18 November 2021

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Congratulations to all the students and teachers on the fabulous Book Parade last Friday. The costumes were spectacular, and all the teachers and students enjoyed the opportunity to parade as their favourite Book Characters. Mrs Webster was certainly the best dressed in her squid costume! I was sorry that I missed it, but the photos certainly displayed a lot of creativity and fun for all.

Remembrance Day Service

Last Thursday our Year 6 school leaders hosted a virtual Remembrance Day Service for the school. It was a very moving service, and the leaders did a great job in reminding us of the sacrifice of our soldiers during wartime.

Isabella Earl our school captain did an amazing job with her speech at Manly Dam for the Remembrance Day Service for our local Balgowlah RSL.

Kaleidoscope Science Incursions

This week Mrs Fisk organised a great science incursion for all our students. Each stage visited the hall for some amazing interactive experiments. All students loved the interactive activities and the fun experiments presented. It was a great way to finish off our science program for the year. Thank you to Mrs Fisk, Mrs McManus, Mrs Holman, and Mrs Hacking for the incredible preparation and planning you have done for 2021.

Banner Assemblies

This week the following students will receive their School Banners. Congratulations to the following students who will receive their Banners at tomorrow’s morning assembly.

Lia Perez Meyer - 4S
Imogen Kiely - 4S
Ellaria Romeo - 5K
Finn Adelbert - 4M

Stage 1 Award Recipients

Opportunity Class Test

This week some of our year 4 students sat the Opportunity Class test. This examination is extremely difficult, and I wish to congratulate all the students who completed the test. More information about the process can be found by following the link:

Opportunity Class placement test (nsw.gov.au)

Thank you, Mrs Nelson, for all your work in organising and supervising this process.

ICAS English and Maths

The ICAS competitions will be held at school in Mrs Banham’s classroom. They are done after school from around 3.15pm-4.15pm. Please make sure that your child is aware that they are siting the ICAS competition and pack a small afternoon tea for them that day to have prior to the competition. Mrs Banham, Mrs Nelson, and Mrs Lee will be supervising these after school competitions. Parents will need to wait at the front gate for students at 4.15pm for the pick-up.

ICAS English - Thursday 18 November
ICAS Maths - Wednesday 24 November

Welcome Kindergarten 2022 - Monday 22 November 9.15am-10.45am

Next Monday we will have our first site visit from our Kindergarten students for 2022 and their parents. The parents will need to do a quick drop off to classrooms after QR coding in, and presenting their digital vaccination certificates, and our new students will see their Kindergarten classrooms and meet some of the teachers.

Thank you, Mrs Oscroft and Mrs Robertson, for all your work in making this face-to-face visit happen this year. It will be a very exciting time for all our new students.

Leadership Speeches

Next week our 16 potential school leadership candidates will write and present their speeches. Congratulations to all the students below for having the courage to step forward and be a part of the leadership process. Students from years 4 & 5 and teachers will vote on the candidates to reduce the number to 8 students. Good luck to all these students.

Thanusri Gadikota, Martine McGowan, Hannah Sollberger, Ellaria Romeo, Abigail Wilson, Soraya Shalav, Maddie Smith, Georgia Harris

George Gregor, Finlay Blanchard, Jake Kraus, Dylan Seymour, Harrison Jeffs, Jake Sengchanh, Samuel Murtgatroyd, Frankie Waring

Athletics Fun Day - Friday 26 November

We will be having an Athletics Fun Day next Friday in stage groups. We have been unable to run our traditional carnival, so a fun day has been organised for our students. Unfortunately, no parent spectators are allowed.

Leaving in 2022?

Please notify the office if you are leaving the school and not returning in 2022. We are trying to finalise classes and teachers over the next week.

Last Day of School - Thursday 16 December

Our final day of school will be on Thursday 16 December. We are trying to organise a traditional clap out of our Year 6 students under the COVID guidelines. All students will receive their end of year reports the day before. If you need care for the Friday 17 December please contact Sustainable OOSH

Tell Them from Me Survey

We are trying to organise and plan for next year and beyond and would love you to complete the evaluation survey by following the link below. Please take some time to have your input into the school’s future direction and planning.

Tina Lee – Principal

That’s a R.A.P
Indigenous STEM Workshop

Last week, our indigenous students from years 4 & 5 Taine, Gage and AJ participated in an online Watercraft Technology workshop with Miss Taylor and Mrs Lee. This session allowed these students to inform, strengthen, and connect through a cultural lens. The students learnt the knowledge of their history and the importance of Watercraft in Aboriginal Cultures. Students were able to design their own watercraft using bark, string and toothpicks and tested their watercraft to see if they floated.

Dates for your Diary

Remembrance Day Memorial Service

On Thursday 11 November Isabella Earl, one of our school captains, and I walked to Manly Dam for the Remembrance Day Service. It was held to acknowledge the end of the first world war and to commemorate those who lost their lives all throughout the war. The Northern Beaches Council hosted the service and Isabella gave a fantastic speech about Australian Victories in France, 1918. Isabella spoke with confidence and the MC, Bob Giltinan said she was a credit to our school and her parents. She received a framed Certificate of Appreciation from Deputy Mayor Candy Bigham. There was a time of book and wreath laying where students from other schools stepped forward to place down an item of gratitude and took a moment to pay their respects to those who have fought for our country. Like all commemoration services they had the Ode, Last Post, A Minutes Silence and the Rouse. It was a lovely service and a wonderful leadership opportunity for our captain.

Mrs Ward

Junior Band 2022 Recruitment

If you have a child in years 2 or 3 who would like to join the junior band program for 2022, please click on the link. Applications will be closing this Friday 19 November. Any questions, please contact Mrs Johnston or Miss Taylor.

APPLICATION FOR MVPS JUNIOR BAND 2022 - Google Forms

Dancesport

DanceSport is a ballroom dancing program which is targeted at year 5 students. The program promotes the values of respect, teamwork and personal growth. Like many programs this year, the dancing lessons had to be delivered via Zoom while the children were in lockdown. Despite the constant changes, the year 5 students did a wonderful job of keeping up with the lessons and developing their skills, despite not being able to dance together. The program usually finishes with a spectacular event at Olympic Park, but this year, the highlight was an online ‘virtual final’. On Friday 12 November the finalists and winners were announced! As a school, we would like to recognise the achievements of Abi W for making the top 16 in the Cha Cha and Ashleigh F for making the top 16 in the Tango and the Salsa. In addition, huge congratulations go to Jake S for placing 6th in the Cha Cha finals and to Dylan S for placing 5th in the Tango finals. Medals will be awarded to the boys at our next assembly.

Year 5 Teachers

Library News

Book Week Challenge Winners

ICAS English and Maths Reminder

ICAS English competition will be held today Thursday 18 November 2021 at 3:15pm to 4:05pm in the 4B classroom. Upon completion of the test, students will be walked down to the school gates and can be picked up from 4:15pm. If your child attends OOSH on that day, please let the OOSH know that your child will come to OOSH later.

The following students are enrolled to sit ICAS English test:

Year 3

Amelie Armstrong-Jones
Oscar Baleikasavu
Louis Farquhar
Phoebe Gregor
Noah Lougher
Savannah Lowe
Jordan Rourke
Sophie Sollberger
Johnny Tan
Alec Toivonen de Oliveira
Enyu Zhang
Mila Zheng

Year 4

Jamie Andrew
Finn Adelbert
Ellie Briggs
Emma Dixon
Will Dixon
Thea Edgerton
Indiana Fisher
Ronan Jeffcoat
Tasha Markezic
Samuel Li
Nicola Loncar
Liam McGowan
Romy Scott
Ella Singleton
Eesha Somsundaram
Kanda Somsundaram
Aidan Toivonen de Oliveira
Theo Wright
Andrew Yao

Year 5

Dylan Du
George Gregor
Anna Jing
Cameron Kuan
Michael Love
Kalinda Northcott
Hannah Sollberger
Rachel Stevanoski

Year 6

Finn Dixon
Shay Eggeling
Brooke Fisher
Hannah Huisman
Natasha Li

ICAS Maths competition will be held on Wednesday, 24 November 2021 at 3:15pm to 3:50pm in the 4B classroom. Upon completion of the test, students will be walked down to the school gates and can be picked up from 4:00pm. If your child attends OOSH on that day, please let the OOSH know that your child will come to OOSH later.

The following students are enrolled to sit ICAS Maths test:

Year 3

Amelie Armstrong-Jones
Oscar Baleikasavu
Sean Cook
Louis Farquhar
Phoebe Gregor
Noah Lougher
Jordan Rourke
Sophie Sollberger
Johnny Tan
Alec Toivonen de Oliveira
Enyu Zhang
Mila Zheng

Year 4

Finn Adelbert
Jamie Andrew
Ellie Briggs
Emma Dixon
Will Dixon
Thea Edgerton
Indiana Fisher
Ronan Jeffcoat
Tasha Markezic
Samuel Li
Nicola Loncar
Liam McGowan
Romy Scott
Ella Singleton
Eesha Somsundaram
Kanda Somsundaram
Aidan Toivonen de Oliveira
Theo Wright
Andrew Yao

Thank you for your ongoing assistance with this competition.

Aga Banham - ICAS Coordinator

Canteen News

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.

Balgowlah Rotary Road Rally

School Information