Dear families,

As we come to the end of the year it is a time of mixed emotions as we farewell some of the staff who have supported students at Campbell Primary School.  Each year we often have several positions temporarily filled while permanent officers are on leave.  This year we would like to thank Annabelle Jaiyawong, Melissa Sheldrick, Jeffery Emerson and Naomie Grech for stepping in to cover classes, we wish them well in their career pursuits for 2020.  Special congratulations to Annabelle Jaiyawong who has been appointed to a permanent position at Mawson Primary School and to Kate Marley for her permanent appointment to Campbell Primary School. 

Each year in the ACT we have our teacher transfer round which enables teachers who are at their transfer date entitlement to move into different educational settings.  Our wonderful Jennifer Rolph will be joining Lyneham Primary School where she will be able to share her wealth of knowledge in early childhood education and continue to build positives relationships with families.  The musically talented and stunningly creative Bridie Morrell has been appointed to Duffy Primary School where I am sure she will be doing amazing things in no time.  The lovely Rachel Ng who has worked in various Early Childhood roles while at Campbell Primary School will be heading off to Fadden Primary School to share her pedagogical practice and our school musical extraordinaire and member of the leadership team, Sandi Lees will be joining the team at Red Hill Primary School.  

It goes without saying that these amazing teachers will be missed.  Each teacher has been with the school for many years, working tirelessly to ensure quality learning has been taking place in the classrooms and that children have had access to extracurricular activities that foster a strong sense of engagement and belonging. The rapport that these teachers build with students and families is what makes Campbell Primary School a great place to be!  We invite all families to take a moment to reflect on the contributions these teachers have made in your child’s educational journey and to perhaps let them know the impact they have had before they set off on their next big adventure.

In our Educational Support Staff area, we would like to acknowledge Shanly Cheater and Alyssa Rule for all their contributions and support to our students.  Shanley has completed her Certificate 4 in Early Childhood studies and is looking to work in the childcare industry and Alyssa has now completed her school-based apprenticeship with us and has the world at her finger tips!

I would also like to congratulate and announce that William Johnston has been officially appointed to the position of Principal of Amaroo School (primary). It has been an absolute privilege to work in collaboration with Will. His knowledge of student learning, ability to work shoulder to shoulder with teachers and the relationships he builds with community will be sorely missed. However, it is exciting to know that his time at Campbell Primary School assisted in preparing him for the next step in his career!

While this newsletter is about acknowledging staff members who are moving to different settings, our next newsletter will introduce our new teachers coming to Campbell Primary School. 

School modernisation

The formal tender process is well underway with the two companies developing their designs for our new building.

Representatives from the Directorate’s project team and I have met several times with each company to discuss various aspects of their proposed design.  As these discussions form part of the formal tender process, I am unable to share any details with you at this time. Ideas collected throughout the community engagement sessions in 2018 and your feedback regarding the masterplan concepts shared with you earlier this year have been included in our briefings/discussions with each company. The tender closes in January 2020 and we hope to announce the successful contractor in Term 1, 2020.

Parallel to changes in the physical structure of the school, we are developing a learning and teaching model to support the delivery of 21st century learning for Campbell.

Parent/volunteer helper thank you morning tea

In the spirit of thanking those that support Campbell Primary School, we will be hosting a morning tea on Monday the 16^th December to thank all the wonderful parent helpers and volunteers who have contributed their time and energies throughout the year – helping out in the classrooms, canteen, on excursions, contributing their talents towards P&C fundraisers, athletics and swimming carnivals etc. It will be held in the staffroom from 11 – 11.30am. Hope to see you there.

You may have noticed that the way we start our day at Campbell Primary has changed slightly. We now meet as a whole school on the senior quad for the ‘morning yuumma’ – which is an opportunity for students and staff to hear important messages, celebrate successes and share a joke. Parents are welcome to stand to the side or back of the quad to be a part of our morning yuumma.   

The word ‘yuumma’ means hello in Ngunnawal. By incorporating Ngunnawal language into our daily routine, we acknowledge and value the intrinsic link between the culture, history and language of Ngunnawal people.

If students would like to share a joke at morning yuumma, they need to write it on a slip of paper, with their name and class, and pop it into the yellow joke box in the front office. One joke will be pulled out of the box to be shared each morning.

Year 5 students would like to raise funds to support the Australian Koala Foundation after hearing about the devastating effects of the bushfires.  Fundraising will take place during weeks 9 and 10 in the following ways.

Badges

All students will be given a template to design a badge of their choice during class time.  These will then be made into badges should you choose to purchase one.  Badges will be $2.00 each.  Further information will be provided next week.

Koala Finger Puppets

These cute little puppets have been ordered from the Save the Koala Foundation and can be purchased for $2.00 each.  Year 5 students will be selling these in the Hall before school and during break time as of Tuesday 10^th December.

Stalls

During lunchtime on Wednesday 18^th December, students will be selling cakes, icy cups and cookies with prices ranging from 50 cents to $2.00.     There will also be a raffle, a sponge toss, Tombola and a dance party.  More information will be provided in week 9.

Non-Uniform Day

Students can come to school on Wednesday 18^th December in casual clothes.  We will be collecting a gold coin donation in the morning.

If you would like to read more about the Australian Koala Foundation, please visit https://www.savethekoala.com.  Students are looking forward to this day and it is a great way to end the year by working on a joint project and taking action to support a needy cause.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us,

Peter Lawson, Melissa Sheldrick and Kate Stear

On Friday the 15^th of November Campbell Primary paused to commemorate the 100^th Remembrance Day. Volunteers from the year 6 group spoke beautifully, giving moving tribute to the history and sentiment of the occasion. The junior choir gave a spine-tingling performance of “We Will Remember” an original song by Russell Treddinick that was a real stand out for all who were present. We would like to extend a special thanks to Wing Commander Alan Bowers for his moving address, to Corporal Justin Lingard for his always flawless contribution with the bugle, and to the members of the Australian Federation Guard whose catafalque party added a special element of formality to our service. Students are to be commended on their reverence and exemplary behaviour throughout – we are very privileged to have a special connection with the local Australian Defence Force community here at Campbell and we were honoured to pay tribute to those ADF and allied service men and women that have made the ultimate sacrifice for our Country and way of life.

Lest We Forget.

SCORE - Schools Orienteering 4 Week Challenge

SCORE is a 4 week orienteering challenge for primary school children from grades 3 to 6, that is held twice a year in various school grounds around the ACT.  A SCORE team consists of 4 people, usually 2 girls and 2 boys, and each person in the team runs a relay leg using a map, navigating their way around the school grounds back to the finish, and then they tag their next team member.

In Weeks 2, 3, 4 and 5 of this term, 6 teams of dedicated and enthusiastic orienteers from Campbell Primary joined this huge group of ACT school children (approximately 190 kids in all!), getting up early and braving all kinds of crazy weather conditions for the four mornings of the SCORE challenge.

Our six teams were:

All students performed so well, running and thinking at the same time, checking controls, orientating their map to north, asking for help if it was needed, and encouraging their team mates. We couldn’t be more proud of this fine group of young champions. A big WELL DONE goes to the students who took on this challenge for the first time – Harriet, Amelia, Jacqui, James and Ellie all conducted themselves so competently and proved that they have what it takes to be the people to beat in the future. Campbell Primary School orienteers are amazing! Congratulations!

Each team gets awarded points for the place that they came in each week – the team that comes in first gets 100 points, 80 points for second, 60 for third and so on. At the end of the final round, our Campbell A team was ahead of the rival teams from Majura, Aranda and Curtin Primary Schools by 30 points, so have again brought the SCORE trophy back to be displayed proudly in our corridor trophy cabinet! Well done Sophie, Lucy, Michael and Sam!

ACT Primary School Orienteering Championships

Last Wednesday the 27^th of November,  nine CPS students ran in the ACT orienteering primary school champs at Barrenjoey Peninsula. The championships are open to primary school student aged between 9 and 12 who has done orienteering before, and it is a great way to use the skills that have been gained throughout the year.

Courses increase in length and difficulty according to the age group.

The Campbell Primary team consisted of Sophie W, Lucy R, Michael H, Sofia K, Olivia R, Euan J, Sam C, Oliver M and Jacqui H. All of these students have participated in the SCORE competition in 2019, and were keen to try out their cunning running skills in a bush course setting. Even though our Campbell team was small with just nine students, they were placed 4^th overall, which is an incredible achievement! Well done everyone!

Many thanks to Sophie W, our gold medal winner at this event, for giving a report as follows:

Jacqui Hudson ran the short blue course and came 4^th. Euan Johnson ran the long blue course and came 4^th. Oliver Makin and Sam Churchyard as well as Sofia Knight and Olivia Rhodes ran as pairs on the short green course with Oliver and Sam coming 5^th and Sofia and Olivia coming 7^th.  Lastly Sophie Weaver, and as a pair Lucy Robins and Michael Hudson, ran the long green with Sophie coming 1^st and Lucy and Michael coming 3^rd. There was a point system for each school with Aranda winning and Campbell came 4^th with 26 points thanks to every person/pair that came in the top 5. 

It was a great effort from the small Campbell team.  For Sophie, Lucy and Michael who have been doing school orienteering since they were in year 3, it was a great way to finish primary school.

Thank you Sophie, and congratulations to you on your first place, and to all of the dedicated students who ran their best on the day.  You make Campbell Primary School so very proud!

Last Saturday 30^th November was our Preschool celebration at Yarralumla Play Station. We had a fabulous morning filled with parachute games, pass the parcel, limbo and a special presentation of graduation certificates. Even though the weather was a little disappointing we had a fantastic turnout. It was a lovely way to connect both preschool classes and to celebrate our amazing little graduates. We would like to thank all of our families for attending and making our morning a memorable one. It is hard to believe we are already at the end of our school year, we are very proud of all our pre-schoolers and everything they have worked so hard to achieve this year. We are sending them all our best wishes on their transition to Kindergarten.

The End of Year Whole School Concert will be on Tuesday, 17th December from 5:00pm for a 5:30pm start.

Bring along a picnic and blanket and enjoy the night of entertainment.

The Special Group photos are on display at the front office for you to view prior to ordering, if desired.

Photos can also be viewed online – instructions below – using the code 19S1424EL40CP.

Please note, the photos are available for ordering ONLINE ONLY and orders must be received no later than 9^th December.

The ACT Education and Training Directorate (the Directorate) has a duty of care and responsibility to ensure that adequate sun protection is provided for all students and workers, including pre-service teachers and volunteers. This applies while they are on school premises during school hours or undertakingoutdoor school activities when Ultra Violet (UV) levels are 3 and above.
In Canberra sun protection is required for part or most of each day between August and May. The end of May is ‘Hats Off Day’ whilst the beginning of August is ‘Hats On Again’ for all of us.
Students with no hat will be required to play in a well shaded area. This is informally known as ‘No Hat Play in the Shade’
UV levels reach 3 and above in Canberra for part or most of each day between August and May which warrants sensible sun protection during this part of the year.

ParentLink provides parenting education to the community, from birth to teenage years. It is available for parents, carers, kin, teachers, and the broader community, providing information and links to local resources and services.
The ParentLink website provides links to all ParentLink guides including a variety of topics - Starting School, More than Reading and Writing, Optimism and Cyber Safety.
The ParentLink suite of resources includes guides specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, and access to resources for diverse cultural groups.
ParentLink guides are available to view and order via the website at: https://www.parentlink.act.gov.au/