Dear Parents and Caregivers

End-of-Year Celebrations
As always, there is much to celebrate at the end of the year; however, this year it is with sadness that we approach our end-of-year events knowing that there will be very limited numbers of our parents and other members of the school community present. As we remain in Phase 4 of the Western Australian Roadmap to Recovery, the School has been careful to follow the guidelines for schools sent to us by AISWA and the Department of Education. We believe that this is important to ensure the safety of our community. We are very hopeful that next year we will be able to welcome more members of the school community on to the campuses at any one time. This will be particularly significant as we are celebrating our 30th Anniversary and would love to hold some major events. However, for now, we are content to ‘watch this space’.

Surveys
Thank you to those who have completed or will be completing parent surveys at the end of each of our exit years – Year 2 (end of Early Learning), Year 6 (end of Primary schooling), Year 7 (end of Transition) and Year 12 (end of Secondary schooling). We learn a great deal from these surveys and take the feedback seriously.

2020 Prefects and Peer Support Leaders
Our Prefects Elect for 2021 completed their Leadership Training on Monday. They are a fine group of young people and I am looking forward to working with them next year.

Similarly, there will be training for our 2021 Year 11 Peer Support Leaders today (Friday). The work they do with the Year 7 students at the start of the year is invaluable. 

Tiredness
I am very conscious of the fact that our staff and students are all more tired than usual at the end of the year. I commend them for the fine job they have done both teaching and learning through the difficult circumstances they have encountered through 2020. I continue to hold before them an A.A. Milne quote spoken through the character Eeyore (I have written it in the front of my diary.): It never hurts to keep looking for sunshine! 

Kind regards

Kerry Robertson
Principal

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Carpark Safety
In the last couple of weeks of term please continue to remain vigilant in and around the Primary carpark. We have appreciated the community’s support this year as we have had more cars using Kiss and Drop than ever. Whilst this has many positive benefits, we all need to work together to ensure we remain patient and vigilant of our Primary students. To ensure the safety of our students, please use only the Primary carpark for student drop-off and pick-up. The long stay parking area and the parking area close to the Year 6 block are not designed for a drop off or pick up area. Using these areas can put at risk the safety of your own children and that of others. These areas are needed by our Primary Staff to park to ensure they have easy access to their classrooms for the day. Thanks for your support of this.

Uniform
Please ensure you continue to remind your child about our high presentation standards expected at Frederick Irwin. Please ensure your child has their shoes polished, hair brushed neatly and shirts tucked in prior to leaving for school each morning. We continue to monitor the students’ uniform standards through these last few weeks of term and your support with this is greatly appreciated.

End of Year Services
The conclusion of the school year is fast approaching. We look forward to completing the year with our two major services: the Kindergarten to Year 2 Christmas Concert and the Year 3 to Year 6 Presentation Assembly. Whilst these services require a restricted number of community members in the Gymnasium, we look forward to families being able to view the presentations once they are uploaded online. More information will follow closer to the events.

The Year 6 Thanksgiving Service is also a special moment to farewell our Year 6 students from Primary School, and we look forward to gathering with Year 6 family members for this service in the Gymnasium. In keeping with Phase 4 restrictions, there will not be an afternoon tea this year due to health advice against the sharing of food and drink, including communal access to shared platters.

Reports
These will be released on SEQTA by 4.00pm on Tuesday 8 December. If you need support with accessing SEQTA please contact our IT department.
 
Regards

Glyn Teape
Deputy Head of Primary - Meadow Springs

Dear Parents and Caregivers

End of Year Services and Assembly
The end of the school year is fast approaching! We are really looking forward to completing the year with our Year 6 Thanksgiving Service, Kindergarten to Year 2 Christmas Concert and the Year 3 to Year 6 Presentation Assembly. 

Although the COVID-19 physical distancing restrictions prevent us from holding all of these events in our Hall, we are very pleased that we are able to have four family members per student joining us for each of these occasions by holding the Kindergarten to Year 2 Concert and Years 3 to 6 Assembly in the Gymnasium at the Meadow Springs campus. The Year 6 Service will be able to be at the Halls Head campus due to the small number of students and families involved.

If you are planning to attend any of these events, please ensure that you make your booking as soon as possible through trybooking, using the link provided in an email sent to all families on 20 November. Families attending the event will need to bring their tickets as seating numbers have been calculated.

Below is a summary of each event:
Year 6 Thanksgiving Service: Thursday 3 December 2020 at 2.00pm in the Multipurpose Hall at Halls Head campus. This is a special Thanksgiving Service for Year 6 students and their families.
Kindergarten to Year 2 Christmas Concert: Friday 4 December at 1.00pm in the gymnasium at Meadow Spring campus. Each class in Kindergarten to Year 2 will perform Christmas songs they have been learning in class. Parents will be able to take their children home after this event. Children not being collected will return to the Halls Head campus on the bus. 
Years 3 to 6 Presentation Assembly: Tuesday 8 December at 10.00 am in the gymnasium at Meadow Spring campus. This assembly will include presentation of Years 3 - 6 class awards; recognition of our 2020 House Captains and introduction of 2021 House Captains. After this assembly, students will return on the bus to the Halls Head campus to finish off the school year.
We are very happy that we have been able to organise these events to include our parents and families and look forward to the joyous community atmosphere that they always hold.

Recent Events
Students at our Halls Head campus have been very busy with a number of rich and rewarding learning experiences recently. These have included the Inter-School Tennis and T20 Blast Cricket competitions, Year 2 beach investigations and the Year 2 Mandurah Foreshore excursion; and a Kindergarten and Pre-Primary ‘Fairy’ storytelling incursion with Rebecca Flanagan. Years 4 to 6 also completed their final week of Dance Sport and we thank Allen Blachford from ‘Twisted Shuffle’ for his work with our students. Thanks also to Wendy Summers and her beautiful dog ‘Biscuit’ for their work with Story Dogs at our school this year.   

I also had the privilege of attending the Mandurah Junior Councillor Graduation Ceremony last week. Congratulations to our Year 6 students, Daniel Tearle and Mekenzie Hall, for their contribution to this very worthwhile youth leadership programme. They both gave a short speech at the Graduation and were wonderful ambassadors for our school.

Kind regards and best wishes

Sue Kirke
Deputy Head of Primary Halls Head 

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States of America (USA), Canada, Brazil, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Liberia, as well as the sub-national entities Leiden, Norfolk Island and the inhabited territories of the USA. It began as a day of giving thanks and sacrifice for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Similarly named festival holidays occur in Germany and Japan. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and Brazil, and around the same part of the year in other places.

In many homes families gather and before their main meal give thanks to God for His blessings during the preceding year. 

But have you ever thought about the fact that Thanksgiving is the way Christians should live their lives? That is, God showed us grace, and our response to that grace should be a life lived out of gratitude.

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."(1 John 4.10)

The Apostle Paul put it like this: "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."(Col 3:17).

Christian service isn’t simply deciding to serve. As I explained to the Prefects-Elect this week, serving willingly without seeking reward is leadership and demonstrating God’s love to others.

"We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4.19)

Although Australia doesn't have a specific Thanksgiving Day, people could start to respond more deeply to the grace God has demonstrated through the sacrificial death of Jesus and how such thankful reflection might work its way into the way we plan to live the year ahead. A whole life lived out of thankfulness is the right and proper way to respond to God’s gift of grace through Christ. 

Kindergarten 2023 
This term, applications for admission in 2023, particularly for brothers and sisters of existing students, will be considered for enrolment in Kindergarten at Frederick Irwin Anglican School, Meadow Springs and Halls Head.

Parents who wish their son or daughter to be considered for these years in 2023 should, if they have not already done so, submit an application as soon as possible.

If you have any queries please contact Mrs Jackie Smith at the School Office or email registrar@frederickirwin.wa.edu.au.

YEAR 7 2021

Do you have a child born between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2009? Applications are still being accepted for limited availability in Year 7 2021.

If you have any questions please contact Mrs Jackie Smith at the School office or email registrar@fias.wa.edu.au

Please see below the Uniform Shop Hours for Term 4 and additional information related to blazers and uniforms for 2021. 

MEADOW SPRINGS CAMPUS

HALLS HEAD CAMPUS

Blazer 2021
Blazers are a compulsory item of the winter uniform for ALL students from Years 7 in 2021. If you have not already booked an appointment please call the uniform shop as soon as possible.

If your current Secondary School child is also in need of a new larger school blazer for 2021, please also call into the Uniform Shop before the 4 December 2020.

Blazers ordered after this date will have to be ordered individually and therefore will not be subject to the lower price afforded by the large order. Also, blazers not ordered by this time may not be ready for Term 2 of 2021, when the blazer is a compulsory uniform item for all Secondary School students.

2021 Year 5 Students
In February 2021, your current Year 4 student will be moving into Year 5 and you may need to purchase additional formal uniforms, as the formal uniform will be worn for the whole week (full 5 days) and students will change at school for timetabled sports. Please call the Uniform Shop as soon as possible.

2021 Year 3 Students
In February 2021, your current Year 2 student will need to purchase the full formal summer uniforms, to be worn for 3 days with 2 full days of sportswear. If you have not already booked an appointment please call the Uniform Shop as soon as possible.    

Term 4 Fee Statements were emailed to families on Friday 9 October 2020 and were due for payment by Friday 23 October 2020. 

Families who have not paid or made payment arrangements with the Business Manager by the due date should be aware that a late penalty of $55.00 (GST included) may be imposed. The School has BPAY facilities and we encourage parents to avail themselves of this.

To assist families to budget for their school fee payments, we also offer weekly, fortnightly, bi-monthly or monthly payment plans.  For further information, please contact Mrs Lesley Hedley, Assistant Business Manager, in the School Office.

Term Dates Term 4: Tuesday 13 October 2020 – Tuesday 8 December 2020

2021 Term Dates (Please note these dates are preliminary and are subject to change). 

Term 1: Monday 1 February 2021 – Thursday 1 April 2021 

Term 2: Tuesday 20 April 2021 – Friday 25 June 2021 

Term 3: Tuesday 20 July 2021 – Friday 24 September 2021

Term 4: Tuesday 12 October 2021 – Wednesday 8 December 2021

As in previous years, the Department of Education and Training's Secondary Assistance Scheme forms will be available to eligible parents. 

Forms are available from the School Office.  Applications close 1 April 2021. 

Emails were sent out to parents from Halls Head and Meadow Springs campuses regarding the end of year concerts.  Each family has been allocated a certain number of tickets, these will need to be presented on the day of your child's concert or presentation. 

If you have not received an email please contact Primary Reception.  

On Saturday 21 November, Father Noel performed the Baptism of Year 1 student, Daniel, in the presence of of family and friends, at Rush Chapel.  It is so wonderful to see our students and their families using our beautiful chapel for these very special services. 

If you are interested in using Rush Chapel for a wedding, baptism or christening please contact the Chapel or message our Facebook page. 

A letter was recently sent out regarding Frederick Irwin moving to Annual Billing. 

As part of this process we will  also be moving to a cashless system, which includes payment of School Fees along with the Uniform Shop and both Primary and Secondary canteen orders. 

This is in alignment with Anglican Schools Commission policies.  If you have any queries please contact the Business Manager on 9537 0000

We are pleased to announce a substantial improvement to the way that we collect and manage important information about our Primary students; significantly, how we maintain medical information about our students and information on events and excursions.

Consent2Go will be a new addition to the Primary School in 2021. Parents and caregivers will receive further information about Consent2Go before the end of Term 4 2020.

As you would be aware, we recently launched a new website and school app to assist with our communication efforts.  In order to gauge the effectiveness of our School’s communication with parents and caregivers, we sent out an email to all parents with the Communications Survey.  

This is an anonymous survey and the results will help us improve communication within our school community.  If you have any questions regarding the survey, please contact Community Relations Officer, Ms Skye Pember, on communityrelations@fias.wa.edu.au

A number of Year 6 students recently competed in the Schools Lawn Bowls competition.  Frederick Irwin came third out of six schools, which is a fantastic result.  

The students had a fantastic time and proudly represented the school.  Thank you to the brilliant volunteers who encouraged and coached each team on the day. 

In Week 6, Term 4 the students from Mr Daniel Harrop and Mr Lachlin Kerr Wilson’s Year 11 Outdoor Education classes hiked a section of the Bibbulmun Track.  The group started their hike at Balingup and finished at One Tree Bridge in Glenoran, near Manjimup.

With full packs, students hiked a total of 88km over some rather difficult terrain. Monday and Tuesday saw students hike through jarrah and pine forests with a large amount of hills, whereas the next three days were flatter but longer and moved into Karri Forests. 

Throughout the hike, the scenery was stunning; however, students had to overcome a number of physical and mental challenges to arrive at their final destination. All students are to be commended on their participation and completion of this expedition. 

On Friday 6 November, six teams consisting of Year 5 and Year 6 students travelled to Champion Lakes Regatta Centre to compete in the School Sport WA Triathlon Championships. The students performed brilliantly and represented the School by showing great sportsmanship.  The following results were: 

Division A team -  Kaiden Buss-Dawson, Brock Caporn and Reilly Hull came 9th

Division B team -  Declan McKean, Lucas Hall and Tytan Milne came 9th

Division C team – Hitomi Cording, Blake Burtenshaw and Malcolm Sharp came 2nd

Division D team – Brock Benjamins, Rustin Rogets and Dylan Bailey came 4th

Year 5 Girl's team – Cassidy Moody, Mia Jacobs and Jasmine Nichols came 3rd

Year 6 Girl's team – Ryleigh Allan, Milly Holdich and Charlote Schaftenaar came 11th

Five students also competed in the Aquathon with Ryleigh Allan coming 3rd in the Girls' competition. 

At the beginning of the term, the Year 6 students helped collect and collate the Christmas shoeboxes for the Operation Christmas Child charity. 

Thank you to all families from both the Halls Head and Meadow Springs campuses for your contributions. In total, there were 116 boxes filled with toys, hygiene items, school supplies and fun gifts. 

The boxes were delivered on 28 October 2020 and have been shipped to some very grateful and deserving children living in vulnerable situations. 

YEAR 9 STUDENTS RAISE AWARENESS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

As part of the Year 9 Health Education Program, students have been discussing the impact of domestic violence on relationships and families.  On Friday 20 November, Year 9 students wore white t-shirts to raise awareness about the issue of domestic violence, and led their House Groups by reading a statement to their class.  

In an effort to educate their peers about this important topic, Year 9 students gave video presentations during morning House Groups. This was followed by a collective photograph to commemorate the day.  

You can read the statement here and view the video they watched here. 

It is time to STOP the excuses. There are NO EXCUSES for disrespect toward women!

White Ribbon Day is an opportunity to bring people together - to raise awareness and commit to action to prevent domestic violence. 

Work placements are a great way for students to apply their learned knowledge in a practical setting. In 2020, even with the additional challenge of COVID-19, five Frederick Irwin students were placed in organisations throughout the Peel region. These students got to experience real-world working conditions with trusted industry partners that were selected by VET Work Placement. 

Additionally, over 85 training certificates were issued this year at Frederick Irwin with many students receiving multiple certificates.

Participating organisations in 2020 include: Alcoa, DLure Hair and Beauty, Dwyer Engineering, Kanyana Engineering, Lane Ford, Mandurah Performance, Mandurah Toyota, Nourish Food and Coffee, Perth Electrical Cabling Solutions, Revolution Boardsports, Serpentine Primary School, Tronox- Kwinana Pigment Plant, Tom's Mufflers and Brakes, The Garage – Kellerberrin, The Palace Hotel – Wagin, Westurn Engineering, AW Air & Electrical, Boeing Plumbing, Bunnings Halls Head, Charles Hull Contracting, Safety Bay Primary School and Waroona District High School

On Tuesday 17 November, 30 Year 4 students travelled to Mandurah Tennis Club for the Tennis West Schools competition. 

Teams of 10 (five boys and five girls) competed in two divisions – Australian Open and Wimbledon. 

Team A won the Australian Open division, Team B won the Wimbledon division with Team C Runners Up. Team C also won the step challenge on the day which was raising awareness for Movember and Men’s Health. 

Frederick Irwin Meadow Springs also won the overall day. Congratulations to all students who took part. 

Year 5 students from the Primary Eco Committee sat down with Principal, Ms Kerry Robertson, to discuss their ideas on the School’s current water policy. 

The students presented Ms Robertson with a clear plan and ideas on how the school could reduce water consumption and help the environment. Ms Robertson took down the students’ ideas in order to look at how the School can implement them as soon as possible.

At the end of the meeting, the students presented four books that had been donated by the Jane Goodall Institute, as part of the work the Eco Committee is doing in supporting the Institute’s school program, which look at how students can be more environmentally aware.

They were very excited to know that some of their ideas and recommendations would be seen across the school in the next 12-18 months. Congratulations to all of the Year 5 students involved in the Eco Committee and a big thank you to their teacher, Mrs Katrina Wade, for encouraging their passion in the environment and sustainability.

Congratulations to Milly Holdich of 6M1 who competed in the School Sports WA Track and Field Twilight event on Friday 16 October. 

She competed in a variety of events coming 15th in the 100m, 7th in the 800m and 12th in long jump. 

See below information on Community events and information.