Staffing Update

Welcome back to Eve Hooper, who is returning from leave and will be working with Lauren Langley (Yr 3/4) on Thursday and Friday. We also welcome Lara Pike, who is replacing Emma Niland while she is on maternity leave. Lara will be working with Michelle Govett (Reception) on Thursday and Friday, also.

Congratulations to Kat Morgan who has been reappointed to the Deputy Principal role for a further 3 years.

Volunteer Week 

This week represents National Volunteer Week (NVW) – an annual celebration to acknowledge the generous contribution of our nation’s volunteers. Volunteering Australia has announced the theme for National Volunteer Week 2023 – ‘The Change Makers.’

As part of National Volunteer Week, we acknowledge and thank our school’s ‘Change Makers’ being parents, carers and friends who make a difference and help our school in so many ways – e.g. canteen, school garden, classroom support, sports coaching, fundraising, excursions, governing council, uniform shop, special interest areas and much more. Thank you for your ongoing support.

We have been extremely grateful for the excellent volunteer support we have received so far this year, with support in many school activities and events, including – excursions, swimming, sports coaching, canteen, Mother’s Day stall, Sports Day and more.

Mother’s Day Special Morning/Gift Stall

Well done to our Reception students and their teachers for providing a special morning, sharing gifts with mums and performing a Mother’s Day song.

We would like to extend our thanks to all the parents who helped out at our Mother’s Day stall last Thursday. Your time and effort made all the difference in helping students find a special gift for their mums. We hope that all the mums in our school community had a wonderful Mother’s Day and felt appreciated and loved.

Salisbury Study Tour

Last week six staff attended the first two days of a three-day study tour at Salisbury Primary School. The purpose of the tour was to learn how a disadvantaged school has become a much higher-performing school through explicit pedagogical approaches.

This intensive 3-day visit includes:
- Detailed information on Salisbury’s journey – the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ and the impact on student learning success
- Whole school screening, assessment and data literacy that ensures no students slip through the gaps
- Teaching the Big 6 of Reading thoroughly and effectively in the classroom, including the sharing of key curriculum documents
- Observation in classrooms with active teaching, observing multisensory classroom practice (Wave 1) in mainstream classrooms
- Analysis of strategic leadership that supports teachers in bringing their practice into line with the Science of reading
- Building safe and supportive protocols for peer observations, leader walkthroughs and teacher-leader team planning

Staff that attended the first 2 days prepared and shared their learning with other staff and are beginning to trial some of the routines and strategies that they have observed so far.

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Coro Tirkanthi Trail during Reconciliation Week. This year's Reconciliation Week theme is “Be a Voice for Generations”, and the Coro Tirkanthi Trail embodies this message perfectly. Please join us on Thursday, 1st June from 4pm - 5pm to explore the trail and connect to Country.

The trail was developed by our Year 6 Reconciliation Leaders in 2022 and is a beautiful representation of our school's commitment to reconciliation and respect for the Kaurna people. It is a celebration of the animals that inhabit our local area, with each stop marked by a drawing etched in stone. What makes this trail truly special is that each of these drawings was created by our very own students during lunchtime art workshops.

Our Reconciliation Leaders chose each stop on the trail through consultation with students, who shared which places and animals they felt most connected to. To honour and acknowledge Kaurna culture, we have used Kaurna names for each of these animals. Each stone is embedded with a QR code, which can be used to guide visitors on different ways to learn about Kaurna language and connect with Country. The name ‘Tirkanthi’ was chosen because it means ‘Learning’ and we are committed to always learning about how to take action for Reconciliation. 

We are incredibly grateful to Aunty Nellie Egan for inspiring us to create this trail and to Kaurna language teacher, Zoey Bonney and Kaurna Warra Karrpanthi for their guidance and support with our use of Kaurna language. In addition, we would like to extend thanks to Elsie, Marley, Emily, and Quincy, our Reconciliation Leaders of 2022, for their passion and enthusiasm in creating the trail; to our Groundsperson, Keith Sharplin, for his skills and expertise in developing the marking stones; to Di Grigg from Blackwood Reconciliation Group for guidance; and to Ms O’Driscoll for supporting the Reconciliation leaders and creating the Coro Tirkanthi Trail QR codes and web page. We are also grateful to Reconciliation SA for their financial support of the project through their grants program.

The Coro Tirkanthi Trail is a symbol of our school's commitment to Reconciliation and our ongoing journey towards understanding and respecting the culture and traditions of our First Nations peoples. We encourage everyone to take a walk along the trail during Reconciliation Week and beyond, and to reflect on what we can all do to be a voice for future generations.

Be sure to read our flyer in this newsletter about other Reconciliation events in 2023, including Wear It Yellow Day, joining the Blackwood Reconciliation Group Reconciliation Walk and the Reconciliation Sharing Assembly.

Ngaitalya

Kylie Gardner

Co-Chair, CVPS Reconciliation Working Group

Reminder, tomorrow Friday 19th May is National Walk Safely to School Day, where all primary school children are encouraged to walk and commute safely to school.

Walk Safely to School Day asks that we all consider our transport habits and try to incorporate more walking as part of a healthy, active way to get around. And although walking all the way to school isn’t realistic for many of us, it’s quite easy to figure out how you can build a walk into your family’s daily routine. 

You can teach your child the healthy habit of walking more by: 

• Walking with them the whole way to school 
• If they get the bus or train, walk past your usual stop and get on at the next stop 
• If you have to drive, park the car a few blocks away from the school and walk the rest of the way. 

Regular exercise like walking with your child not only helps them (and you!) beat chronic problems like obesity, heart disease, behavioural and mental health issues and diabetes. It also gives you a great opportunity to teach your child safe ways to behave around roads and traffic.

Students and families who walk to school on Friday will be greeted at the school gate by our student leaders and leadership and are welcome to receive a fresh piece of fruit (kindly donated by Magarey Orchard) to help continue their healthy start to the school day.

Our Bite Size Fundraiser officially ends this week so please ensure that you return your money in the envelopes provided.

Thank you to the many families who have already sent their money in. We really appreciate your willingness to support the canteen. Payments can also be made on QKR.

We have had a few boxes that were returned unsold, as these cannot be returned we are selling them at cost price to any family who has already sold a box of biscuits. If you would like to buy a box of biscuits for $50 please come into the office to collect them. Every box sold will help us to buy a new oven for the canteen.

Again, thank you to the many families who enthusiastically supported our canteen, when all of our biscuits are sold we look forward to being able to purchase the new oven to cook your canteen school lunches.

**NEW MENU ITEMS**

Grain waves $1.00

Pop corn $1.00

Smaller size (for smaller people, or to supplement other lunch items) Mac 'n' cheese $3.00 and Spaghetti Bolognaise $3.50

Chili con carne has been very popular lately, so will now be available Monday, Thursday and Friday!

The new Monday Special Meal Deals are:

Mac 'n' cheese plus a garlic bread - only $3.50

Spaghetti bolognaise plus a garlic bread - only $4.00

**PRICES UPDATE**

Moosies are now $1.50

Sushi rolls are now $4.00 ($4.20 for tempura prawn)

From Week 4, the cut-off time to order lunches on QKR! will be 8:45am. Please order by 8:45am to ensure your child receives their lunch that day. Remember, orders can be placed the day or even the week before.

In light of Volunteer Week, we would like to recognise the fabulous volunteers who give up their time to make our canteen run so smoothly:

Kirsty Henning, Anna Forgan, Briohny Taylor, Chad Taylor, Agnes Brunsthal and of course, our wonderful Year 6 helpers!

Also, we'd like to recognise Steve Cooper and Carly Talbot, who have done both paid and volunteer hours.

You are all superstars! Thank you for supporting our canteen!

**ONE MORE SPECIAL PERSON TO ACKNOWLEDGE**

This year, our canteen will be made even more spectacular with the addition of a beautiful mural, designed and to be completed by artist Nicole Black. One of our community members, Jess, has made a donation of $500 towards the cost of this. Thank you, Jess! We can't wait to share this with everyone - watch this space!

For anyone who is interested, there is a Positive Partnership Parent/Carer 2 day workshop being held at Marion.

Positive Partnerships is a national project funded by the Australian Government Department of Education through the Helping Children with Autism program.

At Positive Partnerships, they work in partnership with families, educators and communities to strengthen positive outcomes for young people on the autism spectrum. They create connections and opportunities for an inclusive culture where autistic students belong and thrive.

This workshop will be held at a venue in Marion on the 14th & 15th June 2023.

It is for parents, full time carers and grandparents and will provide an opportunity for local families to learn more about autism and ways to strengthen the home-school partnership. If you are interested in attending, please register at:

Registration - Positive Partnerships (arlo.co)

The Positive Partnership website also has some very helpful information that you may like to check out. Follow the link below to find out some new information sheets and a short animation about ‘what is autism’.

Positive Partnerships | World Autism Acceptance Month - new animation…

Here you will find articles on:

• What is autism?
• Visual supports
• Myths and Facts
• Who can help?

Michelle O’Connell

Autism Inclusion Teacher

Michelle.oconnell50@schools.sa.edu.au

On Wednesday, April 12th, all Year 1 students took part in an incursion called ‘Hands on Games & Toys’, facilitated by Allan from the Australian Museum of Childhood. Students participated in a 45-minute session of exploratory play, which allowed the students to discover the History, Science and Community through games and toys from our past. The incursion connected to our current unit of inquiry, Daily Life: Then and Now. The students loved exploring how the toys worked and had a lot of questions for Allan. A great day of learning.

I liked how we got to see old toys like the woodpecker who pecked down the stick - Lucas

I liked seeing the rocking horse - Erin

I really enjoyed seeing how the Kangaroo could move down the ramp, by only its legs - Hugo

Mrs Campbell, Mrs Trengove and Mr Popplewell.

In Week 11, to support their unit of inquiry our Year 2 students were asked to think like a historian, with a special visit from Brian (Amelia's Grandad) and his car 'Betsy' (1924). Many great questions were asked e.g. "What's the top speed?", "Why are the wheels so big?", "What's the trophy for on the front?", "Can I drive it?".

At the end of term 1, Coromandel Valley took part in the Southern Zone Interschool Chess Tournament.  14 students represented the school - Amelia, Brandon, Cassian, Charlotte, Finn, Isla, Jackson, Jake, Piper, Reuben, Sahishnu, Shravenn, Tyler and Walter.  With the majority of the team in year 2 and 3, it was a tough tournament, competing against some very good schools with much older and more experienced players.

Despite the tough competition, the Coro team were very competitive across the whole tournament, finishing in 3rd place behind St Martin de Porres and Burnside Primary, earning bronze medals for our top 4 competitors.

The entire Coro team did exceptionally well, and I was extremely proud of both their efforts and their sportsmanship. 12 of our team of 14 either equalled or set a new personal best tournament score. Special mention to:

- Walter and Finn who finished in equal 5th place, with 5 wins from their 7 games. 

- Amelia, Charlotte, Reuben and Tyler, who were all competing in their first tournament

- Charlotte who was awarded the 'Fair Play and Sportsmanship' award

A huge thanks to Shannon Rose-Husson and Carrie Julian for assisting in transporting the team.

The Chess Club continues to meet on Monday lunchtimes in the Mr Johnson's classroom and anyone is welcome to come along.

David Shaw

Junior Choir

On 25^th April, our Junior Choir were honoured to be invited to perform ‘I am Australian’ and ‘Advance Australia Fair’ as part of the Dawn Service at Blackwood. This was a very meaningful sense of service for our students and highly appreciated by the community of Blackwood and surrounding areas. The Junior Choir will have a busy term representing our school in service to the community through taking part in the Reconciliation Walk on Sunday, 28^th May, at Blackwood, opening the Coro Tirkanthi Launch on Thursday, 1st June, singing at our Reconciliation Assembly on Friday 16^th June and singing for the Australian Citizenship Ceremony at Mitcham Council next term.

PSMF Senior Choir

In week 2 of this term, our Senior Choir sang 3 songs from this year’s Festival repertoire for Robyn Filner (coordinator of the Festival of Music) for their assessment. They were very proud of their results with yet another A standard. They are looking forward to singing at this week’s sharing assembly.

Some new highlights: 

• BTN filming and the episode airing – such a buzz in the school community! 
• The Youth Environmental Leaders sharing their success with other schools within the partnership. 
• A newspaper article in the Blackwood Times. 
• Meeting the council onsite to discuss plans for future for revegetation, sign construction and creation of bandicoot bungalows. 
• Engaging with the Bandicoot Superhighway project and showing them our site. 

The school veggie garden has been cleared, prepared and re-planted for autumn-winter.

Special thanks to our kitchen/garden volunteer Sonia Potts for helping clear the garden. Thanks also to the students from 1P, 4/5B and our health and wellbeing student leaders for planting and garden maintenance. A huge thank you to Lisa, the activities coordinator from Bunnings Edwardstown, for a generous donation of seedlings and soil.

“We dug up worms from the soil and held them in our hands while Jenny watched. Afterwards, we collected rubbish and weeded the garden. Finally, we planted some vegetable seeds in the planting box. Gardening with Jenny was a fun experience and we are excited to do it again.” Harrison and Ayla, 1P

We look forward to harvesting peas, snow peas, bok choy, herbs, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic, lettuce and carrots later in term 2. 

If you have any seeds or seedlings you’d like to donate to the garden, or would like to donate your time as a volunteer, please contact the front office. 

Jenny Tucker

SSO

Congratulations to Sienna who competed in the SAPSASA State Swimming Championship last week, after finishing first in the 100m freestyle at the District Carnival.

Sienna swam in the 100m freestyle and 4x50m freestyle relay. Although she didn’t win a medal on this occasion, she did manage to achieve two new personal best times. Well done Sienna!

Congratulations also to Evan for making the Southern Heights District Softball team

and to Bianca, Leila, Allana, Mira, Zara and Tia from our school who have been selected for the Southern Heights Girls Australian Rules Football Team.  They will play for Southern Heights in a three-day carnival against the other South Australian districts.

We wish them all well.

The Girls’ and Boys’ Knockout Netball teams recently played a carnival at the Netball SA Stadium. They played 5 shortened games each on the day. While we faced some tough teams, they continued to work hard and encourage each other. They played fairly and supported each other. Both teams did themselves, and our school proud.

The day was a lot of fun, and the girls managed to walk away with a solid win in the final game. The boys managed to win three games and have progressed to the next knockout round.

Big thanks to Kristy, Brodie, and Bec for supporting with transport and the other parents and family members who came along to cheer on our team.

On Monday 3rd April, the year 5/6 knockout cricket team went to Craigburn Primary to play two games of cricket with Eamonn as captain.

The first game was quite exciting with 7 wickets in the first innings for us, off around 80 runs but in the second innings we couldn't catch up to their score and trailed by 20 at the final over.

In the second game, it was a battle between the two schools that lost their first game.  We faced off with Eamonn as captain again.  We fought hard, and after 16 overs, we had them all out for 53 runs after our 90 run innings.

All of the kids had so much fun and enjoyed playing cricket for the day.

What a great day it was!

Henry (yr5)

Seventy two teams competed in the SAPSASA 2023 Mountain Biking competition last Thursday at Craigburn Farm. Coromandel Valley Primary School entered three year 5 and 6 teams.

My year 6 team was made up of Peter, Asher and I.  The others representing CVPS were Darcy, Miles, Joseph & Jake

We arrived at 8.15 in the morning. We were given our transmitters for the race which were conected to our bikes and timed each lap. We then headed off as a group for a pratice lap so we could warm up and understand the course in preparation for the race. We had two hours of riding ahead of us. The course was a mix of uphill and down hills, on average my team took eleven minutes to complete each lap, we had to do as many laps as we could in the time limit. My team finished the race in a impressive seventh place, and CVPS team all finished in the top thirty.  Well done! 

A big thank you to all the parents who came along and supported us. 

Harry (yr 6)

Well done to all of the Cross Country runners who competed at the Sapsasa District Carnival at Belair National Park.

Born in 2011: Charlie, Spencer, Harry, Nick, Miles, Souna, Eamonn

Born in 2012: Archer, Harry, Joel, Lucas, Jake, Darcy, Michael, Joseph, Jacob, Oliver, Finlay, Corby, Archie, Molly, Ruby, Imogen

Born in 2013: Sebastian, Ethan, Adrik, Julian, Harry, Beau, Cassian, Duke, Era, Mila

At this carnival students run a challenging 3km course (2km for those born in 2013) up and down hills and over a wide variety of terrain, including grass, gravel, dirt, and asphalt trails. The drizzle that persisted throughout the carnival added to the complexity with the ground being very slippery in places.

Congratulations to Archie H and Beau S, who both finished 3rd in their age groups. Both boys have been invited to represent our district at the State Championship event at Oakbank Race Course next month.

All of our runners showed great effort and should be proud of their achievements.

A big ‘thank you’ to Sally for assisting with results recording throughout the morning and for transporting the gazebos for us.

Mr De Lyster and  Mrs Mueller

Our lost property box is once again overflowing with with unnamed items.

If you are missing any jumpers, jackets, containers or drink bottles please come and collect them.

Any unclaimed items will be given to charity.