Gresford Public School Newsletter Term 1 March 17, 2016

4938 9304 0447 389 304 www.gresford-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

We have had some excellent

extracurricular presentations to

students at school during the

course of the last fortnight.

Primary students were informed

by Hunter Water educator, Jane

Lloyd Jones of the importance

of preserving our precious

waterways as part of our

science studies. Notes will go

home with this newsletter for

our Wetlands excursion which

also supports our science

studies across the school.

Katie from the Start Smart

Team at the Commonwealth

Bank talked to all classes about

being wise with money and our

cattle judging team were given

an excellent presentation by

Rebecca Hudson from Dungog

High on cattle judging.

Congratulations go to Will

Thiecke for successfully

placing the animals in the

correct order. Well done to all

students for their show

entries and special accolades

to the prize winners.

Our Community Liaison

Officer, Julie Hartigan, and her

willing band of workers are also

to be congratulated for their

amazing efforts in preparing a

vast array of resources to set up

Principal’s message

our home/school maths

program, “Bring Back Maths.”

The program will travel home

with students next week and

we hope that by playing fun

games and activities with your

children, their mathematical

skills will improve and

families will have fun

together. Please ensure these

games come back to school

each week intact for others to

enjoy.

Our school is leading a

Community of Schools Gifted

and Talented Virtual Program,

headed up by Mr. Taylor,

presenting a course for our

‘Gresford Geniuses’ on

computer coding. We thank

George Edwards for

presenting this wonderful

extension opportunity for the

students of our schools.

Kind regards,

Pauline

“ The family is a court of justice

which never shuts down for

night or day.”

School planning snippets

Careful planning and preparation is underway for the production of our School Report for 2015.

This is a mandatory requirement for all public schools in NSW and will document our school’s

progress towards the targets set in our Strategic Plan designed last year. It will be posted on our

website at the end of this term.

Having fun at the P&C Disco

PBL AWARDS

Kate Smith, Piper Conn, Josie Hodges,

Brodie Huckstadt, Samual Field, Dan Abra, Lucas Hill,

Brooklyn Bidner

SCHOOL MERITS

Lucas Snell, Ebony Simpson, Taylah Joliffe,

Kayden Atkins, Alysha Cowley, Lucy Pittman,

Monica Lawrence, Amber Smith,

Carl Thompson

GOOD LISTENER AWARDS

Jack Simpson, Paige McFadyen

SPORTS AWARDS

Connor Scott, Lacey Hoffman, Ella Osmond, Jada Laurie,

Ewen Mitchell, Bryson Snell, Katie Curtin-Edwards, Hayden Gardiner

LIBRARY AWARDS

Katharina Lawrence, Ben Abra

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Jack Simpson, Mia Wilton, Mary Briggs, Jack Hill, Winnie Maroulis,

Layla Turnbull, Mathilda Joliffe, Katharina Lawrence

MARCH

FRIDAY 18th

P&C Meeting

Easter lunch orders due back

MONDAY 21st

Harmony Day

WEDNESDAY 23rd

Easter Hat Parade

Red Day

Winter uniform orders to be

returned

THURSDAY 24th

Easter Scripture Service

FRIDAY 25th

Good Friday

SATURDAY 26th

Gresford Billycart Derby:

Volunteers needed to help the

P&C run “Pony Pat Lotto”.

MONDAY 28th

Easter Monday

APRIL

MONDAY 4TH

Whole School Excursion to

the Wetlands

THURSDAY 7th

Stewart House envelopes to be

returned to school

FRIDAY 8th

Last day for Term 1

AWARDS

CANTEEN ROSTER

Friday March 18 Christine Vigar & Sylvia Lawrence Wednesday March 23 Kristy Duncan & Sylvia Lawrence Friday March 25 Closed - Good Friday Wednesday March 30 Catherine Smith & Jane Maroulis Friday April 1 Tracy Merchant & Christine Vigar

P&C News P&C meeting tomorrow - 10am in the library.

Help needed - Pony Pat Lotto on Easter Saturday. Please fill out the attached form and return to school tomorrow. This is a major fundraiser for the P&C.

Winter Uniform Winter uniform order form is included with this news letter. This needs to be returned no later than Wednesday 23rd March.

Harmony Day on Monday. The P&C will provide an international feast for students at lunch time. Students are encouraged to come in the national dress of a country of their choice.

Canteen News Easter lunch order bags are due back this Friday 18th March. Also if there is anyone who would like to help out in our canteen for next term please contact Sylvia 49317145 / 0427281172 or Kristy 49389738 / 0431039063. Our new canteen roster and winter menu will go out with the next newsletter.

Facebook

Did you know that Gresford Public School

is on Facebook?

Regularly updated with the latest happenings.

Please like our page.

PBL News It has been lovely to hear students talking the talk of PBL at

Gresford Public School. Students are trying hard to be

Respectful, Resilient and Responsible. Students are being

responsible by bringing in their home readers, homework

and important notes. Some students

have been heard encouraging their

friends to be more resilient when playing

games during lunch and recess. Students

are remembering to be respectful

towards their teachers, peers and special

guests at our school. Let’s keep it up!!!

A special reminder of Departmental

procedures regarding student

attendance. All absences must be explained with a note or phone

call outlining the reason for non attendance.

All early departures or late arrivals must be recorded

through the office with a reason for part absences.

Absences for anything other than sickness or family

circumstances are not acceptable reasons for non

attendance. This includes family holidays in school

time, extra lessons, training, tutoring or family visits.

These will be recorded as unjustified and noted by the

Home School Liaison Officer who checks rolls each

term. Excessive absences can result in court

proceedings.

Professional Learning for Teachers this fortnight:

Positive Behaviour for Learning Training

Literacy Language Learning Training - L3

Autism Online Training

Leadership Training has commenced this week for all school leaders: Captains, Prefects,

Sports Captains, SRC Representatives

The SRC is again raising money for Stewart House

Please support this worthwhile fundraiser which raises money for much needed holidays and health checks for children in need. Stewart House envelopes are attached with this newsletter and handballs and torch keyrings will be sold by the SRC each lunch time next week.

Handballs $3 Keyrings $2

Make online payments at Gresford

Public School

from 18 March 2016

It is now possible for parents to make online payments to the school for amounts owing for students, via a secure payment page hosted by Westpac. Payments can be made using either a Visa or MasterCard credit/debit card. The payment page is accessed from the front page of the school’s website http://www.gresford-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/ by selecting $Make a payment. Items that can be paid include school fees, voluntary school contributions, excursions, school-based events and sales to students including school uniforms. There is also a category called ‘Other’, this is to cover items not covered in the previous headings, Other can be used to make a complete payment of a school invoice. When you access the $Make a payment you must enter:

the student’s name, and

class and reference number OR

the student’s name, and

date of birth. These details must be entered each time you make a payment as student information is not held within the payment system. There is also the option to enter the invoice number if you are aware of it. This is an optional field. This is a secure payment system hosted by Westpac to ensure that your credit/debit card details are captured in a secure manner. These details are not passed back to the school. You have the ability to check and change any details of the payment before the payment is processed. Receipts can be emailed or printed directly from the payment page. Details of the payments are passed daily to the school where they will be recorded against your child’s account. If a receipt has been issued from the payment page, a further receipt will not be issued by the school. For any enquiries regarding the Online Payment

process please contact the school on 4938 9304.