Exciting news

Exciting news. The Tigerturf crew are running ahead of schedule and will finish up with the line marking today. Next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the turf will be ‘groomed’ with sand and rubber. These are the official terms; we are getting so knowlegedeable. Countdown really begins!

Running track

Caine (on the left) from TigerTurf says that the work is proceeding smoothly. They will finish laying the turf today. Then they have to ‘cut in’ all the white lines, which will take about one week to complete. This is the expected time line of course, if it doesn’t rain!
It is exciting to go up to the sportsground and see the progress. At recess and lunchtime, students stand along the fence line, hoping for a quick result!

Would you like to take 3 family members or 3 friends to the Melbourne Victory game
on Saturday, December 19th. You can also impress them with free entry to the Victory Room after the game!
You can!
Our Coffee and Chat group have organised a special raffle to raise funds for the school.
1st Prize:
4 tickets to Melbourne Victory game
on Saturday, December 19th
including entry to the Victory Room.
Minor prizes to be awarded

Cost: 3 raffle tickets for $5.00

Tickets will be sent home this Thursday with the newsletter. Please write your child’s name and class on the butt and return with your money to the classroom teacher by the Friday 27th November.
If you require more tickets, they can be purchased at the school office.

Raffle will be drawn at assembly on Monday 30th November.

Goodluck!

Raffle

Our Coffee and Chat group have organised a special raffle to raise funds for the school.
1st Prize:
4 tickets to Melbourne Victory game
on Saturday, December 19th
including entry to the Victory Room.
Minor prizes to be awarded

Cost: 3 raffle tickets for $5.00 (6 enclosed) Please return unwanted tickets
Please write your child’s name and class on the butt and return with your money to the classroom teacher by the Friday 27th November.
If you require more tickets, they can be purchased at the school office.
Raffle will be drawn at assembly on Monday 30th November. Goodluck!

Short week but lots of learning

Congratulations to James and Vaheni in year 5 who are our Primary Student Ambassadors at the State Library of Victoria Student Ambassador Conference this term. They will then lead our students through the many resources, both online and ‘hands on’, which are available through the Library.

Hope everyone enjoyed the Cup Day holiday – hope your luck, if you had a flutter, was better than mine!
Out of interest, we had 347 (approximately 46%) of our 752 students attend school on Monday before Cup Day. In the past many schools have used this day for professional development or to ‘pay back’ staff who have attended weekend conferences. This year the Victorian government decided that this was not to be the case; however it will be interesting to see how many students across the state attended on Monday.
You may have experienced the situation where an older child didn’t have to attend while your PPPS student did have school that day. Of you may have experienced your PPPS student saying they wanted to get 100% attendance and so wanted to be at school. I would imagine that there may have been some interesting discussions as many workers would have had no choice but to take a holiday on Monday. I also imagine that some annual family holidays were cancelled this year due to the change. I also imagine that the number of holidays booked for that period would have been down on past years and so other industries will have noticed a difference.
We will wait to see whether the government continues this policy in future years.

Check the progress of the synthetic grass when you get the chance. If the weather is kind to us it could be finished in 2 weeks.

Congratulations to our students who are dealing really well with the limited playground space at the moment. Some are taking up the option of visiting the library or, for year 6 students, spending time in the computer lab.
You can all be proud of your willingness to live by the values of respect and tolerance and fair go for all.

Congratulations to each and every camper; student, teacher and parent volunteer! What fantastic experiences for our year 3 & 4 students; soon you will be able to see the photos for yourself on each level’s webpage. Last year I had the pleasure of staying overnight at the year 3 camp at Arrabri Lodge in Warburton and loved it all. This year I joined the year 4’s at Phillip Island and guess what? I loved it all again! Giant swings, canoeing, raft building, archery, the vertical slide, Amazin’ Things, etc, etc, provided our students with such wonderful times and lots of fun and laughter. Our kids were excellent examples of living by the values; our teachers were very proud indeed!

Speaking of living by the values and being proud, another great example was when our year 2 students presented their stories about the Plenty Gorge to a judging panel comprised of our mayor, author/illustrator, Kevin Burgemeester and Joanna Reymond from PLPR Media Communications, and to their parents on Friday. They read well, listened intently, spoke showing respect and certainly experienced a moment of personal achievement. Congratulations to the year 2 students as they all wrote a story and to Mickey Donahoo who coordinated our involvement. Thank you to Sunland who offered the experience; it was a terrific opportunity for us to build a partnership with a local business. I will let the year 2’s involved tell you more on their webpage.

Thank you to everyone who has made our homepage their homepage! In August our pageviews totalled 9480 and our newsletter was looked at 829 times while in October our pageviews were 17504 and the newsletter was viewed 1223 times. That’s great, especially as this was in the first 21 days of October only!

We are drawing close to the start of the bushfire season and of a statewide campaign to encourage all Victorians, no matter where they live, to be fire-ready in anticipation of the coming bushfire season. Experts are predicting that this bushfire season may be worse than last summer where major fires claimed 173 lives. It is vital that all Victorians start planning and preparing now. It is now time for schools and residents to identify their risk, start preparing their bushfire survival plan and start clearing their properties.
So here at PPPS we have been:
• Clearing out gutters.
• Taking part in CFA and MFB fire preparedness activities; and
• Attending DEECD briefings

It is World Teachers Day Friday 30th October and it might be nice to show appreciation
towards our teachers by doing one of the following activities;
• Getting your child to write a card or a letter to their teacher acknowledging them as their teacher.
• Small gift i.e. apple or a bunch of flowers.

Have you read the road safety changes?
Here is one that applies to our students.
Wheeled recreational devices
From 9 November 2009, there will be some changes to the road safety rules for scooters, skateboards and roller blades.

Scooters, skateboards and roller blades are called Wheeled Recreational Devices in the road rules.
A scooter has two or more wheels and a footboard supported by the wheels. It is steered by handlebars, designed to be used by one person and propelled by any one or more of the following: gravity, the user pushing one foot against the ground, an electric motor or motors (with the maximum power output of 200 watts).
Wheeled Recreational Devices can travel on footpaths and on roads where the speed limit is 50km per hour or less.
The road safety rules
• Wheeled Recreational Devices can’t be towed, or slipstream and must not be used on the road at night (except crossing at the shortest route, for example at an intersection).
• Scooter riders are required to wear an approved bicycle helmet.
What you have to do
When riding your scooter, skateboard or roller blades, DO NOT hold onto other vehicles to be towed, or sit so close behind them that you are carried along in their slipstream.
Also do not use a wheeled recreational device in areas that have a sign prohibiting it.

Road safety reasons
Unless properly used, scooters, skateboards and roller blades can be dangerous. Drivers have difficulty seeing you in traffic especially if you are being towed or slipstreaming, which is why this activity is now illegal.
Remember drivers are more likely to be looking for cars and other vehicles, not scooters, skateboarders and roller bladers.

Our prep 12 students had a lovely time this afternoon when year 8 students from Mill Park Secondary College walked here to present their prep clients with a specially designed and handmade pencil case. This was part of the year 8 project and involved several sessions with our preps. It made me feel so proud when our prep 12 representatives read out their thankyou speech! They were gorgeous!

Lots of news

Congratulations to each and every camper; student, teacher and parent volunteer! What fantastic experiences for our year 3 & 4 students; soon you will be able to see the photos for yourself on each level’s webpage. Last year I had the pleasure of staying overnight at the year 3 camp at Arrabri Lodge in Warburton and loved it all. This year I joined the year 4’s at Phillip Island and guess what? I loved it all again! Giant swings, canoeing, raft building, archery, the vertical slide, Amazin’ Things, etc, etc, provided our students with such wonderful times and lots of fun and laughter. Our kids were excellent examples of living by the values; our teachers were very proud indeed!

Speaking of living by the values and being proud, another great example was when our year 2 students presented their stories about the Plenty Gorge to a judging panel comprised of our mayor, author/illustrator, Kevin Burgemeester and Joanna Reymond from PLPR Media Communications, and to their parents on Friday. They read well, listened intently, spoke showing respect and certainly experienced a moment of personal achievement. Congratulations to the year 2 students as they all wrote a story and to Mickey Donahoo who coordinated our involvement. Thank you to Sunland who offered the experience; it was a terrific opportunity for us to build a partnership with a local business. I will let the year 2’s involved tell you more on their webpage.

Thank you to everyone who has made our homepage their homepage! In August our pageviews totalled 9480 and our newsletter was looked at 829 times while in October our pageviews were 17504 and the newsletter was viewed 1223 times. That’s great, especially as this was in the first 21 days of October only!

We are drawing close to the start of the bushfire season and of a statewide campaign to encourage all Victorians, no matter where they live, to be fire-ready in anticipation of the coming bushfire season. Experts are predicting that this bushfire season may be worse than last summer where major fires claimed 173 lives. It is vital that all Victorians start planning and preparing now. It is now time for schools and residents to identify their risk, start preparing their bushfire survival plan and start clearing their properties.
So here at PPPS we have been:
• Clearing out gutters.
• Taking part in CFA and MFB fire preparedness activities; and
• Attending DEECD briefings

It is World Teachers Day Friday 30th October and it might be nice to show appreciation
towards our teachers by doing one of the following activities;
• Getting your child to write a card or a letter to their teacher acknowledging them as their teacher.
• Small gift i.e. apple or a bunch of flowers.

Have you read the road safety changes?
Here is one that applies to our students.
Wheeled recreational devices
From 9 November 2009, there will be some changes to the road safety rules for scooters, skateboards and roller blades.

Scooters, skateboards and roller blades are called Wheeled Recreational Devices in the road rules.
A scooter has two or more wheels and a footboard supported by the wheels. It is steered by handlebars, designed to be used by one person and propelled by any one or more of the following: gravity, the user pushing one foot against the ground, an electric motor or motors (with the maximum power output of 200 watts).
Wheeled Recreational Devices can travel on footpaths and on roads where the speed limit is 50km per hour or less.
The road safety rules
• Wheeled Recreational Devices can’t be towed, or slipstream and must not be used on the road at night (except crossing at the shortest route, for example at an intersection).
• Scooter riders are required to wear an approved bicycle helmet.
What you have to do
When riding your scooter, skateboard or roller blades, DO NOT hold onto other vehicles to be towed, or sit so close behind them that you are carried along in their slipstream.
Also do not use a wheeled recreational device in areas that have a sign prohibiting it.
Road safety reasons
Unless properly used, scooters, skateboards and roller blades can be dangerous. Drivers have difficulty seeing you in traffic especially if you are being towed or slipstreaming, which is why this activity is now illegal.
Remember drivers are more likely to be looking for cars and other vehicles, not scooters, skateboarders and roller bladers.

Our prep 12 students had a lovely time this afternoon when year 8 students from Mill Park Secondary College walked here to present their prep clients with a specially designed and handmade pencil case. This was part of the year 8 project and involved several sessions with our preps. It made me feel so proud when our prep 12 representatives read out their thankyou speech! They were gorgeous!

Congratulations to each and every camper; student, teacher and parent volunteer! What fantastic experiences for our year 3 & 4 students; soon you will be able to see the photos for yourself on each level’s webpage. Last year I had the pleasure of staying overnight at the year 3 camp at Arrabri Lodge in Warburton and loved it all. This year I joined the year 4’s at Phillip Island and guess what? I loved it all again! Giant swings, canoeing, raft building, archery, the vertical slide, Amazin’ Things, etc, etc, provided our students with such wonderful times and lots of fun and laughter. Our kids were excellent examples of living by the values; our teachers were very proud indeed!

Speaking of living by the values and being proud, another great example was when our year 2 students presented their stories about the Plenty Gorge to a judging panel comprised of our mayor, author/illustrator, Kevin Burgemeester and Joanna Reymond from PLPR Media Communications, and to their parents on Friday. They read well, listened intently, spoke showing respect and certainly experienced a moment of personal achievement. Congratulations to the year 2 students as they all wrote a story and to Mickey Donahoo who coordinated our involvement. Thank you to Sunland who offered the experience; it was a terrific opportunity for us to build a partnership with a local business. I will let the year 2’s involved tell you more on their webpage.

Thank you to everyone who has made our homepage their homepage! In August our pageviews totalled 9480 and our newsletter was looked at 829 times while in October our pageviews were 17504 and the newsletter was viewed 1223 times. That’s great, especially as this was in the first 21 days of October only!

We are drawing close to the start of the bushfire season and of a statewide campaign to encourage all Victorians, no matter where they live, to be fire-ready in anticipation of the coming bushfire season. Experts are predicting that this bushfire season may be worse than last summer where major fires claimed 173 lives. It is vital that all Victorians start planning and preparing now. It is now time for schools and residents to identify their risk, start preparing their bushfire survival plan and start clearing their properties.
So here at PPPS we have been:
• Clearing out gutters.
• Taking part in CFA and MFB fire preparedness activities; and
• Attending DEECD briefings

It is World Teachers Day Friday 30th October and it might be nice to show appreciation
towards our teachers by doing one of the following activities;
• Getting your child to write a card or a letter to their teacher acknowledging them as their teacher.
• Small gift i.e. apple or a bunch of flowers.

Have you read the road safety changes?
Here is one that applies to our students.
Wheeled recreational devices
From 9 November 2009, there will be some changes to the road safety rules for scooters, skateboards and roller blades.

Scooters, skateboards and roller blades are called Wheeled Recreational Devices in the road rules.
A scooter has two or more wheels and a footboard supported by the wheels. It is steered by handlebars, designed to be used by one person and propelled by any one or more of the following: gravity, the user pushing one foot against the ground, an electric motor or motors (with the maximum power output of 200 watts).
Wheeled Recreational Devices can travel on footpaths and on roads where the speed limit is 50km per hour or less.
The road safety rules
• Wheeled Recreational Devices can’t be towed, or slipstream and must not be used on the road at night (except crossing at the shortest route, for example at an intersection).
• Scooter riders are required to wear an approved bicycle helmet.
What you have to do
When riding your scooter, skateboard or roller blades, DO NOT hold onto other vehicles to be towed, or sit so close behind them that you are carried along in their slipstream.
Also do not use a wheeled recreational device in areas that have a sign prohibiting it.

Road safety reasons
Unless properly used, scooters, skateboards and roller blades can be dangerous. Drivers have difficulty seeing you in traffic especially if you are being towed or slipstreaming, which is why this activity is now illegal.
Remember drivers are more likely to be looking for cars and other vehicles, not scooters, skateboarders and roller bladers.

Our prep 12 students had a lovely time this afternoon when year 8 students from Mill Park Secondary College walked here to present their prep clients with a specially designed and handmade pencil case. This was part of the year 8 project and involved several sessions with our preps. It made me feel so proud when our prep 12 representatives read out their thankyou speech! They were gorgeous!

News update

Work is proceeding quickly on the sports ground. It’s a hive of activity after the dry weekend and a beautiful sunny day today.
Truck loads of screenings are being delivered and compacted. Stay tuned.

Year 3’s gathered excitedly in the courtyard this morning before setting off to camp – great weather, excited students, and enthusiastic staff and parent volunteers; what a great combination!
Year 4’s head off to Phillip Island tomorrow, hope this warm weather keeps up.

Staff news

Staff news
As we expect at this time of year, schools are planning for 2010 and this means that staff members are also doing the same.
It is only natural that some will choose to change schools; perhaps closer to home, perhaps a promotion, perhaps ‘just a change’. Whatever the reason this is a healthy and natural part of school life and PPPS is not immune from it.
So, I would like to let you know that Ms Kelly Freeman and Mrs Nikki Potesta are both resigning from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development to join the staff at Acacia College. We wish them both well and know they will make valuable contributions to the Acacia community.
While this news is sad for us, we are currently advertising for staff to join us here at PPPS and are looking forward to announcing their names when the selection process is complete.
As I said in my last entry, ‘life is never dull’.

Busy times at PPPS

So many things to mention today.
Year 2 day camp to Healesville was a great success. When I visited classes after their return the students were excited and keen to participate in camp next year! This is great news as the kids really benefit from their experience at camp.
Speaking of camp, our year 3’s leave for Arrabri in Warburton next Monday and our fingers are crossed for good weather. Of course the year 4’s leave on Tuesday for Phillip Island. Boy will it be quiet around here! Have a great time students, staff and parent volunteers; we couldn’t do it without you.
Our shade sails over the year 2/3 play equipment are repaired and back in place for the warmer weather. Thanks Ms Julie Nixon for organising that.
Have you seen the year 4 garden at the end of Blocks E & F lately? Planted last year, they are looking a treat and really add a bright spot to our grounds.
We had two special guests at Assembly this week; the Honourable Member for Scullin and Speaker of the House; Harry Jenkins and Clifford of the Clifford books fame. Two of our students; Kiarah and Alannah (6-4) wrote to Harry to request a new flag as we suspect our last flag was blown away during a ferocious wind storm some time ago.
Not only did Harry provide one, he presented to us in person. It was Harry’s lucky day as he then got to do the very special dance Prep 9 taught us at assembly; life is never dull.
It is lovely to students and parents arrive excitedly for their 3 way conference and then to see them leaving looking ‘very pleased with themselves’. The students I have chatted with feel that they did a good job and were able to explain the achievement of their goals and for some the setting of new goals, to their parents. Well done so far.
We would like to thank the person in our community who lived by our values and placed an envelope in Mrs Stella’s letter box in the past couple of days. If that person was you, or you know who it was, please ring me at school on 94044311 so I can thank you.
Our hall is looking ‘smarter’ following its spruce up during the holidays. The walls were sanded, cleaned and varnished by a parent who is a painter.
School Council continues to be concerned about student pedestrian safety and has worked with Whittlesea Council to try to address some of the issues. Whittlesea Council is now going to install a barrier or fence on the edge of the footpath immediately adjacent to the pedestrian gate in Telopea Crescent. This will stop children walking out directly between parked cars and out into the traffic. Thanks to Julie Nixon for negotiating this with the Council.
Work on our new sports ground moves along rapidly when the weather is fine. The rain however caused a delay because when they were trying to compress the soil the mud was too sticky and wet. This is disappointing however we continue to be torn between loving the rain from a drought point of view and hoping for fine weather.
First week back and we are ‘off and running’. (Sorry about the bad pun)