Belair Public School Newsletter Take Just Pride

34 Carolyn Street, Adamstown Heights NSW 2289 Phone: 4952 1735 Fax: 4956 2450 Email: belair-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Term 4 Week 7 Tuesday 22nd November 2016

Upcoming Events

23/11 P&C Meeting at 7pm

Fundraising Committee Meet at 6.30pm

25/11 Year 6 Mini Fete ~ 1pm–2.20pm

30/11 ES1 Presentation Day ~ 9.30am – 10.30am

Stage 1 Presentation Day ~ 11.30am–1pm

2/12 Belair Christmas Carols Night

7/12 Scripture Christmas Assembly ~ 11.20am

Last day for Student Banking

8/12 Swimming Carnival at the Forum

Year 6 Farewell

9/12 Reports go home

12/12 Stage 2 and Stage 3 Presentation Day

14/12 ES1 and Stage 1 Christmas Party Day

15/12 Stage 3 Christmas Party

16/12 Stage 2 Christmas Party

Last day of school for students

Principal’s Message ~ Warwick Beard Greetings everyone With four weeks to go in 2016 there are a few key activities coming up. This Wednesday afternoon teachers and staff are staying late to undertake CPR training and Anaphylaxis training. This training is undertaken yearly to help ensure the safety of our students and community. This Friday is the Year 6 Mini-fete. This is a fundraising activity which provides funds for Year 6 to present a gift to the school to say thanks for the years they have spent here. All students K–6 are involved in this activity and it is hoped children can bring along a few dollars to participate. One of the highly successful activities

is the “Haunted House”. A classroom is blacked out and a darkened tunnel is created using desks and blankets. It is closely supervised and if a child shows distress the lights are turned on immediately. Only students in Year 3 and above can choose to enter. Wednesday next week sees the Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 Presentation Days. All families are invited, however a letter is sent home to the families of students receiving a special award on the day. In addition to awards, there is singing and fun. Friday next week is the Carols evening. This is shaping up to be an exciting event with lots of music, including international singing artists (one anyway) and local musicians joining in. We hope that most of our students and families will be able to attend. There will also be a Christmas craft market where people can take care of some Christmas shopping. On the following Wednesday is the Scripture Christmas assembly after recess. Students who attend scripture will participate in this event. The Swimming Carnival, held at The Forum at the University of Newcastle is on the following day. We use this venue as it is a great facility and students are not out in the sun all day. The Carnival is for students in Years 3–6, however a small number of Year 2 students identified at swim school who are likely to be competitive swimmers are also invited to attend. The Years 3–6 Presentation assembly is on Monday of the last week of term. Party days follow with a range of activities inside and outside the school. Regards

Warwick Beard

Principal

Belair Public School

Deputy Principal’s Message ~ Kathie Colley Assembly Class of the Week Congratulations 4K on being the award winning class at assembly for week 6. Well done! Thank you to the Junior Drama Group for a fantastic performance. I think everyone in the audience understood the message within your performance about the importance of recognising other’s differences and that we are all unique individuals. It was very entertaining! How Can You Help Your Child Build Resilience? This is the final week of information about helping children develop and maintain resilience focusing on children aged eleven to twelve years old.

Regards

Kathie Colley

Deputy Principal

Belair Public School

What Parents Can Do To Help

• Be aware of little opportunities to connect – during meals and car rides, by helping with homework, watching TV, or doing chores together.

• Schedule special time with individual children where the two of you do something you enjoy together. Relationships can’t be built only around “special time,” but it’s one way to stay connected.

• Remember to enjoy your kids

at all ages and stages. As children grow, we expect more of them and we become more critical.

There’s a danger of focusing only on their faults, or behaviours we’d like to see improve. It’s important to notice children’s good qualities, to find humour in the odd and funny things they do, and to show interest in the things that interest them.

Farewell for Now ~ Miss Hide Miss Hide finishes up this week as her baby is nearly due. Miss Bramble will be guiding 3H through to the end of the year. We wish Miss Hide all the best and look forward to meeting the new addition to her family.

Help Needed Instead of going to the gym next week, you can get your exercise helping us set up the stage for the carols evening. The sections of the stage each weigh approximately 50kg and require a two or more person lift. We will be working on the stage on both the Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. If you are able to help out please email or phone the school. Friday morning people, please include your phone number just in case we get the job finished on Thursday. Thursday between 2.00pm and 4.00pm (even 15 minutes of your time around afternoon pick-up would be helpful), Friday between 7.00am and 9.00am. Many hands make light work. Email school: Belair-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au or Phone 49521735

Belair Feedback Survey Closed Thank you to the 96 families who were able to find the time to complete the survey. The survey graphs and data will be published on the school website shortly. A link will be provided in the newsletter when available. The school evaluation team will be analyzing this data which will feed into our planning for 2017.

Christmas Carols and Market Evening ~ Friday 2 December Last chance to indicate the number of sausages your family is likely to consume on the night. If you have not yet let us know, please jump on the link below to help with catering: https://goo.gl/forms/O8NjnpSgHGfAzsxc2

Year 6 Mini Fete

This Friday 25 November from 1pm to approximately 2:20 pm, Year 6 is hosting the

annual mini fete. There will be a range of fun activities, good food and delicious drinks to try. We would

encourage students to bring in lots of change (carefully secured), as all activities or items will be priced from 20 cents to our most expensive

activity, The Haunted House at $2. It is an out of uniform school day and we would suggest that as there are water based activities

that you select clothes that will be suitable to get wet. Advertisements will be made at school during the week to let the students know what is on and where it will be located on the day. Any further donations for the white elephant stall would be

greatly appreciated!

Final P&C Meeting for 2016 The last meeting for the year will be held tomorrow, Wednesday 23 November at 7pm in the staffroom. The fundraising committee will meet at 6.30pm before the P&C. John Olsen Hunter River Art Day at Newcastle Art Gallery On 4 November, 10 Belair kids from Years 5 and 6 went to the Newcastle Art Gallery to work on a Hunter River Art Project. We learnt about the artist John Olsen, one for Australia's greatest painters. John Olsen has created a bird’s eye view of the Hunter River and his artworks that feature lots of birds and other creatures are on display in the Newcastle Art Gallery. Many other schools came and also participated in this project. Our school got to create all the wetland birds. It was an amazing experience, to let your creativity run wild. By: Mia 5P Belair School was lucky enough to participate in the John Olsen Hunter River Arts Day, outside the Newcastle Art Gallery in Civic Park. A handful of skilled students from Stage 3 were chosen to create beautiful art works inspired by John Olsen’s paintings. John Olsen loved all sorts of animals and enjoyed putting some oddly shaped creatures in his portraits. Our students created stunning and unique birds out of recycled paper, feathers, bottles, plastic, and bottle tops, resting high up in the trees by the ‘Hunter River’. The students who attended spent hours making their birds. Once we were completed we had a look through the Newcastle Art Gallery, which has a portrait exhibition. We admired all the amazing masterpieces, until it was time to pack up and go home. It was an amazing experience and the final product was outstanding as all the artworks created by school students were on display for everyone to see. By: Zoe 5S

Belair Giving Tree Christmas is a time for giving and at Belair we really believe in giving so that the world can be a brighter, happier place! Each year The Giving Tree is erected in the Library in order to collect donations of gifts and non-perishable food items. For many families who struggle to make ends meet on a daily basis Christmas can be a hard time of year. At Belair we are very fortunate to be in a position where we can give to our local community and support those in need. Please donate a gift (new condition) or food items appropriate for Christmas! All gifts welcomed! The gifts collected will be donated to local charities in Week 10 so that they can be distributed to families in need in time for Christmas. Gifts can be placed under The Giving Tree in the Library. Gifts donated can be wrapped or unwrapped. If gifts are wrapped (in wrapping paper) please place a tag that states the recipient’s approximate age and gender. Merry Christmas and thank you! Book Pack Prices for 2017 The prices for Book Packs 2017 are as follows: Parents of students in Years 1–6 may start paying for their book packs this year if preferred to get them out of the way. Parents of Kindergarten 2017 are unable to pay at the moment as Kinders are not enrolled on our system yet.

Kindergarten TBA Year 3 $48

Year 1 $63 Year 4 $48

Year 2 $64 Year 5 $50

Year 6 $52

Late Afternoon Pick-ups School finishes at 2.55pm. In the event of an emergency and you are running late to pick up your child at the end of the day, please notify the school office on 4952 1735 please do not email urgent messages. The child can then be picked up from the office. A message will be given to the class teacher. Please explain any changes to afternoon pick-ups to your child and the teacher (if necessary) first thing in the morning to avoid confusion. Children will be instructed to go to the office in the event they are not picked up.

Assembly this Friday ~ Change of Time Due to the mini fete this week we will need to start our weekly assembly at 12noon.

Safe Parking and Driving We would like to remind parents to be careful when driving and parking around our surrounding streets. We have had reports of parents parking across the pedestrian crossing in Terence Street and cars speeding through the streets. For the safety of our whole school community, we would like to ask parents to take care when driving around the school. Parking officers make regular patrols.

Library Blog News The Library Blog has a special feature on sport-themed chapter books this week. We are also very lucky to have an interview with Mr Baker sharing his favourite books. If you missed last week's interview, Mrs Mounser shared her book loves. Can you guess Mrs Mounser's current favourite children's book??

Don't forget to "follow" the blog!

https://belairpslibrary.wordpress.com/

Information for Parents of Year 7, 2017 Students

An important update for parents applying for a School Opal Card

for students attending Year 7 in 2017

As of 8th November 2016, Kotara High will endorse school travel pass applications online.

Online endorsement replaces paper forms and manual endorsement processes, making processing times faster and replacing the need to manually post paper forms to Transport for NSW.

There is now no longer any need for parents or guardians to print application forms and forward them to Kotara High for endorsement.

Once completed online, the application will automatically be sent to the Kotara HS to endorse. Endorsed applications will then be automatically sent to Transport for NSW for processing.

Once an application has been approved, students travelling in the Opal network will receive a School Opal card.

The school will verify that that each student’s school enrolment details (grade, address, residency status or visa subclass number) are correct.

Please complete this online ASAP as Kotara HS is still waiting to receive applications.

Student Awards

KCA

Shelbi G, Oliver B, Jonty S

2PB

Alexander J, Tasmyn A

5C

Nick A, Ally S

KM Ceejay P, Leroy H, Ruby A 2PB Caitlin K, Maddy H 5P Thomas K, Levi R

KZ Genevieve M, Liam C, Joel B 3H Haili W, Lucille W, 5S James R, Holly C

K/1A Xanthe C, Hannah M, Bodie Z 3H Daisha B 6G Millie S, Sarah K, Jarvis V

1B Lachlan R, Holly S 3M Isaac J, Allia W, Callan F 6J Jailani L, Will B

1M Harry w, Pim T 3/4F Rebecca H, Markus L Additional Awards

1S Rory U, Ahlia W 4BE Jamie L, Monique C Dance Clare J, Kendra B

2B Michael H, Alex W 4BE Abbie R, Mya A Library Atticus B, Samara S, Eva N, Makayla S

2L Cameron B, Lilly G, 4K Cameron M, Olivia S Honours Hollie M, Kiara G, Laura N,

2L Charlie W, Ana G 4K Charlotte B, Adam G Honours Ruby P, Kai J, Harry P

Canteen Roster and News ~ (Canteen Supervisor Sonja 0438 684 401) NEW ~ Reusable enviro lunch bags are now available from the canteen. They cost $10.50 and are available in blue, pink, yellow, green and red.

Wed 23/11 Ruth W

Thurs 24/11 Sharon C, Kathleen E

Fri 25/11 Nikki N, Amy O’Connor, Sam S

Mon 28/11 Julie F

Tues 29/11 Sally A

P&C News

School Banking: The last day for School Banking deposits for 2016 will be Thursday 7th December. Unfortunately the Bush Fly Fan is now completely out of stock and stocks of the skipping rope are dwindling fast; an updated rewards sheet is attached to this newsletter. This week is the last week to order rewards. Banking starts again 2nd week of Term 1, 2017. Steve Patterson, School Banking Coordinator

P&C Meeting: The last meeting for the year will be held tomorrow, Wednesday 23 November at 7pm in the staffroom. The fundraising committee will meet at 6.30pm before the P&C.

Book Club: Issue 8 orders are due back tomorrow, Wednesday 23 November.

Christmas Raffle: Please sell / return your tickets and money ASAP to the locked box in the office.

If you would like more tickets (or did not get yours) you can get some from the school office or contact Felicity Charlton on 0428 872 132.

1st Prize – $1000 Westfield Gift Voucher

2nd Prize – $500 Westfield Gift Voucher

3rd Prize – Gift Basket from Priscilla's Palace valued at $200

The Raffle will be drawn at the Belair Christmas Carols on Friday 2nd December 2016.

Uniform Shop: The Uniform Shop is open each Monday morning 8.45am–9.30am.

School Calendar for 2017

Event Activity Approximate Cost

Timeline

Book Packs $48 – $65 November / December 2016

Stage information nights

Week 3, Term 1

Year 4 Camp $250 6–8 March

Grandfriends’ Day + Book Fair 17 March

Athletics Carnival $12 27 March 27

Parent teacher initial interviews Weeks 7 and 8, Term 1

Year 6 Canberra Excursion $350 8–10 May

NAPLAN 9–11 May

Life education Years K–4 $15 Mid May

Interrelate Year 6 $20 Terms 2 Weeks 7–10

Premier Reading Challenge March–August

Cross Country Late Term 1

StarStruck $100 16–17 June

Education week Late July

NADIOC Week 30 July

Book Week / Parade / Fair 14–18 August

Science Week 12–20 August

Premier Sporting Challenge Term 3

Creative Arts Evening 20 September

Hunter Dance Festival

Term 3, Week 2

Dance auditions Yes Week 9, Term 3

Mothers’ Day Stall

Yes 10 May

Fathers’ Day Stall Yes 30 Aug

Band auditions Yes November

Art Show

Late Term 3

Swimming Year 2 $90 November

Swim Carnival $12 December

Carols at Christmas

Late Term 4

Presentation Assembly 3–6

Last Week Term 4

Presentation Assembly K–2

Week 8, Term 4

Excursions all stages Various Various

Year 5 Sydney Excursion $85 Term 3

Christmas Party K–6 $10–$20 Last week Term 4

Christmas CarolsBelair Public School and Belair P&C Present:

Friday 2nd December 2016

GATES OPEN 4:30pmMUSIC from 5pm

OFFICIAL OPENING5:30pm

Gold Coin Donation @ Entry

MARKETS + FOOD

Sausage Sizzle

Coffee Cart

Snow Cones

Christmas Gifts

Glow Sticks and Candles

BRING YOUR CASH!

(no eftpos)

Entertainment includes

performances by

Belair Students and

Community Members:

Renee Price, and another

very special, very red

guest!

 

Bring a blanket, a picnic

 and join the fun!

A Community Event

for Everyone!

This is an alcohol and smoke free event

Special Guest Appearances by

Catherine Britt

(optional)