2 May 2016

Newsletter Articles

PBL Focus for May

Principal's Message

Welcome Back

Teaching, Learning and Leading in Term 2 will continue to be centred on the school's three strategic directions of Engaged Students, Collective Efficacy and Effective Partnerships. These directions drawn from the elements of the Department of Educations' School Excellence Framework drive our two key project areas of Future Focused Learning and Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL). To see the review of last year's achievements and areas for development please download the 2015 Annual School Report from our school website.

Semester 1 Accounts Now Due

Thank you to parents who have already paid Semester1 School accounts. Many of you are using the new 'POP' online facility available through the school website. The school is able to facilitate a payment instalment plan. Please contact the office if you wish to organise this.

The wide variety of additional learning programs that students enjoy at SIPPS is made possible by the financial contributions of parents and the fundraising efforts of the SIPPS P&C.

We thank the P&C for their recent donation of $12, 500 which will fund the following:

• Additional home reading resources for K-2
• Prowise interactive TV and installation
• Notebook Charge and storage trolley
• Library book stand

Work on School Site

Current work contracted for our school site includes:

1. Public Works remediation of cracked foundations and structural restoration of walls in blocks A and B. During this time the southern pedestrian gate next to the school car park will not be accessible. We apologise for the inconvenience.
2. Installation of the new OOSH playground. Funds for this project were donated by the former Acron Road OOSH. Urban Landscape Design has been contracted for this project. Students were consulted on the following design.

LEST WE FORGET

ANZAC Day was commemorated in two very special ways at SIPPS in the final week of Term 1. First we had our school Captains and Vice Captains attend the RSL & Schools commemorative ANZAC service at the War Memorial in Hyde Park Sydney. They performed their role as school ambassadors respectfully and responsibly. I would like to thank Mrs Simunovic for providing transport on the day.

On Thursday 7 April we held our whole school ANZAC service which was superbly organised and led by our student leaders and enhanced by the beautiful singing of our choir with Mrs Buckle conducting. Thank you to all those who sent along flowers for the floral tributes and to our special guest Dr Gi-Hyun Shin, Convenor Korean Studies UNSW for his address.

Recently as part of an Australian delegation of principals and educational leaders to visit South Korea in the holidays, I was honoured to take part in special remembrance ceremonies at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery and remembrance monument in Gapeyong County to commemorate those ANZAC service personnel who served in the Korean War.

Poppies and Pals Day

Another special school event was recently featured in the North Shore Times. Thank you members of the eco-garden committee, Tina Howard from the Turramurra lookout garden, teachers, parents and students for a wonderful launch day. Thanks also to Linda Croft for managing the publicity.

2017 Opportunity Class Applications

Opportunity classes cater for highly achieving academically gifted students who may otherwise be without classmates at their own academic and social level. These classes help gifted and talented students to learn by grouping them with other gifted and talented students, teaching them in specialised ways and providing educational materials at the appropriate level.

Applications for opportunity class placement are considered mainly on the basis of the Opportunity Class Placement Test results and school assessment scores. The Opportunity Class Placement Test will be held on Wednesday 27 July 2016.

If you would like to have your child considered for Year 5 opportunity class entry in 2017, you will need to apply on the internet using a valid email address (not the student's email address). The application website is open now and closes on 13 May 2015. No late applications will be accepted.

Notes of intention to apply for Opportunity Class placement in 2016 have been sent home to all Year 4 students today. Detailed instructions on how to apply online are contained in the following PDF document or at

NAPLAN Timetable

Best wishes to students in Years 3 and 5 who will sit NAPLAN tests next week.

Stay in Touch with SIPPS

Inspiring & Nurturing Successful Lifelong Learners

PBL update

The new signage at SIPPS is a bright, visual reminder to the students and the wider community of the school's expectations of Respect, Responsibility and Personal Best. It has been wonderful to witness the students' positive response to the messages that explicitly remind them of how they can demonstrate the expected behaviours in each school setting.

The students also value our new merit awards and an additional box for catch cards has ensured that K-2 and 3-6 students are equally represented in our weekly Catch Card draw.

Data collected to date shows a decrease of 33% in the incidence of inappropriate behaviours. I was also very impressed to note that when a range of students, K – 6, were asked to name our 3 PBL expectations all students were able to respond correctly and confidently. The words Respect, Responsibility and Personal Best are now part of SIPPS culture and not surprisingly, the children are being recognised for demonstrating these behaviours more frequently since the implementation of PBL last year.

Kathie Anderson
PBL coordinator

Korea BRIDGE Program

Toward the end of term 2, I commenced the initial stages of forming a Korea BRIDGE school partnership between St Ives Park PS and a school in South Korea.

Consequently during the mid-semester break, as part of this professional learning program, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Seoul, South Korea to meet my counterpart teacher from Dangsan Middle School, Mrs. Kang Heeyoung, and begin collaborative programming with her under the premise of 'Building Relationships through Intercultural Dialogue and Growing Engagement (BRIDGE)'

As part of this program, I visited Dangsan Middle School, located in Seoul, where I was able to teach lessons to Korean students about Australian culture and multiculturalism, and showcase iMovie film tours created by our SIPPS Stage 3 students prior to my departure. I also had the privilege to observe Korean teaching and study practices and pedagogy whilst attending the school and exchange educational and cultural ideas and knowledge.

Essentially, Australia–Asia BRIDGE School Partnerships Projects, organised by the Asia Education Foundation (AEF) based in the University of Melbourne, connects Australian teachers, students and school communities with their counterparts across Asia in order to:

• develop intercultural understanding
• improve Asian language skills
• enhance information communication technology (ICT) skills, and,
• establish sustainable school partnerships and a community of learners.

With the assistance of the AEF, St Ives Park PS teachers will now be supported with curriculum resources and professional learning to strengthen and teach Asian global perspectives as per the Australian Curriculum, and furthermore promote our goals of future focussed learning of Asian cultures, primarily supplementing our Korean language program at school.

By developing an ongoing schedule of face time communication between senior students from both our schools, via various ICT platforms such as Video Conference, Zoom or Skype, we envisage the development of globally competent and Asia ready students in our school through meaningful bi-lingual interaction and conversation.

As mentioned, this program is in the initial stages and will hopefully be finalised toward Term 3 at which time, Mrs. Kang Heeyoung from Dangsan School, will be visiting Australia and spending two days at our school to observe our teaching practices and the wonderful work our students do here using their knowledge of 21st century fluencies in ICT and learning.

I will also be attending a 3 day conference with my counterpart and other BRIDGE partnership teachers from Australia and Korea in Term 3. During this conference, the Sydney Opera House will be hosting a video tour of its facilities for all of the senior classes from Australia and Korea simultaneously which will be an exciting event to look forward to.

Christian Guzman
Stage 3 Teacher

Peer Support Program

In Terms 2 and 3 we will be implementing the Peer Support Program. The Peer Support Program is a student led, skills based, experiential learning program. It encourages peer connections throughout the school and assists students in developing practical skills to enhance social and emotional wellbeing. Through integrated leadership training the program empowers our students to support each other and contribute positively to our school and the community.

This year the program will focus on anti-bullying by helping students develop skills in decision making, problem solving, assertiveness, empathy and relationship building. This is part of a whole school approach to addressing the issue of bullying in a positive way.

Amanda Forsyth
Peer Support coordinator

Scope IT

Here at St Ives Park PS, we can teach the students how to engage with technology and incorporate it into their school work. We know that the students can use technology to play games and 'generally consume' the apps and websites available to them, but with ScopeIT Education we can offer our students a computer coding program that takes our student's education one step further. ScopeIT can extend our students learning in technology to include:

• How the internet works
• How to build basic apps, websites and other computer programs
• Safe use of the internet
• Logical thinking, problem solving techniques and creative design using technology
• 3D printing and robotics

We strongly believe our students will benefit greatly from this program as the benefits will complement their education today and will arm them for their 21st Century future.

This week the children were introduced to Pair Programming and were assigned specific roles while being introduced to the basics of coding. They have started the process of collaborative problem solving and made their first steps towards being 'creators' of technology and not just 'consumers'.

Scoper Andrew

Notes from Office

Sipps Recorder Ensemble

Congratulations to the students who have been selected for this performing ensemble. A note was sent home last term to all participants, along with a Participation & Publicity consent form which needs to be returned to the school office, along with participation levy, by 6th May.

Sipps Junior Choir

Congratulations to the students who will be performing in the Festival of Children's Music at the Willoughby Concourse, Chatswood. A permission note, along with Participation & Publicity consent form was sent home with participants last week. This needs to be returned, along with participation fee, to the school office by 30th May.

ICAS Competition Grades 3-6

A note was sent home to all students in Grades 3 to 6. If you wish your child to participate in the 2016 University of New South Wales ICAS Competitions for Writing, English or Mathematics please complete the permission note and return, along with entry fee, by Monday 9th May. The tests are scheduled to take place before school – 8am – on the dates listed in the note.

Whooping Cough –Pertussis

We have been advised of a confirmation of pertussis (also known as whooping cough) in a child who attends St Ives Park Public School.

People with pertussis infection need to be excluded from school:

For 21 days from the onset of any cough, OR

Until after they have taken 5 days of an antibiotic course for the treatment of pertussis

(depending on the antibiotic, the treatment course may be longer than 5 days)

Library

Scholastic Book Fair Results

Congratulations and thank you to Felise and her team of volunteers for a very successful Scholastic Book Fair on 24/3/16. The results were fantastic with total sales on the day totalling an enormous $5096.73. I was able to select $620 worth of books from the Book Fair and banked $665 cash which will be used to purchase popular books requested by the students for our Library. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of this fundraising event.

Scholastic Book Club

Brochures for Issue 3 of the Scholastic Book Club will be handed out to students this week.

All orders must be entered online via LOOP by Friday 13/5/16.

Please see me if you have any issues or queries regarding Book Club.

Virginia Allman
Book Club Coordinator

Music

At the end of last term, the choir performed 'The Last Anzac'. Congratulations to Aden( 5/6H) for bravely taking on the role of soloist. If you were in the audience, I'm sure you would agree that Aden and the other choir members were outstanding.

On Monday 23 May, 'Tigramuna' who capture the vast cultural and musical diversity of this amazing continent, will visit us as part of Musica Viva. To benefit fully from this, all children will be engaged in units of work related to the various items 'Tigramuna' will perform.

This term, choir and recorder rehearsals will be a major focus due to the fact that the performances are next term. All senior choir and recorder children must bring in a USB in a labelled small clip-lock bag so as I can provide them with their music pieces.

Ms Judy Buckle

Parents and Citizens Association Canteen

Tennis Courts

Uniform Shop

The uniform shop will be open fortnightly – the next date being Wednesday May 11.