30 July 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

With no easing of the current COVID 19 restrictions we are gearing up to film a lot of our performances for this term. The band and the K-2 dance concert will be our first events to be filmed. Both the junior and senior band will be filmed at their rehearsals Wednesday 5 August & Thursday 6 August. All band members need to be at rehearsal on time and wearing full band uniform for the day.

For updates and information on the current restrictions please click the link below which takes you to our school’s website where information is being regularly updated.

Band Meeting

Last Tuesday night the band committee had a Zoom meeting. It was decided to postpone our band workshop day until next term. Band invoices for term 3 will reflect this. Both bands will do a few performances for the students at school later this term and the 2021 Band Information night will also go ahead via video conferencing during week 6 of this term. Students who are interested in joining the band will be given the opportunity to see the band and find out more information during this video stream.

Athletics Carnival

The year 3–5 students are currently competing in the field events for our 2020 Athletics Carnival during Friday afternoon sport. Our running carnival will also go ahead on Monday 10 August, unfortunately parents/spectators are not allowed to attend the carnival.

Results and photos will be posted in the school’s newsletter. The event will not be filmed.

Book Week

As we are unable to have our planned author visits for Book Week this year, Mrs Webster our new librarian has organised for our students to experience authors via live streaming. A line up of authors including Andrew Daddo, Oliver Phommavanh, James Foley, Katrina McKelvey, Lisa Nicol, Wendy Orr and Jackie French will visit our students in their classrooms to inspire them to write like authors!

These incursions along with the purchase of some new library books will be taken out of the Book Week costs.

Birthday Treats

Sadly we are no longer able to accept food items bought in by parents (eg cupcakes, lollies etc) to the school to be shared in celebrations for birthdays or other occasions. The NSW Department of Education and NSW Health COVID-19 prevention guidelines state that schools are required to “avoid the sharing of food”. As a school we have created a birthday treats section in our Flexischools App where parents can purchase ice blocks for the class. There are a few different options to choose from as we know how much the students (and the staff) love these celebrations and the yummy treats. We just recommend you email your child’s class teacher so they are aware of it and make time during the day to enjoy the ice block treats.

Learning from Home

If your child is sick they must stay at home. Students will be sent home until they are symptom free. If you are isolating or remaining at home due to illness you can access lessons and online learning by visiting the Department of Education’s Learning Hub website. See link below.

School Security

If you hear alarms going off in the school on the weekend or in the holidays please do not hesitate to call School Security on 1300 363 778 or 000 for the fire brigade.

Parking

There have been rangers booking parents this week for parking. Please be aware of the limited parking conditions around the school. Please just drop off your children and let them walk into school as teachers are there to greet and dismiss children at the gate.

Kindergarten 2021 Orientation Days

All local families are invited to enrol their children for Kindergarten in 2021 now by downloading an enrolment form from the school website and dropping it into the office. If you have a sibling already at school, let the office know and we will send you a ‘ghosted’ enrolment form.

Kindergarten Orientation days are as follows:

Monday 21 September 2020 9.30-11.00am
Monday 19 October 2020 9.30-11.00am
Monday 26 October 2020 9.30-11.00am

Tina Lee – Principal

Deputy Principal’s Report

Education Week – Learning Together

Education Week is a statewide, annual event, which runs from Monday 3 August – Friday 7 August, to celebrate NSW Public Education. The theme for this year is ‘Learning Together’ which reflects an incredible year for NSW public school students, staff and parents, and the partnerships that have been strengthened in response.

Over the week students will celebrate Education Week by participating in various virtual events/webinars and incursions. Sadly due to COVID we are unable to hold our usual Education Week celebrations, keep your eye out for some ‘Learning Together’ photos in our Bush Telegraph next week. The Federation of Parents & Citizens Association of NSW (P&C) in partnership with the NSW Department of Education’s Rural and Distance Education team are hosting a virtual event around technology for parents and carers on Thursday 6 August at 7.00pm. The one hour zoom webinar will provide parents and carers a working understanding of the technology most commonly used in NSW public schools. If you would like to book your place in this webinar please click on the link below.

Student Absence Email Notification

The Department of Education requires parent explanation for all student absences within 7 days. To lessen the administration and maintenance of attendance, as from next Monday 3 August if your child is away from school you will receive a courtesy email letting you know that they are absent. This will occur on a daily basis, requesting that you provide an explanation for why they were away. This can be done by emailing the school on manlyvale-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au or alternatively we have added an Absentee tile in our Schoolzine app which enables you to complete an absent notification which gets emailed directly to the school. Please do not reply to the original email as it is generated from our attendance roll marking system in Sentral.

We’re hoping this system makes it easier for families to explain student leave or illness. We apologise if there are any teething issues in the beginning and appreciate your support and understanding. Please if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.

Sharon Oscroft – Deputy Principal

Dates for your Diary

Waste Free Wednesday

Drone Photos of the School

Learning Support News

This term the NCCD (Nationally Consistent Collection of Data) has been collected and submitted. Please read below and see the attached documents to find out more.

What is the NCCD?

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, Australian students with a disability must be able to access and participate in education on the same basis as their peers. To ensure this, students with disability may receive adjustments to access education, based on the professional judgement of teachers, in consultation with the student and/or their parents, guardians or carers.

What is the purpose of the NCCD?

The NCCD collects data about school students with disability who are receiving adjustments across Australia in a consistent, reliable and systematic way. It enables schools, education authorities and governments to better understand the needs of students with disability and how they can be best supported at school.

Please see the attached facts sheet for further information.

Library News

Mini-Writing Festival

This week our school participated in a Mini-Writing Festival! Students “zoomed in” with some wonderful Australian authors and illustrators and completed writing activities in interactive online workshops. Each workshop focused on a different writing skill and featured a well-known author and live illustration during the session. Jackie French, Andrew Daddo, Oliver Phommavanh, James Foley, Susanne Gervay and Deborah Abela were just some of the wonderful authors and illustrators who participated. Students have been very excited to participate in the Mini-Writing Festival and I’m sure it will continue to inspire their writing in the future.

This Mini-Writing Festival is part of our annual Book Week celebrations and will be followed by a book character dress-up day later in the term – stay tuned for more information!

Library Borrowing

Library borrowing has opened again this week and it has been so lovely to see students happily selecting books to take home. Please remember to send in library bags so that students may borrow.

We are following current guidelines and quarantining returned books for at least 24 hours. To help with this process students are currently allowed to borrow 1 book at a time. Additionally, students are able to borrow from our eBook collection using the following link:

Login details: normal school DET login and password e.g. john.smith

Ali Webster – Teacher Librarian

Scholastic Book Club

Scholastic brochures have been distributed. Orders are due Monday 10 August 2020.