As we continue through Term 4, our school community is busy with events, grants, and exciting projects aimed at improving and supporting our school. We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our staff, parents, and community members for their ongoing contributions to Flinders Park Primary School’s success. We look forward to the final weeks of the term and to celebrating our students' learning achievements as we close out the year.

Minister for Education Dr. Tony Buti's Visit

Last week, we had the pleasure of welcoming the Minister for Education, Dr. Tony Buti, along with Rebecca Stephens to Flinders Park Primary. Meghann Tysoe, School Board Chair, Tahlia Lavrick, P&C Secretary, and our P&C President, Bev Els, also joined us for the visit. We shared our recent successes and discussed the urgent need for maintenance on several aging facilities—especially the Block 3 toilets!

It was also exciting to present our vision for converting the old Kindy building into a Community Hub. Both Dr. Buti and Rebecca expressed strong support for this project. We are eager to see its further development in 2025.

Dual Naming Project at Flinders Park

We are thrilled to announce that we have been awarded a $5,500 PALS Grant to dual-name areas of our school, working collaboratively with our Aboriginal families and community. This inclusive project will offer a meaningful opportunity to acknowledge and learn about Aboriginal culture and heritage at FPPS. We look forward to partnering closely with families and community members on this initiative in 2025.

Solar Grant – Schools Clean Energy Technology Funds

FPPS has received funding from the Schools Clean Energy Technology Fund to upgrade our school’s solar panels. This project will help our school become more sustainable, reduce power costs, and benefit both the environment and our community in the long term.

Albany Christmas Pageant 2024 – Fly with Flinders

After consultation with staff and students, we are excited by the strong support and enthusiasm to participate in the Albany Christmas Pageant. Mrs. Walkington, our Art Teacher, has kindly volunteered to coordinate our display, incorporating our "Fly with Flinders" artwork from the Art Trail. The student-created birds will be redesigned with festive flair to showcase our school’s flying spirit. Information about student participation in the Pageant will be sent home soon.

Planning for 2025

Planning for 2025 is underway, and we ask for your help to ensure a smooth start to the year. If any students or families plan to leave Flinders Park (aside from Year 6 students), please notify the front office as soon as possible. Accurate student numbers help us plan class structures and staffing needs, including whether split-grade classes are necessary.

We will soon begin creating class lists, considering factors such as friendships, behaviour, academic levels, and additional needs. If you have a class placement request for 2025, please submit it in writing to the Principal by Friday 15 November 2024. Requests can be hand-delivered to the office or emailed to flinderspark.ps@education.wa.edu.au. While we strive to accommodate reasonable requests, please understand that some requests may not be possible due to classroom and staffing constraints.

Semester 2 Student Reports

Our teachers are currently writing Semester 2 reports for students. This is an exciting time to review, reflect on, and celebrate the learning achievements of every student at our school. Reports will be available to parents via Connect during Week 10 of this term, reflecting adjustments to the format that support the Department of Education's commitment to reducing teacher workload.

Students will receive grades for each subject, along with a general comment from their classroom teacher. Students with Individual Education Plans (IEPs) will also receive a SEN report providing feedback specific to their learning goals. Reports should never come as a surprise! If there are any significant changes or concerns about learning and achievement, your child’s teacher will contact you before the reports are completed. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to chat with your child's teacher.

PBS Community Forum

We enjoyed lively discussions and a delicious morning tea at our recent PBS Community Forum. Feedback from parents and staff was greatly appreciated and will continue to inform the work we are doing to support positive behaviour at FPPS. Many parents expressed interest in future forums and a desire to be more involved in FPPS’s ongoing development. In response, our next PBS Community Forum will be held on Tuesday 3 December 2024 at 8:50am in the Kindy room. All parents are welcome and encouraged to be part of this exciting work.

Dates for Your Diary

• PBS Community Forum: Tuesday 3 December 8:50am
• Interschool Jumps and Throws Carnival: Tuesday 19 November
• Interschool Athletics Carnival: Thursday 21 November
• Albany Christmas Pageant: Saturday 7 December 
• Year 6 Graduation: Wednesday 11 December
• Last Day of Term 4: Thursday 12 December

Thank you to our school community for your ongoing support and engagement. We look forward to a strong finish to 2024 and preparing for another exciting year ahead at Flinders Park Primary.

Warm regards,
Kylee Weadley
Principal

The 15^th Annual Hopper Cup was held in sunny conditions in front of an enthusiastic crowd.  Year 6s who were competing certainly took the role of 'jockey' seriously with colourful clothes and an impressive selection of helmets.

Students were required to sign up for the race and many attended 'the draw' where hoppers were assigned to a 'jockey'.  This is often the first time that students realize that all the hoppers have names written on them!! Not all hoppers are the same size and many wish for one of the big blue ones but the smaller hoppers are still fun and all students were keen to try the event.

The course was approximately 100m long and it proved to be a difficult one for many.

The finish was particularly exciting with two competitors crossing the line together but only one managed to keep control of their hopper to cross the line in first position.  Congratulations to Jett.



Ms Menegola

Students from Pre-Primary - Year 6 were involved in the annual Faction Athletics carnivals in week 4.  

Monday involved field events for Years 3 - 6 and distance events for Years 1 - 6.  It was a highly successful day for the students with 240 PBs broken at different events.

The first carnival on Wednesday was the junior carnival and there were many highlights given from the Prep - Year 3 students.  Yatana were the eventual winners on the day, their last win was in 2021.  

The senior carnival ran for the remainder of the day and again, the endeavour by all students to perform to the best of their ability was the highlight.   Nanarup claimed the shield after a long six year break. 106 PBs were broken in the races in just the Year 5 and 6s alone!

Final results:




From the results, selected students in Year 1 - 6 will prepare for the Interschool Carnival in week 7.  This usually involves daily practise of the team games and relays but may also involve some individual events.

Notes will go home in week 6. 

Many thanks to all the parents who volunteered to help on the day - it wouldn't be as successful without you!  Thanks also to the staff for their support and work on the day and finally, thanks to the Faction Captains and Councillors who discovered what a physically demanding day it can be!!!

Ms Menegola

Congratulations to Olivia (Year 5) who managed to run so fast that she broke a long standing school record  in the 200m race on Wednesday.

The record was 28 years old, set back in 1996 and belonged to one of our current parents, Jemma. In her day, Jemma had held many records but this is now the last one of hers to be broken. The previous record for the race was 29.80 sec and Olivia has improved the time to a result of 29.78 sec. 

All records at Flinders are based on ages rather than year levels and it is a rare event for a record to be broken.  They are all on display on the PE Notice Board.

Ms Menegola

What do you like about the Faction Carnival? 

Bailey - Faction bays 

Edwin - Turbojab 

Sam - Running and thread the needle. 

Jemma - Sportsmanship and getting to know new people. 

Jada - No one loses 

Flynn - Circle ball 

Mr Senn - All the classes having fun and supporting each other 

Alia - Everyone having fun go Nanarup 

Miss Sharman - Dressing up in our faction colours, having fun and cheering on the competitors. 

Summer - Running and that parents come along. 

Abbey - Cheering on your teams and wearing your faction colours. 

Austin - Thread the needle.   

Mrs Weadley -Lots of parents come along, the hopper race is fun and its great to see good sportsmanship. 

Baxter - Flag race 

Millie - Team games running 

Mrs Hart – Everyone is happy and having fun 

Zach – Putting your attention into everything and pushing your limits 

Arlo - Running 



Nevaeh

Year 5's Tim Burton inspired "Spooky Selfies". In our art sessions this term, students have critiqued and analyzed the style and artwork of Tim Burton. Common characteristics associated with his style include: oversized eyes, petite nose and mouth, long thin neck, body and arms, and helmet hair. In addition, most of his work is black, white and every value in between. The students used value to create a self-portrait that looks 3-dimensional using shading and blending techniques. 

Mrs Walkington

This term students have been participating in fortnightly STEM sessions. Year 1's read the story "The Most Magnificent Thing" by Ashley Spires -  a book about creativity, perseverance, engineering, growth mindset, handling frustration, and friendship. Students were then challenged to create their own most magnificent thing. They had to sort through recycled materials, record their ideas, list materials needed, create their inventions and then reflect on the outcome. 

Mrs Walkington

Flinders Park Primary School would love to have this unique reading support program helping our students to become life-long readers.

We are hoping to start the Story Dogs Program at our school in early 2025.

The teachers love this program, the students can’t wait to read and the program works!

• Do you have a dog that is well behaved, gentle and is happy around children?
• Can you spare a couple of hours a week?

Call or email Story Dogs so you can start helping children to become better readers.

info@storydogs.org.au

Phone: Jen 0457573668

Web Site:

www.storydogs.org.au

All potential Story Dogs have to pass an assessment before they can visit schools and students. 

If you and your dog are interested in the Story Dog program, please fill out the form below. Thank you. 

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

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.