10 December 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

With only a week to go it is hard to believe that 2020 is over. Last Thursday we had our final Celebration of Learning assemblies and tomorrow our Kindergarten graduation ceremonies and next Monday the Year 6 Graduation will be the final farewell. Next Wednesday afternoon we will clap out our Year 6 2020 students as the grand finale. It certainly has been lovely to have had a community and parent presence for all of these assemblies and events. Parents can assemble in the playground next to the flagpoles for the clap out.

Celebration of Learning - Thursday 3 December

The Celebration of Learning assemblies were a great way to recognise and acknowledge our sporting and academic students along with those students who received awards for citizenship and positive behaviour. Congratulations to all our award recipients. The links to all the ceremonies are below if you wanted to watch any of the assemblies.

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Band End of Year Event – Thursday 10 December

We will finish our band program for the year with a final performance and awards night. Our wonderful Band Captains Hannah Murgatroyd and Cooper Dixon will host the evening and we will have performances from both bands. The times are below. Please remember that only 2 parents per band member can attend the performance. Siblings may come and must be seated with their parents at all times.

Junior Band – 5.00pm - 6.00pm
Senior Band - 6.15pm -7.15pm

We will farewell Turia Mako and Suzie Burton tonight. We would like to thank and acknowledge their commitment to the program over the years their children have attended the school and wish them all the best as their child leaves the school to attend high school next year.

Kindergarten Graduation - Friday 11 December

Tomorrow we will have 4 separate ceremonies for each of the kindergarten classes. Timeslots are below. Thank you to Mrs Oscroft, Mrs O’Connor, Mrs Robertson, Mrs Rae, Ms Mason and Mrs Holman for all their work in making this day so special. Congratulations to all our Kindergarten students on their achievements this year.

KCH – 9.00-9.40am
KR – 10.00-10.40am
KM – 11.30am – 12.40pm
KO – 2.00 – 2.40pm

Minifest

Last Friday we had our Year 6 fundraiser Minifest. It was a wonderful day and all the students loved having a morning of fun playing laser tag, sliding on the water slide, sponge throwing, guessing and drawing competitions, obstacle courses and a haunted house! The Year 6 students enjoyed planning and preparing the event and the day was a great success for all. Thank you to Mrs Blackband and Mr Dylan for their organisation and to all of our Year 6 students for the fun they provided for the rest for the school.

Year 6 Graduation – Monday 14 December, 1.30pm

Next Monday we will have a formal graduation for our Year 6 students. Parents are welcome to attend but only 2 parents per child. No grandparents or siblings will be able to attend this year. This assembly is always a special one for our students, parents and teachers.

I would like to take this opportunity to farewell our Year 6 students and wish them every success in high school. It has been an interesting year for them adapting to guidelines and change/learning from home and developing new ways to enjoy the activities they do in Year 6. We have had lunchtime table tennis competitions, last-minute Minifest preparation, orientation days and presentations via zoom and video link, alternative sporting choices including golf, table tennis, frisbee and tennis to replace our usual PSSA competitions.

Their leadership of the school has remained the same and actually we have probably drawn on them a lot more to assist with carnivals and events. They have remained a cohesive grade and have maintained great friendships through a year of isolation. New students have become quickly a part of the grade and enjoyed the welcome they have had to Manly Vale. Congratulations to all. Best of luck in high school! Come back and visit anytime.

New Manly Vale OOSH - opens officially 4 January 2021

This week an email was sent out to all families explaining the new enrolment details for our new OOSH provider. Please be aware that the new provider will take over on the last day of school 18 December but will not offer an onsite service until, 4 January 2021. If you require care in the lead up to Christmas you can enrol in their other facility at Balgowlah North Public School. Please see link below for enrolment details and information or go to the school’s website.

Survey

A short 5-minute survey was also sent out this week to all parents. Please take 5 minutes to complete the priority list that will inform the directions for our new school plan. Follow the link below if you wish to complete the survey:

Staff Changes for 2021

Classes have been made for 2021 but teachers will still not know what classes they have until next year. Working for a state-wide system means that changes can occur right up until the first day of school in the new year.

We will be farewelling some of our staff as they pursue other jobs and opportunities next year. Ms Emily Sussanna will take up a position at Waitara Public School. I would like to thank her for her commitment to Manly Vale Public School for the past 6 years. Thank you for leading our maths committee, assuming the role as Junior Band Liaison, running lunchtime chess club and being an enthusiastic soccer coach. Good luck at Waitara.

Ms Natalie Panetta will also take up a position at Belrose Public School next year. Thank you, Ms Panetta, for over 10 years of commitment and dedication to Manly Vale Public School. For running our dance ensembles and overseeing the school dance program. For your commitment to positive well-being for staff and students. Thank you.

Ms Francesca Scobie and Mrs Agata Tams will also leave this year but maybe back in a casual capacity next year. Thank you both for your care of our K-2 students and your contributions to additional programs within the school including Art Shack (Ms Scobie) and Aboriginal education (Mrs Tams).

Lastly, we will farewell Peter Snailham after 20 years of service as a School Learning and Support Officer (SLSO). Pete will be a great loss to the students (and teachers) of Manly Vale. Pete is there when you drop off your children and there when you pick them up. He worked solidly through the lockdown period along with our other wonderful teacher’s aides Steph, Mary, Jayne and Justine ensuring that additional tuition and support was given to those children attending school. He is loved by all in the school, knows everyone’s names and will be a great loss to all. Good Luck in your retirement Pete!

All of these staff members will be clapped out on Wednesday afternoon along with our year 6 students. We wish them all the very best for their futures and thank them all for the contributions they have made to the school.

Teachers Returning

Some of our permanent teachers will be returning next year in some capacity. Mrs Yasemin Sorenson (Maksut), Mrs Lexi McDonald, Mrs Elaine McManus, Mrs Karen Lucey and Mrs Sarah Humphreys. The staffing will be finalised by the start of year.

Thank You for 2020

As this is our last newsletter for 2020, I would like to thank and acknowledge all of the staff at Manly Vale Public School. As frontline workers during the lockdown period, having to maintain a positive outlook and remain positive around our students was very important and everyone banded together to do this. Our teachers were all outstanding on delivering lessons online, face to face and preparing and planning when some had to go home and actually home school their own children. It was a challenge to all but easily overcome with a positive “Can Do” attitude which meant that the continuity of learning for our students and the support of our families continued. They did an amazing job!

Our School Executive team led by Mrs Oscroft (Deputy), Mrs Speight, Mrs Blackband, Ms Thomson and Mr Dylan capably implemented guidelines, assured and led their teams through a conversion to online teaching and kept the focus on the students. It was an amazing achievement and a lot has been learnt from it. Thank you to the executive team for their support of all teachers, students and ensuring the directions of the school were maintained, families and students were supported with technology, rosters and timetables were implemented for staff and every student and family received the support they required.

Our Administration team Pam Davison, Annabel Marsden, Luise Nealon, Jessica Stephen, Helen Simpson and Danni Wareham, sorted learning packs, looked after sick children (in vulnerable circumstances) took phone calls, adjusted arrangements and supported staff in the implementation of guidelines. Along with our Teacher’s aides Steph, Pete, Mary, Justine and Jayne, they too attended school every day during lockdown, to ensure the school remained functional and supporting of all families and students. Thank you.

To Barry our general assistant who also has maintained a fulltime workload during lockdown, thank you for all you do for everyone in the school mowing lawns, cleaning up the grounds, delivering parcels, assisting with picnic days and barbecues, helping the canteen staff especially on wet days to deliver lunches. Thank you.

To Wendie in the uniform shop who managed to put the whole store online and spend many hours ordering and making up packs for delivery, thank you. To Kerry, Robyn and Becky in the canteen thank you for providing lunches to staff and students under sometimes very difficult guidelines. You did an amazing job keeping everything going.

Finally, to our students, thank you for coming to school with a smile on your face every day. For looking at the positives around you and working on regardless of the changes to our environment. The resilience you have developed, the friendships you have secured and the renewed love, appreciation and support you have for your families will be great building blocks for 2021. Your school reports were amazing. Enjoy your holidays and come back with that same enthusiasm for learning next year.

Congratulations Manly Vale Public School you have weathered yet another “stormy” year but come out of it more positive and resilient than ever. I look forward to a very “uneventful” year in 2021! Happy and safe holidays to all.

Tina Lee – Principal

Stage 1 Assistant Principal Report

Shaping little minds for the future through creativity, communication, collaboration and critical thinking

Stage 1 Students are AMAZING!

The Stage 1 teachers would like to congratulate all our Year 1 and Year 2 students. We are so proud of the way they have handled an extremely difficult year with regard to the interruptions they have experienced due to COVID19. It meant that our teachers missed out on quality time with their students in semester 1 and a lot of learning experiences looked very different. Online learning was a new platform to navigate, excursions were paused, carnivals were run differently and we were unable to have parents in our classrooms to support learning programs. However, it did prove how resilient our students can be which was a wonderful positive outcome!

THANK YOU!

We would like to thank all our Stage 1 families for the incredible support you have given our Stage 1 team throughout the year. It has certainly been a BIG one! Throughout the ‘learning from home phase’ we received so much gratitude, from so many parents, for our role as educators in your children’s lives. We absolutely love what we do and hopefully that shone through even brighter this year. We never take for granted the incredible opportunity we have in making a positive difference in children’s lives.

Stage 1 End of Year Picnic Day

Our Stage 1 picnic day was held on Tuesday this week and our students had an incredible day. Whilst completely covered in glitter by the end of the day, they thoroughly enjoyed taking part in Christmas craft activities, enjoyed a BBQ lunch and watched a beautiful Christmas movie that promoted our philosophy of teaching students about resilience, empathy, patience and persistence.

The Stage 1 team would like to take this opportunity to wish all our families and wonderful Christmas holiday break and we cannot wait to welcome you all back to our Manly Vale Public School family in 2021! Until then, take care, stay save and enjoy precious time with your loved ones.

Kind Regards,

Mrs Carol Speight - Stage 1 Assistant Principal

Dates for your Diary

Library News

Library Returns

As we near the end of the year the library has closed for borrowing so that we can organise our resources ready for next year. Please check at home for all Manly Vale Public School library books and return them to the school library as soon as possible. Overdue notices were sent home last week to those students who still have books to return. If you have any questions about the books on your child’s account please contact me on: alison.ryan2@det.nsw.edu.au

Over the holidays we encourage you to make use of our wonderful Northern Beaches Council Libraries as well as our eBook platform which can be accessed at the link below using students’ normal school login details. This is a school library subscription so it is free for students to use.

Manly Vale Public School eLibrary:

Library Monitors

We would like to express a huge thank you to our wonderful Library Monitor team for 2020. The Library Monitors are responsible for shelving books, keeping the library in order, helping students to select books and so many other important tasks. This group of Year 5 students have done an exceptional job during a busy year and we couldn’t have done it without them.

Thank you: Katie, Iona, Grace, Issy, Yuri, Rena, Saskia, Mika, Natasha, Cleo, Paloma, Naomi, Gabi, Charlotte, Brooke, Ella K, Ella T, Harnoore, Sophia, Annika and Erik.

Premier’s Reading Challenge

Congratulations to the many students who successfully completed the Premier’s Reading Challenge this year. A whopping 339 students finished the challenge this year and received an award this week. The class with the highest amount of successfully completed students was 6D - well done to them!

Special congratulations to the following students who received a gold certificate this year after completing the Premier’s Reading Challenge for 4 years in a row! This is a wonderful achievement and we are very proud of their efforts.

Finn Adelbert (3J), Emma Dixon (3J), Thea Edgerton (3T), Alana Harrison (3T), Gavin Kim (3S), Lia Perez Meyer (3P), Kanda Somasundaram (3T), Aidan Toivonen De Oliveira (3S), Isabel Warran (3J), Jake Kraus (4T), Ethan McGowan (4B), Faolan Smith (4M), Eva Michaels Kessous (5BC), Joseph Scoon (6D).

Ali Webster - Teacher Librarian

Junior Band Celebration of Learning

Canteen News

2020 Orders

We have processed over 13,900 orders this year, serving up 2280 portions of pasta bolognaise, 759 sausage rolls, 716 ham and cheese toasties, 1896 sushi baby boxes and 3097 sushi hand rolls, 624 Anzac cookies and 506 slices of banana bread plus lots and lots more!

Volunteers

A huge thank you to all our wonderful volunteers for your help this year. It has been a challenging year for us all and we really appreciate your continued support.

Menu for Final Week of Term

Please note that we will NOT be serving any hot food for the last three days of this term. However, we will be offering sushi and sandwiches for those days.

Help needed in the canteen to fill the last 2 remaining slots for next week:

Monday 14 December - 12.15-1.30pm
Wednesday 16 December - 9.00am-12.00pm

Please click on the link below to sign up:

For all those who are keen and want to get in early here is the link to sign up for the canteen volunteer roster for Term 1 2021.

Once again, wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas and we look forward to seeing you all again next year. To those canteen volunteers whose children are leaving the school this year thank you so much for your help over the years and we hope all your children have a smooth transition into their new school.

Robyn, Kerry and Becky - Canteen Supervisors

2021 School Travel

Community Notices

Seaforth Netball Registrations

Northern Beaches Secondary College

Eye Heart Science

Before School, hands-on science class on site at Manly Vale Public School on a Tuesday morning, 7.45am-8.45am. Register now for an exciting term on Great Scientists. Experiments will include crystals, radioactivity, Dinosaur Poo and much more.

Suitable for K-6 and Creative Kids Vouchers accepted.