17 December 2018

Newsletter Articles

St Ives Park Public School

Principal’s Message

Celebrating the 2018 Journey

Last Tuesday evening, we celebrated the successful learning journey that our students and school community has made over the last 12 months. Congratulations to every student who gave their personal best to achieve their individual learning goals this year and to all those who have supported their endeavour to do so.

Throughout 2018, evidence of this success has been seen, heard, shared and celebrated on a daily basis here at SIPPS. Student survey data also showed students held belief that their learning time was used effectively to provide programs that were relevant and rigourorous. The most pleasing result was that students placed increased value in putting effort into their learning and taking advantage of opportunities provided at SIPPS.

Success at SIPPS is underpinned by our strong public education system and its strategic purpose of preparing our young people for rewarding lives as engaged citizens in a complex and dynamic society.

Our new 2018 -2022 school planning cycle began this year with the establishment of strategic directions that focus our collective efforts in achieving the following goals:

• Every student is known, valued and cared for.
• Every student, every teacher, every leader and every school improves every year.
• Every student is engaged and challenged to continue to learn.

The following strategic directions are designed to deliver:

Resilient and Responsible Learners - that thrive as creative, confident students who possess the personal resources necessary for future success and wellbeing

Quality Teaching, Successful Students – prioritising professional growth of our staff to facilitate and lead improved student outcomes and self-determination for successful lifelong learning.

Positive and Respectful Learning Community – where all members of our school community support and positively advocate for our school, our students, our values and achievements.

For a comprehensive explanation and evaluation of our 2018 processes and practices please see the 2018 Annual School Report which will be published on the school website later next term.

Once again in 2018 we have been incredibly fortunate to have quality staff teams at SIPPS. I thank the dedicated teachers, administration and support staff for contributing their considerable talents, experience and time towards meeting the learning and wellbeing needs of SIPPS students every day in every classroom.

In particular, I would like to thank and pass on my best wishes to staff leaving us this year. Mrs Myburgh for her leadership at Relieving AP and Miss Sonter who was our Relieving School Psychologist. We farewelled Mrs Stobo who is retiring but not before she established the most excellent model of visual arts education at SIPPS. Best wishes to Jodie Sheehy in her role as Acting Principal for Term 1.

Thank you also to our P&C and parent volunteers for the support you have shown for our school and our students and the many hours of personal time you have given to running the uniform shop, canteen, fundraising and social events. Thank you to President Nicole for your leadership this year. Best wishes to Emmy who will be the SIPPS P&C President in 2019.

To our Year 6 students and families who, like me, will be transitioning from our school at the end of 2018, I wish you continued success in your future learning journey and thank you for your contribution to our school community.

To everyone, on behalf of SIPPS, I extend my best wishes for a happy, healthy and safe festive season and summer vacation. Best wishes to the whole school community for a great start to 2019. Thank you for the wonderful memories and to students for the beautiful farewell assembly which included a wonderful musical tribute. It is hard to say goodbye but to quote Mahatma Gandhi –

“There are no goodbyes for us: Wherever you are, you will always be in my heart”.

Please see flyer for School Term Dates 2019.

Yours Sincerely
Gillian Tegg

Celebrating Student Success

Wristband Winners:

Seb
Daniel
Eliza
Chloe W

Gold Awards

Congratulations to Term 4 Gold Award winners Eva and Dan who celebrated this excellent achievement at special afternoon tea with the Principal and family members.

Visual Arts

Enjoy the following gallery that displays…

• Kindergarten artists proudly displaying the Christmas reindeers that they’ve enjoyed creating this term
• Talented Year 6 artists Amy and Gabi employed a variety of materials, when they created these fantastic artworks during their two days, at the ‘2018 Arts Alive’ Visual Arts Camp
• Stage 3 artists discover the importance of printing and mounting techniques, in the production of beautiful prints.
• Vincent Van Gogh’s favourite colour was yellow. Artists from Stage 1 painted their versions of his.... ‘The Yellow Chair’ in their own favourite colours.

Mrs Stobo

SRC initiative

Congratulations to the Student Representative Council who held a successful mufti-day fundraiser to support the purchase of new furniture for our school Library. Our students and teachers enjoyed the opportunity to dress up as book characters for this occasion. The SRC raised $272 through this initiative.

Giving Tree

Thank you to students in 3/4 Red, Mr Dimmers and Mrs Acton for coordinating this year’s Giving Tree initiative. Thank you to all those members of our school community who donated a gift to support the Smith Family Christmas Appeal. Thank you to Mrs Acton and Harry for delivering these greatly appreciated items. Our gifts will be boxed and have been to centres in NSW for distribution to those kids who need them in time for Christmas.

Heroes of the House Day

On Wednesday Waratah walked to Acron Oval for Heroes of the House Day. We unpacked our picnic food and the Year 6 students set up games on the oval. We ate lots of yummy food and played games, including soccer and tug-o-war. Then it started to rain so we walked back to school. We got a little bit wet but it was fun! We then watched "Coco" in the hall. Everyone had lots of fun and enjoyed our reward afternoon!

Mathilde & Andrew
Waratah House Captains 2018

Inspiring & Nurturing Successful Lifelong Learners

Year 5 visit Ku-Ring-Gai HS

Year 5 have been working on a Textual Conceptual English program with a focus on improving curriculum transition from Stage 3 to Stage 4. They have learned about Characterisation and Narrative in Shaun Tan picture books, culminating in a visit to Ku-Ring-Gai HS on Monday the 3rd of December. Students heard from a passionate bookshop owner about the latest children’s books and the amazing award winning author, Belinda Murrel. Belinda explained how she came up with ideas and characters and the whole writing process. She gave them tips on writing short stories and exuded passion for writing. The students were grouped in 3’s with a Terrey Hills PS and a Ku-Ring-Gai HS year 8 student and were asked to create a character which they used to collaboratively write an orientation for a Narrative. We were very proud and pleased with the way Year 5 students participated in this initiative.

Mrs Myburgh

1/2 Blue - Seed Harvest Spoon

Seed Harvest Spoon brought a wealth of knowledge to our school and community this term.1/2 Blue learnt what makes healthy soil, how to plant, maintain and harvest our garden produce, as well as how to create healthy ecosystems. Through this process, the children explored biodiversity and sustainable practices. The program culminated in taking our produce and creating a feast to share with friends.

But what did the kids think? Here’s what students said about the program…

I liked it because it felt nice planting the seeds and watching them grow. (Natalie)

Making the yummy food at the end of Seed Harvest Spoon was my favourite part. (Lachie)

I liked learning about nature and watching the plants grow. (Eden)

My favourite part was cutting the tomatoes and eating the yummy food. (Andrew Xiao)

I liked the cooking at the end of Seed Harvest Spoon and I enjoyed tasting the food we made. (Michelle)

I liked planting the seedlings and when they grew we harvested and made salads with the produce. (Sophie)

Congratulations to the students attending learn to swim classes this year. We have been very pleased with the progress they have made each day.

Library News

What a year 2018 has been for SIPPS Library! We have hosted a Book Fair, workshopped with illustrator Jules Faber, participated in the Book Week Musical Find Your treasure, explored hidden book treasures in our library and celebrated Book Week with lots of piratical activities, been involved in National Simultaneous Storytime and the Premier’s Reading Challenge and through a SRC initiative raised money towards the purchase of new furniture for the Library. Some of the ideas we have for furniture are shown below. What a difference it will make to the Library!

I wonder what 2019 holds in store for the SIPPS library? The 2019 Book Week theme “Reading is my Secret Power” may give you some clues, so watch this space.

Thank you to the entire SIPPS community for your continued support of our Library.

Virginia Allman
Teacher Librarian

Notes from the Office

Share our Space

Over the coming school holidays, School Infrastructure NSW is rolling out Share Our Space at more than 230 schools across the State. Through the program, we are opening up playgrounds, ovals and sports fields for the whole community to enjoy.

During the school holidays, SIPPS gates will be opened between 22 December and 25 January 2019 from 8am to 6pm.Our school oval and large COLA are the only two areas where access will be permitted. Dogs, bikes, skateboards and scooters are not permitted on the school site during the vacation period or on weekends. Thank you for your cooperation.

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.

Safe holiday messages to share with your school community

Summer school holidays mean daily routines are thrown out the door as we all relax, rest and recharge. Different play locations and holiday destinations mean changed traffic environments and different safety concerns to what we're usually used to.

To help keep our children safe, families need to do the following:

1. point out the traffic environment differences and dangers
   - roads, footpaths, parks, car parks and bike tracks can look very different in holiday areas or maybe totally foreign, especially if going overseas for your holidays.
2. actively supervise children at all times
   - hold their hand if they're young and monitor where all your children are, even if they're older.
3. teach children about being a safe road user
   - talk with and show your children how to be road safe every time you are out and about
   - chat about the safe decisions you make, and if appropriate, allow them to make some of these decisions, with you ready to step in and take over if they make an unsafe one
   - challenge your children to say what they'd do in different traffic environment situations.
4. stop, look, listen, think every time you cross the road.
   - a child aged 8 years or younger needs to have their hand held when walking near or across roads as they haven't yet developed the senses to do this on their own
   - up until at least 10 years old supervise them closely because when routines are relaxed children can often be overly excited and not thinking about being safe.
5. it’s the law that everyone wears a helmet when riding a bike in a public place
   - it makes good sense to wear a helmet when riding scooters and skateboards too!
   - and it also makes good sense to wear a helmet when riding a bike, scooter or skateboard in your front yard, back yard or driveway. That includes you too Mum and Dad, Auntie and Uncle, Grandma and Grandpa!
6. click clack front ‘n back every person for every trip, i.e, clip every trip
   - don't start the car until everyone is buckled up properly. That includes ensuring children are in the right child restraint for their age and size.
   - safe travelling in the car on long distances means taking a break every two hours. Give your children fun things to do in the car so they don't distract the driver.
   - if using a different car while on holidays check you've installed and secured the child restraint correctly. Children sitting in improperly fitted restraints can suffer serious injury and/or death in a road crash so if you're not sure locate the nearest authorised restraint fitting station or else call Service NSW to find one for you, on 13 77 88.

Give these key road safety messages to others who may be caring for your children while on holidays: grandparents, aunts, uncles, other family members and friends.

Take care and have a great holiday together.

Parents and Citizens Association

Merry Christmas from your P&C

Thank you to our wonderful school community for all your support this year. We hope you enjoyed our events throughout the year. Have a wonderful break.

For those with children starting Kindy next year, there are a couple of events to put in the diary, to welcome you and your little one:

Welcome Playdate

Sun 3 Feb, 10am, Athena Ave Reserve Playground.

Join us for a casual playground playdate for new families to get to know each other before the first full week of school.

First day of Kindy - New Parent Connections Morning Tea

Mon 4 Feb, 9:10am, Staff Room.

After your little one heads off for their first day of school, please join us in the Staff Room for morning tea so you can meet some of the P&C, staff and other families.

First P&C Meeting in 2019

Wed 20 Feb, 7:15pm

Get in touch with the P&C at: stivesparkpc@gmail.com.
Keep up to date and sign up to our P&C dedicated newsletter at:

Uniform Shop

sippsuniform@gmail.com