31 July 2018

Newsletter Articles

July PBL Focus

Principal’s Message

Welcome back

Students and staff have made a very positive start to a new term and a new semester of inspired teaching and learning. Several new families have joined the SIPPS school community this week. We warmly welcome new students who have joined classes across all stages. This brings total student numbers to a record 192 which is our largest enrolment this century! This week our anticipated numbers for 2019 are submitted, so it is important that all Kindergarten 2019 enrolment forms are received this week.

This term we welcome back Miss Forsyth who has returned from leave and will be teaching 3/4 Blue on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. We are also pleased to welcome three students from Macquarie University undertaking their teaching practicums with us this term. They are Ms Bortz, Ms Glavinic and Ms Yeung. They will be working with Kindergarten.

Last week staff returned on Monday to undertake professional learning in the area of PD/Health and PE. As well as learning techniques to develop Mindfulness in themselves and students, they were introduced to a breakthrough physical activity program called iPlay. Inclusion in the iPlay initiative is providing comprehensive training to our teachers so that they can deliver quality PE and Sports lessons to students.

Please see the following link for more information about iPlay

Sir Eric Woodward – Cab-ra-nanga Aboriginal Garden “Resting the mind”

As part of NAIDOC Week celebrations, SIPPS student representatives were invited to attend a special event at Sir Eric Woodward Memorial School. On the last Friday of Term 2 Eliza and Aidan were in attendance at the opening of Sir Eric Woodward’s new Aboriginal Garden called Cab-ra-nanga which means ‘resting the mind’. Eliza and Aidan saw some Aboriginal dancing and didgeridoo playing, sat in the new yarning circle and enjoyed learning about plants including the lemon myrtle which they sampled in some tasty homemade cookies.

Celebrate Education Week

Education Week this year is next week (from Monday 6 August to Friday 10 August). Please come and join us for our Open Day on Thursday 9th August. The program is:

9:30 – 10:30am – Open Classrooms
10:30 – 11:10am – Performance Showcase in the hall – dance group and choirs
11:10 – 11:30am – Bring morning tea to share with your child/ren at recess

Also during Education Week our Senior Choir will be performing in the Arts Alive Concert at The Sydney Town Hall.

The theme for 2018 Education Week is: Today's schools – creating tomorrow's world. It celebrates how NSW public schools are equipping young people with the skills and capabilities they need to thrive in a rapidly changing, globalised world. Key messages:

Growth mindset

By developing a growth mindset, our students will become lifelong-learners equipped with the resilience to embrace challenges, the aptitude to reach higher levels of achievement and the adaptability to master new skills.

Applied learning

By grounding education in real world learning opportunities, our students are acquiring the capabilities needed to tackle and solve complex issues in the 21st century.

Evolution of the classroom

By creating future-focused learning spaces that integrate advanced technology and promote connection and collaboration, the classroom is expanding beyond the traditional four walls.

Strong relationships

By building strong relationships in our school communities, we are ensuring that every student is known, valued and cared for.

System-wide commitment to innovation and excellence

By placing our students at the centre of all our decision-making, we are continually striving for improvement and innovation so that young people in our care learn in a world-class education system.

Dance for fitness & fun program

This term dance program will be run across the school provided by Got Game. Our dance teacher is Rachael Monro. Our students have already made an energetic and enthusiastic start to the program last week. Parents will be able to see students perform dance items developed from these sessions at our SIPPS Spectacular. Please save 6pm Tuesday 25th September in your diary. Costs associated with this program will be included in the Term 3 student invoices statements.

SIPPS ART Exhibition

Once again this year Mrs Stobo is preparing to exhibit a selection of student artworks at an exclusive SIPPS art exhibition at St Ives Shopping Village Gallery. The exhibition will run for two weeks from Monday 24 September. Again this year we will be seeking assistance from parent volunteers who will be able to help with mounting and hanging artworks prior to the exhibition. If you would like to assist please contact Mrs Stobo or the school office.

The Tell Them From Me parent survey (Term 3, 2018)

This Term, our school will be participating in the Partners in Learning parent survey, another part of the Tell Them From Me 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 on smartphones, ipads, tablets, laptops or computers. The survey will typically take 15 minutes or less to complete and is completely confidential. The parent survey will be conducted between 27 August and 26 October. Although participating in the survey is entirely voluntary, your responses are very much appreciated.

Our school will provide further information about how to access the survey.

Alternatively the following link will provide parents will a fact sheet.

Best Wishes
Gillian Tegg

SRC News

In support of NAIDOC the SRC has decided fundraise to support Aboriginal children by selling Koori Kids merchandise.

Please see the following items that will be on sale to students before school this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

We have limited merchandise, and sales will be made on a first come first served basis.

Celebrating Student Success

Congratulations to the following students who have collected 50 catch cards to achieve a PBL wristband.

Woody
Jenson
Jeremy

SIPPS Dancers Shine

Congratulations to our dance group and Mrs Shanahan for outstanding performances at the recently held Sydney North Dance Festival. This annual festival enables students to experience performing in a professional theatre environment. Open Day visitors who stay for the performance showcase next Thursday 9th August at 10:30am will be able to see the dancers perform in our school hall.

Inspiring & Nurturing
Successful Lifelong Learners

Eco-garden Cooking

On the last day of Term 2, 1/2 Red students prepared and assembled bruschetta using cherry tomatoes harvested from the eco-garden. Students mixed the tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper. The more adventurous eaters rubbed their toasted French bread with fresh garlic and topped their bruschetta with basil and cheese. It was great to see the students trying and enjoying fresh produce from the garden. Most students came back for seconds and many were seen licking their plates! If any parents or grandparents enjoy gardening and are keen to get involved in the school’s eco-garden program please contact the office or Mrs Took.

Peer Support

Week 1

Our school will be starting Peer Support sessions this week. The children will be participating in a new module, Moving Forward which focuses on resilience. The experiences in the module help children to identify their qualities and strengths, develop skills, respond with a range of strategies and seek support when faced with challenges. In this session, the children will establish connections with the other members of their group and develop their group agreement to enable them to work well together. The children will discuss an example of a challenging situation and some resilient and non-resilient responses.

You might like to discuss with your child what they can do to help them take an active role in Peer Support. Best wishes to our Year 6 leaders.

Week 2

This week in Peer Support children will have an opportunity to discuss their personal qualities and strengths. The children will identify their qualities and acknowledge how they contribute to their achievements. Through activities children recognise they used their strengths to achieve success and can be encouraged to approach future activities optimistically.

Ask your child to describe their own qualities and strengths so you can recognise and acknowledge these.

Library News

Hi Everyone,

Book Week is this Term in Week 5 (Monday 20/8 to Friday 24/8).

The slogan is Find Your Treasure.

In the Library, this year’s shortlisted books will be shared with the students. Additionally, each class will be loaned a "treasure bag" of Australian picture books that have won an award in past Book Week years.

School Book Week Incursions have been booked for Thursday 30 August they are:

Illustrator Jules Faber – Years 3-6
Musical Incursion – Years K-2

Regards
Mrs Allman

Notes from the Office

Children's crossings

These are part-time crossings which operate just before and after school hours, as well as other times such as school excursions and lunch times. They are highlighted by red flags with the words CHILDREN CROSSING on them.

When the flags are displayed you must slow down and stop before the stop line if a pedestrian is on or entering the crossing. You must not proceed until all pedestrians have left the crossing.

You must not stop on or within 20 metres before or 10 metres after, a children’s crossing.

Combined children's and pedestrian crossing

Some pedestrian crossings are used as children’s crossings at some times during the day. The display of CHILDREN CROSSING flags means that the children's crossing is operating.

When the flags are not displayed the crossing operates as a normal pedestrian crossing.

Parents and Citizens Association

Voluntary Contribution

Thank you to those who have paid their annual P&C contribution. A reminder to those who are yet to pay. We hope you are enjoying your complimentary box of tea. Please support our primary project this year for a new playground. Payment details are in the letter attached and HERE

Thank you for your ongoing support of our school.

Next P&C Meeting
Wed 15 Aug - 7:15pm

Kids School Disco
Save the date: Fri 24 Aug

Fathers’ Day Breakfast
Save the date: Fri 31 Aug

Parents Casino Night
Save the date: Sat 3 Nov

We are collecting donations for silent auctions and raffles. Please let us know if you or your business can support us with goods such us vouchers, hampers, wine or other tempting prizes at stivesparkpc@gmail.com

Uniform Shop

sippsuniform@gmail.com

Community Notices