18 May 2023

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Thank you for all the support of our first P&C fundraiser for the year, the Mother’s Day stall. The P&C managed to raise $9,700.00 for the school. Thank you to Amy Hansen, Kristen Te Pania, Karen Murgatroyd, and all the kindergarten mothers who helped set up and run the stall. It was great to see the smiles on all the children’s faces as they came to purchase their gifts for their mothers. The P&C discussed the spending priorities for the year and with all our smartboards now out of warranty, funds like these will be able to ensure the replacement of our technology for years to come. Just this week a smartboard in our Kindergarten classroom stopped working and will need replacing.

Our next fundraiser will be a School Skip-A-thon on Thursday 15 June. Look out for sponsorship forms to come home within the next week. This fundraiser will be run by our Year 6 parents along with the school staff.

Walk Safely to School Day- Friday 19 May

Tomorrow all students are encouraged to walk to school safely. Please encourage your child to connect with some friends and a supervising adult and walk to school, modelling safe pedestrian behaviours.

Parents and carers are encouraged to:

• give their child lots of supervised practice in the traffic environment.
• teach their child about being alert in a road environment.
• always hold their child's hand up to the age of at least 8 years old, when on the footpath, crossing the road or in a carpark
• explain why the place they have chosen is the safest place to cross the road.
• point out dangers, such as vehicles coming out of driveways.
• use pedestrian crossings and traffic lights correctly.
• teach their child to keep turning their head in both directions to look and listen for traffic as they cross the road.
• explain why they should look and listen before crossing a driveway, road, or carpark.
• reinforce Stop! Look! Listen! Think! every time you cross the road together.
• observe if older children are ready to cross the road independently.

STOP! one step back from the kerb.
LOOK! continuously look both ways.
LISTEN! for the sounds of approaching traffic.
THINK! whether it is safe to cross.

Teachers will be on the gates tomorrow awarding stickers for students who demonstrate that they have walked safely to school. PSSA teams will be supervised by their coach in walking to school after training.

Multicultural Public Speaking Finals- Friday 26 May

Next Friday Mrs Radan and Ms Cash have organised the finals for the school’s Multicultural Public Speaking competition. Congratulations to all the students who chose to write and present a speech for this competition. The finalists will be notified early next week, and parents will be invited to attend the event.

The times are:

Stage 2 Final- 9.30am
Stage 3 Final- 10.30am

Cross Country Ribbons- Friday Morning Assembly

Tomorrow morning at 9.00am under the K-2 COLA we will hold a special presentation ceremony for years 2-6. We will present the school Cross Country ribbons to the finalists in preparation for their representation at the Zone Cross Country at Curl Curl on Thursday 25 May. Congratulations to all our competitors and good luck to our school team next Thursday.

Years 3-6 Assembly- Friday 19 May 2.30pm

On Friday afternoon, Principal awards and merit awards will be given out to the 3-6 students at an afternoon assembly.

Evacuation Drill- Friday 19 May

On Friday the whole school will practise an evacuation drill to King Street Park. All students from kindergarten to year 6 will practise walking to a safe assembly point.

Stewart House – Due back Friday 19 May

Stewart House envelopes have been distributed. A gold coin donation to support children who attend Stewart House each year.

PSSA Friday

Just a reminder that PSSA teams will leave for sport at 12 noon on Friday and return by 2.30pm. Please ensure that PSSA players have their hats, water bottle, and packed lunch for the day as the canteen is unable to provide lunches for PSSA teams.

Early Departures on Fridays

It is exceedingly difficult to pick up students early on a Friday as they attend different venues and locations during the day for sport. Please refrain from early pickups on Fridays, along with the late emails and changes to routine for getting home, as it is difficult to find students to convey these messages. Emails and changes to routine that come to the office after 11.30am cannot be guaranteed to be delivered to students going to sport.

Tina Lee – Principal

PSSA Training & Game Information

Training

Round 2 – Winter Draw

Junior Band

Mother’s Day Raffle

Thank you to all the businesses for their support and donation of prizes.

Zone Cross Country

The Zone Cross Country will be held at Curl Curl netball courts on Thursday 25 May. An electronic note was sent out recently to the top 6 place getters in each event. Prompt responses to that note will assist with the extra organisation involved due to transportation changes.

Due to bus shortages we now need to rely on private transport to get our athletes to and from the event. The times of the races was provided on the note which might allow some parents to choose to bring their child for their event and then return them to school afterwards. Any parents who can assist with driving children who are unable to be transported by their own parents would be greatly appreciated and can be indicated on the electronic note, or via email to the school if more information is required. Thank you for any assistance provided and best wishes to all the runners on the day.

Also please find below updated results for two of the school carnival events. Ribbons will be handed out to all place getters at this Friday’s morning assembly 19 May.

Dates for your Diary

Premier’s Reading Challenge

Term 2 Premier’s Reading Challenge

The 2023 Premier’s Reading Challenge is well underway. Congratulations to the following students who have already completed the challenge and successfully entered their books on the PRC website!

Do not worry if you haven’t started yet as there is still plenty of time to get reading.

Reminder:

Infants Students (K-2) will be completing the challenge entirely at school. Students will read 30 quality PRC books during library lessons throughout the year. They will receive a participation certificate at the end of the year.

Primary Students (3-6) wishing to complete the challenge are expected to do so independently, with support available from library staff as needed. Students need to read 20 PRC books and enter them into the PRC website by the closing date, Friday 18 August, to qualify for a certificate at the end of the year. Students use their regular school login to access the website.

Reading lists and general rules can be found on the PRC website at the link below:

Happy reading!
Sue Yardley and Laurenza Butcher – Teacher Librarians

Message From Cliona Mulloy – School Counsellor

Resilient Kids Toolkit (Royal Far West) Section 3; Understanding Emotions

This is the third section of the Resilient Kids Toolkit from Royal Far West focusing on tips parents can use to help our children understand their emotions.

The key areas we are looking at are:

What is emotional resilience?
Putting yourself first
How to understand and manage emotions
Tips on connection and communication

We all experience a range of emotions in our day-to-day lives. Whether it be frustration, anger or excitement, strong feelings are inevitable, even for adults! As parents, we can help children to understand what they are feeling by giving them a safe space to express their emotions and ultimately developing an emotional language for them to use. Children who can understand and manage their emotions are more likely to express themselves calmly and appropriately, control their impulses and bounce back after experiencing strong emotions, such as disappointment, frustration, or excitement.

For the full document see:

Cliona Mulloy - School Counsellor

Canteen News

Glee Drinks

Are you having trouble opening your new Glee Can? Pop down to the canteen and you can get help to open them at the lunch order frozen treat line.

Please return your Glee Cans and Emma and Toms bottles to the canteen to be recycled.

PSSA & Friday Orders

Please remember that there are no lunch orders on Friday's for PSSA students. PSSA students can still order Recess, we have included some yummy recess options so you can still get something great to eat before sport.

New Canteen Items

We have some great new menu items for this term.

Hot chocolate at recess / Vegetable lasagne / Veggie curry

Volunteers

The canteen needs your help to get all the lunches made as well as serve at the counter. We really need Volunteers on Thursday and Friday mornings to help get all the sandwiches and toasties made. Without volunteers the canteen will not be able to offer the full range of yummy foods each day.

Please sign up below, feel free to sign up with a friend if you want, just pop both your names in the sign up sheet.

Flexischools Ordering

Please remember that without an order confirmation your order has not been placed correctly.

If you are having trouble ordering or need help with your account, you can call flexischools on 1300 361 769 or submit a question online

Birthday Treats

Please only order frozen birthday treats through the birthday section to ensure we have enough stock. Years 3-6 we recommend ordering birthday treats Monday- Thursday during PSSA season so that all students are at school to celebrate with their class.

Multiple drinks in orders

Please be considerate in your ordering. Many orders are being made for 3- 4 Glee drinks at a time making it hard for us to have enough stock to cater for everybody.

Becky McGowan - Canteen Manager

School Student Travel/Opal Cards

Community Notices

Neurodiverse Parents Support Group

School Information