Primary swimming

Over the last two weeks our Grade 3-6 students have participated in their Swimming and Water Safety Program as part of the Health and Physical Education component of the Australian Curriculum.  This is a very important program for students and in particular for our community which is located close to beach, rivers and dams.  During the ten day program students do not just focus on stroke development like they would in private lessons but more importantly focus on water safety.  The water safety component involves practical experience that could save your child or other’s lives, for example:

• boat safety
• personal flotation device safety
• strategies to assist a struggling swimmer
• survival strokes (e.g. treading water, back float)

Book Week and Book Parade

We celebrated Book Week early this year due to a clash with Primary Swimming. During the week classes were involved in reading, sharing and responding to the shortlisted books.  Each class then chose a book for students to respond to in a variety of ways.  These have been displayed in windows outside each classroom, so if you get a chance please visit classrooms to view them.  On Wednesday 14 August we held our annual dress up day.  Once again I was totally amazed by the effort that parents, children and staff went to in dressing up as a specific book character and bringing their book along to share. Book Week is so important as it gives our community an opportunity to celebrate the love of books and reading.

This year we also held our bi-annual Book Fair with some fantastic books on display.  A big thank you to Mrs Type-Farrell, Cindy Mathewson and Lynne Goninon for organising and running the fair.

SPS Little Big Shots

Over the next few weeks we are going to be celebrating our students’ talents by holding our own Little Big Shots.  We have over 50 students from Grades 3-6 participating in the lunch time heats.  It is fantastic to see the variety of talents our students have.  So far we have had comics, dancers, singers, baton twirlers and a demonstration on how to care for witchetty grubs.  We look forward to watching the remainder of the acts before we showcase the finalist in a special whole school assembly on the last day of Term 3 commencing at 1.45pm.

Staff Changes and Farewell

On Friday 30 August we will be farewelling our Groundsman, Mr James Woodhouse who after 20 years will be retiring from the Department of Education.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank and acknowledge James for the wonderful work he has done at Somerset Primary to make our grounds look so neat and tidy.  When I receive visits from members of the community and from the Department of Education, one of the first things people comment on is how well presented our outside environment is and this is due to the dedication James puts into his role.  In addition to this I would also like to make mention of the extra things that James does to make our school such a special place, these include:

• mentoring some of our students and allowing them to help with outside tasks
• helping the Grade 6 students build and design the chicken coop
• getting the oval ready for carnivals, school footy and cricket
• being the starter at our running carnivals
• assisting on excursions
• building structures for the playground.

Students and staff will definitely miss James and we wish him all the best in his retirement. 

Mr Stephen Haines will be our new Groundsman and we look forward to him joining our great team at Somerset Primary.

Hats

Based on the Cancer Council recommendations our new Sun Smart policy specifies that we need to commence wearing hats from the start of September.  Can students please make sure they have their approved school hats ready for Monday 2 September.