14 December 2017

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish our year 6 students all the best for high school next year. This week has been an exciting week with our Graduation on Wednesday, with Miss Phillips delivering the speech on behalf of their Kindergarten team back in 2011. She was one of the Kindergarten teachers then and is quite emotional farewelling her first class to go through Manly Vale Public School.

We thank them for their leadership of the school in 2017 and hope that they take the “Caring, Sharing” motto onto high school and beyond.

We also say goodbye to Mrs O’Grady who has been at the school for 13 years and retires from teaching after 32 years of service with the Department of Education. Mrs O’Grady began her teaching career at Eurabalong West (100 miles from Condobolin) and has taught all classes from Kindergarten to year 6. She has been at Manly Vale Public School since 2005 and an Assistant Principal at Manly Vale Public School since 2012. As the year 6 exit the school this Friday in their clap out at 2.40pm Mrs O’Grady will also follow on behind. Thank you Mrs O’Grady for all your contributions to our school. We wish you all the best for your retirement.

We say a fond farewell to Mrs Leigh Davison, Mr Christian Guzman and Mrs Lynn O’Grady, along with our Year 6 students. May I take this opportunity to farewell some of our students and their families as they move onto new places and new schools next year:

Minjun Choi, Kye Daniell, Joshua, Sebastian and Olivia Galang, Alby and Don Jackson, Natalie Krasna, Lara Taylor, Sophie Phipps, Oliver and Xavier Schafer-Bock, Zara Lee, Anya and Nadia Sutherland, Irina and Filip Lazov, Marlo Batchelor, Bede Russell and Monty Hanna. Thank you for being a part of our Manly Vale Public School family and good luck in your new destinations and adventures.

Year 6 leaders for 2018

Last Wednesday we welcomed our new Student leadership team for 2018.

Congratulations to:

Dakota Birch and Kyan McDougall – School Captains 2018
Sarah Hills and Carter Sengchanh - Vice Captains 2018
Cleo Lovell and Tobias Twidale – Prefects 2018
Lucy Scholtens and Charlie Kanu – Prefects 2018

Thank you to our School leaders for 2017, Sonny Harper, Sienna Kelly, Ben Crowe, Grace Nairne, Jude Pincus, Julianne Tolentino, Spike Hancock and Ella McAvoy who completed their leadership duties and handed over their jackets to our new leaders during that very special assembly. Their leadership this year has been exemplary. Special mention to Ben Crowe, who played the piano for our Celebration of Learning assemblies last week. Thank you to Miss Phillips who organised both assemblies and to our special guest Mr James Griffin MP Member for Manly who attended as a special guest.

Band End of Year Concert – Thursday 7 December

Last Thursday night we heard the last performance of our junior and senior bands for the year. Everyone commented on how well both bands performed and what improvements they had both made. The hard working Band Committee John Logan (president), Mel Corner (secretary), Turia Mako and Helena Edgerton (Jnr Band Liaison), Manuela Curzon (Snr Band Liaison) Jo Poulos (Treasurer), along with our teachers Miss Lisa Phillips and Miss Kate Stacey, have done an amazing job organising performances and rehearsals. Thank you to our talented conductors Gergely Maylusz and Ben Dickson who have expertise and musicianship has led to the Band program being such a success. Special mention also to our Band captains for 2017 Ella Dos Ramos and Barnaby Hancock for hosting the evening. We look forward to another great year next year.

Pink Stumps day - Friday 8 December

Our junior and senior cricket teams coached by Mr Andy Bennett once again chose to raise funds for the McGrath Foundation and hosted a fun afternoon (all dressed in pink) last Friday. The weather held off and the boys had a great afternoon playing in front of some very keen supporters (Mrs Speight and Miss Phillips). Thank you to all the parents who went down to watch and support the boys and to everyone who sponsored them for the afternoon. Mr Bennet does an amazing job in organising this event. The boys set themselves a target of $250 but rose (to date) $1533.22. A tremendous effort from all involved.

Congratulations Finn

Congratulations Finn Smith from year 5 on being selected to attend the Math extension workshop a few weeks ago. This workshop will be a great way to prepare him for year 6 next year.

P & C Meeting - Tuesday 5 December

Last Tuesday we had our final P & C meeting for the year. Mr James Fewtrell (father of Ella and Kate) was elected as our new P & C president for 2018. He will replace Ms Jenny Atkinson (Caitlin and Archie’s mum) who has done an amazing job this year in implementing so many changes to the uniform shop and canteen operations. Jenny has also been a tremendous support of the school, executive and teachers this year and has had to diplomatically chair a lot of community meetings. Thanks you Jenny for your contribution to Manly Vale Public School this year.

Other official positions now held for 2018 include:

Secretary - Karen Murgatroyd (Hannah and Samuel’s mum)
Vice President - Helen Gay (Olivia and Tom’s mum)
Treasurer- Tony Sherlock (Isaac and Oliver’s dad)
Canteen Coordinators - Kerry Smallman and Lydia Burth (Leon and Olivia’s mum)
Uniform Coordinators - Gayle Switzer (Jordyn’s mum) and Katrina Piper (Lucas and Max’s mum)

The positions of Class Coordinators, fundraising teams etc. will be decided next year. Please be aware that you do not require a Working With Children Check (WWCC) next year if you are volunteering as part of a supportive role in our P & C. Thank you to all our volunteers.

Art Showcase

Congratulations to all the students who had their work shown as part of our art showcase last Thursday and Friday. Mrs Speight and Ms Stacey have been running an extension art program called the “Art Shack” this year and some of the work shown was an outcome of this program. Thank you to all the K-2 teachers who assisted in setting up this exhibition. We certainly have some very talented artists in the school.

Kindergarten Graduation - Tuesday 12 December

It was wonderful to witness our Kindergarten students graduate from their first year of school. An emotional Ms Buckley, Ms Panetta, Ms Stacey and Ms Durazza congratulated their classes and awarded graduation certificates in front of a packed hall full of parents. It was a wonderful morning and everyone commented on the difference a year can make in the development of our children. We have gone from “tears and tissues” to Kindergarten confidently performing in front of an audience. Thank you to Mrs Speight for her leadership of the Kindy team this year and congratulations to all our Kindergarten students for completing their first year at primary school.

Special thanks to our teacher’s aides this year Pete, Mary, Jayne, Tom and Steph, who have been an enormous assistance in our Kindergarten rooms, and throughout the school and on our playground during playtime.

Dancesport Challenge

This year we introduced a new dance/well-being program into our year 5 classrooms. Although the students and parents were reluctant at first it has seen incredible results within the grade. The confidence and respect the children have gained from this program has been incredible. We will be participating again with our year 5 students next year. Brad Humphreys our ballroom dancing instructor, is a National champion and has continued to run an after school program with some of our interested students.

These students performed in the end of year championships on Sunday 25 November. Manly Vale Public School was represented by nine very excited dancers. For many it was their first dance competition. Congratulations to all our competitors. Isaac Bromley made it into the finals for The Waltz and Tom Downey Wright made it into the finals for Cha Cha. Holly Fitzgerald came 1st in the Jive and 2nd in the Waltz.

School Closure - this Friday

The school grounds will be closed off to the public for the whole of the school holidays. Fences will be erected at the end of this week and there will be no access to the site after the 22 December. This is to accommodate major construction works on the site during these holidays.

Trenches and cabling access will be done through the front playground from the street during next week. The OSHCare Vacation Care service will remain operational during next week only, up until Friday 22 December in the 2E and 2B classrooms near the canteen, then will close for Christmas and all of January. The OSHCcare will not reopen till Tuesday 30 January 2018 when all of the children return to school. If you require holiday care during this closure period please use another Primary OSHCare service at Seaforth, Farmhouse Montessori (Balgowlah Heights) or Wheeler Heights. These programs are available on the following website. No registration fees will apply.

During January, asbestos will be removed from the site and further construction work will be done. Please do not allow your children to come up to the school during this time.

School Returns

Our first official school day will be Tuesday 30 January. All students who will be in year 1 to year 6 in 2018 are to return to school that day. Our new Kindergarten students do not come until Wednesday 31 January. They will come in their school uniform for 1 hour from 9.30am - 10.30am. Kindergarten children will meet their new teachers whilst parents are invited to the school hall for an information session on Best Start. Best Start Interviews will then be done from that Wednesday through to Friday 2 February, with the first official day of Kindergarten being Monday 5 February from 9.30am – 2.30pm.

Merry Christmas

May I take this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a restful and safe holiday. Although a very busy year for the school, it’s been a very happy and productive one. Thank you to the office staff Pam Davison, Luise Nealon, Annabel Marsden and Ann Baleisis for their constant support of all the staff, students and parents.

Thank you to the executive team who have been an amazing support this year Miss Phillips, Mrs Speight, Mrs O’Grady and Mr Dylan. To our teaching staff who have worked so hard under very difficult circumstances this year (sometimes doing double duties to provide playground opportunities for our children)…thank you. Thank you parents for helping out in classrooms, on the canteen and uniform shop, attending P & C and School Council meetings, and fundraising events. This is an amazing community to be a part of and Manly Vale Public School is truly a special place to work. Enjoy the break and I look forward to working with you all again in 2018.

Tina Lee – Principal

Assistant Principal’s Report

Stationery

The stationery pack information sheets were sent home yesterday. Please order your stationery packs now from Flexischools.

Minifest

All students had an exciting afternoon of fun activities at the Minifest on Friday 1 December. The Minifest is a whole school event that all stage 3 students help to organise as part of our end-of-year festivities. The students work in small groups and decide on a game or activity for the K-4 students to participate in. Thank you to all the families who sent in the biggest selection of prizes. Congratulations to the year 5 and 6 students for all your hard work and efforts to make Minifest such a fantastic afternoon of fun!

SRC Handover

On Monday 4 December the 2017 leaders handed the SRC over to our new 2018 school leaders. The 2017 leaders have been excellent at running the SRC meetings and have ensured many things have been implemented this year as a result of their presenting carried suggestions to Mrs Lee. Spheros are robotic spheres which are programmed using coding language and 5L requested they be purchased as an SRC suggestion. Thank you to the P&C for purchasing Spheros! The students love them already. This is just one example of a fabulous suggestion that has made a positive change in our school. We would like to extend a huge thank you to the 2017 year 6 students who have been dedicated class managers to help the K-2 SRC representatives and thank you to the 2017 leaders. We wish the 2018 leaders similar success with the SRC next year.

Stage 3 Asian Culture Study Expo

Last Thursday all stage 3 students presented their Asian Culture Study projects at our expo as a celebration and culmination to our term 4 history unit of work. All years 5 and 6 students were put into small groups of three or four and were allocated a country from Asia. Together students researched and collaborated to discover the links and differences between Australia and Asia and to learn more about specific details of their given country. Students used information studies sessions with the help of Mrs Murphy-Haste to gather information on tourism, housing, education, weather patterns, trade, population and currency etc. Students were asked to prepare food from their country, dress in national colours or clothing, design a travel brochure, create an interactive technology presentation and make an artwork representative of the country. Thank you to all the parents in stage 3 who visited and asked pertinent questions. Our stage 3 students did an amazing job and should be congratulated for all their efforts.

Band Presentation Night & Christmas Party

On Thursday night both junior and senior bands performed for friends and families at the end of the year presentation night. Ben and Gergely, our extraordinary band conductors, led the bands in a collection of their greatest hits and then awarded prizes to some students for their outstanding efforts throughout the year. It was wonderful to showcase the work students have put in to be able to play their instruments so professionally with each other. The other highlight of the evening was the parent band which played their child’s instrument and performed songs taught to them by their child. It was a fabulous night. Thank you to our conductors, the band committee, Mrs Lee and Miss Stacey for all their hard work in 2017.

ICAS Science Certificates

It is so fantastic to be able to write that our Science ICAS certificates miraculously arrived in the mail today after being told so many months ago that they had been ‘lost’ in the post! Congratulations to the following students for achieving merit, credit, distinction and high distinction certificates. The students will receive these certificates tomorrow morning in assembly.

Lisa Phillips - Assistant Principal

Dates for Your Diary

Library News

We finish the year in Manly Vale Public School library with a big thank you to all the families who have so kindly and generously donated wonderful books for everyone to share. A special thank you to all the children and families who found those ‘missing’ books and returned them to the library.

Remember your local library is always a great place to visit in the holidays for fun activities.

Happy holidays and happy reading.

Glynis Poole & Annette Murphy-Haste – Teacher Librarians

NSW Representative Football

Congratulations to Gregory John (6O’G) who has represented New South Wales in the Football Australia Pacific School Games held in Adelaide last week. An amazing result – his team won the National competition! An outstanding feat and the second year in a row for the top prize for Gregory. We wish Gregory all the best in his future with football.

Ms Cash

Canteen News

The canteen will be open 5 days a week in 2018, except for Tuesday 30 January and Wednesday 31 January.

Canteen Volunteers Roster Term 1, 2018

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).

Community Notices

Allambie Netball Club

Allambie Jets Junior Rugby Union Football Club

Registration Opens online 31/1/2018 for players U6-U11. Register online at the following link or join our Open Day at Allambie Oval 16 February 2018 from 3.30pm. Come along, have fun & get involved. BBQ afterwards.

Return and Earn

Hangi Jax & Umu Lu at 329 Condamine St, Manly Vale is a collection point for the Government Return and Earn scheme. Students can make some pocket money by collecting bottles & cans whilst learning about recycling and reducing rubbish in our environment.

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