pacific palms public school newsletter...all pick-ups, students walking home and riding exit through...

PACIFIC PALMS PUBLIC SCHOOL NEWSLETTER 5 June 2020

“Respect is the Key” www.pacificpal-p.schools.nsw.gov.au

CARE – about yourself, others, learning and the environment ISSUE 5 | TERM 2 | WEEK 6

RESPECT IS THE KEY WWW.PACIFICPAL-P.SCHOOLS.NSW.EDU.AU 1

WELCOME BACK! Welcome back to full-time classroom teaching We have loved seeing everyone back at school. Our leadership team is definitely happy to be back! Thank you to all of our wonderful parents, carers and families for being so patient at pick up times and for following back to school safety procedures. We will continue to ask that all students enter through the front gates in the mornings so that staggered numbers can be managed and teachers can supervise morning arrivals. In the afternoon we continue to ask that all pick-ups, students walking home and riding exit through the hall double gates. This allows the three buses to use one gate each to spread out student numbers. Additionally, could we please ask parents not to bring their animals to school to ensure the safety of all children.

REVISED TERM 2 DIARY DATES

UP AND COMING EVENTS CALENDER Throughout Term 2 Premier’s Sporting and Reading Challenges Friday, 19 June Premier’s Reading Challenge reading at home photo comp closes Friday, 19 June Pre-recorded Assembly – shared online in classes Monday, 29 July Reports sent home 29 June to 3 July Parent Teacher Interviews Friday, 3 July Mufti Day - last day of Term 2 Tuesday, 21 July First day of Term 3

Welcome back everyone!

We have missed

you!





OUR STUDENTS EXCEL Writing Success for our Students Exciting news for three of our students who have recently been acknowledged for their beautiful writing skills. Lila and Hannah have been shortlisted in the 2020 Tell Me a Story Writing competition for their stories, "What Used to Be" and "The Birthday Party". Harper has received an achievement award for her poem, "Home - An ANZAC Poem" in the 2020 School Poetry and Short Story Competition. We are very proud of their efforts! Congratulations to all of our students who took part in these competitions. This was an exceptional effort, in times of uncertainty and restrictions caused by Covid-19 virus.

Showing Care - Estia Health Forster With recent social isolation rules in place in our community and particularly impacting our elderly residents we were asked by Estia Health Forster if our students would like to write to some of Estia’s residents. Our students have been very busy illustrating cards and writing introductory letters and messages to the residents. We hope the cards and messages brighten their day and the students are looking forward to receiving a letter in reply. Thank you to Zeb, Milla, Ruby, Amelie, Bonni, Noah, Abbie, Sienna, India, Isaac, Evie, Ryan, Olivia, Phil and Kurt for showing care for others and putting some much effort in making such beautiful cards. We are sure the residents of Estia Health Forster will love them. From left: Back row – Isaac, Noah, Zeb, Olivia, Kurt. Middle row – Abbie, Ruby, Sienna, Ryan. Front row – Evie, Amelie.

Congratulations (Left to Right): Hannah, Lila and Harper





SCHOOL HAPPENINGS National Simultaneous Storytime This year our school took part in National Simultaneous Storytime on Wednesday, 27 May by sharing “Whitney and Britney Chicken Divas” written and illustrated by Lucinda Gifford. Now in its 20th successful year, National Simultaneous Storytime is held annually and aims to encourage more young Australians to read and enjoy books. Every year

a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. It is a colourful, vibrant and fun event that aims to promote the value of reading and literacy, using an Australian children's book that explores age-appropriate themes, and addresses key learning areas of the National Curriculum.

INFORMATION FOR OUR PARENTS 2020 Resource Levy and Voluntary Contribution Every year, we ask for a Resource Levy and Voluntary School Contribution to enhance our school’s educational programs. This money is greatly appreciated and enables us to access additional programs and resources at our school. Each year this generates around $12,000 – $13,000 of valuable income. The money is used to pay for our online learning platforms eg. Reading Eggs, student exercise books, classroom materials such as paint, cardboard and art supplies. We are aware that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on many families and understand that these are difficult times financially for some and we have decided to delay the issue of statements to Term 3.

Resource Levy - $50 per child, which covers such things as exercise books (Yrs 3-6), classroom art supplies (K-6), hands on mathematics equipment (K-6), classroom supplies (K-2) and sporting equipment. We ask that each child pays the resource levy.

Voluntary Contribution (which goes towards supporting our 2020 school focus on reading across the school) - $35 per child or $70 per family capped and includes reading material for all classrooms, including home readers and access to online platforms such as Reading Eggs. Voluntary contributions also contribute to our learning support staff, who assist with reading groups in K-2 classrooms each day.

Please note that while the funds from the Resource Levy and Voluntary Contributions are extremely helpful in supporting our school budget, they are not compulsory.





INFORMATION FOR OUR PARENTS Student assessment and reporting in Semester 1 The department will adopt a revised approach to student assessment and reporting for Semester 1, 2020 to reflect the current teaching and learning environment. The key things to note about the revised approach are that it fulfils our requirement to provide information about student progress and achievement, but in a more flexible way and with an extended deadline - up to 30 August 2020 (end of Term 3 Week 6). In summary: Schools are required to provide a simplified written report to parents/carers about students’

learning in Semester 1. Principals have the flexibility to modify their existing report templates/software or develop a new simplified report and I would encourage you to do so.

Reporting to parents/carers should focus on the learning that has taken place so far this year. This will encapsulate student’s progress and achievement of the learning provided both at school and at home, as well as guidance going forward.

The grading of students using the five point A-E scale is not required. Word descriptors of the

five-point achievement scale may be used through teacher comments to provide a consistent language for reporting progress and achievement on the learning students have undertaken.

We encourage schools to use the additional time provided to engage with parents/carers about students learning from home and on campus as part of the assessment and reporting process prior to providing the written report. Teacher professional judgement is critical to the success of this process.

Thinking of applying for Year 5 entry to an opportunity class in 2021 Opportunity classes located in government primary schools cater for academically gifted students with high potential. These classes help students to learn by grouping them with students of similar ability, using specialised teaching methods and educational materials at the appropriate level. The application website for Year 5 2021 opens on Tuesday 9 June 2020. Students seeking entry to an opportunity class should sit the Opportunity Class Placement Test held in designated centres. You must apply online at: https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-5





INFORMATION FOR OUR PARENTS University of NSW ICAS Opportunity (International Competitions & Assessments for Schools) Each year the University of New South Wales conducts a number of Independent Educational Assessments which are optional for schools to take part in and for students to participate in. We are again offering all students in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 the opportunity to sit the UNSW Mathematics, English and Science assessments. (Writing is not being offered by ICAS this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.) We will be administering the tests during school hours for participating students as follows:

Science – Tuesday 18 August at 9.00 am ($15.95) English – Tuesday 25 August at 9.00 am ($15.95) Mathematics – Tuesday 1 September at 9.00 am ($15.95)

To enrol your child in ICAS, please go to the online Parent Payment System at https://shop.unswglobal.com.au/pages/pps where you will be prompted to enter the code HJU204 and purchase the tests you wish your child to enter. Registration and payment must be made by Friday 17 July 2020. (No late entries will be accepted). If you would like more information and your child did not receive a permission note please contact the office.

P & C NEWS Canteen to re-open Wednesday 10 June 2020 The contractors have been working hard to complete all the renovation work ready for us to re-open Slinky's next week. Lexi has put together a great new mini menu ready to go when the canteen opens. Slinky’s will be open for lunch only on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Slinky’s is only accepting online orders via the Qkr! App at this time. There will

be no over the counter sales or cash sales. For health and safety reasons we are unable to have volunteer helpers in the canteen until restrictions ease further. Thank you for your support.





POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR FOR LEARNING (PBL) Our Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) focus has been “Hands Off” keeping hands and feet to ourselves. These reminders also work well with the additional safety protocols in place at this time. We have been encouraging students to keep their distance where possible and have given students options for other ways to greet each other.

‘HANDS OFF’ Hands and Feet to ourselves We are caring for others by playing safely and nicely together and keeping our distance

Learning Intention: I keep my hands and feet to myself and don’t touch others.

Success Criteria: Respecting others personal space Safely moving around others (eg. Equipment, walkways, etc.) Using my own equipment Not touching others Respecting new boundaries and furniture spacing Report any behaviour that is putting others at risk

Current Issues: Full-time return to school

Consistent Student Message (discussed within the fortnight): - Discuss new rules (in school and in the community) - Why do we keep our hands and feet to ourselves? - What is personal space and why is this important? - Why do we report inappropriate physical behaviour to a teacher? *We are moving away from the word dobbing and talking about reporting instead* Activities/ Discussion Points (Optional)

- Discuss and brainstorm why we keep our hands and feet to ourselves, COVID social story. https://nx237.infusion-links.com/api/v1/click/6598418925092864/6322997692465152 - Students brainstorm why this rule is so often broken. Discuss together - Role play scenarios (how to report an incident to a teacher, personal space, playing safely with others) - Discuss (without names) personal experiences - What would you do? Small group scenarios - Discussion on what is resilience, why we need to develop resilience and how we develop resilience

Changes to how we greet and interact with each other

Shaking hands NO, High five NO, Pat on back NO, Hug NO, Holding hands NO, Grabbing/touching NO. What can we do instead? Non-contact greetings. (Air hug, wave, foot shake, shaka, nod, Namaste, smile, say hello)





PALMS PRINCIPAL’S PASSAGE Things are again starting to feel normal! This week we have had around 95% attendance each day. It’s been a real joy to greet children at the front gate and to watch their growing confidence as they return to their classes and reconnect with friends. The children appear happy and settled and teachers are delighted to be back doing what they enjoy most. The hand washing and sanitising continues to be an integral part of the day’s routine and the on-site cleaners are doing a wonderful job of maintaining a hygienic environment throughout the day. THANK YOU parents and carers for adhering to the (sometimes difficult) direction to remain outside the school gates. All of these measures have been implemented to keep our students safe and healthy and it is working! We have had very few children or staff in the past 4 weeks absent due to illness. Congratulations to us! The next challenge for teaching staff will be delivering Semester 1 student reports to parents. While a substantial amount of face-to-face explicit teaching time has been lost, we are grateful for the support of parents and carers in delivering stage appropriate content to maintain continuity of learning. In the coming weeks teachers will be assessing student progress in Numeracy and Literacy. These are the only Key Learning Areas that will be reported on this semester. There will be no A to E grading but comments about individual performance, areas of concern and areas for future development will be included in the report. While we have been given a time frame by the Department of Education to have reports to parents/carers by Term 3. Our teachers have been working hard together to have the PPPS reports ready by Week 9 this term (26 June) and planning for optional parent teacher interviews during Week 10 (29 June – 3 July). Have a wonderful long weekend! Melissa Merchant Principal

pacific palms public school newsletter...all pick-ups, students walking home and riding exit through...

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