D ear Parents/Caregivers,

Principal’s Report

WELCOME

It has been a fantastic start to the year with all students settling quickly in to their new classes. It has been great to welcome our Kindergarten students to their first year of ‘Big School’. Welcome to all our new students and families and of course welcome back to all our returning families and students. It will be a very rewarding year of learning, growth and fun.

Over the Christmas break our extra toilets and classrooms were completed and are fully operational. The area outside these new buildings between the containers and the assem-bly area will soon be astro turfed.

From today the gate on Station Street will be locked between 9:30am-2:30pm. The gate on Schofields Park will be locked during the day in the near future, I will notify you when this commences.

NEW STAFF

We welcome quite a few additional members of staff: Mrs Freund KC, Mrs Kirby KTK and special programs, Mrs Tocher AP 1/2T, Mrs Harul 1/2N, Mrs Licata 1/2L, Miss Iem-ma 1/2I, Mrs McGuiness 3/4G, Miss Dale 3/4D, Mr Bullen 5/6B, Miss Moodley 5/6M, Miss Wilson Library, Mrs Kumar (1 day Counsellor), Mrs Gurumorthy SLSO (school learning support officer), Mrs Huskinson SLSO, Mrs Tollis SLSO, Mrs Uchil Harish-schandra SLSO.

A staff gallery will be included with the next newsletter.

ROADWORKS AND STUDENT SAFETY

Junction Rd has been upgraded and signage changed for parking and drop-offs. The school zone has also been extended in all directions from the intersection of Station St and Junction Rd.

I would like to ask all drivers around the school to be extra vigilant and careful. Please obey all road rules and encourage your children to cross at the pedestrian crossing and exit and enter vehicles from the kerbside.

www.schofields-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

6 February 2020 Issue 1

Schofields Sparkler

Inside this issue:

Swimming Carnival 2

Student Use of Digital Devices

2

Stage Overviews

Labelling Belongings

2

2

The Music Bus Multi-Age Classes

2

3

Enrolment Policy Advertising

4-5

6-9

Parent Calendar 10

Tue 18 Feb - Meet the Teach-

er 5pm-7pm

Thu 27 Feb - Ridges Swim-

ming Carnival

Tue 17 Mar - Stage 2 Excur-

sion

Wed 18 Mar - Stage 2 Excur-

sion

Thu 19 Mar - Sydney West

Swimming

Wed 1 April - Principals As-

sembly @ 9:30am

Tue 7 Apr - School Cross

Country

Thu 9 Apr - Last day Term 1

Mon 27 Apr - Staff Develop-

ment Day

Tue 28 April - First day Term

2

REMINDER School Banking Every Monday

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Schofields Sparkler

SWIMMING CARNIVAL

The Primary Swimming Carnival was held today at Winsdor Oasis Aquatic Centre. The students behaved and com-peted outstandingly. Support from parents and family was also sensational. Results and details will be included in the next newsletter.

Thank you to the following parents who volunteered to assist which allowed for the smooth running of the Carnival: Mr Whalan, Mrs Wanders, Mrs Loo, Mrs Tangutori and Mr Varty.

Also thank you to Miss Regoli and Mrs Woodbury for organising and coordinating a very successful carnival.

STUDENT USE OF DIGITAL DEVICES PROCEDURES

A new policy for student use of digital devices was announced by the NSW Government in December 2019.

It outlines how primary schools must restrict the use of digital devices, including mobile phones during school hours. Primary-aged students will not be allowed to use digital technology during class time, recess and lunch unless for an educational purpose or where a student needs it for other reasons, such as an adjustment for disability.

Schools are expected to update their existing school procedures or develop a new one during 2020 to reflect the new policy requirements in consultation with their community.

We will undertake a review of school procedures this term. Please look out for dates and times of community input and consultation.

STAGE OVERVIEWS AND MEET THE TEACHER

Stage overviews should be sent home this week. They will provide you with an idea of what content is being covered in class and other information particular to the stage.

Our Meet the Teacher evening will be held on Tuesday 18 February. It is a great chance to come along and meet your child’s teacher/s.

Kindergarten 5:00pm

Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2) 5:30pm

Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4) 6:00pm

Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6) 6:30pm

LABELLING BELONGINGS

All student property should be clearly labelled with a student’s name and class. We endeavour to return all labelled items to students. Each year we throw out a significant amount of plasticware and clothing. Some unlabelled and un-claimed school clothing is able to be reused and recycled.

THE MUSIC BUS

The Music Bus is taking new student enrolments for Term 1. The program is open now and is ready to enrol your child. Running weekdays at School, the Music Bus has limited availability in singing, keyboard, guitar, drum and ukulele and so it is advised to enrol asap. The Music Bus is a wonderful music program that many of our students are already enjoying – a brilliant and cost-effective way for students to get fun and specialist music lessons without parents having to travel all over the area after school. Cost of lessons is only $20 per week (drums $22).

If you’re interested in your child having music lessons through The Music Bus, check out their website at www.themusicbus.com.au or call 1300 168 742.

Colin Ross Principal

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Schofields Sparkler

MULTI-AGE CLASSES

One in three public primary school students in NSW are taught in a composite class. A class audit by the NSW De-

partment of Education reveals that in 2015, 160,734 primary students from 1616 schools were in a composite class

and while some schools had none, others had as many as 12 composite classes. The audit shows there were 6586

composite classes in 2014.

Multi-age classes are made up of students drawn from different year levels. They may be established because of the

uneven pattern of enrolment in the school, because of the small size of the school or where it’s considered that mix-

ing students of different ages is academically and socially advantageous. These multi-age classes are often designed

to match the organisation of the syllabus, which is based on ‘stages’ running over two years.

Multi-age classes are not unique to public schools and in some Catholic schools, the traditional classroom structure

has been replaced with staged learning, where students are grouped by the stage they have reached not their age.

Research findings on the effects of multi-age classes and best teaching practices suggest: it makes no difference to

performance whether students are in a straight year group or in a multi-age class. The most important factors in de-

termining how well a student does are the quality of the teacher and their teaching multi-age classes may benefit stu-

dents both socially and emotionally.

Composite classes are not inferior to other class arrangements. In fact, several schools set up all their classes as multi

-age classes because of their benefits. We do also ensure that students within all classes have the opportunity to do

some activities with their grade group, e.g. sport/fitness, dance, music. And, of course, students are always free to

mix with their grade peers during lunch and recess.

The topic of multi-age, Stage-based classes will be addressed in more detail at an upcoming P&C meeting.

David England

Deputy Principal

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SCHOFIELDS PUBLIC SCHOOL - Term 1 2020

Term One MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SAT SUN

1

27 January

AUSTRALIA DAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY

28 January

STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY

29 January

STUDENTS 1-6 RETURN Best Start

30 January Best Start

31 January Best Start

1 2 Feb

2

3 February Swimming Carnival Kinder commence

4 February

5 February

6 February

7 February

8 9 Feb

3

10 February

11 February

12 February ES1 3:45-5:00pm

13 February

14 February

15 16 Feb

4

17 February

18 February

5-7pm Meet the Teacher

19 February 20 February 21 February

PSSA Commences

22 23 Feb

5

24 February

25 February

26 February

27 February Ridges Swimming Carnival

28 February

29 Feb 1 Mar

6

2 March

3 March

4 March

5 March

6 March

7 8 Mar

7

9 March

10 March

11 March

12 March

13 March

14 15 Mar

8

16 March

17 March

Stage 2 Excursion

18 March

Stage 2 Excursion

19 March

Sydney West Swimming

20 March National Day of Action Against Bullying Harmony Day

21 22 Mar

9

23 March

24 March 25 March

26 March

27 March

28 29 Mar

10

30 Marl

31 Mar

1 April

Principals Assembly @ 9:30am

2 April

3 April

4 5 Apr

11

6 April

7 April School x-country

8 April

9 April

LAST DAY TERM 1

10 April

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS Good Friday

11 12 Apr

Hols

13 April

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS Easter Monday

14 April

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

15 April

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

16 April

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

17 April

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

18 19 April

Hols

20 April

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

21 April

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

22 April

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

23 April

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

24 April

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

25 26 April