Respect, Responsibility, Personal Best Branxton Public School Newsletter to Parents

BRANXTON PUBLIC SCHOOL

Find us at: 12 King St, Branxton NSW 2335 Email: branxton-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Phone: (02) 4938 1214 Fax: (02) 4938 1905 Website: www.branxton-p.schools.nsw.gov.au

Week 8 Term 4 Thursday 6th December, 2018

Dates to Remember

6.12.18 Carols by Torchlight

7.12.18 Year 6 Fun Day Out

11.12.18 2018 Presentation Day

12.12.18 Year 6 Dinner

13.12.18 Sports Presentation

14.12.18 PBL Assembly - Water Fun Day

17.12.18 Reports Go Home

18.12.18 Party Day

19.12.18 Year 6 Service Awards

19.12.18 Last Day of Term 4 2018

PRINCIPAL’S NEWS At a time of the year when everyone seems to be so rushed and busy it’s wonderful to stop and reflect on how blessed we really are. Tonight I welcome all of you, current students and families, new families beginning their educational journey at Branxton and valued community members to Carols at Branxton Public School. Tonight is not about raising funds, but coming together with our families to celebrate Christmas. Our beautiful and talented students will be singing those seasonal favourites and there is a good chance we may receive a visit from that big guy with the long white beard. Next week we acknowledge the achievements

of our students at presentation ceremonies. Unfortunately not every child can be awarded a prize, but I encourage you to join us to celebrate another year of learning at Branxton Public School. It is an outstanding quality of character to be able to genuinely be happy for the success of others and congratulate our peers on their achievements. I wish all students the very best! Sadly it’s nearly time to farewell our Year 6 students, a mixture of emotions for both students and staff. I wish them all the very best and remind them to stay in touch, we are always interested in hearing of the direction life takes them. This Sunday the P&C will be hosting the BBQ at Rutherford Bunnings. All of the funds raised will be going to support Branxton Public School children. Whilst I understand that not everyone can help all the time, it is occasions like these that we would really appreciate your support, even if it is just for 1 hour. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the small group of parents who work tirelessly and passionately for the school for the P&C. They give up many hours of their own time, take time off their own work and give so much for every child in the school. Soon there will be some beautiful new colourful artworks in the school, again thanks to the P&C, so watch this space! We are currently spending time organising classes and teachers for 2019, if you know any new families who may be moving to the area please advise them to contact us as soon as possible.

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CLASS PARTY DAY Class party day is Tuesday 18

th December. This

is an out of uniform day, where students may wear Christmas clothes. It is our policy that stu-dents wear a shirt cov-ering their shoulders and torso as well as ful-ly enclosed shoes. Broad brim hats must also be worn.

CHANGES TO BREAK TIMES - LAST CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR SAY

We value your opinion about the changes we plan to make to break times – having lunch first and then an afternoon recess. Details were in the Week 6 newsletter. The link below will take you to a very short survey. It will close on Friday. After this a decision will be made. https://goo.gl/forms/JMRKenNZRET4BOhG2

CANTEEN NEWS

The end of term Barbeque has been cancelled. If had already placed an order you should have received a cancellation email from Flexischools and your money refunded. Sorry for any inconvenience. The last trading day for 2018 is Monday the 17

th

of December. On this day we will have special treat items starting from 50c. Items include watermelon Christmas trees, Christmas shortbread, Christmas surprise jellies and other delicious snacks. CANTEEN IS CLOSED TUESDAY 18

Th and WEDNESDAY 19

th OF

DECEMBER 2018 please do not send children with a lunch order on these days. As we approach the end of terms menu items may become unavailable once they are sold out. Please refer to the flexischools website or see Sharyn in the canteen before placing an order to avoid disappointment. I would like to thank all the volunteers who have assisted me in canteen in 2018. Your time is so valuable and very much appreciated. I have enjoyed the time spent with you, thank you! Volunteers needed for 2019, if you can help please contact Sharyn in the canteen. Spending time in the canteen is fun and the children love to see mums, dads, grandparents, friends and family at school. BPS canteen is also approved voluntary work for Newstart allowance.

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EARLY STAGE 1 (KINDERGARTEN) NEWS

Did you know that we have fairies in our Friendship Garden? They have been writing letters to our Kinder students and the children have been writing very interesting letters back to them. We haven’t seen any yet, but we know they are watching us all the time. They are even reporting back to Santa! Notes went home on Monday about the Kindergarten class parties. Notes and money should be returned to your child’s teacher please. We will be busy decorating our rooms with Christmas craft for party day. Reports have been written and are currently being checked and readied for printing next week. All Kinder students should be so proud of the progress they’ve made along their learning journey – a wonderful foundation to build on! Just a reminder that Presentation Day will be held on Tuesday 11

th December. All

Kindergarten students will be acknowledged on the day with a special certificate and book prize presented on the stage at the Community Hall. Family members are welcome to attend.

STAGE 1 NEWS Christmas Hampers Thank you to everyone who donated items for the Christmas hampers - it’s greatly appreciated.

Carols Students have been excitedly rehearsing for their performances tonight. Unless otherwise advised, Christmas clothes, Christmas dress-ups or going out clothes can be worn.

Party Day Our Party Day will be on Tuesday of the last week of school. Please keep an eye out for notes going home or messages on Seesaw regarding what your child may need to bring in to share - food wise. Each teacher will notify their classes of what may be needed. On this day, students can wear party clothes. Closed in shoes, covered shoulders and school hats need to be worn please.

Remember to keep reading with your child over the holiday break and play plenty of Maths games. Most importantly, enjoy, appreciate and value the precious time you have with your child and family.

OPAL CARDS

2019 APPLICATIONS ARE NOW

OPEN

Don’t throw out this year’s School Opal card because eligible cards will be automatically updated for the new school year. However, you will need to update your application if you have a current School Opal card and:

Are progressing from Year 2 to Year 3 Are progressing from Year 6 to Year 7 Your circumstances change, e.g. change of school, home address or school year outside of the usual progression.

Details are available at https://www.opal.com.au/en/about-opal/opal-for-school-students/

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STAGE 3 NEWS With the end of year approaching Stage 3 is certainly a hive of activity. The Year 6 Surf Safe day is this Friday. Our students will be attending this with Mr Foster and Mrs Mungoven. Meanwhile, our Year 5 students will be involved in some leadership activities at school with Mr Brecard and Ms Towns. Next week we have our special assemblies where we will celebrate the successes of our students this year. We will also find out who will hold the leadership positions for 2019. We also have the Year 6 dinner on Wednesday night. On the final Wednesday of term, we will conduct our Year 6 Services Assembly at 9:20am in the COLA. At this assembly we acknowledge the responsibilities that our Year 6 students have undertaken this year. The year 6 students also present their gift to the school. Later that day we have our Year 6 walkout at 2:50pm in the COLA. Please check this week’s homework sheet as it contains a very extensive list of dates and times. We wish all of our Year 6 students the best for their future endeavours. We thank their families for their ongoing support and we look forward to hearing of their future successes. Mrs Ballenden

Canteen Roster

Week 9 Term 4 commencing 10th December, 2018 Week 10 Term 4 commencing 17th December, 2018

Monday Janelle O’N Monday Janelle O’N Julie

Tuesday Sharyn Tuesday No Canteen

Wednesday Julie Sharyn Wednesday No Canteen

Thursday Heidi Julie Thursday

Friday Sharyn Terneal Friday

PBL Our PBL Assemblies will be held next Friday morning. We will be having water fun activities as our reward day as well as quiet activities in the Library. Please keep an eye out for the information regarding clothing for this event. Congratulations to: Hannah and Julian from Early Stage 1 Aaron and Will from Stage 1 Osha and Emily from Stage 2 and Mia and Ashton from Stage 3 who were our ticket draw winners over the last 2 weeks.

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P&C NEWS

This is going to be a busy week with end of year activities and our final fundraiser of the year. Tomorrow night is Carols by Torchlight. Gates open at 6:00pm, with Santa arriving at 6:30pm and the carols kicking off at 7:00pm. We will be running the following stalls: sausage sizzle $2 (orders are able to made on flexischools or cash only sales on the night); sausage only for $1; soft drinks for $2; water for $1, lollies for $1 and glow products for $2. Raffle tickets for Christmas Hampers have been handed out to all students and need to be returned this week. Winners of our hampers will be announced on the night so make sure you listen out for your name! Thank you to all of the families who generously donated items for them. We also have some very generous donations for lucky door prizes, aimed at having some family fun in the schools holidays. A huge thanks to the following sponsors: Hunter Valley Gardens for their donation of a family pass to the Christmas Lights Spectacular; Oakvale Wildlife Park for their donation of a family pass to the farm and fauna world; Majestic Cinemas Singleton for their donation of a double pass PLUS a family pass to any movie of their choice; and Taronga Western Plains Zoo Dubbo for their donation of a free family pass. Without these generous donations from companies far and wide the P&C would not be able to purchase resources for our beautiful school. We still need some assistance to run the BBQ on the night so please let us know ASAP if you can help us. Our Bunnings BBQ is also happening this Sunday 9

th December at Maitland Bunnings. Please come

along to support your wonderful school and say hello to some of your teachers, parents and P&C members who will be donating their time on a weekend to raise money for our school. We are still in need of some helpers from the middle of the day and through to the afternoon. If you can help out please let us know ASAP! We have decided that the money raised from the Bunnings BBQ will be put with the money from the Mangoes Fundraiser to pay for the pavement art in our concrete areas. Lex James (Art by LJ – like and follow on Facebook!) will be at our school in the final weeks of the year to create some beautiful spaces for the children to play in, incorporating educational learning within his designs. Lex has assured us he loves to interact with the children as they watch him create his magic so don’t be shy and say hello!

You may have noticed that Cessnock City Council have begun works outside our school fence to improve safety at the school crossing on Queen Street, as well as construct concrete footpaths around the entire school. Please be respectful and safe at drop off and pick up and always drive 40 km/hr or below. The lives of all of our teachers, students, parents, grandparents and caregivers are too precious to not slow down! A reminder to our staff and parents to access our new partnership with ACI and use your general insurance policies to fund new iPads for our kids next year. Simply scan the QR code or click on activecommunityinsurance and follow 4 easy steps to use your Home & Contents, Motor, Landlords, and Farm Insurance to make a difference in our school. Just 10 families/staff could contribute $1000 on-going every year to our students learning, just by using your insurance and selecting Branxton Public School (no sponsorship levy attached to initiative).

Key dates coming up: Final P&C Meeting for 2018 and social get

together – all volunteers welcome! Meeting at 6:00pm followed by dinner at 6:30pm Monday 10

th December at the

Royal Federal Hotel. Carols by Torchlight – Thursday 6

th

December 6:00pm. Bunnings BBQ – Sunday 9

th December

Maitland Bunnings all day!

To get in touch or keep up to date with the P&C like our Facebook page, read the school newsletter, talk to P&C members, email the address below, help at an event or come along to the next meeting. Thank you for your support Branxton Public School families. Melissa, P&C Secretary branxtonpublicschool@pandcaffiliate.org.au www.facebook.com/BranxtonPublicPandC