6 September 2016

Newsletter Articles

PBL Focus for September

Principal's Message

'Go Live' today!

Congratulations to Mrs Morris and Mrs Aylmer for an outstanding job completing all administrative tasks in preparation for today's official change over the Department of Education's Learning Management Business Reform systems. Our school will gradually adopt all elements of the reform package over the remainder of 2016. We will keep the school community updated with changes to routines as needed. Thank you for your ongoing patience and support.

Sporting Success

Our Zone athletics team performed well at the recent carnival at Narrabeen. Congratulations to the following place getters:

Zoe W achieved 2nd place in Junior Girls 800m
Ella B achieved 3rd place in Junior Girls high jump

Best wishes to Zoe who will now represent our Zone in the Area Carnival at Homebush on 12th September.

Canberra Capers

Stage 3 students and teachers returned last Wednesday from their overnight excursion to Canberra. Highlights included representing NSW schools in laying a wreath at the last post ceremony at the Australian War Memorial in the presence of the Prime Minister, Opposition Leader and Minister of Foreign Affairs. What an honour. Students have been demonstrating their learning about Australian government in fun and interesting ways.

Book Week

Congratulations to Mrs Allman, Miss Moule, Mrs Shanahan and the student leadership team for running such a great Book Week event. Well done to teachers, students and families for creating a great variety of costumes inspired by characters from children's literature. Thank you to Linda Croft for a wonderful gallery of photos.

Rocking Recorders!

A fortnight ago I was privileged to attend the Festival of Instrumental Music at the Sydney Opera House. It was an event to remember and I could not have been prouder of the students in our wonderful recorder ensemble. Thank you to Miss Forsyth for travelling with students and attending the rehearsal and concert.

Happy Fathers' Day

Once again our P&C hosted a special Fathers' Day breakfast. Thank you to Sonya Acton and a great team of volunteers for preparing the breakfast event that was very well attended by SIPPS Dads and Grandads. It was good to see how many of our visitors enjoyed the opportunity to see their child/ren's work in the open classrooms. Thank you to teachers and students for making your classrooms look so vibrant and welcoming. Special thanks to Bovine Brasserie for providing prizes for the Fathers' Day quiz.

St Ives Park Environment Group

Congratulations student representatives who were chosen by their classes to form the new student Environmental Committee. They are:

KM – Ryan & Jessica
1/KA – Jamison & Siyanna
1E – Eva & Charlie
3S – Lara & Noah
3/4F – Gabi & Evie
2FT – Matan & Sofia
56G – Zoe Y & Charly
56H – Darcy & Jess

This team will:

• Engage in focused projects to meet school environmental goals.
• Develop respect for the environment.
• Work together as a team – build cooperation skills.
• Participate in physical activity.
• Learn garden skills.
• Develop leadership and responsibility skills.
• Gain knowledge and skills in how they can contribute to a healthy planet.
• Communicate environmental messages to peers and school community

This team will begin working with Michelle the educator from Seed, Harvest, and Spoon. Their first project will be to tidy up the back eco-garden and set up and manage a compost system.

Parents, carers and Grandparents are most welcome to join the team during Friday lunchtimes. Bring your gardening gloves and sturdy shoes.

Teddy Bears Picnic

This Thursday 8 September we will welcome pre-schoolers for their first taste of 'big school' at our Teddy Bears' Picnic. Thank you to Linda Croft for printing and distributing the publicity for this event. We look forward to meeting future students and their teddies for fun morning of stories song and craft.

Principal's morning tea

I will be hosting a special morning tea for this term's gold medal recipients and their families on Friday 16 September at 11:00am. Invitations will be sent home with gold award winners this week.

Partners in Learning Parent Feedback Survey (TTFM)

This Term, our school will be participating in the Partners in Learning parent survey, another part of the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) suite of surveys, (student, teacher and parent surveys), on student engagement. The survey asks parents and carers questions about different factors that are known to impact on student wellbeing and engagement.

Running this survey will help our school understand parents' and carers' perspectives on their child's experience at school. These include: communication between parents/carers and staff, activities and practices at home and parent/carer views on the school's support of learning and behaviour. This valuable feedback will help our school make practical improvements.

The survey is conducted entirely online at home or on public computers. The survey will typically take 15 minutes or less to complete and is completely confidential. The parent survey will be conducted between 22 August and 21 October. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary however; your responses are very much appreciated. A separate letter with log in details will be sent home this week.

More information about the survey is available at:

Three Wishes Poll Results

Thank you to all those who voted in our recent poll.

Best Wishes
Gillian Tegg

Inspiring & Nurturing Successful Lifelong Learners

Effective School Community Partnerships

We continue to build, sustain and grow connections across and beyond the school to enhance opportunities for our students to engage in successful learning for life. Congratulations to the school's eco-committee, P&C and bush care experts from Kuring-Gai council, participating families and students for a successful Bush Classroom working bee. Thank you to Linda Croft for coordinating the project and sharing the following gallery of photos from the day.

SIPPS Spectacular

Tuesday 20th September, 6:30pm

SIPPS Around the World

Come and join us for a magical evening of music and dance celebrating our cultural diversity.

Gold coin entry from 6:15pm.

Music News

Notes from Office

LMBR

LMBR has arrived. We are now in the "Go Live" environment and would ask for your patience and understanding as we become familiar with the various elements of the new financial, student welfare and administration procedures. We will be following a 10 week transition program with various tasks to be performed each week as additional elements are added to the new systems.

Year 6 Farewell Dinner

Save this date in your diary for the Year 6 Farewell Dinner - December 12th 2016.

Student Wellbeing

Parents are kindly reminded that there is no supervision of students provided by the school before 8:40am or after 3:10pm. In the afternoons, please ensure that your child is collected at 3:10pm by yourself or another authorised adult. If you are unable to arrange this, please ensure they are booked either permanently or casually into the OOSH facility at our school. Helping hands St Ives Park OOSH contact details are: Email: stivespark@helpinghandsnetwork.com.au Phone: 0475 838 226. The 3.30pm school bell is a reminder to parents - please collect your children and their belongings and exit from the school grounds. All students are regularly reminded that if their parents do not turn up to collect them at 3.10pm they are to report to the office.

Library

Thank you to staff, students and the school community for a successful day of Book Week celebrations on Thursday 25th August. It was wonderful that the students from Sir Eric Woodward school were able to join in the celebrations with us. Students really enjoyed our Book Week Parade, the special book inspired treats on sale at the Canteen and the picnic lunch. Our Book Swap was a great success too.

Book Club Issue 6

All orders for Book Club Issue 6 need to be entered online via the LOOP payment system by Wednesday 7th September. Brochures have been distributed to the students via their classroom teacher.

Virginia Allman
Teacher Librarian

Parents and Citizens Association

Tennis Courts

Updates On The Carnival of Cultures

• We have secured North Shore Mums as a media sponsor
• Stallholders are booking in!
• Class parents are working on ONE fundraising activity per class – thank you all the students for their fun ideas!
• Seed Harvest Spoon have agreed to run Gardening Workshops
• Here's what we need help with…

Getting PERFORMERS!

For the Carnival of Cultures to be successful, we must get a crowd from outside of the SIPPS families. If you know of any performing arts organizations, community choirs, bands, etc. please talk to them, email them or call them and ask whether they would be interested in performing at the Ku-ring-gai Carnival of Cultures!

Here is the link you need to send them:

Have you Bought Your Unlimited Rides Pass Yet?

Early bird passes are currently $25 and will go up on the 30th September to $30. 20% of all rides purchased will go directly to the school.

Help enhance the educational experiences of our children with a Donation to the SIPPS P&C Voluntary Contribution Fund

Dear Parents & Carers

Our wonderful SIPPS community has worked for many years to provide the extra funds needed for our school to deliver important educational equipment, resources and facilities for our children.

In recent years, your donations, volunteering and fund raising efforts have helped to provide crucial learning tools such as smartboards, i-pads, and readers, infrastructure such as WiFi, air conditioners, and AV systems, facilities such as our new eco garden, and programs such as Seed Harvest Spoon.

Without your donations, these initiatives would not be possible and we thank you sincerely for your ongoing support.

The Future is here!

We are currently focused on providing our children with technologies, learning environments, resources and educational experiences that will not only stimulate and enhance their learning but help them develop the critical and creative thinking skills necessary in today's educational arena.

Our wish list includes:

1. A multi-purpose learning space that can be used as a science lab, kitchen, art room with specialised equipment that will enhance arts and science education.
2. A robotics program that develops crucial STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) skills to ensure our children are well prepared for the future.
3. An upgrade to the school's sound system to enhance our children's performing arts experience and enable us to stage performances and events efficiently and professionally.

Uniform Shop

The uniform shop will be open fortnightly – the next date being September 14.

Community Notices

BARE CREEK TRAIL RUN IS BACK…WITH A NEW ORGANISER AND A NEW EVENT!

Dust off your running shoes and start limbering up for the Bare Creek Trail Run on Sunday 27th November!

10KM, 6KM and NEW 2KM DASH!

This year the event will include the 10KM Run, 6KM Run/Walk for anyone over 5 and will introduce a new 2KM DASH so that families with children under 5 can also hit the trail! The 2KM event will be held after the 10K and 6K events so that parents can run their own race and then take the kids on the fun and easy 2K DASH.

BENEFITS FOR SIPPS

No cost to the school! The Bare Creek Trail Run will no longer cost our school as ex-SIPPS parent and founder of the event Lisa Murphy has agreed to take on the run from now on via her company Bare Events.

Fund Raising Opportunities!

• Payment to the School - Bare Events has paid to use the school facilities.
• Early Bird Registration Rebate – If we can get 200 SIPPS runners to register before 15th October, SIPPS P&C will receive a donation for every single SIPPS registration so make sure you spread the word to your family and friends!
• SIPPS Sausage Sizzle – The P&C has the opportunity to run a sausage sizzle on the day to raise funds for our school.

Great PR!

The Bare Creek Trail Run is a positive, healthy, family event that attracts local residents, businesses, other schools, runners, and the media to our school. This raises awareness about our school and showcases its many great assets.

Enter now and tick the SIPPS BOX on the registration form to get the best entry price, support our school, and have your name printed on your running bib!