Dear Parents/Carers, Students, Staff and Community,

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for being so wonderful and patient with me as I get used to the role of Principal. It is a privilege to be a leader in such a special school. We have had a busy few weeks with lots of exciting things happening around the place.

Staff Changes for Term 3

Next term we welcome back Mrs Sam Crawford to Scaddan Primary School and we say a huge thank you to Miss Kaylene Karafilis for her work during Mrs Crawford’s absence. Kaylene has done a wonderful job supporting the teachers, taking on LOTE duties and keeping our library looking wonderful. She will still be working at the school for the first few weeks of Term 3.

We are also welcoming Mrs Melinda Mayberry, who will be working with Miss Hatton every Wednesday as the Kindergarten students will be coming 3 days a week next term.

The Senior Room will also have a new person join the team, Mrs Karly Humphrys will be completing her final pre-service placement at Scaddan for all of Term 3.

Term 3 Activities

Next term is shaping up to be a busy one with lots of exciting learning opportunities for the students across all year levels.

On the first day back we have Candy Smith a local Aboriginal Artist coming to the school to work with the students to plan our 6 Nyungar Seasons mural. This will be put up on the fence by the orchard. Three weeks after that, Candy will be coming back to paint the mural with student support. Parents and school community will be invited to contribute to one of the murals with an afternoon tea to follow. I will confirm date and time closer to the event.

We are also planning a whole Mallee on country NAIDOC excursion to learn and celebrate Esperance’s Nyungar history. This excursion will be for Pre-Primary through to Year 6 students. If any parents/caregivers would like to be a part of this excursion please let me know and I can include you in the event.

Last, but certainly not least, we will be having our Interschool Athletics Competition. Mallee North is hosting the event and it will be at Scaddan Primary School. All students attend the day and I have heard from Miss Hatton that something marvellous is being planned for the Kindergarten and Pre-Primary students in our ECE area. 

Thank you again for a wonderful end to the term, we hope that you have a relaxing break before heading back to school on Monday 18^th July 2022


Regards

Mandy Bouckaert

Assembly

Thank you to the Senior students for their ‘most excellent’ procedure on how to surf a wave. Your procedure was clear with Caitlyn doing a gnarly job of demonstrating how it is done. Congratulations to all our award recipients, you should all be so proud of your achievements.

Reports

Student reports will be coming home this Thursday. The Year 5/6 student’s reports will go home with their younger siblings. If you are away from school when reports go home, they will be held at school until the beginning of next term, unless other arrangements are made.

New Laptops

Our new school laptops have arrived! We would like to take this opportunity to once again thank the Scaddan P&C for their contribution to the cost of the laptops. We would also like to thank IGO for their generous donation towards the laptops. IGO has supported our school in the past with a donation towards the shade structure over the junior playground. Tracey Berry is now working hard to get them set up and ready to go for next term.

Some background information on IGO

IGO owns and operates 100% of the Nova nickel-copper-cobalt operation in Western Australia’s Fraser Range, 380km from the Port of Esperance, and is invested in a lithium focused joint venture with our partner, Tianqi Lithium Corporation, which comprises a part ownership in the Greenbushes Lithium Mine and 100% interest in a downstream processing refinery at Kwinana producing battery grade lithium hydroxide.

New Playground Equipment

Christmas has come early this year! We have had some new playground toys and wheelbarrows generously donated to the school by a family. The students are loving the new outdoor tea sets and kitchen equipment. They are also making good use of the wheelbarrows, moving sand from the pile next to the office into the playground.

PEAC/TAGS Opportunities at Scaddan

Charlie, Hunter and Kiana have had busy few weeks creating a catapult out of Mindstorms Lego with Mrs Susie Stead. I have been so impressed with their level of dedication and problem solving skills in this project. It was great to see the final product on Friday and listen to the students as they talked about their designs and worked through the challenges that came up during the process. Another big thank you to Mrs Susie Stead for coming out and working with the students.

Mrs Melinda Feucs also worked with Charlie, Hunter and Kiana on narrative writing with a strong focus on descriptive language and ‘Sizzling Starts’ to engage the reader. Yet again, the students amazed us with their level of concentration and engagement for both days anda big thank you to Mrs Melinda Feucs for coming all the way from Condi to work with the students. We are organising some more sessions with Mrs Feucs for next term so the students can finish off the creative writing process.

Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week are important dates on the Australian calendar, it is a week to reflect on the past and to acknowledge and celebrate the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their contributions to Australia.

This year, Scaddan Primary School students and staff created a Sorry Day stain glass artwork. The design of the artwork was created by a Torres Strait Artist, Zachary Bennett-Brook. Each person received a part, coloured it in and then connected the pieces together to create the artwork. It is up in the Junior Classroom for all to see.

The Juniors created flags that represented all Australians and thought carefully about the colours and symbols they used. They learnt about what the name Kepa Kurl means, where the water lies like a boomerang, and explored lines and used watercolour paints to create an artwork to represent the meaning.

The Seniors looked at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective in History. Especially at the Eora people who made contact with the First Fleet and Captain Cook.

In SAKG, students explored native weaving and created murals out of plants and our local native trees.

We looked at how stories are told through art. We also read important texts about Reconciliation and some of the prominent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders we have in Australia.

It’s been a busy few weeks at Scaddan Primary School!

It was wonderful to see so many parents and family members get involved in our bowls session after assembly. The students were really excited to show off their new skills and there were some heated competitions happening as well!

In Week 9, there was a Senior Mallee STEM morning, where students had to make stilts out of newspaper and share their results over Teams with the other Mallee Schools. Thanks Mr Paterson for organising the event!

                          Mind blowing Mindstorm Lego work!

There have been some magical potion procedures being made in the Junior Room!

Free Dress Friday!

On Friday this week, students can come to school dressed in whatever makes them happy, I have heard that some staff might be coming in their PJ’s! We will still be doing lots of learning with Science, NAIDOC celebrations and finishing off with a movie, craft and Lego.

Term 3 Commences
Term 3 commences on Monday 18th July for staff and students.

As a school, we are required to work towards improving the attendance of our students.

There are a so many important reasons why your child needs to attend school regularly.  By regularly, we mean above 90% of the time (no more than five absent days per term). The Esperance Region is working hard to ensure that our students attend school.  If as a school, we can aspire to reach 92 - 93%, then we will be really helping our students to reach their full potential.






Of course there are always exceptions to this when children need to take time off school for perfectly acceptable reasons.


What should I do if my child is away from school?

• Please let the school know at the earliest convenience, either by phone or email.
• If your child is going to be away for more than three days, please let the school know by phone or email.
• Send a note with your child to explain why your child was away.