6 February 2025

Principal’s Report – Term 1 Week 2

Welcome back to all our students and their families. We hope you all had a relaxing break and enjoyable time. I think everyone is looking forward to being back in routines. The teachers and students were so excited to move into their new classes for 2025. The first few weeks of the year are always a big adjustment, so it is important to keep extra activities and social outings to a minimum and establish set routines and bedtimes, so that students come to school daily rested and ready to work.

We welcome our 12 new students (Years 1-6), along with our 65 new Kindergarten students, and their families to our school and hope the transition is a smooth one.

 This year we have made 3 x Kindergarten classes, 4 x Year 1 classes, 4 x Year 2 classes, 3 x Year 3 classes and 3 x Year 4 classes along with a composite 3/4, 3 x Year 5 classes and 2 x Year 6 classes and a 5/6 composite. A total of 24 classes.

Swimming Carnival - Tuesday 11 February

Next Tuesday is our annual swimming carnival at the Andrew (Boy) Chalton pool. Please make sure you fill in the permission note as soon as possible for this event. All parents are welcome to come and watch the carnival, you will need to pay a pool entry fee.

Students in year 2 who are turning 8 years old in 2025 are invited to compete at the carnival but must only attend if they can confidently swim 50 meters in the pool. Most of our year 2 students will remain at school with teacher supervision however Ms Webster will accompany those students in Year 2 who are 8 years of age and wish to compete in the carnival on the day. Parents can pick up their child from the pool at the end of the day (2.00pm) they will need to be signed out with Mrs McManus beforehand, otherwise buses will return students to school at the end of the day. Year 2 students may return to school after their race in the morning, if their parents are available to drop them back at school.

Please make sure the suncream is applied in the morning before students come to school. A hat, lunch recess and snacks are to be packed for the day.

PSSA trials start Friday 7 February - Years 3-6 only

All students in years 3-6 will be given the opportunity to trial for school representative sports teams for the summer PSSA competition. Trials will begin tomorrow morning and go over the next few Fridays before the competition officially starts on Friday 28 February. We will have a normal timetable for Fridays until the start of the PSSA competition. Please make sure your child comes to school in their sports uniform with a hat and water bottle.

Year 6 Camp- Wednesday 12 – Friday 14 February

Next week all our Year 6 students will head off to the Great Aussie Bush Camp at Tea Gardens. This camp is the highlight of the Year 6 school year and a great way to start off the year. Teachers attending the camp are Mrs Blackband, Mr Dylan and Mrs Taylor (our Year 6 teachers). Mrs Lee /Mrs Oscroft will attend camp on the Thursday and Friday. Please make sure all permission notes are signed and returned to the office asap and payment is finalised by Tuesday 11 February. If you are requiring financial assistance, please contact Mrs Lee.

Staffing 2025

Office Team School Admin Managers Pam Davison - (Tues- Fri), Annabel Marsden (Mondays)
School Admin Officers - Annabel Marsden, Danni Wareham, Kerry Welch, Maria Boven 
Learning and Support teacher- Ms Kate Stacey
English as a 2^nd Language teacher- Mrs Claire Philps
Teacher/Librarians- Mrs Alison Webster, Mrs Lisa Morrison
School Learning and Support Officers (SLSO) Stephanie Davison, Justine Brabant, Jayne Crain, Lizzy Fuller, Pete Snailham, Erin Govers
Computer/ Technology support- Mr Greg Wetzler
General assistant- Mr Barry Warriner

Executive team:
Principal - Mrs Tina Lee           Deputy Principal - Mrs Sharon Oscroft
Assistant Principal (Curriculum and Instruction) Mrs Sarah Birrell (APC&I)

Assistant principals:
Kindergarten - Mrs Cadence Abrahams
Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2) Mrs Carol Speight (Mon- Thurs) Mrs Karen Lucey (Fri)
Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4)- Mrs Catherine Nelson (Mon, Tues, Wed) Mrs Melinda Ward (Thurs, Fri)
Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6) Mrs Nicole Blackband

Science Teachers
Kindergarten- Mrs Yaz Sorenson
Stage 1- Mrs Jackie Holman
Stage 2- Mrs Tanya Coleman
Stage 3- Mrs Sarah Humphries

Teachers and Classes 2025

KA – Ms Alisha Tamone
KC – Mrs Cadence Abrahams
KT – Mrs Agata Tams
1A - Mrs Kate Adamo
1C - Mrs Melissa Christian
1F - Ms Sally Fisk
1H - Mrs Chrissie Hacking
2L - Mrs Jessica Legg
2LW - Mrs Karen Lucey & Mrs Madi Wilcox
2S - Mrs Carol Speight
2W - Miss Hebe Webster
3/4H - Miss Charlotte Hepworth
3E - Mrs Elaine McManus
3G - Mrs Michelle Gibson
3M - Mrs Rebekah Mauger
4NC - Mrs Catherine Nelson & Ms Lisa Cash
4V - Mrs Victoria Warnock
4W - Mrs Melinda Ward
5/6B - Mrs Nicole Blackband
5B - Mrs Aga Banham
5J - Mrs Monika Johnston
5L - Mr Kieran Le Jeune
6D - Mr Patrick Dylan
6T - Miss Hannah Taylor

Drop off and pick up

From next week parents are invited to drop off students at the gate or at their new classrooms so you can see where your child is located for the year. Teachers will not be available for interviews as they will be preparing for their day, but students may like to show parents their new classrooms.

Pick up in the afternoon will be at the flagpoles for all Kindergarten, Year 1 & 2 students. Years 3-6 students will be walked down to the basketball court and parents can pick up from there. Teachers will accompany classes for the first 3 weeks, so parents have an opportunity to chat with their child’s new class teacher in the afternoon.

P & C Meeting- Tuesday 18 February 7.00pm

Our next P & C meeting will be held in the staffroom on Tuesday 18 February 7.00pm. All parents are welcome to attend this meeting. The meeting will be an opportunity to hear from the principal regarding directions of the school for the year am discussion around fundraising and school contributions will be at this meeting. This is the forum where parents are to hear and ask questions about the management and organisation of the school. Feel free to come along.

The P & C Annual General meeting will be held on Tuesday 18 March 7.00pm

At this meeting we will elect a new president and executive leadership team. You will need to be a financial member to vote at this meeting. At this meeting we will also be presenting and sharing the new Student Behaviour Support Management plan to get community feedback.

Tina Lee – Principal

Dates for your Diary

PSSA – Information

In 2025, our school will once again be participating in the PSSA Manly Zone competition. As always, it’s fantastic to see large numbers of students signing up for every sport. Teachers are faced with the difficult task of putting these teams together. Teachers do their absolute best to give every student the opportunity to impress and be selected. Trials will be held, weather permitting, Friday 7 February, Thursday 13 and Friday 14 February. PSSA round 1 will commence on 28 February.

We would love to take every student who trialled for PSSA however, we are limited to take a certain number of students in each sport. We ask that students and parents are understanding of the decision made by teachers. Teachers will not be responding to requests to add students to teams or to change decisions. Decisions on teams are final.

Along with this, please be advised of the following:

Trials are held over two or three weeks to allow for students to be seen multiple times and to accommodate students who may be absent due to illness on one of the trial dates. Students must be present at a minimum of one trial to be considered. Students who are absent due to illness on all trial dates will not be considered.

Students who are present at the trials but are injured and unable to trial e.g. broken arm, will be considered if the injury is not long term. Teachers will arrange a trial for these students as soon as their injury has resolved.

Students who are absent for all trial dates due to holidays will not be considered.

Sports may be cancelled where we do not have sufficient student numbers to field a team.

The great news for students who do not attend PSSA on a Friday is that they will be participating in our school sport programs. Each term we book external providers who come to the school and run exciting competitions and fun skill sessions.

Melinda Ward - PSSA Coordinator

Public Transport Changes

Transport for NSW (Transport) and our bus operators provide a variety of dedicated school bus services to support student travel during the school term.

For the start of Term 1 2025, these services will operate in alignment with the NSW Department of Education (DET) calendar, including staff development days at the start and end of each school term.

For the 2025 school year, this will be from the Friday 31st January 2025.

To help you plan, the Transport Trip Planner will be updated with the new schedule in early January 2025. You’ll be able to use it to plan trips that include dedicated school services by visiting www.transportnsw.info

Please remind all students they are required to tap on and off services.

Canteen

When prompted by Flexischools please update your child's class to their 2025 class grouping. Lunch orders are to be collected from the canteen. K-2 from the lunch collection line closest to the hall, 3-6 from the canteen counters.

Frozen items can be collected from the frozen item line at the canteen with their lunch bag.

The canteen is available for recess and lunch orders each day and open for over the counter purchases (cash only) at lunch.

Kindergarten 2025

We cannot wait to meet the new Kindy students of 2025. We recommend letting your child settle into school and the excitement of lunch times before sending them with some money to spend at the canteen. When they are ready, please remember that they only need a little bit of money as it can be very tempting to spend large amounts all in one day.

If you will be ordering lunch from the canteen in the first few weeks of term, please let your child's teacher know so that they can help them find their way to the canteen to collect it.

Don't forget to download the Flexischools app for online ordering https://flexischools.com.au/ and turn notifications on so that you never miss a message from the canteen.

Got an allergy?

If your child has an allergy, please make sure to let the canteen know ahead of time so we have a record of it. Do not forget to tick the allergy alert button when making an order so that we can take extra care when preparing your child's food.

Sign up to help at the canteen

Volunteering at the canteen is a great opportunity to see your kids. Please sign up for a shift to help out. 

Please consider completing this short food safety course if you will be making sandwiches and toasties with us. Once you have completed the course don't forget to send us a copy of your certificate. 

Birthday orders

Order your birthday frozen treats through the birthday treats section on Flexischools by 1.00pm the day before. 

Flexischools Ordering

If you are having trouble ordering or need help with your account you can call Flexischools on 1300 361 769 or submit a question online.

Got a question? or need to get in touch

Feel free to contact the canteen on email manlyvalepscanteen@gmail.com

Becky McGowan – Canteen Manager

Community Notices

School Information