Principal’s Update

Kaya 

During the past couple of weeks at Richmond we have been engaged in Parent Information Sessions, the Public School Review and School Board, P&C and Parent Rep meetings. It is reassuring that all the meetings were well attended and all positions on the committees have been filled with quality applicants, which highlights the high level of parent input at Richmond.  

Our Student Leaders have also hit the ground running with activities planned for the student body and fundraisers planned to support charities. We will include reports from our Leaders throughout the term.  

Parent Information Sessions 

Due to the COVID restrictions many parents have not had an opportunity to meet face to face with teachers at the start of the year. The feedback from both parents and staff was positive and the sessions were valued.  Curriculum Letters have also been introduced across the school, which will outline focus areas for class and will be sent out at the beginning of each term. 

School Board  

I would like to welcome the new members of the School Board and acknowledge the outgoing members Jodi Eastman and Kate Bockman who both made a significant contribution over the past few years. Lacey is also stepping away from position of Chair and will be taking on the equally important role of Secretary.  Matthew Rose has taken on the role of Chair and brings a great deal of knowledge to the position after serving on the Board for a number of years. Regular reports of work of the ongoing work of the Board will be included in the news posts over the year.  

P&C  

On Tuesday the P&C held the annual AGM with a several Executive Members departing after volunteering their time and expertise for a number of years. I know I speak for the School Community in thanking Aoife, Anna, Sam, Azita and Pete for supporting the school and planning events that focused on community, through a challenging time over the past three years.  

I would also like to welcome Michelle, Kelly, Claudia, Seb for taking up Office Bearer positions. Mike will also remain on as the DORK’s coordinator and has already planned the annual Fathering Project Camp.  

School Crossing Guard  

The Board and Parent Reps have been proactive in highlighting the concerns around the lack of a Crossing Guard on Canning Hwy. A few of our parents have reached out to their contacts to assist us in getting the message out. There are a number of schools with similar concerns, and we will continue to lobby for a long-term solution.  

School Photos

Your child/children should have brought home a small flyer from Kapture Photograpy – The exception is one of the kindy classes and they will receive theirs on Monday.  The flyer has your child’s name and unique student identifier on it.  Please could parents/guardians check bags and homework folders if you haven’t received one. We are awaiting confirmation of the timetable and will publish it next week in ‘School Messages’ via Connect.

Swimming Trials and Carnival

It was wonderful to see over 70 students recently attend the swimming trials at Fremantle College on Wednesday night.

These students were able to establish a 50m time (freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke) for the upcoming swimming carnival in week 6 (Friday, March 10th, 12.30 – 3.00pm).

It was very encouraging to see a wide range in swimming abilities. Some students used the ropes to assist themselves whilst other students were able to set sub 35 second times. It’s great to see that all our students are happy to have-a-go. Our swimming carnival has always been an inclusive, safe and positive experience for all our students.

There is still time for our year 4-6 students to enter an event in our upcoming Swimming Carnival. You could take a visit to Fremantle pool to time your child or we can manually place them into a lower division. Please contact Rob Thorogood or Dave Carder with the details. We would like to finalise the swimming divisions by Wednesday next week.

robert.thorogood@education.wa.edu.au    David.Carder@education.wa.edu.au

A huge thank you to the parents who assisted in timing on Wednesday night.

Year 4-6 Swimming Carnival details will be sent home early next week.

Recycled Uniforms

Thank you to Alyce Chaney and Jess Jamieson who have taken on the role of co-ordinating our Recycled Uniform Stall. They will run the uniform stall with the student Environment Team before our Friday assemblies, please message Alyce on 0403 427 338 if you have any queries.

Message from the School Board 2023

Every year the School Board holds an Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the start of the year, concluding the term of the Board and leaving all positions once again open for nomination. Lacey Filipich stepped down as Chair of the Board after two years in the role. Lacey led the board through the extraordinarily challenging time of COVID and the amazing celebrations of our Centenary. Lacey leaves a legacy of professionalism and dedication to Board activities that will be a hard act to follow. We are lucky however to have her expertise remaining on the Board as our Secretary. Jodi Eastman stepped down as Secretary and will be sorely missed. Jodi’s work on the 2022 Parent Survey reached more parents than ever.

Kate Bockman, our staff representative and Kindergarten teacher, also steps down from the Board. Kate’s work on the schools Reconciliation Action Plan has led to several initiatives and changes to the school, raising awareness and building respect for our history.

With seven positions needing to be filled and seven expressions of interest we were able to form a Board this year without going to a vote. We were delighted to welcome two parents as new members: Jane Tandy and Anita Radich. Jane Tandy has stepped into the P & C role vacated by Sian Rosser and Niamh Leonard. Sian and Niamh did a brilliant job connecting the Board with the P & C.

Last but not least, after three years in the role of Vice-Chair, my nomination for the role of Chair was accepted. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to continue supporting the school through the Board’s activities and look forward to 2023 as a year of leadership within the school and connection across the community.

The 2023 Board is: Sian Rosser (parent rep), Niamh Leonard (parent rep), Peter Jones (parent rep), Anita Radich (parent rep), Dale Mackesey (Principal), Matthew Rose (Chair), Lacey Filipich (Secretary), Jane Tandy (P& C rep), (1 x staff rep tbc).

Matthew Rose – School Board Chair

Message from the P&C

P & C Class representatives will be collating contact details from the class parents in the coming week.

A sheet will be outside classroom doors for parents to fill out on Monday and Tuesday morning and afternoon next week. If you would prefer your details not to be displayed at these times and you would still like to receive messages from your class representative, please email Lara with your name, email address and phone number and your child’s class number before Wednesday lunch time. Thank you.

Running Club

Wow that was a busy morning with a lot of eager runners! With such a large group of students we will be splitting the group into two.  

A junior group – most likely Years Pp-2

and

A senior group – most likely Years 3-6.

We will still include a sustained run during the session when assemblies are not occurring but may split this into a junior run and a senior run. This should hopefully allow for a less stressful/intense environment for everyone and maximise the fun with our activities.

Connect will now be used to communicate to parents/caregivers regarding Running Club and Marathon Club.

See you next Friday.

Rob Thorogood

Harmony Day

We will be celebrating Harmony Day on Tuesday 21 March by wearing orange to school.  Students will be completing activities in class for Harmony Week.

Message from the Environment Team

We have been kept busy in the last few weeks helping our environment.

We are currently deciding ways to minimise lost property and will advise families about initiatives in the coming weeks.  Please note that any unnamed and unclaimed items that are in lost property for over 3 weeks will be donated to our sister school. They will greatly cherish our donations.

Please donate any excess uniform items to the school office.  Recycled uniform sales will be held on assembly Fridays at 8:30am, where all items are available for a gold coin donation, and funds raised go to planting more trees around our school.

A current problem at our school is the amount of rubbish left around the grounds; almost 200 pieces were found in the past week.  We would like to ask that children either keep their rubbish in their lunch box or put it in the appropriate bin.  We would also like to note that Thursday is waste free lunch day but would like to encourage the importance of waste free lunch days – every day!

Hi from the Student Council of 2023

We will be hosting a fund-raising event every term to give back to people in need. This term we will be hosting a Free Dress Day on Friday 3 March. We would like participating students to bring a gold coin donation. The contributions will go to the people of Syria and Turkiye who have experienced multiple destructive earthquakes that have trapped and injured people under large piles of rocks and rubble or left them homeless.

We would like to remind you that we are a SunSmart school, and we would appreciate it if you wear appropriate clothing for free dress day.

We will come around to the different classes, to collect the gold coin donations that your class collects.

Henry, Rohan, Tom, Leo, Bronte, Holly, Abby and Ava. (Student council 2023) 

 Available for Donation

We have table tennis tables and two basketball hoops (stands) without nets that we are offering to Richmond families.  They are available for a donation.

Please speak with Rob Thorogood if you would like one of these items.

robert.thorogood@education.wa.edu.au

Waugal – Pronounced “Wo-gl” means Snake

The Waugal or Rainbow Snake is an immortal being in Aboriginal mythology.  The connection between snake and rainbow suggests the cycle of the seasons and the significance of them and water in human life.   When a rainbow is seen in the sky, it is supposed to be the Rainbow Serpent traveling from one waterhole to another.

Out of School Hours Providers at Richmond

OSHClub

As champions of play, we are excited to launch our new National Program.

Purposefully designed around play our new programs deliver a range of fun activities that are created for children.

Our newly designed morning program – now known as Rise then Shine – will set children up for a great day ahead and help them get ready and raring to learn; and our afternoon program – now known as Stay and Play – is designed to help children unwind at the end of the day with their friends, support new meaningful connections to grow, and help them be ready to connect with their family.

Our program includes a new national library of supporting resources including Adventure Activity Cards that are contained in our unique Adventure Box and in a national program document library.

Our Adventures are created for children, and the best part is that children will choose which Adventure they would like to bring to life every day.

Our Adventures have been developed in conjunction with a panel of experts in childhood development and best-practice playtime, and fall under seven Junior Adventures Group (JAG) developed ‘Domains of Play’ to guide children and their educators in various child-led activities.

JAG’s New Seven Domains of Play:

  • Flavour Fest With a focus on small group cooking and nutrition experiences, we build the life-skills and knowledge needed to build healthy habits.
  • Global Kids Developing and exploring life-skills, world experiences and being good global citizens with a focus on community and sustainability.
  • Brain Boosters Code breaking, puzzles, captivating games, science experiments and exploring the world through STEM.
  • Power Teams Building team skills for life through games, challenges and group activities.
  • Super Sports Sporty sessions to help children develop the skills to set them up for an active life.
  • Creative Inventors Creative play with a mix of expressive arts, materials and crafts to fuel the inventor inside.
  • Zen Masters From Yoga to Random Acts of Kindness, we practice skills and exercises to promote happiness, mindfulness and wellbeing that balances the mind and body. 

Our new National Program will offer children Adventures that far exceed the required frameworks. We have every confidence that these amazing experiences will unlock the knowledge, skills and behaviours that children need to enable them to shine in a complex and ever-changing world, preparing them for a world yet to be imagined.

Marshall’s Tennis Academy

Coaching at Schools New | Marshall’s Tennis Academy (marshallstennis.com.au)

Bricks 4 Kidz

Weekend and After School Enrichment Classes with LEGO® Bricks

Bricks 4 Kidz have classes at Richmond P.S on Mondays afterschool.

Please click here for further details.

Community Notices

Message from City of Fremantle  

We would like to share with you and your schools the below Australian Park Life Survey.

This survey, run by the Australian Urban Design Research Centre, helps capture community use of parks and their benefits in the local area. Survey results will be used to direct local government plans, designs and help maintain parks and public open spaces that meet community needs.

The survey can be accessed via, https://australian.park-life.com

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