Term 3 Dates 2020

The Rocks Report NEWSLETTER OF NORTH ROCKS PUBLIC SCHOOL

Ph: 9871 1772 | Fax: 9872 1448 | 359 North Rocks Road, North Rocks NSW 2151

e northrocks-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au | w http://www.northrocks-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/

2020 ~ Term 3 - Week 6 At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

Term 3 Dates 2020

THE PRINCIPAL:

We are extremely grateful for the calibre of student we have at NRPS. Every day we see acts of

generosity and kindness between our students that warm the heart and ‘fill our buckets’. However, from

time to time we are made aware of a situation that needs our attention. I received a phone call

yesterday from a community member whose adult, intellectually disabled son walks through Don Moore

Reserve on his way home every afternoon between 4-4:15pm. For the last 5 days he has reported that a

small group of NRPS students have been waiting for him, throwing sticks at him and saying inappropriate

things. On Wednesday his elderly parents thought they would see for themselves and witnessed

approximately 7 of our students throwing sticks and being unkind to him. We are extremely distressed

that a member of our community would be treated in this way and we ask our parents to have a

discussion with their children on how to show kindness to someone who needs our support and

compassion.

Week 8 of this term will have a strong focus on student and staff wellbeing. A focus on wellbeing aims for

all students to be healthy, happy, successful and productive individuals, who are active and positive

contributors to the school and society in which they live. Through a variety of activities throughout the

week, we will be striving to strengthen students’ cognitive, physical, social and emotional wellbeing

domains of development. Teachers will be implementing the Smiling Mind mindfulness program in their

classrooms. Information for parents about the Smiling Mind program can be found here

https://www.smilingmind.com.au/parent-resource.

Thursday 3rd September Father’s Day stall

Friday 4th September Jersey day

Monday-Friday 7th—11th

September Wellbeing week

Wednesday 9th September Sports Fun day

Friday 25th September Last day of Term 3

Monday 12th October Students return to school

Wellbeing Week @ NRPS

Allyson Gao 2O Johnathon Choi 2P Nooriyah Hussain 2P

Gabriella Zhang 2O Louis Martin 3M Madison Dellas 3M

Selina Lee 3A Sharon Huang 3S Gabriel Montelvere 3M

Elsa Zhu 3M Lily Aroyan 3M Daniel Choi 4H

Kumail Hussain 4H Rosie Stokes 6D Julian Corpus 6D

The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

This week has been SASS Appreciation Week. We are very lucky at NRPS to

have such a wonderful group of generous and professional people who help

our students and staff navigate the challenges that a complex school

presents on a daily basis. I have worked at a number of schools in my career

and I can confidently state they are by far the most supportive group I have

worked with and our school would not be the outstanding school that we are

without them.

Students have generously made cards of appreciation which have been

displayed in our office. Below are just some of the notes that have been

received this week.

First there was remote learning using Zoom. Then there were parent teacher interviews using Zoom.

Now…. we are debating using Zoom!

Our NRPS Premiers debating team have taken the year in their stride. Their debating workshop

training day was cancelled due to COVID restrictions, and their twice-weekly coaching session

were also put on hold during remote learning. But they continued to develop their skills using online

resources.

Once school resumed, our coaching sessions also resumed with gusto. By the time our first debate

against another school was scheduled in Week 4 of this term, our debaters were primed and ready

to argue to the best of their ability. All debaters have developed a new 2020 skill: the ability to

simultaneously address a real audience, whilst addressing the adjudicator and opposing school via

Zoom on the interactive whiteboard.

In our week 4 debates, our Year 6 team successfully argued against Castle Hill Public School that

that schools should not replace arts and music classes with more maths and science.

Our Year 5 team were also successful against Castle Hill Public School. They were the affirmative

team and skillfully delivered their arguments for banning all tests in primary schools.

In week 6, our teams had an official competition round where they had to compete against each

other. Congratulations go to our Year 6 team who put forward multiple convincing arguments as to

why primary school children should have mobile phones.

Our next debates are against Beecroft Public School in week 8. We wish both teams every success,

and hope they make it to the semi-finals.

Debating News

SASS Appreciation Week

The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

There is still a lot of construction happening at NRPS. The good news is that we are seeing progress

in the demountable areas being transformed to grass areas and the construction of our veggie

garden has started.

Below are photos of the new grass areas where the EALD and 4H demountables were located.

We also have the DoE replacing the rooves of 5 blocks in our school. This is major work requiring

substantial scaffolding which is impacting on how we are using different spaces in our school.

Students and staff are safe at all times as areas being upgraded are cleared of all people. We are

using both computer labs as learning spaces for displaced classes to use. I am very pleased that

our students and staff continue to adapt to all of these changes showing an acceptance and

pleasing resilience. Already the new colorbond roofing is looking fabulous as shown in the photos

below of G block.

Construction @ NRPS

The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

Big news! We have a brand new North Rocks Public School Facebook page. SchoolStream will

continue to be our primary communication platform with the school community which has served

us so well during this COVID-19 period. This Facebook page is to be used as a platform to celebrate

school and student achievement. We welcome your support in making this page a positive and

supportive forum to celebrate all of the good things at North Rocks Public School.

We will of course continue to respect parent wishes regarding media permissions and will only use

student first names. There is an unauthorized NRPS Facebook page in existence which the school

does NOT use. Below are snapshots of our real Facebook page. We hope our parents will like our

posts and share our good news stories with the wider community.

To comply with the latest advice from NSW Health to minimise the risk of COVID-19 transmissions,

the annual Opportunity Class Placement Test will now take place at a student’s own school rather

than in examination centres which bring students from across settings and sectors together.

To allow this change to be made, the test date is now 18 November 2020. The department

acknowledges the challenges faced by students during the pandemic response. The safety of our

students and staff is of paramount importance. Marking of tests and student placements will

continue to be managed by the High Performing Students Team. Only students whose parents have received a confirmation email from the High Performing Students Team are eligible to sit the

test on the new date of 18 November. The application portal will not be re-opened for new

applications.

Placement in an opportunity class will be based solely on the results of the test to ensure the fair

and consistent assessment of students across all schools and regions of NSW. Principals will not be

required to provide school assessment scores, but are requested to verify the information entered

by parents.

Further details on how this process will be managed will be announced as soon as they are

confirmed and we will be communicating directly with all schools who are impacted. We

encourage members of our school community to continue to monitor the department’s website for

the latest information relating to high potential students.

Official NRPS Facebook page

Opportunity Class Testing

The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

Entry to Year 7 in 2022

We expect applications for placement in 2022 to open in early-October 2020 and close in mid-

November 2020. The test is expected to be held on 11 March 2021. Assessments for the school

assessment scores will be based on achievement on the school curriculum after 25 May 2020. The

school assessment score includes an English and Mathematics mark for each student. All year

5 assessments completed after the 25th of May this year may contribute towards this mark. We

strongly encourage all students to complete every assessment task to the best of their ability.

Parents who are interested in applying for a place for their child in a selective high school are

reminded to visit the Department of Education website to find out more information and to keep

track of key dates in the process.

https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/

general-information

At the moment we are not comfortable with students sharing food that has not been individually

wrapped. We do not know the circumstances of how the food was handled at home or the shops.

Therefore we are asking parents to not send birthday food in to school. This is another measure we

are prepared to take to ensure the health and safety of our students.

Smiling Mind has developed three Smiling Mind Care Packs, each designed to support children

during this turbulent time:

1. Supporting Children’s Emotional Wellbeing Through Mindfulness

2. Helping Children Manage Worry & Anxiety

3. Taking in the Good

Each pack is a downloadable pdf containing:

Topic introductions – to give you a clear understanding of the topic and how the meditations

and activities can support the mental health of your child

Smiling Mind mindfulness meditations – to listen to together. These can be accessed from your

smartphone, tablet or computer.

Printable activities designed to be both fun and to support conversations with your child.

Each set of activities includes questions to help you kickstart important conversations. Simply

download the pdf for your child or children’s age group, choose a topic and get ready to

play the meditation and complete an activity together. Meditations come from the Smiling

Mind app which is 100% free to download and play. Activities can be printed and only need

coloured pens, pencils and paper.

Smiling Mind is an evidence based, whole school approach to support student mental health and

wellbeing. It is supported by the Department of Education.

Visit https://www.smilingmind.com.au/kids-care-packs-2#care-pack-topics to find the relevant

pack.

Lee Shipley

R/Principal

Selective High School

Smiling Minds

Birthday food on hold

The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

Beyblades in the playground

Many of our students bring personal items from home to school, such as Beyblades and Pokemon

cards, to play with in the playground. While we love to see students playing together sometimes

bringing these items to school can create issues in the playground. Students are not allowed to

trade any toys at school and all items are the responsibility of the student. With regard to

Beyblades we have had a few instances where the hard metal centre piece has come loose, and

when spinning, creates a situation where children may get injured. Due to this we are asking that

no Beyblades be bought to school. If they do come to school we will be asking that they remain in

your child’s school bag. Thank you in advance for your assistance in keeping all of our students

safe in the playground.

Attendance at school

At North Rocks Public School we value and share the view of our community that attendance at

school is important in achieving learning and wellbeing outcomes for all students. It is worth noting

that students who are absent from school 8 days per term throughout their primary school years will

miss a whole year of learning by the end of primary school. We understand that under present COVID circumstances, students need to be kept at home if

they have flu like symptoms or are awaiting the result of testing. These factors are considered when

reviewing student attendance.

The importance of arriving on time

Arriving at school and class on time:

Ensures that students do not miss out on important learning activities scheduled early in the day

Helps students learn the importance of punctuality and routine

Gives students time to greet their friends before class

Reduces classroom disruption

Lateness is recorded as a partial absence and must be explained by parents/caregivers. What if my child has to be away from school?

On occasion, your child may need to be absent from school. Justified reasons for student

absences may include:

being sick, or having an infectious disease

having an unavoidable medical appointment

being required to attend a recognised religious holiday

exceptional or urgent family circumstance (e.g. attending a funeral)

Following an absence from school you must ensure that within 7 days you provide your child’s

school with a verbal or written explanation for the absence. However, if the school has not

received an explanation from you within 2 days, the school may contact you to discuss the

absence.

The Department of Educations Attendance Policy is available on their website for further

information. We look forward to your continued support in encouraging consistent and punctual

attendance every day.

Allannah Cassidy

Deputy Principal

Deputy Principal’s Report

The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

Tell Them From Me Parent Survey

This Term, our school will be participating in the Partners in Learning parent survey, another part of

the Tell Them From Me suite of surveys (student, teacher and parent surveys) on student

engagement. The survey asks parents and carers questions about different factors that are known

to impact on student wellbeing and engagement.

Running this survey will help our school understand parents’ and carers’ perspectives on their

child’s experience at school. These include: communication between parents/carers and staff,

activities and practices at home and parent/carer views on the school's support of learning and

behaviour. This valuable feedback will help our school make practical improvements.

The survey is conducted entirely online on smartphones, iPads, tablets, laptops or computers. The

survey will typically take 15 minutes or less to complete and is completely confidential. The parent

survey will be conducted over Term 3 and early Term 4. Although participating in the survey is

entirely voluntary, your responses are very much appreciated.

More information about the survey is available at: http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au. To access the

survey for our school go to:

http://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/6k4p8

The survey is available in 23 languages.

Jersey Day

On Friday 4th September we are asking staff and students at North Rocks Public School to wear

their favourite sporting jersey to school to show support for the DONATE LIFE network and begin the

conversation with their friends and family about organ donation.

JERSEY DAY has been inspired by the story of NATHAN GREMMO who was tragically lost in an

accident in May 2015. Nathan’s family chose to give the gift of life to others to honour the legacy

of Nathan’s generous personality.

This campaign is all about raising awareness – there is no requirement to raise funds. Simply wear

your favourite sporting jersey to school on Friday 4th September and begin the conversation with

your friends and family about organ donation.

Erin Dooley

R/Deputy Principal

Deputy Principal’s Report

The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

Deputy Principal’s Report

The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

P&C Report Term 3 Week 6 2020

Thanks to all those who attended our very first P&C meeting via zoom. It was a successful

night and we thank those who joined for their input.

Have you joined our mailing list?

Choose what you want to hear about delivered to your inbox!

Events

Volunteering

Meetings & Minutes

Just click on this link to sign up! It has never been so easy to stay informed!

https://mailchi.mp/c016c76e554d/north-rocks-public-school-pc

Our AGM and September meeting is Tuesday 15th September via Zoom. The meeting link will

go out to those that are subscribed to "Meetings & Minutes" on our mailing list. So don’t miss

out - stay in touch with us and what is happening around the school.

Due to being a Zoom meeting, we would like any questions you would like to be asked to be

emailed before the meeting (just to save time and make the meeting run smoothly). Please

email: nrpspandc@gmail.com

There is some great news on the K-2 Playground, movement is being made with the job in the

hands of the Asset Management department. The tender is currently underway so we will see

this area fixed up over the next few months.

Each newsletter we publish our links to our Facebook and Instagram pages. We have a new

one, particularly if you are a band parent:

NRPS Music Instruments Buy Swap Sell

https://www.facebook.com/groups/NRPS.Instruments.BSS/

Other useful links are:

NRPS P&C Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/NRPSPandC/

NRPS P&C Instagram Page https://www.instagram.com/nrpspandc/

NRPS 2nd Hand Uniform Buy, Swap, Sell group https://www.facebook.com/groups/

NRPS.Uniforms.BSS/

K-6 Support Unit https://www.facebook.com/groups/NRPS.K6.SupportUnit/

Kindy https://www.facebook.com/groups/NRPS.Kindy.2020/

Year 1 https://www.facebook.com/groups/NRPS.Year1.2020/

Year 2 https://www.facebook.com/groups/NRPS.Year2.2020/

Year 3 https://www.facebook.com/groups/NRPS.Year3.2020/

Year 4 https://www.facebook.com/groups/NRPS.Year4.2020/

Year 5 https://www.facebook.com/groups/NRPS.Year5.2020/

Year 6 https://www.facebook.com/groups/NRPS.Year6.2020/

Have you purchased your tokens on Flexischools for the Father’s Day stall on 3rd September?

Thank you to those volunteers who are organising this event. Thank you everyone for

supporting our school. See you on zoom!

John Bolwell

P&C President

The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

Once again we are encouraging ALL students at North Rocks Public School to participate in the

Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC). The Challenge aims to encourage in students a love of reading for leisure and pleasure, and to

enable students to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each

student to read, to read more and to read more widely. The Challenge is divided into three sections: K-2, 3-4, 5-6. Each section has its own book list, which is very easy to find on the PRC website. At NRPS we have

put a strip on the spine of books to indicate their inclusion in the PRC list. Pink for K-2, green for 3-4

and orange for 5-6. K-2 children must read a total of 30 books - 25 from the PRC booklist and 5 free choice. 3-4 and 5-6 children must read a total of 20 books – 15 from the PRC booklist and 5 free choice. Students will be able to enter the titles of books read from Monday March 2nd. All books read since

September 1st 2019 are eligible to be entered. Children can read suitable books from the booklist above their grade, eg. K-2 can read from the

3-4 booklist. Parents and caregivers are encouraged to support the Challenge to promote the development of

literacy skills and a love of reading and to inspire their children to continue reading when they

have finished the Challenge. Books read to or by students at school, in library lessons or at home all count. The PRC website logon process is as follows:

Book titles are entered on Premier’s Reading Challenge website https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/

home.html

Alternatively students are able to access the PRC from their student portal, and the learning link.

Children use their DEC (Department of Education and Communities) internet username. This is their

first name and surname separated by “.”(eg. taylor.swift) some children have a number at the end.

K-2 passwords are set at school.

Primary students continue to use the username and password they use at school.

If you have any questions about usernames or passwords see the classroom teacher (we do not

have access to these and cannot help you )

When a book is treated in the library it will be added to each students reading list by the librarian.

So if you are entering your child’s reading record and notice some extra books this is where they

came from. Entering of student’s books MUST BE COMPLETED BY AUGUST 28th 2020. Thank you for your support

Mrs Rosemary Bodlay Teacher Librarian and PRC Co-ordinator

Mrs Larissa Bezkorovainy Teacher Librarian and PRC Co-ordinator

The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

TERM 3…

This term the canteen will look a little different…

we’ll keep going with online ordering with Flexischools for ALL lunch orders

The counter will be open for recess from 10.55am—11.20 am for cash sales of recess

snacks and drinks

Recess items can still be ordered on Flexischools and picked up at the Orders Only

window at the canteen

The counter will be open at lunch from 12.50—1.20pm for cash sales of snacks, ice

blocks and drinks. Ice blocks will no longer be able to be ordered

We will operate with canteen staff only and won’t require our volunteers at this stage

I.O.U

Please keep an eye open for our new I.O.U tab on Flexischools, which enables parents to

pay for recess and lunches provided to students via the GOLD & or/PINK CARD system. This

occurs when lunches have been forgotten or not ordered and the canteen gives the stu-

dent food for the day. Please return the GOLD & or/PINK CARD with cash to the canteen

or use the I.O.U feature available on Flexischools. Set denominations have been given,

which you can use to pay the correct amount outstanding. Thank you !

NEWS ON FLEXISCHOOLS

We’ve also set up a NEWS feature on Flexischools to give parents updates. Please enable

Flexischool notifications on your phone to see the lastest news and scroll down on the APP

cover page and look for the NEWS tab.

CANTEEN NEWS

The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

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The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

COMMUNITY NEWS

“ The NSW Justices Association has operated a community desk every Saturday morning at North

Rocks Shopping Centre for almost 20 years. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, all such JP community

desks across NSW were closed in March. The Cumberland Branch of the NSWJA, is pleased to

announce that the free JP service will recommence operations from Saturday 4th July, 2020

between the hours of 10am and 12 noon.

Special protocols have been introduced to protect both the JP volunteers and clients but we ask

that you do not approach the desk if you are unwell, social distancing of 1.5m be observed at all

times and that only the individual who requires the JP service approach the desk. This is not a family

outing. Should you require any further information, please contact the North Rocks Desk

Coordinator, Brian Lynne, at blynne@iinet.net.au or call 0408 617 801.”

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The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

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The Rocks Report At NRPS we value RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY, HONESTY

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