As we are nearing the end of my first term at Pia, I have started to reflect on all the amazing things we have done this term. For such a quiet little community we have definitely been busy. Lets recap on a few of the events we have had so far. 

 Week 1 - It started off with a visit from Bardiyarra language centre.

Week 2 - A CSIRO visit to Boolardy and them doing some science workshops with us, and Community cooking.

Week 3 - We went seed collecting for bush tucker plants at Boolardy and Wooleen Stations. 

Week 4 - We celebrated Outdoor Classrooms Week and Community cooking.

Week 5 - Was a normal week.

Week 6 - Community Cooking and Assembly with sausage sizzle. We welcomed Bradley Barbuto as the gardener as well as working in the classroom. Bradley is joined by his family Lulu, Brendan, Dominic and Bronte.

Week 7 - Was the Cultural Camp.

Week 8 - The TLG stayed the week, and Community cooking.

Week 9 - We had our Rewards Day at Mullewa Swimming Pool

Week 10 [this week] - We have a huge Community cook up for Maddison's Graduation and the Pia School Awards Night on Tuesday the 17 Dec.

 I have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our busy schedule and look forward to the new year.

 I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Julie Ryan for being nominated for the Midwest Excellence in Education Awards. She is such a dedicated person and it is with great appreciation and respect that I nominated her for this years award. Thank you Julie for all your hard work in our school.

 Her nomination reads:

Pia Wadjarri Remote Community School

Julie Ryan

AIEO and Education Assistant

Julie is an exceptional role model who

shows steadfast commitment, giving

above and beyond her expected role. 

She works tirelessly, demonstrating 

culture and assisting in Early Childhood.

As we draw to a close for this year I would like to wish each and every person a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

Please be careful on the roads and around the community over the Christmas break, and I hope you have a holiday filled with lots of love, fun and laughter.

 Just a few reminders for the commencement of next year. 

27 January - Principal starts [I will be back at the wheel].

30 January - Teachers, EA's and AEIO's start for Professional learning and orientation for the new year. * There will be a lot of changes happening so you need to be here!

3 February - Students start.

Fiona Tamminga

   Principal

Congratulations to the Senior Students for their Talk for Writing efforts this Term.   The first half of the Term Explanation writing was our class focus.  The idea of writing an explanation sounds easy but everyone found it difficult at first.  But over time with lots of practice, Text Mapping, shared writing, boxing up features and structures and listening to exemplary texts most of the senior class established a good understanding of how to write an explanation.

Flory and Jahlile excelled in their Hot Task for their final explanation writing assessment.  Both used connectives effectively. 

The second half of the Term was dedicated to discussion writing.  This is a subtle form of writing where students have to consider both sides of an argument, weigh up evidence and come to a reasoned conclusion. A special congratulations to Brendon Sahara who started at Pia the week we started our discussion curriculum.  He wrote outstandingly well.  He wrote complex sentences, and enjoyed his work, Well Done Brendon.

Our school has implemented Explicit Teaching as our main teaching strategy.  In the senior room, I use   Explicit Teaching in my maths sessions to focus hard on a specific math topics.  For example, strands I have covered include adding simple fractions, mixed fractions, place value, and finding an average. These areas cover the Western Australian Maths Curriculum.  I believe Explicit Teaching  focusses students’ attention and is an excellent formative assessment classroom instrument.

Thrass has been Pia schools major drive for English.  The morning sessions in the senior class are dedicated to sounds, spelling, writing sentences and reading.  Students are required to spell and sound words continually. Importantly, there is a requirement for students to code-switch.  That is, they need to recognise the English they use at school is different to the English they use at home.

The end of Term is very busy.  In week 9 there will be assessments in both English and maths.  This will enable us to identify strengths of my students and areas where they require assistance.

Senior Class Teacher

The book corner in the junior class is a favourite place for students to hang out and read in. We have levelled readers as well as general readers in there. The most liked books are Paul Jennings’ Rascal the Dragon books. We have read them all hundreds of times and the little kids can often be seen sitting with a Rascal book role playing their reading.

We have been 3D designing and printing this semester and we are getting much better at it. We use Makers Empire to design 3D objects on the iPads and computers and then if they are good enough, we send them to the printer. Our latest big print was a Minecraft Ender Dragon that we downloaded from Thingiverse.com. Pretty soon every house will have a 3D printer and we will be printing all manner of things.

In the junior room our art area is full of boxes and artworks from the students. We really encourage painting and creating artworks. Lately we have been using stencils and stamps with our paintings.  The boxes are perfect for creating all kinds of ideas and we go through a fair bit of tape and hot glue!

We recently got a new BIG Touch Screen for the junior kids.  It’s perfect for working together on Reading Eggs and Mathseeds and really allows Nan Julie to keep them on track. It’s great to see the kids working together on the lessons and questions and sharing ideas.

These are completed HOT TASKS final assessment for ‘Discussion writing’ ( Talk 4 Writing) by Senior Class Students. Term 4, 2019.

Well done everyone.

We will be celebrating Maddy's graduation and end of year awards on Tuesday 17 December, 2019 commencing at 6pm. Cost is free to attend and the dress code is smart casual.

Parents and community members will be cooking up a feast for the evening during our Community Cooking session that afternoon.

We look forward to seeing you all attend and support your children as they rejoice in the successes of year - a lovely way to end the term and farewell Maddison.