24 September 2020

Newsletter Articles

A Note from the Principal

Throughout Term 3, Butler Primary School has been a busy vibrant place.

The staff have worked tirelessly to ensure that our students have had every opportunity to learn new things, participate in in-school events, and connect to global and virtual activities. They continue to work collaboratively planning activities, checking that their assessment of student work is fair and consistent, developing an in-depth shared understanding of the WA Curriculum and they are constantly watching over our students to make sure they are growing and developing into happy well-adjusted individuals.

Throughout the term our students have participated in our new look Athletics Carnivals. For the first time ever and as a result of COVID-19 we had two half day carnivals. The behaviour of our students was awesome and sportsmanship was exemplary. Our students also participated in and celebrated National Science Week. Throughout this week the students had the opportunity to be immersed in innovative and creative activities that linked science to other key curriculum areas. Book Week is always a highlight for our students and staff. This year due to COVID-19 our approach to this celebration was very different. Students had the opportunity to guess the book challenge, wear their pajamas and enjoy a quiet reading afternoon, dress up as their favourite book character and for the first time ever watch the staff book week movie.

Throughout the term we have said goodbye to some of our teachers and welcomed some new ones. We wished Mrs Solomon good luck and best wishes as she will be having her second baby in November. We have welcomed Ms Roberts as her replacement and we hope she enjoys working with the fantastic students in Room 7. Ms Strickland finished her time with us last week and she is looking forward to welcoming her first baby in November. Ms Clements will be taking over from her and I am certain she will love being part of Room 12.

Mr Malins will be going on leave at the end of term and we will welcome him back at the beginning of 2021. Mr Gable will be taking over from Mr Malins and he will have Term 4 to get to know the students in Room 16 before they head off to secondary school.

Ms Tighe will be taking up a six month fixed term Deputy Principal’s position at Yanchep Beach Primary School. We wish her the best and hope that she won’t forget what a wonderful place Butler Primary School is.

Emotional and physical health are essential to cope with life’s curveballs and COVID-19 has certainly sent a few curveballs. We all develop emotional resilience when ‘things’ go wrong, by learning to manage our behaviour and feelings. The stronger our sense of community is, the more easily we are able to deal with the challenges that face us. A big thank you and congratulations to staff, students and parents for the collective contribution to ensuring our school is a connected community. It is a privilege to be part of Butler Primary School.

As educators and as a parent it is useful to reflect on the emotional resilience habits that we promote in our students/children. The following ten points are useful indicators when developing good mental health and emotional resilience.

1. Model good mental health habits: If you, like many teachers/parents, live constantly with stress then consider ways to actively minimise it, such as getting regular exercise, plenty of sleep and doing relaxation exercises. Not only will this improve your mental health, and make you easier to live with, it will send a strong positive message that mental health is important.
2. Make sure they get enough sleep: Sleep is one of the building blocks of mental health and wellbeing. Children need between 10 and 12 hours’ sleep to enable proper growth and development. One of the single most powerful strategies to improve children’s abilities to cope with stressful or changing situations is to ensure they get enough sleep.
3. Encourage children to exercise
4. Encourage creative outlets: It’s energizing and helps take stressed and worried children out of themselves.
5. Provide a space of their own: Children of all ages benefit from having some space of their own where they can think.
6. Talk about their troubles: Talking about what’s worrying you is a great way to remove the burden of worry and reduce anxiousness.
7. Help them relax: Make sure children have time to chill out so they can relax naturally.
8. Have two routines – weekday and weekend: It’s important to have time on the weekend to slow down
9. Foster volunteering and helpfulness: Encourage children to be connected to and help others in any way possible.
10. Bring fun and playfulness into their lives: Children should be the kings and queens of play. Make time for them to have some fun.

Have a safe and relaxing holiday break - take some time for your children's and your own wellbeing.

Mrs Julie Woodhouse
Principal

School Calendar

Term 3

PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT DAYS 2020 (PUPIL FREE):

Term 4 – Monday, 12 October
Term 4 – Friday, 18 December

Notices for all Families

Butler College Interschool STEM Challenge

Twelve students from Year 5 and 6, recognised for their high achievement in Science, took part in last week’s Butler College Interschool STEM Challenge.

The students worked in a teams with Year 9 leaders on a series of challenges designed to engage critical thinking, problem solving and team work while drawing on students’ knowledge of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

As well as having a lot of fun, our Butler Primary School students demonstrated excellent team work, academic endeavour and outstanding behaviour. From the eleven teams taking part, two teams from Butler Primary School won both second and third place in the challenge.

We could not be more proud of the way our students represented themselves and Butler Primary School. Congratulations on an excellent day and a well-deserved place amongst the winning teams.

Racheal Tighe
Deputy Principal

Kindergarten 2021 Applications Open

Applications for Kindergarten in 2021 are now being accepted. If your child is born between 1 July 2016 and 30 June 2017 they are eligible to start Kindy in 2021.

Please find more information about Kindy at Butler Primary School on our website below or phone 9561 7700.

To apply please complete the attached application form and return to Butler.ps@education.wa.edu.au along with a copy of your child’s birth certificate, Immunisation History Statement from the mygov website (no older than 2 months) and proof of address if living in boundary (utility bill, rental agreement).

For a hard copy of the application form please call 9561 7700.

What’s On In

Sport

This year we made some adjustments to our Sports Carnival and abbreviated the format into a Junior Carnival on Friday 4th September and Senior Carnival on Friday 18th of September. Students adapted well and still competed with great sportsmanship and attitude. Congratulations to Alkimos for being crowned 2020 champions at the Senior Carnival and to the following Year 4-6 students for being recognised for individual excellence across Cross Country, Jumps, Throws, 800m, 400m and Sprints:

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Well done to all our students, staff and parents for supporting these carnivals and we look forward to Interschool Athletics at East Butler in Week 3 next term.

Keith Milner
Physical Education

Library

Lids 4 Kids

Lids for Kids is a Melbourne based project.

Lids are collected Australia wide and with the donation of transport companies, they are shipped to Melbourne for processing into prosthetic-like hands for children.

Due to the Covid crisis in Victoria and in Australia in general,

we need to immediately suspend the collection of lids.

We would like to thank the Butler Primary School community for your outstanding contribution to this amazing project. Please know that you have helped change the lives of many children.

Mrs Pengelly and Mrs Dowrick
Library Officers

Information for Families

School Payment Options Available

Payment methods for charges and contributions can now be made via:

• Eftpos in person at the office.
• Cash or Cheque (please use the school money envelopes and place the sealed envelope in the black letter boxes. The boxes are located in the wet areas of each of the blocks and the office)
• Direct Deposit (reference student name and payment description.)
  BSB: 066040
  Acc: 19904285

Absentee Messaging Service

Please send absentee messages through to 0419 091 075 by 10.00am with all of the following details so we can correctly update student records:

• Full name of your child/children
• Explanation for absence
• Date of absence

Absences can also be phoned through to the office on 9561 7700, emailed via the website or a message sent via the Absentee tile in the School App.

As per Department of Education policy, it is the parent’s responsibility to notify the school of the reason for your child’s absence/s within three days of the absence. Failure to do this will mean that the absence will be marked as “unacceptable reason” affecting your child’s education and attendance record.

School Parking Information

To help ease congestion around the school during peak times we encourage families to walk their children to and from school wherever possible, especially in fine weather or park at the Community Centre car park and walk your children across the oval.

All Staff park at the front of the school which frees up all the bays in the public car park off Camborne Way.

Families 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 bricked median strip in Camborne Parkway or across any footpaths. Parking is also not permitted in bus bays. Please consider the safety of all other road users and pedestrians when parking and leaving schools grounds.

Please also give consideration and respect to owners of properties surrounding the school and do not park on their properties or verges without the permission of the homeowner.

All usual road and parking rules apply around the school and parking fines are issued by rangers (who visit the school frequently) to those not adhering to the road rules. We encourage you to obey all parking and road rules for the safety of all families.

Please refer to the City of Wanneroo for Parking Information:

Please also refer to the City of Wanneroo’s ‘School Parking, School Road and Safety Awareness’ Brochure. This brochure details parking do’s and don’ts around schools and also details what parking situations are fineable offenses.

School Security

Please call School Watch Security on 1800 177 777, or the Police on 131 444, if you see any suspicious behaviour around the school.

P&C News

P&C Facebook Group

Canteen Information

Online ordering will close at 9.00am.

Any orders placed after this time will not be processed for that day. The order will go through the following day. Please ensure orders are placed on time. Late orders can be placed by calling QuickCliq direct on 1300 11 66 37.

The Canteen is currently only supplying online orders for Lunch.

Please do not hesitate to contact me on 9561 4255 (Butler College Canteen) if you have any queries.

Thank you
Carla Andretta

The online ordering system is available via the link below. Please refer to the above menu link.

Butler Out of Hours School Care

Please feel free to drop into the centre or contact us on 0403 347 952 or butler.oshc@ymcawaa.org.au for any queries. Information is also available at the school office.

Kind regards
YCMA

Community Information

Choose how to add this event to your calendar:

Apple Calendar iPhone, iPad, Mac - Download .ics file

Outlook Desktop Outlook - Download .ics file

Android Calendar Android devices - Download .ics file

Other Calendar Google Calendar, Yahoo, etc. - Download .ics file

Download Event