COMING EVENTS Thurs 23 March Bushlink to visit Yrs 3 & 4 Interrelate Evening 6pm & 7.15pm Mon 27 March New Principal for the Day Wed 29 March Stage 3 Multicultural Public Speaking finals Thurs 30 March Stage 2 Multicultural Public Speaking finals Fri 7 April 9.30am Easter Hat Parade K-2 & Grandfriends Day. 10.30 Open Classrooms K-6 TERM 1 ends Term 2 Mon 24 April Staff Development Day Tues 25 April Anzac Day Wed 26 April School starts for Yrs K-6 Fri 28 April Dads & Grandads Day @ Canteen Sat 29 April Staff Development Day Tues 2 May School Cross Country @ school Fri 5 May Mothers’ Day breakfast Tues, Wed & Thurs 9,10 & 11 May NAPLAN – Yrs 3 & 5 Mon 15 May P&C Meeting 7pm Wed 17 May Maths Olympiad Fri 19 May School Tour 9.45am Pittwater Cross Country Tues 23 May Uni NSW Digital Technology test Sat/Sun 27 & 28 May Dance groups to perform TBC Tues 30 May Uni NSW Science Test Fri 30 June Term 2 ends Term 3 Tues 18 July Term 3 starts Aug 28- 30 Mon – Wed Yr 5 to Canberra Aug 29-31 Tues – Thurs Yr 6 to Canberra Fri Sept 22 Term 3 ends Term 4 Mon 9 Oct-Fri 15 Dec

Phone: 9971 8352, 9982 2475 Fax: 9982 5617 Email: wheelerhts-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Website: wheelerhts-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

School Uniform At this week’s Staff meeting and P & C meeting we discussed the school uniform. We are very fortunate to have such a lovely uniform which is worn by most of the students most of the time. Just of late we have noticed a number of different sock types being worn to school. Next week the school leaders will be helping with a new program to encourage classes to wear the correct uniform all the time! Please note also that Term 2 is the time to start wearing your winter uniform to school. Parent Teacher Interviews - Wk 9 and 10 this term (March 20-31) Parent Teacher Student interviews for all classes are currently being conducted. The booking site is now closed and any parents who still need to book should contact the school office. Interrelate Parent & Student Sessions tonight Parents and families from Years 3-6 are encouraged to attend the Interrelate evening tonight. A flyer was sent to Years 3-6, is on the school website and was in last week’s newsletter. School Program Fees 2017 Thank you to the many families who have already paid the school program fees for this year. Remember there will be a special draw for families who have paid all of their school fees by March 23. P&C Raffle Fundraiser Thank you to those parents that have returned their sold raffle tickets. If additional tickets are required, please see the office. Tickets/stubs/money must be returned to school by Wednesday 29 March, this also includes unsold tickets for audit purposes. Thank you to our wonderful P&C who are always looking to improve the facilities and learning environments for our children. We hope that all families will be able to support this fundraiser. Easter Hat Parade and Grandfriends Day - Friday 7 April Please put this date in the diary. K-2 Hat Parade from 9.30, open classrooms K-6 from 10.30 and morning tea at 11am. University of NSW Competitions A note was recently distributed to Year 3-6 students for entry into the University of NSW competitions. Again this year, Year 2 students will be able to participate in the English, Mathematics, Science and Spelling tests.Year 2 parents should please see their teacher, the office or website for an entry form. Again in 2017 all Year 4 and 6 students will sit the English and Mathematics tests, with entry charges included in the whole school fee schedule. David Scotter Principal

STAGE 1 Stage 1 Raising Silkworms! Our Year 1 and 2 students are studying the Primary Connections Science Unit ‘Watch it Grow’ this term with Mrs Armstrong, Ms Tekampe and Mr Pikardt. As a part of this exciting unit they are learning about the life cycles of many animals including humans and getting the opportunity to raise silkworms in each of their classrooms. The children are learning of the importance of caring for these animals’ environments and being gentle when handling and feeding them. We are amazed at how much they eat and how fast they have grown!

Term 1 Wk 9

Thurs 23 March 2017

Everyone Belongs - Harmony Day 2017 Our diversity makes Australia a great place to live. Today the students reflected on this by participating in Harmony Day which is a celebration of cultural diversity. The message of Harmony Day is ‘Everyone Belongs’. In our morning assembly Year 6 students spoke about what belonging means to them and why it’s important to respect and appreciate people’s differences. The students definitely brightened the day by looking like a colourful rainbow in their special harmony colours. To celebrate Harmony Day students spent time with a student in another class to discuss their similarities and differences. They also created a paper cut out of themselves which was displayed on the grassed area between the library and the school office block. Students donated a gold coin, raising over $500 which will be used to support our sponsor child Gedete who lives in Ethiopia. Year 2 Teachers

PUBLIC SPEAKING Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Finals The finals for the Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition are being held in the hall next week. Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6) will be competing on Wednesday morning (9:15 – 10:30am) and Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4) will be competing on Thursday morning (9.15 – 10.30am). Congratulations to the following students. Stage 2 Finalists Stage 3 Finalists 3A - Lennox C and Maya L 4/5RM – Summer A (Yr5) 3M – Eleanor D and Joshua S 5G – Jett D and Tiana S 3/4R – Anna C (Yr3) Jayden K (Yr 4) 5/6B – Gethan H (Yr5) and Harrison C (Yr6) 4J – Matthew S and Alana C 6O – Scarlett H and Piper S 4W – Kobe W and Lili B 6Y – Olivia H and Rachael S 4/5RM – Destiny J (Yr4)

Finalists will be presenting their prepared speech based on one of a variety of multicultural topics provided. They will then be participating in an impromptu speech where they will be given the topic, have 5 minutes to prepare a short speech then present it to the audience. Mr Scotter and Mr Webster are adjudicating the Stage 3 final on Wednesday. Mr Scotter and Mrs Wright will be adjudicating the Stage 2 final on Thursday. They will be choosing 2 students from each stage to represent Wheeler Heights at the Regional Final which is being held sometime next term. Parents are most welcome to attend and support our finalists. Good luck to all speakers! Mrs Wright and Mrs Alexander

Public Speaking Organisers

CHESS NEWS Well done to Alex and Hayden W, Jonas and Niklas K, Ale and Edu B, Elliott P, Hayden I, Jordan P, Callum and Laura H. Joshua S, Connor O, Vincent R and Erin W for representing us at the Northern Beaches all-day tournament at Mona Vale yesterday. Many first timers in that crowd, so extra well done to them - it's a long - but fun - day of chess! Many thanks to parents and Mrs Gordon for helping with driving, supervising and other logistics. For those Tuesday chess players who weren't quite ready for the all-day tournament this time around, there will be a similar tournament to look forward to in November. It looks like we will only be entering 2 teams in the Friday after-school competition this year, but hopefully with a good pool of reserves. I will forward the organisation for that tournament early in Term 2, after the draw has been published by the Junior Chess League - from past experience we should be ready to leap into action as early as Week 1. The note for chess coaching is the same all year around (with different prices according to the length of the term - see Chess Coaching, under Permission Notes on the school website). If you intend to continue next term - or start coming afresh - please make sure you pay the Academy directly in a timely manner. Total newcomers can upskill by coming to see me with a USB memory stick and I will give you a copy of "Dinosaur Chess" (runs on Windows platform), a great resource if you don't have any other opponents at home. Ms Heike Zillhardt ****STOP THE PRESSES**** Our "A" team consisting of Alex, Niklas and Jonas placed 2nd in the Senior Division, and "D" team consisting of Connor, Vincent and Callum placed 2nd in the Juniors - nice medals and trophies, guys!!!

Library Helpers Wanted!!! Beautiful books need covering so they can be borrowed!!

Dear Parents/ Grandparents/ Caregivers/ Lovers of Literacy and Learning,

We currently have a number of books in the library which desperately need to be covered with clear contact so they can be loaned out to our students. We are holding Thursday afternoons book covering sessions in the library in each week until we get all of our lovely new books on the shelves and ready to borrow. We will provide all of the contact, scissors and books needed…all you need to bring is your book covering skills. Please contact the school office to let us know if you can help.

Date & Time: Thursday 30 March (2.00 - 3.15pm) Location: School Library Liz Armstrong/ Rachael Tekampe (DPs) 9971 8352

WHEELER HEIGHTS DANCE PROGRAM

Reminder: Don’t forget our eisteddfod dates are fast approaching. If you haven’t added these dates to your diary please do so

Eisteddfod dates IRBD: Saturday (afternoon/night) 27 May at Pittwater House.

Extreme Eisteddfod: Sunday (day) 28 May (location to be advised). Glen Street dates are not confirmed yet as it is organised through the school but in past years it has normally been the last two

weeks of Term 2.

Regards Deneille and Jasmine whps.dance@gmail.com * Please make sure your girls are on time to dance every week, Thank you again :)

PSSA SPORT Sydney North Swimming Congratulations to Connor W. for coming 2nd place in the 8 years 50m freestyle at Monday's Sydney North Swimming Carnival, held at Sydney Olympic Park. Connor will now go on to compete at the state level next week. Good luck! A special mention to both Georgia N. who competed in the Senior 50m breaststroke final and Jade G. who competed in the Senior 50m butterfly final. Cross Country Training for the 2017 Cross Country Carnival will begin on Tuesday of Week 10 (28 March). All classes in Years 2 - 6 will train from 9:20 - 9:35 each Tuesday through Friday mornings during Term 1 Weeks 10, 11 and Term 2 Week 1. Please ensure your child attends school wearing appropriate running trainers on training days. The WHPS Cross Country Carnival will be held on Tuesday 2 May (Term 2 Week 2). Mrs Richards Carnivals Coordinator WINTER PSSA Trials for the winter competition will be held over the last few weeks of Term 1. Students from Years 3-6 can try out for two sports only. The winter sports are: Jnr and Snr Girls Netball Jnr and Snr Girls Soccer Jnr and Snr Boys Soccer Jnr and Snr Boys Rugby League Jnr and Snr Mixed AFL PSSA Summer bus payments were due week 6, please make sure that your accounts have been settled. Please ensure your Primary Parent Planner App is updated for your child's PSSA sport so you can keep up to date with information. ** Please be aware that before school PSSA practices will always be ON, even if the weather and/or the grounds are wet. Coaches will have important team planning and tactic meetings. If practice is cancelled a PPP message will be sent. Yours in PSSA, Mrs N Young

PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE 2017 Registration for the Premier’s Reading Challenge has opened this year. The 2017 Challenge kicked off Monday 6 March and closes Friday 25 August (midnight) for students. All students at Wheeler Heights are being encouraged to meet the challenge for 2017. This year the students will be completing the challenge at home. This can easily be achieved through 20 min of reading each night, which is endorsed by the class teacher. The aim of the challenge is to promote the love of reading. It is not a competition, but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely. This year we hope the Challenge will motivate students who have attempted it before and inspire new students to discover the magic of books. The challenge for K-2 students is to experience 30 books, 25 books must come from the Premier’s Reading

Challenge (PRC) booklist and 5 can be personal choice. To experience a book a child can listen to the book, participate in a shared reading of the book or read part or the entire book independently. The PRC provides you as parents an excellent opportunity to encourage and assist your child to develop their reading skills and foster a love of learning. The challenge for the students in years 3-6 is to read 20 books, 15 books must come from the Premier’s Reading challenge booklist and 5 books can be of free choice. We have many books in the school library which appear on the PRC booklist. These books can be identified by a red coloured sticker for years K-2, green sticker for years 3-4 and a purple sticker for years 5-6, the sticker is found on the spine of the book. Children have been made aware of the labelling system. Books may also be borrowed from the local municipal libraries or you may have books on the PRC list at home. In order to participate and complete the challenge, each student must fill in a reading record. This is available on the PRC website. You are able to access the Premier’s Reading Challenge website via a search engine. Use your child’s school username and password to log on (it is the one they use to log on to the computers at school). Check with your child as to whether they know their username and password, otherwise you can ask your child’s class teacher for this information. Once on the homepage for the Premier’s Reading Challenge, follow the prompts on the left hand side to enter the books on the reading record. Please make yourself aware of the rules of the challenge, which are also stated on the website. Please use the following link to access log on instructions; https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/helpdesk.html

There have been some issues with logging onto the Premier’s Reading Challenge and registering reading logs. Please see the following details and hopefully this will clarify any issues. If you are still having difficulties, please send an email to the school stating your child’s class and name and the issue you are having.

1. Go to https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html

2. Log on using your students username and password (your child’s teacher has these details)

3. Once you are logged in, click on Student Reading Records and you can enter books by ID, title or author. (See picture below)

Many thanks, School Library

P&C NEWS At Monday night’s meeting we had Eugene Holdenson - co-founder from Rag Tagd do a presentation about helping parents find lost property. We are looking at implementing the system into the school early next term with the new school jackets, jumpers and hats only. It's an easy system to use starting with purchasing an item, activating the tag by SMS and then if an item is lost the owner will receive a text message stating that it's been found and the school will have a dedicated pick up area. Schools that are already using the system show that 90% of lost property is picked up within 24 hours. Tags will also be available for purchase to attach to currently owned jackets, jumpers and hats. The P&C are also looking into getting a defibrillator for the school. Currently the closest one is at the War Vets and it's a small cost given the impact this machine could have on saving someone's life. Upcoming P&C events include Canteen Easter specials/guessing competition on Friday April 7 and the Mothers’ Day breakfast on Friday May 5. Keep your eye out for more details to come. Regards, Natalie Cook P&C President Dear Parents, This year at Wheeler Heights Public School, we have decided to hold a new fundraising activity. We have sent home with each child 20 raffle tickets (2 x 1 of 10). Each ticket is priced @ $2 per ticket, a total of $40 worth per child. The more you sell the more the school benefits. If you would like more tickets please ask the office. We ask you to kindly purchase/sell them to friends, neighbours, work mates or relatives so that we can raise money . If you do not wish to purchase/sell the tickets you must return them to school for audit purposes. The prize for the raffle is a CAR valued at $17,500! The prize is easy to sell; a Red Holden Spark LS 1.4L automatic 5 door hatch. So the more you buy the more chances you have to win a car. The draw will be held on April 5 2017. There are additional prizes to be won for the top selling students/families and classes. The raffle will work like this: 1) Tickets were sent home in zip lock bags (Please keep this bag as you will need to send back the tickets / money in it). 2) All sold ticket stubs must be filled out fully with name and phone number, to be entered in to the draw. 3) All monies will need to be returned with the ticket stubs, or stubs cannot be entered in to the draw. 4) Tickets / stubs / money must be back at school by Wednesday 29 March to allow time for processing. Any unsold tickets need to be returned to the school. 5) If additional tickets are required please see the ladies in the office. Prizes will be given for the most tickets sold and the class that sells the most tickets will get a special prize! 6) Please place the returned tickets and money in the snap lock bag with your child’s name and place down the chute in the front office. 7) The raffle is run under State Government racing and gaming rules therefore ALL tickets must be accounted for. Any tickets not returned must be paid for. I hope you will all get behind this raffle and help to raise lots of money for the school. The monies raised will be used for new air conditioning units in those classrooms that don’t currently have any and upgrading of the K-2 playground. Thank you in advance for your support. P&C Fundraising Team This fundraiser is proudly sponsored by

P&C RAFFLE FUNDRAISER

CANTEEN NEWS

We wanted to say a huge thankyou to all the parents that have already volunteered in the canteen this term. It has been a struggle to get volunteers in the canteen. We’ve decided starting Term 2 to allocate each week in the canteen to each class. The class parents will be in charge of helping to fill the spots needed in the canteen with their class parents. We understand some parents may not be able to volunteer the days they are given or ever due to work commitments or other children. However, we do ask the parents, carers and caregivers to please help out in the canteen either during their allocated time or at a day during the term that would suit them better. The canteen is excited to offer a new chocolate and banana milk drink. The drink is delicious, organic, is made with ‘real’ ingredients and is very low in sugar. You can see all the nutritional ingredients online when ordering with flexi schools. Lastly, we’ll be selling hot cross buns and homemade mini carrot cakes during the Easter hat parade and are looking for a few individuals to help with counter sales. Please email me at whpscanteen@gmail.com or stop by the canteen.

UNIFORM SHOP NEWS

COMMUNITY NEWS