14 September 2015

Newsletter Articles

Principal's Message

The Arts are Alive at SIPPS with the sound of music front and centre. Tomorrow night's SIPPS Spectacular will showcase many of the great performing arts programs available to our students. The program is a tribute to Broadway as every class will perform a number from a well-known musical. The concert will also feature our School Band, Recorder Ensemble and Senior Choir who have recently performed at the Arts Alive Concert in the Sydney Opera House. The junior choir will also perform a song from the repertoire that they are learning in preparation for their performance at The Festival of Children's Music in October. This year the committee are asking for a small gold coin entry donation to cover some of the costs of staging our performance. Thank you to Mrs Cipollone and class teachers who give up their personal time to ensure that all SIPPS students enjoy participating in quality arts programs and performances.

Our triumphant tennis team have again reclaimed the interschool's tennis trophy. They convincingly won the challenge against St Ives Primary School in the doubles competition played on the SIPPS tennis courts last week. They have attributed this success to their ability to work as a team. Congratulations boys!

Last month's P&C stall at St Ives Wildflower Garden Festival did a great job promoting our school and the upcoming Bare Creek Trail Run. Thanks to Keith, Beck, Vera, Ros and their families who were there on the day to set up and run the stall.

Our recent Fathers' Day Breakfast was a huge success thanks to the combined efforts of Daniella and the hardworking team of 1C parents who coordinated the event. This event created a warm, happy and social atmosphere for our students, staff and parents. The strong sense of community spirit across the school was wonderful to witness especially on the faces of our students who were very excited and proud to share their morning and their school with dads, grandads & uncles.

The art auction was also a wonderful inclusion that raised $ 1,920 for our new eco-garden and showcased the beautiful class artworks that our students created with the help and inspiration of Mrs Cameron and our talented teachers. I would also like to thank Turramurra North Public School for lending us their easels.

Last fortnight finished off with our Teddy Bears' Picnic for pre-schoolers who will be starting Kindergarten in 2016. Mrs Anderson, Miss Moule, parents and students welcomed new families for a morning of fun and discovery. The teddy bears had a good time too!

This Thursday 17 September, Sydney Academy of Chess will be doing a free lunchtime demonstration lesson for students who may be interested in a Term 4 chess club. The first half of each lunchtime class would consist of an interactive lecture from an expert chess coach. In the second half, students play games to put their newly learned strategies into practice. If there is enough interest, this option would be available for a weekly cost of $8 per student. Expression of interest letters will be sent home soon.

Finally I would like to wish all SIPPS families an enjoyable and relaxing Spring break. I look forward to seeing all our students return safe and rested to commence Term 4 on Tuesday 6th October 2015. Happy holidays!

Inspiring & Nurturing Successful Lifelong Learners

As you would be aware, SIPPS was excited to introduce PBL (Positive Behaviour for Learning) as a new initiative for our school community this year. There has been much planning and preparation throughout the year to ensure the successful implementation of the program.

We are now pleased to announce that the official launch is planned for Assembly on Wednesday 4th November.

To ensure that the parent community has a thorough understanding of how this program of positive behaviour management works, we have invited Jenny Smith, Head Teacher and coach for the implementation at SIPPS, to speak at a parent forum in the library on Monday 19th October from 2pm.

Jeri Apter and I will also expand on Jenny's presentation by explaining the implications of the program for St Ives Park.

We will also explain how we will transition from our existing merit award system to the new system.

Parent understanding and support of the program will ensure a smooth transition to the full implementation of the program. We are looking forward to your participation in the forum on Monday 19th October.

Kathie Anderson

Stage Coach Program 2015

This term, Year 6 students are participating in the Stage Coach program offered by St Ives High School. The program is designed to assist students in their transition to High School next year by giving them the opportunity to experience and familiarise themselves with the structure, daily routines and 'way of life' at high school.

The program has been running each Thursday for 4 weeks. Currently Year 6 has attended three enjoyable days at the local High School. Our students have participated in lessons in Visual Art, Science, History and Hospitality lessons and activities, delivered by specialist teachers and also Year 8 and 9 students at the High School. Below are some photos of their meaningful experience so far.

NSW Premier's Primary School Sport Challenge Ends

Congratulations to SIPPS for completing the NSW Premier's Primary School Sport Challenge. Each class in our school participated in the challenge with the intention of engaging all young people in sport and physical activity, whilst encouraging our students to lead healthy, active lifestyles. Each year this program runs in conjunction with our 'Crunch & Sip' healthy eating initiative.

The Premier's Primary School Sport Challenge involved all our primary school classes participating in a 10 week sport and physical activity challenge. Each student was required to record times in which they partook in some form of healthy physical activity to earn a weekly bronze, silver, gold or diamond acknowledgment for their efforts.

Consequently, an annual participation grant will be provided to our school for its continuing support and student participation in the NSW Premier's Primary School Sport Challenge. In 2015, participation grants ranged from $700 to $2000 depending on school size and numbers of students participating in the Challenge.

In December, each SIPPS student will receive their Challenge certificates and our school will be given a grant to be used for a variety of PDHPE initiative such as new sport equipment, specialist support in sports/dance coaching, or learning community initiatives.

Thank you to all the students, parents and teachers for supporting the initiative and participating proudly.

Mr Guzman

Notes from Office

• 2016 Kindergarten enrolments - If you have a child starting school in 2016 and have not yet enrolled, please submit a completed enrolment form, with supporting documents, as soon as possible. Orientation Morning is scheduled for Tuesday 27th October.
• Lost Property: Each week we accumulate a large amount of lost property in the office foyer. All named items are regularly returned to the class teacher. We will hold un-named items for 2-3 days and then they will go into the Smith recycling bag. Unfortunately, un-named lunch boxes with food scraps are removed immediately as they pose a health/hygiene hazard. Please clearly label all uniform items and lunch boxes etc.
• PSSA summer sport (Touch Football) recommences in Week 1 of Term 4. A permission note and bus levy will be issued shortly.
• An excursion to attend the Matinee performance of the Festival of Children's Music on Wednesday 21st October is being investigated. This will involve the students in Grades 2, 3 and 4 who are not in the FOCM choir. A permission note will be issued Week 1, Term 4, when details are finalised.
• Student Wellbeing & Safety outside school hours is the responsibility of parents and carers. Please remember that for early drop off or late pick-up, children need to be booked into the Helping Hands OOSH facility. See link below for contact details. The school provides playground supervision for students from 8:40am in the morning. There is no playground supervision provided by the school after 3:10pm. This includes the fixed-playground equipment which is available to children 5 years and above only. Parents are kindly reminded that they must closely supervise their children on the play equipment after school. Please also be mindful of road safety regulations which prohibit the parking of vehicles in designated bus zones. The following links have more information about road safety.

Library News

Book parade

Book parade was a huge success on Thursday August 27th. Students, staff and parents from St Ives Park and Sir Eric Woodward Schools enjoyed parading in their book character outfits and celebrating the stories they love to read.

There was lots of discussion throughout the day about books and book characters which was lovely to hear.

Thank you to all students, staff and parents who came along to celebrate books and reading.

Photos are available to view in the following gallery.

Book week challenges

Students from K-6 were invited to participate in a book week challenge showcasing their interpretation of the book week theme – "Books light up our world". Kindergarten drew a picture and wrote a sentence explaining why books light up their world. Stage 1 designed a comic strip, Stage 2 wrote a poem and Stage 3 designed a persuasive poster about how books light up our world.

Students should all be very proud of their efforts as it was a pleasure to read and look at all entries.

WINNERS	HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Kindy – Jamieson, KA	Maya, KM Eva, KM
Stage 1 – Mary, 1C	Aiden, 2FD Jack, 2FD
Stage 2 – Katherine, 3B	Jamie, 3B Emily, 4BJ
Stage 3 – Juliette, 5/6S	Jude, 5/6S Sophia, 5/6G

Photos of these entries are available in the following gallery.

Steven Herrick author visit

3-6 enjoyed the Steven Herrick author visit on Thursday August 27th. They enjoyed listening to Steven read his poems and stories as he had intended them to be read and heard. They enjoyed learning about Steven's life and how he came up with the ideas for his writing.

Students enjoyed Steven's funny readings with lots of laughter by all. They valued being able to ask Steven questions about his life, career as an author and specific poems/stories he has written.

It was an enjoyable and informative incursion!

It was a very successful and enjoyable week of activities at SIPPS.

Thank you one and all.

Miss Muddell

Music News

It has been another eventful couple of weeks in Music at SIPPS. The Arts Alive Choir recently performed at the Sydney Opera House, along with hundreds of other students from public schools in Sydney and beyond. It was an amazing concert of incredibly high standard, which was enjoyed by all. The students from our school performed really well and behaved outstandingly throughout the day. I'm sure it is an experience they will remember for a lifetime!

All of the classes continue to prepare for the annual SIPPS Spectacular which is taking place tomorrow evening in our school hall. The evening performance is on Tuesday 15th September at 6:30pm. There will be a donation box at the door which will go towards costs of props and set design for this year's concert. Any remaining funds will allow us to produce higher quality costumes, set design and props for SIPPS Spectacular 2016. We very much look forward to you attending the concert and know that you'll be thoroughly entertained.

The Junior Choir has also been busy rehearsing in preparation for their Concert at the Chatswood Concourse in October. If your child is part of this concert, please refer to the ticket information provided this week and purchase tickets as soon as possible. The concert day is Wednesday 21st October. The choir will be having a final stage rehearsal on the day at 10am. The Matinee is at 12pm and the evening performance starts 7pm. This year all our Stage 2 students will be attending the Matinee performance. St Ives Park has participated in this festival for many years. It has always been a wonderful concert and I'm sure this year will be no exception!

Mrs Cipollone

Korean Language Program

Time for Korean with 박선생님!

We are learning….

1. How to say different kinds of food in Korean!

Joselyn 1C

2. How to say how old we are in Korean!

Talia 5/6G

Students learn that each new Lunar Year in Korea, we eat ë–¡êµ­ dduk gook (Korean rice cake soup) and say we're a year older.

3. How to sing 'Happy Birthday' song in Korean!

Kane 5/6G

생일 축하합니다. (Happy Birthday to You)
saeng ill chu ka hap nee da

생일 축하합니다. (Happy Birthday to You)
saeng ill chu ka hap nee da

사랑하는 (Birthday person's name) (Happy Birthday Dear _________)
sa rang ha neun _____________

생일 축하합니다. (Happy Birthday to You)
saeng ill chu ka hap nee da

Let's Sing Along

고맙습니다 (Go map soup nee da).

Mrs Park

Parents & Citizens Association

Tennis Courts

SIPPS Tennis Courts available for permanent and casual hire. To arrange a booking please call Vera Dedijer 0403 500 301 or sippstennis@gmail.com

SIPPS stand at the Wildflower Art and Garden Festival

Following the cancellation of the Festival on the Green last May, the P&C decided to run a stand at the Wildflower Art and Garden Festival which was held on Sunday 30th August.

It was a beautiful day, and our stand had prime position to catch the attention of the 4,000 visitors who came along for a great day out. We were there to discuss our school and the BCTR, but a last-minute decision to feature some of our students' artworks proved to be a strong draw card.

Our thanks to Beck and Michael and their daughters Isabella and Bronwyn, also to Vera and her children Tamara and Milan, and to Ros and her daughters Nathalie and Alexa (School Captain 2013) for putting in hours of work and talking to so many visitors during the day.

Keith Oliver
P&C President

Father's Day Breakfast and Art Auction

This is such an important day in the calendar for all the men in our school community, as it is their chance to get involved in the school and their children's work.

We had a wonderful turnout, great choice of food and drinks, and a highly successful art auction, which exceeded our wildest expectations - the artworks sold for just under $2,000. It has to be said, the quality of the artworks was outstanding, and will give their owners pleasure for years to come. This was a whole school venture, so well done everyone. The proceeds will go towards the Eco Garden.

Our sincere thanks to Daniella, Sonya, Laurence and Tracy-Lee, as well as the families of 1C and 3B for running this event, and for all their hard work in the weeks beforehand. Our thanks to Gillian and all the teachers who took part, and especially to Kerry Cameron who came up with the idea of our art auction, and of course all of our students - the artists!

Canteen

A Huge Thank You to all our lovely canteen volunteers, who have helped keep the canteen running this term despite sickness for many of our regulars!

We could really use some more volunteers for term 4 – even if you can only do one shift a term it really helps the team out and your kids will adore seeing you behind the counter! If you can volunteer in term 4 on Mondays 10am – 2pm OR Thursdays 10am – 12noon please contact Sony Robson sony55@hotmail.com ASAP!

Uniform Shop

The UNIFORM SHOP is open every Wednesday in the odd weeks of term – the next date being Wednesday 7 October. Generosity

Bare Creek Trail Run

Sunday 1st November 2015

Ontime entries close Sunday 4th October

Latest BCTR news:

House Points are going to be allocated to all SIPPS students participating or volunteering (with an adult) on the day. In addition there will be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd boy and girl house points for each age group for participants from the school.

Special Morning Tea will be provided by the BCTR committee for the SIPPS class with the highest percentage of participants registered in the event!

Letterbox Drop volunteers needed! Please email Sony Robson sony55@hotmail.com if you would be willing to letterbox drop in the local area early term 4.

Volunteers are still needed on the day please register online if you can help out on the day!

Community Notices

Kuringai Swimming Club

KU-RING-GAI
AMATEUR SWIMMING CLUB
LOOKING FOR SOMETHING
FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY?

Ku-Ring-Gai is a family
orientated club for all ages
and level of swimmers
2014-2015 SEASON STARTS
SATURDAY 10TH OCTOBER 2015
KU-RING-GAI FITNESS & AQUATIC CENTRE
(WEST PYMBLE POOL)
7.15 am – 10 am
Point Score and Championship Trophies
club phone 9498 3574

Hornsby RSL Gymnastics Programs

Hornsby RSL gymnastics program will be running again throughout the September/October school holidays for all children aged 5 – 12 years (no experience necessary). The days are fun filled, fast moving and include use of all the gymnastics apparatus. Children have the opportunity to learn new gymnastics skills, participate in games, circuits, group activities, mini competitions and much, much more!! We have added some great new themes and activities for our holidays programs in September/October....come and check it out, it's sure to be lots of fun!! Classes are run by fully accredited Gymnastics Coaches, holding Senior First Aid Certificates. Bookings are essential and must be made via our website.

Northbridge Sailing Club

Northbridge Sailing Club teaches kids to sail on the beautiful waters of Middle Harbour. Our first learn-to-sail course starts in the first week of the school holidays, September 21st to 25th (Monday through Friday) - we have only a few spots left.

We are a small club, with a big community: a place where children, teens, and people of all ages make friendships that last a lifetime. We cater to everything from fun relaxed sailing to members who are competitive at State, National and even World levels.

Parents like the fact it is a healthy outdoor environment for everyone in the family, away from computers and television!

Find out more information or enrol at nsc.asn.au/sailing-school/ or e-mail training@nsc.asn.au

Ku-ring-gai Library Service

We are excited about the coming school holidays – there will be cartooning workshops as well as Pirate based Lego and craft sessions and a family movie session to finish the school holidays with.

For enquiries please send a return email or contact the Children's Library Services team on 9424 0116 during business hours.

Thank you for your assistance and support

Joanne Potter | Children's & Young Adults Librarian | Ku-ring-gai Council
P: 9424 0116 | F: 9424 0001
E: jpotter@kmc.nsw.gov.au | www.kmc.nsw.gov.au