EXCELLENCE INNOVATION SUCCESS COMMUNITY

POTTSVILLEBEACH PUBLIC SCHOOL

Wednesday 18 March 2020 Term 1 Week 8

PRINCIPAL NEWSIt’s certainly an interesting time at the moment. I am extremely grateful that our staff continue to remain calm and professional (as expected!) during this COVID-19 pandemic. We will keep you up to date using SkoolBag and Facebook as our primary means of communication. The Department of Education also posts regular updates on their website and facebook page. Rest assured, the department has been planning and operating in accordance with its pandemic plan to support the safety and wellbeing of staff and students. This is part of the government-wide strategy to ‘flatten the curve’ of confirmed cases so that our health services can meet the needs of those who require care when they need it. There has been a lot of talk about whether schools will close or not. Simple answer is we don’t know if that will be necessary. The Department of Education is consulting daily with health experts and professionals and taking advice from them.We sent information home on Monday about how we have had to cancel whole school events and limit time parents spend on school grounds. We love having you all in our school. These measures are all precautionary. Among the measures we implemented was to postpone all parent/teacher interviews. These will more than likely be re-scheduled for Term 2. We are still available to talk to you about your children as necessary. There will be lots of information coming your way and more than likely communicated to you on most days. Works have commenced on the roof of the hall and canteen. Please observe all warnings and signage. All bike racks have been moved to behind K block.

Playground FeedbackWe were due to meet as a working party to discuss the new playground equipment but as we won’t be able to put the images on display in the school and get feedback that way, we thought you’d like the opportunity to give feedback via google forms. We will open it for one week and close on Tuesday 24 March. Our existing equipment is being moved in the upcoming school holidays. These images are for new equipment. One is a rope play structure and the other is a post and platform structure. There are multiple images for both structures from different angles. If you’d like to give your feedback, please so do by clicking on or cutting and pasting the following link https://forms.gle/7wQFZvujP9yk48BR7Please note that we may act on all, some or none of your constructive feedback! Please only provide feedback in the google form!

Brad LynePrincipal

Tweed Coast Road, POTTSVILLE NSW 2489 T 6676 1161 E pottsville-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au W pottsvi l le-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

Ride2School day

New Playground Equipment

POTTSVILLEBEACH

NEWSLETTERPUBLIC SCHOOL

EXCELLENCE INNOVATION SUCCESS COMMUNITY

DEPUTY NEWSStewart House Donation Drive 2020 - Each year 1,700 public school children in need attend Stewart House from many parts of NSW and the ACT. Stewart House is located at Curl Curl Beach in Sydney. Duringtheir stay, children are provided with optometric, dental and medical treatment as well as emotional support. This is balanced with health and educational programs and out of school activities to boost their self esteem and to promote a healthier lifestyle.Children in the care of Stewart House attend a specific purpose school onsite for 8 days of their 12 day stay. The NSW Department of Education provides infrastructure and staffing support for this school. All other costs associated with the children’s stay are met from charitable donations. Once the children leave school for the day they are cared forby suitably qualified supervisors overnight and at the weekend. Meals, accommodation costs, transport and entertainment expenses as well as salary costs for supervisors, cooks, cleaners, laundry and maintenance staff are all sourced from donations made to Stewart House. These costs amount to some $4.5 million each year. Our school has sentstudents to attend Stewart House over the years and without donations from our community this would not be possible. The SRC would like to support Stewart House again this year by sending home envelopes and asking for a gold coin donation. Every little bit helps. Envelopes are to be returned to school by Monday 6 April so we can send our donations prior to the holidays. A donation of $2.00 or more puts you in a draw to win a $4000 family holiday. The SRC thank you in advance for this support.Jenny Foster - Deputy Principal OFFICE NEWS - Office Hours 8.30am - 3.30pmStatement of Account - All families have received a statement of account which indicates balance owing. We encourage payment by using the Parent Payment Online (POP) which can be accessed through the Parent Portel or the School’s webpage - Make a Payment.Illness - If your child is absent from school due to illness there is no need to telephone the office. Please send a note in with your child the next day explaining the absence. If your child is absent three or more days they will need a Doctors certificate. Please advise the school if your child has an infectious condition. Change of Home Routine - messages to students - THIS IS ONLY FOR EMERGENCY SITUATIONS. If your child’s home routine changes, if possible can you please contact the school office by 1.30pm. This allows us time to get the message to your child.Head Lice - There have been several cases of head lice reported to the school. Please check your child’s hair on a regular basis and carry out treatment if necessary.Sue Matheson - School Administrative Manager

ES1 NEWS Assembly - KC’s assembly will be rescheduled as soon as possible. We will send out the date as soon as we know. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.Best Start Feedback Information - This information was sent home last week. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the feedback summary, don’t hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher. Shara Perry - Assistant PrincipalKH NEWS KH are learning all of the singles sound and how to use them in our writing. Look at us learn!Amanda Hawes - KH TeacherSTAGE 1 NEWSHomework - Stage 1 students are encouraged to complete their R.E.D (Read Every Day) booklets and their sight words each week. It is important that students return their sight word lists signed by parents. In Year 1 we are focussing on being able to read our sight words and Year 2 are focussing on reading and writing sight words. Students can access home readers from their classrooms and alternatively are able to borrow books from our amazing Library. Our students also have access to Spelling activities via their Soundwaves log in. Reading Eggs/Eggspress also provides students with e books and spelling practice. Mathseeds and Mathletics are also websites that students can access work at their instructional level in numeracy. All students will be issued their passwords again this week for home use.Parent Helpers in the Classroom - All Stage 1 students have brought home a parent helper note for their class. These notes have also been added to SKOOLBAG. Parent helpers will hopefully commence Week 2 Term 2. Story Dogs - We are very excited to continue our relationship with the STORY DOG organisation. In 2020 we have been able to extend this to include our Year 1 students. All students need to return their permission note to read with the handlers and story dogs. More information about this amazing program is available on the website: https://www.storydogs.org.au/ At this time this program has been suspended.NO Stage 1 Assembly till further notice. Kathy Frost - Assistant Principal STAGE 3 NEWSMoving into Year 7 in a NSW Government School in 2021 - These expression of interest forms are now overdue. Thank you to the parents who have returned them to the office.Assembly - Thank you 6S for hosting last week’s assembly. We really enjoyed your dramatic musical performance. Congratulations to all those students who received Student of the Week awards and Silver awards. There will be no assemblies until further notice.

KH learning!Roof work fencing

POTTSVILLEBEACH

NEWSLETTERPUBLIC SCHOOL

EXCELLENCE INNOVATION SUCCESS COMMUNITY

UNIFORM SHOP Website: www.flexischools.com.au2020 Tuesdays: 8.45am - 9.45am CASH OR CHEQUE ONLY!

Don’t forget you can order your child’s uniforms via Flexischools website. The uniforms are then sent to your child’s class. All done from home EASY!

The uniform shop would appreciate any second hand uniforms.

Hastings Point Excursion - Stage 3 planned excursion to Hastings Point in Week 11 on Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 April will be rescheduled for Term 2. Kingscliff High School Academic Stream Classes for Year 7 2021 - Forms were distributed at the information night. Those parents who attended the information night at Kingscliff High School last week may have collected an application form for this class. Year 6 teachers have also distributed application forms to those students who displayed an interest. The form must be returned to Kingscliff High School by today Friday 27 March. Please note the following important dates:Academic Stream Interviews - Thursday 2 April and Friday 3 AprilAcademic Stream Test - Tuesday 7 April 4.00pm - 5.00pmOperation Art - Every year schools across New South Wales are invited to participate in Operation Art, an initiative of The Children’s Hospital at Westmead in association with the New South Wales Department of Education. The Operation Art program provides a forum for schools and students to demonstrate their visual arts achievements through exhibitions at the Armory Gallery, Sydney Olympic Park and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.Leonie Richards - Assistant PrincipalRIDE2SCHOOLThanks to everyone who supported National Ride2School day by riding, scooting, skating or walking to school on Friday! We hope you had fun getting active on your way to school!Eleanor Collier - CoordinatorSPORT NEWSSwimming Results - With a washout at our first carnival things were looking grim. Thank you to all teachers who swung into action and rescheduled a competitors only event the following Wednesday afternoon allowing for our gifted swimmers to progress to the Murwillumbah PSSA carnival. Thank you to Murwillumbah Pools and Pottsville parents/caregivers for being so flexible and accommodating.Well done to all the students who progressed to the Murwillumbah PSSA carnival and those listed below who qualified to compete at the FNC swimming championships in Ballina.Ashton B, Natasha A, Harley E, Genevieve N, Skooda W, Faith W, Ethan B, Mason D, Jordan L, Madison M, Riley M, Tilly O, Reign W, Thomas C, Caleb D, Austin L, Marley R, Finn C, Cedar E, Finlay E, Tori F, Noah F, Macey F, Alliayah G, Marley I, Elijah L, Phoenix P and Marlee S.A further congratulations to the students who qualified for the North Coast swimming championships in Coffs Harbour.Marlee S - 100m Free, 50m Free, 50m BreaststrokeEthan B - 50m Backstroke, Relay

Ride2School day

Liam V - 50m free, RelayMason D - 50m Free, 50m Breaststroke, IM 4x50m, RelaySkooda W - 50m Free, Relay. A massive congratulations to Mason and Skooda and the junior boys relay who were selected in the NC PSSA team to compete at the NSW Championships which have been postponed.Mason - 9yrs 50m Freestyle, 50m Breaststroke, Relay Skooda - 8yrs 50m Freestyle, Relay Liam and Ethan - RelayWell done to all students who dove in and had a go!David Mercer - Coordinator Rugby Union - Our Rugby Talents - On Wednesday 4 March a small but committed group of Stage 2 and 3 students contested the Casuarina Sevens event at Casuarina Rugby fields. Both senior and junior teams were more than willing and highly competitive in all games, with a view to enjoying the day and playing without any expectations other than for the fun. The seniors were very close to placing top two and earning a spot in the next round at Lismore and juniors went through the day undefeated, reaching that next round. Very well done to all boys and girls who attended and congratulations to the junior team. Rugby is strong in Pottsville.Steven Macdonald - CoordinatorP&C NEWS Inspirational quotes for toilet doors will be completed soon.Mothers day stall is coming up Term 2 - any keen volunteers can get in touch via email: pandc.pottsville@gmail.comOngoing discussions about fans for the hall - will keep everyone updated.Collection tub for oral health recycling products (toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes etc) is in the front office - we will be collecting throughout the year.The scheduled P&C meeting for Tuesday 7 April and the fundraiser at Epic skate have both been postponed based on NSW education advice - we will let you know when the next P&C meeting will be held and reschedule our skate night for later in the year. Thanks for understanding.Lisa Rushton - P&C

LEARN TO SWIM AT BILLINUDGELSwim For Your Life provides top quality lessons for new swimmers,adults, mums and bubs, mini-squads, stroke development and children with special needs. We take pride in progressing the student with good technique through encouragement, patience and knowledge. We accept active kids vouchers. We can work 1:1 with NDIS recipients and Children with Challenges. Call Today (02) 6680 1614