Harrington Public School

ISSUE 3 | TERM 1 – WEEK 5 | 28th February 2020

Principal’s Report

P&C On Monday 9th March at 6pm the P&C is holding their rescheduled Annual General Meeting to elect a new President and Vice President for 2020. We are currently looking for new parents or community members to become involved in the school’s very supportive P&C. Its purpose is to:

Build strong collaborations between parents, teachers, students and the community

Develop fundraising activities

Support the school in purchasing quality resources for

students

Provide valuable input towards the School’s Plan

Hope to see you there!

Meet, Greet and Eat What a lovely night it was last Wednesday at our Meet, Greet and Eat! It was such a great opportunity for families to hear about all the wonderful programs which Harrington Public School offers, catch up over a BBQ, have a classroom tour and meet classroom teachers. In Week 8, Wednesday 18th March we will also be having our 3-Way Interviews (student, parent, teacher). More information will be sent home closer to the date.

DoJos As discussed at our last P&C meeting, communication between parents and teachers via the DoJos platform during 2020 will no longer be used. Students however, will still be awarded DoJo points in class for respect, responsibility and personal best. We will continue to communicate with families about news and upcoming events via newsletters, Facebook, Skoolbag, our website and notes home.

Homework On Monday 17th February we shared the new homework guidelines for 2020 with the school’s P&C. This was to ensure there was strong consultation and a shared vision around the expectations, incentives, required resources, quantity and implementation processes. As was shown at the Meet, Greet and Eat, homework is focused around reading, with a comprehension focus for Years 2 to 6. Our aim is to engage students in reading on a daily basis, develop a love of books and to understand that reading is food for the brain.

External Validation Harrington Public School is currently in the process of what is called External Validation. This is an exciting opportunity for the school to celebrate all the wonderful things we do as a school for our students and strive for school excellence. During this term staff have been collecting evidence in the forms of photos and documents around ‘Quality Teaching and Learning, Student Wellbeing, Community Partnerships, Building Professional Capacity, and School Resources and Management. Early in Term 2 a panel consisting of a Principal, School Leadership and other principals from around the state will come along to the school to discuss the evidence collected which is mapped against a ‘School Excellence Framework’.

Vegetable Garden Next Friday 6th March at 11:30am, student representatives from each class, two staff members, parents and the Lions Club will be holding a meeting to discuss and design a new vegetable garden for the school! If you are a parent or carer, have a passion for gardening and would like to be involved in next week’s meeting, please fill in the slip on the back page and return to the office by Wednesday 6th March.

Paul Haste Principal

News

Emergency Details This week each student was sent home with a copy of the Emergency and Contact Details held on file. Please return this form to our office, with or without changes, before next Friday, 6th March. If there are no changes please return the form marked “no changes.”

P&C Uniform Price List and Opening Times Attached to today’s newsletter is the P&C’s new uniform pricelist and order form. Please note the uniform shop is presently opening each THURSDAY from 8.30am to 9.00am, and is fully stocked, with new hats and shirts delivered last week. If you cannot make it on a Thursday, please complete the attached order form and send (with correct money) to the office. Please note all orders will be processed on Thursdays.

Department Requirements When Driving Students to a School Event If you are driving any students (including your own child) to a school event, the Department of Education requires we hold a copy of your current drivers license and car registration papers on file. If you are about to attend an event, or know you will be attending an event in the future, please bring a copy of these items into the office before the event runs, or when your renewal has been paid, whichever happens first.

Communication is the Key Should you have a question during the day about the general happenings at school, we ask that you please contact us by calling the office on 6556 1267. While facebook is a great platform for feel good moments, staff are not always using this media during the day, and as such aren’t always able to answer questions posted here during these times.

Coming up soon Halogen Leaders Conference Our school Leadership Team will be driving to Sydney this Sunday for the annual Halogen Leaders Conference. This is an exciting opportunity for our school leaders to hear some fantastic speakers and gain insights on becoming better leaders in the future. We wish them a safe and enjoyable trip!

Colour Explosion Fun Day We are again adding an explosion of colour to our school fundraising efforts by holding our annual Colour Explosion Fun Day on Friday 20th March, 2020. Information notes and sponsorship forms will be coming home today. Parents who wish to participate and help on the day are most welcome. Please also note the normal assembly held this day is being held a week earlier, Friday 13th March.

Memorial Art Competition Our students have been invited to participate in the Memorial Art Competition, being held over the Easter long weekend. Each student will have the chance to create an individual artwork in class which will then be judged by a panel from the Memorial Hall. Five students from each age group aged 8 through to 12 will be selected, with their artworks then being reproduced onto canvas, displayed during the exhibit and offered for sale to the general public. If you are looking for something to do over the Easter long weekend, please consider supporting our little Picasso’s!

P & C Unfortunately our AGM held on 17th February was lacking sufficient numbers to fill all positions on the committee, and as such has been rescheduled to Monday, 9th March at 6pm in the school library. We again invite all members of the school community with an interest in contributing to the P&C and school to please attend this meeting, especially if you are interested in holding a position. Membership cost for P & C is $2.00. Your views and opinions are valuable to all of us and this is the body that gives parents and the community a voice in our school. Our P&C operates our canteen, uniform shop and is a major fund raising entity for our school. If a committee is not formed there will be no P&C. This will mean no canteen, higher uniform prices and no subsidies for excursions and equipment, resulting in much higher costs to families. Please consider joining and supporting them this year.

P&C Uniform Shop Opening Times As above, we again remind parents and carers that the P&C Uniform Shop is currently opening each THURSDAY from 8.30am to 9.00am.

P&C Canteen Price List Please find attached a copy of our pricelist which has been revamped to show photos of some of the delicious, in-house food prepared and cooked by our lovely volunteers.

PBL Report The Junior PBL Team have been setting goals for 2020 as well as 2021. Next week they are receiving their badges. The PBL Team is very excited! We have finally finished the referee roster. We are starting to sort out the whiteboard and cabinet on the side of the Library, which involves making new PBL posters. We are currently beginning to plan the Colour Explosion Day. By Lily and Steph

Assembly and Sports Awards Well done to our winning house from the School Swimming Carnival – Pelicans! Both Seagulls and Pelicans were exceptionally well behaved on the day, with great sportsmanship shown from both houses. Participation made the difference and in the end Pelicans took out the win.

Congratulations also to our award recipients from last week’s assembly – there were plenty of deserving students, receiving Class Awards, Principals Awards, Music Awards, Chaplaincy Awards, Gold Awards, Honour Awards and of course the Superstar of the Class. Well done and keep up the good work!

FOR THE FRIDGE

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LION’S CLUB VEGETABLE GARDEN EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

Yes, I have a passion for gardening and would like to be involved in the planning and design of the new School Vegetable Garden!

Signature: Name: Date: ___________ ___

Term 1 – March 2020

Week MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SAT SUN

6

2 March Halogen Leadership Excursion

3 March 4 March 5 March 6 March Community Sport NO BAND PRACTICE Assembly - Purple

7/8 MAR

7

9 March Re-scheduled P&C AGM

10 March

11 March

12 March

13 March Community Sport NO BAND PRACTICE Assembly - Rainbow

14/15 MAR

8

16 March

17 March 18 March 3-Way Interviews

19 March 20 March Community Sport COLOUR RUN

21/22 MAR