3 May 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Welcome back everyone. I trust you have had a lovely break and enjoyed the unseasonably beautiful weather we have been having. The students seem very excited to start a new term and congratulations to our Kindergarten students who all came back with smiles on their faces, eager for new exciting challenges.

The school had a lot of construction work completed during the break including the clearing of the land for the new school hall. Lahey constructions also donated and installed a new oven for our canteen and upgraded all power cabling at the front of the school. It is exciting to see the progress that has been made. 4/5H have also received some new furniture to trial that will be purchased for the new school.

Staff Development Day - Monday 30 April

Last Monday the staff had an informative and industrial training day. Topics covered on the day included boy’s education strategies, welfare and well-being of students and staff, gifted and talented writing strategies and collaborative planning in stage meetings. All staff enjoyed the opportunity to extend their knowledge in these areas and all the presenters came from within the staff team. Welfare and well-being is a focus area for 2018 with the introduction of new programs including Life Skills, Dancesport and iPlay. All of these programs will be implemented throughout the year and include professional training for all staff.

Opportunity Class Applications

This week our year 4 students received a note outlining the procedures for applying for the Opportunity classes at Neutral Bay Public School, Balgowlah Heights Public School and Mona Vale Public School (and many more non-local options). All year 4 students are invited to apply for these extension classes but places in these classes are extremely limited and only the students performing above stage outcomes should be applying. They are extension classes and the testing procedures and assessments are aimed at high academic performance and IQ.

If you wish your child to sit the OC placement test please complete the Expression of Interest form back to school or apply online. The placement test date is Wednesday 1 August 2018. Any enquiries regarding OC placement tests can be referred to Mrs Nicole Blackband (Stage 2 assistant principal) or Mrs Lee.

ANZAC Day service

Wednesday 2 May 2018 yesterday we had our ANZAC day service led by our School Leaders. The children paused for a short service after recess to remember the men and women who served our country in all wars. Class SRC representatives laid a handmade wreath at the front of the assembly. It was a beautiful service. Thank you to Miss Phillips, Mrs Poole and the school leaders for all their work in coordinating this service.

Dancesport begins - Year 5

Tomorrow our year 5 students will have their first introductory ballroom dancing session followed by a second lesson on Monday 7 May. The Dancesport Challenge is a wellbeing and dance program for all year 5 students. We trialed the program last year and had great success with students making the finals in all dances but also continuing on with the program and seeking private tuition. The program is designed to teach appropriate ways of socialising and talking to the opposite sex, respectful behaviour and give students confidence and resilience in social situations. All year 5 students will receive a note explaining the details of the challenge and the commitment level required. We will also need parents to make costumes for the night. This program does replace the previous school concert done at the end of term 2.

Dance Audition

Our school dance groups choreographed by Ms Natalie Panetta auditioned yesterday for the Sydney North Dance Festival. Our Boys Hip Hop group and girls dance group are hopeful to secure a place in this year’s Dance festival at the Glen Street Theatre towards the end of term. Thank you Ms Panetta for your commitment to our dance program and to Ms Durazza for her support.

Tathra Fundraiser

Today all students were encouraged to dress up as community workers and bring in a gold coin donation. All proceeds of the fundraiser will go towards supporting children in Tathra who lost their homes and belongings to the recent bushfires. We also had a visit from our local fire station. All classes visited the fire truck and saw the extensive hoses used to put out such fires. The firemen gave the students a little talk on ways to prevent fires from occurring. Thank you Miss Phillips and the SRC for your organisation and supporting this charity this year.

School Cross Country - Wednesday 9 May

Next week we will have our annual cross-country carnival at David Thomas Reserve. All students who are turning 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 this year will compete in the cross-country run. Parents are welcome to join us for this event. The students will walk down to David Thomas after Ethics and Scripture classes are completed. The senior students will be running first this year.

P & C Meeting - Tuesday 8 May at 7pm

Please feel free to come along to our P & C meeting next week. There will be an update to the building works and outlines of fundraising events, along with the new school plan and focus areas for the school presented. It is a great way to keep up to date with what’s happening in the school.

Mothers’ Day stall and breakfast - Friday 11 May

The P & C has organised a breakfast for all our mothers next Friday 11 May. Orders must be made online via the link below and each student is expected to purchase a small gift to be put on the stall for repurchase on the day. The stall is a favourite of the students as they enjoy going to the staff with their money to purchase their own gift. Volunteers for the stall are still required so if you have some time on the Friday morning after the breakfast to assist with the set up and pack up of the stall please contact Penny Finn. Please remember to donate a gift by Thursday 10 May so that your child is eligible to purchase on the day. A box is located in every classroom.

NAPLAN – years 3 and 5

This year Manly Vale Public School has been selected to run the NAPLAN test online. The NAPLAN tests begin on Tuesday 15 May through to Friday 25 May. All classes from years 3 and 5 will be scheduled to complete the reading, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation), and numeracy tests over the 9 day period. As the tests will be conducted online the timetable for tests may vary according to availability of laptops. A detailed timetable will be sent out next term. The writing component of the year 3 test schedule will be done using pen and paper, however, the year 5 students will be typing their writing onto a word document. Typing practice for year 5 students would be beneficial.

Students who miss a test due to illness can be caught up during the 9 day period with the final cut- off date being Friday 25 May. Some practice test papers can be found by following the link below:

School Fee Raffle

Adam Yates (6L) and his family were successful in winning the movie voucher for the fee raffle at the end of last term.

Tina Lee - Principal

Parking and Walking around schools

Assistant Principal’s Report 3-6

Tathra Bushfire SRC Fundraiser

It was fabulous to see all students dress up as community helpers and bring a gold coin donation to support the SRC Tathra fundraiser today. We would like to thank Manly Fire Brigade for coming and bring the fire engine for the students to see. Thank you to our Manly Vale parent community for your support and efforts to make this fundraiser so successful.

ANZAC Day School Assembly

On Wednesday we commemorated ANZAC Day with a special assembly at school. Each class participated and added their thoughts about ANZAC Day on a class poppy which was presented by class SRC representatives at the assembly. It was a lovely assembly where all students could commemorate and remember what the soldiers endured in World War 1 at Gallipoli. Thank you Cleo Lovell, Charlie Kanu and Lucy Scholtens, three of our prefects for running the assembly. Thank you Adam Yates for assisting with the sound and Levi Coates-Westerink and Caitlin Isaac for being flag bearers.

Stage 3 Boat Designing, Building & Sailing

On the last day of term 1, as a culmination and reward for stage 3, the year 5 & 6 teachers walked their classes to Manly Dam for a session of boat sailing and racing. Throughout the term, many students had designed and built unique boats for their Sun, Sea, Surf & Sand projects. In class in small groups, students also collaborated to design and build a watercraft that floated, moved and was made of recyclable materials. All project and class boats were taken to the Dam and students raced their boats against class members and in stage finals. It was the perfect day and activity to end the term. Congratulations stage 3 for all your hard work and excellent project submissions.

Year 6 Poetry Writing

On Tuesday, year 6 students started the term with a bushwalk to the dam where they engaged in a poetry writing lesson. In pairs, using their senses, imagination and memories, they brainstormed and gathered ideas to include in their poetry about the dam. The weather was perfect and it was a wonderful activity to start the term.

Project Penguin

All stage 3 students will be participating in Project Penguin which is a project-based community-minded program to develop and maintain strong links with high schools and primary schools. It is a major part of our transition to high school program. Project Penguin incorporates Taronga Zoo, Manly fairy penguins, Northern Beaches Campus high school students and Manly Vale students. Our first excursion is on Tuesday 8 May which is our ‘Habitat’ day at Manly Beach. Stay tuned to hear more about this exciting project…

Lisa Phillips

Assistant Principal’s Report K-2

Developing independent, resilient students within a safe learning environment

Welcome Back!

Dear Parents and Carers,

It was so wonderful seeing our K-2 students arriving at school on Tuesday with big smiles on their faces, happy to return to school after the school holidays. We trust you all had an enjoyable and relaxing school holiday break with your family. All students have settled in well to their regular classroom routines which is pleasing to see. We look forward to an exciting term ahead filled with plenty of engaging activities for our students to participate in.

I would also like to sincerely welcome our new families to Manly Vale Public School this term. I am certain you will find that our staff are friendly and approachable, as are members of our broader school community. We value the development of positive parent/carer partnerships to ensure all students’ needs are met and that their time at school is a positive experience for them.

If you have any questions or concerns that need clarification please do not hesitate to contact us via the school’s front office. Thank you.

Mrs Carol Speight

Dates for Your Diary

Stewart House Donation Drive

Stewart House envelopes were handed out to students today and are due back at school by Friday 18 May 2018. Entry to the draw is only $2.00 for your chance to win a family holiday valued at $4,000 to the destination of your choice. No late envelopes will be accepted.

GATS Debating Workshop

A program of the Gifted and Talented Committee is Debating. This year, we are working with two teams: The Premiers’ Debating Team (Ophelia Shapter, Dakota Birch, Ben Meredith, Talia Stedman and Morgan Andrews reserve) and their friendly Debating Team (Ebrika KC, Lydia Choi, Xavier Brown, Jake Van de Water and Phoebe Crowe reserve). Mrs Banham and Miss Martin are running this program. As a part of the preparation for the debates, the participating students were invited to attend the one-day debating workshop at Brookvale Public School. Students learned how to structure an effective argument and how to rebut it. All had a chance to participate in a mini-debate and received invaluable, personal feedback from the workshop facilitators. Both teams are honing their skills at school and are getting ready for the Premier’s Debating Challenges to come. We wish them the very best of luck.

Science/STEM

The challenge was to build a car powered by a balloon. It had to travel in a straight line and travel a distance of at least 30cm. Many puzzled faces were looking critically at the milk bottle lids, containers, straws, string, blue tack and masking tape… and of course balloons. We read the Andrea Beaty ‘Rosie Revere Engineer’ book and discussed at length the inevitable predicaments of any inventor. Countless pitfalls, problems and failures until the power of ones’ positivity, perseverance and ingenuity turns a ‘ridiculous flop’ into a ‘brilliant first try’.

And, so our teams set to work on the task. They sketched their designs and learned to listen to each other’s ideas. They started building, sticking, gluing and playing with balloons (only a few of them). We spent one whole session building prototypes and it looked unlikely that wheels would turn, and the balloons would provide enough thrust to make the car go.

We worked on the project during a second session and we modified the construction of the axis and attachment of the wheels. Some teams built three-wheeler cars, some attached balloons at the top of the car, some in their cars and some at the back of their car. We were getting closer and closer to completing the challenge. Here are some video clips from our attempts.

I am very proud of all stage 2 students. They are wonderfully creative, committed and keen to complete challenges such as this. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) challenges – here we come!

Aga Banham

Double Helix Magazine

For the first time, this year, the Manly Vale Public School Science Committee decided to purchase a subscription to the very popular CSIRO magazine, Double Helix. Each class in Stage 2 and 3 will receive its own copy to boost their class reading resources. There will be eight issues in a subscription cycle. The magazine is written with 10 to 12 year old students in mind, aiming to explain complex scientific concepts in a friendly and engaging manner.

The Science Committee hopes that this publication will captivate our students’ minds, expand their general knowledge and enthuse them further in science.

Mother’s Day - 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.

Canteen News

We are ready for the cooler weather in the canteen. Check out the new menu which will be coming home in your child’s bag soon and includes lots of yummy items such as butter chicken, sausage rolls, pasta bolognaise and macaroni cheese. We have had to increase some of the prices unfortunately, due to our rising costs, but we have tried to keep the increases minimal.

Thanks to everyone who has volunteered to help out this term; please contact Robyn, with any roster queries, on manlyvalepscanteen@gmail.com.

Lastly, we have a new I.O.U service on Flexischools which will allow you to pay any outstanding monies via your Flexischools account; don’t be alarmed if you see it next time you log in to Flexischools as it won’t necessarily mean that you owe money to the canteen.

Kerry Smallman – Canteen Senior Supervisor

Canteen Volunteers Roster Term 2, 2018

Community Notices

Australian Red Cross

Australian Red Cross Mobile Blood service is visiting Northern Beaches TAFE, 154 Old Pittwater Road, Brookvale, Friday 25 May 9.00am-2.30pm and Saturday 26 May 9.00am-2.30pm. To make an appointment call 13 14 95 or visit the link below.

Harbord Cub Scouts

Calling all boys & girls – 1st / 2nd Harbord Cub Scouts now have vacancies. If your child is 7.5-10 years of age and interested in becoming a cub please drop a line to:

harbord-scout-committee@googlegroups.com or complete the contact form below: