18th November 2019

FROM THE DESK OF OUR PRINCIPAL

Welcome to Week 6 of Term 4. Giinagay, Hello

I would like to thank everyone for your understanding and cooperation in dealing with last week’s closure of the school. The bushfire emergency which we have been experiencing is certainly out of the ordinary, and hopefully it hasn’t impacted more directly upon you and your family. Many families on the Mid North Coast have not been as fortunate. Hopefully the situation will settle down soon, and this week will see everything return to normal. We will continue to ensure the safety of all our students and staff by monitoring the current conditions and minimising exposure to the smoke haze. This may include lunch and recess breaks indoors, and outdoor activities minimised or cancelled. If your child has a respiratory condition, please ensure they have their preventor with them at school. On behalf of our staff, students and school community, I'd like to extend my thanks to the Rural Fire Service, your work in ensuring our schools, homes and surrounding areas were kept safe in the recent days of catastrophic fire conditions. I know your work will continue alongside the work of other charities as the full impact of the emergency on our broader community is realised. Thank you, Rural Fire Service! You are all amazingly awesome! We are proud of our school and community and our hearts go out to the families who have been affected, animals in distress and hard working volunteers during this time of emergency across our beautiful state and wider country. Thank you to our staff and community for your donations to support the RFS, Red Cross and RSPCA at the end of last week. Being prepared this bush fire season is an important part of protecting your family and home from the impacts of bush fires. A key to being prepared is to understand the level of bush fire risk you and your property are exposed to and the ways you can reduce this risk. The NSW Rural Fire Service has developed a stepped process that ensures your Bush Fire Survival Plan is appropriate for your circumstances. Please visit www.rfs.nsw.gov.au for further information. Once again it became apparent that some families contact information is not up to date - particularly when we endeavoured to send SMS and emails which in a number of instances were returned as undeliverable. We regularly remind families of the need to ensure all personal contact information, including emergency contacts are up to date. We also utilise our Tyalla Public School Facebook page and P&C Facebook page, as well as SkoolBag to send school wide messages. If your phone number or home address have changed recently, or you have new people as additional emergency contacts, please ensure you have provided this in writing to the office. We only have half a term (5 weeks) until the end of the school year. This will be a very busy time with school events building up to the end of the year’s formal events, such as reports, Presentation Day, the Year 6 Farewell Dinner and Graduation. We also have SRC speeches and elections, as well as the Intensive Swimming Scheme.

With only five weeks left, planning is commencing for 2020. If your child is commencing Kindergarten in 2020 and you have not returned your enrolment forms, please do so to assist with finalising numbers. If you know you are moving, or your child will not be attending Tyalla Public School in 2020 please inform the office in writing.

Continued next page….

KINDERGARTEN 2020 ENROLMENT PACKS AVAILABLE FROM THE OFFICE

We acknowledge the Gumbayngirr Peoples as the traditional custodians of our School lands

In Week 3 our school completed the External Validation process for 2019. Each year, a group of schools are nominated to participate in an external validation process. This provides an opportunity for schools to discuss their judgements about their practice – and the evidence that underpins them – with a panel of peers. All schools in NSW participate in this process as part of a five-year cycle. It was a valuable process allowing us to look deeply at our school, using evidence to inform where we are aligned to the school excellence framework. The staff provided input into evidence and the executive team worked closely to gather, and annotate evidence sets within the three domains of Learning, Teaching and Leading. This evidence was reviewed by a panel who then met with the EV Executive Team to discuss the evidence and findings. After the panel meeting I received an email from the Principal, School Leadership who was on the EV panel for our school, I have included an excerpt from that email to share with the community.

“Please thank your amazing staff (inclusive of teachers, SLSOs, AEO, and other staff from other agencies and so on) and students who welcomed us into your school environment with openness and a willingness to accept us walking around, looking at things and speaking with them. It was clear that all staff are committed to delivering the best outcomes for students, this was evidenced in their classroom learning environments and the way they interacted and spoke with us and the students about the learning and priority areas of the school. It is clear that there is a collaborative approach to all the work undertaken at Tyalla Public School.

Visiting your school just had something extra special about it, which I personally felt today and I believe Lisa did too. It all started walking through the school gate and being greeted and shown around the school by Harmony and Ada – these students were model students today, highlighting the positive and high expectations learning culture at Tyalla PS. They spoke from the heart and it was this authenticity that only further supported the submission we had the pleasure of reading. Please celebrate with the school community as the External Validation submission and process, is recognition of the everyday hard work and commitment of all those that make up a school community.”

At the next P&C meeting a summary of the findings will be presented.

Dogs at school Once again, on a number of occasions dogs being have been brought into school. Section 14 of the Companion Animals Act (1988) prohibits dogs on school grounds except where the Principal gives permission. Dogs are NOT permitted on Tyalla Public School grounds, even if on a leash. The Office of Local Government also states: Prohibited Areas: Dogs All dogs, apart from police and corrective service dogs and genuine assistance dogs, are banned from:

within 10 metres of a children's play area

within 10 metres of food preparation or consumption areas, except cafes or restaurants whose owners permit dogs (not restricted dogs or declared dangerous dogs) in their outdoor dining areas

recreation areas where dogs are prohibited

public bathing areas where dogs are prohibited

school grounds

child care centres

shopping centres where dogs are prohibited

wildlife protection areas.

Early Arrival Please remember staff are not on duty until 8:40am. Students must not be dropped off before then. We have one school bus run that arrives just before 8:40am which is an exception to this rule, these students remain seated quietly on seats until the teacher is on duty. We do not provide a before or after school child minding service. If you must go to work or an appointment early, it is your responsibility to make arrangements for the supervision of your child. We cannot guarantee safety if you drop your child off early. Children should definitely not be left unsupervised outside the pedestrian gate in the mornings. The school crossing officer unlocks the gate when they are on duty. Our teaching, office and support staff often arrive before their duty time to attend meetings and prepare for the day. Their arrival does not mean they absorb responsibility for your child. Please work with us to keep your children safe and to ensure a settled commencement to their school day. Some children arrive quite early and have become very unsettled and restless by the time before school supervised play commences. Have a great week. Yaari yarraang Sharon Rovere Principal (Relieving)

Giinagay,

AECG is Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, all welcome.

The next AECG meeting:

When: 6th December 2019

Where: Corindi Public School

Time: 12:00 noon - All welcome

The next ‘Yarn Up’ meeting at Tyalla is:

When: 4th December 2019

Time: 10:00 am - All welcome

Reflection Day

DAWN was a magazine for the NSW Aboriginal Protection Board issued monthly between 1915 to 1969 to the

Aboriginal People of NSW.

Todays Gumbayggirr word:

Waagay = Fire

Yaarri Yaarrang

Aunty Glenda Perkins

Aboriginal Education Officer (AEO)

Giinagay,

Language lessons are progressing well this Term with Year 3/4 we are continuing

with the pronunciation of some of the words in the Giinagay song and completing

other works such as numbers, find a word and artwork.

The idea behind the programme is to introduce a few new words every week then

revising the words from the week before. The lessons are timed at being 40

minutes, so that the impact of learning a new language is gradual.

Yaarri Yaarrang

Aunty Bec Johnstone

ASLSO and Gumbaynggirr Language Tutor

Yaamagay Welcome to our Yaamagay column. Yaamagay meaning “here you are, here it is”.

Positive Behaviour for Learning

(PBL)

This week we are continuing our PBL focus “Being Aware of our Surroundings” when doing these things:

WE always give way to students and teachers. Why? Because we RESPECT others in our school.

WE are mindful of each others’ surroundings and stay in bounds. Why? Because this shows we are RESPONSIBLE.

WE apologise when we accidently knock into each other. Why? Because we are RESILIENT.

Final Session

Orientation Session

(in the classroom - students only)

Tue 26th November 9:30am to 11:00am

Term 4 Dates for the Diary

26th November KINDERGARTEN 2020 ORIENTATION

9:30am to 11:00am (in the classroom)

29th November Hair with Heart— Hannah Young

2:30pm (Assembly)

4th December Yarn Up Meeting

10:00 am - All welcome

A message from the P&C

Glad to see our students and staff are back at school and safe.

Our next meeting will be held Monday 25th November at 6:00 pm.

Being a part of the P&C is a great way to get involved in the school.

You can also volunteer in our canteen, help at our events or you can always just come

along and listen.

Kind regards

Sarah - Secretary

27th November 2019

2:30pm Tyalla Public School Assembly

Gold coin donation

Mrs Koufis to cut Hannah Young’s hair on the day. Please come to see this exciting event.

$390.00 raised, 60 packs organised for our frontline Firies, with snacks, water, coughdrops. We also purchased items

to help heal injured wildlife. The packs and $137 was also presented to Dean from Hope Shop.

Well done Tyalla

Public School

On Friday our school

community presented 60

snack packs and a small

donation to Dean from Hope

Shop.

We made up packs for the

fire fighters on the front line

filled with food, tissues,

throat lozenges, water and

poppers.

We also put a card or note in

each pack from our students

including some very cute

cards Kindergarten made, to

let all the men and women

know we are thinking of

them.

We didn’t forget our little

animal friends though with

some sorbolene, baby

wipes, water and other

things being dropped off to

a donation box early this

week.

Thanks for your big hearts

and your generosity. You

made a difference today.

We couldn’t be more proud.

Hi,

My name is Aunty Bec Johnstone.

Gumbaynggirr/Yorta Yorta woman.

I have two children, Sean who is 23 and Paige who is 17.

I attended Tyalla Public School and completed Year 12 at Orara High School.

Went on later in life to TAFE and completed my Diploma of Aboriginal Studies, Cert 111 and Cert IV Education Support Cert I in Gumbaynggirrr language and a few more.

I’ve played field hockey for 35 years and became a hockey umpire at the age of 15.

Favourite food pretty much everything!!!

I have been an ASLSO (Aboriginal Student Learning Support Officer) for 7 years and a Gumbaynggirr Educator for 4 years.

I have a lot of pets; a dog, a cat, fish, a bird and Angle Headed Dragon lizards (which has just laid eggs).

On the weekends I love to take my dog Hazel for walks on the beach and being out in my garden.

STAFF SPOTLIGHT