20 February 2025

Principal’s Report – Term 1 Week 4

It was wonderful to welcome back all our year 6 students and teachers from their camp experience last week. All the students had a fabulous time at the Great Aussie Bush Camp and spoke of many challenges they experienced on the giant swing, power fan and mud world activities. Thank you to our year 6 teachers Mrs Blackband, Mr Dylan and Mrs Taylor for attending the camp and providing this opportunity for our senior students.

Parent Information Evenings

This week our kindergarten team hosted their parent information evening and thank you to all the parents who attended. These nights are so beneficial, and it is recommended that at least one parent attend to get the information and sign up for the class email list.

Next week we will have the following evenings:
Monday 24 February      Stage 2 (years 3 & 4) - 5.30pm in classroom
Tuesday 25 February      Stage 1 (years 1 & 2) – 4.30pm in classroom
Stage 3 (years 5 & 6) - 5.30pm in hall, then classrooms

Farewell Mrs Jayne Crain

This Friday we will farewell Mrs Jayne Crain one of our school learning and support officers. Mrs Crain will be taking a well-deserved break on long service leave for the year, then moving into retirement in 2026.

Mrs Crain has worked at Manly Vale Public School for 9 years and has spent many hours nurturing students in small group tuition situations and on a one-to-one basis in classrooms. Thank you, Mrs Crain for your commitment and dedication to all students at Manly Vale Public School. We wish you all the best in your next life’s chapter.

We will make a small presentation to Mrs Crain at the assembly tomorrow morning at 9.00am. Parents welcome.

P & C Meeting- Tuesday 18 February

Last Tuesday we had our first P&C meeting of the year. Our 2024 P&C executive ran the meetings but will now be stepping down from their positions until the annual general meeting on Tuesday 18 March at 7.00pm. Some of the outgoing committee may stand for their position again however some of these dedicated parents will be resigning as their children have now left the school. Thank you to our outgoing committee:

President- Mr Chris Nicholls
Vice President- Mr John Gillings and Mr Matt Lutze
Treasurer- Mr Peter Weatherston and Mr Ian Warren
Secretary: Ms Xara Roznerski

These positions will be all declared vacant at the AGM and members are able to nominate and elect new people to fill these positions. If you wish to become a member of the P&C, please fill in an application at the front office and pay a gold coin donation. The descriptions for the various roles are also available in the office.

Opportunity Class 2026 and Selective High School 2026

Applications for the opportunity class 2026 (Year 5) and the selective high school 2026 (year 7) close tomorrow 21 February. No late applications will be received after this date. Please complete the application form tonight.

Applications can be done below by following the link provided:

Bus Monitors 2025

This week Mrs Lee met with the year 5 students who catch the bus. The meeting was to explain the responsibilities around the role as bus monitor. All students will commence their 2-week trial and if successful receive their badges at the 3-6 assembly on Friday 28 February. Parents are welcome to attend this assembly.

Tina Lee – Principal

House Captains 2025

Student Representative Council 2025

Dates for your Diary

Temporary Out-of-Area Allowance for some Manly Vale Public School Families transitioning to High School

Following comprehensive community consultation, changes to school offerings and school intake areas are being implemented in the Northern Beaches from 2026.

Under the revised intake area boundaries, all families will have guaranteed access to a co-educational high school.

The updates provide improved alignment between primary schools and high schools, enabling more students to move from primary school to high school with their peers.

The alignment of intake areas is a high priority for the Department because it promotes student and community cohesion through the transition to secondary schooling.

From 2026, all students living within the 2026 Manly Vale Public School intake area will be designated to The Forest High School as their guaranteed co-educational option. These students will have an additional guaranteed option to enrol at either Northern Beaches Secondary College Mackellar Girls or Northern Beaches Secondary College Balgowlah Boys campuses, if single-sex schooling is preferred.

However, some families who enrolled at Manly Vale Public School under the existing 2025 intake area, may find themselves zoned to a different high school intake area (Northern Beaches Secondary College Cromer or Northern Beaches Secondary College Freshwater campuses) from 2026.

To support all students at Manly Vale Public School to transition to high school with their peers, the department is implementing a temporary out-of-area allowance for these families.

The allowance applies to families of Manly Vale Public School students whose address has been designated to NBSC Cromer or NBSC Freshwater, under the 2026 intake area plan.

These families will be able to make an out-of-area application to one of the Manly Vale Public School aligned high schools (NBSC Balgowlah Boys, NBSC Mackellar Girls or The Forest High School) which will be accepted.

The allowance will be in place from 2026 until all the Manly Vale Public School 2025 kindergarten cohort transitions to Year 7 (expected to be in 2032).

These measures ensure all students who enrolled locally at Manly Vale Public School, as per the current intake area, can transition to high school with their peers.

School Bus Service – Data Collection

Manly Vale Public School has been selected to take part in a data collection campaign for Transport NSW Buses. The campaign has been created to collect a more accurate account of the number of students who use the school bus service.  Student Opal Card usage does not always reflect the number of opal cards allocated to each school.  This campaign is a trial to see whether an advertising campaign in conjunction with bus drivers manually counting students who board the bus, will provide more accurate data to inform planning, funding requirements and efficient processes.

During the campaign there will be a representative from Transport at our school who will have a small number of flyers to distribute where appropriate. Their main function will be to manually count students.  Collecting accurate data and supporting students to use their Opal Card, will inform future planning for bus service allocations. 

The campaign will start on Monday 23 February and conclude at the end of March.  During this time Transport will waive the $10.00 Opal Card replacement fee for lost or damaged cards.

PSSA Manly Zone Competition

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, final trial tomorrow Friday 21 February. PSSA round 1 will commence on Friday 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

School Photo Day

School Photo Day – Wednesday 9 April

Mark your calendars! Our annual School Photo Day will be held on Wednesday, 9 April (Week 11). This is a wonderful opportunity to capture lasting memories of your child’s school year. Students are required to wear their full summer school uniform, including black school shoes, to ensure a neat and consistent look across all photos.

Parents can now order photos online using the link provided below. Please ensure orders are placed before photo day to avoid any late fees. If you would like sibling photos, these must also be ordered in advance through the online portal. Further details, including pricing and package options, are available on the ordering website.

We appreciate your support in ensuring all students arrive on the day looking their best and ready for their photos. If you have any questions, please contact the school office.

Ethics Teachers Needed

Ethics classes are an alternative to religion and non-scripture, teaching our kids to think, reason and discuss a range of ethical issues, whilst learning to respect other points of view and come to a deeper understanding of their own beliefs.

At Manly Vale, we have a very successful program but need more teachers to meet the demand for classes, particularly in Kindy, yr 2 and yr 4

No experience needed and online training is provided - the commitment is just a 30-minute class on a Wednesday morning, and 15 minutes to read through the lesson materials beforehand - and all materials are provided so no lesson planning needed!

If you or anyone you know is interested - please contact the ethics coordinator, Tamara Tyler, at tamara@tylermail.com.au or 0439220673

For more information about the ethics program, go to www.primaryethics.com.au.

Opportunity Class Applications 2026

2026 Opportunity Class and Selective High School Applications - Important Information for Parents of Current Year 4 and Year 6 Students

We want to inform you of important dates in the application process for Year 5 Opportunity Class (OC) and Year 7 Selective High School enrolments. Please note applications close soon.

Key Dates:
7 November 2024 to 21 February 2025 – parents and carers apply for selective high school or opportunity class entry in 2026 online.
2-4 May 2025 – students sit the selective high school or opportunity class placement test for entry in 2026.
19 May 2025 – make up test date (approved illness/misadventure requests)
Term 3, 2025 – placement outcomes and offers released to parents and carers
Term 1, 2026 – students who gain entry begin attending their opportunity class or selective high school

New Testing Process:

Another important change is that the placement tests in 2025 will be held at scheduled times over multiple days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) and conducted mostly in external test centres (i.e. not in schools). Students will be allocated an external test centre within the local area of their current school.

The 2025 selective high school and opportunity class placement test dates are 2-4 May 2025.

This year marks a shift in the application timeline; applications are now due earlier than in previous years. It’s crucial that parents prepare early to navigate this new schedule.

For more detailed information, including how to apply online, please visit the NSW Department of Education Selective High Schools and Opportunity Classes website.

Catherine Nelson - Assistant Principal

Book Club

Book club order cut off Monday 24 February

Our book club co-ordinator Sally Andrew will be stepping down from her role. To continue this service to the students we will need a volunteer to organise and distribute all book club orders. If you are interested, please contact the school office for further information by email.

Library News

We LOVE Libraries

This month we are celebrating how much we LOVE libraries and reading. Many students have visited the library at lunch to read a lovely book, do some sweet craft or contribute to our growing wall of love hearts.

We LOVE Kindergarten

With borrowing commencing this week, kindergarten students have borrowed their first book from Manly Vale Public School library. The students are so excited to bring their books home to share with you for the week. Please help your children to remember to return their library books next week on their library day. Do not forget – students must have a library bag to borrow.

Happy Reading!

Ali Webster – Teacher Librarian

Canteen

Please remember to let your children know if you are placing a lunch order for them. The canteen is spending a lot of time chasing students to collect their lunch and students are missing out on valuable learning time having to come down to the canteen to collect their order after lunch.

Placing a flexischools lunch order

Please make sure you select the correct date for your lunch order and check that you get a confirmation email that the order has been placed. Remember to order by 8.50am or use the late order section up until 10.00am

Kindergarten 2025

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

Screen Savvy Support

High School 2026 – Open Day

Community Notices

School Information