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PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE:
SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT DAY
Following changes by the Department of Education and Training schools now have a School Development [Pupil Free Day] at the commencement of Terms 1, 2 and 3 and two days at the end of the school year. As the name implies the day is used for professional learning and development for teachers, support staff and school administrative staff.
The agenda for the Term 2 School Development Day was:-
Session 1 The Connected Classroom Project Brian Lambert
Video conference with Centre for Learning Innovation and four other schools
Interactive whiteboards
Session 2
Leading and Managing the School Chris Russell
Responsibilities of Teachers Gabrielle Allan-Smith
Korean Community Language Program Hae-Ryun Martin
Introduction to Korean Culture
Session 3
Student Staff Welfare –CPR Debbie Rossi
Introduction to CPR in a BOX
STUDENT WELFARE – Flu
As we enter the season when coughs and colds become common and in light of the Swine Flu scare it is important to restate a few simple precautions we all can take:- Covering your mouth when you cough Using a tissue and putting it in the bin Washing hands after using a tissue Washing your hands for 10 seconds before you eat If sick stay at home.
If you have any concerns about your child’s health please consult a doctor who may prescribe an appropriate medication. In the case of whooping cough the doctor will advise the length of exclusion from school if required.
STAFFING VARIATIONS
Mrs Allan-Smith has been offered a very exciting secondment opportunity for the remainder of the year. She will be the Special Projects Officer with the Directorate of Educational Measurement and School Accountability. Mrs Allan-Smith has been a wonderful asset in the school over a number of years, and has developed and defined the role of Deputy Principal, since her appointment through the Merit Selection process when it was created, to be highly supportive to students, staff and parents/carers. She will still be involved in the Multicultural Project and will spend the odd day in the school. I’m sure all parents/carers will wish her well and that the skills and knowledge she develops in the position will benefit students of HPS in the future.
Mrs Evans took ill over the holidays. At this point in time we are unsure of when she will return. Mrs Allan-Smith was able to organise Ms Katie Prior to fill the position for as long as needed. Miss Prior had worked in the school during Term 1 so is familiar with the school’s operations and ethos.
RELIEVING DEPUTY PRINCIPAL
To support the career development of Mrs Fogarty, Assistant Principal, Stage 3, and Mr Lambert, Assistant Principal, Stage 2, they will share the role of Deputy Principal till the end of the year. Mrs Fogarty will commence her 14 weeks effective next Monday. Mrs Fogarty’s class will be taken by Mrs Vijaya Gurumurty who spent two days with them this week as part of the Peer Support preparation, Friday as a planning/handover session, is familiar with students and the class teaching and learning program.
CROSS COUNTRY CARNIVAL
The school’s Annual Cross Country Carnival was held last Wednesday. Students in Years 3-6 had perfect weather on which to run their respective length courses. Students who did well will proceed to the Zone Cross Country Carnival. Thanks to Mr Lambert, Mr Maher and Mr Karnikowski for setting up the course and all staff for the supervision of the event and their encouragement of students
NATIONAL ASSESSMENT PROGRAM - LITERACY AND NUMERACY [NAPLAN]
In May 2009, as part of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), national tests will be held in literacy and numeracy for all students in Australia at Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. In 2009 the dates for the National Assessment Program will be Tuesday May 12 – Thursday May 14. The specific details are: Tuesday 12th: Language conventions and Writing Wednesday 13th: Reading Thursday 14th: Numeracy Friday 15th: Catch up day National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy: Writing Task 2009 The writing task for the 2009 NAPLAN Writing test will be a narrative. All students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will complete the same task. The national tests will assess student achievement in literacy and numeracy. Students will have their skills assessed in numeracy, reading, writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar. National tests will provide information on how students are progressing against national benchmarks and support improvements in teaching and learning.
Regards
Chris Russell
Principal
5th May 2009.
HOMEBUSH P.S. PLAYGROUP
The new Homebush P.S. Playgroup held its first meeting on Wednesday 29th April between 9:00 and 10:15 am in the school hall. It was attended by eight parents/grandparents and ten preschool children. If you have preschool children please come along and meet other parents in an informal setting. Parents/ carers attending are asked to pay $1 to cover costs for tea and coffee with any additional funds raised being used to purchase resources for a variety of activities that are planned for the group.
Mrs Vicki Johnstone, Relieving Assistant principal, who has had experience setting up a playgroup in her previous school will be the staff liaison person
Gabrielle Allan-Smith Deputy Principal
PEER SUPPORT
Our whole school will be starting Peer Support lessons this week. Students will be using a new module: Taking Opportunities which focuses on resilience. The experiences presented in the program help children to develop skills to identify their strengths, celebrate their achievements and seek assistance when faced with challenges. In this session each group will establish their group agreements so they work well together. Children will share some of their favourite things and learn about the other members of their group. You might like to discuss with your child what they can do this week to help them take an active role in Peer Support.
Year 6 students completed training in preparation for their leadership role on Monday and Tuesday. Groups have been organised so that each contains students from Kindergarten to Year 6.
A parent information brochure which provides information about the program and how you can support your child as they complete activities that will enable them to cope with difficult and challenging experiences was sent home earlier this week.
Dianne Fogarty
Peer Support Coordinator
FROM THE FRONT OFFICE
Uniform Order forms are available at the office or from the school website. Paid orders are accepted at the Front office Monday to Friday for parent/carers who are unable to purchase directly from the uniform shop. Orders will be kept secure and handed to Uniform Shop staff each Monday to be filled and sent to the student via the class teacher. Payments should be made in a secure envelope clearly labelled with the correct details
HOMEBUSH PUBLIC SCHOOL P&C NEWS TERM 2
Dear HPS Parents,
Welcome to Term 2 & Homebush Public School P&C News column. Please note in your diary that our next P&C meeting is on Tuesday 12h May 2009 (7 pm) in Room 8. Thanks to all the parents who joined us at the last P&C meeting. It was great to see so many new faces.
As you know our primary motive is to work together in variety of ways to assist the school in its endeavours. Currently we are also setting up a database of volunteers for the upcoming events in 2009. Please register your interest at the P&C meeting or email HPSPC@yahoogroups.com. Come and join us; you can do a lot or a little, whatever you can, and your ideas are appreciated.
Please remember to drive safely in and around school zone. Nothing is more important than health and safety of our children. So always slow down to 40 km/h around the school zone.
For those parents who missed out on the last P&C meeting we had a great discussion about how the school should spend the Commonwealth Governments Stimulus Package. Homebush Public School qualifies for the 200K for the special projects.
At our next meeting we will have more interesting discussions so I look forward to your attendance.
KANCHAN BAKSHI
PRESIDENT
CANTEEN NEWS
Weekly Specials will commence in Week 4. Look for details on the outside notice board, in the Canteen and on the special pre-order flyer currently being developed.
Welcome to the many students in the school. The Canteen looks forward to you visiting the Canteen. Margaret Benbow
PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE:
Education Week 25-29th May
Education Week is celebrated in all NSW Public School’s next week. It is a week to highlight all the wonderful things that occur in public education. Events occur from State to individual school level. I would encourage all parents/carers to make the effort to visit the school during the week to help celebrate our partnership in the educational journey of your child.
At Homebush PS our agenda is Monday- a student nominated as a Public Ambassador will be honoured at a major South Western Sydney Region (SWSR) public function. Tuesday -Opera Australia performance of Cinderella Wednesday - Education Week Yr 3-6 Assembly at 2pm in the Hall Thursday – Open classrooms 12-1pm - Sausage sizzle lunch
Reporting to Parents
At the end of Term 2 the mid-year written report, which reports on Semester 1 achievements, will be issued to parents/carers. The report will be issued on Friday 3rd July [Week 10]with Mid-Year Interviews being held in the last week of term. The day when interviews will be held up to 7pm to support working parents/carers will be Tuesday 7th July. You may like to note it in your diaries.
Building the Education Revolution
The Commonwealth program has two aspects relevant to Primary Schools –School Pride and Schools for the 21st Century.
School Pride: Work is currently occurring. External painting of the school is nearly complete and it certainly has enhanced the school’s appearance. Some work has occurred in upgrading asphalt both to remove trip hazards and to increase garden areas, with more extensive works to follow. The recarpeting of some rooms will occur in the next few weeks. All work will be completed by July.
Schools for the 21st Century: The school’s submissions have been agreed to and will be sent to the Commonwealth Government for approval. I hope to be able to give a detailed report at the next P & C meeting and show plans of the proposed building to replace the demountables. It is going to be a very exciting project and will be of immense benefit to the school.
INTERNET SECURITY
On Tuesday, 19th May I attended the Police –Principals Forum for the Flemington and Burwood Local Area Commands. It was a very valuable meeting. One item that was discussed was an area of growing concern -that of cyber-bullying and parent/carer supervision of student’s use of the internet in the home. It is crucial that with easy access to the Internet, and especially the rise of social networking programs, such as Facebook, that parents/carers monitor what students are accessing and their email. In the school context the student’s access is always supervised by a teacher and there are major filters in place that restrict access to sites that are/maybe inappropriate. There are a number of links on the school website to helpful sites. Mobile phones are also increasingly being used inappropriately, often for cyber-bulling and it is another area where parents/carers need to be vigilant.
STUDENT WELFARE
ROAD SAFETY
Following enquiries to the RTA regarding best placement for the Crossing Supervisor they have undertaken to do a survey on usage patterns.
ABSENCES
Parents/carers are reminded that ALL absences must be explained in writing. If a child is absent for more than 3 days it would be appreciated if the school could be telephoned to explain the situation and to provide a likely return date Where an absence is for an extended or overseas holiday and will exceed 15 days then a specific application form must be completed and submitted prior to the absence.
NAPLAN [National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy]
Last week NAPLAN students in Years 3 and 5 sat for NAPLAN tests. Thanks to the efforts of teachers, and especially Mrs Fogarty and Mrs Ioakim the tests were all despatched on Friday afternoon. Later in the year parents/carers will receive a comprehensive written report and the school an excellent collection of data for analysis.
I look forward to seeing many parents during our Education Week offerings.
Regards
Chris Russell
Principal
21st May 2009.
School Lunches
Recently some students have been bringing cups and bowls of dry noodles to school for their lunches and requested the canteen ladies to add the boiling water. This has been refused as students could be placed in a dangerous situation if the water spilled. For the same reason teachers and office staff will not add the water.
Parents are asked to send different food for their children or purchase noodles from the canteen where care is taken to ensure that the contents are not too hot.
Road Safety
Last Friday afternoon a member of the public came to the office to report that he had witnessed three students from this school run out of the school, across the crossing in Rochester Street and then across the crossing at Burlington Road. At no time did they stop to see if it was safe to cross and almost caused a very serious accident when a car narrowly missed them.
The driver of this car and a number of onlookers were visibly shaken by this incident. Please emphasise to your children the importance of crossing the road safely at all times as their teachers have also done this week.
Stage 3 Camp
In the next few weeks, students in years 5 and 6 will be invited to attend the biannual school camp which be held at the end of Term 3 at Camp Yarramundi.
In following procedures established last year, only those students who have paid for their school requisites and sporting fees will be permitted to attend. Parents are reminded that sports fees must be paid by the 4th June and other outstanding payments are now overdue.
Lost Property
There is a huge amount of lost property that is accumulating in the school foyer. It is important that all clothing and belongings coming to school are clearly marked with the child’s name and class to enable a quick return if misplaced.
Peer Support
Peer Support lessons have commenced and the Year 6 leaders have enthusiastically embraced their leadership roles.
The groups have established group rules to ensure cooperation from all participants and explored their feelings when faced with difficulties. Through activities they have identified the need to show courage when they try something new.
This week they are identifying their strengths and achievements and the role of perseverance in achieving personal best.
During the week your support and encouragement can be offered by encouraging your child to be aware of the importance of learning from their mistakes and trying new experiences. Please also discuss and reaffirm their strengths and weaknesses and celebrate their achievements.
Sausage Sizzle
On Thursday, 28th May, 2009 the school will be holding a sausage sizzle (Halal available) to raise money for the P&C. This money will go towards the purchasing of Interactive Whiteboards for classrooms. An order form has been sent home and needs to be returned to the school by Tuesday 26th of May. There will also be cold drinks available on the day. As it is open classrooms for the celebration of Education Week any parent orders should be made on their child’s form. We look forward to seeing you then.