21 March 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal's Message

Staff Professional Development

On Saturday 12 March 2016, SIPPS teachers spent the day at school to undertake mandatory WHS training and to develop a whole school approach to educating our students in sustainability. Jocelyn from Ku-ring-gai council's bush care team helped the teachers to identify and remove weeds from the native garden that our Stage 3 students developed as part of the 'Birds in Schools' initiative. The staff will in turn teach their students how to maintain this garden so that it can thrive to provide our native birds with food and protection. The following gallery includes photos for the purpose of weed identification.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN tests are held in May each year for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Parents or carers of students who sit for the NAPLAN tests will receive a written report of their child's achievement in August.

The dates are:

• Tuesday - 10 May – Language Conventions & Writing
• Wednesday - 11 May - Reading
• Thursday - 12 May – Numeracy

Please see the following document for more information about 2016 NAPLAN testing.

Parent/Teacher Interviews

Parent/Teacher interviews play an important part in the process of reporting student learning achievement. Interviews are scheduled to take place over the course of one week beginning on Tuesday 29 March. Each teacher recently sent home a note with possible appointment times. Please return the required information as soon as possible so the class teacher can confirm your interview time. Please contact your child's class teacher for any further information regarding the interview schedule.

Easter Hat Parade/Book Fair

We have an exciting day planned next Thursday 24 March. The students are looking forward to the following program of events:

8am – 4pm Book Fair in Library
11:00-11:20 Recess for students – P&C fundraiser: Cupcakes -gold coin donation – canteen
11:30-12:00 – Visitors morning tea – hosted by P&C – gold coin donation
12.00-12.20pm - Classrooms get hats ready for parade
12:20 – 12:30 - Make way down to the COLA (next to oval)
12.30-1.15pm - Easter Hat Parade
1.15-2.15pm - Whole school picnic lunch - Located on the oval
2.15-3.10pm - Pack up – Parents please send note to teacher if you wish to take your child/ren home earlier than 3:10pm

Planting Day 4 April

The eco-garden committee would like to invite the school community to a Planting Day on Monday 4th April 2016. During the day each class will get to plant seedlings in the newly established garden beds to celebrate the start of a new growing season.

Staff News

From Term 2, Mr Gilkes our General Assistant (GA) will be working full-time at his base school due to an increase in their enrolments. I would like to acknowledge the outstanding work that Mr Gilkes has provided to St Ives Park over many years to manage the maintenance of its extensive grounds and facilities. Mr Gilkes' skills as a draftsman and project manager led to the quality refurbishment of our administration block that has been a great benefit to our school. Mr Ray Thatcher will be undertaking the GA role as a casual replacement from the start of Term 2.

Pickles update

Pickles the chicken is reported to have settled nicely into her new retirement home and is now enjoying the company of other feathery friends. Thank you to the Young family for adopting Pickles.

Inspiring & Nurturing Successful Lifelong Learners

Learning in our Bush Classroom

In Semester 2, Stage 3 students will be participating in Desert survivors and Cultural studies units. These programs will allow students to link their understanding of science and the school environment in a meaningful way. As part of these programs students will be using the bush classroom to investigate the many species of local flora and fauna around the school. Through hands-on activities, students will develop their understanding of how flora and fauna adapt to changes around us. Students will also find out about the significance of the natural environment and the human impacts over time.

Mrs Hayllar

Road Safety Education

On Thursday 17 March Stage 3 attended the C.A.R.E.S road safety program at the HARTS road testing centre. The students engaged in a range of activities such as the bike obstacle course and the mini road simulation. The students had lots of fun developing their awareness of personal safety and learnt to take responsibility for themselves as road users. Stage 3 had a great day discovering how to safely signal, read road signs and practice their bike riding skills.

Kindergarten 2017 Transition and Orientation

Our school provides an excellent transition to school program. Please see the following brochure for key events and dates.

Notes from Office

Make Online Payments

It is now possible for parents to make online payments to the school for amounts owing for students, via a secure payment page hosted by Westpac. Payments can be made using either a Visa or MasterCard credit or debit card. The payment page is accessed from the front page of the schools website by selecting $ Make a payment.

Items that can be paid include voluntary school contributions, subject contributions, excursions, sales to students and creative and practical arts activities (these include drama, recorder and dance). There is also a category called "Other" This is to cover items not covered in the previous headings. "Other" can be used to make a complete payment of a school invoice.

When you access the $ Make a payment you must enter:

• the students name, and
• class and reference number OR
• the students name, and
• date of birth.

These details are entered each time you make a payment as student information is not held within the payment system. There is also the option to enter the Student Registration Number and Invoice number if you are aware of them, these are optional fields.

This is a secure payment system hosted by Westpac to ensure that your credit/debit card details are captured in a secure manner, these details are not passed back to the school.

You have the ability to check and change any details of the payment before the payment is processed. Receipts can be emailed and/or printed.

Details of the payments are passed daily to the school where they will be receipted against your child's account. As a receipt has been issued from the payment page a further receipt will not be issued by the school.

Please note: This payment method applies to school payments only and does not include payments for Bandemonium, Northshore Tennis, SIPPS P&C, canteen or uniform shop.

For any enquiries regarding the Online Payment process please contact the School Administration Office.

Library

Scholastic Book Fair Term 1

On Thursday 24/3/16 the Library will be hosting a Scholastic Book Fair from 8am to 4pm. This Book Fair provides families with the opportunity to purchase books and assorted items for their own children from a huge and varied selection on display in the Library. Our Library benefits from every sale that is made by receiving a percentage of profits made on the day. This money is used to purchase new books for the Library for students to borrow.

Virginia Allman
Teacher Librarian

Canteen

The usual canteen will be CLOSED ON THURSDAY MARCH 24. Students may purchase from the Cake stall – all items are $1.00

Happy Easter
Sony

Parents and Citizens Association

Don't Miss Out On the Fun & Festivities of the Easter Hat Parade & Book Fair!
This Thursday 24th March is a Big Day for the SIPPS Community!

These are photographs from last year.

Our P&C goals for this day are to:

Make grandparents and carers feel welcome with a morning tea before they witness the Spectacle of the Easter Hat Parade.

Please ensure that you invite your parents, carers and grandparents along to the Morning Tea. Morning Tea will be served from 11am – 12pm.

Utilise the morning tea as way of fundraising for P&C initiatives. Delicious baked goods will be served with tea or coffee for a gold coin donation.

Note that the canteen will be closed on Thursday and children will be able to purchase baked goods during recess from the Canteen for a gold coin donation as well.

We will also be auctioning off a very special cake creation donated by a SIPPS parent, Fatima Serroukh from CakesnCatering.com.au. Funds from the cake auction will go towards purchasing equipment for our Eco Garden.

Utilise the Book Fair to raise funds for library resources. Please ensure that you provide your children with funds to purchase their books.

Volunteers Needed!

Volunteer for The Book Fair

This year's Book Fair will be an exciting celebration full of fun activities and hundreds of books kids want to read. It will also provide an opportunity for families to visit the Library on this day to purchase books and other items from a huge display. Our children benefit from all purchases made through a percentage of the total sales collected on the day as either cash or books. This money raised will purchase much needed resources for our Library.

Can you help for an hour or two?

• The Book Fair will run from 8:30am - 4:00pm in the SIPPS Library.
• We need volunteers for 2 hour shifts throughout the day.
• If you can help for part of or more than one timeslot, we'll take it!

Helping involves mostly cashiering and helping our shoppers on the day – on the job training provided! The kids are always excited to see their mum, dad or special person in their library.

Bake or Serve @ Grandparents & Carers Morning Tea

The Easter Hat Parade is a great event at SIPPS. Grandparents, parents and carers are invited to the school grounds to witness and celebrate the creativity our children put into their Easter Hats.

The P&C would like to make all the carers and grandparents feel welcome by hosting a morning tea for a gold coin donation. The children will also be able purchase baked goods for a gold coin.

We estimate that we will require approx 300 serves of baked items (cookie, muffin, cake slice). We need volunteers to bake or to serve during the morning tea (11am - 12pm) and after lunch (1.45pm - 2.15pm).

Updates On Our Eco Garden & Bush Classroom

The SIPPS P&C Website has been updated for recent developments in our Eco Garden & Bush Classroom. There are many exciting plans that will be implemented in the near future. If you love nature and want to know what our school community is doing to foster a sense of environmental responsibility in our children, then please make sure you visit our website!

One of the upcoming events will be a Planting Day on Monday 4th April. We would like to invite Parents, Grandparents & Carers to be part of this event. More details will be emailed to you via the SIPPS P&C e-newsletter.

Help! Corporate Sponsor Required for the Bare Creek Trail Run!

The SIPPS P&C are looking for corporate sponsors for the Bare Creek Trail Run. Without this sponsorship, we may not be able to continue running the event.

If you work for, or can connect with any potential sponsors, please contact Graham Warn, our fundraising coordinator, gwarn@rgare.com .

Potential sponsors include any companies which are connected with health and wellness, life /medical insurance, outdoor sports etc.

P&C Meetings

Minutes from last Wednesday's P&C Meeting are now available for viewing on line.

The next P&C meeting will be held on Wednesday 6th April at 7pm. If you have any items you would like to add to the Agenda, please email angela@australiandancefestival before the 31st March.

Tennis Courts

Uniform Shop

The uniform shop will be open fortnightly – the next date being 23 March.