Things to Know

PBL Update

Congratulations to our fabulous students for achieving their Mystery Target of 4000 W@K tokens. Last week the whole school celebrated by holding a “Brains or Games” reward week. Students in each cohort chose to either stay inside and use their brains to participate in trivia (run by their teachers) or go outside to play one of their favourite PE games. Here is what the kids said about their well-deserved rewards!

• George and Henry (6SB) “Our PBL reward was the choice of either ‘Battle Ball’ or a quiz on ‘Gimkit’. We chose ‘Battle Ball’ and it was so much fun. The teachers joined in and we got them out a couple of times”.

• Ava C (5KT) “We are working on our rapid recall of multiplication. I loved playing maths games because we were learning and having fun!”

• Lizzy R (4JS) and Ayvah O (4CL) “We chose to dance in the hall. We loved every song… except Woka Woka”.

• Leo D (4CL) “We played Hunter. When I was in, I would hide behind Mrs Lowther and do sneak attacks on people”.

• Reeve C & Neve O (3SL) “We did a ‘Guess the Logo’ Kahoot competition and we both finished in the top 3!”

• Alex M (2DO) “We made our own quiz and did fun PE which was a long rope skipping challenge”.

• Maddie L (2DO) “I liked skipping with the small rope the best. I also liked the hurdles because I really like jumping a lot”.

• Taylor (1HE) “I played on the playground and then played footy with the boys”.

• Aiden M (KMC) “I loved playing on the playground. I loved the parachute”.

Talented Teachers

We had some feedback from some families that they would like to know more about our talented Kaleen Primary School teachers. This week, I sat down with executive teacher Sarah Milligan and asked some hard hitting questions to reveal more about this amazing human being.

What’s your favourite colour?

Purple - isn’t it everyone’s!

Do you prefer cats or dogs?

Cats. Our cat Dixie is the most delightful cat. She snuggles, never leaves your side, even fetches and she doesn’t require walking!!

What do you love about Kaleen Primary School?

Can I say everything?! I always feel very fortunate that I get to work at the best school in Canberra. Our students and teachers are incredible and I always feel supported by our wonderful parent community.

What makes you laugh?

Chris Shaddock and his antics make me laugh every day. It always amazes me that someone so intelligent and dedicated can be so hilariously funny. We really are lucky to have a leader like Chris in our system and as the principal of our school.

What is your favourite subject to teach?

Reading. There is nothing like seeing children develop into confident readers. I also love reading a favourite book out aloud to a class. Watching the joy on children’s faces and hearing their laughter while reading a great story is indescribable.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

That is a ridiculous question and only Chris Shaddock would ask such a question.

Do you have any special talents or super powers?

I love to spend money - does that count as a talent? I also make the best meringues - chewy in the middle and purple. You can’t get better than that.

If you had three wishes, what would they be?

• I would love to have my mum and dad back - even just for a little bit.

• For the world to have love, acceptance and tolerance for everyone.

• Endless business class travel around the world for my family and friends - come on there had to be a superficial one in there!

Mr Shaddock’s Joke of the Week

Q)Why was six scared?

A)Because seven ate nine.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Bye for now,

Chris Shaddock

Principal

2022 School Satisfaction & Climate Survey

The 2022 School Satisfaction & Climate Survey is now open! A link to the survey has been sent out via email today to all parents/carers who are listed as preferred contacts on our Sentral Administration System (SAS). Once you open the link to the survey you will be asked to enter your login details. You will need to enter the email address that the link was sent to. You will then need to enter the school code. The code for Kaleen Primary School is KLNP.

Each year, the Directorate surveys all parents and carers, school staff and students in Years 4 to 12 about their experience of public education. The 2022 School Satisfaction & Climate Survey will be available online from 19 August to 9 September. The survey results will help us to continue to make quality informed decisions about how to improve our school. No personal identifying information will be provided to any school or college.

If you do not receive the survey invitation, please check your Junk email folder; if it is not there, contact the school and you will be provided a survey link. If you do not have an email listed with the school, please contact the front office on 614 21750

The Parents and Carers Survey will be available online in other languages: Arabic, Burmese, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Urdu, Vietnamese, Punjabi, Bengali, Spanish, Telugu, French and Italian. Respondents can select their preferred language when they start the survey. A shortened paper-version of the Parents and Carers Survey is also available in the following 5 languages: Dari, Dinka, Farsi, Karen and Mon. These surveys are available at the Front Office.

For the results to reflect the opinions of our whole school community, we need as many parents and carers, staff and students as possible to complete the survey. Your feedback is important, and we hope you will take part.

For more information, visit: https://www.education.act.gov.au/public-school-life/school-satisfaction-and-climate-survey

As a kick off to Book Week next week, the senior students participated in author workshops today with famous poet, author and performer, Harry Laing.

Harry shared some of his work by reading his poems in a rap style and used all sorts of fun props. Students had the opportunity to produce some of their own writing and learn some new skills.

When: Monday 22 August- Friday 26 August

The week will be filled with a variety of book related activities such as author visits, trivia and crafts, competitions, book readings and of course the much anticipated Book Character Dress up Day and Parade!

Book Character Dress up Day & Parade will be on Friday 26 August. We strongly encourage children and parents to use bits and pieces found around the home or Op shops opposed to going out and buying expensive costumes.

Our parade will be held at 11:10 am and this year we are thrilled to invited families to come and observe. The parade will begin from the basketball court at the rear of the school. If you are unable to attend, we will post a video to all families.

Book Fair 2022

When: Tuesday-Thursday 8:30 am-9:00 am, 1:00 pm-1:30 pm and 3:00 pm-3:30 pm. Friday will be the final day for sales and we will only be open in the morning 8:00-9:00 am.

Students will have the opportunity to preview the fair and take home wish lists. There are a number of ways to purchase books this year. You can pay online and your child can pick up their books directly from the fair, you can send money with your children to purchase books or families can come into the fair to choose and purchase books. We ask that if you choose to come in, that you please wear a mask and sanitise upon entry.

The Book Fair has a large selection of children’s picture, fiction and nonfiction books for all ages. Every dollar spent at the fair gives us Scholastic rewards points to buy new resources for our library.

Year 6 Virtual Assembly

Have a look at the Year 6 Virtual Assembly!

Year 1 Virtual Assembly

Have a look at the Year 1 Virtual Assembly!

Wanting to stay up to date with P&C News and Meetings?

Parents can now subscribe and unsubscribe from the P&C mailing list automatically by clicking on the underlined links.

Subscribing allows parents to stay up to date with P&C News including receiving minutes from meetings with a summary of information from each meeting including the Principal’s report and questions asked by parents and citizens. let parents know that they can

If you have any questions, please get in touch with the P&C Secretary at kaleenpandc@gmail.com

A message from the ACT Education Directorate: Keeping our students learning in Term 3

Every ACT public school is working hard to manage the impacts of COVID-19 and the flu in our schools to ensure minimal disruption for everyone and keep students learning.

Face-to-face learning in the classroom remains the core way students are learning this term; however, staff shortages may see them learning a little differently from time to time.

What can parents and students expect?

When schools do not have appropriate staffing levels to support students in their usual classrooms the following measures may be put in place:

· Older students may learn online in a supervised setting.

· Students may be engaged in a modified program of learning in their regular classroom with supervision from school staff.

· Students may participate in self-directed learning (supervised by other classroom teachers this may be via Google Classrooms or a pre-prepared activity).

· Students may be split into classes across the school, where children may engage in self-directed learning and/or the learning of their host class.

· Some activities may be put on hold (eg lunchtime clubs)

Where schools are no longer able to manage using the above strategies students may move to learning from home for short periods of time.

If this is the case your school will work with the Directorate ahead of time to make this decision and families will be provided with learning activities for use during this time.

Sometimes this decision will need to be made quickly. We appreciate that the short notice is difficult for families and, where we can, will ensure we give as much notice as we are able.

Non-essential events and excursions

There may also be the need to postpone/cancel planned activities and events offsite (eg camps, excursions, sporting days etc) from time to time, sometimes at short notice.

We appreciate any cancellation is disappointing and wherever possible schools will reschedule these missed opportunities.

Thank you once more to our parents, carers and staff for their ongoing support and commitment again this term.

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

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