23 March 2017

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

This week Manly Vale Public School is hosting 24 students from Wen Jiang Primary School in China. The week began with a welcome ceremony where the students performed for the whole school and the accompanying teachers presented a school banner and a beautiful “panda” print to the school.

A school tour followed and the students really enjoyed the beautiful bush land environment of Manly Vale. Wen Jiang Primary school has 2000 students so the visitors were very impressed with the quieter atmosphere Manly Vale has to offer. The rest of the week has seen the students working in classrooms, visiting Taronga Zoo and going on a trip to the beach. The cultural exchange has been a great experience for teachers and students alike. Thank you to all our host families for accommodating these students and to Miss Phillips who has coordinated the visit. We hope this will be the start of many international connections and study tour visits. Our Chinese friends will leave us next Tuesday 28 March.

Design, Make Innovate (DMI)

Our stage 3 students have been making games as part of a design and make program, working with Mackellar Girl’s Campus students. The best entries for this competition will be on display at Balgowlah Boy’s Campus this Friday 24 March. Congratulations to all the students on their designs.

No PSSA games - trials Friday 24 March

This Friday it is the seasonal changeover of sports for PSSA. Our summer competitions will conclude and resume end of term 3 to make way for our winter sports. Sports to trial for winter will be boys soccer, and rugby league, girls soccer and netball. All students from years 3 to 6 will be able to try out for these sports this Friday.

Earth Hour - Friday 24 March

This Friday all of Manly Vale Public School will participate in “Earth Hour.” From 9.30-10.30am all students, teachers and office staff will shut down all electrical appliances and devices in order to conserve energy. Please feel free to join us in helping to conserve energy on this day.

Parent/Teacher interviews

The last 2 weeks of term beginning Monday 27 March have been scheduled for our parent-teacher interviews. A note was sent home last week to show you how to book an interview. The interview site will close this Friday 24 March at 12 noon to allow teachers time to download their interview schedule in preparation for the week. Please make sure you have booked an interview by this time.

Class Coordinators

We now have a parent representative on every class to coordinate communication between the school, P & C and parents. All class coordinators are listed below and can be contacted via their email if you have a question about events or organisation within the school. Thank you to Inessa Jackson who has agreed to coordinate these parents. Email lists for every class are now being sent out via the coordinators. Please make contact with the school or Inessa if you haven’t been included on a list and would like to be.

Our first information night and get together for the class coordinators will be on Thursday 30 March at 7.00pm in the staffroom.

Class coordinators:

P & C Meeting - Tuesday 14 March

Last week we had our second P & C meeting of the year. Fundraising priorities and expenditure was discussed and Penny Dixon and her fundraising team are busily organising some exciting events for the year. Plans for fundraising will be discussed at the Class Coordinator meeting on Thursday 30 March.

A big thank you to Jenny Atkinson for all her work in setting up a new group of parents for various roles in the P & C and to Gale Switzer, Wendie McDougall, Katrina Piper, Peta Morris and Inessa Jackson and others for their organisation of the uniform shop and online ordering.

Next meeting the P & C will be voting on a representative for the School Council. Candidates for this position must be active P & C members, have an interest in the school and regularly attend P & C meetings. Nomination forms are available at the school office. Voting will take place at the next meeting on Tuesday 4 April 7.00pm.

School Council AGM- Monday 15 May

The School Council will hold its Annual General Meeting for 2017. All membership positions will be nominated and voted upon in this meeting. A nomination form is available at the school office.

There are four parent representative positions including a P & C elected position. Two teachers currently sit on the school council Mrs Jordy Fraser and Mrs Elaine McManus along with a community representative who is nominated by the school council. The community representative must not be a parent or staff member at the school.

We would like to thank and acknowledge Mrs Georgina Sawyer who is a Conveyancer in the Freshwater area and an active community member, for her participation on the school council and thank her for her commitment to the role over the past 12 months. A community representative will be nominated by the current school council representatives in preparation for the AGM.

Traffic Survey

The School Council is interested in surveying the school community on their concerns regarding traffic and modes of transport to and from school in the afternoons and mornings. Please follow the link below to participate in the survey. Class coordinators will also email the survey out to all parents and community members. Please be aware that you may only participate in the survey once. Please take the time to complete the survey.

Bushlink visit - Monday 27 March

Next Monday the Bushlink team will visit our school and work with our year 3 and 4 students to create a native garden. The garden will be cared for by the students of Manly Vale Public School and be situated next to our basketball court. Thank you Mr Dylan for your organisation and to Cathy Hockey and the Bushlink team for their assistance in this initiative.

Field Of Mars Excursion- years 1 & 2

Stage 1 students will visit the Field of Mars to participate in the activities on wet and dry environments and weather changes. Year 1 will attend next Monday 27 March, with our year 2 students participating in this excursion on Monday 3 April. Notes have already gone home for these excursions and payment is required before next week as part of the Whole School Program of fees.

Easter Hat Parade - K-2 Thursday 6 April

This year our Easter Hat Parade will take place on Thursday 6 April at 2.00pm. All students in K-2 will decorate a hat for the parade during class time with their buddy classes. Years 3-6 may make a hat at home if they wish to wear whilst watching the parade but only Kindergarten, Year 1 and 2 will parade their hats. More information will come home next week regarding the collection of materials and the making of the hats. We hope you all can join us in watching the parade.

Tina Lee - Principal

Assistant Principal’s Report

China Study Tour

It has been an absolute delight having our Wen Jiang China Study Tour start this week. All Manly Vale Public School host families met the students as they hopped off the tour bus from Sydney Airport and the excitement was evident. The Pienaar’s took their student straight to the Opera House for dinner and many others went to the beach which they loved.

On Monday the Wen Jiang students recited an English reading and performed a dance for us and were welcomed by our School Captains and Vice Captains. Mrs Lee officially welcomed the group and was given a beautiful banner of the school motto and a painting of Sichuan pandas. Mrs Banham and I ran an English lesson for the students and Mrs Speight taught the students art. You can see the amazing Harbour Bridge charcoal drawings and the abstract Opera House water colours displayed on the technology room windows.

On Tuesday the students did fitness with year 6 students and played the amazing project-based games the stage 3 students made for DMI. The students then spent 90 minutes in stage 2 & 3 classrooms participating in ‘typical’ Manly Vale Public School English lessons. Mrs Lee, Mr Dylan and I took the students on a bushwalk to the Dam and had a sausage sizzle, wrote poetry and did drawings of the surroundings. Thank you Grant Lee and Ian Hills for cooking a delicious Aussie BBQ!

Yesterday the students had an excursion to Taronga Zoo where they patted kangaroos, had a backyard to bush lesson where they met an echidna & lizard and rode the cable car. Thank you Mrs Banham and Mrs Abrahams for coordinating and attending the excursion. Today the students went with Mrs Abrahams and myself to North Head, Manly Beach & Wharf for a play and to the Corso for shopping and lunch.

Tomorrow the students will be working in the K-2 classrooms, attending the K-2 assembly run by 2GC, doing movement and dance with kindy and then attending 3-6 sport in the afternoon. On Monday the students will be doing some coding and GATs games and watching 2B do a Lego Wedo lesson. The students will then be helping plant trees with stage 2 and the Bushlink team and will spend the afternoon in year 2 classrooms where they will attend dance lessons with Mrs Orrick and the classes. Sadly, on Tuesday we will farewell our guests. The Chinese teachers will teach a Chinese Cultural lesson to Stage 3 classes and then we will have a farewell assembly at 2:00pm.

School Photos

Your child has received a photo envelope. The easiest way to order photos is to order online below. You will need to type in our specific school photo code which is P2B 27Y HEW. Parents who place orders online DO NOT have to return the photo envelope. However, if you wish to pay by cheque, cash or money order you will need to return the envelope to school prior to or on photo day. Sibling photos may be ordered online using the same 9 digit code P2B 27Y HEW or via a sibling envelope available at the front office.

Please note that K-2 & 3/4W portraits and class photos, sibling’s photos and our SRC photo will take place on Friday 31 March. Years 3-6 portraits, class photos, year 6, Leader’s and House Captain’s photos will take place on Monday 3 April.

Lisa Phillips – Assistant Principal

ICAS University Competitions

Entry forms and payment are due back at school by tomorrow Friday 24 March 2017. No late entries accepted.

Scholastic Book Club

Issue 2 orders are due by 9.00am Friday 24 March 2017

Dates for Your Diary

Cockatoo Island Excursion by Sam Romeo

On Monday the 13 March, stage two Manly Vale Public School students went on an excursion. They went to Cockatoo Island to learn about early convict times in Australia because they were studying it in history.

As soon as we got to school we went to our classes to line up. My class got into groups because we were splitting up to catch busses to Circular Quay. When we got there we boarded a ferry to Cockatoo Island. When we got to Cockatoo Island we met our tour guide Sue. We all got dressed up into our costumes, you could have been a big and bossy official, a handsome and smart guard, a disgusting convict or a sweet little maid. I was a guard.

When we were ready Sue took us up a hill to the top of the island. At the top we went into the guard house and learned about how many guards there were by looking at the hooks and saw that the convicts had to build it out of sandstone. Then Sue told us a story about Fred Ward and how he escaped and became the famous bushranger Captain Thunderbolt.

Then Sue took us to the convicts’ barracks and saw that the convicts had to sleep on wooden bunk beds with four people on the top and bottom. After that we went to the kitchen and saw a table were the guards served the food with a spoon and dumped it on the table for the convicts to eat without cutlery.

After that we went to the solitary confinement and went in the tiny cells where you had to stay if you did something bad and got in trouble. Then we went to the silos where the convicts had to dig big holes in the sandstone and if they didn’t dig enough out they would have to stay there overnight!

Finally we went to dry dock bay and saw that the convicts had to dig out a port. We went through dogleg tunnel which hadn’t been built until later in the island’s history as an air raid shelter during the war. Then we had lunch and played throw the bean bag in the hole. We caught the ferry back to Circular Quay and caught the bus back to school.

At school we got our bags and got ready to go home. It was a massive day and fantastic fun, my highlight was the guard's house. I would go back again any day and I would recommend it to anyone.

Manly Vale Public School Welfare Update

This term we are launching the new Positive Behaviour Rewards system for Manly Vale Public School. This system is designed to encourage long term positive behaviours and personal responsibility in our students.

You might see your child bringing home a new type of reward. These are called Super Owls and are for especially good behaviours. They are to be collected and when a child has 5 saved up, they can be swapped for a Merit Certificate which will be presented to the student in class. 5 Merits can be swapped for a Principal’s Award, 5 Principal’s Awards can be swapped for a School Banner and 3 School Banners can be swapped for a School Medal which is presented at the end of year Celebration of Learning.

We have decided to honour any past Merit Certificates for this new system. Any students who have been collecting their merits over the years may bring them in, in groups of 5, to their class teacher to receive Principal’s Award.

Our traditional Super Kids remain as an encouragement system in class and the playground and will still be used at K-2 or 3-6 assemblies in a lotto for a canteen voucher.

You also might see some A3 posters around the school displaying our school’s expectations: ‘Caring’, ‘Sharing’ and ‘Personal Best’ and what these behaviours look like. There are also posters showing our mission statement – “Learning Together to Create the Future” and the goals we have set to achieve this. If parents and families could discuss these expectations and goals with their children it would demonstrate a joint focus from both staff and families of the school.

We are very proud of the behaviour of Manly Vale students and constantly receive compliments from visitors, bus drivers and a variety of people when are out and about on excursions. With this system we hope to continue the wonderful tradition of caring and respectful natured students, their families and the community we are nestled in, into the future.

How to book a teacher interview for your child

To book an interview for your child click on the link below:

• Enter the code: 7kwxe
• click on your child’s teacher and follow prompts to add your name, email and child’s whole name.

A confirmation email will be sent to the email address that you provided.

Interview bookings will be cut off on Friday 24 March at 12.00pm, so please be sure to book your interview before then. Interviews will take place during Week 10 and 11 from Monday 27 March to Friday 1 April, depending on teacher’s availability.

A separate interview will need to be booked for each of your children with their class teacher. Please follow the above steps for each of your children.

PLEASE be punctual with your child’s interview as we have a very tight schedule.

Thank you for your cooperation

Pat Dylan

Library News

The Premier's Reading Challenge has begun! Some children have had success logging on either through the suggested link, or just by googling Premier's Reading Challenge. The children log on using their school username and password.

Many of the suggested titles in the reading list are available through the school library or your local library. Over the last few weeks some of these titles have been shared in library time and these can be recorded as having been heard/shared by your child.

*Please note that all Kindergarten children will be participating at school in class and library time. However, if you wish to also participate at home you are most welcome to do so.

Students K-2 must complete 30 titles for their challenge.

Happy Reading - Glynis Poole – Teacher Librarian

Scripture and Ethics

Scripture and Ethics classes started in week 4. Most children are settled in their chosen group.

A request to change to another group is acceptable but changes can only take place at the start of a new term.

Please note at this stage Ethics groups are at capacity and any request to be moved into one of these groups will involve your child being placed on a waiting list.

Glynis Poole – Scripture/Ethics coordinator

Canteen Volunteers Roster Term 1, 2017

Community Notices

High School Open Days 2017 - NBSC Freshwater Senior Campus – Tuesday 9 May 3.00-7.00pm, see the campus in action – lessons and co-curricular activities conducted throughout the afternoon. View the spectacular facilities and discuss, with students and staff, the full range of programs offered at the campus. Enquiries: 9905 2634

Manly Vale Football Club

The Manly Vale Football Club is looking for boys and girls, turning 5 or 6 in 2017 to play in an Under 6 team – the Under 6 Gorillas – on a Saturday morning. Registrations are via the link below For more information call Tom Myles on 0488 424 122.

Northern Beaches Council Vacation Care

All day vacation care for school age children. To make a booking visit the council’s website below to register or phone 9942 2312 for more information.

Musica Viva Festival 2017 – Sydney Conservatorium of Music – 20-23 April

Explore Sydney’s finest chamber music festival! 4 days – 6 concerts – 25 composers performed – 26 international & local artists – no reasons to miss out! Kids holiday program – free family fun day – family concert. Tickets on sale below:

Lifeline Northern Beaches

$2 Book Clearance Sale – Saturday 25 March 9.00am-4.00pm & Sunday 26 March 9.00am-4.00pm, 267 Harbord Rd, Brookvale. Thousands of terrific books at only $2 and CDs & DVDs for only $1. Come and grab a bargain!

Cliff Side Fun Run at Long Reef

A community fun run on Sunday 9 April 2017 at Long Reef headland to raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation and refurbishments to Mona Vale SLSC, 7.00am start, 3km & 10km courses. Register below and use the code: YZJVTNWS.

Go4Fun

Is a FREE 10 week healthy lifestyle program for kids aged 7-13yrs who are above the healthy weight. Sessions run once a week for 2 hours after school, during school term. The program is run by a trained and qualified health professional – Tuesdays 4.30-6.30pm (starts 2 May) @ Pittwater Sports Centre, 1525 Pittwater Rd, North Narrabeen. REGISTER NOW. FREECALL 1800 780 900 OR:

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School Holiday Inserts