GOROKAN PUBLIC SCHOOL

Dudley Street, Gorokan 2263 Phone: 4392 4200 Fax: 4393 1698 Email: gorokan-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Website: www.gorokan-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

Wednesday 18th September 2019

Term 3, Week 9 Newsletter

Dear Parents and Carers,

At Gorokan Public School we go to great lengths to support our students as they transition from home to school, Primary to High School, and throughout their education. Adequate provision at these critical times makes all the difference in maintaining student confidence and engagement in school.

Year 7 2020 Transition - Many of our Year 6 students took part in the taster day provided by Gorokan High School last Friday as part of their transition to High School program. The students have reported that they had a wonderful day, engaging in a variety of engaging activities and that they are feeling very positive about Year 7. Our appreciation and gratitude are extended to Gorokan HS for their efforts.

Photo: Year 6 students participating in the Gorokan HS Taster Day

Kindergarten 2020 - As we are fast reaching capacity, parents and carers of students starting school next year are urged to complete the enrolment process as a priority so that important student transition and school planning can occur. In addition to the playgroups currently being held, students starting school next year will be invited to attend the formal transition program commencing next term.

Bilby Bash - Each year, Aboriginal students from local schools, get together to celebrate Aboriginal culture with the local community. The students thoroughly enjoy the day and participate in a number of cultural activities, which include art, music, craft, Dreamtime stories, drama, bush tucker and many more highly engaging topics. Each school also has the opportunity to perform an item. Our students are looking forward to providing performances by our girls dance group and our didge group on the day.

Parent Feedback Survey - If you haven’t done so yet, could you please take up the opportunity to provide the school with valuable information that can be used for school planning and school improvement. The parent survey closes on 28th September. To complete the survey, please go to the following link: http://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/mh54y

Premier’s Spelling Bee - Congratulations to Hudson L and Deaken P, our Regional Spelling Bee finalists who competed at Warnervale Public School last week. These clever boys were wonderful representatives of our school and must be commended for their valiant efforts.

Cricket School Cup - Last Friday a number of Year 3 and 4 students participated in the second Woolworths Cricket School Cup held at Harry Moore Oval, Toukley. The students involved competed well and like the senior team, represented the school proudly as safe and respectful sports competitors.

Photo: Stage 2 Gorokan Public School cricketers

Healthy Living Expo - Our Healthy Living Expo will be held at the school next Thursday 26th September, commencing at 1:00pm and concluding at 4:30pm. On behalf of the staff and students, I warmly invite parents, carers, relatives and friends to attend. The teachers and students have worked tirelessly on their innovative PDHPE projects over the course of the term and will proudly display the results of their learning on the day. You will not want to miss this event.

Together we can make a difference.

Jesmond Zammit

Principal

Class Awards - Congratulations to the following students for receiving class awards last week: KC - Evangeline and Riley, KJ - Ava and Tyler, KL - Jacody and Lucas, KD/T - Zane and Aliyah, KF/L - Bradley, Shyloh and Ava.

Excursion to Laycock Street Theatre - All Kindergarten students will have the opportunity to view Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes performance on Friday 27th September. Could you please return the permission notes with payment to your child’s teacher as soon as possible. This will be an excellent opportunity for students to view live theatre productions.

KindergAAARten’s Pirate Warrior Course - We are currently planning an exciting ES1 day for the PDHPE showcase on Thursday 26th September. It is a Pirate Warrior Course encompassing Fundamental Movement Skills. Students are welcome to dress up as a pirate on the day. We require the following recyclable materials if you could please start collecting these items and send to your child’s teacher. Egg cartons, cardboard tubes but no toilet rolls, large pieces of white, cream, black, red, green or blue material with no patterns, newspaper, large cardboard boxes, balloons, paper plates, brown paper bags. Thank you.

Revised Date - Our new excursion date to visit Girrokool for KF/L, KL and boys from KJ is now Friday 1st November. Let’s hope for a sunny day this time!

Glue Sticks - If you could please donate glue sticks to your child’s classroom in preparation for our showcase activities, it would be greatly appreciated.

Absences - Please send written justification to the school office within 7 days of your child being absent from school.

Year One Excursion - Notes for our Year One excursion to the Reptile Park on Friday 25th October have been sent home. The cost of the excursion is $32.00, which is due by Friday 27th September, the last week of this term. If you need another note, please see your class teacher.

Swim Scheme - Well done to all Year Two students that have returned their Swim Scheme notes. If you need another note, please see your child’s teacher.

Rewards Day Notes - All Year One and Two students who have received 4, 5 or 6’s on their weekly behaviour card this term will be enjoying rewards day at the lake on Friday 27th September. We will take a picnic lunch and enjoy a range of fun activities with friends. It is sport colour's mufti day that day so students are encouraged to wear their favourite footy colours, however a school hat is necessary. Please return the permission note by Wednesday 25th September to ensure your child does not miss out. If you need another note, please see your child’s class teacher.

Morning Reminder - We kindly ask that you remind your children that they need to report to the school hall in the morning. We have had some of our Stage 2 students hanging around near the front gate, who must go to the hall. Thank you for your support.

Hats - It is great to see most of our students wearing their school hat. Students can look in lost property, which is outside the hall, if they are looking for a lost hat or need to find a spare.

Uniforms - There are a number of Stage 3 students who are choosing to wear the incorrect clothing to school. Please make sure they are dressed in our school uniform and have the correct sunsafe hat as well, especially as summer is just around the corner.

Gorokan High School Taster Day - The Year 6 students had an interesting day at the high school getting a taste of what to expect next year. There will be a sports day and orientation day next term.

Leadership - The leadership process for students in Year 5 is about to start. If interested they will need to collect an EOI/nomination form from their teacher.

Gymnastics - Our students have really enjoyed gymnastics, and would like to take this opportunity to thank the great team at Ultimate Gymnastics. Our students have developed so much in a short amount of time. Their posture has developed, they are all stronger and have a great sense of balance and coordination.

Monday 23rd September Rescheduled Zone Athletics Carnival - Mingara

Thursday 26th September PDHPE Healthy Living Expo

Friday 27th September Kinder Excursion - Laycock Street Theatre Sports Jersey Mufti Day Last day Term 3

Monday 14th October First day Term 4

Wednesday 23rd October - Wednesday13th November

Kindy Transition (Wednesday weekly)

Friday 25th October Year 1 Excursion - Reptile Park

Friday 1st November Rescheduled Girrokool for KF/L, KL and boys KJ

Stage 2 Supervisor - Mrs R Ranse

Special Education - Mrs S Crook

Stage 3 Supervisor - Mrs G Farrell

Dates to Remember

Early Stage 1 Supervisor - Mrs D Jeanpierre

Stage 1 Supervisor - Miss L Anderson

We will be swimming in Term 4 and Term 1 2020, we look forward to seeing Cait and the crew next year.

Grade Gathering Award Winners - The following students received awards for their great learning and behaviour this week: Kaia, Bailey, Tyson, Nicole, Johnny. Well done super stars! Safe Hands and Feet - Some of our students are forgetting that it is not ok to use their hands and feet to communicate. The children must always use their words or gestures, if they cannot communicate their needs and wants verbally. We have been discussing the need for safe hands and feet at school and it would be great if our families could talk to their children about this. If you are unsure how to approach this, our students love role playing different scenarios and practising how to use their words and keep their hands and feet safe.

School Athletics Awards - Our age champions for this year were 8yrs - Ryder S and Olivia S. 9yrs - Amelia K and Connor M. 10yrs - Bailey W and Chloe L. 11yrs - Jesse C and Jorjah C. 12yrs - Aidan and Belinda B. Breanna broke the 12yrs 100m record. The winning house was Brooks. Congratulations to all placegetters and best wishes for those competing at Zone.

Zone Athletics Carnival - The Zone Athletics Carnival will now be held on Monday 23rd September at Mingara Athletics Centre. Parents will need to provide transport to and from the venue. There will be no cost this year as Zone has kindly paid for them to attend. Students in the 800m and competitors competing in the first set of field events will need to be there by 7:45am.

Special Swimming Scheme - This will take place in Weeks 7 and 8, Term 4 and is part of our PDHPE curriculum. The cost of $50 is for the 10 day program and includes bus travel and pool entry. It is a great opportunity for your child to learn how to swim, improve their swimming skills and learn water safety skills. Get in early and pay a $20 deposit to reserve your child a spot. If you wish your child to attend these lessons and you have not seen a note, please collect one from the office.

Healthy Living Expo - Our school is putting on a Healthy Living Expo on Thursday 26th September and all parents, carers and community members are welcome to attend this special event. Students will be participating in activities and showing off their work as part of this event. It will start at 1:00pm and continue until 4:30pm. Please mark this on your calendar and do your best to pop in during that time.

Focus themes for the expo are:

Special Education: Road Safety - Pedestrians & Buses

Kinder: Fundamental Movement Skills

Year 1: Safety

Year 2: Healthy Food

Year 3: Our Body Systems

Year 4: Interpersonal Relationships

Year 5: Food and Fitness

Year 6: Mental Health & Making Personal Health Choices.

There will be live performances from our dance groups, and physical activities including hula hooping, skipping, games and a walk-a-thon, just to name a few.

Fruit & Veg Month 2019 - Gorokan Public School has been registered for Fruit & Veg Month 2019 which runs for the last 4 weeks of Term 3, Monday 2nd September to Friday 27th September.

The theme for this year is ‘The Adventures of Captain Fruit N Veg!’ It is all about linking eating fruit and vegetables with good times, superheroes, superpowers and adventures!

As part of Fruit & Veg Month, students will be involved in various classroom and school based activities to encourage them to eat more fruit and vegetables. To do this we will be sending home hints and tips over the month.

Superpower your family snacks by including more fruit and veg:

Put out a plate of chopped fruit and/or vegetables with every snack. You will be amazed at how much more fruit and veg your kids will eat if it is accessible and ready to eat…now!

Hot day? Freeze up some pineapple slices or grapes to cool the kids down. Cold day? Make up some tomato and cheese or mushroom and baked bean toasties to warm them up!

Cook up some heavy-on-the-fruit-or-veg muffins and fritters for lunchbox snacks. Most recipes can be prepared in bulk and frozen until needed.

Envision Hands Project - This project involves collecting clean milk, water and soft drink bottle lids which are then recycled into prosthetic limbs for kids in need. It also reduces the plastic in our oceans and land fill. Each classroom will have a box for students to donate their lids.

Sport News

School News

Helping your child

avoid being

cyberbullied

by Martine Oglethorpe

Cyberbullying of children and teenagers is one of the greatest fears facing parents

today. The thought of their child being

subjected to heinous words, threats to their physical safety, as well as their social

and emotional wellbeing, is something no

parent wants their child to experience.

Most of the bullying behaviours we now see are happening from behind a

keyboard, playing out in social media

feeds and gaming chat rooms. It is little wonder parents feel overwhelmed and out

of their depth, especially when for most, online is an environment that is relatively

unfamiliar.

So what can we do to help our kids avoid

these types of behaviours, as well as give them the skills to deal with cyberbullying

behaviours should they be exposed?

Remind them of all of the things they have control over: While it

may not feel like it, we have a lot of control over what happens

online. We can determine who we talk to, what we ignore, what we

share, how we comment, who we

follow, who we block or hide from our feeds. All of that, helps us

determine who is allowed to play a role in our online experiences and

ultimately what behaviours we accept on our feeds

Give your child time away from

the screens: Everyone needs a break from screens. We want to

encourage regular times when a child doesn’t need to be tethered to

their device. Building a wider community away from the screens

helps a child or teen build their sense of self worth. Keeping devices

away from the dinner table also gives them a break from being

socially switched on and allows the to connect with family without a

device. Removing devices at night helps their active brains to switch

off, and prepare for sleep.

Role play possible responses:

Discuss with your child whether whether they should respond to

bullying or nasty online comments, If they do, then consider how they

could respond. Consider the statements or types of people they

ignore, block or report.

Regularly check the privacy settings: Every app, game and

social network has a settings button that enables you to determine how

positive an experience your child can

have on that platform and how much control they have. Visit these

settings regularly to look at the options available

While nothing is guaranteed particularly

when it comes to the online world, we can certainly be taking steps to help our kids.

We can give them skills, encourage positive behaviours and thinking that allow

them to minimise their exposure to the

bullying behaviours of others.

If your child is being cyberbullied you can

also access the reporting tool at esafety.gov.au

by Michael Grose Presentations. All rights reserved. For more ideas, support and advice for all you’re parenting challenges visit: www.parentingideas.com

Parenting Ideas