8 June 2023

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Last Friday Mrs Birrell accompanied two of our school leaders Zoe Jelinek and Emma Dixon to the 81st Anniversary of the Defence of Sydney Service at North Head Manly. The annual commemoration service has been conducted at the Monument site since 1995. Emma and Zoe proudly represented our school and laid a wreath, in acknowledgment of those who defended our country and recognising how close Sydney was to being under attack.

The students of Manly Vale are always very respectful and pay tribute to our returned servicemen and women throughout the school year. Later in the newsletter you can read a wonderful recount written by Minnie Sneade in 4W, on a soldier’s promise before heading off to war. Minnie has entered this piece of writing into the Young Writer’s Competition. Well done, Winnie!

Bush Tucker Garden

Mrs Jackie Holman our wonderful science teacher has set up a Bush Tucker Garden in the school. Using a wonderful local resource “Bush To Bowl” and with funding from our Before and After School Care Service “Sustainable OSHC,” the garden is now complete and ready for students to learn about sustainable bush practices and growing food, in science lessons. We have a dedicated group of gardeners who maintain and assist in the garden including Jack Shellabear, Ava Lau, Samuel Li, AJ and Sonja Rhodes and Will Joynson. Thank you to Mrs Holman for her commitment and dedication to the project. Maybe we will see some of the produce up for sale in our canteen!

Drama Festival- Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek

Last Tuesday evening our drama group performed at the “LightsUp” Drama Festival at Chatswood Concourse. It was an amazing performance with everyone remembering their lines and performing like professional actors in front of a theatre full of parents, teachers, and principals. It was a proud moment as a principal to see how well our group presented their recount of the story of the “Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek.’ Thank you to Miss Webster for her producing and directing of the play, and to Mrs McManus who assisted with costumes and supervision on the night. Well done to our drama group:

P & C Meeting- Tuesday 13 June

Next Tuesday we will hold our P & C meeting in the school staffroom starting at 7.00pm. Along with discussion of our fundraising targets and activities, Mrs Oscroft will also give a reflection and evaluation of the School External Validation process which has just been completed. Please feel free to come along to this meeting. All parents and community members are welcome to attend.

We still require someone to take on the role of P & C secretary, we have a person who is interested in sharing the role so if you feel you could perhaps help every second meeting with minute taking and correspondence please make contact with the school office or the P & C via email manlyvaleprimaryschoolpc@gmail.com .

There is a Fundraising committee meeting in the school library on Tuesday 13 June at 2.00pm.

Skip-A-Thon- Friday 15 June

Only one week left to get sponsorship for the school’s Skip A-Thon. Students can use this long weekend to call relatives and friends and ask them to sponsor them it what will be a fun day of activity. The Skip-A-Thon will have a variety of outdoor sporting activities and skipping stations, to keep the students moving for the time required (K-2 = 1 hour / 3-6 = 1.5 hours). To add to the fun of the day students can wear “mufti” clothes, however suitable sports cloths and proper runners and socks will need to be worn so students can participate in the sporting activities.

Thank you to all parents and family member who have sponsored our students. Please make sure all sponsorship forms are brought into school by next Wednesday 14 June.

Friday Assembly - 9 June

This Friday there will be a 3-6 assembly at 2.30pm. Principal awards and merit certificates for 3-6 students, will be given out during this assembly. Parents are welcome to attend.

Tina Lee – Principal

Parent Workshop

Parent workshop to provide strategies for improved parent / child relationships and positive behaviour at home

As we embrace the more familiar daily routine we must also consider what communities, families and educators need in order to address the harmful effects of the pandemic has had on children’s academic and social development. In 2022, Manly Vale Public School upskilled our Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 teachers on the evidence-based program, called PAX Good Behaviour Game. This program is supported by the NSW Department of Education and underpins our positive student behaviour programs. It has now been introduced into Kindergarten and Year 1 classrooms since the beginning of this year.

The PAX Good Behaviour Game (PAX GBG) is a classroom-based system that teachers use to teach skills for self-regulation, co-regulation, and self-control during any school or after school activity and at home. It does this through creating a shared classroom and school purpose and vision with teachers and peers to create peace, productivity, health, and happiness. We value and understand the importance of having consistent language and structures between home and school so that children are best supported to thrive in both environments.

We are excited to offer a parent workshop delivered by our school Deputy Principal, Mrs Sharon Oscroft and our school Assistant Principal, Mrs Sarah Birrell, who have been trained in delivering this effective behaviour program.

The program will be held on Monday 19 June at 5:30 – 6:30pm in the school staffroom. Please refer to the attached flyer for detailed information about the workshop for parents. Registration is required as resources are provided for each attendee. Please see the flyer for the link to register your attendance by 12 June.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Sharon Oscroft Deputy Principal and Sarah Birrell Assistant Principal

Skip-a-Thon P&C Fundraiser

The year 6 group will be running the Skip-a-thon on Thursday 15 June.

Students will each receive a sponsorship form and be asked to gather sponsors from family & friends to complete the Skip-a-thon.

There will be prizes for the top 3 highest money earning classes.

1st Prize - pizza for the whole class
2nd Prize - cupcakes for the whole class
3rd Prize - Zooper Doopers for the whole class

Students must collect the money from the sponsor by cash or they can pay via Flexischools online and return the form and money before 15 June.

Taco Tuesday P&C Fundraiser – Tuesday 20 June

PSSA Training & Game Information

Training

Round 5 – Winter Draw

Dates for your Diary

Road Safety

The Broken Promise – by Minnie Sneade

Lights Up Drama Festival

Manly Vale Public School drama club were lucky enough to perform at the Concourse’s LightsUp Drama Festival in Chatswood on Tuesday night. We performed our piece the ‘Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek’ by Jenny Wagner that tells the story of a lost Bunyip that is trying to find animals like him. Here are a couple of photos from our rehearsal and performance!

Miss Webster

Reconciliation Week

Last week the whole school celebrated Reconciliation Week with a sea of hands to show our support. 3B students are keen learners of new and sophisticated vocabulary, so they were naturally interested in Reconciliation Week's meaning and history.

It is a complex topic for 8-year-old children and storytelling was the easiest way for 3B students to engage with, understand and appreciate that part of our history. We built a rough map of Australia from blue, green and orange cushions. A small green dictionary carefully placed on a blue cushion, represented Tasmania. I brought various props, including white and brown pipe cleaner stick figures, Lego and other toys. Students quickly associated white stick figures with white settlers and brown figures with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Reuben observed that we needed boats and suggested making some from paper. With a little help from his friends, our ‘First Fleet’ arrived. I told the settlement story in Polish and English, highlighting the first obstacle: the lack of understanding of each other’s languages. Then came fences and new animals, and the second obstacle became apparent: a very different concept of ‘owning’ country. Finally, students were presented with contrasting views on what each side understood as culture.

Students were presented with a particularly challenging task. They were asked to improvise using white and brown figures to show how they could resolve their differences. Students were patiently teaching each other their languages or discussing how to share and care for the land and respectfully appreciating each other’s foreign interpretations of art.

To conclude the lesson, we talked at length about what does reconciliation mean. Here are some of the students’ comments.

“Reconciliation is important because we remember how the white (settlers) were bossy to Aboriginal people”
“I think that reconciliation is important because you can have a better life. You have friends and if you get into a fight, you can make up again.”
“I think that Reconciliation Week is about recognising our differences”
“Reconciliation is important because if people don’t reconcile (their differences), they will not apologise and won’t like each other.”
“It brings people back together and reconciles about bad things in the past”
“To remember that we are all different”

Reconciliation starts with young people and instilling a deep understanding of this profound word. I am proud of my class and their open-mindedness and positivity about such a challenging topic.

Mrs Banham and 3B students

Year 2 Sport

Year 2 and the 2S buddy class 5L have been participating in joint fundamental movement and game skills sessions on Monday afternoons. Mrs Speight and Mr Le Jeune worked closely to prepare 5L to plan, organise and deliver games and activities that target a range of sports skills. The year 5 students support their year 2 buddy teams to learn and practice movement skills and play mini games to reinforce their development. Year 2 really love the opportunity to learn from their older and more experienced peers and have lots of fun engaging in a wider variety of games. Year 5 have been improving their communication and leadership skills whilst guiding their younger buddies through the stations. It has been so wonderful to see all students getting active and having fun!

Junior Band Performance K-2

K-2 Dance Showcase

Our spectacular K-2 dance concert will be Wednesday 28 June, with the dress rehearsal the day before on Tuesday 27 June. Information about the details of this concert will be sent home via Class Coordinators. Entry to the concert will be a gold coin donation.

This year we have decided to continue to separate the dance showcase into Early Stage 1 and Stage 1, due to the increase in audience members.

The kindergarten dance showcase will commence at approximately 10:00am.

Stage 1 (years 1 & 2) dance showcase will commence at approximately 11:30am.

The students who participate in the dance concert have been invoiced $12.00. This cost covers costumes and props for their performance.

We ask that toddlers who attend the showcase be supervised and seated on an adults’ lap, due to the limited number of seats.

The school will not be filming the K-2 dance showcase this year. Unfortunately, parents and visitors are not allowed to film during the dance concert. Thank you for your understanding.

K-2 can not wait to show off their incredible dance moves!

Mrs Kennedy, Miss Smyth and Miss Vanessa.

NCCD – Nationally Consistent Collection of Data

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability

Neuro Diverse Parent Support Group

Last Saturday afternoon the Manly Vale Public School Neuro Diverse Parent Support Group came together for our inaugural meet-up. This was our first meeting since the creation of the subcommittee earlier this year. Thank you again for your support and endorsement.

It was a beautiful afternoon, there were about 10 families present. We shared stories, made new connections, formed bonds, and provided support to each other, and our children through lived experiences.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Kind regards, Skye & Rob Abernethy

Homework Survey

We would like to get your feedback on our current homework procedures here at Manly Vale. Your responses will help inform us on your feelings around homework, what works for you and your children at home and what we can do to improve our homework practices here at Manly Vale.

Please follow the link to participate. We really value and appreciate your time and feedback.

Canteen News

Did you know that the canteen follows the NSW Department of Education Healthy School Canteen Strategy. Our menus are reviewed regularly to ensure that we provide healthy food options in line with these guidelines.

More information about these guidelines can be found at:

PSSA and Friday orders

PSSA students can only order recess on Fridays. We have included some yummy recess options so you can still get something great to eat before sport.

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 an 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.

Becky McGowan - Canteen Manager

Online Orders due by 12 June 2023

Community Notices

School Information