As advised in the last edition of the school newsletter, a parent workshop will be held to obtain views and opinions about which language the school will introduce for year 3 students next year.
 
 
This workshop will be held at the following time and place:
            Wednesday May 31
            7.00 – 8.15pm
            School Staff Room/Library (depending on numbers)
            Light refreshments will be provided.
The process will be to work through each of the language options by considering the positive, negative and interesting factors for each. Then an activity will be run to identify the preferences of parents.
This information will be considered along with the feasibility of each language in terms of resources and availability of a teacher, with the board making the final decision.

Each Thursday at lunch time we have Pokemon Trading Club at our school. The kids can bring along their Pokemon cards, and trade them in a safe, fun environment. I have some cards myself, but I'm no expert and I think I usually come out second best in the trades and battles, as the skills and knowledge of the students are amazing!
It has shown me that there are a lot of learning opportunities in these cards, and in trading them. There is plenty  literacy. They need to read the text on the cards, and deciphering the made-up names is great fun and an excellent phonics activity - for example, Spearow, Starly, Pumpkaboo. For Numeracy, the kids have to add and subtract to work out the values of cards, which is greater, and how much "damage" is left on a card in a battle!
The greatest value however is probably the development of children's social skills, the ability to communicate and negotiate. We have set out some expectations for Pokemon card trading, under our school's expectations of Be a Learner, Be Safe, Be Respectful and Be Caring, to ensure the trades are all done fairly, honestly and agreeably.
Unfortunately we have had a few isolated incidents of Pokemon cards being stolen from bags or trays, and have had to restrict the card trading to Thursdays only, at the club. But I would not want to see this activity banned altogether, due to the educational value, fun and social benefits it offers. After all, if the kids could not trade at school, where else would they have access to so many others with cards to trade?
In the meantime, I will try to learn more about the cards and how to trade and battle, so I am not such an easy beat!

Our Beach Carnival last Friday was once again a resounding success. Like last year, we were blessed with perfect weather, everyone enjoyed themselves, and it all ran like clockwork. Even the stingers have stayed away for us! What a great way to celebrate living in this beautiful part of the world. Part of our responsibility as educators and parents of today must be to ensure our children and future generations can enjoy the same environment and lifestyle for many years to come.
The Administration Staff (Alison, Judy, Annette and I) were away at a very valuable training course that day, and I want to thank and commend the staff who ensured the good order and operation of the school in our absence: Perrelyn Wills who managed behaviour and general issues for two days, our wonderful office personnel in Michelle Pascall and Verna Brookes. Thanks also to Shane Brennan who organised and coordinated the Beach Carnival, and Natalie Tew who assisted as general overseer at the beach. In actual fact, my gratitude and appreciation extends right through to every staff member, not just for their efforts and contribution to Friday’s event but for every day - we really do have an outstanding workforce at Geographe Primary.
The School Board held its final meeting on Monday night, and I presented to them an update on where we are with planning for our next three-year Business Plan. At the course we attended last week, our leadership team were shown some ideas and examples of planning processes which will help to guide our way through the many facets of teaching, learning and school operations to identify our focus areas. We have plenty of information available from a range of sources, including student performance, surveys and reports and I have created a steering committee to follow this though. I look forward to keeping you informed on this progress.
PRESENTATION NIGHT
The program of this year’s Presentation Night has been revised to include a little more entertainment and participation of the audience, and less speeches. We hope you all come along and join in as we celebrate another great year at GPS, with a Christmas flavour.
Our Year 6 students will hold their Graduation Evening on Monday 12th December, and their Meelup Day on Wednesday 14th December. Special thanks to our Year 6 Teachers who have put a lot of thought and time into the planning and preparation for these events.
MINISTER FOR EDUCATION VISIT TOMORROW
We are honoured to have the Minister for Education, Hon Peter Collier MLC, visit our school tomorrow morning. He will visit some of our classrooms to meet staff and students, and drop in at the Parents and Volunteers morning tea around 11.00am.
Best wishes
Tim Baker
Principal

Parents and carers maybe aware that several schools in the south-west area have received nuisance phone calls in the past fortnight, claiming that a bomb has been left in the school or a gun will be used. There have been about four cases of this, one involving another school nearby. In each case the call has been from an automated recording.
Whilst this is almost certainly a hoax, we will not be taking any chances if it occurs at Geographe, and we will evacuate the students according to our plan. A drill was held late  last year, so staff and students are familiar with the procedure. Let's hope if it happens to us, it is not too hot!
Regards
Tim Baker

I was shocked and saddened to hear of the tragic passing of Rebecca House on Wednesday. Rebecca was our school's P&C Association president and a great supporter of our school. Her leadership and tireless efforts to promote Geographe Primary will be missed. Our deepest sympathy to husband Craig and daughter Kristen.

Last night's Presentation Night was a wonderful evening on the lawn with a few hundred exceptional people - the Geographe Primary School community. This is the inspiring sight that greeted me from the stage. It is truly heart-warming and encouraging to know that so many of our families came to join our big happy family to celebrate a terrific year of learning. Thank you all for being there.
Congratulations to all the students who won an individual award. And congratulations to every student for playing your part to make our school a great place to work and learn.
I wish all our community members a Merry Christmas and a safe, happy new year. Let's all have a good rest, and come back fresh and ready for lots of learning, fun and opportunities that 2016 promises.
Tim Baker

I have just been down to the Beach Carnival, which has just got under way. And what a sight!
We could not have ordered a more perfect day. The kids have been very excited, and they are having an absolute ball, as are the staff. Mr Veitch has been pushing a ball along the sand with his nose; Mrs Kirk is splashing all the kids as they run past her, and they are responding; Mr Brennan is patrolling up and down to ensure the activities are all running smoothly; and several parents are there having fun too. The City Ranger was there to make sure we are all set up.
What a terrific place to live - and what a school!!!

 What a terrific day we all had today, at the athletics carnival. The weather was superb, the kids terrific in every way, and the large contingent of parents friends and families made it a special day for us all. As I said at the end, it is days like this which build our school community's spirit and identity. Schools are important social institutions as well as educational ones, as they provide forums and opportunities to bring local people together for a common cause  - their children. Imagine if Geographe Primary School didn't exist - how many people in your neighbourhood would you know?
I think every one of us, students parents and staff, left the oval today feeling very proud and fortunate to be a part of  this school. For me personally, I have had opportunities to move away from schools into other roles in education or beyond, but something holds me back. Seeing and feeling the camaraderie and spirit of our school today while walking around talking to parents and kids, or helping run the carnival, reminded me why I'm still working as a principal in a government primary school, and there is not a better one than ours.
The carnival today had a nice blend of competition, participation and fun (the latter beautifully captured by the picture below of Miss Tew running down the track in her tutu (tew-tew?). A feature of Geographe is the Education Support Centre, and it was fantastic to see the way GPS students included, supported and encouraged their friends from GESC.
Have a wonderful holiday everyone!

"Parent Power" was in full force at our school over the weekend. A big number of parents came along to our playground busy-bee on Saturday to help with further works in the early years playground under the direction of Duncan and Anna Cutbush, install two new flagpoles and erect a "changeable sign" at the front of the school. Busselton Senior High School kindly donated their old sign to its little brother, Geographe Primary. Reid Grocock has made a fabulous new sign panel for it, and once the concrete is fully set around the posts, the rest of the sign can go on.
Kelvin May, Lindsay Williams and I spent some time cleaning out the back shed, and took two enormous trailer-loads of junk to the tip. The Young Mechanics program, which is based in the shed, now has more room to move. Unfortunately, someone took this as a signal to break in over the weekend, and most of their tools were stolen along with a green wagon/trolley to carry them in. If anyone sees the trolley, let us know so we can tell the police.
Speaking of "power", we are in need of a parent with welding skills and equipment. We have about ten student desks which are in good condition, but have a bung leg where the weld has broken. We had a dad who used to come in and weld these legs back up for us but he has left. If anyone can help, please call the school on 9754 0100.
Best Regards
Tim

Learning Journey Evening – Wed Sept 2, 6.00 to 7.30pm

Parents and families are reminded that our annual Learning Journey evening will be held this coming Wednesday, Sept 2nd. Classrooms will be open for you to view your child’s work, and hear from them what they have been doing in their classrooms. Some of our specialist rooms will also be open.

The canteen will be offering food on the night – sausage sizzles at $3 each, or hamburger with salad for $6.50. These need to be pre-ordered from the canteen. An order form was attached to the Possum Post this week, and was also sent home with children as a note.

 

Busy-Bee Saturday Sept 5

Also mentioned in the newsletter was the busy bee planned for Saturday morning to do a few jobs around the school. A few parents with a wheel barrow and shovel would be very handy – please contact our office if you can help. (We have changed the start time to 8.30am – perhaps 8.00am was too early as we have had no responses yet!)

 

“Sandwich Girl” – Can You Help Identify Her?

For some weeks we have been perplexed by the appearance of a round of sandwiches in one of the girls’ toilets. This has been happening since early June, once or twice a week. A lovingly-prepared sandwich, of brown bread and containing polony and sauce or sometimes jam, wrapped in cling-wrap, has been dropped behind the toilet cistern at the end of the day, probably by a girl in year 3 to 5. Our efforts to watch for the person responsible have been unsuccessful. If this sounds like it might be your child, please give us a discreet call so we can put a halt to it before it drives our cleaner mad!

 

Kind regards

Tim Baker

Principal

28 August 2015