Irene Kemeridis has a long history with Kew Primary School which began in 1974 when she started as a little Preppie in room 019 of the junior school hall. After KPS she went on to Kew High School and has lived in the area her whole life. Now, her own two children attend the school, Nicholas in Grade 2 and Keira in Prep.

Irene is co-owner of a local business, Persé, (named after Persephone, the Greek goddess of spring and the harvest) which produces and markets organic, 100% natural Australian made skincare products. I caught up with Irene recently to talk about Kew, the community, and an important event she’s organising.

Jacqui: There aren’t many current parents who went to Kew Primary themselves. How do you remember it?

Irene: My overall memories of KPS are happy ones. I was very involved in sport and I remember playing the recorder for the last few years I was there. I remember every Monday morning we would play God Save the Queen and then Advance Australia Fair in front of the whole school at assembly. I was a good kid, but a little chatty, which wouldn’t surprise the mums who know me now.

Jacqui: You support a number of local causes and charities through your business?

Irene: Yes, we’ve supported all the schools and kindergartens in the local area for many years. Persé is an on-going supporter of the Learning for Life Autism Centre, the Warwick Cancer Foundation and Child Wise.

Last year, Sophie Freestone, (another KPS mum) and I were part of the Ride to Conquer Cancer for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. We had to raise $2,500 each and ride 200km over two days. It was hilly and very gruelling and I’d started training too early and ended up with an injury, so I did most of the ride on pain-killers!

It was an emotional ride because I had lost my dad to cancer and Peter McCallum were wonderful to my dad. We reached our target and more. Sophie, Stella (another friend in the team) and I raised $10,000 for the cause which we were very proud of. Sophie and Stella had both lost loved ones to cancer so it was pretty emotional all round.

We will do the ride again next year, and this year we are raising money for the Smith Family on the Around the Bay in a Day ride in October.

Jacqui: You also have an on-going commitment to Child Wise. Can you tell me about them?

Irene: Child Wise is Australia’s leading international child protection charity and we became aware of them from one of our regular customers who was also a supporter. Child Wise work in Australia, Asia and the Pacific and their main objective is to stop child abuse before it occurs.

They work with organisations, with parents and teachers, to raise awareness of child abuse – and particularly of child sexual abuse. They educate the community and empower adults and kids to tackle what is a very difficult issue.

Jacqui: Child abuse, especially sexual abuse, is still quite a difficult subject for people to talk about, almost taboo even?

Irene: Yes, absolutely. We want to bring awareness to as many people as we can and to encourage people to start talking about the problem and not burying their heads in the sand. It is a very important cause, especially with the rates of child abuse currently at 1 in 5 and the consequences lasting a life-time.

I understand it is a very difficult subject, but I think that prevention is so important rather than a life time of pain. I have recently been to a free seminar run by Child Wise about how we can keep our kids safe. As a parent, I walked away with more awareness and knowledge about how to protect my kids.

Jacqui: So tell me about this event you are organising?

Irene: We are holding a fun, light-hearted evening fundraiser for Child Wise at the gorgeous Via Verona on High Street, Kew on Friday 6^th September at 7.30 pm.  It will be a relaxed evening of drinks and chat, with a silent auction, some prizes, wine tasting and finger food.

We’ll have a guest speaker from Child Wise on the night and a portion of the entry fee will go directly to Child Wise.

In the past, we’ve found that it was really easy to get people to fund-raisers for cancer or other charities, but it’s always much more difficult to fund-raise around this issue. We’re hoping that lots of people from the broader KPS community will come, have a drink, catch up with friends and support a really good cause.

Tickets are $35.00 and you can book by phone: 03 9818 8700 or by email: info@perse.com.au

It will be great to see lots of KPS mums and dads there. Thank you.

Jacqui Tomlins and Irene Kemeridis

You can check out Child Wise at: www.childwise.net

They have a confidential and anonymous toll free National Child Abuse Helpline on 1800 991099 or email at: helpline@childwise.net, or by direct bank deposit  at: Westpac BSB 033050 Acct 264777.

Irene’s business is at: www.perse.com.au

This week’s blog is about communication, an issue that affects our entire school community. Communication is not just about how we transfer information and keep in touch with what’s happening at school – though that’s important – it’s about how we connect with each other, about how we engage with everyone around us. I believe it’s central to how we function as a community and to how we feel about being part of the KPS community.  Over my years at Kew Primary the subject has certainly come up a lot so I thought it might be time to tackle the issue for the bog.

The school has a communications sub-committee which has recently taken off under the leadership of Julie Coleman. Julie has Ryan in Grade 4 and Damon in Grade 2 and in her other life she is Human Resources Director at Monash College (a subsidiary of Monash University) where she manages the HR issues associated with roughly five hundred staff. I’ve not known Julie long, but after talking to her for an hour, the phrase: If you want something done, ask a busy person comes to mind.

I thought I’d start by talking to Julie about how she sees communication at KPS and what plans she and the committee have for the future.

Jacqui: I think there are some things we do really well around communication and some things we could do better. Is that how you see it?

Julie: Yes, I think that’s true. At the beginning of the year there was discussion at School Council about the fact that parents were looking for increased – and more consistent – communication. So to start with we decided to change the structure of the committees. We took communication out of the Education and Policy subcommittee and established a new one, Funding, Communication and Marketing with the emphasis on building a community within Kew Primary School and the local area. We added funding –including grants, sponsorships and voluntary contributions – because we felt it was important to communicate how the voluntary contributions are used to fund different projects.

Jacqui: So what has the committee done so far?

Julie: Well, we’re doing two things at the same time. The first is looking at what we can achieve quickly and easily; changes we can implement that will make a small, but significant and immediate difference. The second is to develop a broad and comprehensive three year Communication Plan that will address some of the bigger, long-term issues.

Jacqui: So let’s start with those small, more immediate changes.

Julie: The very first thing we did was to work with Aisha in the office to send out notices to parents reminding them about the Newsletter and the Bulletin; about how they can access them and what information they contain.  They are both a critically important method of communication, but only if people read them, of course!

We also sent out notices inviting parents to attend Friday assembly and giving them an idea of what they could expect: curriculum updates, teachers’ news, sports results, community announcements and students’ achievements. Last week Grade 3-6 students received awards for participating in house athletics which was fantastic to watch! And the CARE Program dances are always really fun.

Jayne Campbell, one of our former committee members, has had a really good look at the school website and has done a great job of reviewing the content. Jayne and Ruth, from the office, have made a number of changes and it’s now looking really good. You can check it out here.

Photos of School Council members are now on the website so that parents can identify them around school and raise any issues of concern they may have. We’re also going to include a summary of the outcomes of each School Council meeting in the Newsletter so parents have a clearer idea of what is being discussed and decided.

The PTA has also been putting out regular notices about fundraising events and has been getting a really great response from parents keen to volunteer.  So far this year they’ve run the Flower Power Trivia Night, Mother’s Day and Father’s day stalls, the Father’s Day Breakfast, Prep Parents’ Welcome Drinks and the Peppercorn BBQ. They’ve also had a lot of interest in the Art Show they are planning for October, 2014The Building and Grounds subcommittee have had terrific success with the last two working bees lead by Stewart Waters working closely with Robin Grace and Andrew Searle with 124 people attending, along with Channel 9! The KPS Working Bee Newsletter showcased the achievements from spreading 26 cubic metres of mulch, to building a shed in the kitchen garden.

Jacqui: I know one of the things that parents love is the class newsletter from their child’s teacher.

Julie: Yes. Individual class or year level newsletters are a really important link between parents and teachers. They ensure parents are able to keep up with what’s happening in class, and enable teachers to call upon parents for help or support where necessary. They include details about homework, excursions, curriculum, activities and ways that parents can support their child’s learning at home. The newsletters will go out twice a term for Prep to Grade 2 and once a term for Grade 3 – 6.

The Class Reps are also a really important conduit for information between parents and teachers. Nikki McConnon has developed a set of Class Representative guidelines which have been circulated to teachers and current class reps. for feedback and will then be endorsed by School Council. They should provide individual class reps with a clearer idea of their role and hopefully result in greater consistency over the different grades. We’re also making some administrative changes so that the class lists will be available closer to the start of Term 1.

Another possibility we’re exploring is setting up a buddy system for Prep Parents where we match first time prep parents with an ‘experienced’ prep parent. I think it’s really important to provide new parents with a lot of information and help them engage with school in those early weeks. The idea is that the experienced parent would provide information and show them the ropes, and hopefully overcome some of those initial anxieties that everyone has when their child first starts school.

Jacqui: I’ve had a look at the School Communication Plan which I have to say looks fantastic; really well researched and very comprehensive. You’ve done a great job there. Can you tell me about it?

Julie: The School Communication Plan was a joint effort with members of the Funding, Communication & Marketing Sub Committee and School Council. We are really keen to build a stronger school community through a more inclusive, transparent and consistent approach to our communications and we thought that a clear plan with objectives that spanned over a 1-3 year period would support that goal.

It also gave us a chance to promote the really good things that are already happening at our school while recognising there are a number of opportunities for building on those achievements. We’ll prepare a plan to address all these issues and are keen to involve the school community in that journey.

Jacqui: And what about the thorny issue of voluntary contributions? The two blogs I wrote on that subject earlier in the year generated a lot of discussion. At that stage about 35% of families had paid. Have we managed to increase that?

Julie: Yes, last term we updated the voluntary contribution letters that went home to families explaining that the school only receives around 33% of its funding from the government. Many parents were surprised by this figure. The school can’t invest in any discretionary programs – cooling solutions, running track, a kiln for the art room – without increasing our voluntary contributions. To date, just over 50% of families have paid so we have increased our contribution from 32% earlier in the year which is great, but we still need to build on that.  We’re hoping to get to 60% by the end of this year. I think 70% is a reasonable target for the future given the demographics of our school. Leo Arantes, another committee member, is building a barometer to record our progress so look out for it!

Jacqui: You recently won a grant from the Leader Newspapers; that’s a great start.

Julie: We were really pleased to receive such strong support from the Kew Primary community which resulted in our winning $1,000 towards the plumbing to connect the water tanks to the kitchen garden. This grant also resulted in a great story in the Progress Leader in July.  Plus, we recently received an IBM grant of $1,500 towards the purchase of TVs to connect to IPads for Grades 3-6.

We’ve applied for a number of other grants including natural turf for goal ends on the oval, lighting and sensor lights to protect the CARE chairs from vandalism at night, a running track and war memorial to commemorate past students who fought in World War 1.

Jacqui: You’ve already made a number of changes and you have a great plan for the future. How will you measure whether you are on track?

Julie: We’ll look for an increase in parents subscribing to the newsletter, checking the website and reading the blog. We’ll also monitor parent attendance at meetings and school functions and involvement in the PTA and sub committees.  We want to increase the number of positive stories in local media – three so far this year! And, we hope to see an increase in voluntary contributions, donations and sponsorship received by the school.  Will continue to do parent satisfaction surveys and respond to their concerns.

It would be great if people could have a look at the Communication Plan and if anyone has comments, suggestions or ideas, please get in touch:  You can contact me here:julie.coleman@mcpl.edu.au

Jacqui: Thanks for your time and commitment to a really important issue. I think you’re’ doing a great job.

Jacqui Tomlins and Julie Coleman

Members of the Funding, Communication and Marketing subcommittee are:  Julie Coleman (Convener) Jacqui Tomlins, Claire Tanner, Leo Arantes, Janine Arantes, Jeremy Whelen, Sally Marsh and Chelsea Carmichael.

How many nationalities do you think we have represented at Kew Primary? I checked with Robin and the office staff and we came up with thirty-one:

American, Argentinian, Australian, Bosnian, Brazilian, British, Canadian, Chilean, Chinese,  Croatian, French,  German, Ghanaian, Greek Indian, Italian, Iranian, Iraqi, Japanese, Korean, Lebanese, Malaysian, New Zealander, Nigerian, Pakistani, Polish, Samoan, Solomon Islander, Sri Lankan,  Swiss and Thai. (Let us know if we left you out).

I love the fact that my kids are hanging out every day with kids who have a connection to another part of the world; I think that’s fantastic and really important. This year the Peppercorn BBQ is celebrating this fabulous cultural diversity with a World Food and Dance Celebration! I asked Emma Moore, Angela Gill and Claire Tanner from the PTA to tell me about the event.

Claire: Last year the PTA ran a very successful end of year Peppercorn BBQ Aussie Bush Dance. All the kids got to learn some bush dancing during the day and really enjoyed dancing with parents and teachers to an Aussie bush band in the evening.

This year we thought it would be good to run an event that celebrated our cultural diversity and encouraged involvement and belonging amongst all our families at school. So the idea arose to have a World Food and Dance event as our end of year Peppercorn BBQ celebration.

One of the goals of the PTA is to engender a strong sense of community and belonging and part of that is encouraging respect and learning across cultures and that builds on the school values of our CARE program (Cooperation, Acceptance, Respect and Excellence). We also want to encourage people to have fun which happens when everyone feels welcome and able to celebrate their uniqueness. 

We’re also hoping to raise some money, of course, which will go towards our cooling solutions. The first stage, which includes the junior school and performing arts room, will cost around $58,000 and so far the PTA has raised $42,000 towards the cost. School Council will also contribute and the work will begin on 7th January, 2014!

Jacqui: So what will the kids be learning during the day?

Emma: We’ve organised a dance/music incursion which includes an African drumming and dance group, Salaka, and an Indian music troupe, the Bollywood Beats. The kids will all have a turn at drumming and doing some dance routines and they’ll learn about African music and culture. Bollywood Beats will do some demonstrations with costumes and music and then give the kids lessons.

In the evening, a festival of world music and dance will be presented by Stomp Dance Company, showcasing music from around the world and incorporating dances that have been learnt during the incursion and throughout the year.  Stomp will run the world music dance from 5.00 pm in the evening to truly celebrate the end of the school year.

We’re also encouraging parents to volunteer to teach their national dance in the evening, be it a bush whacker or Zorba the Greek; we’d love the children to see and experience it all. You can check out all the dance companies here: Salaka: Bollywood Beats: Stomp:.

Jacqui: Sounds great. I used to do a mean Morris dance in my youth…?! And what about the food?

Angela: There will be Indian food – organic butter chicken curry, dhal and rice – provided and prepared by Jolly and Ruby Ghuman (Grade 1) who run Fitz Curry Cafe, at 44 Johnston Street in Fitzroy. Polish sausages will be served in a bread roll with sauerkraut provided and cooked by Eva and John Tomacwicz (Prep).

We’re also hoping to provide toffee strawberry and grape skewers (Cora Pang, Grade 1), Lebkuchen (and possibly Turkish delight) (Alex St Clair, Grade 4), Pice ar y maen or Welsh cakes (Dylan Coleman, Grade 4), Koripedes or Greek shortbread biscuits (Simone Manning, Prep), gazpacho (Tania LeConte, Prep) and a Persian traditional dessert (Zohreh, Prep).

And there will also be some plain beef sausages in bread cooked by BBQ expert Chett Beavis (Grade 3) and his team of helpers.

Jacqui: That’s a huge effort. Who’s involved in the organising and do you need any more help?

Emma: We’ve got a great team who have been working really hard to make this a success. We will be needing help from the parent community and class reps will be sending around rosters so people can put their name down to help out with the various jobs. We’ll need help setting up before the event (starting at 2.00 pm) and cleaning up afterwards, and teams to help serve drinks and food.

This event will only be a success if everyone makes it a priority to come along. You can pre-book your world food on www.trybooking.com/DVMW. Hope to see you there. Friday 13th December, 5.00pm-8.00pm.

Any of the PTA organisers (below) can answer your questions or give you a job! And, don’t forget to support our sponsors.

Coordinator: Emma Moore (Grade 2 & 4) Music/Dance: Emma Moore, Tahnee Planner and Robin Grace, Bar: Rachel Naylor (Prep), Joanna Szeszycka (Grade 2 & 4) and Fiona Hollingsworth (grade 1 & 3), Food:Angela Gill (Grade 2) and Claire Tanner (Grade 2 & prep), Rosters:Emma Cooney (Grade 1 & Prep), Fiona Hollingsworth, Fairy floss etc.: Loraine Trist (Grade 4) and Belinda Holmes (Grade 4 & 2), Giving Tree:Grade 5s and Clare Connor.

Sponsors:Kew Baker’s Delight is donating bread (thanks Jeb) and Gourmet Meats, Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn is donating 500 sausages (thanks Josh and Luke).

John and Ting Zhou Ling (Grade 1) are generously donating Zilzie red and white wine (thanks, guys).

Jacqui Tomlins

During the time that I was involved with the committee that managed kindergartens in Kew, we made a change to the meeting structure. Instead of holding meetings at the Association President’s kindergarten, we rotated them between the five Kew kinders – because everyone likes a sticky-beak. It was great to see what other kinders were doing with their space and pinch the odd idea. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

I was reminded of this ‘approach to flattery’ during the holidays when my family visited Whittfield, a tiny town in Victoria’s King Valley. Whittfield Primary School was next door to where we were staying and the kids headed there to make use of the school’s extremely lush oval (“With goal posts at both ends, Mum!”). While the kids kicked the footy, I took in my surrounds. Wow! As well as a superb kitchen garden, the school had what appeared to be an outdoor science lab – a compact but well set up undercover area, secured by clear plastic roller doors on each side and complete with taps, sinks and benches at the right height for children to stand at. It was a simple, accessible space and one that would be enormously useful for all sorts of messy activities.

I was a bit jealous – I’d like something like that for KPS. That thought, combined with the appeal from the Building & Grounds sub-committee in last week’s newsletter for parents and carers to help with some specific projects, got me thinking about wish lists.

Wish lists are rarely realistic and are usually long and filled with wildly expensive items (which is why they are fun to write). However, wish lists are also useful tools for driving planning, seeking grants, fundraising and thinking about new or different opportunities. They really help you to ‘think big’. With this in mind, I asked Patricia Incerti’s Grade 3 class to create a wish list for the school. No idea was a ‘bad idea’ and the list that they gave me is brilliant (I couldn’t leave any of their fabulous suggestions out) –

• pool
• flying fox
• science class
• bigger ‘quiet’ area
• restaurant
• rainbow loom area
• security cameras
• swings, including a giant swing and a tyre swing
• running track
• green house
• a bigger, ‘twirlier’ slide
• trampolines
• bigger bike shed
• a vertical drop slide
• a ‘kids-only’ room
• tree surfing course
• free range animals
• footy goals
• beach
• roller coaster
• cinema room
• hammock
• diggers in the sandpit
• a fountain
• a big pond with stepping-stones
• treehouse in the Peppercorn tree
• hedge maze
• cubby house
• ball pit
• cricket pitch
• statues
• petting zoo (with a panda)
• ice-skating rink
• vending machine
• disco hall (with a mirror ball)
• a silent cave
• outdoor shower
• tile picture
• technology room
• waterslide
• hockey court
• turf on the oval
• gym equipment outside
• mine cart
• pets
• cooking class
• spooky playground
• better chairs
• ICT specialist program
• tunnels
• a butler

Phew! Aren’t there some terrific ideas on their wish list? (Just quietly, I’d also love a butler… A mirror ball would be nice… And a panda at KPS would certainly be a draw-card).

A group of Grade 6 students are taking a more formal approach to the ‘wish list’ through a project called ‘Play for Life’. What they’re doing is really interesting, and while there may not be butlers, pandas, mine carts and caves in the plan, they are looking at all sorts of opportunities to enhance play. I’ll share more about Play for Life later this term.

In the meantime, consider turning wish lists into reality by helping out the Building & Grounds sub-committee.

Katrina Whelen

L to R: Rafaella, Xavier, Chelsea, Sara Catena, Taylor, Brandon, Johbert
Image by Bethanie Clarke, Pink Images

We’ve always been a creative bunch at Kew Primary but things are about to ramp up! KPS’s first annual art show, Splash, is fast-approaching and over the next few months expect art, art, art to be the topic of conversation and activity. This week, Claire Bowers from the Splash organising committee tells us about artist Sara Catena’s visit with grade fives.

Grade Five students entering the art room on Tuesday 10 June were greeted with the sight of five joyful and exuberant paintings whose vividly colourful subjects seem to dance off the canvas. Rosy-cheeked women with angel wings drink tea with their friends; birds and cats dance across a perfectly blue sky.

“Be curious,” advised the Melbourne-based artist behind these wonderful artworks, Sara Catena. “Learn from observing what’s around you and follow your own path. Tell stories about yourself through your art.”

Sara is one of the ever-increasing number of talented artists who will be taking part in Kew Primary School’s first art show, Splash, to be held in October this year. Sara was invited into the school to run a hands-on workshop with the Grade Fives, to help inspire them in their own approach to art and encourage them to get engaged with the show.

Sara certainly kept her audience captivated, children and adults alike. As she explained what inspires her – personal stories transferred to canvas using a wide range of materials including embroidery, paint, pastels and even gold leaf – students eagerly asked her many questions about her technique, how and why she chooses her subjects and even what her favourite colour is (yellow).

Images by Bethanie Clarke, Pink Images

Her passion and energy for creating beautiful and uplifting art was infectious and when she encouraged the students to come up with their own stories around the theme of ‘how I have changed’ and start sketching them out, the results were quite remarkable. Sara noted the high calibre of creative talent among the students; Kerry Lomas and the other teachers should be proud.

The students didn’t want Sara to leave and some asked when she would be coming back again! We are hoping that a couple more Splash artists will run similar workshops in the coming months, so watch this space…

A big thank you to Sara for leading a truly inspirational workshop and to Kerry for organising it. And of course, don’t forget to look out for Sara’s artworks at Splash itself, from 17-19 October. It’s not surprising to hear that her paintings usually sell out very quickly indeed…

Claire Bowers
Publicity, Splash 2014

Join the conversation online #splashkew
facebook.com/splashart2014
twitter.com/splashkew
instagram.com/splashkew
pinterest.com/splashkew

Image by Bethanie Clarke, Pink Images

Have you seen the promo clip for the inaugural Splash Art Show? Splash is just weeks away (so make sure you get your tickets now. And tell your friends!).

Splash Family Fun Day 2014 from Bethanie Clarke on Vimeo.

I was halfway through grade five when I realised that my carefully rendered ‘bubble writing’ was no longer going to cut it on school projects. My best friend had turned up with a project poster titled ‘Living in the Future’ and all of her headings were written in a very natty ‘computer’ font. Actually, I didn’t know the word ‘font’ at the time but it didn’t stop me from being immediately envious. And curious – how did she do such fancy writing?

It turns out my friend’s fabulous fonts came from The Lettering Book by Noelene Morris and obviously, I felt life could not continue until I had my own copy. But there was a catch. The Lettering Book was only available through the once-a-term Scholastic Book Club – would my mum let me choose a book from the next catalogue? I started saving my pocket-money as a back-up.

Such was, and still is, the anticipation and fun of the Scholastic Book Club. Once a term, the Book Club catalogues are sent home – the pages are pored over, items circled and pocket-money counted out. And although parents may look through the catalogue with skepticism – because after all, you could pop down to Tim’s and buy most of the books immediately – they’re forgetting the sheer thrill of Book Delivery Day. That special day when the Scholastic Book Club orders are handed out and kids are just busting for the bell to go so that they can get stuck into their new book.

The Scholastic Book Club has been running at Kew Primary School for decades and is a significant fundraiser for the school library. A percentage of the sales each term are credited to the school, allowing our librarian, Ruth, to purchase new books.

The Book Club is run by parent volunteers, whose task it is to collate orders once a term and then distribute the books to each class once they arrive. It takes a couple of hours each term and like all such tasks, many hands make light work (forget about Lil’ Boy Blue, I’ve heard that collating the book orders turns into quite the social morning…). Lisa Geier (who has kids in grades 5, 3 and 1) has coordinated the Book Club over the past two years and is looking to pass the baton for next year. She noted that it was great way to support the school without the need to attend meetings. If anyone (or a group of people) would be willing to take over coordinating the Book Club, please contact Lisa directly at lisageier@hotmail.com .

The postscript to this story – as you can see from the pictures, I did get manage to get my own copy of The Lettering Book and I still have it (as I said, I really, really loved this book).

If my pictures have brought back a wave of 1983 nostalgia, you’ll be pleased to know that copies of The Lettering Book are available from online secondhand book dealers. For something similar, I highly recommend the more recently published How to be the Best Bubble Writer in the World Ever! by Linda Scott and Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design by Chip Kidd – both perfect for kids who love fonts.

I fondly recall my first billy cart ride – the wind in my hair (because no such thing as helmets in the seventies, and the fact that I was traveling at what I would now consider an alarming rate down a hill) and the feeling of wild exhilaration as the cart bumped over the uneven footpath. My parents still live in the street where my first billy cart ride took place and it was when the Grade 6 Billy Cart project began that I considered the hill and its suitability for billy carts. And immediately thought “What was my dad thinking, sending me down that?!” (there is no way I’d let my kids ride down this particular steep hill which includes a tricky s-bend at the bottom). So I asked my parents this very question – my mum’s response was that my dad wasn’t thinking (!) and my dad’s response was “I grew up in Surrey Hills – I know about hills and billy carts.” (!)

Apart from the fun of riding a billy cart (and Kew has some premium hills), the joy is in the making. And as Jaci Davis reports, the Grade 6 students had a brilliant time working on their billy cart projects –

During Term 1 and the beginning of Term 2, Year 6 students were busy designing and building billy carts as a part of the Leadership program at Kew Primary School.

Students worked in groups of five, and managed their own ‘racing company’ throughout the program, including ‘applying’ for a role in each team – either Team Manager, Head Mechanic, Mechanic, Aesthetics Designer or Technology Director.

The students needed to work together to ensure that all tasks were completed in a timely manner, and record their progress as they went. The project allowed them to develop important skills such as:
– Effective communication
– Negotiation
– Working to timelines
– Taking responsibility for actions/tasks
– Delegation

The project concluded with an amazing Billy Cart Race around the school where all teams demonstrated team work and pride in their racing companies.

The Billy Carts are now up for sale via a silent auction. All money raised from the sale of these carts will be going to three charities nominated by the Year 6 students – Make a Wish Foundation; The Cancer Council and Epilepsy Foundation.

If you are interested in purchasing a Billy Cart, please make your way up to the Year 6 classrooms where you can make a bid. Bidding closes Friday 29th May, at 3:45pm SHARP.

There was a time when I stood at my wardrobe choosing between a bodysuit and coloured jeans or a long floral dress with Doc Martens; when my Thursday night would be spent at Black Match or Silvers. A time when we all thought Kimberly was a complete nut-bag; when you were either Team Noel or Team Ben*. When Babe made me rethink my relationship with bacon. When people had Magic Eye artwork on their walls and everyone pretended they could see the picture**. When we couldn’t say “Isn’t it ironic?” without bursting into song***. When eleventy-million scrunchies weren’t enough. When pubs suddenly became ‘gastro-pubs’ and goats cheese was the height of sophistication.

You know the time I’m talking about. Yes, the glorious nineties.

Here’s the thing when I think about the nineties – it feels like yesterday, not two decades ago.

I had two conversations recently that made me realise this very fact. The first was with our sixteen-year-old babysitter. I mentioned that when I began working full-time (in the nineties), we didn’t have email (or internet). The babysitter asked me how we ‘shared’ documents and when I replied that we used ‘internal’ mail, the fax or, if it was urgent, a courier, she looked at me blankly. The conversation kind of wound-up there, a world without email and the interwebs was just too much for her to contemplate.

The second conversation was with Grade 4 teacher, Ali Papoulis, while we were standing at our cross-country post. Now I think I’m fairly safe in assuming that Ali is younger than me (much, much younger) but that was never more apparent than when we started talking about exercise. And it turns out that Ali had never heard of Step Reebok or Slide classes. The nineties WAS Step Reebok – it was all about the gear. And grapevines and easy-walks were a regular part of my week. Looking back on Slide, I realise it was just  litigation waiting to happen. Physiotherapists are probably still dealing with the fall-out of a generation of people with ruined ankles.

So now that I have you reminiscing about the nineties, here’s what you do: buy a ticket to the 90s Trivia Night. In fact buy a whole table. Get organised, get on your BH90210-or-Friends-inspired-denim and channel your inner-Melrose-Place. If you need a little more inspiration, join in the KPS 90s fun over on Facebook.

Tickets available via Try-Booking.Of course, these events don’t happen without help – volunteers needed to make the night a success!

* Team Ben, forever Team Ben. And this was a debate long before Edward vs Jacob, or Peeta vs Gale was even a thing.

** Never could see a 3D picture, no matter how much I squinted.

*** Tell me I’m not the only one who still sings a bit of Alanis every time someone says that?

Were you like me, and fell asleep last Saturday night (*ahem* the wee hours of Sunday morning) wondering “What WAS the highest grossing film in the 90s….?”. And which tennis player was married to Jo Beth Taylor…? Actually, who even was Jo Beth Taylor…?”

It may have been the Livin’ la Vita Locum cocktails I enjoyed or the fact that I wasn’t paying attention in the nineties but I had lots of unanswered questions on Saturday night. Lots. So I got all the answers – and I’m sharing them so that you can stop asking yourself “Where was Milli Vanilli from?

SPORT

1. Who am I? I was born in Leibnitz Austria in 1967. I married an Australian celebrity Jo Beth Taylor and moved to Noosa heads in 1999. I never won any popularity contests amongst my fellow players. I won the 1995 French Open. In February 1996 I reached ATP World No.1 for only one week, after winning 12 tournaments for the year. I was known on the tour as the ‘King of Clay’.
Answer: Thomas Muster

2. Who was the player that Steve Waugh famously directed the comment to in the 1999 World Cup, “You’ve just dropped the world cup” ?
Answer: Herschelle Gibbs

3. Name the two ice skating queens who, in 1994, were involved in the sport’s greatest ever scandal?
Answer: Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding

4. In the 1990 AFL Grand Final, who was knocked out by Essendon player Terry Daniher in the first quarter but came back on in the final quarter to be part of a famous victory for Collingwood?
Answer: Gavin Brown

5. Who was the AFL Norm Smith Medalist in 1997?
Answer: Andrew McLeod

6. Who in 1999 was crowned Men’s World Surfing Champion?
Answer: Mark Occhilupo

7. Who was the man of the match in the 1998 Soccer World Cup final, scoring twice before half time in his team’s epic 3/0 victory over Brazil?
Answer: Zinedine Zidane

8. Who in 1990 did Iron Mike Tyson relinquish his WBC title to by knockout in the 10th round ?
Answer: James ‘Buster’ Douglas

9. Who am I? I was born in Novi Sad Yogoslavia in 1973. I became the youngest ever winner of the French Open in 1990, one of the eventual 9 I was to claim. I became WTA no. 1 in 1991. I had a highly unorthodox style of play. I was stabbed by an obsessed Steffi Graf fan in 1993.
Answer: Monica Seles

10. After migrating from Russia to Australia in 1997 I took up pole vaulting and won a bronze medal in the 1999 World Championships, always featuring in the tabloids and social pages, I am?
Answer: Tatiana Grigorieva

90s MUSIC

1. What year was Blur’s Song 2 released in? Bonus point: what was its peak position on the Australian ARIA charts?
Answer: 1997; #4

2. The five Spice girls were Victoria Beckham, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown and Melanie Chisholm. What were each of their spice names?
Answer: Posh, Ginger, Baby, Sporty, Scary.

3. Listen to Love Shack by the B-52s. What is the next line that she screams?
Answer: Tin roof, rusted.

4. Listen to this song. Name the title and artist.
Answer: Underworld Born Slippy

5. What was the song that was rerecorded as a tribute to Diana, the late Princess of Wales in 1997?
Answer: Candle in the Wind, Elton John

6. What band was Justin Timberlake a member of in the 90s?
Answer: N-Sync

7. What country was Milli Vannilli from?
Answer: Germany

8. What was the name of the Divinyls top 5 hit in 1991?
Answer: I Touch Myself

9. Which music video featured the lead singer walking down a busy London street oblivious to anyone else and knocking people out of his way?
Answer: The Verve, Bitter Sweet Symphony

10. Who sang ‘I’m too sexy’ in 1992?
Answer: Right Said Fred

11. Who was ‘Robert Matthew Van Winkle’ otherwise known as?
Answer: Vanilla Ice

TV & MOVIES

1. In the 1999 movie fight club, brad Pitt says “welcome to fight club, the first rule of fight club is
A. Blood is never optional
B. we do not talk about fight club
C. you come to fight club every night
D. I don’t like fighting
Answer: B. We do not talk about fight club

2. Al Pacino is a former U.S. Marine who takes over a run down perfume store in Paris in the1992 film Scent of a Woman. True or False?
Answer: False

3. Worldwide, which 1990s film had the highest grossing revenue?
Answer: Titanic

4.What was the highest grossing sitcom of the 1990s?
Answer. Friends

5. Who shot Mr. Burns?
Answer: Maggie Simpson.

6. Which 90’s TV series had the slogan ‘The truth is out there’?
Answer: The X-Flies

7. In the film ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, which actor played the part of Hannibal Lector?
Answer: Anthony Hopkins

8. Who was the lead actor in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air?
Answer: Will Smith

9. Finish this line ‘who lives in a pineapple under the sea?’
Answer: Sponge Bob Square Pants

10. In the series Twin Peaks, who killed Laura Palmer?
Answer: Laura’s father Leland Palmer murdered her while possessed by a malefic being known as Killer BOB.

KEW IN THE 90s

1. Name the two train stations on the Kew train line?
Answer. Kew and Barker

2. In 1898, the sixty-two year old ‘Father of Australian Rules Football’ (and a former celebrated athlete) rode his bicycle from his home in Kew to Sydney to watch the final Test Cricket match. Who was he?
Answer: Henry Colden Antill Harrison (H.C. A. Harrison)

3. We now know it as the Skinny Dog, but what was the name of this Kew pub in the 1890s?
Answer: The Greyhound

4. In 1990, Kew had the highest concentration of what in the Western world?
Answer: Education institutions (six government campuses and twenty-eight non-government campuses).

5. In 1994, which three cities were amalgamated to form the City of Boroondara?
Answer: Kew, Hawthorn and Camberwell.

6. The notorious Melbourne gangland wars began in 1995. One of the gangsters involved, known as The Munster, was shot outside his home in Kew. What was his actual name? What street did he live on?
Answer: Graham Kinniburgh; Belmont Avenue

7. How old was Kew Primary School in 1999?
Answer: 129 years

8. In 1991, a third generation joined which family business in Kew?
Answer: Bob Stewart (founded by Robert Joseph Stewart in 1925; 1948 Robert Francis; 1991 Robert Matthew and Francis John)

9. What building or structure was added to Kew Primary School in 1993?
Answer: The shelter shed in the middle of the playground

10. In the 90s, the Real Housewives of Kew were wearing which cult nail polish? Revolutionary matte lipstick by whom? Purchased at which glamorous international department store (that is no longer operating in Melbourne)?
Answer: Rouge Noir by Chanel (also known as Vamp); Poppy King; Daimaru

After the trivia, great burritos and a few drinks, the party hit the dance floor, powered by tunes from DJs Michael Hughes and Matt Hall. They did an excellent job of mixing the best of the nineties (and personally, it was achievemnet-unlocked when they played my request, Baby Got Back…).

Be sure to check-out the big long list of thank-yous in the newsletter this week – it takes a lot of effort and people-power to make these events happen. A special thank you to Alex St. Claire for co-ordinating the highly successful evening.

We’ve watched our oval take its new shape over the past few months. James Penson tells the story in full –

You may have noticed that across the other side of the globe, there has been much talk about who will win the race into the Oval Office. However much closer to home, there has been even more talk and excitement about our own oval!

You may have also noticed recently that along with the usual cup full of sand, your child is now coming home with tiny black rubber particles in their shoes as well! The good news is that this means that our new oval is open and ready for action!

Over the past few weeks we have all been waiting patiently for this to occur, the whole process being monitored by students like clockwork. Teams of them watching through the fence each day keeping an eye on developments like any good project manager does. We were even spoilt to receive regular aerial updates of this progress via our very own local resident drone pilot (thank you Flying Officer Roach!).

Then the minute we were given the all clear by ground control we parted the temporary fence and our students were able to finally enjoy the spoils.

I must admit it was a very memorable day when our students were “unleashed” onto the oval for the first time. Word got out pretty quick and grade by grade raced down to gain access for the very first time.

Watching closely I noticed that there was a number of different trends in the way our students reacted to this new environment. The favourite approach was to run a lap or the track, others reached down and ran their hands through the surface, some bounced up and down (it is very spongy!) and a couple even took a long jump into the new pit. Then when the fences were removed and the goals went up the footy and soccer balls took centre stage.

What a great space for our school and our community. From every angle I can find it looks awesome. The whole space is a credit to our school community. For many years our parents and staff have been actively involved and dedicated to redeveloping this space. The community has invested countless hours researching, consulting, planning and fundraising. It is now a great space for all of our students and for our whole school community.

To celebrate and acknowledge the effort of the many people who helped get this project delivered we will be holding a short opening ceremony this Friday 15th April from 3pm. This event is being run by our Year 6 Leaders.

The assembly will include traditional items such as speeches and ribbon cutting, but also some not so traditional items such as students versus teachers relay race and every student running a lap of the track to music. I hope we can find Chariots of Fire!

After the ceremony we invite families to stay a little longer and enjoy the space together.
By the way for those of you who love facts and figures, here are some key numbers about our oval.

• The total surface area is 3,084 square meters
• 55 Tonnes of sand was used in the construction (25kg sand per square metre on the track and 14kg per square metre on the longer surfaces).
• 14 Tonnes of rubber was used in construction (8kg per square metre on the infield area).
• The length of the track is 164 inside lane and 268 in the outside lane. (Note there is 100 metre lines marked out in each lane. They are the staggered start lines on the side of the track that is closest to the main building).
• To run 1 kilometre you will need to complete just over 6 laps on the inside lane.
• The main oval surface is 40mm high and it is called Endurance Play. This area is 1,734m2
• The track and court sections are made from 19mm multi-sport Tournament surface and are 1,064 m2 is size.
• The section closest to the North end is the longest pile at 44mm and is called Summer Envy. This area is 286m2.
• The line markings include 1 x min soccer 51m x 25m, 2 x mini soccer 25m x 25 m, 3 x cricket pitch markings, 2 x rounders, softball 16m x 16m, 4 square and hot shots tennis court.
• The surface will have 2 services per annum to ensure that the synthetic grass stays looking good all the time and for years and years to come!
  Well done and thank you again to everyone that was involved. I may not be in the race for the Oval Office but when the bell goes for recess and lunchtime I will be racing out with our students to enjoy our oval!

James Penson

A little healthy competition (or personal challenges) combined with fundraising goes a long way and while we wait to find out the grand total of last week’s lapathon fundraising effort, Sophie Apperly reflects on the event –

What an amazing Lapathon this year on our new oval and running track. The skies were clear and the sun was shining. The children and teachers were all in great spirits and focused on the fun of the event.

The Lapathon showcased multi-age running at its best. Preps to Grade 6 students, teachers, Ms. Grace and Mr. Penson all participated with pleasing form… and resilience was shown by all when there was a sudden change in direction on the course!

Lap goals were set and met… and even surpassed in many cases! Drink and refuel pit-stops were utilised to the max!

How was running on the new blue track? BOUNCY! No injuries reported and no need for post-run Deep Heat or massages.

How much will be raised from this wonderful fundraising event? Get your Lapathon forms lodged in time (Friday 10th June) and we’ll see. Don’t forget about the amazing prizes for the kids.

A big thank you must go to the parent helpers for assisting at checkpoints and pit-stops and to the PTA for organising a wonderful Lapathon, complete with house colour wristbands and post-run zooper doopers (the modern full fruit healthy version).

Well done Kew Primary School on yet another fun school community event. So good!

“You make me feel like dancing… wanna dance the afternoon away….”

Okay, that’s not quite how the song goes but when you’re six-years-old, you’re not exactly hitting the tiles at 2am. Instead, KPS students converged on the hall last Friday night for the annual school disco.

A lot may have changed over the years but school dances stay the same – the excitement, the energy (brought about by loud music and red cordial) and kids showing off the moves they’ve been practicing in the privacy of their bedroom.

My earliest memories of dancing begin when I was in Prep – my carefully planned sixth birthday party was destroyed when I came down with the mumps. I was devastated but cheered up when I was presented with a copy of ABBA’s Arrival. While I may have lost points on the Prep social scene by cancelling my party, I made up ground by inviting people over after school to listen to Arrival. Within weeks, we had carefully choreographed routines to Money, Money, Money; Knowing Me Knowing You; and, of course, Dancing Queen.

When I turned nine, I had a disco party. We played 1981 Over the Top and my guests took it in turns to stand on our brown vinyl pouffe to belt out Olivia Newton John’s Physical and Kim Wilde’s Chequered Love. Looking back, the pouffe was our introduction to the concept of a podium and Physical was wildly inappropriate for nine-year-olds. Hey, it was the eighties.

Fast forward to grade six when my primary school years finished with the much-anticipated Grade 6 Dance. My memories of the night (I mean afternoon) are dominated by kids attempting head spins and ‘the worm’, and Hits Huge ’84 playing on the ghetto blaster. Like a scene from a movie, we finished the night arm-in-arm singing Wham’s Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.

Which made me wonder, when our kids are middle-aged, what will they remember about dancing at school discos? Year 5 student, Damon, shared his thoughts on last week’s School Disco –

It’s been a long week at Kew Primary with excursions, incursions and our final week of Kewriosity. Kew could really use a dance to sing, catch up with friends and let our grooves run wild. Oh wait! The Kew Primary School disco was on.

On Friday 17th June, kids from Prep to Year 6 had the chance to boogie. With Preps and Year 2 dancing from 5pm-6.15pm and Years 3-6 from 6.45pm-8pm. With help from an over-the-top DJ, Kew kids could play around, have a sing and a dance but most importantly, have a great time. The DJ encouraged kids to have a dance and always have fun.

Did I mention that you could have a go singing on the mic? With the mic you could sing your favourite songs from Ex’s and Oh’s by Ellie King and Drag Me Down by One Direction to Sorry by Justin Bieber. The DJ also got students involved in a dance-off. Shawn Mendes finished the night with Stitches and after that it was over. I encourage everyone to go next year.

The countdown is on to our second annual KPS KidsFest! This week, Mr Penson provides all the answers to your burning KidsFest questions so that you’ll be well and truly ready to maximise your fun on the big day!

WHAT IS KIDSFEST?

KidsFest is a special mini fair fundraising event with a focus on our kids! Essentially it is a fun afternoon that is run by our students and for our students. All monies raised will be directed towards projects and equipment that the students decide on. So if you have any ideas please let me know.

WHEN IS IT ON?

It all kicks off at 1pm on Friday 29th July. Classes will begin setting up after 12pm. The last sales will be at 3pm so that we can pack up ready for the end of the day at 3.30pm.

WHO ORGANISES IT ALL?

With the assistance of staff, class reps, parents and the students themselves, each class runs a stall, usually in combination with another class. Our older students also have the opportunity to run additional stalls in small groups. This provides some really powerful and authentic learning, particularly in maths, economics and finances, not to mention collaboration, negotiation and teamwork! In fact I have heard that our Senior school students are busy completing business plans for their stalls.

WHERE DOES IT ALL HAPPEN?

All the stalls and activities are located around the school yard. Most of the action centres in and around the basketball court and asphalt areas between the Junior School Hall and Main building. There will also be lots of activities on the oval and in the positive play space.

WHAT SORT OF THINGS CAN STUDENTS DO AND BUY?

There will be competitions, things to see and do, food to enjoy and of course lots of things to buy. This includes different novelty items ranging in price from 20c to $6 (A full list of novelties will be sent home in a special flyer next week). There will also be showbags for sale, but get in quick as numbers are limited!

For those seeking some more action packed experiences there will be a jumping castle, sumo suits and even a “paintball” style game using water balloons.

Of course, no KidsFest would be complete without food which includes popcorn, hotdogs and more!

SPECIAL TIP FOR PARENTS…

If you have some odd jobs around the house such as folding the washing, tidying rooms, dusting etc. it might be an idea to encourage your child/ren to help out and earn some pocket-money for them to bring on the day – I say make the most of this opportunity!
We also welcome parents, grandparents and family friends to come along and join in the fun.

Thank you to Ally Papoulis for this week’s blog entry –

In week four KPS participated in KidsFest. The Preps did an amazing job at organising and helping to run two very successful stalls. PCC and PAS ran a paper aeroplane throwing competition, and PBE and PAP ran a lucky dip stall.
The children worked hard making wrapping paper and paper planes leading up to the day, and incorporated their knowledge of money to ensure that they made happy purchases on the day.

Here’s what our Preps thought of KidFest …

I like when Chelsea got dunked into the water and she looked scared and cold. I like that my mum came and helped me pick a toy. I liked going in the bouncy house – Jenny PCC

I liked going on the jumping castle and buying stuff with my own money. I loved eating the donuts from one of the stands – Carlo PCC

I loved Kidsfest because I got to get some stuff and I liked looking at the toys that I was buying. I also liked that I got something that I always wanted, it was two dollars and you could trace it if you don’t know how to draw it. It’s called a stencil – Christian PAS

I liked Kidsfest because you could buy lots of things. I got an ice cream and some lollies. It was also my birthday that day – Bella PAS

I loved getting slime and watching Mr Penson getting dunked in the water – Olinda PBE

I loved buying a squishy toy and a penguin and walking around randomly looking at other shops – James PBE

I loved KidsFest because it was so fun. My favourite thing was jumping on the jumping castle! – Heidi PAP

I love KidsFest because I got a shield with 2 swards to play with! I really liked wrapping the presents for out PAP lucky dip! – Phoenix PAP

Thank you for all of your generous donations and support in organising this fantastic event!