be viewing Wreck it Ralph (PG) and the Year 3 to Year 6 students will be entertained by Rise of the Guardians (PG). Permission Notes will be sent home in the next few weeks.

A synopsis of the movies is available on their web sites.

Wreck it Ralph - http://disney.go.com/wreck-it-ralph

Rise of the Guardians - http://www.riseoftheguardians.com

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