27 June 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal's Message

Around the School

Around the school this term, I have been impressed with the efforts of students in growing positive mindsets that help them become active and engaged learners. IE are putting a lot of effort into developing and practising a growth mindset. Here is how they are doing it.

Merci Beaucoup

Last Tuesday we enjoyed a delicious special French lunch prepared by our P&C canteen team. Students enjoyed savoury and sweet croissants, quiche Lorraine and the Mousse Au Chocolat was an instant hit. Many thanks to Sony, Amutha, Mel, Estelle, Stephanie and other parent volunteers who produced the delicious menu. Congratulations to the following students who won the 'Best French Pronunciation' awards. They were Marchel KM, Max 1/KA, Polina 1E, Joselyn 2FT, Zoe T 3S, Phoebe 3/4F, Milan 5/6G and Rachael 5/6H.

SIPPS shines at Vivid

I took the opportunity to visit Taronga Zoo during Sydney's Vivid festival to celebrate our students involvement in 'Be The Light For The Wild' event. This event featured ten critical species from Australia and Sumatra, ranging from the magnificent Asian elephant to the brightly coloured Corroboree frogs, species that Taronga is committed to protecting. This was a wonderful example of how SIPPS is providing students with authentic future-focussed learning opportunities to an international audience that will make a positive difference to the future.

SIPPS Dancers Represent

Congratulations to SIPPS students for representing the school in this year's Sydney North Dance Festival. Thank you to Miss Forsyth and Mrs Shanahan for running the 2016 extra–curricular dance program and giving up personal and family time to manage the evening performances at Glen Street Theatre. Thank you to parents for funding costumes and transport. Their first performance was sensational and I am really looking forward to see them next Thursday evening.

Orienteering Finale

On Friday June 23, our orienteering students participated in a finale event at Acron Oval. This event was organised to celebrate and highlight the variety of skills the students have developed throughout the program. During the finale, the students had to transfer their developing orienteering skills to complete the course in 30 minutes. The course ran in and around the oval and consisted of 20 different controls. All the students met the challenge with their personal best and further honed their skills in orienteering. It was a fantastic way to end their orienteering experience. We would like to say a special thank you to all the wonderful volunteers who were able to make this experience possible for the students. This term through Sporting Schools government funding, we have been able to engage Barbara from the link below to train our students.

SIPPS celebrates sport

At SIPPS we are committed to promoting the importance of sports and a physically active lifestyle in general. The school already provides students with a wide range of physical education opportunities during school/class sport sessions and at playtime. We would like to further recognise all K-6 students who keep our school's proud tradition of sports and active play.

Next term a new initiative will be introduced to coincide with our school's involvement in the 2016 Premier's Sporting Challenge (PSC). Miss Emerson and our House Captains will coordinate this new award incentive which will be drawn at our fortnightly assemblies.

All K-2 students who achieve 5 smiley faces on their weekly PSC record card will go into a draw to win a prize. Any student in 3- 6 who achieves a diamond level will also qualify to go into the draw.

Weekend sport, walking the family pet or even doing physical household chores can also count towards the PSC targets but of course the best reward will be enhanced fitness and wellbeing!

I'm sure we will also see all our K-6 students fully participating in next Thursday's Athletics Carnival at Bannockburn Oval in Pymble.

Who's new at SIPPS?

Welcome to Mr Leskovec who will be relieving for Mrs Apter while she is away on maternity leave. Mr Leskovec has worked previously in the Learning and Support teacher role at a similar-sized state government primary school. Mr L will be joining us in the new term.

Happy Holidays

Friday 1st July is the final day for Term 2. I would like to wish all SIPPS families a safe and happy winter holiday. School resumes for all students on Tuesday 19 July. Please book with the Helping Hands OOSH if you would like to use their service for the Term 3 Pupil Free day, Monday 18 July. Their contact number is: 0475 838 226. Please see the following for further information.

Best Wishes
Gillian Tegg

Inspiring & Nurturing Successful Lifelong Learners

Stage 3 'Global Conversations: Korea' Video Conferences Program with Dangsan Middle School and the Sydney Opera House

'Global Conversations: Korea' is a Sydney Opera House Digital Learning initiative funded by the Australia-Korea Foundation. The program sees St Ives Park PS and our Korea partner school Dangsan Middle School participate together in a series of live, interactive digital learning experiences beginning 15 June, 2016.

Through participation in these live digital learning experiences, which include digital tours, live-streamed performances and digital workshops from the Sydney Opera House, our Stage 3 students will increase their cross-cultural awareness. Furthermore, the intention of the program will enhance collaboration, and develop further cultural literacy between our schools.

The Sydney Opera House intention in providing this program is primarily to assist our school and others in building relationships with Korean Partner Schools in order to share language, ideas and develop understanding of each other's culture.

Below is an expected timetable of Video Conferences set for the remainder of this term.

Mr Guzman

House Point Results

All students who receive a catch card for following the school's expectations of Respect Responsibility and Personal Best win a point for their house. This is combined with points from our annual sporting events. The Semester Two tally currently stands at:

Banksia – 919
Grevillia – 844
Waratah - 823

Preparations are already being made for the Heroes of the House Day in Term 4 that rewards members of the winning house with a day of fun activities. Congratulations to this term's winners.

K-2 Winners

James
Sophia
Smriti
Chelea
Meredith
Marcel
Harvey
Lachlan
Daniella
Hannah
April
Henry

3-6 Winners

Annie
Louie
Sam
Julian
Sebastian
Jess
Tahlia
Lilla
Jessica M
Julia
Sebastian
Liam

Congratulations 2FT

2FT are proving that kids can make a difference. They reached their waste reduction target on Waste Free Wednesday and were awarded Pluto at our recent assembly. They are showing that they respect the environment by taking action to minimise waste and litter. Well done 2FT!

Premier's Sporting Challenge

This year St Ives Park is again participating in the Premier Sporting Challenge initiative. This is a program that promotes being active, physical activity and feeling good. To go alongside this program, Miss Emerson and the House Captains will be running a competition at each assembly. Any student who achieves Diamond level in years 3-6 or is able to colour 5 smiley faces in a week in K-2 will go in the draw to win a prize. A winner will be drawn at assembly each fortnight, so it is important to be fit and active every week to increase your chances of winning. Playing soccer at lunchtime counts as physical activity, so does playing sport on the weekend or after school. If you go to the park for a run around with mum or dad this also counts. Through this program it is acknowledging that sport is a top priority at SIPPS and recognises students who achieve in this area. So let's see who can do the most activities and achieve that Diamond level and 5 smiley faces. And remember to keep active!

Miss Emerson

Scope IT Report

For the past nine weeks we have been attending Scope IT lessons. Where we have learnt how to code, debug, solve puzzles, create loops, use pixels and algorithms. We have enjoyed learning how to code and use our math knowledge to make images move and speak. Other students we interviewed thought the program was great too.

We want to thank Andrew and his team and the opportunities that they have given us.

From Tyler F, Pat and Tom

SRC Colourful kids day

This term the students of the SRC planned Colourful Kids Day. The first thing we had to do was chat with the SRC group about which charity we wanted to help .We decided that we wanted to help the children of Hornsby Hospital to get new medical equipment. Secondly we figured out the name of the day and how we were going to raise the money. Thirdly we got into groups and made posters to remind the students of St Ives Park about Colourful Kids Day. Then the day finally arrived and we all dressed up in colourful clothes and brought a gold coin to support the hospital. It was extremely fun because we got to wear colourful mufti clothes to school and it felt good being able to help other people. We raised $220 for this charity.

By Zoe Torr and Tom Aadlers
(Year 3 SRC representatives)

Live Life Well @ School - Healthy Ideas

Notes from Office

Financial & Administrative Changes - LMBR, SALM, SAP:

Training for administration staff has started – we will be absent from school for a total of 15 days training - approximately 3 days per fortnight - until we "go live" on 5th September. We will attempt to minimise the impact on staff and students but in addition to training there are numerous pre-deployment tasks which need to be undertaken during transition so please be patient with any office enquiries during this time.

To help with workload flows we would ask that permission notes and payments be returned to the office promptly and in particular by due date.

Trudi Morris and Sue Aylmer

Current Notes:

Semester 1 Student Invoice/Statement: All Semester 1 invoices are now overdue and we need these cleared before the end of term. Payment can be made online, by credit card, cheque or cash. Please send in your payment immediately.

Athletics Carnival: There are still some outstanding permission notes for the carnival scheduled for Thursday 30th June at Bannockburn Oval, Pymble. Please send in this note immediately.

SIPPS Arts Alive Senior Choir – an information and permission note for the Preliminary rehearsal at Chatswood High School on Thursday 21st July (Week 1, Term 3) was sent home last week. This must be returned by Thursday 30th June.

Sports in Schools PE & Health Program for Term 3: K-2 and non-PSSA students: This program will commence on Fridays in Term 3. An information and permission note is to be sent home shortly. There is a $20.00 fee for this program. Please sign and return the permission note plus program fee before this program starts on Friday 22nd July.

Canberra Excursion G5 & 6: 29-31 August: Details are being finalised for this overnight excursion and we expect permission notes, medical forms etc to be ready to send home before the end of Term. All notes, medical forms and payment will need to be finalised one month prior to the camp dates.

Stewart House Clothing Appeal - Charity clothing bags were handed out to all students. Please, if you are having a big clean-out in the school holidays please fill up the bags with clean used clothing etc and return the bags to the school office BEFORE 27th July which is the collection date. Thank you

Library

The library now has two computer inquiry terminals where students can use Oliver library management software to search the library catalogue and access online resources.

Music

Recorder Ensemble

Best wishes to the SIPPS recorder ensemble for their combined rehearsal in the city tomorrow 28th June. They will be practising repertoire for the Instrumental Festival with students from many schools around NSW. This rehearsal is in preparation for their performance in The Festival of Instrumental Music Acacia Concert at the Sydney Opera House on Monday 22nd August.

Multicultural Music Studies

Following the concert from Tigramuna, students have continued learning about the music of South America in their weekly music lessons with Ms Buckle and Mrs Price.

Jude and Sean gave a digital presentation on what they had learned about one of the Latin American instruments called the Charango. Here are Key points from their presentation

Parents and Citizens Association

IMPORTANT! Are You Missing Out On Important Info from your Class Parent?

Are you always finding out last minute about school events?
Sending your kid to school in uniform when it's a mufti day?
Missing out on watching your child perform at Assembly?
Wondering why you weren't invited to the class parents social event?

It could be because you don't have your email listed with your class parent.

Emails were collected at the start of term 1 when we had the parent/teacher forums. (So if you missed the forum, your email wasn't collected!)

The role of the class parent is to help teachers communicate with parents e.g. when volunteers are needed for excursions or special projects. They also send out reminders from the P&C and the teachers about upcoming events etc. and from time to time, organise social events for parents from the same classes.

If you are not receiving any of these emails, please send Lizzy Simunovic (Class Parent Coordinator) an email requesting to be added to the Class Parent List. Please be sure to indicate which class your child is in. Email: gregnlizzy@hotmail.com

Thank You To The Fundraising Committee

A big thank you to the fundraising committee for their efforts with the French Multicultural Lunch last Tuesday. The kids loved their Croissants, Chocolate Mousse and Apple Juice, and more importantly, received an appreciation for the beautiful French culture!

There will be more appreciation for different cultures with the upcoming Chinese Multicultural Lunch (14th Sept) and Indian Multicultural Lunch (27th October). If you are able to volunteer (helping to prepare and serve the children), please contact Amutha via email: newcow76@hotmail.com

Upcoming Fundraising events:

Sunday 2nd July: Elction Day Bake Sale & BBQ

Thank you to everyone who has volunteered. Cake stall boxes have been sent home. Attached are suggested easy recipes – but feel free to make whatever you like!

Saturday 17th September: Trivia Night

Please contact Graham Warn (gwarn@rgare.com) if you can help out with sourcing prizes

Sunday 30th October: Ku-ring-gai Carnival of Cultures

The rides have been booked and we are meeting with Ku-ring-gai Council to seek their support on this event that will celebrate multiculturalism in our community. Please contact angela@australiandancefestival.com.au if you are interested in being involved.

Looking for Sponsors, Stallholders & Performers for the Carnival of Cultures!

Do you have business which you would like to promote to the Ku-ring-gai Community?

Do you have any contacts who may be interested in having a stall at the Carnival of Cultures?

Does your child take lessons in dance, music or martial arts?

If so, could you please talk to the people you know about Stallholder and Performer Opportunities at the upcoming Carnival of Cultures. Our website is now LIVE, see:

If you have any ideas about who we should be contacting, please email: angela@australiandancefestival.com.au or call Angela on 0416 053 169

Bush Classroom Clean Up

The bush classroom clean up which was scheduled for last Sunday had to be postponed due to the rainy weather. Thank you to Linda Croft for organizing this and the 20+ volunteers who put up their hands to help out. We will confirm a date in Term 3 for the bush classroom clean up.

Tennis Courts

Uniform Shop

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

Community Notices

Ethics classes at St Ives Park Public School

Dear parents and carers,

Could you be an Ethics Teacher for St. Ives Park Public School?

We are seeking volunteers so that classes can continue in 2016.

Ethics Teachers receive full training by Primary Ethics, which consists of a two day workshop and short online modules. Curriculum and access to teaching resources is provided. Suitable volunteers have an interest in children's education and developing their critical thinking skills and must be available at 11.30 – 12.10 on Wednesday each week.

In ethics classes, children learn how to think logically, disagree respectfully and support their arguments with evidence, rather than act according to blind habit or peer pressure.

Here is a quote from a current SIPPS Primary Ethics Teacher:

I'm regularly surprised and delighted at (the student's) reasoning and insights and it's lovely when even the most quiet students find their voice.

And a current Primary Ethics student:

I think primary ethics is important because it can teach you decision making skills that you might need in the future.

Children discuss topic such as:

• imagining how others feel
• how do we treat living things?
• what is laziness?
• how do we disagree in a respectful way?
• fairness

If you are looking for an opportunity to make a valuable contribution to our school, please visit the link below or contact Cindy Smith, Ethics Coordinator for SIPPS, cindysasmith@optusnet.com.au