Harmonious And Caring School Community

EPPING PUBLIC SCHOOL Opportunity, Excellence, Success

Norfolk Road, Epping NSW 2121 Phone: 9876 1452 Fax: 9876 6873

Email: epping-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Website: www.epping-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

P & C Meeting: Second Tuesday of Each Month at 6.30 pm

NEWSLETTER Monday 2 September, 2019 Welcome to Week 7, Term 3

Kindergarten excursion to Calmsley Hill Farm What a great day we had for our annual Kindergarten excursion to Calmsley Hill Farm. Once we were at the farm, the real adventure began. With the help of the farmers, we met all the farm animals and were able to pat a few of them. In the farmyard nursery, we saw little mice, fluffy baby rabbits, kids and lambs.

There were lots of animals and we even got to listen to roosters crowing and cows mooing.

We all milked a cow called ‘Charlie’ by squeezing the udder. Our whip cracker, Siddharth, was able to make a loud noise with the whip. We all enjoyed the sheep shearing and the working dog show. It as a busy day for all of the teachers, parent helpers and students. Many of us had a little nap in the bus on the way back to school.

COMING EVENTS Tuesday 3 Sept to Wednesday 4 Sept Year 4 Camp at Collaroy Centre Tuesday 10 September Premier’s Spelling Bee regional Finals Tuesday 17 September 3:20pm Community Forum 6:30pm P&C Meeting Wednesday 18 Sept & Thursday 19 Sep 5:30pm Guringai School Performance Thursday 26 September Year 4 Excursion to Clifton Gardens

ASSEMBLY Wednesday 4 September Parents are welcome to attend Darug Assembly begins 12:20pm Guringai Assembly begins 1:15pm This week’s assembly items will be presented by KS Congratulations to the following students who will receive an award at this week’s assembly: BRONZE Andreas KG SILVER Fei Fei 2H Shevaun 1H Michaela 1R Gold and Platinum awards will be presented at next week’s assembly

An Exceptional Team of Teachers

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

IMPORTANT MESSAGES

I have two important messages for our school community. Both concern the efficient running of the school.

1. PAYMENTS TO SCHOOL I have always stressed to students and teachers that we own up to making mistakes. I must do that now. At the beginning of this year I implemented a cashless payment system. I did this to alleviate the workload on the office, to free them up to have more time to support teachers and students. This has proved to be what occurred. However I was recently approached by a parent who suggested that we do need to make cash payments available. On further investigation this is the case. I still encourage our parents to pay online for the reason outlined above. If you struggle with the system please come into the office and we will demonstrate how to use it or contact us over the phone for instructions. However if you are unable to pay online we will accept cash payments. Please do not send your child to school carrying large amounts of cash as this can be dangerous. To make a cash payment please come to our office. Again I encourage you to pay online when you can.

2. CONTACT INFORMATION Recently we have had cause to try to contact parents because their child was sick, because the child had not been picked up after school, to speak to the parent about a concern or sending statements of account to a home address. On numerous occasions we have found that the information given to us was incorrect. Above all, for the safety and welfare of your child, we need to be able to contact parents or an identified emergency contact. Over the coming weeks everyone will receive the current information on our system. We are requesting that parents look at this information and then either

a) Sign the sheet to indicate that the information is correct and return It to the class teacher or b) make the appropriate changes to the information and return it to the class teacher Please support us in this endeavour as it could be your child where we need to make that contact. We will be sending a note home for every child as we keep individual records for each child. You will need to respond for each child.

CAMP PROGRAM

Last Friday we welcomed back our Stage 3 students from camp. Despite the inclement weather they had a fantastic time, involved in different activities and just bonding with each other. It is a wonderful experience and one in which the memories are those which stay with them for a long time. By all accounts the behaviour of the students was wonderful. I again thank Miss Kerr, Miss Hill, Miss Payne, Miss Shon, Mr Alice and Mr Castle who gave of their own time to allow this opportunity for our students.

We now get ready to say goodbye to our Year 4 students who leave tomorrow for an overnight Camp at Collaroy. Once again to our teachers Miss Assad, Mrs Sainty, Miss Moon, Mrs Lyons, Mr Le and Mrs Ashton we say thank you for giving up their own time. For many of our students it will be their first time away from home, by themselves. I am sure for them too it will be a wonderful experience and we look forward to hearing of the different activities in which they participate.

John Ford PRINCIPAL

An Exceptional Team of Teachers

NEWS FROM THE P&C

P&C CALENDAR – TERM 3/ 2019 – All welcome Please note: the September P&C meeting will not be held on Tuesday 10 September. The new meeting date for the September meeting is Tuesday 17 September (Week 9) (6.30pm) - Staff Room P&C Contacts President - Jong Chung - president@epspc.org V/President - Marissa Kelly - vp@epspc.org Secretary - Sarah O'Neill - secretary@epspc.org Treasurer - Amandeep Sidhu - treasurer@espc.org EPS Fathers’ Day Stall – Celebrating Fatherhood The 2019 Fathers’ Day Stall held on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 August was a success with 431 items sold. Thank you to the school community that purchased merchandise from the EPS Fathers’ Day Stall. It was a great result as we have raised approximately $1,400 and couldn’t be done without the help of fantastic volunteers with their time and energy for supporting this school event. Thank you to Marissa for purchasing the merchandise and getting the event started. Thank you to Laura for sharing the co-ordinating load and responsibility with me (ie. Mira) A big thank you to our very many helpers with wrapping gifts and helping on the sale days – Mindy, Tina, Jenny, Varsha, Deirdre, Elissa, Michelle, Dishani, Erica, Deborah, Katie, Belinda, Eva, Vaishali, Glorya, Janeela, Poonam, Sandy, Shiwangi, Maria, Kavitha, Seema, and Shoko. Also, thank you to Mrs Graham for arranging the announcements in assembly and the classroom walk-arounds. Thank you to the groundskeepers, Allan and Glenn, who set up in the morning and assisted on pack up after the sale. These P&C events wouldn’t happen without parents volunteering their time. These organised events help to raise the much needed funds for the P&C and enrich the community spirit to support the school. We hope all the Fathers’ have enjoyed their gifts and celebrating fatherhood with their loved ones over the weekend.

An Exceptional Team of Teachers

SPOOKY DISCO The DJ and St Albans Church Hall have been tentatively booked for Friday 1 November (Wk 3, Term 4). However we do need some parents to step forward and coordinate this event otherwise the event will not go ahead. Past coordinators are happy to meet up and share their tips and learnings. As always, P&C will also provide support. Coordinators will be required to: create an A4 event flyer by end of term; advertise the event for first three weeks of next term; advertise for helpers; coordinate helpers, track ticket sales via Flexischools; purchase any snacks or drinks (will be reimbursed); liaise with venue provider; decorate the Hall; prepare newsletter report. Many helpers will be needed to share the load. This is a great way to meet other parents. This is an event many children look forward to every year. We will need volunteer coordinators to step forward by Friday 20 September (Wk 9, Term 3). If we don’t hear from anyone, we will sadly have to cancel the event. Please reach out to Marissa if you are interested or would like more information - vp@epspc.org CANTEEN ROSTER TERM 3/2019

DAY DATE

Week 7

Food Shopper Deborah

WED 4-Sep Jennifer K, Coco H, Cherry, Coco C

FRI 6-Sep Mina, Suzzi, Tiffany, Linda, Jay, Jyotsna

Week 8

Food Shopper Lillian

WED 11-Sep Jennifer K, Rachelle, Hattie, Lili, Tiantian

FRI 13-Sep Mina, Christy, Jennifer J, Divija, Vanitha, Coco H

An Exceptional Team of Teachers

Community Forum

On Tuesday 17 September 2019 at 3:20pm, we will be holding a community forum where a variety of community clubs, groups and facilities will showcase what they can offer our students who live in the Epping community. These organisations will set up their information booths in the North Playground and interested students and parents can talk to any of the representatives present. This meeting is to give information only, Epping Public School does not sponsor any particular organisation. Out of school hours activities often help children to learn new skills, improve their strengths, discover a hidden talent, boost their confidence, interact with children outside the classroom and make new friends. We hope to see you there!

Strategic Direction 3 Committee.

BOOK CLUB Scholastic Book Club brochures have been distributed. Orders will close on Friday 13 September 2019. Please note that you can only order online through the Scholastic LOOP system. No cash is accepted. If you have any questions, contact Sophie at EPSBookClub1@gmail.com.

Open 7:45 – 9:30am on the following dates: Monday 2nd September Monday 9th September Monday 16th September Thursday 26th September

GURINGAI PERFORMANCE GROUP

On Wednesday 18 September and Thursday 19 September 2019, Guringai group students will present their dance performance of ‘Movies by Moonlight’. All members of our school community are invited to come and watch the performance, particularly as, due to space limitations, students from the Darug group will not have the opportunity to see a dress rehearsal as they have in previous years.

Tickets can be purchased through the following links:

https://www.trybooking.com/BEZAH

https://www.trybooking.com/544187

An Exceptional Team of Teachers

Tell Them From Me

Once again our school community will have the opportunity to participate in the Tell Them From Me Survey. This will involve our Years 4, 5 and 6 students as well as staff and parents.

Information about the surveys can be found at:

https://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au/images/FAQs/TTFM_Parent_Survey_FAQs_Parent_and_Carers_T3_2019.pdf

Students Parents The survey is a great opportunity for our students to provide us with valuable and quick feedback on what they think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. More than 6,300 schools in Australia and around the world have used Tell Them From Me to survey 5.4 million students. The focus of this NSW survey is on student wellbeing, engagement and effective teaching practices. Capturing the voices of our students will help improve how we do things at our school. The survey typically takes less than 30 minutes and is conducted entirely online through a secure website operated by the survey developers, The Learning Bar. Schools will make computers or laptops available so that students can complete the survey during school hours. Participation in the survey is optional. A consent form for parents/carers about the survey is being sent home with students. If you do not want your child or children to participate, please return the form to school by Friday 6 September.

This term, our school will be participating in the Partners in Learning parent survey, another part of the Tell Them From Me suite of surveys (student, teacher and parent surveys) on student engagement. The survey asks parents and carers questions about different factors that are known to impact on student wellbeing and engagement. Running this survey will help our school understand parents’ and carers’ perspectives on their child’s experience at school. These include: communication between parents/carers and staff, activities and practices at home and parent/carer views on the school's support of learning and behaviour. This valuable feedback will help our school make practical improvements. The survey is conducted entirely online on smartphones, iPads, tablets, laptops or computers. The survey will typically take 15 minutes or less to complete and is completely confidential. The parent survey will be conducted between Monday 9 September and Friday 27 September. Although participating in the survey is entirely voluntary, your responses are very much appreciated. More information about the survey is available at: http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au.

To access the survey for our school go to: http://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/j35r2 Closing date for Parent Survey Friday 27 September.

An Exceptional Team of Teachers

An Exceptional Team of Teachers

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