Gumnut Bulletin 3, 2023

Education Manager

Dear Families

Welcome to Term 2. What a beautiful time of the year this is with the weather cooling and the magnificent sunsets we are blessed with each evening. The grounds are looking fabulous, thanks to the work of Brad and Mark.

The children are delighting in the bush cubby play and it has been wonderful seeing the juniors enjoying their Bush Kindy sessions on the school bush block.

I would like to thank the staff who have offered to be flexible this term in their workdays and support. Anita Krippner has stepped into the Voyager Class and taken on full-time work, Claire Mcleod is taking the Lighthouse Class one day a week and Penny has moved to full-time for the term.

The senior classes have attended the Think You Know cyber safety sessions over the last weeks. These sessions are presented by the Federal and State police and are aimed at raising awareness of the appropriate use of technologies. I urge you as parents to closely monitor the phone use of your children. They may protest, but you have the right to ensure that they are safe, ensure you know their password and turn the devices off at an appropriate time in the evening. Better still, get them to hand it to you each evening. They have many years ahead of them when they can be the masters of their own technology usage.

The Winter Festival takes place on the 22^nd of June, Lighthouse and Voyager students have swimming lessons during Week 7 and the Jilinbiri Class has their play in Week 8. Additionally, the Rivergum, Lighthouse and Voyager Classes have excursions that link to their class main lessons over the next few weeks.

I look forward to the remainder of the term with you and to celebrating the Winter festival at the term’s end. A reminder that June 5^th is the WA Day holiday and that Term 2 finishes for the students on the 23^rd of June.

Yours,

Mike

Business Manager

Hello everyone

Welcome back to term 2!

For those that have visited our school since the end of last term,  you will have noticed the two brand new 4 square courts alongside the ablution block. It’s been a long time in coming for our keen handballers, but they are now spoiled for choice with two courts that can accommodate two different age groups.

The lower primary also had a lovely large shade sail erected at the northeast corner of the Sunflower room in time for school beginning in Term 1 and this has provided much-needed shade for the kids to have lunch under. Brad planted some more poinciana trees and the original tree that was transplanted near the sandpit is now casting a lovely shady spot to sit under.

The lower primary playground is to receive a revamp this year with the addition of a nature playground. As mentioned in the last newsletter last year, Heike Witt is designing a concept plan of which a draft will be presented to our landscaping team in Week 7 and hopefully will be ready to be presented to the College of Teachers in Week 8, prior to then being presented to the school community.

Please keep an eye on your emails as in the coming week as Ally will be emailing out an expression of interest to our community for contributions of labour and materials to assist in the planning of stage 1. Any donations will be gratefully appreciated and allow for the budgeted funds to be spent directly on playground materials and equipment.

We have also been successful in obtaining a grant from the Federal Government “Schools Upgrade Fund” that will enable shade sail coverage to be constructed over the amphitheatre area. It’s going to be a whopper and it should be erected in time for the Spring fair! We are all very excited and pleased with the grant and the extra shade provided to our students for next summer.

It’s taken time and diligence, but we are finally starting to see some inroads into the facilities and gardens around the school. Next time you visit, please spare a few minutes and have a stroll around our beautiful school.

A big thank you goes to our grounds staff Brad and Mark, as well as our cleaning staff Anna, Sharon and Lee-Anne, who keep the school looking fabulous.

Autumn blessings 

Lisa T

Community Manager

Dear families,

The black cockatoos have been flying overhead of late, and this usually indicates that the change of season is afoot; cooler mornings and milder days to enjoy.

These past weeks, Lighthouse Room and Prospect Room have participated in community service with Jo from Boomerang Bags, and silk screening logos for the recycled shopping bags. Thank you to Jo (AKA the Green Granny!) for facilitating this for our students, they enjoyed it very much.

Upcoming on June 22nd we have the whole school Winter Solstice Festival. Already I have spied lanterns being created in class, stacks of firewood being prepared and beanies furiously French-knitted...eager for completion to keep heads toasty warm. Keep an eye out in school bags soon as a note will be sent home with all of the details as the date draws near.

Spring Fair planning is well underway for term 3. Thank you to all those who have already indicated their participation on the volunteer survey that was emailed out. The Devonshire Tea Stall still needs a coordinator! We have keen volunteers willing to help out however if you would be fabulous at organising a lovely little big tea party, please pop in to see me for the information pack. This much-loved school event is always so vibrant and engages the wider community to visit the school.

Two amazing school events to look forward to, the memories will remain long after the last scone and lantern light have disappeared!

Thank you to our Parent Representative and Crafternoon groups who have been busy sewing Family Fun Day badges and crafting for the Spring Fair. If you would like to join in, Crafternoon happens every Friday at school from 1 pm.

So too, thank you for all for the parent help this term - no sooner than a callout goes out, there is a willing hand that goes up and voila! Job done :)

Kind regards,

Ally

Enrichment Coordinator

Hello everyone,

After many years at Leaning Tree, I finally took some long service leave.  It was such a wonderful time to have a break from all things school.  It is also comforting to know that we as a school have processes that are followed and adhered to, so that when someone goes away, the ship still sails to its destination.

Our classrooms are now equipped with some lovely Tuart framed pinboards, completed by Ilaan, Tallis’s dad. We have also added some small blackboards in the RAL classrooms.  The Sunflowers have brand new individual desks with storage tubs and they feel very special.  The Library and Music room is coming together well with extra storage and a new pinboard and blackboard.  The Prospect room is next for furniture, and they will receive new individual desks with storage and also new chairs.  Slowly, we are achieving what we set out to just like the Tibetan proverb: The ox is slow but the earth is patient!

With classrooms set and equipped now its time to focus on our upcoming winter festivals, professional development for our wonderful teachers and some parent/craft nights.

Enjoy the last of our still autumn days

Lisa Scamporlino

Rainbow Kindergarten

The Kindergarten children have transitioned from the Starflower Room to the Rainbow Cottage to make more room for their little growing bodies and personalities! Most routines are the same and we are filling our days with fun, song and story.

The children have learned how to fold the kindy laundry. You might like to save the folding of small items such as tea towels and flannels for your children to do for you. They know just how to make the corners kiss! A simple task like this introduces mathematical concepts such as fractions, e.g. "fold in half and half again", and shapes, "turn the rectangle into a square".

This is all done with fun and purposefulness.

Our weekly routine includes making bread, watercolour painting, and other crafts such as making relaxing bath salts for our Mummies for Mother's Day. This was a relaxing activity as we measured and mixes Epsom salts, essential oils and lavender petals into little jars. I hope all mums get to enjoy a relaxing and nourishing (and quiet) bath sometime soon.

Sharing, turn-taking and remembering manners are all part of the kindergarten program and with such a small group it is rewarding to see gains being made and new relationships forming as these social-emotional skills take root and become a natural habit. What a joy to spend Rainbow days with the sweetest kindy sunbeams here at Leaning Tree.

Lara Sampson

Starflower Pre-primary

“For the golden corn and the apples on the trees,

For the golden butter and the honey from the bees,

For the fruits and nuts and berries, we gather on the way,

We bless your loving kindness Earth,

And thank you every day !”

Dear Starflower families,

After the busy easter holidays, Term 2 is already off to a flying start. The new term has ushered in some changes for the Starflower Room. Our Kindy Blossoms and Gumnuts have combined with lovely Lara to become the Rainbow Kindy. We enjoy seeing their happy faces and saying hello at outside play time when we join together in the Starflower Garden. We are also sharing our Bush Kindy adventures with our little Rainbow Kindy friends.

The Starflower preppies were busy little bees crafting a special gift for Mother’s Day. The children made colourful felted soaps for their Mamas, which gently exfoliate the skin while preserving the fragrant soap inside as the wool fibres shrink tightly around the soap. We hope the Mummies will enjoy using them as much as the children enjoyed making them.

In Starflower we begin every day with music, and recently the Preppies were very excited to receive a mystery box in the post. We all felt the box and tried to guess what could be inside. Then the fun began, with each child taking a turn to cut away the packaging...until finally the mystery was revealed. Inside the box was a Golden Angel Drum that we can all play our own special tunes upon. How blessed we are!

Autumn blessings to you all,  

Kathy and Lucinda

Sunflower Room Year 1

The Sunflowers have started the term full of passion and excitement for learning. 

They love their new desks and are showing respect and gratitude for them. They have their own drawer to keep their special workbooks safe now.

We are so proud of how they are looking after their belongings.

We started the term with a main lesson story called 'The Gnomes Gemstones' and have been looking at numbers, shapes, numeral formation, quantities of numbers, number lines, and friends of ten and have touched on the four operations: plus, minus, multiply and divide.

The children were gifted their own special bag of gemstones to investigate and solve math problems with.

Mother's Day Art was a hit.  The children loved creating their gifts to thank their Mums and show appreciation for all they do for them with unconditional love.

We hope all our Mothers enjoyed their special day.  

Jayne and Peta 

Jilinbiri Room Years 2 & 3

Jilinbiri News

Another month has passed, and it has been lovely to see the Jilinbiri children slowly progress through the curriculum with fun and laughter along the way.

We started the term off with our ‘Shelters’ main lesson which has been extremely enjoyable for all so far. As it is a Class 3 main lesson, the Year 3’s will be making their own shelter in our afternoon project blocks next week, while the Year 2’s make their own dream house in a shoe box. I have already heard some amazing ideas from some extremely excited children, so I am really looking forward to seeing them finished.

We have also been spending a few afternoons each week in our class garden tending to our crops. The children planted barley, wheat, oat and lupin seeds just after Anzac Day and it has become a fun job to check the height of our plants every day.  

As this term is already a busy one, I thought it would be a great idea to throw in our class play called ‘Grammarosaurus’, which we will perform at the end of the term. Lantern making, school reports and our whole school Winter Solstice are just some of the exciting things we also have coming up in the next few weeks. We will be a busy little class until the end of the term.

We look forward to sharing our finished 'Shelters' projects with you all very soon.

Warm regards

Tara & Claire

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Rivergum Room Years 4 & 5

Fabulous Ferns

“Ferns are beautiful

And love the Autumn sun

But in the plant world

They are very young”

By a Class 4 Student

The Rivergums (Class 4/5) have recently completed their first Main Lesson in Botany (weeks 1-3), however, we will continue to observe and study the plants growing around us through late autumn and winter. We will revisit the final Botany main lesson at the beginning of spring in Term 3 and explore flowering plants. This term we focused on drawing and writing about the characteristics of fungi, algae, lichen, moss, ferns and conifers. We discussed the importance of trees to all life on Earth. We spoke plant poems daily, action rhymes and wrote poetry on the earliest forms of plants. For now, we leave the wonderful world of plants and move into studying Animal Adaptations just in time for our excursion at the end of Week 4.

During our study of Animal Adaptations, we will delve deeper into our understanding of Australian fauna and flora. The class will investigate the fascinating adaptations that help animals to survive in the challenging environments of the Mid West. We will endeavor to get up close and personal by investigating the structural features of mammal skulls and taxidermy specimens. Of importance to the Mid-West of WA are the local species that have lived or once did live in this region: Noolbenger (Honey possum), wombat, sea lion, red kangaroo, brushtail possum, and echidna.

We are very excited about the cooler weather of late and the arrival of winter at the end of the month. Our lanterns are beginning to take shape and this year we embrace bolder geometric patterns that illuminate the lines and forms of common 3D shapes. The Winter Solstice songs are being shared and sung by all with heart-warming tones.

Warm autumn wishes,

Sincerely Susan

Lighthouse Room Year 6

The autumn rains have fallen, the paddocks turning green with new life and the Acacias are flowering golden yellow! Lighthouse students have been taking a colour journey, painting their way through the colours while attempting veiling (layers of light through the dark). Botanical art and bath bombs were made to acknowledge and treat the special women in our lives over the weekend.

We have had a lot of visitors to our class with the Parliamentary Education Office, the Federal Police (cyber safety) and a workshop on silk screening with Jo from Boomerang Bags. Claire has been delighted to take over on Tuesdays for a while, continuing with Physics and health.

In Week 2, we made lunch for the Rivergum class; preparing pumpkin soup and zucchini slice. We utilised garden produce and invited the school gardener to be our guest of honour. 

In between all of that, we have managed to do lots of math & literacy practice and are currently exploring why minerals are important to our everyday lives and our economy.

And then there is Craft, Violin, Music, Cocos Malay, Physical Education and Woodwork!

Lisa 

Voyager Room Year 7

Over the last few weeks, we have been learning about the human body and the digestive system. The students have been doing main lessons and research on different parts of the digestive system.

Nutrition, in Health, has seen the students create breakfast smoothies and nutritious pancakes. We are keeping this theme going by making a nutritious lunch in week 4.

Soon, we will go on an excursion to a fitness center and Flow Vitality to sample some food bowls. I will send out permission slips when I finalise the details.

Below are some captured moments of the students working hard on the digestive system in main lesson.

Anita

Prospect Room Years 8 & 9

We have been busy Prospects, digging into the human experience with our Main Lesson focusing on our changing bodies. We are learning to understand what is happening and how to cope with change in a healthy way. Additionally, the class has been challenged with caring for a raw egg for one week. They need to carry it around with them everywhere, ‘feed’ them three times every day, bathe them and even read to them (we will see who can be dedicated carers). For eggs that do not make it, I get to make it into a tasty snack and the student must write a mini-essay on what went wrong, how they can improve their care, and to evaluate their caring abilities. Sadly, I have had 3 eggs make it into my frying pan. The good news is that they were delicious.

It has been a fabulous experience watching the class giggle about bodily functions and parts and then get on with their work with maturity and grace. I can really see the bonding that formed during last term’s camp working its magic to unite the class in the awkward experience of learning about puberty.

Of course, it was Mother’s Day, so we got our watercolour courage and made mum cards using the monochromatic method of painting, or vale painting. The tutorials certainly make it look easy! I was impressed with how well the class did at bringing all the concepts together. We will practice this more and by the end of the year, we will have mastery of the ratios between pigment and water.

At camp last term, we ventured to Monkey Mia. The class was on their best behaviour and did our school proud, representing us everywhere we went. We went cruising on a catamaran, visited the aquarium, 4WDing on Cape Perron and snorkelling the rocky reef there. We also kayaked and hiked, played spotlight and foxholes, had a Welcome to Country experience and ate yummy food. Enjoy the photos!

Penny

Handcraft

Hello everyone,

How lovely it is to be back into the groove of handcraft and to be working with the children again.

The Sunflower children have surprised me with their ability to grasp a new skill.  They are all well on their way French knitting, with the promise of a beanie for the winter festival.

Our youngest Jilinbiri children are learning to knit, making a bunny or a chicken.  The already seasoned knitters in class 3 are knitting their purl gnomes and are delighted to see them take form.

In the Rivergum room, we have children weaving, beginner knitting, and mittens being fashioned with complex patterns.

Lighthouse children are taking a break from cross stitch and working on crochet slippers.

During handcraft, we find a delicate balance between socialising and tapping into the child’s will so they can achieve to the best of their ability. Recent neurological research tends to confirm that mobility and dexterity in the fine motor muscles, especially in the hand, may stimulate cellular development in the brain, and so strengthen the physical instrument of thinking. This supports children in all avenues of learning.

Thank you to Lara and Helen for keeping Handcraft going whilst I was away.

Lisa Scamporlino

Music & Design and Technology

We have had a great start to term two with the Year 7's starting on their second project after completing their hanging wall plaques. The next project involves cutting, drilling, chiselling, sanding and painting to produce a toy car. The Year 6's have started on their lanterns for the winter solstice and the Year 8 and 9’s are finishing up their wooden toolboxes.

Music has also started well with great enthusiasm from all. My favourite thing is to hear complaints from the older students that their younger siblings are walking around the house singing the songs they learn at school….repetitively. We will soon begin to learn some songs for the winter solstice, as well as continuing to work on our main whole school performance pieces.

Regards

Paul

Community Notice Board

In 3 Minds Psychology Services

The Zones of Regulation Workshop is running again in Term 2 on Wednesdays at 3.30pm!

The Zones help with social, emotional, and sensory regulation for children. They achieve this by learning to identify their emotions, categorising them, and then learning tools and strategies and how to apply them. This enables children to meet goals like doing schoolwork or other tasks, managing big feelings, and maintaining healthy relationships.

Eligible NDIS plans may be able to use funding. Discounts available for those paying privately!

For more information, including evidence-based research, visit our website https://www.in3minds.com.au/zones-of-regulation, call us on 0457 324 745, or email alison@in3minds.com.au

Recent news and training opportunities from the WA Centre for Rural Health (WACRH) of The University of Western Australia (UWA):

Training opportunities –

• Vicarious Trauma: The cost of caring. Dates: 28 Feb, 19 April and 4 July 2023. This is a 1.5 hour workshop. Typically attendees are frontline human services workers. There is no cost to attend. Places are limited and bookings essential on 9956 0200. Details here.
• Youth Mental Health First Aid. Dates: 22 & 23 May 2023 (2-day workshop). This course teaches adults how to assist adolescents who are developing mental health problems. Typically attendees are parents, guardians, school staff, sport coaches and youth workers. Cost: $150. Details here.
• Teaching on the Run. Dates: January – July 2023. This education program includes several foundation workshops designed to enable participants to apply sound teaching and learning principles in their workplace environment. Priority will be given to those health professionals who are hosting/supervising WACRH students in 2023. There is no cost to participate. Details here.
• Online Course - Speaking out against disrespect. WACRH has developed an online training package to build individuals’ skills and confidence to speak up about sexist and disrespectful behaviour in their workplace and community. Access the training here
• Online course - Cultural orientation plan. This online course is for students and health professionals working with Aboriginal people. Access the training here

Research Published –

• Yarning about pain: Evaluating communication training for health professionals at persistent pain services in Queensland, Australia. Read the paper here.
• What are the core recommendations for osteoarthritis care? A systematic review of clinical practice guidelines. Read the paper here.

About WACRH

The WA Centre for Rural Health (WACRH) at The University of Western Australia is one of 17 Commonwealth-funded University Departments of Rural Health (UDRH) in Australia, located in the Midwest, Gascoyne and Pilbara regions of Western Australia. WACRH aims to improve rural, remote and Aboriginal health through education, student placement support, research and community service activities, as well as to facilitate quality allied health, nursing and pharmacy clinical placements for students from all Australian universities. We work to improve the recruitment and retention of allied health, pharmacy and nursing (health) professionals in rural and remote Australia. For more WACRH news – follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, Linktree, Newsletters and read our media releases.

Child and Parent Centre Rangeway

“Triple P Changing Problem Behaviour into Positive Behaviour”

• (2yo-12yo children with disability) facilitated by DOE Consultant Psychologists  
• Monday 22 May, 9:30 am to 11.30 am
• No creche  
• Holland St School (for the whole community)

“Triple P Childhood Fears and Separation Problems” (this is a great one for children who struggle with school/daycare drop off)

• (1.5yo-8yo) facilitated by DOE Consultant Psychologists  
• Tuesday 23 May, 9:30 am to 11.30 am
• Creche available