The Athletics Carnival on Wednesday was a huge success and I would like to thank Nikki Van Huizen, Sophie Newton and the organising team for all their work in the lead up and on the day. The students had a fabulous time and it was great to see so many parents in attendance. Please read on to learn more and hear about initiatives and happenings in and around the school.

School Tour and P&C Coffee Cart

We had some feedback from our P&C that some of our new and existing families would appreciate a tour of the school. We are holding a walkthrough for anyone who is interested after the P&C coffee cart community event. The Coffee Cart (8:15-9am) and school tour (9-9:30am) will take place in front of the school (near the Yarning Circle) on Thursday 29 June (Week 10). We encourage you to grab a free cup of coffee and mingle with school staff and other parents. Please meet Michelle and Chris at the coffee cart at 9am if you are interested in attending the tour. Thank you to our amazing P&C for sponsoring and organising this event.

Semester 2 School Leadership Team Structure

Next term, I will be taking on the position of Macgregor Primary School's principal for the first four weeks (with the possibility of extension). While I'm away, our amazing Michelle Northey will act as Kaleen's principal and our wonderful Sarah Milligan will act as her deputy. I am confident that the school will continue to thrive under this high functioning leadership team. Please continue to contact the school if you have any questions or concerns and I look forward to seeing you again in the near future. Next term, we also welcome Executive Teacher Kate North to the Kaleen Primary School Team. Please see below the updated School Leadership Team structure for the beginning of Semester 2.

Michelle Northey, Acting Principal, Disability Education Coordinator Officer (DECO) and Preschool Team Leader.

Sarah Milligan, Acting Deputy Principal, Junior School (K-2) Team Leader and Small Group Setting classroom teacher.

Kate North, Executive Teacher, Middle School (3-4) Team Leader and University of Canberra Affiliated Schools Coordinator.

Kelly Turner, Executive Teacher, Senior School (5-6) Team Leader and Year 5 classroom teacher.

Nghi Perrim, Executive Teacher, Specialists Program Team Leader and STEM & Sustainability Teacher 

Diana Wallace, Business Manager, Administration, Finance, HR, Facilities Management

Please contact the school front office if you have questions or require more specific information. 

Home School Partnership

Parent involvement makes a huge difference to a child’s learning. Four key things that parents can do to support their child’s learning are outlined below. 

1. Having High Expectations 

The research shows undeniably that high parental expectations have the greatest impact on student achievement. Studies looking at teacher's perception of the positive attitude parents have toward their child's education, teacher, and school, was significantly related to increased academic performance, measured by both a standardised achievement test and teacher ratings of the child's classroom academic performance. Further, parent involvement was significantly related to academic performance above and beyond the impact of the child's intelligence (IQ). 

2. Talking about school at home 

Studies have shown that parents talking to their kids about school and school activities at home, had a greater impact on learning than monitoring homework, being home after school or limiting screen time. 

3. Helping students develop a positive attitude and good work habits

As students get older, the impact parents can have on their child’s academic achievement declines. Parents can’t teach their children everything they need to know (the same goes for schools), but the habits they encourage at an early age, have long-lasting benefits, through to high school. There is no need to ‘teach’ your children, teachers focus on content, and you can assist by helping your child develop a sense of personal competence, encouraging persistence, showing them how to plan and manage their time, handle distractions, and ask for help when they need it. 

4. Reading with children

Parents make a major difference by reading and talking about books and stories with their kids, in any language. Reading skills can be taught at school, and parents can help build a crucial foundation for successful literacy through conversation and reading together, which develops the motivation to read, a greater level of comprehension, and strong oral language skills. Please encourage your kids to visit the school/local libraries and take advantage of classroom books and home readers. 

External After School Programs

In Term 3, a number of organisations will continue to run after school programs on our school grounds. These programs are offered through external providers and are not supervised by school staff. Please contact the businesses directly to find out more about their terms and conditions and/or to book a spot for your child. 

Mondays

Get Set Tennis coaches are offering group lessons for Kindergarten to Year 6 students on the Kaleen Primary School tennis courts 3pm-4:30pm each Monday. In cases of wet weather, the program will move to the school hall. A new program will commence at the beginning of Term Three and will cost $225 for nine weeks ($25 per session). Currently there are no spots available, however, please email nelson@getsettennis.com.au or phone 0422 809 160 to find out more and/or register on the waiting list. 

Tuesdays 

Join Perform Australia for drama classes in the school hall from 3pm-4:30pm - learn acting skills, play drama games, and explore characters! The program begins Week 1 of Term 3 and will cost $250 for the term. Please enrol online directly at www.perform.edu.au/kaleen or call Perform Australia on 1300 908 905 to find out more. For Kindergarten to Year 6.  

Thursdays

Next term, Code Camp After-School will be offering an after school program for our (Year 2-6) students in the Kaleen Primary School library 3pm-4:30pm each Thursday. The program commences at the beginning of Term Two and costs $260 for eight weeks ($32.50 per session). Participants get creative using design, code and logic to build their own game! Book now HERE. Parents will receive a $15 Early Bird discount if they enrol prior to 30th June using the discount code AS3-EB-15. Or give us a call on 1300 263 322. Our popular coding program incorporates weekly challenges, functions, algorithms, branching, variables, game logic, user experience and maths. Coding after-school offers students a new project each week, and the fun doesn’t have to stop after class! Your child will be provided with their very own Code Camp World account which they can use to continue creating at home and to share their projects with family and friends.

PE@K Program

Separate from our external provider program,  Kaleen Primary school will be offering chess coaching from 3-4:30pm in the Library on Wednesday afternoons. This will be for any interested students in Years 3-6 who are looking to develop their chess playing skills and receive support to improve their strategy and critical thinking. This program will commence from the beginning of Term 3 and will cost between $50 and $100 for the term (depending on numbers). Please contact Callum Joce at callum.joce@ed.act.edu.au or the front office at 6142 1750 to find out more and/or to book in a spot. 

We hope you have a wonderful break and look forward to seeing you again in Term 3.

Bye for now,

Chris Shaddock

Principal

School Happenings and Information 

On Tuesday, a team of Year 5 and 6 boys participated in the Northside Basketball ACT Cup. They went on through their round games undefeated and made it through to the semi final in which they went down by just a few points! It was great to see all students having a go, being good sports and with smiling faces representing our school proudly. We have even come up with a new team name for next year… the Kaleen Warriors! 

Every year two students receive the Japanese Merit Award.

The first awardee for this year is Agatha Patunru (5MS).  

Agatha is an exceptionally talented and motivated learner.  She came first in both Japanese speaking and writing tests in the Senior School this semester. After absorbing new linguistic information extremely quickly, she can analyse and synthesise it to create new sentences appropriate for a variety of contexts.  She has been an enthusiastic and successful participant in extracurricular Japanese activities such as ACT Speech Contest and the KPS Japanese Choir. 

Agatha, it has always been an absolute pleasure to teach you. Please keep up with your great work and continue to be a delightful presence in my classroom.

Recently Kaleen has been participating in chess competitions around Canberra. On the 16th of June we attended the Canberra Girls Chess Competition at Rosary Primary. With there being over 100+ students from other schools attending, our humble group of 6 certainly felt outnumbered! Despite this, our students played their way through 7 matches each throughout the day, with each student securing multiple wins. With this being the first chess event for most students, we are very impressed at the determination and sportsmanship each student displayed whilst representing our school. Congratulations girls!

On the 19th of June Kaleen sent 16 students to Macgregor Primary to battle it out in the Belconnen Mixed Chess Competition. It was a great day with many, many games of chess played. Each and every student displayed great humility during their matches. We were fortunate enough to have scored enough points to place first for the event, with Tomoki, Taran, Kushal and Ethan being our top scorers! The boys accepted their achievements with amazing respectfulness and celebrated with all students who attended. Kaleen performed well enough to send not only 1 team to the finals, but 2! Congratulations to all those who attended (even parents!), this is an achievement shared by all.

Wanted: A brave volunteer with a flair for social media!

The P&C is always looking for volunteers to join our wonderful committee to help out in small ways but our Facebook page in particular is feeling very unloved. If someone out there enjoys posting on socials and wouldn't mind doing some infrequent posting about useful info, activities, and meetings, it (and us) would be very grateful. Please email kaleenpandc@gmail.com if you'd like to help out or know more.

Interested in meeting other Kaleen grown-ups and having fun?

The P&C are coordinating indoor sports teams for adults in the Kaleen PS community who want to meet new people, build friendships and have fun!

Games are held at Kaleen Indoor Sports (under The Clubhouse) and include 3 Sports, Netball, Soccer, and Cricket. Sports are both single sex and mixed, and open to all skill levels and abilities. If you are interested in joining, please email kpspncsports@outlook.com and we will set you up with a team. Registrations close soon so don’t delay, let’s get a team together and have some fun! More info here.(link http://www.kaleenindoor.com/comp-info.php)

 Watch this space - a photo of your P&C is coming soon 😊

Cheers, 

Simon

President - Kaleen PS P&C

If you would like to have your child's achievement acknowledged here, please email a short blurb to KaleenPSAdmin@ed.act.edu.au 

Community

Canteen Staff Wanted 

If you are looking for part time or full time work, school hours, Monday to Friday 9am to 2pm in a school canteen please contact us on 0408 200 481.

You must be able to work in a team environment, have basic cooking skills and knowledge of meal preparation. Must have a drivers license & Working with vulnerable people card.  (if you do not have a WWVP card it can be obtained once successful) Please contact us on 0408 200 481 for further information.