Medowie Public School

What’s on at Medowie...8th Feb Gathang Language Lessons

11th Feb P & C Meeting 5pm in staff room

12th Feb Parent Information Sessions-see times on page 2

13th Feb Parent Information Sessons-see times on page 2AECG meeting at Dungog Public School at 10.00am

15th Feb Whole School Assembly 2.15pm

19th Feb Whole School Photo Day 9.00am

21st Feb IHS St3 Open evening 5.30pm

Notes in CirculationGathang language lessons

School photo envelopes

Book club brochures will be sent home Friday.Money and orders due Friday 22nd Feb

Thursday 7th February 2019Term 1 Week 2

Welcome to 2019

Welcome to all our new and existing families to Medowie Public School. I hope everyone enjoyed the festive season and were able to stay out of the heat. It has been a very warm summer. I’d also like to officially welcome Mr Mi-chael Thompson to our school. He was appointed through the merit selection process at the end of 2018 as our new Assistant Principal. For those of you who are wondering, Mr Thompson and I are not related – it is purely a coinci-dence that we share the same surname.

As many of you are aware, our school has 340 students this year. This has enabled us to form 13 mainstream classes. We are still just one student short from being able to form 14 class groups. In the event that a student joins us this semester, we will restructure our school and move to 14 classes with the least amount of disruption as we can. 14 classes would see our 2/3 class turn into a 3/4 and we would create a new straight Year 2 class. Small numbers of students in all other grades would then shuffle either up or down to create spaces in all of our classes. The classes for 2019 to date are:

KH- Mrs HumphrisKW – Mrs Winters

K/1M – Mrs Murphy (formerly Miss Croft)1/2G – Mr Gould1/2P – Miss Plummer1/2K – Mrs Klein2/3T – Mr Thompson 3/4H – Mr Hopper3/4N – Miss Newell4/5S – Mrs Sanson5/6R – Mrs Ross5/6H – Mrs Hunt5/6W – Mr WellsK/6B – Mr Berger (multicategorical class)

I’d like to take the time to remind you that the best person to talk to regarding your child is their classroom teacher. Please don’t hesitate to contact them via email or ring the office to arrange an appointment. I am fortunate to work with a great team and they are committed to ensuring your child is feeling socially and emotionally supported as well as developing academically. Parent information eve-nings have been scheduled next week to inform in greater detail about your child’s class. I’d encourage everyone to attend, even if you have been a parent at our school for many years so you are aware of what your child will be learning this year as well as the class routines and struc-tures.

2019 Captains

Congratulations to Emilee Hicks, India Cockle, Lachlan Vaughan and David Fisher who were elected by our stu-dents to represent them as our school captains this year. They are already proving to be very helpful and are always ready to assist when needed. I look forward to watching

Medowie Public School

Medowie Public SchoolTel (02) 49828222Fax (02) 49828732medowie-p.school@det.nsw.edu.aumedowiepublicschool.comfacebook.com/medowiepublicschooltwitter.com/medowieps

their leadership skills develop throughout the year.

Our vice and house captains were newly elected this year. They were literally thrown in the deep end by having to draw on their organisational skills at yesterday’s swim-ming carnival. Well done on your new appointments!

Parent Information Sessions

Notes regarding the parent information sessions were sent home on Tuesday. In case some notes did not make their way home please refer to the following dates and times.• Tuesday 12th February, 3:20pm – 2/3T, 3/4N,

4/5S• Tuesday 12th February, 4:20pm – 5/6H, 5/6R,

5/6W. We would also ask parents who have Year 5 students in 4/5S to attend the 5/6H and 5/6R rooms. Mr Wells will begin the session by addressing all Stage 3 parents to discuss expectations of senior students as well as providing important dates regarding high school.

• Wednesday 13th February, 3:20pm – K/6B, KW, KH and Kindergarten parents from K/1M. Held in both KH and KW classrooms.

• Wednesday 13th February, 4:20pm – K/1M (Year One parents only), 1/2G, 1/2P and 1/2K.

All sessions will be held in your child’s classroom unless stated otherwise. Not only is it a great opportunity to be involved in your child’s learning, it also provides working parents a chance to see your child’s teacher and put a face to their name.

Anaphylaxis

Our school is a nut aware zone and asks all parents to not send food items that contain nuts to school. We have a number of students with peanut allergies, with one case being severe and we want to ensure their safety can be maintained at all times in our environment. In cases where students have severe allergies, classrooms will also have specific procedures including routine hand washing after each school break. Thank you in advance for understand-ing the needs of all our students by not sending peanut products in school lunch boxes.

Asthma

Each year our school is required to update medical infor-mation. If your child suffers from asthma, we require an updated asthma management plan. It would be greatly appreciated if you could send in your new plan as soon as possible. February is typically the worst month for asth-matics who attend school as classrooms have been vacant over the Christmas break.

Equipment Packs

Every child in our school has been issued with an equip-ment pack. Their books have been sent home for cover-ing. Pens, pencils and other equipment pack items have stayed at school and will be issued throughout the year as required. Thank you to the families who have already paid for these packs. Invoices and emergency contact lists will be sent home early next week for updating and record keeping.

Gathang Language Lessons

Gathang language lessons will again operate at our school each fortnight for Infants and Primary students. This op-portunity allows interested children to learn the Worimi language. Interested students have been asked to return a note expressing their interest to participate in this pro-gram. This note was handed out at Wednesday’s morning assembly. The first 25 notes returned will be eligible to participate. Notes are available from the school office.

Parent Volunteers

Our school values the assistance parents provide our school through volunteering. Please remember a hundred point ID check is required before being able to volunteer. The appropriate forms are available from the school office. This forms only need to be completed once – it does not need to be updated each year.

School Photos

School photos are scheduled for Tuesday 19th February. Envelopes will be coming home with your child today. Families who would like to have sibling photos are re-quired to collect a separate envelope from the school office. On the day of the photos we ask that sibling envelopes be returned to the office. Individual photo envelopes are to remain with each child to hand directly to MSP photogra-phers. Individual photo envelopes should not be returned to school until the day of the photos. Please ensure your child is wearing their school uniform on this day including black shoes and white socks.

Drop-Box

To comply with auditing regulations we remind all our students to hand in their notes and money directly to the office. Our office has a drop-box (a letterbox slot) which securely stores notes and money on the inside of our office. It is checked each day by our administration staff. The best time for students to post their notes and money is before entering the playground in the morning.

Attendance and Late Arrivals

Education for your child is important and regular attend-ance at school is essential for your child to achieve their educational best and increase their career and life options. NSW public schools work in partnership with parents to encourage and support regular attendance of children. When your child attends school every day, learning be-comes easier and your child will build and maintain friend-ships with other children.

On occasion, your child may need to be absent from school.

Justified reasons for student absences may include:• Being sick, or having and infectious disease• Having an unavoidable medical appointment• Being required to attend a recognised religious holiday• Exceptional or urgent family circumstances (e.g. at-

tending a funeral)If your child is late to school they should be accompanied to the school office to receive a late slip. This slip is then given to the class teacher when they enter their classroom. Sim-ilarly, if you need to pick up your child early from school you need to come into the office to sign them out. You will be issued with an early leaver’s slip. This slip is then hand-ed to your child’s teacher who will then release your child into your care. These systems are in place to ensure every child is safe and allows for up to date attendance records in the case of an emergency.

Again, welcome back to Medowie Public School in 2019. My staff and I are very much looking forward to working in partnership with you and your child throughout this school year. It is always amazing at the end of each school year to reflect on how far each student has developed ei-ther academically and/or socially. We are in a privileged position to be able to share your child’s progress with you which makes our job one of the best in the world!

Mrs ThompsonPrincipal

Road Safety - The Early Years of School

Starting school means lots of changes for you and your child. It is crucial to plan and talk about safe travel to and from school with your child.

Starting school probably means your child will see them-selves as a “big kid”. They may even want to travel to school by themselves, with friends or siblings. However, your young child is still developing many of the skills they need to be safe in a road traffic environment.Until your child is at least 8 years old, hold their hand:• on the footpath• in the car park• when crossing the road

Up until at least 10 years old, supervise your child very closely, holding their hand when crossing the road. If a hand isn’t available they should hold an arm, bag, clothes or the pram.In the early years of your child’s schooling, there are many road safety considerations for you to think about.

The route to and from school may be unfamiliar

Plan a safe route together and practice walking it on weekends or school holidays. As you walk together, talk about all the things you are doing to keep you both safe.

Most journeys to and from school are in peak hours

Roads are full of people and vehicles. The roads around schools are busy places and can make the journey to school hazardous. Always closely and actively super-vise your child. Hold hands together when walking on the footpath and crossing the road. You should do this until they are at least ten years old.

The beginning and end of the school day can be hectic

Entering or leaving the school can be a source of great excitement or even stress! Your child may not be fo-cused on their own safety. Arrange a safe place to meet inside the school grounds or on the school side of the road. Never call your child across the road.

Using and sharing pedestrian road safety mes-sages

At school, your child will learn about road safety as part of Personal Development, Health and Physical Education. Help them learn the pedestrian safety mes-sages by using them and sharing them whenever you are out and about.

Hold a grown-up's hand when you're:• on the footpath • in a carpark• crossing the road

Road Safety – On and off a bus safely

Your child is most at risk just after getting off the bus. To reduce this risk, meet your child at the bus stop, never on the opposite side of the road.At the bus stop, hold hands and stand with your child, well away from the passing traffic. Never wait close to the kerb.

Wait until the bus has driven off before choosing the safest place to cross the road. Then follow the usual road crossing procedures with your child.

STOP! One step back from the kerb.

LOOK! For traffic to your right, left and right again.

LISTEN! For the sounds of approaching traffic.

THINK! Whether it is safe to cross.

Teach your child to turn their head in both direc-tions to look and listen for traffic as they cross the road. Remember, until your child turns 10, hold your child's hand whenever you cross the road.

From the office

Please ensure all items of clothing and other personal belongings ( lunch boxes, drink bottles) are clearly labelled with your childs name.

Lost property in situated in the foyer of the office.

Thank you