All Pre-Primary and Year 1 students have been keeping count of the number of days we have spent at school this year. 

Recently they celebrated 100 days of school with mathematical activities based around the number 100.  Lots of learning and lots of fun!

In Year One, our ‘Days of School’ countdown plays a big role in our morning routine and has been helping us with our counting and place value.  After a very long countdown, we finally hit our 100th day of school in Week 3 and celebrated with a pyjama party!  Thank you so much to all the parents who helped out and came along to join us.  We had lots of fun and have never been so cosy at school!

On the 17^th August 1945, two days after the war ended, Indonesia took the chance to break away from its colonial rulers (the Dutch) and start their own government.

The 17^th August in Indonesia is known as Hari Kemerdekaan – Independence Day and this day is celebrated nationally throughout the Indonesian archipelago.

At St Simon Peter CPS on Friday 17^th August 2018 (Week 5) a number of activities will be happening around the school and students are encouraged to participate.  Activities include:

• Students/staff can come dressed in red and white to school (or Indonesian dress eg. Sarong) for a gold coin donation collected on the day.  Please note: This is not a free dress day.  Students can wear full school uniform if they choose not to participate.
• Indonesian Trivia Quiz with prizes – 4 categories are Pre Primary-Year 2, Years 3-4, Years 5-6 & staff.
• Indonesian music played over the PA.
• Indonesian displays around the school.
• Special Independence Day activities in class.
• Indonesian lunch prepared by our school Canteen (Mie Goreng-$5 or Beef Rendang-$6). Orders must be placed before Thursday 9^th August.
• Kite Flying Competition at lunchtime (for students in Years 4-6).  Students must complete a Registration Form before the event and must provide their own kite.  Prizes will be awarded for highest kite and longest flight time.

Picture: Indonesian flag being raised for the 1^st time on 17^th August, 1945

Terima kasih (thanks) for your support.  Pak Lamont

With the relaunch of the St Simon Peter Catholic Primary School's newsletter, we are seeking help from our SSP community to come up with a name for our newsletter.  

We would love it for everyone to be involved by recommending a catchy and modern name that reflects the SSP spirit.  Please click on the link below and fill out your details which will also put you in the running to WIN one of two $25.00 gift vouchers for the Dymocks bookshop! 

Once the entries have been received, we will shortlist two of the suggestions and put them to our school community for a vote. Entries close 24 August, so start brainstorming!!

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Iy-FxTM2KU-zhlHaU-NeIwoA6bO7MshGuWMX6PZWfZZUMDBYNElOQ085Q1JZMElGVFVJVUhFOURZSS4u

I had an interesting weekend just gone in my role as Principal of SSP.  On Saturday afternoon I attended a First Holy Communion Workshop in the parish along with about 25 students and their parents.  The workshops are on-going in the Parish, preparing students to take part in the Eucharist at Mass once their big day comes around on a weekend in September.  A big thanks to Steve Harris who is a parishioner and former teacher and Assistant Principal here at SSP for doing such a great job with this work in our school parish.  

It was great to see the parent involvement and the interaction with their children on the history and purpose of this very important sacrament.  I can still remember my first communion made when I was in Year 4 in those days at my school, Holy Rosary in Doubleview here in Perth (see pic attached).  Boys left that school in those days at the end of Year 4 and moved off to various schools, mine being an all-boys school called St Louis Jesuit School In Claremont now John XXIII College in Mt Claremont.

My next weekend adventure was on Sunday, where I attended our school musical Disney’s The Little Mermaid.  I had some special guests with me, our Parish Priests, some Board members and a CEWA representative, who had all kindly accepted my invitation to the show.  

What a great example of a school community event this occasion was.  So many students involved from our Year 5/6 classes (87 students), so many school staff involved in many different ways (about 20 staff over the past 3 months) and so many parents, behind the scenes, front of house and back stage as well as some ex SSP students who are now at Prendiville College.  The event was an example of great teamwork.  It was well organised and extremely well performed, of course, by both casts on both days. Congratulations to everybody involved.

We understand that we are all learners with the right to learn being a non-negotiable here at SSP and if anyone disrupts or stops me from learning then I tell someone and something will be done about this.

Code of Conduct Continued

As of 1 January 2017, all Catholic schools are required to have a Code of Conduct. The purpose of which is to describe minimum standards of conduct in all behaviour and decision making to ensure the safety and well-being of students. This Code applies to all staff, students, volunteers, parents and guardians as applicable. The term ‘parents’ includes guardians.

Breaches of the Code must be notified to the Principal and it is a breach of the Code not to do so.

Each newsletter going forward, contains information about these statements. Please take a moment to read Statements 7 and 8 below:

Conduct Statement 9

You promote and preserve the trust and privilege inherent in your relationship with all members of the school community.

Guidelines

• You promote and preserve the trust inherent in your relationship with students and with their parents.
• You recognise that an inherent power imbalance exists within your relationship with students that may make the students and their family vulnerable and open to exploitation. You actively preserve the dignity of all people through practised kindness and by recognising the potential vulnerability and powerlessness of each student and their family. You recognise that the power relativities between you and a student can be significant, particularly where the student is very young, has a disability, a difficult family background, has cultural differences, or experiencing emotional turmoil. This vulnerability creates a power differential in your relationship with students that must be recognised and managed with care.
• You take reasonable measures to establish a sense of trust to protect the physical, psychological, emotional, social and cultural well-being of each student. You protect students who are vulnerable, including but not limited to students with disability, from exploitation and harm.
  You have a responsibility to maintain appropriate boundaries with students and to actively support other adults to do likewise, including bringing to their attention any failure to do so.
• You may have personal or recreational relationships outside your school role with students’ families and friends, or with school staff. You are aware that dual relationships may compromise student care and well-being.
• You do not engage in any behaviour with a student that could be interpreted by a reasonable person as being a friendship.
• You do not engage in any behaviour with a student that a reasonable person could interpret as creating an opportunity to engage in emotional, physical or sexual intimacy with a student.
• You recognise that the power imbalance between you and students means that the onus is on you to avoid any ambiguity or misunderstanding by a student or third party about your intent in your behaviour towards them.
• You understand that the power imbalance between you and students means a student is unable to give their consent to engaging in emotional, physical or sexual intimacy with you, regardless of the legal age of consent, or the student’s age or maturity. You must therefore not seek nor rely on such express or implied consent from a student to engage in an intimate relationship.
• You understand that the power imbalance between you and students may continue to influence students’ choices beyond the date when they cease to be students at your school. You must therefore not engage in emotional, physical or sexual intimacy with a former student within two years of them ceasing enrolment at your school, or them turning 21, whichever occurs latest.
• You take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety and security of the possessions and property of students and their families that are in your care.
  You do not knowingly mislead parents or make misrepresenting statements to them, or withhold information relevant to their ability to make informed decisions about their children unless required by law.
• You recognise that there may be rare exceptions to full disclosure to parents. Such disclosure of information may compromise law enforcement or other risk management processes, or the privacy and reputation of those involved. You seek legal or other expert advice in resolving such situations, recognising that parents have the right to know about any risk to their children.

Conduct Statement 10

You maintain and build on the community’s trust and confidence in Catholic schools and the Church.

Guidelines

• Your conduct maintains and builds public trust and confidence in your school, other members of the school community, and the Church.
• Your unlawful and unethical actions in your personal life risk adversely affecting both your own and the school’s reputation in the eyes of the public. If the good standing of either you or the school was to diminish, this might jeopardise the inherent trust between the school and parents, as well as the community more generally, necessary for effective relationships and the best education of students.
• You notify the Principal of your involvement in any criminal investigation or other legal process that may undermine trust and confidence in your judgement or care of students.
• You consider the interests of the school and the Church when exercising your right to freedom of speech and participating in public, political and academic debate, including publication.
• You never place the reputation of the school above the safety and well-being of students.

Click here to download the Code of Conduct

1:1 Device Project

For some time now here at SSP you would have been hearing about the introduction of a device into Year 4 beginning in 2018. Please see our visual timeline attached that displays our journey so far. Currently our Year 3 cohort are engaged in the process of setting this up for introduction into Year 4. It has been a slow process with staff also engaged in training and upskilling. All staff have been given a laptop computer and opportunities every Thursday for the last 2 years after school to take part in after school training sessions.

Why are we doing this?

Rationale

We are implementing a 1:1 device program to:

• Implement the mandated Western Australian Technologies Curriculum
• Increase student engagement - accelerator for Deep Learning
• Complement project-based learning in the classroom
• Provide opportunities for collaboration and critical thinking
• Ensure that NAPLAN online is a measure of students’ literacy and numeracy not their computer literacy competencies
• Broaden learning beyond the classroom to complement passion projects
• Prepare students to be successful 21st Century Learners
• Equip students with the knowledge and skills needed for success in a rapidly evolving and uncertain world.

SSP cannot continue to sustain the purchasing of iPads and other devices every three years. Handwriting skills will continue to be taught and use of paper and pencil will still happen. On any given day a classroom would engage with a device for no more than 2 hours and on some days no time at all would be spent on devices.

Click here to download the information on the 1:1 device timeline