What an amazingly busy term we are experiencing as we head towards NAPLAN week and the Labour Day public holiday on Monday.
Labour Day Holiday
Please note that Monday is a Labour Day Public Holiday. This means that there will be no school for all students on Monday.
NAPLAN
We are pleased with our students and the way they are engaging with the process of NAPLAN and wish them every success as they take on what can be for some, a daunting task. Our students have been familiarising themselves with the NAPLAN system over the last couple of weeks to ensure they understand the way that NAPLAN is setup. The practice they are doing is not marked and is random in nature. It does not necessarily reflect what they will be doing during the week. NAPLAN begins on Wednesday and students will be participating in a Reading, Language Conventions (grammar and spelling), Writing and Numeracy. Please ensure your children are at school for these assessments as they will be required to do a catch up if they are not present. NAPLAN will start on Wednesday 13th and go through until Monday 25th March.
House Names
We announced our House Names at our assembly last week and I wanted to let you all know what they are again to help it become part of our everyday terminology at Thornhill Park PS.
Brooke – Red House
Red House is named after the Brooke family. They are a Gunditjmara family who preside mainly in the West of Melbourne and are a very community focussed. Leanne Brooke is the General Manager of The Long Walk and Indigenous Affairs Advisor at Essendon Football Club. Graeme ‘Porky’ Brooke is a famous Indigenous Boxer of significance in the Australian Sporting scene from the 1980s. Their family totem is the Red Tailed Black Cockatoo.
Day – Yellow House
Yellow House is named after the Day family. Our school art work was created by Paola Balla who is a proud Wemba-Wemba, Gunditjmara woman. The Billy Buttons and Old Man Weed you see around the school were drawn from her childhood memories of picking these things with her Grandmother. Her grandmother’s family name was Day, so we are honouring her family by naming one of our houses after them, as it an integral part of the early historic and fabric of our school. Their family totem is the Willy Wagtail, which is also known as the Djiti-Djiti.
Borate – Blue House
Blue House is named after the Borate family. Aunty Annie Borate, known traditionally as Borate (a.k.a. Boorat or Boorrort or Barat), was the daughter of Bebejan who was Ngurungaeta (head man) of the Wurundjeri people and Tooterie. She was the younger sister of Uncle William Barak. Aunty Annie had several children, with only her eldest son, Uncle Robert Wandin (Wandoon) surviving to adulthood. All Wurundjeri people are descended from her through her son. Their family totem is the Eagle.
Cooper – Green
Green House is named after the Cooper family. William Cooper (18 December 1860 or 1861 – 29 March 1941) was an Indigenous political activist and community leader; the first to lead a national movement recognised by the Australian Government. Their family totem is the Long Necked Turtle.
All families have granted permission for us to use their family names and totems. We appreciate their support and love that we are able to acknowledge those who helped to establish the lands on which our school is built. We will continue to make genuine connections with Indigenous Cultures and educate our students in Indigenous history and culture.
I hope you all have a wonderful long weekend.
Darryl Spiteri
Principal