27 August 2020

Newsletter Articles

Deputy Principal’s Report

SASS and Support Staff Week

This week we are acknowledging our incredible SASS and support staff who particularly this year, more than ever have gone above and beyond throughout fires, flood and now a global pandemic. We are incredibly fortunate here at Manly Vale Public School to have such dedicated, knowledgeable and caring office, learning and support staff who work in classrooms and our general assistant. The saying ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ is so true and we really want to thank our village Mrs Davison, Mrs Marsden, Mrs Nealon, Mrs Stephen, Mrs Elder, Steph, Pete, Mary, Jayne, Justine, Barry, Greg, Kriszta, Helen, Mrs Curran and our Royal Far West residents for everything you do. We appreciate you and thank you!

Department of Education COVID-19 Update

Thank you to all parent and carers who have supported the new guidelines regarding COVID-19 testing. In case you missed the email last week informing you of the Department’s COVID-19 updates please click on the link to view the document.

A summary of the main aspects that impact our school are:

• All extra-curricular activities such as dance, art shack, drama, choir and math’s club that occur during the school day are on pause.
• Band rehearsals are on hold until further notice
• Buddies are on pause
• If a student is unwell and displays any flu like symptoms such as a runny nose, sore throat or cough they will be sent home and will need to get a covid test. The child cannot return to school until we have sighted a negative covid result and are symptom free. This can be done by taking a screen shot of the negative covid result which is usually sent as a text message. You will then need to email this screen shot to the school (manlyvale-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au) before your child can return.
• When communicating a child’s absence please provide detail on why they are away. Of course if it was because of any flu like/cold symptoms we will need to sight a negative covid test. We need this to ensure we are following the guidelines.
• Interschool sports have been allowed to continue within our local area. The PSSA conveyors for our local area will be meeting shortly to manage the best way forward with the aim to be resuming summer PSSA. This will be confirmed in the coming weeks.
• Minimised parents and carers on the school grounds. Parents and carers are still unessential visitors and should not be on site. We therefore ask for all parents if coming on site to drop off or collect your child and to leave as soon as you have done so. Please ensure the 1.5m social distancing rule between one another.
• If you need to come into the school office for any reason you will be required to complete an external visitor form.
• Our library remains open for students to use at lunch, however each stage has been assigned a day to ensure no crossing over of stages.
• Kindergarten Orientation, excursions and parents/carers attending the school is on hold. This means that parent meetings will need to occur over the phone with the teacher.

Thank you for your support and understanding as we continue to navigate the challenges of educating our students during this ever evolving pandemic.

K-2 Virtual Dance Concert

Last week our K-2 students shone on the stage while performing for our virtual K-2 Dance Concert. They were all shining stars who dazzled us while dancing through the decades. A big thank you to Miss Vanessa for your choreography and dedication to our dance program and to Miss Mason for creating the film and editing to perfection. Please see the flyer below where you can scan the QR code to watch the concert.

Year 5 2021 Opportunity Class Placement Test

To comply with the latest advice from NSW Health to minimise the risk of COVID-19 transmissions, the annual Opportunity Class Placement Test will now take place at a student’s own school rather than in examination centres which bring students from across settings and sectors together. To allow this change to be made, the test date is now 18 November 2020. Only students whose parents have received a confirmation email from the High Performing Students Team are eligible to sit the test on the new date of 18 November. The application portal will not be re-opened for new applications.

Year 3 & Year 5 Check-In Assessment

Year 3 and Year 5 students will participate in a new reading and numeracy check-in assessment. The Check-in assessment is a NSW Department of Education online reading and numeracy assessment available to support schools to assess and monitor Year 3 & Year 5 student learning following the period of learning from home. The Check-in assessments will supplement existing school practices to identify how students are performing in literacy and numeracy and to help teachers tailor their teaching more specifically to student needs. Year 5 students completed the Check-in assessments this week with Year 3 students scheduled for week 10 of Term 3. Parents do not receive a report regarding student achievement.

Banner Assembly

Last Friday we held our first Banner assembly for the year. It was an honour and a privilege to present the following students with their banner.

The Partners in Learning parent feedback survey for Manly Vale Public School Monday 11 August – Friday 23 October

A reminder that our Partners in Learning parent survey is open. We have to date only 43 parents who have completed the survey so far. The survey is open until Friday 23 October and we would appreciate you taking the time to complete the parent survey. This valuable feedback will help our school make practical improvements.

To access the survey for our school go to the link below.

National Science Week

We celebrated National Science week last week which culminated in a showcase of student work K-6. Each student engaged in an inquiry question “How can MVPS preserve and protect our local native wildlife?” A big thank you to our talented science teachers Miss Fisk, Mrs Holman, Mrs Hacking and Miss Legg whose dedication, passion and scientific knowledge drive our progressive and innovative STEM program within our school.

Please see below for further information about Science week.

Athletics Carnival Update

During weeks 9 & 10 we will be holding our junior field events such as long jump, shot put and high jump. Once these events have been held we will publish the full carnival results in the final Bush Telegraph of this term. We aim to hand out ribbons in the first week of Term 4.

Kindergarten 2021

All Public Schools in NSW received advice last week that Kindergarten Orientation and transition school activities remain on hold until further notice. This means our planned program is unable to go ahead.

Our first session scheduled for Monday 21 September at 9.30-11.00am will now run as a live Q and A forum for parents through a zoom link. This session will be tailored to answering your questions about starting school, learning more about our school and any other transition questions you may have.

For this session to be meaningful and relevant, we ask if you could please submit any questions you may have by Monday 14 September. Please follow the link below to a google form.

If you have any questions or concerns please email them to manlyvale-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

We look forward to seeing you virtually on Monday 21 September.

Thank you all for another amazing week, looking ahead to tomorrow we will be running our Cross Country event for Years 3-6 and any Year 2 students who are turning 8 this year and wish to participate. Thank you to Mr Dylan for all your organising and wishing all participants the best of luck.

Stay well and safe,

Sharon Oscroft – Deputy Principal

Dates for your Diary

Waste Free Wednesday

Science Week

Last week Manly Vale Public School celebrated National Science Week with a showcase of their work. In the lead up all students from K-6 have been applying their scientific knowledge and thinking of the strand of science they are learning about to a STEM project to address the question: ‘How can MVPS preserve and protect our local native wildlife?’ It has been a busy, creative, collaborative, messy and rewarding experience for all students and science teacher. We definitely could not have done it without our wonderful school cleaners! Due to Covid-19 we were unable to open the showcase up to the school community but we hope you enjoy viewing this collage of photos.

Kindy, who are learning about how seasonal changes affect the environment, considered the need for shelter of our wildlife. They designed and decorated joey wombat pouches to ensure their survival on these cold winter nights.

Stage 1 have been studying sound energy and conducted experiments to find out what materials were best at disrupting sound waves travelling from the school to the bush. They then applied their findings to create soundproof nesting boxes for the Eastern Pygmy Possums to sleep in during the day. It was important also to make sure they were camouflaged from any predators.

Stage 2 have been learning about the power of the sun. They set about designing and building a shelter for a Diamond Python to protect itself from the cold when it lays and protects its eggs. In doing so they applied their understanding of how different materials can insulate against the cold.

Stage 3 know all about simple circuits; how they work and what materials make good conductors and insulators. They were able to apply this knowledge to create an electrical boundary fence to protect our local wildlife using everyday materials.

Sally Fisk – Science

Scholastic Book Club

Scholastic brochures have been distributed. Orders are due Friday 11 September 2020.