12 April 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

End of Term 1

It is hard to believe we are at the end of term 1 already. It has been a hugely productive and enjoyable term. The kindergarten students have settled beautifully into school routines and even calmly managed a classroom move too! On behalf of the staff I would like to acknowledge and thank all the P&C volunteers and parent helpers who have been involved in school events, services and meetings this term. Thank you to our canteen staff and Café Owl helpers for providing delicious food all term and for making Friday mornings fantastic! Thank you to the students who have started school with a settled approach and who have been working hard throughout the term. Many have taken on extra-curricular activities too and we applaud them for their extra time and efforts. The teaching staff at Manly Vale Public School have worked extremely hard this term to set up inspiring, safe and inclusive learning spaces, create innovative teaching programs and provide exciting experiences for all students. Thank you to our administration and support staff who have worked tirelessly to ensure the school runs smoothly. We are very lucky indeed to have such a dedicated team of professionals working at Manly Vale. Have a very safe and relaxing holiday and we will see all students back at school on Tuesday 1 May for term 2.

Staff Development Day

The staff will be returning to school on Monday 30 April for a staff development day. Teachers will work in stage teams to collaboratively plan for the term. This is a fabulous opportunity for the staff and is always welcome after the holiday break.

Terms 2 & 3 Winter Uniform

When school resumes students are asked to wear the winter uniform. Girls are allowed to wear the tartan winter tunic or the long grey pants. All children should continue to wear black school shoes and their Manly Vale hats. There is a winter sports uniform available for all students too. The uniform shop will be opening on Friday 13 April for you to purchase any last minute items that you may need for the winter uniform. Ordering online prior to Friday is advised. Please see the images attached if you are unsure as to what the winter uniform looks like.

Junior Band Pre-School Performance Postponed

Unfortunately the weather was drizzly on Tuesday and several Junior Band members did not have raincoats so it was decided that we would postpone the pre-school performance scheduled for Tuesday. The pre-school were also very much in favour of postponing. The performance will be rescheduled as soon as a mutual date for all parties has been found. Thank you to the parents who volunteered time to help and for Gergely and Miss Stacey for all their prep and organisation for the performance.

Senior & Junior Band NSSWE Concert

Our bands have been rehearsing two mornings a week each to prepare for upcoming festivals and events. The NSSWE Concert is fast approaching and will take place on Monday 7 May. Thank you to Ben and Gergely working hard to prepare the students. Ben will be away the first two weeks of term 2 but Senior Band rehearsals will still go ahead. Gergely will conduct both Junior and Senior Bands at the concert. Please send all term 2 permission forms back to the office ASAP.

Debating Workshop

As a part of our Gifted and Talented Public Speaking program we have two enthusiastic debating teams being coached by Mrs Banham and Miss Martin this year. Both teams attended a debating workshop at Brookvale Public School on Tuesday and honed their debating skills. They worked alongside other schools’ debating teams and had a fantastic day. Thank you Mrs Banham for organising the event and for providing such a fabulous opportunity for our debaters.

Kindergarten Stage 3 Buddy Picnic

On Monday the kindergarten classes had a glorious day for their buddy picnic at Manly Dam. Miss Stacey, Miss Buckley, Miss Mason and Miss Taylor walked their classes to the dam and organised several entertaining activities and games. Mr Dylan, Miss Martin, Mrs Ward, Mrs Speight and I accompanied the Stage 3 students to the dam to ensure buddies were together for a picnic lunch. It was lovely to see the buddies eating and playing together. The stage 3 students should be congratulated for the care and kindness they show their buddies. The kindy buddies thoroughly enjoyed spending time with our older students and all of the teachers enjoy seeing the camaraderie. Thank you Miss Stacey for organising such a lovely event for kindy and Stage 3 to remember.

PSSA Winter Sport

The winter PSSA teams have all been selected and students have been advised of their positions on the teams. We have several teachers willing to take PSSA teams and who put in many extra hours to organise and coach the teams. I would like to thank the following teachers and wish them well in upcoming games; Mrs Blackband & Miss Martin - girls soccer, Ms Cash & Miss Sussanna - boys soccer, Mrs Humphreys – netball & nettas and Mr Bennett – rugby league. Permission notes and Code of Conduct notes are due back to school by Friday 13 April. Tomorrow students will train in school time. Before school training will commence Friday 4 May which will also be round 1 of winter PSSA. Students staying at school will participate in fundamental movement skills and athletics to prepare them for the Athletics Carnival.

Mother’s Day Organisation

Thank you to the P&C fundraiser committee for all your organisation of the Mother’s Day breakfast, keep cups, stall and general organisation. Please see the attached information from the P&C outlining detailed information for Friday 11 May. All classrooms will have a box for students to put mother’s day gifts in for the stall. We look forward to a lovely morning celebrating our mums.

Sydney North Dance Audition

Thank you to Miss Panetta and Miss Durazza for all your hard work with the dance ensemble groups. We wish the boys and girls all the best for their auditions on Wednesday 2 May. ‘Break a leg’ as they say in showbiz! We know you will enjoy dancing and make us proud of your achievements.

Scope It Stages 2 & 3

Starting in term 2, years 3-6 students will be engaging in weekly coding lessons provided by the ‘Scope It’ company. These will be in class times: Stage 2 Mondays and Stage 3 Tuesdays. We hope the students enjoy learning to code and engage in more advanced mathematical mental computation activities.

ANZAC Day

ANZAC Day falls in the holidays this year, on Wednesday 25 April. As a school we like to ensure students participate in all important commemorations. Our school leaders will be running a small service at school on Wednesday 2 May after recess in our normal Wednesday assembly time.

Tathra SRC Fundraiser

Recently disaster struck the area of Tathra and many homes were completely destroyed and the area devastated by out-of-control fires. The Student Representative Council (SRC) would like to help the people of Tathra who now have agonising months ahead to rebuild their lives. On Thursday 3 May students are asked to dress as a ‘real life community hero’ (fire fighter, nurse, doctor, ambulance professional, SES worker, helper etc) and bring a gold coin donation to show their support.

Lisa Phillips - Relieving Principal

Parking and Walking around schools

Assistant Principal’s Report 3-6

Leadership Workshop & Student Representative Council SRC

Last Thursday the leaders attended a leadership workshop at Brookvale Public School. I accompanied our leaders and was extremely proud of their behaviour, enthusiasm, ideas and input during the workshop. Several schools sent their leadership teams and it was interesting to hear 12 year olds talking passionately about schools, education, wellbeing and the environment. Our leaders have two ideas that they are working on and will hopefully form their major projects to complete during term 2. We have a very strong SRC and many excellent suggestions are put forward by the students in this forum. The year 6 leaders are hoping to help most of these suggestions come to fruition during their project work.

Project Penguin Visit

Stage 3 have started real-life project based learning with the commencement of the Project Penguin program. Permission notes outlining the project and all it involves were handed out last week and are due to be returned ASAP. The project provides the opportunities for peers to work collaboratively with a high school mentor to formulate an eye catching, attention grabbing project to be displayed in a local business to promote understanding and awareness of saving the fairy penguins living in Manly. The Stage 3 students are excited to be involved in the project. Thank you Miss Martin for all your organisational work in coordinating such a meaningful project.

Lisa Phillips – Assistant Principal

Assistant Principal’s Report K-2

Developing independent, resilient students within a safe learning environment.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

The Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 teachers would like to wish you all a happy and safe holiday. Although it has been a busy term we are extremely pleased with how all students in kindergarten, years 1 and 2 settled into the new school year. We look forward to seeing you all again in term 2, relaxed and ready for an exciting term of learning!

Carol Speight – K-2 Assistant Principal

Science – Chemistry Fun!

On Thursday 5 April there was lots of experimenting, bubbling, colour changing and even a few mini explosions going on when we had a visit by a scientist/teacher friend of Ms Cash named Paul for 6L students. Paul conducted several tests in our classroom with us and they were interesting indeed. We learnt how to test chemicals to see if they were acidic or alkaline. We used universal indicator, lemon juice, vinegar, milk, water, shampoo, mouthwash, and cleaning agents.

We also did the "pop" test to test for the presence of hydrogen gas.

Everyone enjoyed the hands-on, practical nature of the tasks and scientist Paul and Ms Cash both agreed that we have lots of budding young scientists in the room!

Check out these photos!

Lisa Cash

Aleesah Darlison – Years 3 & 5 Narrative Writing Workshop

On Friday 6 April, all students in years 3 and 5 participated in a narrative writing workshop with well-known children’s author Aleesah Darlison. The students were engaged in a one-hour planning session discussing characters, settings, sizzling starts, complications and resolutions. Aleesah shared some of her trade secrets to assist our students with effective planning for their own original writing.

Aleesah Darlison taught us about writing narratives. When she writes a book she spends 1/3 of her time planning, 1/3 of her time writing and 1/3 editing – Paloma Baker

One thing she taught me was to be descriptive so your readers know what’s happening and why - Ari Goodsir

She told us to name our characters by what they look like and how they act. Sometimes you can make up silly names, the opposite to what they are like, to make people laugh. – Oliver Bjorkmann

Aleesah taught us how to use sizzling starts and shared some of her own sizzling starts from her books. The best thing Aleesah said was that you have to use a new line for each sentence when you are writing dialogue. – Louella Goodsir

STEM Science

The Gifted and Talented students HOT (Higher Order Thinking) Committee has been working tirelessly to develop an engaging and creative program for our students. This includes a variety of competitions, workshops and in-class enrichment.

The Write4Fun short story or poem competition is one of the GATS committee initiatives. It inspired many students from years 1 to 6 to pick up a pen and let the creative juices flow. Students use a variety of literary devices to entice their readers. We are very proud of their efforts and commitment to work on optional projects like this in their own time.

Last year the GATS Committee introduced the National History Challenge where students could apply their critical and creative thinking skills to demonstrate their knowledge of historical events. It was a pleasant surprise to hear that students were inquiring about the 2018 National History Challenge even before we enrolled our school! We are pleased to announce that Manly Vale Public School has entered the challenge and the theme for this year is ‘Turning Points’. Students interested in the history challenge should share their ideas with Mrs Banham.

During term 2 students will have an opportunity to enter the Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking competition. More details will follow later during the term.

A group of carefully selected stage 3 students will commence the Maths Olympiad and Maths Games challenges starting in term 2. This hugely popular program extends students; problem-solving skills and application of various mathematical concepts.

Dates for Your Diary

Reading Volunteers needed

Parents, Carers, Grandparents, relatives – we need your help!

We are looking for volunteers to come into school and support children with their reading skills. Volunteers will be working with children across all grades with an intensive one-on-one reading program – all training and resources are provided. If you have a spare morning, we would love to hear from you.

Please note that anyone wishing to help will need to provide the school with a Working with Children Check Declaration Appendix 5 (available at the school office) with your 100 point check (ie: passport, driver’s licence etc).

Please email your availability to the school email address manlyvale-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au (with attention to Cadence Abrahams) or complete the form below and hand in at the office.

We look forward to working with you!

The Learning Support Team

Canteen News

If you have received a ‘pink slip’ this term because we supplied lunch or recess to your child can you please send in what you owe ASAP.

If you have lost the slip but think you may owe some money, please contact us as we have a record of all outstanding monies.

We still have a few gaps in the roster for term 2 and we are also looking for one extra helper for every Thursday and Friday lunchtime, from 12.45 to 1.45.

Please email us at manlyvalepscanteen@gmail.com if you can help out at all.

Kerry Smallman – Canteen Senior Supervisor

Canteen Volunteers Roster Term 2, 2018

Please note: It is really important to find a replacement if you can’t do your rostered day! Please try and swap your day then confirm your roster change via text or email.

Roster queries: manlyvalepscanteen@gmail.com or see Robyn/Kerry in the canteen.

P & C update

This year the events team is excited to be hosting the following community events:

• Mother’s Day Breakfast & stall – Friday 11 May
• Trivia Night – Date to be confirmed – mid to late June
• Father’s Day Event – Friday 31 August
• Potential event in term 4 – TBA

Year Class Involvement

• Traditionally kindergarten parents have helped with Mother’s and Father’s Day – this year we are extending this to year 1 and 2.
• Year 3-6 will be asked to assist with Trivia Night.
• This is not to say that you can be more involved if you’d like to and have the capacity. Any pair of hands helps lighten the load and it’s a ton of fun!
• All families will be asked to contribute a small gift for Mother’s Day Stall and items for themed hampers for Trivia Night silent auction.

Mother’s Day 2018 – Put the diary into your date before we go on school holidays!

Friday 11 May 2018. We would love to invite all mums, parents, carers, aunts, grannies to share this great morning with us.

• Join us for breakfast – bacon and egg rolls at Café Owl. Pre-ordering is essential; choose your timeslot from the drop down list.
• COFFEE!!! – cart on the day. Cash only
• Treat your mum to a special keep cup. I MY MVPS MUM. 300ml glass, ecofriendly, dishwasher safe. Order and pay online.
• Visit your child’s classroom to see their work

Mother’s Day Stall

Please could each child bring a small gift to school. Their class teacher will have a box in the classroom to accept these and mark down on a class list. Items need to be new and appropriate – imagine a little gift that your child has handpicked for you. All items get wrapped in cellophane and will be available for sale on the Friday during school time.

Parent helpers

We can only run these events successfully with your help. We structure each shift for 30-45 minutes to share the load/love as we value your time and contribution. From setting up tables, serving rolls, on the BBQ, wrapping gifts – there are lots of opportunities to help out. Click here to tell us how you can help. Maybe a grandparent would like to come along and help too? All welcome.

Go to the link below for all the details. If you have any questions – please email manlyvalepcevents@outlook.com.

Thank you!

Manly Vale OSHC Centre

Community Notices

Northern Beaches Council

Northern Beaches Vacation Care School Holiday Activities Autumn 2018 brochure is available from the school office or by visiting the council’s website below.