Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the middle of Term 2.  It feels like the year is flying past very quickly!

It has been lovely to see so many parents participating in the Cross Country training runs with their children. Thank you so much for your support for Cross Country running. We know that developing the endurance for the distance takes effort and having parents join in helps motivate the students to persevere. I hope that you can join us for the Faction Cross Country running on Friday 31 May. There is some well needed rain forecast for next week, so students are advised to bring a change of clothes just in case.

Ms Menegola

You may have seen that Ms Menegola recently won the prestigious Mike Stidwell Medal for her significant contribution to sport and recreation in the local community. Ms Menegola’s passion for participation in sport and recreation is also evident in the way she approaches her job as the Physical Education Teacher at Flinders Park.  There are not many schools that do Frisby throwing in PE classes! Thank you, Ms Menegola, for the range and variety of activities the students at Flinders Park PS are encouraged to participate in.  Our hope is that every student will find a sport or active pastime that they will continue with into adulthood.

School Start Time

We have had increasing numbers of students attending school well before the expected time. Teachers are not on duty before school, so students should only be in the school earlier than 8:30am if they arrive by bus or are coming to attend breakfast. We understand that you possibly feel like you can trust your child to do the right thing on school grounds, however, the numbers are now so high that safety before school is becoming an issue. Students should not be attending school to play before class. Please help us by having your children only arrive at 8:30 am unless they come by bus or are attending breakfast. If the numbers of students on site continue to be high, we will have to implement some changes similar to other schools around Albany, where early arrivals have to sit in the Hall.

P&C Day

Today is the day we celebrate and recognise our P&C. The Flinders Park P&C are a wonderful, dedicated group of parents who volunteer their time to benefit our school. Thank you to everyone who is a member or offers to help at P&C events occasionally. Without you all, Flinders Park PS would not be the school it is today. Please support the P&C and their fundraising efforts so that you can help leave a legacy for future students at Flinders Park.

We are heading into a busy end of term, so I look forward to seeing you around the school and at the Cross Country Carnival.

Regards,

Julie Simpfendorfer

Principal

The 15^th Golden Frisbee Competition was held today in pristine throwing conditions in front of a large, vocal (very supporting) crowd.  

Twenty students were selected from their class tryouts (in gale force conditions) to participate in the event and they had to battle the obvious anxiety that comes with competing in front of a large audience.

Some frisbees flew wide, some rolled onto the oval, some rolled back, some went high and some skimmed low.

Riley (year 6) was the defending champion and his first throw (which looked like a ripper) unfortunately hit a pole mid course which changed it's course dramatically.  He showed great composure to take a few breaths before launching the eventual winning throw to a distance of 42.23m.  




There were several competitors after Riley, so he had a nervous wait before being declared the winner.  He is the first student to ever win back to back titles in this event.

Ms Menegola

Today the amazing 4.4 students measured distances from their spectacular classroom with a tape measure. It was awesome fun, but back breaking to measure around the school using chalk and a metre of the tape. One of our students even braved a bee sting to get our results.

Below are our results:

• Door to Ms Menegola’s Pavilion 80m
• Back door to the library 32.5m
• Door to Mr Staude’s room 46m
• Our back verandah is 41m
• The verandah to the park lot is 103m
• Door to the assembly area is 16.47m
• Door to the canteen 21.38m
• Door to computer lab 60.25m
• Around the library 87.08m

By Mrs Senn and her Fantastic Fives in 4.4

32 Year 5 & 6 students represented Flinders Park at the Annual Primary School Orienteering Carnival on Thursday 2^nd May.

The students were required to find 15 controls as fast as they could in the area surrounding ALAC and raced against eight other schools from Albany, Mt Barker and Cranbrook.

Unfortunately, one of the controls was removed just before the events started so individual results could not be determined but team scores could still be calculated.

The year 5's at their first ever carnival came 2^nd behind GSG whilst the experienced year 6's won their event by one point over GSG.  After all results were totalled, Flinders finished 2^nd overall behind GSG which is a terrific result!

All the students had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed using the electronic equipment.

The local club runs events throughout the year and more information can be found on their website:

www.adhocorienteers.com.au

Ms Menegola

Drumroll .....

Enrolments are now open at Flinders Park Primary School for children starting Kindergarten or Pre-Primary in 2025. 

If your child is currently enrolled in Kindergarten at your local intake school and you plan to stay at that school for Pre-primary, you still need to complete an Application for Enrolment for Pre-primary.

To enrol your child, you can visit the enrolments page on our website to download a form Enrolment (flindersparkps.wa.edu.au) or visit the school office to collect an enrolment pack. 

Along with your complete application form, you will need to provide the following documentation:

- Your child's birth certificate

- Your child's passport (if applicable)

- Proof of residency (i.e., a utility bill or lease agreement)

All applications for enrolment are assessed according to the Department of Education criteria. Applications for enrolment close on 19 July 2024 and acceptance letters will be posted out at the end of Term 3, 2024. 

Please don’t hesitate to contact the school office if you have any queries. 

Children who are colour blind can see as clearly as other people but can’t tell the difference between some colours and/or see colours differently. Very few people who are colour blind are ‘blind’ to all colours – most often they see red and green as very similar.

It’s good to know if a child is colour blind because they may have difficulty at school with activities that use colours, such as drawing, sorting blocks and using computers. Please read through information on colour blindness provided by Raising Children Network Colour blindness: babies, children & teens | Raising Children Network

If you have any concerns, or if there is a family history of colour blindness, consider having your child tested. Colour vision testing can be performed by some General Practitioners (GPs), eye specialists or optometrist.

Screening for undescended testes is recommended for boys at school entry (~4-5 years of age). Around 2-4% of boys have an undescended teste at birth. Sometimes the teste (also known as testicle) is in the scrotum at birth, but is pulled up into the groin or abdomen at around 4-10 years of age. This happens because the cord that attaches the testicle to the abdomen doesn’t grow at the same rate as the child.

Undescended testes don’t fully sit within the scrotum. The condition isn’t painful but can increase the risk of several other health issues such as decreased fertility and testicular cancer. For those boys who develop an undescended testicle later in childhood, the 'ascending' testicle often needs surgery between 5 years and 10 years.

Please read through the information about undescended testicles provided by Raising Children Network Undescended testicle: 0-18 years | Raising Children Network

If you have any concerns, please contact your General Practitioner or Community Health Nurse. Thank you.

Scoliosis is an abnormal sideways curvature of the spine. It can be detected by a simple examination of the back.

The normal spine has three curves – one in the neck, on in the upper back and one in the lower back. These curves can be seen from the side, but when you look from behind the spine should appear straight. If the spine has a sideways curve, this is scoliosis.

Please read through the scoliosis information provided by Raising Children Network and check your child for scoliosis as described.

If you have any concerns, please contact your General Practitioner or Community Health Nurse.

We have been working hard to keep our school website up to date – and would love you to test it out! 

To make it fun, we have a Canteen Voucher of $10.00 up for grabs.

The first family to email flinderspark.ps@education.wa.edu.au with the correct answers to these questions will be the winner!  Please, only one entry per family.

Good luck and thanks for playing!

At Flinders Park Primary School we respectfully acknowledge the Noongar people as the traditional Custodians of the land we live, learn and play on.

We embrace the Noongar community and their continuing connection to Country, water and sky and pay our respects to Elders past and present. As a school we are committed to fostering respectful relationships with the First Nations Peoples and welcome their guidance and support.

Flinders Park Primary School

51 Yatana Rd

Bayonet Head WA 6330

(08) 9892 5200

FlindersPark.PS@education.wa.edu.au

Absentees SMS 0438 900 275 or submit via Connect

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Visit us on the web at www.flindersparkps.wa.edu.au