As we come to the conclusion of what has been a year unlike any other, it is an opportunity to reflect upon, and celebrate, the many successes we have experienced across our school community.  While we have all faced challenges, the learning and the growth that has come from these will have a lasting impact on our students, our families and our school.

Today, I had the opportunity to listen to our future school leaders present speeches to their peers and teachers.  They spoke proudly and confidently of their efforts this year.  They acknowledged that while some events had looked different, and some had not occurred at all, they were still able to see these as opportunities to connect with their peers, to learn and to demonstrate resilience.  It is this type of optimism and regard for others that is reflective of our school community, and why we have continued to build upon our strengths, even when experiencing challenge.

I would like to thank all of our families for your support this year.  Thank you for your active and engaged communications; for letting us know those things that have been effective in response to COVID-19 restrictions, and those that we can consider in future planning.  We are so pleased to have been able to create opportunities for our community to come together and share our student’s learning, even if they have looked a little different than usual.

One such instance of shared learning was the highly successful family STEM challenge night last week.  This event saw families of upper primary school students working together to build marble runs and balloon cars.  There were many examples of ingenuity and problem solving and it was pleasing to see our students applying their technical language to problem solve, and even teach their parents a design trick or two!  We look forward to sharing similar STEM-focused events with our community in 2021.

Our 2020 Transition Day was highly successful and we received positive feedback from students regarding opportunities to get to know their 2021 classmates and teachers.  We consistently see the impact of this valuable transition at the start of the school year as students walk confidently into new classes, eager to reconnect with new friends.  Thank you to all the staff, students and parents that make this much anticipated day possible.

I would particularly like to acknowledge the invaluable contribution of our School Board and P&C to the success experienced this year.  We are incredibly fortunate to have an active and supportive community, without which a range of events and initiatives would not be possible. Thank you for your ongoing commitment to making our school such a welcoming and engaging learning environment.

Finally, I wish all members of our community a safe and happy holiday break.  In what has been a year of many unknowns, I hope that everyone takes time to enjoy those things that matter the most and, above all, to spend quality time with friends and family. 

Happy holidays everyone and we look forward to seeing you all back in 2021.

Safety Bay Primary School office  will re-open on Wednesday 27 January 2021 and students return  to school on Monday 1 February 2021.  Please note the office opening day has been delayed from Monday to Wednesday due to some wonderful office renovations and to enable set up and our full attention to your needs when we re open on Wednesday.

Students Personal Items Lists (Booklists) are available to download from our school website an may be ordered online with Ziggies Educational Supplies until 18 December 2020. All orders made online before the 18 December go into the draw to win 1 of 20 $100 Pre-Paid Visa Cards. If you have missed the 18 December deadline you are still able to order online however orders will incur additional delivery charges and delivery can not be guaranteed for the beginning of Term One 2021. Alternatively booklist items can be purchased directly from Ziggies at 25B Bale Road Canning Vale, with Click and Collect or Self Service options available.

Did you know that by purchasing your booklist items through Ziggies you’re supporting your children and your school.  Ziggies give a proportion of sales back to Safety Bay Primary School.  These funds help contribute to a range of resources which help enhance your child’s learning experience.

Booklists will be available for collection from the school’s undercover area on Wednesday 27 January 2021 between 10.45am and 11.45am, for those that selected this option.

Tudor Uniforms will open the uniform shop on Wednesday 27 January from 8.00am to 12noon. Parents of Year 4 students going into Year 5 in 2021 please remember to order Navy Blue uniforms.

2021 Voluntary Contributions are now able to be paid, please see website for payment options.

School Security

Please help look after our wonderful school over the holidays by reporting any suspicious activity in and around school grounds to Education Security on 1800 177 777.  Thank you.

We wish everyone a happy, safe Christmas and New Year, enjoy your summer holidays and we look forward to seeing you in 2021.

Sam, Michelle, Kim and Diana

On Tuesday 8 December, Safety Bay Primary School held an action-packed STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Challenge Night.  This was an opportunity for students and parents to work together on an exciting STEM task in a relaxed atmosphere.

Our year 5 and 6 families were given the opportunity to design, build, test, modify and then race in the Balloon Car Challenge.  There was a huge variety of different ideas and designs for the cars which completely blew us away.  There was a couple of last minute engine changes (when balloons burst) and even a complete tyre replacement (new bottle caps) when the wheels fell off. 

Our year 3 and 4 families spent their time designing and constructing a marble run.  There were glue guns, tape, cardboard and tubing being used creatively to build the longest marble run that could sustain a five marble run.  There were some amazing structures, some of which would barely fit in the car to take home.

The evening was fantastic – it was great to see students and their parents working together and communicating to solve the challenge. 

Most importantly, what did the students think.

“I loved the STEM Night. It was so fun.” Halle (Y4)

“It was fun. I liked it when Dad came because that was when we put everything together.” Chloe (Y3)

“It was a really good experience.  There was a lot of fun with my dad.” Ian (Y4)

“When we were timing the marble runs, my marbles skipped a part of the marble run.” Lili (Y3)

“The marble run was so awesome. Mr Leo was a good helper even though it was a really hard task to make. Me and my dad learnt something… to never give up!” Malachy (Y4)

“It was a fun night.  I want to say thank you to all the people who helped, especially Mrs McCulloch..” Noah (Y4)

“It was really good.  I really loved the racing at the end” Rory (Yr5)

“One thing I really liked about the Balloon Challenge was that you really had to think about how to make the wheels go straight” Oliver (Yr5)“I had a lot of fun designing and building my balloon car to go along the track” Reuben (Yr5)

“Building a balloon car with my mum was really fun.” Archie (Yr5)

“I loved designing and building my car with my Dad” Tyler (Yr5)

Wow another busy term in the science room. We have been learning about things that range from what causes day and night, all about rocks and minerals and the importance of our soil through to our place in space and natural disasters.

This term we began by celebrating Waterwise Week with guest speakers from the Water Corp visiting our PP-year 4 classes. These visits were followed up with a presentation to the school acknowledging the work that we have all done to become a Waterwise School. We were lucky enough to have special visit from Kep the Waterwise Dog, with a few classes being able to watch Kep show us how clever he is at finding water leaks.

I have to say that the feedback I received from our Water Corp guests was amazing with lots of compliments about how respectful and knowledgeable our students are.

During the term in the science room, we were lucky enough to have. Cecily Arkell from Earth Science Western Australia visit us in the science room for a couple of days. The year 3 and 4 classes learnt a little more about soil and what it’s made of – Cecily certainly changed our minds about soil being boring.

The year 5 and 6 classes enjoyed doing an investigation about the viscosity of lava and learning about the different types of volcanoes. 

Towards the end of the term Mr Pudney and myself were lucky enough to take a small group of students off to participate in a STEM Future Innovators Day. The students really enjoyed the day and we all learned lots about the STEM design process – I am definitely looking forward to being able to use some of these ideas in the science room next year.

Mrs McCulloch
Science Teacher

This Term, students of C11 have participated in a Catapult STEM challenge. The challenge has been a great way to incorporate the engineering design process into our classroom! During this hands-on, engaging design challenge; students worked in teams, applying critical thinking and the engineering design process, connecting mathematics topics to real-world applications.

Using the engineering design process along with maths skills, teams of students built two catapult designs from common materials. Each team then tested at three stations: Accuracy, Power, and Tower.



Mrs Smith
C11 Teacher 

This term has seen exciting developments with the formation of our Sustainability Action Team. These Eco-Warriors have been busy planning for actions and initiatives to commence in Term 3. They have also been working at lunch times to clean up and care for the Frog Pond Garden. Next term we will be kick-starting the following initiatives:

WASTE FREE WEDNESDAYS

This is aimed at reducing waste that goes in to school bins and landfill. Buying in bulk and packing portions in to reusable containers reduces a huge amount of waste each year. We are hoping to start with Wednesdays with the possibility of adding more days later in the year.

CONTAINERS FOR CHANGE

As yet we have not had many donations for our Containers for Change bins. Donations ensure that single use containers are recycled properly and they also raise money for our school. Containers for Change offer incentives for schools that contribute the largest donations so please bring your containers in each Wednesday afternoon for collection at C19 (demountable classroom near oval).

The Sustainablility Team

S7 (Year 3) have been working hard this term to create stop motion animations. The students have been enjoying working in groups to create their very own animations using their imaginations! They have shown a great deal of enthusiasm and responsibility during this project. First, we created a storyline then we produced the setting for the animation by designing dioramas. Next, we experimented with playdough to make characters suitable for animation. Now we are in the process of completing our animations by taking photographs and combining them with sound on iMovie. There has been lots of hands on learning! Children have been developing their co-operation skills, technology skills and creativity skills!

Mrs Conway
S7 Teacher

On Friday 20 November we had our annual Music Concert which featured stellar performances from our instrumental students in Brass, Flute, Guitar and Clarinet. The standard of musicianship was exceptional, and every student’s performance made us feel very proud. All instrumental students should be congratulated for their hard work and persistence, which has certainly paid off!

Our Junior and Senior Choirs then combined to form a 100 piece choir to perform the last items in the concert. They gave us a very moving and powerful performance of ‘Mary of York’, followed by a fun version of ‘Shotgun’. The power of all their voices together was so impressive!






















Well done choir students, and thank you for all your beautiful music this year.

Mrs Quealy
Performing Arts Teacher                   

WA Bike Month was an opportunity to consolidate road safety education in the school.  A grant by the Department of Transport facilitated our WA Bike Month event.  We were one of only five primary schools awarded the grant.  We partnered with KD Cycle, a reputable local bicycle retailer, to conduct free safety checks for our students’ bicycles.   
                                                                         
 
Between 80 and 90 bicycles from pre-primary to Year 6 were checked and serviced on the morning of 17 October 2020.  Several parents attended this event with their children to witness the checks.  Students were also given a summary of their bicycle check to give to their families.  Following up on this event, the police presented a special assembly on 3 November 2020 to reinforce safe riding practices.

The cycling event was such a success that KD Cycle has agreed to conduct this check again next year.  Such community partnerships are important because they allow us to access specialist knowledge that benefit the students.  KD Cycle, for instance, is well known in the local community; students and parents recognised the owner, Daniel, during the bicycle checks.

In case of emergency please ring—Mount Henry Dental Clinic on 9313 0555 from 8.15am to 4.30pm or after hours on 1800 098 818.

Please remember, Dental Health Services still provides dental care for students in years 7–11 once they have finished primary school and that if your child is attending an Orthodontist, they still require regular dental check ups.

Safety Bay Primary School does not endorse nor assume any responsibility for the information provided.

WAAPA Summer School 2021

This summer WAAPA is thrilled to be able to offer an exciting school holiday program at our campus in Mount Lawley. There are classes for students from Year 1 to Year 12 in drama, acting, screen performance, film making, music theatre and of course Shakespeare. For information about the many courses on offer please visit waapa.ecu.edu.au/summer-school or contact Gabrielle Metcalf at explore.waapa@ecu.edu.au or 9370 6775.