This term we are focusing on reading and each week students will receive awards at assembly for striving to improve their reading. So why is reading so important? Evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who don’t, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures. In fact, there’s evidence to suggest that reading for pleasure is more likely to determine whether a child does well at school than their social or economic background. The below Victorian government provides some useful advice for parents.

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/literacynumeracy/Pages/literacyactivities.aspx

http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/reading.html

Lions Youth Speaking Award was held Sunday 22nd July here at our school. Our speakers were Ainslie Trease, Tessa Warrin, Lily Patrick-Oudeman, and Bella Wayman. All girls spoke exceptionally well with both Ainslie and Tessa coming runners up in the Year 5/6 and 3/4 sections respectfully. The Year 3 and 4 girls spoke about their favourite place in the local area and Ainslie took her audience on a tour of Numurkah.

Andy Griffiths Live in the Library!

This week some of Year 5 and 6s had the opportunity to hear Andy Griffiths speaking. Unfortunately he wasn't in person, but we could hear and interact though Skype. We hope to continue to explore opportunities digitally to bring our authors live to the students.

Please check out the dates on our next page to see when our debating, and book week celebrations are on.

Friday 3rd August - Lightning Premiership

Tues 7th, Wed 8th and Thurs 9th August - Year 3/4 Debates Round Two

Thursday 9th August - Prep-3 Indigenous Day

Monday 13th August - School Council Meeting 7pm

Tuesday 14th August - ICAS Maths Competition

Friday 17th August - Kinder-Prep Transition Session

Friday 17th August - Year 3/4 debate Semi Final

Monday 20th to Friday 24th August - Book Week

Thursday 23rd August - Book Week Parade 9am

Thursday 23rd August - Prep - 2 Community Reading Day

Wednesday 29th August - Year 3/4 & 5/6 Debate Grand Finals 

Thursday 30th August - Father's Day Stall

Friday 31st August - Father's Day

The Parent Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education and Training. The survey is conducted amongst a sample of randomly selected parents. It is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of parents' perceptions of school climate, student behaviour and student engagement. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.

Approximately 30 per cent of parents have been invited to participate in this year's survey. The survey will be conducted online, only taking 10-15 minutes to complete. Letters containing the log in details were sent home to the randomly selected families last week.  This year the Parent Opinion Survey will be conducted from Monday 23rd July to Sunday 26th August and can be accessed at any convenient time within these dates.  Access can be on a desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone.

The survey results will be reported back to the school at the end of September.

Congratulations to all students who have been participating in the debating festival. There has been lots of hard work and preparation put into presenting their arguments. Everyone has been very impressed with the high standard of the debates. Congratulations to the successful teams who have moved onto the next round.

The following Year 3/4 Round Two debates will take place as listed below:

Tuesday 7th August - A Team vs Galaxy Gang

                                     "Students should not be given homework!"

Wednesday 8th August - Extreme Debators vs Princess Power

                                      " All shops should be closed on Sundays!"

Thursday 9th August - Cats and Dogs vs The Gems

                                      "Bottled water should be banned!"

All debates will be held in Room 7, starting at 1:40pm. Families are welcome to come and watch the debates. If you have any questions please speak to classroom teachers or Ms Sartoria in Room 6.

The Year 3/4 Semi Final debate will be held on Friday 17th August.

Grand Final Debates for both Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 will be held on Wednesday 29th August.

The Term 3 Interviews were held last week. There was a good attendance from families taking the opportunity to meet with teachers.  If you were unable to attend on the scheduled days please speak directly to the classroom teacher to organise a time to 'catch up'. 

Prep/1S - Levi McKenzie - For trying your hardest with all your activities. great work and keep it up!

Prep/1H - Khan-Lee Crowe - Congratulations on your improved behaviour and attention in the classroom. You have worked hard, completed tasks and participated in a respectful manner.

2/3C - Shelby Warriner - For  settling into our class so well and already being an excellent role model for younger students. keep up the good work!

2/3R - Bailey Power- For making a wonderful start to the term.

3/4S - Ella Parkinson - I am absolutely blown away by the quality of the work you produce every time. you show everyone that if a jobs worth doing.....

4/5W - Declan Crisp - Congratulations on your big hit and home run during the Winter Sports Softball game.

5/6H - Caitrin Harrison - For displaying great enthusiasm in Literacy and Numeracy activities this week. Well done, Caitrin!

5/6S - Mahdi Abed - For successfully completing a range of Maths tasks, and accurately sharing your times tables answers with the whole class. A fantastic effort!

01H - Charlie Jenner

01S - Tamika Arundel

23R - Jordan Cockerell

23C - Annabella Boschetti 

34S - Chase Pollard

45W - Declan Lowden

56H - Jacob Woolley

56S - Jackson Jenner

Prep/1S - Addison Barker - For positive improvements in behaviour during class. Keep it up!

Prep/1H - Angus Parkinson - An excellent week in the classroom. You are making great progress in all areas of your learning. You are a responsible Class Captain. Well done!

2/3C - Jazzy Broad - For always trying her best in every learning task.

2/3R - Mia Weygood - Mia always gives her best effort in all her learning. She has made wonderful progress with her reading and handwriting.

3/4S - Cooper Tetley - Cooper is a wonderful listener and always  works with great focus to complete independent tasks to a high standard. 

4/5W - Seiona Miller - Congratulations on trying your best this week. Impressed with your efforts in Drumbeat.

5/6H - Karli Gerdtz-Suffern - Demonstrating excellent netball skills and strategies. You have worked hard to develop your skills over the course of our Winter Sports Program with excellent results.

5/6S - Judah Moody - For producing quality work, having a responsible attitude and also using excellent time management strategies. You are also effectively managing and supporting the Earn and Learn Treasurers.

01H - Jake Tervit

01S - April Marcroft

23R - Shaely Eddy

23C - Charlotte Codiga

34S - Erin Norman

45W - Keira Dekker

56H - Jorjiah Moody

56S - Lucas Spokes

2018 INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS & ASSESSMENTS FOR SCHOOLS

SCIENCE COMPETITION - RESULTS

On Tuesday 29th May this year, 3 very focused Year 3-6 students sat down and faced the challenge of the 2018 International Competitions & Assessments for Schools SCIENCE COMPETITION questions.  Our students were not alone, as pupils from 20 other countries also participated in this competition.

I am pleased to report that our students performed really well, with Sarah Abdulamir (Yr 5) receiving a Credit Award.

PARTICIPATION Awards: Bella Wayman and Bobby Hall.

Achievement certificates are awarded to all students at a range of levels:

High Distinction to the top 1% of students

Distinction to the next 10% of students

Credit to the next 25% of students

Merit to the next 10% of students

Participation to all other students

The school congratulates all these students on “having a go”, and being interested in applying their knowledge and understanding to solve Science problems.  I am sure all the students benefited from their experience in this extension activity.

Parents please note: Next Monday 6th August, the Credit Certificate will be given out at assembly. The Participation Certificates will be presented to students by their class teacher. 

Jenny Sartoria –                                                                                

2018 Science Competition Coordinator.                

A huge congratulations to Bridget Brown who competed last Thursday 19th July at the Cross Country State Championships at Bundoora. Bridget tried her best and competed well. Bridget finished the course with a time of 9:08 min, and placed 40 out of 90 girls. We are all very proud of Bridget for the way in which she approached the whole Cross Country journey this year, all the way from Numurkah Primary school to State Championships.

Well done Bridget!

NPS Football Report

On Friday 20th July, the NPS Footy Team had a close encounter when they played football against the Cobram PS team. The skills of both of the teams were equal so this made for a very interesting game; it ended in a win to Cobram by 2 points.   All our players worked hard to move the ball towards the goal.

The best on ground were Judah Moody, Jacob Lindberg, Jackson Jenner and Conner Waites who kicked a goal. 

Report written by Jackson Jenner

 Year 5 Netball Report

On Friday 20th July the NPS Year 5 netball team played Cobram’s Year 5 netball team. It was a hard game in the cold and wind. All players worked really well and supported each other. A highlight was the accurate throwing. Special mention goes to Crystal Jarrott, Kayla Gerity, Keisha Broad, Seiona Miller and Mitchell Harvey. In the end the scores were six to two our way and we were very pleased with our victory.   

Report written by Kayla Gerity

Year 6 Netball Report

On Friday 20th July, NPS Year 6 Netball Team played against Cobram PS. The game was played fairly. This was our first win of this season and we were very proud of our accurate passes and effective movement of the ball. We played extremely well as a team. It was a successful game for us as the score was 24 to 0 our way.

Report written by Cobie McGraw  

Bat Smashers Softball Report

Numurkah PS (Bat Smashers) Softball Team played an excellent game against Cobram PS on Friday 20th July.  It was a fantastic game, with the Cobram team putting us under a lot of pressure. However, the Bat Smashers were up for the challenge and played really well, running the bases effectively and taking advantage of the occasional loose ball. Declan Crisp batted really well and Odin Mutimer took a great catch! Kobi Pelchen’s pitching was accurate too. The following players also made valuable contributions during the game: Chase Dixon, Bobby Hall, Devlin Duncan, Aiden Woolley, Will Srisoi and Lucas Spokes. A big thank you to Xavier Dixon for helping out. The final score was 19 to 13 our way.

Report written by Xavier Dixon

The Annual Lightning Premiership is being held tomorrow, Friday 3rd August in Numurkah. (This year the event is being organised and hosted by Numurkah PS and St Joseph’s PS). In the case of bad weather, causing the event to be cancelled, a decision will be made by 8am and the families will be notified via Facebook and Compass.

All parents are welcome to come along to support their child and our school teams. We have teams in Yr 6 Div 2 Netball, Yr 5 Div 2 Netball, Division 2 Football and Softball. Netball will be played at Numurkah Town Netball Courts (near Numurkah Gym), Football and Softball will be played at Numurkah Football Ground (Showgrounds). Starting time for matches is 10am and expected finishing time will be no later than 2pm.

Students should wear the appropriate school uniform and footwear, e.g. black skirt/shorts for netball, football shorts for football. Students are still expected to wear their school shirt and school jumper/jacket (footy players will change into their jumpers, netballers will put bibs on).

****Please check the weather forecast and send appropriate warm clothes, jackets, change of shoes etc. 

Students will attend school as normal in the morning, and will then walk to their venues with accompanying teachers. They will then return to school in the afternoon, unless parents take children home from the venue (please let teachers know if you are doing this).

Students should pack a cut lunch and snacks for the day, with plenty of water. There will also be canteen items available at both venues including hot and cold food and drink, snacks and fruit. There will be no school lunch orders available for participating students. Numurkah Primary School Parents and Friends will be running the canteen/BBQ at the Netball Courts. Please see the photos below for canteen menus.

We expect it to be an enjoyable day for all involved.

We have been asked to organise the BBQ & run a canteen at the town netball courts on the Year 5/6 Lightning Premiership Day, this year.  We would appreciate lots of helpers to cook and serve the BBQ food and to sell canteen items, between 10.00 am and 2.00 pm.

It is important that we get lots of helpers so that volunteers are only rostered on for a short while, thus allowing families to go and watch their children at their sports. Alternatively, if we have some grandparents that are able to help, this would also be appreciated.

All volunteers are welcome, your do not need to be a P&F member or a year 5/6 parent. If you would like to help out please let the office know.

Father's day is fast approaching!

Parents and Friends will again be running a Father's Day Stall for students. If you could please donate some items either for the father's day stall gifts, or as raffle prizes they would be greatly appreciated.

Please drop all items at the office.

Thank you in advance from the P&F committee

Established in 1945, the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) is a not-for-profit, volunteer run organisation which aims to engage the community with literature for young Australians. The CBCA presents annual awards to books of literary merit, for outstanding contribution to Australian children's literature.

We now have in our library many of the books nominated for the 2018 awards. If you want to find out about the books please see link below.

https://www.cbca.org.au/short-list-2018

The Young Australians Best Book Awards (YABBA) were established in 1985 by a group of Victorians keen to see children engage in reading Australian books.

They seek to provide children a voice within the general Australian children’s book industry.  The YABBA Awards encourages children to recommend recent Australian published books, read all the recommendations for their peers, rate them against all others and then finally reward that book they feel is best. If you are looking for books your children maybe interested in check out the books on the link below or encourage

https://yabba.org.au/2018-shortlist/

Once again Numurkah Primary School will have the pleasure in participating in the 'The Community Reading Day' on Thursday the 24th August between 10 am and 11.30 a.m. It is a wonderful opportunity for us all to come together and share the joy of reading with the children of our community. It takes the whole community to help our children develop the literacy skills they need for a successful future.Our children will get the opportunity to dress as their favourite book character! And while our Prep- 2s are  completing their community reading our Year 3-6s will also be participating in book week activities. More details will be distributed closer to the date. 

We found some very wonderful creatures in our garden last week – worms! They are truly amazing; working hard to turn waste into rich goodness for our soil – keeping our garden healthy and growing well.

It reminded me of the many tiny things that we can be thankful for; the humble worm is a great example – it remains out-of-sight, working quietly underground to enrich life above.

There are many people in our lives that work hard to make our lives better; community volunteers, police and emergency service folks – and let us not forget our fabulous teachers who put in so much effort ‘behind the scenes’ to make our schools great places of learning.

Evidence suggests an ‘attitude of gratitude’ is good for our mental health and well-being. Actively searching for and acknowledging things, however small, for which to be grateful gives us a feel-good boost.

I am thankful for the tiny worms that are busy working to make our garden beautiful – I also appreciate our school families that love and support our students – and let’s not forget our wonderful staff who make Numurkah Primary School a great place to be. I would encourage all of us to take time to pause and think of a least three things for which to be grateful – you will find it hard to stop at three!

https://headspace.org.au/

Regards

Tam Joyce

Chaplain

Friday 3rd August - Selyna Wilson

Monday 6th August  - Junior School Council

Tuesday 7th August - Helper Required

Wednesday 8th August - Kylie's Leadership Group

Thursday 9th August - Helper Required

Friday 10th August - Selyna Wilson

Monday 13th August - Junior School Council

Tuesday 14th August - Helper Required

Wednesday 15th August  - Kylie's Leadership Group

Thursday 16th August - Helper Required

Friday 17th August - Selyna Wilson

Volunteers Required - 

Our school canteen, selling ice creams and icy poles,  is staffed by parent volunteers. If you would like to assist in the school canteen, a volunteer is required each day from 1:30pm - 2:10pm. During Semester One our canteen was only been open on limited days due to limited availability of volunteers. The canteen will be open more regularly this term as Julie Wilkinson and the Junior School Councillors and Kylie Jones with her Leadership Group will be assisting in the Canteen.

We still need a parent volunteer on Tuesday's and Thursday's, if you are able to help out please let the office know.

FREE fresh fruit available from the canteen this Friday, 3rd August! Grab it while you can!

Our Canteen items and prices have remained the same as last year. A price list is attached below.

The Lunch Order menu has remained the same as last year. Please see the attachment below if you do not have a copy.

I love reading because…

“punctuation makes it more exciting for the reader.” – Georgie H

“in Read-to-Partner people read to each other and we don’t make mistakes.” – Kyenan D

“I want to get my new M100W words.” – Kaidee R

“I get my new M100W words.” – Ben S

“reading makes me feel good.” – Emily J

“it is exciting learning the different punctuation.” – Angus N

“I get help with my reading when I read with Miss Hives.” – Aiden P

“I get to go up levels in my books.” – Jackson M

“I learn things that I didn’t know. The more I read the more I know the book.” – Sonny D

“Read-to-Self is quiet and I can read better.” – Levi M

“I get to learn about the book by looking at the title and the words.” – Joshua D

“I like sounding out the words.” – Declan S

“I get to listen to Miss Hives read us stories.” – Larna D

“mum reads with me before school.” – Zavier M

“it is fun and the pictures are beautiful.” – Addison B

“I love getting my next level of M100W words.” – Zavier A

“books tell me new words.” – Tamika A

“during Read-to-Self we get to read library books after we read our 10 take home readers.” – April M

“I get to learn new M100W words.” – Blake A

“I love going up to higher levels of books.” – Liam P

“I am working really hard to get my next level of M100W words.” – Sieanna L

Aussie Hoops - 

The Cobram Basketball Association will run an Aussie Hoops program for 6-10 year olds to learn the game, coached by senior players. Refer to the Aussie Hoops tab for the  Cobram Basketball Association website for details and registration. Payment of fees will be via credit card at time of registration.