Volume 15 -  13th September 2007
Week 8 .... Term 3

Ph: 8381 7166
Fax: 8381 6041

Email:
hvsadmin@happyvalley.sa.edu.au

Website:
www.happyvalley.sa.edu.au

Inside this issue............
Lorin Nicholson, Quiz Night, Fruit & Veg month, Parent Workshop, Numeracy Week, Pedal Prix, Tournament of Minds, District Athletics Day, Principal Awards, Witness Sought, Phone Books, Hall Use, Thank You, Sport, OSHC/Vac, Kookaburra Cafe, Online Tutoring, Community News.

What a Great Community!
What a busy time we are currently having here at school. The number of projects, sporting activities, celebrations and special programs that our students have participated in the last few weeks has been staggering.

Despite the number of activities the overall standard of student achievement, participation and behaviour has been outstanding.

We should be very proud of our students and their various skills and talents.

Of course none of these things would happen without adult help and support.
School staff all "lend a hand", with many staff taking leadership with these projects and this provides the opportunity for our students to "shine".

The staff show great team work in this regard, with people helping and supporting each other during the busy times, so that the load is shared.

Often this is over and above their expected work day and I sincerely thank them for this effort.

Adult support for these activities also comes from the community. We have so many dedicated parents and without their help we could not physically cope with many of our school undertakings.

Pedal Prix is a fine example of this. Without community support our students would just not  be able to participate in the way they do now.

This year community helpers have raised money, helped with training, supported the various Pedal Prix events, catered for our teams at these events and we even have the use of a new vehicle thanks to Lyn Smart's son Trent who has been working with the team all year.

This community spirit should be continued to be fostered.

In this day and age of working families and outside pressures it is wonderful to see that the Happy Valley community still see the importance of working with, and helping our students. It is not only the outcomes that result, such as winning a race at District Athletics Day, but it is about the relationships that are formed between families and our children.

In a world renowned study of students with well developed social skills undertaken by the Search Institute in Minnesota they list 40 "assets" that young adolesces need to become successful adults. The top 3 of these assets are

1. Family support and positive family communication
2. That the young person receives support from 3 or more non-parent adults
3. That the young person experiences caring community members

I think that many adults in the Happy Valley community contribute to our students gaining these assets and the projects that have happened this term enable our students to have the opportunities to gain these assets.         Keep the good work up HV!

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Time: 7.00pm
Where: Happy Valley School Hall
Cost: $5.00, including coffee or tea and biscuits/ cake.
Lorin's CDs will be on sale at the performance.
All welcome.

Last reminder!
You can still book a table for our Quiz Night on Saturday September 22^nd. Please check the yellow flyer sent home earlier this week. There is a tear-off slip to make a booking. But please return to school as soon as possible.

September is Fruit and Veg month and we are part of a national celebration promoting fruit and vegetable consumption. We are trying to help foster positive attitudes towards fruit and vegetables in the school and in the wider community.

Surveys indicate that South Australian children are not eating foods essential for good health. Fruit and vegetable consumption is particularly low, with 1 in 10 primary school aged children not eating enough fruit and less than half eating enough vegetables.

It is important to introduce and reinforce good eating habits during childhood as a means of reducing the risk of diet-related illnesses such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases and to maintain a healthy weight into adulthood.

There is a brochure with your Newsletter today giving really important information about the need for a balanced diet including fruit and vegetables. Please read it and discuss it with your child!

Next Tuesday, September 18^th, we will again be running this very popular workshop, facilitated by Linda Hale who was previously the teacher of the all boys' class at Braeview School. An invitation was sent home earlier this week.

Please check for this and return the tear-off slip to the Front Office as soon as possible. Alternately you may call the school to book for this evening.

Last week, we celebrated Numeracy Week with a variety of activities focusing on Mathematics. We had been successful in obtaining a small grant to assist with activities.

All classes participated in in-class activities, including an activity called "Reach For the Stars -- Stepping Up with Maths". This was an Australia wide activity with a focus on data collection, relating foot size to height. Some classes also joined in another Australia wide singing activity, which involved singing a song called "Count Us In."

On Tuesday, six classes travelled by bus to the Hub Shopping Centre and did a variety of Mathematics activities in the centre. Stephanie Kakoschke provided the organisation for this activity. This was an extremely successful day, with lots of shoppers showing an interest in what the children were doing. Several activities involved children collecting data from people visiting the shopping centre, including measuring shoppers' feet. There was also a display of children's work and photographs.

On Wednesday we held our Open Morning, for which teachers had prepared activities for their classes around a variety of mathematics topics. We had approximately 10 parents (or grandparents) visit during the morning, which was very disappointing, considering how much preparation teachers had done beforehand. We also had a Numeracy Week assembly on Wednesday, when classes shared some of the activities which they had undertaken during the week.

Hub Shopping Centre Maths
Last Tuesday the year 4-5 maths groups travelled to the Hub Shopping Centre to attempt some maths activities. What we had to do was get into groups with Mums supervising and go into the Coles shopping centre and complete some maths activities. There were five groups each with a different activity to do.
 

There was a timeline activity where a group had to check the expiry date of twelve different products and record their finding on a timeline. Another group had to identify the shapes of products and their packages. Some of the shapes were cubes, square based pyramids and triangular prisms like a Toblerone.  A group of boys surveyed customers about their favourite food and then recorded the responses on a column graph. One group had to stay at the place where we started off and they played a tables memory game and dice cricket. The  last  group  went  to  the fruit and vegetable section and

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looked at the prices per kilogram of several products commonly sold by weight. They had to answer questions on their findings.

Then after we had all finished our activities, we had to go back to the place where we started and report to the rest of the class, explaining what we did. Finally the bus came and we went back to school. We had lots of  fun!
                                                         By Ellie & Nia (Yr 4)

Today we went to the Hub for Numeracy Week.  We sat down on the floor in the shopping centre.  Then we measured our foot with strips.  Then we got into our groups.  My foot size was G.  Then we walked off with our group. 

My group went into Coles.  We had to measure things with our strips that were bigger than our foot and smaller than our foot.

The people in my group were Mikayla, me, Daniel D., Maddison, Jasmine and Jackson.  We travelled by a bus back and travelled there.  I felt happy.
                                                                By Charli (Yr. 2)

Today we went to the Hub for Numeracy Week and we split up in groups and we measured our foot and what was short or longer than our foot.  Our group went to Coles.  I was in the G group and the people in my group were Jackson and some more people and we saw some other groups.
                                                              By Daniel D (Yr.1

The Pedal Prix 24 hour is this weekend at Murray Bridge. We have twenty three students competing in two teams and two bikes. The race begins at 12.00 noon on Saturday and runs for the full 24 hours. Our school's pits are located at Numbers 152 and 153, which are about half way along the river front straight. Come for a drive and call in to see the teams in action. A new bike, built by one of this year's Pedal Prix group, Trent Smart, will be one of our competing bikes, along with the older Viper, so it will be an exciting 24 hours! Good luck to our wonderful students!  

On the 9^th of September the Tournament of Minds team went to Flinders University.  When we got there, we had to register the team.

At 9:20am we had our spontaneous challenge.  The challenge was THEY'RE HERE.  It was a news headline and we had to come up with who they were, why they were here and what they were doing.  We came up with janitors wanting revenge because they were not getting enough pay. 

They began by protesting outside Parliament House with plungers.  They held John Howard in captivity, and were throwing plungers at people and Parliament House.  We had four minutes to come up with something and then we had one minute to explain our answer to the judges.

At 11:50am we had our long term challenge.  We had prepared for it over the last six weeks.  Our play was about recycling and fashion.  We made a dress completely our of recycled materials.  We had to make an ad to promote our product.  We also had to show the target group's reaction.  The play had to go for a maximum of ten minutes.  We thought we did alright.

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Do you want to RECYCLE your old phone books?  The Resource Centre is happy to receive them from you.

Thankyou so much to the families and students who have generously donated, either whole boxes or separate items, for the "BIRTHDAY BOXES" for the orphanage at Kitgum in Uganda.

IT IS NOT TOO LATE to still be a part of this project.

Please keep these items and boxes coming so that we can send off as many completed boxes as possible.  We shall keep making up boxes until the end of term but really want separate items in by the end of next week to allow time to process what we gather.

Don't hesitate to see us if you are unsure or would like another brochure or list of suitable items.

Many Thanks
The year 3/ 4 class in Room 9 (and Helen Whisson)

NETBALL
The finish of Saturday morning netball for 2007 was celebrated with a break-up and presentation in the school hall on Monday after school.

The three teams had varying success during the season:
The year 2/3/4's ended on a high, winning their last game as well as scoring the highest points of their season. 

The year 5/6/7's all improved with their skills during the year and their sportsmanship was a credit to them.

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The year 7's had a great season, scoring a total of 457 goals during the season.  The experienced girls had a fun season while their team mates rose to the challenge and improved a huge amount.  Well done to all the girls!!

Thank you to all the parents, to Heather Jesshope and Mel Gavin for coaching this season and to Heather Van Cooten, Louise Jesshope, Leah Wright, Courtney Nicolle and Sheridan Deslandes for umpiring.

Wendy Nicolle - Netball Coordinator

Vacation Care bookings can still be made.  Highlight days are
    Excursion to Gorge Wildlife Park
    3D Model Day
    Glenelg Surf Lifesaving Club

For any enquiries, please see the staff in the Long Room or feel free to give us a call on 8322 2411 or 0417 898739.
                                        Roxanne Longbottom -- Director
                                        8322 2411 or 0417 898739

• Don't forget to return your order for the Fish Meal Deal on Wed. 19^th Sept. by tomorrow.

• Pizzas have only 4 gr. of fat; Hot dogs are 100% beef with natural preservatives and no artificial colours. Smiles have no trans fats at all.  Beef burgers are 100% beef and chicken have less than 10gr. of fat.

• Salad Rolls and salad plates, sandwiches, toasted sandwiches and wraps are healthy choices for the warmer months.

• If the price of fruit drops a bit next term, we will reintroduce fruit salad bowls providing we get enough orders.

VOLUNTEER ROSTER
Mon. 17^th Sept.             Andrea & Karen
Tues. 18^th Sept.            
Wed. 19^th Sept.            Laura & Suzie
Thur. 20^th Sept.             Tracey
Fri. 21^st Sept.                Glenys
Mon. 24^th Sept.             Andrea & Karen
Tues. 25^th Sept.             Katrina
Wed. 26^th Sept.            Mercy
Thur. 27^th Sept.             Tracey
Frid. 28^th Sept.              Glenys
                                                                    Helen King

A new initiative has become available through public libraries in South Australia called yourtutor.  yourtutor is described as an online tutoring program which serves children and young people by providing instant, real time connection to expert tutors  who  help  students  with  their  maths,  English, science,

research and study skills.  It is available from 4.00pm -- 8.00pm Monday to Friday.

yourtutor enables students in years 4 through 12 to review specific problems or questions with tutors online, either in their public library or via remote access from a home computer.  Popular features of the 'virtual' tutoring service include controlled chat, file sharing, shared web browsing and an interactive whiteboard.

The tutors are qualified experts in their subject areas who are specially trained in online tutoring for young people and have a minimum of three years prior tutoring experience.  The tutors are all Australian educated and located and are all fully familiar with variations in state-based curricula in the subjects they tutor.  They are also screened and undergo the appropriate Children and Young People's Working with Children Check.

Students can access the yourtutor service program by being a member of their local public library.  Access is through the person's ID code on the borrower card.

ADELAIDE YOUTH ORCHESTRA AUDITIONS
Adelaide Youth Orchestra is seeking new players in 2008 for its three orchestras

Adelaide Youth Strings - years 5-7 only
Adelaide Youth Sinfonia -- open orchestras (8-25 years)
Adelaide Youth Orchestra - 15 -- 25 years
Auditions:          23 -- 25 November 2008
Venue:              University of Adelaide

Positions available for violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, harp and percussion.

For further information, please contact Ting Zhang: 8233 6256  Email: adyo@aso.com.au
Website: www.adyo.net.au

SCHOOL HOLIDAY INDOOR SOCCER CLINICS The Hub Recreation Centre for boys and girls 5 -- 12 years.  9:00 -- 11:00 4^th and 11^th October.  $8 per child per clinic. Phone 8270 3900 for more info.

STATE SWIM SWIMVAC Classes available throughout the holidays.  Phone 83863338 -- Seaford State Swim or 82962442 -- Morphett Road Swimming School.

SWIMWAYS HOLIDAY LEARN TO SWIM
Phone Noarlunga Leisure Centre 8384 1144 to book into a class.

FAMILY DAY CARE Business Opportunity.  Looking for a job? Want a career change?  Places are available in the following course:  Certificate III Children's Services Online course commencing soon.  Information nights to be held Mon. 10^th Sept. at 7pm or Mon. 17^th Sept. at 7pm at 209 Main South Road, Morphett Vale, Conference Room, Family Day Care Coordination Unit. Ph. 8392 0520 for more info.

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ASTHMA FOUNDATION OF SA  Free Community Forum:   Does your child have asthma? To be held at the Noarlunga Health Village Auditorium Tues. 25^th Sept.10am -- 12pm.

NETBALL SA's SCHOOL HOLIDAY CLINICS at ETSA park for children aged 5 through to 16 for (up to age 12 for boys). Contact Netball SA on 8238 0500 for more information or a registration form.  Forms can also be downloaded by logging onto www.netballsa.asn.au  Closing date for the Holiday Clinics is Wed. 26^th. Sept.

REYNELLA EAST HIGH SCHOOL -- PRINCIPAL TOUR'S
Are you a Year 6 parent?  Are you aware that you only have 9 months to decide on a High School for your child?

That's right!  The DECS High School enrolment process requires you to make your decision by the end of May next year.  So if you're serious about making the right decision for your child's secondary education, it's time to start 'shopping around'!

At Reynella East High School we run regular tours of our school, and encourage you to take a first hand look at the diverse range of opportunities available.  Coming tour dates are:  Thurs 20^th Sept., Wed 31^st  Oct, and Thurs 22^nd Nov.  The tours run from 9.30am to 10.30am, followed by morning tea.   Bookings are essential.  Please phone Tania Guest on 8381 8466.

CHILDREN'S WEEK EVENT -- Experiment with Energy.  Exciting hands-on experiments about energy!  Power little vehicles with solar energy, run wooden trucks up slopes, experiment with light & lasers, use spirometers and refractometers. Dates: 20^th, 21^st, 27^th, 28th Oct. Ph. 84635937 for more information.

AUSTRALIAN GIRLS CHOIR 2008 Enrolments -- join the Open Day Sat. 27^th Oct. to find out more. Ph. 82711622.  Plus find out about the Performing Arts Holiday Program -- Oct. 10 & 11 for girls aged 8 -- 13 with an interest in Performing Arts.

FLAGSTAFF HILL GOLF CLUB Junior Holiday Clinics (Age 8 -- 16) conducted by Wes Morrison.  Phone 82702300 for more info.

AUSTRALIAN SPORTS CLINICS Sports Fest for students aged 5 -- 15 yrs. during the October Holidays at Prince Alfred College.  Tennis, Cricket, Basketball, Soccer, Combo.  For more information and to enrol phone 1300134154 or go to www.acnspsort.com.au

REYNELLA EAST & DISTRICT LITTLE ATHLETICS CENTRE Registration and information morning Sun. 23^rd September.  Any time between 10am and 3pm.  Tiny Tots (3-5 yrs) up to Under 17.  For more information contact Steve Holland 83251160, Gaby Philis 83224191 or Dawn Chamberlain 83224610.  Season commencing Sun. 7^th October at 9am.

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