4 November 2021

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

It seems that next week we will see some easing of restrictions. There will be opportunity for some parents who are double vaccinated to come on site and attend some functions and assemblies. The social distancing guidelines still apply in all circumstances so the Executive team will meet to map out dates and plans for the remainder of term for kindergarten orientation, Year 6 graduations and assemblies. Please be patient and await further notification next week as to what the changes to our current routines will be.

Leaving Manly Vale Public School

We are now starting to finalise staffing and classes for next year 2022. Could you please email the office if you are intending to leave the school this year or next? We need confirmation in writing as to when you are leaving (date) and where you are intending to enrol for next year. Year 6 students who are leaving to go to high school do not need to inform us if they are leaving unless they are changing their high school preferences.

Congratulation’s Ex-students

Some of our ex-students from Manly Vale have been made school captains of the local high schools. Katia Bjorkman will be school captain at Mackellar Girl’s Campus next year and Bella Pickering & Jade Nelson are captains at Cromer Campus. How proud we are at Manly Vale to see our great students leading their local high schools.

Banner Recipients

Last week I presented students with principal awards and school banners. Assemblies were held throughout the week, and it was wonderful to be able to present awards in person. Congratulations to all students who received an award.

This week the following students will also receive Banners at their assemblies:

Kenji Nicholls - 5T
Jasper Williams - 2LS
Olivia Scott- 5K
Jake Kraus - 5T
Shay Eggeling - 6R
Connor Matthews - 3/4T
Hannah Sollberger - 5T
Cooper Burbidge - 5T

Kindergarten Principal Awards

Check-in Assessments

Over the next 2 weeks all year 3, 4, 5 & 6 students will complete some online assessments to assist with reporting and planning after the remote learning period. With Wi-Fi issues this week we were unable to complete some of the assessments so we will try and complete them next week.

Band Recruitment

Next week our year 2 & 3 students will attend a zoom session outlining the school’s band program. Students will see our current junior band members playing their instruments and talking about the band program. Information sessions will be presented next week, and packs will be sent out to interested students and their families after the zoom session on Monday. More details below.

Book Week - next week “Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds”

Thank you to Mrs Webster and Mrs Morrison our librarians who have organised some great Author talks and a Book Parade on Friday 12 November to celebrate Book Week. Notes went home this week regarding the details of the parade and the Author talks. It is great that we can celebrate Book Week with these fabulous events.

Remembrance Day – Thursday 11 November

Next Thursday we will hold a virtual assembly at school to remember that at 5.00am on 11 November 1918, three German government representatives accepted the Armistice terms presented to them by an allied commander. The Armistice became effective at 11.00am and the 4 year long First World war ended.

Our school leaders Alex Matheson, Kate Fewtrell, Zak Nethery, Louella Goodsir, Atticus Lee, Eliza Toole and Ari Goodsir will lead the school in this very important ceremony. Isabella Earl will attend the Manly Dam ceremony to deliver a speech on “Australia’s presence in France during the war,” accompanied by Mrs Ward. Thank you to Mrs Blackband, Mrs Ward and our school leaders for their organisation of this event.

School Counsellor Day - Wednesday 10 November

Wednesday 10 November is School Counsellor and School Psychologist Recognition Day. We will be celebrating Ms Cliona Mulloy and all the incredible work she does for our students, their families, and our staff at Manly Vale Public School.

Ms Mulloy has made wonderful connections with our students, showing empathy and compassion, fostering hope, and helping them through personal life circumstances, learning and behavioural challenges.

Ms Mulloy, we are so grateful for your skills, professionalism, resilience, and dedication to our school community. You’ve risen to the challenges thrown at you this year - navigating the increased levels of distress and anxiety associated with the pandemic, adjusting to telehealth delivery of counselling and psychology services in schools, working from home while supporting wellbeing at the school level.

We would like to sincerely thank you for your hard work this year.

Kaleidoscope Science Incursions - 16 & 19 November

Mrs Fisk has organised some wonderful science incursions for all students in Week 7 of this term. The Kaleidoscope Science team will attend the school on Tuesday 16 November (Stage 2 & Stage 1 students) and Friday 19 November (Kindergarten & Stage 3 students), to demonstrate some hands on interactive activities to enhance our science program. The incursion will be in the school hall following our strict COVID guidelines and has already been invoiced as part of the Whole School Program of fees.

Farewell Ms Stacey

Ms Stacey will be leaving us at the end of Week 7 Friday 19 November to begin her maternity leave. Ms Stacey will be a great loss to our school, I would like to thank and acknowledge her contributions to 3S this year along with her commitment to the band and drama programs over the past few years and her coaching of PSSA teams. We as a school community, would like to wish her and her partner Graham for the upcoming birth of their first child and look forward to a visit next year. 3S students and parents will miss Ms Stacey a great deal but will warmly welcome Ms Tasha Smythe who will take over the class for the remainder of the year.

Notice of Motion from James Griffin MP

Attached to the newsletter this week is a letter from James Griffin Member for Manly. Mr Griffin wanted to formally acknowledge all the wonderful work done by our school community in supporting the home learning of the students of Manly Vale.

School Banking

Commonwealth Bank have advised that school banking will no longer be available in schools. To find out more about these changes and to access resources visit the link below:

End of Year Graduations and Assemblies

Monday 6 December

Celebration of Learning Assemblies - Stage 3 – 9.00am, Stage 2 - 11.30am, Stage 1 - 2.00pm

Friday 10 December

Kindergarten Graduations and Celebration of Learning Assembly

Monday 13 December

Year 6 Graduation Assembly – 1.00pm

Tuesday 14 December

Year 6 Graduation Dinner - school hall - 6.00pm

Confirmed dates and times will be communicated later this term.

Congratulations Mrs Gibson

This week we celebrated with Mrs Gibson 20 years of teaching. We congratulate Mrs Gibson on her dedication to teaching our students. Manly Vale Public School are very lucky to have her and thank her for her ongoing support of not only the students but also the staff.

Tina Lee – Principal

Dates for your Diary

Junior Band 2022

Attention: Parents of Year 2 & Year 3 students,

Would you like your child to join the Manly Vale Junior Band in 2022? We are recruiting for next year’s Junior Band.

Carlos, our fabulous Junior Band conductor, will be sharing a special presentation with all year 2 students on Monday 8 November to tell them about this exciting opportunity. Applications will be handed out to interested students.

Alternatively, you may also register your interest on the google form below.

Google form link:

A zoom Q&A session for interested parents is scheduled on Wednesday 10 November at 10.00am. Carlos & Ben, our band conductors, will be available to answer any enquiries. Please email the school for the zoom link. Include your child’s name & class on the email. Instruments will be allocated later this term.

Mrs Monika Johnston and Miss Hannah Taylor – Band Coordinators

P&C News

World Teacher’s Day

On this very special day, and on behalf of the P & C, I wanted to write you a quick note which I hope can be shared with all your teaching colleagues.

For me, on this World Teacher Day, all of our teachers at Manly Vale Public School deserve special recognition and thanks. I wish I could have come up to assembly and thanked every teacher in person. I wish I could have shared all the stories I’ve heard from other parents about the magical way you teachers seem to educate and entertain our children. I have no idea how you do it! But day after day through lockdown you all continued to motivate and inspire our future generation. I couldn’t be more impressed, or more grateful.

If you are lucky in your life you will meet the odd person who will say or do something that you will never forget. I met one such person 20 years ago in Denver Colorado. He was 95 years old, hunched over a zimmer frame and deaf as a post. He tried to straighten up and look me in the eye. And then he said something that I will never forget.

With a deep American accent, he very slowly said “if, during the course of your life, you can help improve the lives of others… then yours, is a life worth living.”

As teachers, there is absolutely no question of the impact you have on the lives of our children. The work you have done through the challenging Covid months has been extraordinary… and has definitely helped our children, and their parents! To all of the teachers at Manly Vale, I thank you.

Happy World Teacher’s Day.

Kindest regards,
James Fewtrell - P&C President

Australian STEM Video Game Challenge

Four of our keen Year 6 coders (Zak Nethery, Sam Donnell, Isaac Lau and Alex Black) entered the Australian STEM Video Game Challenge this year. They went up against 2800 students who also participated in this national competition. As a team, they had to design and code a video game based on the theme ‘scale’. Our students were also faced with the additional challenge of completing their video game and meeting as a team on Zoom due to the COVID restrictions throughout Term 3.

A huge congratulations to our Manly Vale team who were the 2021 Semi-Finalists in the ‘Open Category Years 5-8 division. The judges commended our students on their artistic design, game functionality, gameplay and use of technology. Zak, Sam, Isaac and Alex thoroughly enjoyed the experience of collaborating as a team and creating the game. We hope they will continue to refine their coding skills and pursue their interest in this area as they move into high school next year.

Mrs Radan

Library News

Book Week Celebrations

Don’t forget Book Week is next week! It will be a fabulous week at school celebrating our love of books and reading.

Virtual Author Visits

Authors Zanni Louise and Tim Harris will be ‘zooming’ in to meet classes on Wednesday 10 November. Students have really enjoyed reading books from both authors in the weeks leading up to Book Week. Please see the information note sent home this week for further details and a link for purchase.

Book Week Dress Up Day

Book Week Dress Up Day will be held on Friday 12 November. Students are encouraged to dress up as a character from a book to celebrate their love of reading. Costumes can be from any style of book or they could link to the theme ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds’. We are looking forward to seeing all of the creative costumes and will share lots of photos in the coming weeks.

Book Week Challenge

We are receiving lots of entries to our Book Week Challenge! How many fictional worlds can you identify? We encourage students to work together with their families and friends to complete the challenge and return it to the gold entry box in the Library by Monday 8 November. See Mrs Morrison or Mrs Webster in the Library for an entry form. Entry is optional and all entries go in the running to win a book week prize.

Ali Webster – Teacher Librarian

Premier’s Debating Challenge

Congratulations to our two Year 6 debating teams who received their certificates this week for their participation in the Premier’s Debating Challenge. We had some great results this year and it was wonderful to see you all improve with each debate. There is so much talent in both teams and we hope you take up the debating and public speaking opportunities in high school.

Congratulations on your success in the competition this year!

Mrs Radan

Scholastic Book Club

Brochures have been distributed and are due back at school by Thursday 18 November 2021.

2022 Bus Travel Information

From 1 November 2021, the bus service provider in the Northern Beaches area will change from State Transit Authority (Sydney Buses) to Keolis Downer Northern Beaches.

Students, parents or carers applying for a School Opal card will need to nominate Keolis Downer Northern Beaches as their bus operator.

Students with an existing School Opal card will automatically have Keolis Downer Northern Beaches added to their travel entitlement.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out via the link below:

Community Notices

Northern Beaches Lifeline Book Fair

Our next book fair for 2021 will be running from Thursday to Sunday, 9-12 December at St Augustine’s College, Federal Parade, Brookvale. We will be following all NSW Health COVID-19 and venue protocols required at that time.

School Information