2 November 2017

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

We have completed our kindergarten orientation program for our 2018 intake and now have 77 children enrolled for next year. Thank you to all our new parents for attending the program and for coming to the information night last Wednesday 25 October. I’d like to also thank our P & C volunteers Jenny Aitkinson, Mel Corner, Karen Murgatroyd and Inessa Jackson for hosting the “Wine and Cheese” social last week and welcoming our new parents. Thanks also to our wonderful Kindergarten teachers Kate Stacey, Natalie Panetta, Victoria Durazza and Tegan Buckley for their presentation, and to Miss Phillips for her help with set up and pack up of the evening.

We will have a picnic at Manly Dam on Wednesday 15 November at 10.00am to allow our new Kindergarten students one last play together before they start school on Wednesday 31 January 2018.

Dancesport

On Thursday 19 October, 30 of our year 5 students represented Manly Vale Public School in the Dancesport Confidence Challenge at Homebush. Our 15 finalists in our ballroom dancing program performed the Cha, Cha, Tango, Jive and Salsa to a packed stadium, competing against 16 other schools. The following couples made it to the finals Sarah Hills and Tobias Twidale (Tango) , Jonah Goh and Lucy Scholtens (Jive), Dakota Birch and Carter Sengchanh (Salsa) , Holly Fitzgerald and Noah Corner (Cha Cha). We all cheered on our finalists and were so proud of them all for making the finals in our first experience of the competition. Congratulations to Noah and Holly who came 5th overall in the Cha Cha and special mention to Jonah Goh and Lucy Scholtens who took home the first place trophy for the Jive. Our dance instructor Brad Humphreys was elated with our achievements. Luke Scott also received a special award for his commitment and enthusiasm in participating in the program.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the year 5 parents this year for their support of the program and the new initiative for the school. We will be implementing the program in year 5 next year in term 2 to replace the current dance program we have been doing. It was a great success for all participants and I thank all the year 5 teachers for their enthusiasm to try something new this year. We have requested our dance teacher Mr Brad Humphreys for 2018.

Back to Manly Vale - Café Owl reunion

Last Friday our past students who are currently completing their HSC year, returned to Café Owl to visit. It was wonderful to see these mature young adults come and reminisce on their years at Manly Vale Public School and visit Café Owl to say a sincere farewell to our Sarah who is known fondly to all of them. Sarah was delighted to see them all as were their past teachers. With our Sarah leaving the school after 13 years of service on Friday 24 November it was lovely for her to say goodbye to them.

Playground Changes

We have been walking the older students down to David Thomas oval for lunch. Stage 3 students walk down on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Stage 2 students walk down Tuesdays and Thursdays. This has allowed for increased playground space back at school for our younger students and a great opportunity for our older students to have a full sized oval in which to play.

SRC Fundraiser

Last Thursday our Student Representative Council (SRC) hosted a mufti day to support research into congenital heart disease. Eva Cole in year 5 was born with a heart condition and gave a wonderful speech on Friday morning to the assembly on how the $950 raised will help in funding research into why students like herself are born with a heart condition. I thank every student who donated to this charity and also bought a heart bracelet to support the cause. Thank you to Miss Phillips for staying up the night before to make the bracelets and organising the event.

Kindergarten Zoo Excursion

Last Friday our Kindergarten students went on their annual trip to the zoo. They enjoyed visiting all the animals and sharing the experience with their friends. It was a big day out for all the students, teachers and parents. Thank you to all the parents who assisted with supervision on the day and to our wonderful teachers Ms Panetta, Ms Durazza, Ms Buckley and Ms Stacey and our hard working teacher’s aides Mary & Steph, who looked after all the children from Manly Vale and brought them home safely. I’m sure there were some very tired children (and teachers) on Friday night. I’d like to take this opportunity to remind parents that they are not to take photographs of our students on excursions and share them with other parents via the internet/apps. We have many students who are not permitted to have their photograph taken and shared in the public domain.

School Plan 2018-2020

During the previous School Council and P & C meetings we looked at the current School Plan and talked about the directions we would like to see the school take for the next 3 years. The School Council talked about our school vision “Learning Together to Create the Future” and our Caring and Sharing motto and what it means to the school community. We have looked at framing our new school plan into “pillars”, these pillars being Innovation, Environment, Community and Learning Outcomes”. Over the next few Wednesday afternoons I will be holding workshops in the hall from 2.00pm – 3.00pm to further discuss our school directions. Please feel free to come along for the hour or just for a short 10 minutes to add some of your thoughts.

Thank you to Mr Stephen Hancock and Mrs Louise Stedman who accompanied me to the Northern Beaches Council community session last Monday night. It was great to discuss the service delivery of their priorities for our local community. Our new School Plan will compliment and reflect the focus of our local council and school community. Thank you to everyone who has attended P & C, School Council and workshop meetings so far.

Our next parent workshop will be on Wednesday 8 November at 2.00pm in the hall. All welcome.

Topics and questions for discussion are attached as a PDF or are available at the front office if you would like to contribute in some way and can’t make these workshops. You can return discussion papers to the front office or email me your contributions.

Swimming Scheme - year 2

Our year 2 students have had fantastic weather for their swimming school over the past week. All students are enjoying extending their own swimming ability with our more competent swimmers learning some helpful survival techniques as well as improving their stroke.

This is a great program and this intensive 10 day program sees a real improvement in the ability of all our year 2 students. Thank you to Mr Bennett for his organisation, and thank you to Ms Mason, Mrs Christian, Mrs Gibson and Ms Pembroke for their supervision and swimming instruction.

Remembrance Day Service - Friday 10 November

Our school leaders along with our year 5 & 6 students will attend the Remembrance Day service at Manly Dam at 10.45am on Friday 10 November. Grace Nairne has been asked to represent our school and do a speech on “The Attack on Sydney”. Our year 4 students and SRC leaders will conduct a short ceremony back at school that day.

School Fees

We are now wrapping up the payments and invoices for all our 2017 programs for this year. We still have families that have not paid all of their fees for the year. The “voluntary contribution” is the only section that can remain outstanding in fee payment as the rest of the school fees actually pay for wages for gym and dance, textbooks, licences including Mathletics etc.

Please pay the remainder of your fees as soon as possible. Although the government provides the basic books and pencils additional programs including dance, gym, excursions etc have to be paid by the school fees.

Car Park

Please refrain from using the car park for drop offs and pick-ups. With the car park being the main entry to the construction site it is becoming extremely dangerous to have young children being dropped off in that area.

Schoolzine App

There are still many parents who have yet to download the Schoolzine App. Please follow the instructions on the toolbar attached to this newsletter. We would really like all parents within the school to download this free app for ease of communication.

Tina Lee - Principal

Assistant Principal’s Report

Heart Kids Congenital Heart Disorder SRC Fundraiser

You may have seen the amazing article in the Manly Daily about our successful fundraiser for Heart Kids. The SRC voted on supporting this charity at our first SRC meeting this year. Students bought heart bracelets and gold coin donations and enjoyed wearing mufti for the day. Together as a school we raised $950 which will support Australian families of children with congenital heart disorders. Congratulations Eva Cole 5C for delivering such an honest and compelling speech about living with this disorder. Our school should feel very proud for joining together to provide such a generous donation to the Heart Kids charity.

Student Leadership for 2018

Next week we are starting our student leadership process for 2018. This involves organising all year 5 students to be ready to assume the various leadership positions to be offered at our school next year. The process starts with the current year 6 leaders talking about their jobs as leaders and mentoring the year 5 students.

The year 5 students who are nominated during the process will write their leadership speech under the supervision of Mrs Lee. They will have an opportunity to practice the speech before delivering it to the students. The 8 leaders will be announced at a Friday assembly and will receive their badges and titles at the 3-6 Celebration of Learning assembly on Wednesday 6 December. We are fortunate to have a very strong leadership program at Manly Vale and look forward to all year 5 students stepping into leadership roles in 2018.

Selective High School

At this stage several year 5 students have indicated their intention to apply for year 6 Selective High in 2019 by returning the slip to school. In return they received an information booklet about Selective High and the entry process. Please ensure your child is an appropriate candidate to sit the selective test by confirming with their teacher. These tests are not tests to be sat for ‘test practice’. If you have not returned your form, could you please do so as soon as possible. The online application website closes on Monday 13 November. There will be no acceptance of late applications.

Stationery Packs

Teachers have confirmed the stationery they would like students to have for each stage next year. We will be using Humphreys to provide student packs and these will be purchased through Flexi-schools. We raise at least $1,500 from the purchase of stationery packs and this money is used for K-6 school resources. There has been a trend for primary students not to purchase the packs but then not have the necessary resources needed throughout the year. The lists will be handed out shortly. Please ensure you either order the pack or source items yourself to be ready for day 1 next year.

Lisa Phillips – Assistant Principal

Swim Scheme Program

This year's Swim Scheme Program was a great success with some fantastic achievements being made by our Year 2 students. The swimming scheme provided students with an intensive program focusing on specific swimming and survival skills, and knowledge of water safety. Importantly, the intensive day to day structure of the program allowed students to continually build on focus skills for their particular group and develop their level of competence. The program provided an opportunity for students to not only refine skills but gain a greater confidence in the water. Well done to all the students involved!

Mr Bennett, Mrs Christian, Mrs Gibson, Miss Mason and Miss Pembroke

HOT (Higher Order Thinking) team…

Maths Olympiad

It is with great pleasure that we congratulate our Maths Olympians and Maths Games participants on their achievements this year. Students were working tirelessly during term 2 & 3 and attempted five maths problem-solving competition days. Their results were collated and the following students will be awarded certificates at the morning assembly on Friday 3 November:

Maths Olympiad

Ben Crowe
Kevin Wang
Nicholas Ridge
Andy Yang
Callum Northcott
Charlie Kanu
Taylor Davies
Jasmine Pienaar
Brandan Shapter
Spike Hancock
Sarah Hills
Daniel Povah
Lucy Sheffield
Barnaby Hancock
Greg John
Himaal Ramdam
Ethan Howitt-Dudman
Ella Fewtrell
Leo Smith
Ingrid Harding

Maths Games

Jonathon Levingstone
Mia Carrier
Finn Smith
Johan Goh
Tobias Twidale
Bree Purdie-Smith
Ella McAvoy
Ophelia Shapter
Nora Gado
Ebrika KC
Grace Nairne
JD Scoon
Joseph Wright
Georgina Diaz de Rivera
Veljko Loncar
Julianne Tolentino
Marcus Wizgier
Damian Bundalo
Jackson Greenbank
Lucy Scholtens

National History Challenge

It is with great pleasure that we congratulate our budding historians on participating in the National History Challenge for the first time this year. Students were challenged to write a historical essay on a theme ‘Making a Better World?' during terms 2 & 3 and submitted their essays for the competition. The following students will be awarded certificates at the Friday 3 November morning assembly:

Sarah Hills
Sophia Ivanov
Lydia Choi
Joseph Scoon
Morgan Andrews
Xavier Brown
Zak Zmijewski
William Curzon
Thomas Bradley

We would like to invite parents to the morning assembly to share this special occasion with your child.

Dates for Your Diary

‘Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.’ Carl Sagan

Breaking News! It's spectacular! Baby pill bugs are white! Stop the press!

Amazing! Pill bugs roll into a ball to defend themselves!

It's incredible! Pill bugs have seven pairs of legs and eight plates of armour!

The curiosity and inquisitiveness of our students never ceases to amaze me as their science teacher! The ‘Pill Bug’ project started with a visit from our resident scientist, Peter Macinnis late in term 3. His stories about little creatures engaged our students and with his help, all stage 2 classes set up pill bug farms. Students were looking after them by making sure they had fresh grass cuttings once a week and were keen to check up on them straight after the school holidays.

Many were surprised to discover that their pill bug community welcomed some pill bug babies! Our proud step mums and dads were very attentive and some attempted to name them all. Students observed the little additions’ features and behaviour very carefully using magnifying glasses.

The next step in our learning journey is to discover a pill bug or other invertebrates’ life cycles and organise groups of animals by their similar features.

Mrs Banham - Stage 2 Science Teacher

P&C News

There's just a couple of weeks left before our 2017 AGM where all positions are open and we will elect 2018’s President, Vice President (2 positions), Treasurer and Secretary. Role descriptions will be sent out through class parents next week.

Anyone who has been involved in the P&C can run for these leadership roles and members can nominate and vote for candidates. Make sure you put 14 November, 7.00pm in your diary and be ready to cast your vote.

Any questions, please contact andyandmel@gmail.com.

All other roles such as Events Coordinator, Parent Co-ordinator, Canteen, Uniform and Environment will be open for nominations and voting at the first meeting in 2018.

Next P&C meeting Tuesday 14 November, 7.00pm in the staff room! Hope to see you there.

Band

Both Junior and Senior Bands will be performing at the Showcase at Warringah Mall food court next Tuesday 7 November. It will be better than the Melbourne Cup! So come down and watch the kids play from 1.15 until 2.00pm. Senior band members, please remember your instruments.

Sick Bay

We are in need of boy’s second hand red school shorts sizes 6, 8 & 10 for the sick bay.

Transport of NSW School Opal Card 2018

Applications for 2018 school opal card are now open. If your child is starting Kindergarten 2018 and catching the school bus you will need to apply online for an opal card (applications close 31 December 2017). For more information visit the link below:

MANLY VALE OSHC CENTRE

M: 0430 369 288 E: mvoshc@primaryoshcare.com.au.

Dear Families,

We are excited to announce that we have launched our re-enrolment process for 2018. We have opened the registration for existing families first and this needs to be completed as soon as possible for us to ensure all families can get placements as well as making room for our new kindergarten enrolments.

Please make sure you have completed the survey regarding Christmas closure so we can help cater for your needs during this period.

At OSHC we have been participating in Health and Wellbeing sport. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons we have been playing soccer and dodgeball skills with coach Archie. This has been fun and the children have enjoyed participating in these activities as a group getting everyone involved.

From the Manly Vale OSHC Team

Canteen Volunteers Roster Term 4, 2017

Community Notices

Manly Vale Community Kindergarten

We have vacancies to start in 2018 for children aged 3-6 years. 3 days Monday to Wednesday, 2 days Thursday to Friday. Preschool hours are 9.00am to 3.00pm. Extended hours are available on Thursdays and Fridays. ENROLLING NOW – please phone 9949 1228 for further details below:

Collaroy Swimming Club

A friendly, family orientated swimming club, catering for all ages and standards. Come down and have a look one Sunday morning at Collaroy rock pool. Races commence at 10.00am. More information is available pool side at the recording table or browse our website below:

Connecting with your neighbours

If you are fortunate enough to live with a sense of community, where you know the people who live near you, share experiences and help one another, then you’ll probably agree, your life is richer for it. The Street by Street project is seeking community minded people to turn streets into communities in your area, through simple social activities. We’ll support you to do this. Contact Irene Opper at irene@streetbystreet.org.au or see the link below for more information.

Webber’s Circus

10-26 November, Boondah Reserve, Pittwater Rd, Narrabeen. For more information visit the link below:

Narrabeen Sports High School

Come play our game, Thursday 16 November 2017, 3.45-5.00pm, 10 Namona St, North Narrabeen. Narrabeen Sports High School offers professional coaching and world class facilities through our unique specialist Sports Academy. We are offering a FREE afternoon of training for students in years 4, 5 and 6 to come and try an Academy sport followed by a BBQ. Please call 9913 7820 or visit the link below for more information.

Kids First FREE Parent Seminar

How to Support your Sensitive Child, Tuesday 21 November 2017, 6.30-8.30pm, The Chairman’s Lounge, Brookvale Oval, Alfred St, Brookvale. To reserve your place book online at the link below or call Kids First on 9938 5419.