11 February 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal's Message

Welcome back to the new school year. There is a lot to love about the beginning of the school year –new families, new teachers, new and renewed friendships, reconnection with existing families and let's not forget the hot weather that tests all our patience!

Butler Primary School embraces diversity and supports the development of individual talents and interests in developing the whole child. Our exceptional staff proactively engage children in critical and creative thinking and respond to preferred learning styles as part of curriculum delivery. As a school community we celebrate uniqueness, and foster a healthy approach to learning that caters to your child's individual character.

I am delighted to be taking up the position of Principal and look forward to getting to know you and your children.

Julie Woodhouse

School Hat for 2016

Due to the number of parent requests and skin cancer research, the School Board has endorsed an important change to the uniform policy at Butler Primary School. As of the 2016 start to the school year, all Butler students will be encouraged to wear the navy blue, wide brimmed fabric school hat.

Caps will no longer be part of the uniform as caps offer less sun protection to the sides of a child's face, ears and back of neck. This year, there will be a phasing in period with this policy during Semester 1, becoming compulsory and embedded in our school uniform policy for Semester 2, 2016. Wide brimmed hats of colours other than navy will not be accepted as the appropriate school uniform.

Navy blue fabric wide brimmed hats with the Butler School emblem, can be purchased from Lowes Clothing store at 36 Ocean Keys Boulevard, Clarkson and they have stocks in ready for families to purchase.

School Siren Times for 2016

The School Advisory Board has endorsed the following siren changes for the commencement of 2016. Please note the earlier school start and finish time.

A Great Start at Butler Primary School

Butler's roving reporter visited a number of Kindy and Pre-Primary classrooms last week and was impressed by the amazing learning that was taking place. Students were already reading, writing, counting and sharing, in addition to making decisions about friendships, creative play, construction and problem solving.

In our Kindy classes, students were learning how to say," Goodbye for now", to their parents before they enjoyed making some choices about activities they wanted to engage in. Our Pre-Primary students were enjoying attending school every day and were busy catching up with their old friends from last year and making new friends in their classes.

In the photo gallery below, Miss Tegan Letcher can be seen reading a book with one of her Pre-primary students. Can you spot the older students enjoying a robust game of Kick It Cricket in the undercover area with their teacher, Miss Danelle Stewart? The older students can also be seen enjoying the student councillor election speeches.

It certainly appears that students at Butler have settled in well to their exciting 2016 school year-just ask the students.

Kindy and Pre-primary Parent Workshop

Butler Primary School will be holding a parent information workshop in Week 4, Wednesday 24th of February. This is a wonderful opportunity for parents to learn about the literacy and numeracy teaching and learning programs in the early childhood part of our school. Parents will see how they can support their child's learning at home. The workshop will run from 9.00am -10.30am in the staffroom. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided.

Homework Requirements, 2016

Homework helps students by complementing and reinforcing classroom learning, fostering good lifelong learning and study habits, and providing an opportunity for students to be responsible for their own learning.

Year 1 – 3 Students

To meet requirements for homework, Years 1-3 students need to:

• Read every night, from Monday to Thursday, for a minimum of ten minutes.
• Read a minimum of 1 book per week. The books can be a take home reader or a book in the Reading Eggspress library. Parents need to regularly sign their take home reading records.
• Reading Eggs-Complete a minimum of 2 maps per term. Each map consists of 10 lessons. Students on Reading Eggs are still expected to read 10 books per term(Yr2&3 only).
• Reading Eggspress-Once students have completed Map 12 on Reading Eggs, or at the teacher's discretion, they then progress to Reading Eggspress. It is expected that students read a minimum of 1 book from the Reading Eggspress library a week. If students were on Reading Eggspress the previous year, then they continue with this program. (Yr 2&3 only)
• Regular learning of spelling lists and reading of sight word lists is also strongly encouraged.

In Mangahigh, a program that has replaced Mathletics, there will be some set homework.

Year 4 – 6 Students

Homework for senior students:

• Should include daily independent reading.
• May include extension of class work, projects and assignments and research.

Homework may involve:

• Set tasks required for subsequent lessons
• Repeating or completing work given in class for the day
• Continuing work on assignments/projects
• Revision of class work
• Wider reading to cover both novels and further research

Maths Years 4/5

Students will complete one written maths assignment that will be due each fortnight. This work will be marked in class or by the classroom teacher.

Maths Year 6

Students will complete one written maths assignment that will be due each week. This work will be marked in class or by the classroom teacher.

Literacy Years 4-6

• Year 4-6 students will complete the following tasks:
• Literacy Pro Home Reading Program- a minimum of 4 books per term
• Spelling practice
• A short grammar activity, fortnightly in Years 4 & 5 and weekly in Year 6

LITERACY-PRO (LEXILE) READING PROGRAM

Literacy-Pro (Lexile) is the home reading program for Year 4 -6 students. Students are awarded a Literacy-Pro level after sitting an online test in school. Thereafter, they select books at this level and, after reading each one, sit a quiz to check their comprehension. Quizzes are always completed at school under the direction of a teacher or Education Assistant. Students need to gain at least 8 out of 10 to pass and on doing so will be awarded Literacy-Pro points. Accumulation of points, in increments of 10, is rewarded through Butler's Faction Passport system. High achievers are also rewarded at the Senior Book Award Assembly. Students are expected to read a minimum of 4 Literacy-Pro books each term.

MANGAHIGH- ONLINE MATHS

Mangahigh is an online game-based mathematics program which encourages students to work and think harder. Students are able to participate in competitions and challenges with each other and other schools.

The P&C funds Mangahigh across the school. All students from Years 1-6 have access to this program throughout the year, including holidays. Teachers are able to set specific tasks that complement content being covered in the classroom. Teachers can track and analyse individual and class progress. Mangahigh is accessible on computers, tablets and phones.

Reading Eggs and Eggspress Rollover for 2016

Once again, our K-3 students will be participating in Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress for ready students.

K, P and Year 1 students work through Reading Eggs maps. Year 2 and 3 students work through the eBooks and quizzes in the virtual library of Reading Eggspress. Some Year 2 and 3 students may need more consolidation on Reading Eggs before they have the confidence to independently read the EBooks in Reading Eggspress.

This year, our older students from Years 4-6 will have the opportunity to access the program during class or home time to complement their reading program and for the middle and senior primary teachers to access some brilliant reading resources for the delivery of their reading lessons.

Letters to parents with login information will be sent home in the next week.

Explicit Teaching at Butler Primary School

Mrs Jill Dodge, one of our talented teachers, was having as much fun as the Year 1 students modelling explicit teaching of literacy concepts. The goal of the explicit teaching warm-up was to revise Pre-primary concepts. The students were reminded of, and then repeated, the attributes of a good listener. They sang and stamped out their alphabet sounds and sang a long and short vowel sound song. They then blended and segmented words before playing Alien Words. Mrs Dodge can't wait to join the Year 1 classes for another explicit teaching session!

Explicit Teaching at Butler Primary School

2016 Pre-Primary On-Entry Assessment Program: Information to parents

During Term 1, Weeks 3-6, all Pre-primary students will be involved in the Department of Education's state wide On-Entry assessment program.

The main purpose of the program is to provide teachers with the opportunity to collect information on essential literacy and numeracy skills of each child as well as collecting school data for school improvement purposes. The information collected will assist teachers in developing informed and intentional teaching f programs, reflective of student needs.

While we would like each child to be involved, exemptions and withdrawals are available. If you wish to have your child exempted or withdrawn please contact your child's class teacher. If you require further information, please contact Deb Hamblin, Deputy Principal.

The Life Education Van is to Visit Butler Primary School

Pre-primary to Year 6 students will be attending the LIFE EDUCATION incursion in Weeks 2, 3 and 4 of Term One. The cost of the incursion is $8.50 per child for Years 1-6 and $4.00 per child for Pre-primary students.

LIFE EDUCATION is a not-for-profit organisation working with schools to deliver a curriculum-based program that empowers children to make safe and healthy lifestyle choices. It has been operating for more than 35 years and has delivered programs to nearly 5 million children in that time. LIFE EDUCATION drive their mobile learning centre into schools to help make the program accessible and the learning exciting and memorable. The sessions are delivered by specially trained educators, are hands-on, fun and collaborative, and feature their well-loved iconic mascot, Healthy Harold, the giraffe. They also provide teacher and student resources to allow concepts to be further explored and consolidated in the classroom. The LIFE EDUCATION Program is linked to the Australian Curriculum and the programs support children, teachers and families to explore a range of health topics:

Pre-primary: Harold's Healthy Play Day-Learn about the importance of healthy foods, hygiene, sleep and exercise

Year1 and 1/2: Harold's Mystery Tour-Internal body parts, such as the heart and lungs and explore safety at the park and on the beach

Year 2: Harold's Heroes- Recognise safe and unsafe behaviours, smoking, storage of medicines, emergency procedures and healthy food choices

Years 3 &4: All Systems Go- Functions of various body parts and the actions required to keep these systems working well, smoking and drug education, managing peer pressure and healthy food choices

Year 5: Be Cyber wise- Cyber safety, cyber ethics and building positive relationships with friends online and offline

Year 5/6 & Year 6: It's Your Call- Improving student's decision making skills by looking at choices, consequences, responsibility, facts, information and influences. Peer influence, cyber safety and cyber ethics are themes used to explore decision making.

Parents and care givers are invited to visit the LIFE EDUCATION van after school on Tuesday, 16th February and meet the LIFE EDUCATION presenters (2:45pm-3:45pm). For parents who would like more information on their child's incursion please call the school or visit the website:

Parent Parking and Automated Gate

It is great to see that more families are walking their children to and from school or parking in the community centre car park and walking their children from there.

The school gate, opposite the administration building, is now automated and for security reasons will be closed from 9:00am to 2:30pm. Parking is available outside the school grounds. A walk- in entry gate is available and is located to the right of the gate.

Parents, please be aware that the student drop off area, entered from Tollesbury Ave, is for diagonal parking only. It is not built for cars standing stationary in the roadway waiting to pick up or drop off students. There have been several near misses recently where students have run to enter the car whilst another car has overtaken the stationary car. This also has caused unnecessary traffic congestion. The school has erected "No Stopping" signs and painted "No Parking" on the road surface to assist with making this area a safer place for our students. Cones have now been placed in this area as a reminder to our families.

Parents are reminded that parking is not permitted on grassed kerbside areas around the Pre-primary car park and along Tollesbury Avenue as well as the brick paved median strip in Cambourne Parkway. At times, parking fines and warnings have been issued by rangers. Please download the map below for parent parking information.

Canteen Corner

Please click below to access the mouth-watering and delicious Summer menu.

Butler Out of Hours School Care

Butler's YMCA provides affordable care before and after school every Monday to Friday.

Chaplain's Corner

HELLO Everyone,

WELCOME to our new school year! I hope you enjoyed your holidays and have returned feeling rested. I also hope you have had a great start to the term, and are beginning to settle in to the school routine.

Our VALUES for Term 1 which we will be focussing on are:

FRIENDLINESS, RESPECT & INCLUSION.

To Make A Friend

Your mother was right…
If you can count your true friends on one hand,
You're a lucky person.
Some of our best memories come from our friends.
The real joy of friendship is when you give.
To make a friend, give them your friendship.
They will reciprocate.
Treasure your friends.
By Patrick Lindsay

Our Breakfast Club will be starting up again later this term. We will keep you updated as to when, and give you all the details soon.

Kind Regards,
Vangi Hunter - School Chaplain

P&C News

The P&C Annual General Meeting will be held at 6:30 pm in the staffroom on Wednesday, 17th February. All parents are very welcome to attend.

Community News

If you would like information on the North Coast Rangers Christian Football club:

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