‘Endeavour to Excel’ ‘Excellence, Opportunity, Success’ 121 PACIFIC HIGHWAY, OURIMBAH 2258 PHONE: 4362 1033 FAX: 4362 2531 Email : ourimbah-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Website : www.ourimbah-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

‘Communicating with our Caring Community’

Wednesday, 22nd July 2020

DATES TO REMEMBER

PRINCIPAL Welcome Back Welcome back to a new and exciting Term 3. I hope that everyone had a safe, relaxing and enjoyable holiday break and are refreshed to tackle the challenges of Term 3 as we continue to adjust to life with COVID-19 and manage the ongoing health, safety and wellbeing needs of our students, teachers and parents as this pandemic continues to evolve and impact our day-to-day lives. The staff and I are all very excited to see the students return after the holidays with the majority of school-based activities able to recommence from the start of Term 3 (20 July 2020). With updated health advice and

changes to state and national restrictions, all students should be learning on-site unless they are unwell or have a medical certificate to support their absence. The NSW Department of Education (NSW DoE) has provided a set of guidelines which will assist schools and the broader community to manage the ever-changing COVID-19 situation. School staff and students are reminded to practise good hand hygiene and maintain physical distancing (1.5m) in and around the school grounds. Ourimbah PS continues to be safe and operations are in line with the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) and NSW Health advice. At this point in time, under this advice, schools are not required to conduct widespread temperature screening or for anyone to wear masks, however, as part of the Ourimbah PS health protocols any visitors or contractors that enter the school grounds are screened at the front office and observed for any obvious cold-like symptoms, including temperature checks.

A guide to NSW school students returning for Term 3 All students and staff who have visited Victoria must have a permit to enter NSW and are required to self-isolate for a period of 14 days. NSW Health has requested anyone who has been in Victoria and is unwell or has flu-like symptoms arrange to be tested through their local medical practitioner or one of the COVID-19 clinics. All schools will be vigilant when implementing infection control, physical distancing and personal hygiene protocols to protect the health and safety of students

DATE EVENT 27 July CANTEEN CLOSED 30 July Scripture/Ethics classes return 3 August CANTEEN CLOSED 10 August 4E Parent/Teacher Interviews 14 August P&C Zoom Meeting 17 – 21 August Parent/Teacher Phone Interviews 18 August Science Competition 25 August English Competition 1 September Maths Competition 3 September Father’s Day Stall 7 September School Photo Day

and staff. Schools will promote the need to follow good hygiene practices like: regularly washing hands avoiding sharing drinks or food coughing or sneezing into your elbow, or a tissue

which should be discarded immediately filling water bottles from taps rather than using the

bubbler directly.

School attendance We would like to remind parents and carers not to send students to school if they are unwell, even if they have mild symptoms. Schools will make appropriate arrangements to return students home if they become unwell at school. Students should be at school unless: • they have a medical certificate which states that

they are unable to return to school due to an ongoing medical condition and the expected timeframe

• they are currently unwell.

School cleaning and hygiene supplies At Ourimbah PS, the staff and I have set up a hand sanitising station outside the front office so all students can sanitise their hands upon arrival at school. We are currently sourcing automated hand sanitisers as part of our hygiene practices for playground areas. Bottles of hand sanitiser and disinfectant spray are also being used in every learning space. Packets of disinfectant wipes have been distributed to each classroom for students and staff to access. Our school will continue to receive additional cleaning in line with the AHPPC guidelines and advice from NSW Health. Target areas include high-touch areas and other hard surfaces, door handles, lockers, light switches and handrails in stairways and movement areas. There will also be additional cleaning of toilets and bubblers and topping up of supplies like soap.

Physical distancing Physical distancing of children in schools is not required under the AHPPC guidelines. All adults must maintain physical distance from each other (1.5m) including teachers and support staff, and parents.

Please be advised that we have decided to return to our regular afternoon pick-up arrangements with all students departing school at 2:50 pm. We will monitor this situation in line with current health advice and Department of Education regulations over the coming week.

Please collect your child / children as quickly as possible from the Dog Trap Rd gate and depart the school grounds promptly to ensure we are following social distancing guidelines and maintaining good infection control practices. We have extended the pick-up area to include the driveway leading up to the hall to ensure social distancing (1.5m) is maintained.

Activities/site usage that can already take place • Use of the school library • Sporting activities, including contact sports • Canteens and uniform shops • School assemblies (limited to 15 minutes and no

external visitors) • Choirs and performing arts at school, with safety

protocols in place • Students may attend other schools for essential

curriculum related reasons or placements (e.g. auditions or placement tests)

• Community use activities used by students such as dance classes, and student sport skills development, outside of school hours with limited adult attendance)

• School photos • Scripture and Ethics lessons will recommence in

Week 2 of this term A number of other activities and events are currently being reviewed by the NSW DoE and our school. We will continue to update our parent community when information is being released and the current regulations further lifted.

Staff Development Day The Ourimbah PS staff and I thank all of our families who supported our recent Staff Development Day by supervising their children at home. This professional learning time is invaluable as our staff participated in workshops and planning sessions regarding the NSW DoE Strategic Planning Cycle and the school’s Learning Support and Behaviour Management policies and procedures to ensure the school was well placed to support the students’ continuity of learning whilst monitoring their social and emotional growth and development.

Staffing Update A few staffing announcements to start the new term – we welcome back Mrs O’Connell who will be job sharing on KSB with Mrs Brewin. We thank Mr Hughes for the amazing job he did with the students in KSB during Term 2. Mr Hughes will continue to teach KL each Friday. Mrs English has extended her role at Ourimbah PS for Term 3 and will be continuing lessons in the library three

days each week. We are pleased that Ms Adams and Miss O’Harae will remain on 4/5EA throughout the coming months. Mrs Nagle will continue to replace Mrs Anderson on a Thursday and Friday who remains on maternity leave for the remainder of the year. It is with mixed feelings that I inform our parent community that Mrs Jessica Fares will be leaving Ourimbah PS at the end of Term 3, having recently accepted a permanent position at Tuggerawong PS commencing at the beginning of Term 4. The school leadership team and I have given great consideration to this staffing change and have appointed Mrs Tina McLean as the new classroom teacher on 6F with a plan to transition Mrs McLean into this role following the Parent / Teacher phone interviews scheduled for week 5.

Pre-service Teachers This term, we welcome two student teachers undertaking their pre-service training. We welcome Matthew Parrish who will be working with Miss Kimpton on 1K for the next 10 weeks and Eliza Perry who is being supervised by Miss Adams on KA for a 5-week block. We wish them all the very best during this most important phase of their professional development and extend a warm welcome to our school.

Semester 1 Student Reports Semester 1 reports will be sent home with the students on Friday 31 July. Along with your child’s report, you will also receive some additional information, which explains the modified reporting process and what the ‘Effort’ grades for your child mean. We also request that parents and carers take the time to reflect upon their child’s Semester 1 Report and complete the, ‘2 Stars and a Wish’ sheet and return it to your child’s class teacher. This process provides students and their families with the opportunity to share the wonderful achievements made in their learning to date at school and at home during the ‘Learning from Home’ period, and will also enable the class teachers to work with the students on establishing SMART goals for Semester 2. Parent and Teacher Phone Interviews will be held in Week 5 of Term 3 – commencing on Monday 17 August for all classes except Mr Edwards (4E). Mr Edwards will be on leave during this period and will conduct his phone interviews during Week 4 (Monday 10 August).

School Maintenance Works The new long jump pit is nearing completion and should be completed in the coming weeks. A-oval will soon be receiving a much needed facelift with work commencing on the synthetic grass area on Wednesday 29 July.

During construction, this area remains strictly out-of-bounds – we ask that all students and parents entering and exiting the school via the Dog Trap Rd gate do so carefully and refrain from entering the construction site. Whilst work is being completed on A-oval primary sport will be relocated to Sohier Park each week. Students will be participating in Athletics and novelty events during their sports sessions and will be walking to Sohier Park under strict adult supervision. If you do not wish your child to participate in these sporting sessions at Sohier Park, please make contact with your child’s class teacher – it is anticipated that primary sport will recommence during Week 2 – Friday 31 July. For this purpose, we ask that all 3-6 students wear their full sports uniform each Friday and remember to wear a sun-safe hat and bring a personal drink bottle. Students are also reminded to bring some fruit along for ‘crunch and sip’ time, which will be held at Sohier Park on Fridays for our primary students.

P&C News The P&C Fundraising Committee and I have decided that this year’s Father’s Day Stall will go ahead with enhanced hygiene practices implemented during the planning phase as well as the sale day. Further information regarding the Father’s Day stall has been included with this week’s newsletter. In line with current NSW DoE advice, P&C meetings should be conducted on-line in preference to face-to-face meetings. The next P&C meeting will be scheduled as a Zoom meeting for Wednesday 12 August – we look forward to you joining us with further information to be released closer to the date. Kind regards, Greg Francis (Principal) CLASSROOM EFFORT & BEHAVIOUR POINTSCORE Week 10 - Winning House – Emus Emus – 28 Koalas – 27.5 Platypus – 26 Kangaroos – 18.5 CLASSROOM AWARDS 3-6 Week 10 – Noah G, Kayla D 3AG; Cooper H, Bella P 3/4R; Ava M, Damien L 3/4B; Emily N, Sebastian S 4E; Will B, Sophie W 4/5EA; Teleah K, Harrison K 5C; Owen H, Aidan K 6C; Summer Y, Leilani I 6F; Finlay E, Chloe W Library IMPORTANT NOTICE 2020 PARENT/TEACHER INTERVIEWS Please read the information at the end of this newsletter for full details regarding parent/teacher interviews for this year. Interviews will be conducted over the phone due to current restrictions, however parents still need to book an interview time via the online booking system. See the information sheet below for full instructions. KINDERGARTEN 2021 Please return enrolment forms ASAP Many families who have children eligible to start Kindergarten in 2021 would have received enrolment forms at the start of last term. Please complete and return these forms as soon as possible. Also, please advise the school if your child will not be attending school in 2021. KINDERGARTEN ENROLMENTS 2021 We are now taking enrolments for all students who are eligible to start school in 2021 in our Kindergarten classes. Children may be enrolled in Kindergarten at the beginning of the school year if they turn five years of age on or before 31 July in that year. By law, all children must be enrolled in school by their sixth birthday.

Please advise the front office (4362 1033) of your child’s name and date of birth and we will send enrolment forms home for you to complete and return. You will also need to provide your child’s original birth certificate, statement of complete immunisation from Medicare and proof of your current address. P&C NEWS FATHER’S DAY STALL The P&C Father’s Day stall is going ahead for this year on Thursday, 3rd September. We will be following strict hygiene protocol practices on both the wrapping session days, as well as on the day of the stall. If you would like to volunteer for the wrapping sessions, please email me at venessa.wheeler@bigpond.com to find out the dates and times. Father’s day flyers will be going out shortly. OPS fundraising coordinator Venessa

UNIFORM SHOP Operating Hours – Mondays & Thursdays The opening hours for the uniform shop are as follows:

Mondays 8.30 am - 9.15 am Thursdays 2.30 pm - 3.15 pm

2020 Parent / Teacher Interviews Due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, Ourimbah Public School will be conducting phone interviews with parents this year. If you have changed your contact number recently please ensure it is updated with the front office as soon as possible. The smooth running of our event relies on all parents keeping to the timetable. The teachers will call you at your interview time, please be aware that they will be using personal mobile phones so the number will come up 'private'. If you miss your allocated time slot when the teacher calls, they will reschedule for a later date and time. Please consider other parents and be ready for the call. If you need more time with a particular teacher, arrange a separate meeting or phone call.

School Interviews Online

Last year we successfully moved to an online booking system for School Interviews. We will be using this system again in 2020. To make an appointment with your child’s class teacher, please follow the instructions below. If you need assistance with booking or do not have access to the internet please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Wakelin or the front office for assistance.

Go to www.schoolinterviews.com.au

Click

Enter the code k99zb

Enter your details

Select the teachers you wish to see

Select the appointment times that suit your family best When you click FINISH your selected bookings will be emailed to you immediately. If you not receive your email, please check your junk-mail, or enter the event code again and check your email address spelling. Update your details if email address is incorrect. DO NOT DELETE the email you receive. Keep it somewhere safe. You may need to refer back to it at a later date. REMEMBER TO ADD YOUR APPOINTMENTS TO YOUR CALENDAR - reminders will not be sent home. Bookings must be finalised by Wednesday, 5th August 2020.

If you need to view, cancel, change or print your bookings:

● Click on the link in the confirmation email you received after you made your bookings OR return to www.schoolinterviews.com.au and enter the code and the email address you used when making your bookings.

Kind regards – Nicki Wakelin – Assistant Principal