WELCOME TO OUR OFFICIAL FEBRUARY NEWLETTER-WHAT A FUN FILLED MONTH!

Welcome to our official February newsletter. Our newsletters will now be published at the end of each month and will showcase news, class and specialist updates and celebrations. Other immediate information will be shared via Compass and Class Dojo.

Term 1 2022 brings great excitement that comes with the start of each new school year, but also a recognition of a change in circumstances and new challenges. We know that being in school is what is best for our students. This presents a new set of operational challenges so our school continues to remain a safe place to work and learn for all. 

Our students have enjoyed a range of start of the term activities that have promoted our school values, friendship, connections, and organisation. Here is a snapshot of ‘Fabulous February.’

KINDNESS DAY

Kindness Day was a beautiful opportunity to spread kindness and joy around the school and to friends and families.

It was lovely to see students share smiley faces around the school to friends and teachers.

      

   

Our ‘Chelsea Kindness Wall‘ padlet highlighted a range of opportunities to share ‘kindness.’ These ranged from-

‘Making my sister smile’

‘Giving my mum a smiley face’

‘Writing a letter to my neighbour in a nursing home because she misses us’

‘Sharing positive compliments to my peers, teachers and staff’

‘Providing delicious treats to my team’

YEAR 5/6 INTERSCHOOL SPORT

          

Our 5/6 interschool sport has begun with great enthusiasm and team spirit. Our Senior students compete with local primary school each Friday morning. Our summer sports include -Volleyball, kickball, basketball and cricket.

STAFF v STUDENTS DODGE BALL
     
     

Yesterday one of our CPS sporting highlights was back again!

Teacher V Year 6 Dodgeball competition bought some serious skills and determination.

At the final whistle there was great discussion on the winner!

BUDDIES

Our buddy program builds connections and relationships across all levels. Our preps are guided by their Year 5 buddies and are already enjoying reading times, play sessions and outdoor activities.

All other levels have a buddy class and enjoy shared reading, games, picnic lunches and literacy and numeracy games.

Even our staff have a buddy who checks in, shares a lunch, and celebrates special events.

 KEEPING SAFE

Thank you to all families and students for your great efforts to keep our school as safe as possible by following COVID safe measures such as mask wearing, physical distancing, ventilation, and rapid antigen testing. Your efforts and those of our school staff, have ensured that our school has remained open and safe for our students. This is a fantastic outcome!

 RAPID ANTIGEN TESTS

To ensure that schools continue to be as safe as possible, the Victorian Government has extended the COVID safe measures introduced prior to the start of Term 1. This includes extending the availability of free rapid antigen tests (RAT) for screening until the end of Term 1. It is anticipated an additional twenty-four million RATs will be provided to schools and early childhood settings to continue to support early detection and prevent infection, for use at home. The need for this program will be monitored and may end earlier based on health advice. 

 This is great news for our school and will mean we are able to continue identifying COVID-19 cases as early as possible.

 RAT Kits will continue to be distributed to students as soon as they are received.

PRIVATE PROPERTY AT SCHOOL

The start of the school year is an opportunity to remind all our families, that private property brought to school by staff or students is not insured and that the Department of Education does not accept responsibility for any loss or damage.  Personal property is often brought to school by students, staff, and visitors.  It can include items such as mobile phones, calculators, toys, sporting equipment and cars parked on school premises. 

STUDENT ACCIDENT COVER

The Department of Education also does not provide personal accident insurance for students.  Families are therefore responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including any transport costs including ambulance. Student accident insurance policies are available from some commercial insurers, covering a range of medical expenses not covered by Medicare or private health insurers, however the Department is unable to provide advice on whether to, or which type of policy, to purchase.

We have been absolutely blown away by the school readiness of the preps the year. They have already mastered lining up, putting bags away and sitting on the floor using good listening skills. The preps have been developing their phonological awareness by identifying and producing rhyming words, and identifying syllables in words. This week we are introducing the letter sounds s, a, t, p. The preps will learn to produce the sounds and recall the letter names as well as read words and spell with these letters. In maths, they have been learning numbers to 10 by sequencing them in order and counting collections. During circle time, the preps have been learning about stress management, zones of regulation and our school values. The prep BBQ was a great success with a massive turn out. A big thank you to the parents, family members and students who attended.

The Prep Teachers

Justine, Matt and Bianca

What a busy start to the year we have had in the Junior team! We have all settled in to our new classrooms, met our teachers and reconnected with our friends and made new ones. We have welcomed two new teachers, Miss Hamper and Miss Stokely, a new aide Miss D in 2H and a number of new students to our classes. We have spent a lot of time on wellbeing in our first 4 weeks including creating class posters on the four school values, zones of regulation and growth mindset. We have also enjoyed connecting with our buddy grades in the senior school and had a great time together. There are lots of new routines and new concepts to learn and we are very proud of the Junior school students and their efforts. We are looking forward to an exciting and productive remainder of the term!

Chris Hulse, Wendy Stansfield, Maddie Culshaw, Jess Stokely and Georgia Hamper


     

Term 1 is well and truly underway and the 3/4 team wish to thank the parent community for supporting a positive and enthusiastic start to the year. Our maths program has kicked off using visual presentations to introduce new concepts. Term 1 has so far focused on revision of place value knowledge, with a progression in to addition and subtraction strategies.

Our literacy program utilizes the Spelling Mastery workbook to teach students the fundamentals of spelling through blending phonemic, whole word and morphemic approaches. MSL card decks support the learning in grade 3, whilst the Nessy reading online program is available to our kids requiring support and repetition.  Reading and writing are interleaved through the use of a mentor text each week, which students have been enjoying thoroughly.

To celebrate our 5 week focus on welfare, we will be organising a middle school walking excursion to Chelsea Park, including a picnic lunch. Date and details to be announced on Dojo and a notice will be sent home shortly.

In the Senior School we have been busy setting up for success. We have put many wellbeing structures in place to ensure our students feel safe and supported. We have discussed the and worked on our School Wide Positive Behaviour expectations, which includes learning what it means and takes to be respectful, resilience, responsible and happy in our relationships. We have set up our Zones for Regulation which gives us a language to use when we need to express our emotions. Working on developing growth mindsets, we have learnt what green and red thinking means, and how this links to a growth and fixed mindset. We have explored ‘The Pit’ and what it means to really feel challenged and confused in our learning – it means we are actually learning! Our Senior School team also initiated ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ day that we held last Thursday. As part of this our 5/6 students handed our smiley faces they made to make other peoples day! We will look further at kindness, gratitude and empathy as the weeks go on, and how we can fill our own and each other’s buckets each day.

Along with this, we have begun all our academic programs such as Spelling Mastery, Mental Maths and Buddy Reading. During writing we have been working on letters to our Pen Pals as each class has been linked up with another school in the country through an initiative set up by Australia Post. These letters are just about ready to be sent, and we will excitedly await the replies to these. Writing for a real purpose, it doesn’t get much better! Along with this we have been enjoying our 100 Word Writing Challenge each week and a new weekly lesson called First Chapter Thursday. Mathematics has seen us work through place value, the four operations, problem solving and our multiplication tables. Interschool Sports is well underway, with cricket, kickball, volleyball and basketball on offer for students to learn and gain skills in.

This Friday 25 February we are looking forward to a mid-term celebration which will include a walk to Bicentennial Park for a BBQ. The students (and teachers!) have worked hard in setting up our classrooms for a positive learning culture, so it will be a lovely way to celebrate this.


     

On Friday 4 February we completed our first 100 Word Challenge for the year. Every Friday the senior students have a prompt which they use to write 100 words about. Short bursts of writing help us to work on our description, vocabulary and punctuation. Sometimes we will work on our own, other times with a partner or group.

The challenge this week was to use the five words ‘yellow, taxi, waterfall, heavily, exciting’ in our writing piece. It could be about anything and in any genre. Well done to everyone who gave this a go, especially our Grade 5’s who are new to this.

The winners this week are:

The crowd buzzed as the boy stepped on stage. Everything went quiet as I focused on one noise. His footsteps. A yellow taxi drove past but I didn’t hear it. He put his mouth up to the microphone and sang. His voice sounded like a waterfall in rain that was heavily falling. People took out their phones and took photos and videos, excited to hear the best voice they will ever hear. He had worked his whole life for this. He was in the zone. The world was at his feet. He was brilliant.
Luca 5W

IT BURNS! The sun was shining in my eyes as I looked outside the window of the bright yellow taxi. I was traveling to Stardust Falls. My sister, Stella was sitting on the edge of her seat waiting to see the of the glistening, crystal clear waterfall. “I SEE IT!” Stella cried getting really excited. Now was the time I had been waiting for: diving off the edge of the waterfall! “Come on Stella.” I said. We hiked up the side of the mountain for hours upon hours. When we got to the top the weight of what I was about dropped heavily on my shoulders. What should I do?...
Trinity 5P

Hi my name is Hannah and I’ve spent my whole life wanting to live in a beautiful farm. I know that, one day I will travel away from all the taxi drivers and the heavily guarded footpaths and live a peaceful life in a place that feels like home. I am so happy, today I bought a farm in the middle of the rolling hills. I now live in the small farm house near a waterfall and I’ve created a lovely field for my animals to frolic in the yellow daisies and keep me company. I am so excited to live the peaceful life I always wanted.
Grace 5W

Smash! A huge Kapok tree slammed into the bonnet of a speeding taxi. For a spilt second the driver contemplated his decisions: maybe he shouldn’t have decided to drive so close to the river, but before he could make up his mind the bright yellow taxi swerved into the raging river. The taxi was turned every which-way in the ferocious current. The driver’s excitement and fear grew for he had seen what lay ahead. A huge waterfall. He breathed heavily as the car neared the edge. He closed his eyes…then the taxi went over the edge.
Eve, Liam, Kade, Hui 6E

I sighed heavily bored out of my mind as I looked at the yellow taxi that has been in the same spot for the past 10 minutes. I wondered what on earth I would do today, suddenly an idea screamed in my head. I’m going to a waterfall! I quickly swiped my bright yellow hoodie onto my slim torso and rushed out the door, Excited running through the rough dirt trail I finally made it to the waterfall. I admired it’s breath taking beauty for a while before snapping myself out of my day dream, I smiled before continuing to lose myself in never ending thoughts.
Ellie 5P

On Friday 11th February we completed our second 100 Word Challenge for the year. The challenge this week was to use the phrase “and the winner is!” in our writing piece. It could be about anything and in any genre. Well done to everyone who gave this a go!

Well done to everyone for taking part. The winners this week are:

Everything was tense. I felt a tingle running down my spine. Then the judge announced, “And the winner is… Emily!!!” I jump up and down with joy. I had just WON the ‘Best Mandala Competition’. All of the other competitors stared at the ground sadly. All of my friends hugged me. I walked up to the stage and got handed a shiny trophy… Huh? What happened? I am in bed staring at the ceiling. NO! It was all a dream. Well I guess I will have to wait a little longer to win that competition…
Louella 6E

The beauty contest.
‘And the winner is…’ said a mysterious voice. ‘VERONICA!’ Me?! How did I win? Winning this will make me school famous! The beauty contest! The hardest competition to win! The bell rings and we all head home. I head into school the next day and I don’t get bullied! Instead, I get high-fives and smiles! You see, at my school beauty is everything. This is why I was so happy about winning! The bell rang and I was about to head to class when somebody stopped me. ‘You’re popular now, you don’t go to class.’ ‘I don’t care.' I replied 'I’m going to class anyway. Bye.’
Annabel 5P

The Race
Bubbles heart was pounding. Ralph walked in with his many medals, he was unbeatable! The dog agility course was about to begin.
“Can Radelfo and Taylor please come up to the start with their pups.”
“Competitors ready!”
“Go!”
Ralph was taking the lead but much longer! Bubbles was running as fast as she could. Bubbles leaped over the hurdles one by one. Bubbles was in the lead. Ralph was so frustrated he completely ran off track!
“Cancelled!”
”And the winner is…… Bubbles!” Bubbles couldn’t believe her ears! The judge handed bubbles a golden crown. And Ralph even got a silver crown!
Isla and Kitty, 5W

The great race!
There I was. At a super car race thinking “What on earth am I doing." All the engines were revving. 3… 2…. 1…. GO!! Off everyone went down the track. The first ramp was coming up, VROOOOM! I felt accelerated as I went over. Oh boy, here comes ramp 2… VROOOM! There was a giant U-turn that went up and down. SCREECH! There was a giant straight section leading to the biggest ramp in the race. I counted down in my head the lead up. 3 2 1, VROOM! I did a flip! I sped to the finish to hear, AND THE WINNER IS… JAMES NORTHAM FROM AUSTRALIA!!!
James 5W

On Friday 18th February the challenge was to use the topic of an ‘Animal Diary’ in our writing piece. It could be about anything and in any genre. Well done to everyone who gave this a go!

Congratulations to these winners:

Day 1: Dear diary, today something TERRIBLE happened! I was chased by a HUMAN!! He chased me up the field screaming bacon! I don’t know what bacon means but I’m scared. I’m only a piglet. I don’t deserve any of this!! It was so scary. I don’t know what to do anymore. I think I might have to sign up for therapy. 

Day 2: Dear diary, farmer Joe here. Unfortunately your piglet friend won't be here anymore. But don’t worry! You can still see him. All you gotta do is go to the butchers and ask for some bacon. Don’t worry it's only $10. Enjoy!

Lucia  5P

My cat diary

18th Feb 2022

I stretched my long furry arms as I leaped out of my slave’s bed (A.K.A my owner.) I disturbingly meowed at their tired, sleepy faces for my food. As I was sassily walking near my comfy bed I spotted a bird fly close to me. Obviously, I tried to catch it but some kind of clear wall teleported in front of me, what kind of magic is this?! Near the end of my busy day I decided to take a little nap to reward myself, but as I laying down onto my bed a human picked me up. How can this day get any worse?

Ellie 5P

Diary of a T-Rex

Monday: Explored.  Found lots of goats. Ate them. Humans weren’t happy. Ate them too. Slept.

Tuesday: Came back to goats. None there. Destroyed big red building. Found cows. Ate them. Slept.

Wednesday: Explored more. Found small dinosaur. Had fight. Won fight. Tummy was satisfied. Continued exploring. Found another T-Rex. Started mating. Fell in love. Slept.

Thursday: Got tranquilized. Woke up. Was surrounded by humans. Tried to eat them. Barrier hurt. Gave up. Saw mate flying in. Greeted her. Laid eggs. Slept.

Friday: Got food. Was very tasty. Found part of barrier that didn’t hurt. Broke out with mate. Ate more cows from red building. Slept.

The End 

James 5W

Wolfie the wolf cub. 

Yesterday, I was cold in the freezing rain as my parents kicked me out of the cave. My name is Wolfie and I’m a wolf cub. I have 3 sisters and 2 brothers. They all treat me poorly except one of my sisters called Wander, she was the best big sister ever. Wander found me in the rain and showed me a secret hide out that she goes to when she’s annoyed. I stayed in there and Wander gave me food, water and company since I was alone. I celebrated my birthday with her and she got me firewood. Staying out in the wild is the best.

Jade 5W

My name is Beefcakes and I am a cow. I live on a farm in Florida and am going to get killed soon for my beef. I know pretty gruesome, right? Well in my opinion we should not get killed for our beef. I don't know why we still get killed for our beef when there’s plant based beef around that tastes the exact same but made with plants. We should not get killed anymore should we? It is kind of unfair isn't it? What did we do wrong? 

Finley and Lucas 6E

Today, I, Ralphy the cat, found a bird. BEST DAY EVER… Well, that’s what I thought until I spied Tova out the corner of my eye. Tova’s my brother and he loves birds as much as I do EXCEPT he eats them. I’m a vegetarian so I just want to play with the birds. Sometimes, I accidentally eat them but it’s not my fault. I forget that I’m a vegetarian when they look so delicious. Alright, back to the story… I’ve found a bird and Tova was about to pounce! I quickly transformed to Ninja Ralphy, kicked Tova and carried the bird home… and then I ate it (accidentally of course!). 

Elara 6E

Day in the Zoo

My name is Henry the hippopotamus and today something bad happened to the zoo keeper. So, we were performing a show for the young-lings. I was performing tricks for the kids. There was one particular trick where I had to jump through 3 rings of fire and eat a chicken. I performed the trick perfectly, but the zoo keeper Ed got in the way and I may or may not have eaten him. All the kids thought it was part of the trick so I played on. If you’re reading this I did not do any of this.

George and Richard 6L

What a wonderful, sporty start to the year it has been for the Students at CPS!

Basketball Clinics

On Wednesday’s, the year 3 and 4’s are currently taking part in a 4 week Basketball clinic with coaches from the Chelsea Gulls Basketball Club. All students have been putting in a great effort and the progression in their skills has already been impressive!

Hockey Clinics

The Preps, Grade 1’s and Grade 5’s were lucky enough to participate in Hockey Victoria ‘Hook into Hockey’ clinics, ran by some of the coaches from Mentone Hockey Club. This was a new sport for many of the students but they took to it like a duck to water and were displaying great skill but even greater enthusiasm!
     
     

Grade 5 and 6

Grade 5 and Grade 6 students started their year off with fitness testing! Some old favorites like the Sit and Reach, Vertical Jump, Illinois agility test and the dreaded Beep Test were completed in week 2 and 3, giving the students a chance to really set themselves a challenge. Over the next few weeks the will take part in a Fitness Games unit and then complete post testing in week 7. Our senior students are a determined and hard working bunch and I am confident that we will see great improvement and top results all round.

ISS has also began with our second match at Bonbeach Primary tomorrow morning. The sports this term are Basketball, Cricket, Kickball and Volleyball and students have been training hard in the lead up to their upcoming games.

District Swimming

District Swimming Trials were held last Friday at Toby Haenan and it was great to see all competitors put themselves out there and have a go! We had many competitive times and a team of 14 students will go on to compete at the District Swimming Competition next Friday 4^th of March at Pines Forest Swimming Pool in Frankston North. Good luck to all of the students competing! We know you will do your school proud!

Staff vs. Students Dodgeball

Yesterday we had our first Staff vs Year 6 Students match, and it was a full blown Dodgeball war out on the turf! It seems like most of the school was out there to watch the with many of the younger students chanting for their chosen team! It was a tight battle but the cheers were loudest for the teachers and they came out on top with a 2-0 victory! Well done to the Sport Captains for the fantastic organisation and wonderful advertising efforts!

Prep/Grade 1/ Grade 2 Intensive Swimming Program

Keep an eye out next week for the Junior Intensive Swimming program forms! The program will run For 8 days from March 28^th- April 7^th and is an important part of the Health and PE curriculum.

A huge start to the year and even more to come so stay tuned!

Go Chelsea

Miss Mac

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