28 November 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Message

Gold Award Winner

Congratulations to Matilda for her achievement of a SIPPS Gold medallion for excellence in behaviour and learning. We present this award to students who work hard every day they are at school to demonstrate the schools expectations of Respect, Responsibility and Personal Best. Matilda has achieved this consistently during her years at St Ives Park. We are very proud of her and look forward to the Principal’s morning tea celebration for all Term 4 gold award winners and their families on Thursday 15th December.

Premier’s Reading Challenge

The annual NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge encourages students to experience high quality engaging fiction and non-fiction that enriches their lives. The NSW Premier would like to convey sincere thanks to all members of the SIPPS school community who support students to participate in this important initiative. Well done to all SIPPS students who participated in the 2016 challenge. The following students were awarded platinum and gold certificates at our K-6 assembly last Wednesday. The Platinum Award for seven successful years in the Premier’s Reading Challenge has been awarded to Zoe T. Gold Awards for four successful years have been awarded to Nathan, Amy T and Zoe W

Student Leaders visit State Parliament House

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of accompanying our school Captains and Vice Captains to State Parliament House. We enjoyed a guided tour of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. Lua, Sean, Zoe and James joined other student leaders from schools across the Davidson electorate and were presented with a certificate from the local Member of Parliament, Jonathan O’Dea.

Student leadership elections

Year 5 students who wish to nominate for leadership roles in 2017 will be ready to present their speeches this Wednesday 30 November at 12:15pm in the school hall. Posters of the nominees will be on display around the school from today. The elections will also take place this Wednesday afternoon. SRC & House Captain Election Day will be Friday 2nd December at 11.30am. Best wishes to all Year 5 students who are standing for election as 2017 school leaders.

Effective Partnerships

There have been many positive outcomes drawn from our strategic focus on developing Effective Partnerships with parents and the wider school and local community this year. These include initiatives that have had been co-created with students, staff and parents including dedicated engagement and involvement from our school P&C as well as outside organisations and not-for-profit providers. At this time it is important that we focus on celebrating the enormous benefits our students have gained from these productive partnerships which have delivered the following in 2016:

New eco-garden
Seed, Harvest, Spoon program
Bush Classroom working bee
Book Fair for new library books and storage
Fathers’ Day Breakfast
Special Lunches
SIPPS Spectacular
Carnival of Cultures
Scope IT, coding club and new robots
OOSH playground
SIPPS Ville mural
New K-2 home readers
New technology –devices and storage ….. just to name a few

Thank you to the students, staff, parents and friends of SIPPS who have made all these achievements and more possible this year. We really have a very dynamic and aspirational school community.

Coming soon to SIPPS

Please see the following images of our new Maker Space for teaching/learning of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) subjects coming to SIPPS in 2017. Thanks to a wonderful team of parents who helped clear out old furniture from the computer room last week and to the P&C who will be funding the following plans.

Thank you morning tea

On Wednesday 7 December, the staff would like to thank all volunteers who work in our school at a special morning tea in their honour. On this occasion we will recognise ongoing contributions of our scripture teachers, P&C representatives, parent volunteers who assist in classrooms, on excursions. We hope to see many members of our school community next Wednesday to thank you for your time and effort this year in supporting our students and their learning.

Heroes of the House Day

Thank you to all students this year who have received catch cards for practising Respect, Responsibility and Personal Best. This year’s final points tally revealed that Waratah house collected the most Catch Cards and have been declared the winners for 2016. They will be enjoying special activities as Heroes of their House next Monday 5th December. Congratulations students in Waratah!

Final reminder

Semester 2 student reports will be sent home with students on Friday 9th December.

Best Wishes
Gillian Tegg

Inspiring & Nurturing Successful Lifelong Learners

Visual Arts

This month, students in Years 2, 3 & 4 are fortunate to have special art lessons with specialist art teacher Mrs Stobo. Mrs Stobo is volunteering at SIPPS for four weeks. In 2017 she will be engaged to provide specialist art lessons for all students at SIPPS as part of our enhancement to the teaching and learning of Creative Arts.

Last week 3S students were inspired by the work of Western Australian artist Leon Pericles -Storm in a Tea Cup. They were asked to think about tone and texture and use their imagination in their drawings. 2FT were looking at the concept of Anthropomorphism as illustrated in the work of famous Australian artist Ken Done. Here are some examples of the drawings produced from last week’s classes. The artists are Mary, Oscar and Laura.

1E

In this term’s STEM mini unit Year 1 have been working collaboratively to create Adobe Voice presentations about Zoo Animals. They have loved researching their chosen animals and creating digital presentations using Ipad technology.

Bucket filling Gratitude in 1E

3S’s SIPPS GIVING TREE PROJECT

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Guess what! Did you know that there are only a few weeks left until Christmas! Christmas is our favourite time of year. We especially love waking up on Christmas morning and opening lots of presents. But did you know that there are hundreds of children in Australia who get no presents at Christmas time because of financial disadvantage. How would you feel if you got no presents at Christmas?

Well don’t feel too sad because 3S got thinking and we have decided that Christmas is not just about getting presents but it’s about giving presents too. So we have created a ‘SIPPS Giving Tree’. There will be a Christmas tree set up in the office and you can bring in a new book or a toy to donate to those children less fortunate than us. By contributing to the giving tree, we are helping to make sure that no children miss out this Christmas.

Can I bring in an old book or toy that I already have at home?

No, the Giving Tree will only accept new books and toys as for some children these may be the only gifts they receive this Christmas, so we want them to be brand new special gifts just for them.

Do I need to wrap the book or toy?

We like to receive the books unwrapped so that they are easier to sort out and match to the most appropriate child.

Can I bring in clothes or food?

No, the presents must only be a book or toy as the clothes might not fit and the food might go bad.

Can I bring in more than one book or toy?

Yes of course, the more presents the more children we can help.

When should I bring in my toy or book?

Bring it in as soon as you can. You have until the 12th of December!

3S decided to set a goal for our project and our goal is to collect 50 books and 50 toys. But we need your help! Do you think we can reach our goal?

Remember Christmas is about not only receiving presents but also about giving them!

By the students of 3S

Surf Education Excursion 3/4F

This was the best excursion ever! I was originally a bit scared of the water, but after this excursion I found out that it’s more fun than dangerous. My favourite activity was when the coaches got us to pretend that we needed rescuing, while our partner went out with the rescue tube attached to a rope. I also enjoyed the boards, paddling out to catch a wave, then surfing back to the shore.

Jamie Lien, 3/4F

On Monday, students in years 3 to 6 went to Freshwater Beach for surf education. It was a lot of fun! There were heaps of activities including wading, beach cricket, relays, flags, dolphin diving and boards. I loved doing the boards and relays. By the end of the day we all had sand in our bags and smiles on our faces!

Zoe Woods, 3/4F

Year 2 Science

See what 2FT have been learning in Science.

Stage 2 STEM Projects

This semester in science, Stage 2 students have been learning about the properties of different materials and their uses. They recently completed a project where they had to design and make a shelter to survive in a particular environment. The shelter needed to be waterproof, withstand a 1kg weight being placed on it and survive a blast from a hairdryer.

I liked the science project because you could be creative and imaginative. There were a lot of different shelters to choose from, I chose to make an air raid shelter. I also enjoyed seeing everyone else’s projects because they were all so different. The shelters were really fun to make!

Andrew Poulton, 3/4F

I did a science project with my science teacher, Mrs Strong. The project was to make a diorama of a house or shelter. I chose to make a Cambodian Long House. I used tin, wood, paint, nails, hinges and screws. My dad helped me cut the pieces of wood and then glue and nail them together.

Fin Kosasih, 3/4F

I like science because I like doing experiments. This term we learnt about shelters. I liked looking at different types of shelters and what different cultures use to create shelters.

Phoebe Wood, 3/4F

Library

NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge 2016

Congratulations to the following students in Years 3-6 who have received a certificate acknowledging their participation in the PRC for 2016. The students completed this reading challenge in their own time and are to be congratulated for showing such commitment and perseverance.

Zoe T. has received a Platinum award for completing the PRC for 7 years. An amazing achievement by Zoe.

Zoe W. and Amy T. have received a Gold award for completing the PRC for 4 years.

Patrick C. and Cherry L. have received an award for completing the PRC for 6 years. They will receive a Platinum award in 2017 if they complete the challenge next year, which I am sure they will.

Julia V has completed the PRC for 5 years.

Library Book Reminder Notices

Reminder notices will be issued on a regular basis from now until the end of the school year to students with books past their due date. Please assist your child to locate and return the books listed on the notice. If you have any queries regarding a notice sent home please let me know via a note or in person.

There is no borrowing of library books over the Christmas Holidays.

ALL LIBRARY BOOKS ARE TO BE RETURNED TO THE LIBRARY BY FRIDAY 2ND DECEMBER. THIS IS THE MASTER DUE DATE FOR ALL RESOURCES BORROWED IN 2016.

We need books returned so that the annual tasks related to stocktaking the collection can be completed.

Thank you

Virginia Allman
Teacher Librarian

Parents and Citizens Association

Indian Lunch

On Thursday 17 November, our P&C organised a special lunch to celebrate the Indian Diwali Festival. Students enjoyed samosa, coconut ice, roti and curry. Many thanks to Devi, Thiru, Shradha, Prashant, Anima, Amutha and Ramesh, who helped to make the lunch a great success and raise $586.15.

SIPPS Parents & Citizens Association

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2016
14TH DECEMBER 2016

WELCOME

Attendance (present/apologies)

ACCEPTANCE OF PREVIOUS AGM MINUTES
COMMITTEE REPORTS FOR 2016

President’s Report
Principal’s Report
Treasurer's report
Uniform Shop Report
Fundraising Report
Canteen Report

AUDITOR FOR 2017
ELECTION OF THE COMMITTEE

Positions to be elected:

• President
• Vice President
• Vice President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Uniform Shop Coordinator
• Canteen Coordinator
• Tennis Courts
• Public Relations
• Class Parent Coordinator
• Fundraising Coordinator
• Environment Coordinator
• Voluntary Contributions Coordinator
• Grants Coordinator

ANY OTHER BUSINESS
DATE OF FIRST MEETING 2017 & AGM 2017

Tennis Courts

Uniform Shop

The uniform shop will be open fortnightly – the next date being December 7 2016 Term 4.

Helping Hands OOSH

We have been looking at how we can include sustainability into our daily routines and reduce, reuse and recycle items in the service.

We have new bins that are colour coded depending on the kind of rubbish we need to dispose of. We have followed as closely as possible the colours of bins the children have at home to make it easier. The only exception is our green bin, outside the canteen, which we are using for food waste.

We also have a new aquaponic fish tank which will allow us to grow herbs on top of the tank, using the water from the fish tank to provide nutrients for plant growth. We are really interested to see how this works and to have a fish to look after and enjoy! Our fish has no name as yet, we will be asking the children to make suggestions and vote on a name shortly!