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TRANSCRIPT
Monday 16th June 2014 Dear parents and carers,
During the last month teachers and supervisors have been preparing
student half-yearly reports, which will be sent home early next week.
Information about interview times is included in this newsletter. If you are
not able to attend an interview next week you can also arrange an alternate
time for a meeting or a phone conversation with your child’s teacher.
During the winter months student attendance tends to plummet, as
students succumb to illness. However, this doesn’t mean that children
should stay home just because it’s a wet day or the weather is cold. Our
classrooms are heated, and we offer indoor play options for recess and
lunch. So, as long as children are dressed appropriately for the weather,
with a singlet or t-shirt under their uniform and a jacket or jumper on top,
school is the right place to be on school days. Of course, if your child is
unwell they need to stay home and indoors until they are well enough to
return to school.
Recently I have been talking with some parents about the issues of passive
smoking. Did you know, that under the Smoke-free Environment Act
smoking has been banned within 4 metres of a pedestrian access point to a
public building? While there have been bans on smoking in schools for a
long time, the law now extends the ban to 4 metres from an entrance used
by pedestrians to access a public building. Once our new external fence is
complete No Smoking signs will be installed at all pedestrian entrances.
Further information on the effects of passive smoking on children’s health,
and brochures about the need to make cars and homes smoke-free zones,
can be collected from the school office. Information about the Smoke-free
Environment Act is also available at www.smokefreezone.org.au.
Mrs Lock
Principal
WHALAN PUBLIC SCHOOL Karangi Road, Whalan N.S.W 2770
Telephone: 02 9625 7757 02 9625 9038
Facsimile Number: 02 9832 2452
www.whalan-p.schools.nsw.edu.au
Our school is built on Darug land
A Message from Mrs Polios
Just two more weeks and term 2 will be over!
Next week, semester 1 reports will be sent
home and parents will have the opportunity to
attend parent /teacher interviews.
Our students have worked hard to achieve some great results this term.
Many of them have made great improvements in all areas of their
learning. You’ll notice a small change to our reports for this semester
which is a result of the implementation of the new English syllabus.
The new syllabus is not structured around the three sub strands of
reading, writing, talking and listening. Therefore, you will not see an
achievement grade given for these sub strands in our reports. You will
only have an overall grade given for English which incorporates a
student’s achievement across all five objectives of the new syllabus.
The five objectives are:
A communicate through speaking, listening, reading, writing,
viewing and representing
B use language to shape and make meaning according to purpose,
audience and context
C think in ways that are imaginative, creative, interpretive and
critical
D express themselves and and their relationships with others and
their world
E learn and reflect on their learning through their study of English
Next Wednesday at 9.15am we will hold our second whole school
assembly for the year. This term, the assembly has a maths focus.
Parents and carers are welcome to join us. You can expect to see:
A student from every class awarded a Principal’s Award
Attendance Awards given to students who have improved their
attendance this term, compared to last term
Class photo collages of students engaged in mathematics
learning
Our junior dance group perform
A mathematical challenge which will result in prizes given to
classes who can meet the challenge.
PARENT / TEACHER INTERVIEWS
Semester 1 reports will be sent home next Monday 23rd June.
Parent / Teacher interviews for all classes except 3-6D and 1S will be
held on Tuesday 24th
June and Thursday 26th
June between 3:15 –
5:00pm.
Please fill in the tear off section and return it to your child’s teacher as
soon as possible so a day and time of your choice can be allocated to
you.
Spare invitations will be available from the office on request.
If the days and times of the Parent/Teacher Interviews do not suit you,
please see your child’s teacher to organise an alternate day and time.
This is your opportunity to find out about your child’s progress and
celebrate in their successes!
Students in years 3, 4, 5 and 6 will participate in 3 way interviews this
year. This means that your child will help to lead the interview.
In the last newsletter, I promised to share some of the poetry that stage
3 students have written. Here are four poems from students in 5/6K.
WAR Here we are to defend our country
On this reckless ship worried like a sharks prey
Hardly anyone here wanted to come
Most were selected and forced to come
They’re only buds that haven’t flourished
The boat crashes onto the shore like a beached whale
We take our first steps onto the sand
We can feel the heat of the sand through our boots as we start walking
up the hill
It is big its grey rocks like tears
It is saying go back it’s a trap go back!
We keep walking
I can taste danger the more we get closer and closer to the top
Flying bullets come out of the caves like lightning bolts
Bombs and landmines, staring in a serial killers face
A bomb explodes in front of me, my feet vibrate and my ears make
weird noises, it hurts the pain
Lots of men and women fell into their graves that day, including me
By Ryan
“The winning team”
The whistle blows we begin to play,
I storm forward at a swift speed,
The sun glistens down like a bright blazing light,
Sweat drizzles, trickles fast,
My teammate passes me the ball with a
fume of energy,
My partner sticks to me like glue,
Time flies rapidly just one more score,
I come to the goal slow and steady,
The goal is as high as a giant,
My partner’s hands are long tentacles,
"I shoot” the ball dances through the hoop,
I can feel emotions of thrill rush to my heart,
I see a wave of eyes cheer and roar,
The whistle blows it’s the end of the game.
By Ariana
As the coldness spreads people draw near to the fire
The icy wind blows hard and pushes anyone in its path
I lay quietly beneath a warm blanket, staring at the ceiling
My eyes then gaze at the fire that is blazing with excitement
I take a sip from my cup of hot chocolate and it lightly dances on my
tongue
It keeps me warm for a while but then the feeling of the cold winter’s
air rushes back
The cold stands like an endless flu
My body becomes ice as the temperature rises higher and higher
I turn to the window and look outside
The roads and houses are sheltered with ice that shines like crystals
Pushing the glass away from its place
A cold freeze falls over me
By Avril
Fireworks
Colourful thunder throughout the night sky
Bright and loud – Up really high
Attracts a crowd as fast as an AFL game
To amaze you is their aim
Always exploding when there's a celebration around
They'll surely turn anyone's frown upside down
Costs money to view them? I don't care, I'm still sold,
Because they're blue, green, red, yellow, purple, orange and gold
Turns everything bright - It used to be dark
Fireworks dancing around in the night sky, before exploding into
sparks
By Daniel
As this is our last newsletter before the end of the term, we’d like to
thank you for a great term.
We hope you have a safe and restful holiday!
Mrs Polios
Deputy Principal
Staff News
Last week, Mr Davies began his leave which will extend to the end of
the 2014 school year. Mr Shannon Boyd who has been teaching 3-6D
every Friday, will be 3-6D’s teacher until the end of the year.
Next Friday, Miss Lansdown will go on maternity leave. We wish her
all the best in the coming weeks and look forward to a visit from her
and bub sometime next term.
Parents and carers want the best for their children – a good
education can be life changing!
Week 5 ‘Best attending’ class results
K-2 results 3-6 results
1K 92% 2/3P 96%
1S 91% 3/4P 94%
2C 89% 3-6L 94%
2M 89% 3/4K 90%
K-6K 86% 3-6D 88%
KH 83% 5/6K 88%
KR 76% K-6M 86%
5/6N 84%
5/6C 82%
Congratulations 1K and 2/3P!
Week 6 ‘Best attending’ class results
K-2 results 3-6 results
2C 92% 5/6K 92%
2M 91% 3-6D 91%
1K 90% 3-6L 91%
K-6K 88% 3/4P 89%
KH 87% 5/6N 89%
KR 86% 5/6C 89%
1S 80% 3/4K 88%
2/3P 87%
K-6M 81%
Congratulations 2C and 5/6K!
The most important thing parents
and carers can do to help their
child get a good education, is get
them to school every day!
What does our school attendance look like now?
The bar represents 100%. The shading represents what our school percentage
for attendance is now, after 86 days of school (90.9%)
Girls percentage = 91% Boys percentage =90.7%
Kindergarten = 89% (decreased by .3%)
Year 1 = 90.2% (decreased by 1%) Year 2 = 91.2% (decreased by .4%)
Year 3 = 90.4% (decreased by .8%) Year 4 = 94.9% (decreased by 1.6%)
Year 5 = 91.2% (increased by .2%) Year 6 = 91.5% (increased by .3%)
How can we get our attendance back up to the mid 90s?
As the number of school days increases, if the number of absences
decreases we will raise our school attendance again.
Imaginative = ability to use the mind to create and form images, ideas
and thoughts, developing new insights, reflecting on one’s own self
and others and solving problems.
Creative = ability to use language to conceptualise, interpret and
synthesise ideas in order to compose texts.
Interpretive = responding to a text in order to draw meaning from it.
Critical = exploring the quality of texts to assess the way in which the
themes, issues or ideas are presented for the audience and purposes
intended.
PARENT SESSION
Next session
Wednesday 25th
June
Come along, with your child’s
report and ask your questions
about their English grade
and comment
WHERE: Meeting Room
(next to canteen)
Time: 1.45 – 2.45pm
COMING EVENTS June
Week 8
Monday 16th Ducks arrive for Kindergarten
3-6 assembly: led by 2/3P
Tuesday 17th K-6 Book giving assembly
Stage 2 After School Sport (years 3 & 4) Please note after school sport finishes at 4.15pm
Wednesday 18th K-2 assembly: KH presenting
Performance by KR
Friday 20th Last PSSA round for Term 2
Stage 3 After School Sport (years 5 & 6) Please note after school sport finishes at 4.15pm
Week 9
Monday 23rd Reports coming home today
Tuesday 24th Parent / Teacher interviews
Stage 2 After School Sport (years 3 & 4) Please note after school sport finishes at 4.15pm
Wednesday 25th Whole school assembly at 9.15am
Parent session starts at 1.45pm (Meeting Room) Come along, with your child’s report and ask your
questions about their English grade and comment
Thursday 26th Poetry in the Park – Stage 3
Parent / Teacher interviews
Friday 27th Last day of Term 2
Lunch with Mrs Lock
Stage 3 After School Sport (years 5 & 6) Please note after school sport finishes at 4.15pm
Monday 14th July - Staff Development Day (staff only)
Students return Tuesday 15th
July to start term 3
Whole School Assembly
We look forward to seeing you at our end of
term, whole school assembly next
Wednesday 25th
June starting at 9.15am.
It will be held under the K-2 Cola just like
last term but this time it will have a
mathematical theme.
PSSA games were cancelled due to rain on Friday 6th
June
PSSA RESULTS FOR FRIDAY 13th
June:
SPORT OPPOSITION SCORE RESULT Player of the
Match
Junior Soccer
Team A
Rooty Hill 0-4 Loss Aaron Marks
Junior Soccer
Team B
Rooty Hill 0-5 Loss Lizzie Jupp
Senior Soccer Rooty Hill 0-5 Loss Nicholas Da
Conceicao
Junior Netball Minchinbury 0-10 Loss Kiara Coleman
Senior Netball Minchinbury 2-19 Loss Jasmine Tupuola
School
Leaders’
Spot
Is your bub turning 4 next year?
Call in to Whalan Public School Preschool for an enrolment form or call 9625 9437 today!
Whalan Public School Preschool Corner of Karangi Rd and Bulolo Drive, Whalan.
Exciting preschool experiences with friendly and caring staff. Please come in to see for yourself!
Wanted:
Families to host a Japanese student 26th – 30th
July 2014
Students are aged 14-15 years & speak some English.
What you need to provide:
a comfy bed (sharing a room is fine)
3 meals a day
daily transport to/from Mamre Anglican School, Erskine Park
Families are paid $50 per night for hosting.
Students attend school on week days & enjoy family life with you on
the weekend.
For further information or any questions - Tel: 9889 4366
http://www.vsoceania.com
Takashi: [email protected] mob: 0408 468 538
K-6 Books in Homes Assembly
Tuesday, 17th June at 10:30am
Alan Sunderland, children’s author and an award winning ABC
journalist will be talking to students.
Every student, from Preschool to Year 6 will receive 3 books to take
home, read, enjoy and keep. Students are always enthusiastic about
receiving their Books In Homes books, so it’s a great chance to sit
with them on a cold winter’s night, look at the books they have
chosen and encourage their love of reading.
A big thankyou to the Mums and Grandmas and School Learning
Support Officers who helped to write on bags and labels and then
bag all the books ready for our students to receive. This is a big job
and the help was really appreciated.
Library News
Book Club: Book Club orders and money need to be handed into the
office by this Thursday, 19th June. Book Club Order forms will be sent
home today.
Students need to have a Library Bag
when borrowing from our school library. After the Books in Homes
assembly, every student will have a black water resistant bag to use
for a library bag.
Although we cannot use our library building at the moment, classes
have been borrowing from our “Outdoor Library”.
Students need to return library books each week so you can borrow
another one.
All library books will need to be returned by the end of
term…..Friday, 27th June.
Congratulations to the following students who have earned 5
Connected Certificates and are halfway to a Whalan Medal. They are
also eligible for a prize:
KH – Jocelyn Nisa and Ayrha Angeles
2C – Typeka Ngavaevae and Isabelle Davison
5/6K – Suliana Palu
5/6N – Lee Quizon
When students receive 10 Connected
Certificates, they will be eligible for a
medal.
At that time, they will complete their
Whalan Medal goals form (with signatures
from all of the teachers that work with the
student).
The completed form and the 10 Connected
Certificates are given to the Principal for
approval.
The student is awarded the Whalan Medal
at one of our fortnightly assemblies after
the Principal approves their eligibility.