Marks Point Classroom

Last week we were fortunate enough to have a visit from Robyn McKerihan, the Regional Director and Kay Peno our School Regional director. This was an informal visit to showcase our school. Robyn met with staff and had a tour of the school, including our new community room. Mrs Langford, our relieving Principal, spoke with Robyn about our plans and actions in 2009.

The main focus of the visit was to get a better understanding of the range of specific literacy and numeracy initiatives that are being implemented in our school. They were most impressed with the friendly, warm, co-operative atmosphere that we have at Marks Point school.

NUMERACY ACTIVITIES AT HOME

Earlier this term, surveys were sent home to parents of students in K-2, Miss Arthurson and Miss McDonell’s maths groups. Parent survey comments were as follows;

• I always try to help my child when he/she asks for help or gets stuck.
• I am comfortable with maths homework.
• At home we do measuring through cooking and number games mentally when travelling in the car.
• My child loves maths and enjoys all maths work.
• Children love the bonding we have playing together.
• My child tells me about some of what he/she does, he/she make it seem like fun.
• A lot of the maths children do is taught differently now. It makes it a bit harder to help.

Post surveys will be given at the end of the year.

SOFTBALL NEWS

Congratulations to all students who trialled at Zone softball last Friday. These students were picked to go to the next round:

Boys - Hayden C, Zac F and Darren M.

Girls - Shae O, Brittany S, Emma W and Daisy W.

The boys next round is on Friday 3rd July and the girls will be on Friday 10th July. We wish these students well in their next round.

CHESS

Our chess team of Mitchell D, Nathan C, Clay S and Bradley C played Caves Beach last Thursday in chess. The boys played hard to draw one game but lost the second round.

PUBLIC SPEAKING

Next week Chloe C and Bree C will compete in the local finals of the Multicultural Perspective Public Speaking Competition. We wish them all the best.

DEBATING

On Tuesday our debating team of Bree C, Laura A, Ruby H and Brittany S debated against Swansea Public school. The topic was “Should mobile phones be allowed in school?” The girls argued for the negative and were successful in their arguements. A special thanks to Mrs Chivas for coaching the girls.

CTJ DAYS

The last of our Consistent Teacher Judgement days (CTJ) was on Tuesday.  Early Stage 1 teachers had a productive day analysing and grading student work samples in readiness for reports to go home in week 11 on 7th July.

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS

Notes for parent teacher interviews have gone home this week. Stage 2 will conduct their interviews on Wednesday 8th July and stage 3 on Thursday 29th July. Early stage 1 and Stage 1 will be on Thursday 30th July. Mrs Vallender’s interviews are on Wednesday 5th August.

Mrs Cathy Anderson was presented with her service to students medallion on Wednesday at a morning tea with staff. We wish her well with her retirement.

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL CHAMPIONS:

Junior Girl Champion - Kiara M

Junior Boy Champion - Ben H

Senior Girl Champion - Brittany S

Senior Boy Champion - William V

This week the Public Speaking Finals have been held in the community room.

The following chidren were stage finalists:

Early Stage 1

Kindergarten: Paris K, Emma H, Sophie H, Meg O, Tayah H, Ruby W, Arnika S, Nayt C, Jamie M.

Stage 1

Year 1: Piper L, Drew C, Ella M, Bellah A, Ben P-E, Ethan H-G.

Year 2: Chelsey C, Hunter C, Ben W, Bronte C, Jake M, Sarah C.

Stage 2

Year 3: Bianca C, Arrizona C, Jemma K, Georgia R.

Year 4: Jason D, Ben H, Alyssa C, Peta M, Liam C.

Stage 3

Year 5: Bree C, Lauren A, Sam H, Hayden C.

Year 6: Chloe C, Mitchell D, Nathan C, Kayley M, Ella H.

The following students have been selected from each stage to represent our school at the east Lake Macquarie Public Speaking competition in Term 3.

Emma H, Sophie H, Piper L, Drew C, Chelsey C, Bronte C, Bianca C, Georgia R, Ben H, Liam C, Bree C, Hayden C, Chloe C and Ella H.

Stage 1 Finalists

Stage 2 Finalists

 Our Great Aussie Bush Camp will take place in Term 4, Week 1: Monday 19th to  Wednesday 21st October, 2009.

The Great Aussie Bush Camp is located near Tea Gardens and camp activities make the most of the local attractions such as Main Beach and Jimmy’s Beach, as well as Mount Yacaaba and local Dolphin Cruise companies. The camp is also a short drive from Mungo Brush, nearby rainforests, the Dark Point middens site and associated sand dunes.

All of the activities at camp are operated on the ‘Challenge by Choice’ principle. That means each individual chooses how much they participate in the activity and ultimately how much they are challenged. All of the activities at camp are also designed to build on four separate C’s. These are:

• Coordination
• Communication
• Cooperation
• Consideration

Some of the activities offered include:

Abseiling , Alpine Challenge, Animal Trapping, Archery, Beach Picnics, Bungee Tramp, Bush Craft, Camping, Canoeing, Commando, Dark Point Middens, Disco, Dolphin Cruise, Dual Flying Fox, Fencing, Fosseling, Giant Slide, Giant Swing, Gully Crossing, High Ropes, Kayaking, Leap Of Faith, Lost Island, Low Ropes Course, Movie Theatre, Mt Yacaaba, Brush Rainforest, Orienteering, Pioneering, Raft Building, Rock Climbing, Sailing, Sand Dunes, Sea Kayaking, Senses Trail, Snorkeling, Staple Climb, Survivor Challenge, Swimming, Vertical Challenge, Volleyball, Windsurfing

 Below is a slideshow of photos taken of our students at camp in 2007.