We are over half-way through Term 1 – can you believe it?
Our students have well and truly got into school mode now, with many of them achieving great results and trying their hardest. I always enjoy seeing great work when students come and show it to me in the office!
NAPLAN 2023
Next Wednesday, NAPLAN commences for our Year 3 and Year 5 students. NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through their regular school curriculum. Students sit assessments in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. The questions assess content linked to the Australian Curriculum: English and Mathematics.
Students are not expected to study for NAPLAN. You can support your child by reassuring them that NAPLAN is a part of their school program and reminding them to simply do their best.
Jennifer Ryan’s Retirement
This Friday 10th March, we formally farewell Mrs Jennifer Ryan, and wish her well in her retirement. Mrs Ryan has been the Manager Corporate Services at Duncraig Primary School for 27 years and has worked for the Department of Education for 34 years. Mrs Ryan’s favourite colour is pink, so a pink themed afternoon tea will be held to honour her work at Duncraig Primary School.
Clean Up Australia Event
Last Sunday 5th March was Clean Up Australia Day. This week two of our teachers, Miss Collett and Ms Jackson attended a City of Joondalup Clean Up Seminar, to assist them to plan Clean Up events, build a culture of responsible waste management in our school and undertake waste audits. Next week, students will participate in Clean Up activities around our school. And a rubbish audit will follow. I must commend our students who are really making an effort to keep our school clean.
School Values
Our Positive Behaviour Support team have worked with staff and collected survey data from the students and the community, to identify the most relevant and necessary values to shape our school expectations. Thank you to everyone who has completed this survey. Overwhelmingly, Respect and Kindness won out as the most important values. Other values that ranked highly were Responsibility and Excellence. The PBS team will now be working with staff and students to identify how those values may look in many contexts around the school.
Annual Open Board Meeting
On Monday 13th March, the DPS School Board will hold their Annual Open Board Meeting. Any interested parent may attend. You might like to know how the School Board operates or what our priorities for 2023 will be. You might like to just come along and show your support. Everyone is welcome! Our meeting will be held in the conference room at 5.00pm.
Assembly Super Stars
Today we enjoyed our second assembly for Term 1. The Year 2 students from Room 10 talked to us about emotions and the best ways to manage them. They did a fabulous job at acting out the different emotions, as well as speaking in front of the assembly and memorising their lines. Well done Year 2s!
Here are our merit certificate recipients for this assembly, and a belated Student of the Month.
2023 Merit Certificates
Host class: Room 10 Date: 9 March 2023
| Year | Room | Teacher | Recipients |
| PP | 14 | Miss Phillips | Jimmy and Elijah |
| PP | 16 | Mrs Cowton/Mrs Edwards | Emmeline and Nikolas |
| 1 | 17 | Mrs Calton | Jules and Ella |
| 1 | 18 | Mrs Spiers | Niamh and Stella |
| 1 | 13 | Mrs Firman | Evan and Harlo |
| 2 | 12 | Mrs Edwards / Mrs Wass | Edie and Sam |
| 2 | 11 | Mrs Cole | Vincent and Miguel |
| 2 | 10 | Mrs Adams | Tanner and Freya |
| 3 | 8 | Miss Moorman | Evelyn and Jax |
| 3 | 7 | Mr Miller | Douglas and Caris |
| 4 | 6 | Mrs Watkinson/Miss Coombes | Deacon and Vihandu |
| 3/4 | 5 | Miss Collett | Scarlett and Hunter |
| 4/5 | 4 | Miss Finnie | Denby and Thomas |
| 5 | 3 | Miss Oldroyd / Mrs Wensinger | Joshua and Maddie |
| 6 | 1 | Mrs Mosconi | Zane and Julia |
| 5/6 | 2 | Mrs Jones | Brooke and Charlotte |
| French | Madame Wilderspin | Ethan | |
Early Intervention News
At Duncraig Primary School, we recognise that some students require extra assistance to reach their outcomes. Learning intervention adds an additional layer onto classroom instruction. For some students, just an extra 10 minutes reading each morning will make an amazing difference. We have invested resources into training and setting up MiniLit Intervention groups. Next term we are commencing MinLit early intervention. This evidence-based, Tier 2 small group reading program is for students in the bottom 25% of the expected range for their age group in Year 1 and 2. The program provides explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, systematic synthetic phonics for reading and spelling, letter formation, and connected text reading.
Additionally, we are planning an Early Learning Morning Club, for students to work with older peers to practise and test their sight word knowledge, knowledge of initial sounds, blends and digraphs, and decoding skills.
At this stage, most of the intervention practices are aimed at the P-2 students and are literacy -based. We plan to expand this in the future.
Upcoming Events
Monday 13th March – Duncraig PS School Board Annual Open Meeting 5pm
Wednesday 15th March – NAPLAN Commences
Tuesday 21st March – P&C Meeting 7pm
Thursday 23rd March – Room 13 Assembly
Friday 24th March – Harmony Day Dress-up (Dress in orange or cultural attire)
Monday 3rd April – P&C Colour Run 1.30pm
Thursday 6th April – ANZAC Service 9.00am
Kind regards,
Nicole Borbas,
Principal
Nicole.Borbas@education.wa.edu.au