Carramar Primary School eNewsletter

Message from the Principal

Kaya Carramar Families

The Noongar Season of Bunuru is certainly reminding us it is the hottest time of the year. Hopefully this is the last blast of heat before Djeran commences next week. The abundance of white flowers on our jarrah and marri gums traditionally means a very wet Makaru – let's hope this is the case

As part of our 20th Anniversary Celebrations, past and current staff of Carramar Primary gathered on site on Sunday 15th March to reminisce and share stories. It was a lovely afternoon, seeing familiar faces, and meeting people who have been part of the Carramar journey, a time that past and current staff are clearly very proud to be part of. A HUGE thankyou to staff of the 20th Anniversary Team: Foundation staff, Mrs Davey, Mrs Norcliffe, Mrs Miles, Mrs Holden and Mrs Martin for putting such a lovely afternoon together.

The addresses from Mrs Holden, one of our foundation staff members, and Mr Zied, previous Principal, along with a slide show depicting may incredible moments, including some of the 22 demountables in ‘Gumnut Lane” being installed and removed, a reflection of when the school’s enrolments reached over 1000 students, were fantastic! Meeting and chatting to the Foundation Principal's (the late Gary Smith) wife was a highlight. She was very touched to see the legacy that her husband had begun still thriving: his vision, to create a school, based on a village model, where students, staff and families worked together, learnt from each other and were proud of what they achieved together! She was thrilled with how magnificent the grounds looked and said how proud he would be to see them. Please see photos elsewhere.

As the school was officially opened on 11th August 2005, we hope to have an acknowledgement of this date with a whole school event in Term 3. Further information about arrangements will be shared in due course.

Last week the school was a little bit quieter with our Year 6 students enjoying their annual camp at the Kerem Adventure Camp and our Year 3 and 5 students completing their NAPLAN assessments.

Congratulations to all students for being their best version of themselves for these events.

The Year 6 students who participated in Camp had a wonderful time and their behaviour was exemplary! No doubt they came home with many stories and special memories of the adventures and challenges that they faced and overcame. They told me the food was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G and seeing the students tucking into their breakfast and watching the cooks prepare the scones, which were the size of mini dinner plates confirms this!! I’m sure both students and staff enjoyed their own beds on Friday night after three days and two nights of a very full itinerary! Sincere thanks to all staff involved. Please see elsewhere for happy snaps of all the good times

Our recent Harmony Week Assembly was a wonderful celebration of the growing cultural diversity of our school, acknowledging that everyone belongs, and we all have a role to play in ensuring everyone feels included and valued. Fostering an inclusive school reminds us that we all play a part in building a more inclusive world. It was great to see so many of our students proudly wearing their cultural dress. Thank you to our Year 4 students and staff for preparing such a lovely assembly and a special thankyou to our Pre-primaries and Choir for their excellent performance and very moving songs, resulting in a few goosebumps and some leaking eyes. Seeing the Year 4 students using AUSLAN and hearing their use of the Italian Language to open the assembly was excellent! The picture book written by Mem Fox: “Whoever you Are” was just perfect! Thank you to all parents and extended family who were able to come along. Please see elsewhere for photos of this very special occasion

We are very fortunate to have such a hardworking and dedicated P & C and are extremely grateful for all that they do to support our school. They are always busy planning and preparing for upcoming events to raise funds to support our teaching and learning programs and supplement funds to improve our grounds and outdoor learning opportunities. Please check the Calendar on our website for up-to-date information about all events https://www.carramarps.wa.edu.au/pdf/calendar.pdf

Our recent P & C AGM was very well attended. Executive positions for 2025 were finalised. Thank you to the following people who have volunteered to undertake the Executive roles and to our Members who have volunteered their time to support the school with various events.

Executive Team

President Simone West

Vice President Louise Graham

Treasurer Andrea Cassar

Secretary Caron Molster

School Board Rep Simone West

Entertainment Book Coordinator Lisa McStay

Scholastics Coordinator Courtney Graham

Members

Joanna Halewood

Ashleigh Wynn

Kirsty Ballantyne

Sue Block

Sinead Healy

Solveig Bach

Franszika Pataki

Mel Davers

Sarah Smith

Lisa McStay Courtney Graham

Rachael Woodfield

Our P & C and wider school community are very excited about our upcoming 20th Anniversary Community Celebration. All the preparation and planning will come to fruition on Sunday 30th March. Thank you in advance to everyone who has volunteered to assist. If you are yet to pop your name down to assist at your child’s class stall, please check in with their teacher. There are still some gaps on the rosters and 30 minutes of your time will go a long way to ensure the day is a great success.

We know it is going to be an awesome day and I look forward to seeing you all there.

Boordawan

Maree James

PRINCIPAL

Year 6 Camp @ Kerem

The Year 4 cohort are running a second-hand toy stall at the CPS 20th Anniversary Fete and we would love your donations!

Please send any pre-loved toys to S5 or S6 (music block).

Please make sure these are clean and in good working order.

Your donations will be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

Harmony Week @ Carramar

Room 4 students shared something significant about their family’s culture or heritage on Harmony Day. It was interesting to see, hear about and even taste some foods from South Africa and Australia. The class also completed an activity to share favourite things about themselves and research where some of them originated from. A couple of surprises included swimming which originated from Egypt, mangoes from Spain and dragon fruit from Mexico.

World Math's Day

Tomorrow is World Maths Day.

Students at Carramar have the opportunity to participate in live Maths Competition through Mathletics.

Live Mathletics is the official host platform for World Maths Day.

Students race against the clock to answer as many questions as possible within the 60 second time limit. For each question students get correct they earn 1 point. There are 10 levels of difficulty in Live Mathletics. Students can select the level of difficulty for their next game from the number bar along the top of the Live Mathletics menu screen. We wish all of our students the best as they participate in World Maths Day.

To celebrate World Maths Day in Pre-Primary, the children have taken home the games COUNT ON 1 and BUMP. These games help children to consolidate their number knowledge in a fun and hands on way. Number identification and being able to identify numbers before and after are a foundation skill to future maths success. In the game COUNT ON 1, children roll a dice (preferably 9 sided) and "count on 1", placing a counter on that number (eg roll a 8, put a counter on 9). In BUMP you need 10 counters for each player and two 6-sided dice. Player 1 rolls two 6-sided dice and add the numbers together. Add a counter or block to that number. If the next player rolls that number, they can "bump" your counter off. If you have two counters in a pile you cannot be bumped off that number. First player to get rid of their 10 counters wins the game.

We hope you enjoy playing these games with your child.

Student Ministers Fundraiser

Sharing Successes

Allister in Year 5, Room 11 is going to Singapore in April for a soccer tournament. He will be representing Garcia Football Academy. We wish you all the best Allister!

On 23 March, Anna Leia took part in the Karri Valley Kids Triathlon, held in Pemberton. Leia swam in Lake Beedalup, cycled and ran through the beautiful Karri Valley Resort. She enjoyed challenging herself and placed well in her age group. Here is a photo of Leia at the finish line.

On the 15th and 16th March 2025, Joshua M from Year 3 took part in centre champs for Joondalup Little Athletics. Over the weekend Joshua took part in 5 events and out of those events he got a gold medal in 500m, a silver in 60m hurdles and 200m, and a bronze in long jump. It was a great end of the Athletics season for Josh!

Lucy in Year 3, Room 4 attended the St. Patrick Day Irish Dancing Feis in Morley Sports Centre on Saturday 9th March. She is part of O’Brien’s Academy of Irish Dance in Joondalup. Go Lucy!

Ava in Year 5, Room 14 did a swimming competition. She came first in the 200m freestyle, eighth in the 100m backstroke, and was 4-seconds away from state time in the 50m freestyle.

Wow, we have some talented people in CPS!

Keep Australia (Carramar) Beautiful Week

On Friday 21^st March, Carramar Primary School students again took part in our litter collection day as part of our annual national Keep Australia Beautiful (KAB) Week. It is a time, each year, dedicated to raising awareness about the simple things we can all do to reduce our impact on the environment and encourage positive actions such as reducing litter in our community. This exercise is always a bit of a fun event too and it was again awesome to see the eagerness of all the students wanting to make a positive difference in this important community endeavour.

Carramar students were also invited to participate in a litter poster colouring competition where prizes will be awarded across various year levels. Colouring competition entries are available from classroom teachers and due for return to Mr Greyling or Ms Chandler by Monday 31^st March 2025.

Let’s try our best to keep our school and community beautiful, not just today but every day!

Mr Greyling and Mrs Chandler

Languages @ Carramar with Mrs D'Onofrio

Pre-Primary, Year One and Year Two are currently learning Auslan, the sign language used among many Australian Deaf people.

Year 3,4,5 and 6 classes learn Italian as it was one of the main languages that was spoken among Italian immigrants in the Wanneroo Area 20 years ago. Mrs D'Onofrio's parents are from Italy and loves sharing stories about growing up in her Italian culture.

To celebrate Harmony Week, we swapped languages for the week! Mamma mia!

Students who usually learn Italian, learnt Deaf Culture, fingerspelled their name and signed emotions in Auslan.

Students who usually learn Auslan, learnt about Italian culture and discovered their 'Italian name'.

Mrs D'Onofrio loves Harmony Week and believes we can be inclusive of different cultures all year around.

Happy Harmony Week! Buona festa dell'armonia!

P&C Chat

We are so very excited for our wonderful Carramar Primary School's 20th Celebration!!!

30th March (THIS VERY SUNDAY)
12pm-6pm
On the school grounds
Market Stalls
Food Trucks
Rides
Activities
Year Group stalls
Petting Zoo
Performances

And so much more!!!!

Come down and enjoy the fun.

We need volunteers on the day. Please contact the P&C if you can help to set up, sell some yummy food, or pack down.

Louise Graham: 0402168914

Or reply to a post on our Facebook Page.

We will be running our EGG-stravagant Easter Raffle again this term. If any- BUNNY is able to donate, we will start accepting in the coming weeks.

Please HOP your donations to the office.

To make these raffles as amazing as they have been in recent years, CHICK out the donations suggestions list:

🪺 Chocolate eggs and rabbits

🐇 Small or medium hunt eggs

🪺 Crafts

🐇 Decorations

🪺 Headbands/hats

🐇 Baskets

🪺 Stuffing

🐇 Gift Bags

🪺 Teddies

This amazing community always gets behind this wonderful project. We are looking forward to another amazing raffle.

Calling all Dads and Father Figures! The Dads of Carramar are running their Annual Easter Hunt.

When: 2nd April (WEEK 9, Wednesday)

What:

An opportunity for parents and care givers to bring their children to a social event at the school
Grab a sausage sizzle dinner
Enter a raffle
Hunt for foam eggs hidden around the school
Exchange the foam for REAL CHOCOLATE eggs
HAVE FUN

Why: To encourage parents, carers givers and students to enjoy a social event at the school. We know life is busy and we would love to offer an evening of fun and socialising.

Good luck to the children taking part in the cross country. McCoffee will be set up on the oval ready for those parent supporters.

McCoffee has supported our school events for years now and we appreciate your time, coffee and partnership.

Thank you to those who gave your time at the election on 08th March. We held a VERY successful Democracy Sausage and Cake stall. It was an amazing Team effort and we appreciate you all.

The winner of the Bake Competition was

.... The Cookie Dough Slice......

Thank you to all who entered!

We would love to take a second to thank Peter Parsons from Rize Property for our amazing Gazebo and continued sponsorship. The gazebo is a wonderful addition to our P&C stalls and offers the perfect protection and shelter and the donations help us enormously.

Upcoming Dates: