29 March 2021

Newsletter Articles

March PBL Focus

Principal’s Message

Parent -Teacher Interviews – response survey

Thank you to our engaged parent community who participated in interviews last week. We would like your reflections on the interview process. There are four quick questions for parents. Please take the time to share your thoughts. The link was sent through Schoolzine Quick Message on Wednesday last week. Should you have missed this link please click below.

It was terrific to see so many parents at school last week for Parent-Teacher interviews. Staff were delighted that parents made bookings for 93% of students at SIPPS to enable conversations regarding student learning. It is great to see so many positive responses to the survey already. If you were unable to make an appointment please contact your child’s teacher early Term 2.

The Cyber Safety

In 2020 SIPPS parents and Terrey Hills Public School P&Cs offered a great opportunity for parents to engage with the Cyber Lady who provided detailed strategies to support families in navigating the online world and proactive strategies for families.

The SIPPS P&C are very keen to support our students in this area of learning especially our Y3 to 6 students. In line with the Personal Development health and physical education syllabus content we will host a session for students this year.

Early in term 2 Youth Officer Peters from Hornsby police will present a cyber safety talk to years 5 & 6, to proactively support all students.

Parents may wish to investigate other sources of information which are freely available to them, one of which is the eSafety Commissioner.

This website offers ideas and strategies for many people and there is a page especially for parents with useful and relevant information. Happy reading!

SIP – School Improvement Plan

The Director Educational Leadership will sign off on the plan for 2021-2024 late this term and the plan will be available on the school website shortly. Keep a look out for the plan.

Tell Them From Me 2021 – students.

Students have begun to complete their Term 1 Tell Them From Me surveys. This information will guide teacher conversations and the SRC in their planning and wellbeing programs for 2021. This is an opportunity for students to share their thoughts and demonstrate their belonging to the school.

Did You Know? – State Little Athletics champions !

These two boys are striving for their personal best and persevering through ongoing training. I hope you will join me in congratulating them!

Congratulations to Callum who achieved a bronze in the under 10s 70m and a silver in the under 10s 100m events and a personal best of 29.73s in the under 10s 200m event.

Congratulations to Finn W who achieved a GOLD in the under 9s 2020/2021 boys Shot Putt! Finn almost achieved the finals in the under 9 100m and 70m this year and has set himself a personal challenge to increase his training in readiness for the 2022 event.

2021 Happy Holidays

What a difference a year makes!

I am very pleased to be able to wish all our families a safe and happy holiday break. If you are travelling (which is quite different to this time in 2020), I wish you a safe and enjoyable break away from home. If you are staying home, enjoy the rest and relaxation.

We are looking forward to Term 2 and so many more opportunities for our students to continue their social-emotional and academic learning here at St Ives Park PS.

Term 2 – for your calendar…

Term 2 is looking very busy here at SIPPS.

19/4 band students workshop day in the hall
19/4 Staff return for Professional Learning
26/4 – 28/4 & 3/5 – 5/5 Y4 & Y6 Check-in assessments (information in newsletter today).
26/4 ANZAC Day ceremony 9:30am
28/4 K-6 Assembly 2:30pm
28/4 P&C Meeting in school Library 7:15pm
4/5 Zone Cross country
11/5 NAPLAN assessments commence
25/5 Kindergarten 2022 Information Evening 6pm
9/6 P&C Meeting in school Library 7:15pm
23/6 Semester 1 student reports go home to families

Kind regards,
Caroline English

Assistant Principal

LEST WE FORGET

On Monday 26th April (Term 2, week 2), we will be holding a special ANZAC commemoration at 9:30am under the hall COLA. This will be run by our student leaders. Student representatives from each class will be present a posy of flowers as a tribute. We ask that on the day, each student brings a flower or a small selection of flowers so we can form a posy for each class. The flowers need to be handed to your child’s teacher on the morning of the service - Monday 26th April. Parents and carers are most welcome to attend our special ANZAC assembly.

Check-in Assessments

During Term 2 Weeks 2-3 our students in years 4 & 6 will be participating in the Department of Education’s Check-in Assessment Program. The check-in assessment program is an online reading and numeracy assessment available to support schools to assess and monitor Year 4 & 6 student’s learning. Students are asked to bring headphones or earbuds that plug into a computer to enable them to hear audio during the assessment.

NAPLAN

Last week our students were successful in taking part in the NAPLAN online practice program. NAPLAN online testing for our year 3 and 5 students begins in week 4 of term 2, with both grades commencing the program with the Writing test on Tuesday 11 May. All Yr 3 & 5 students need to ensure they have a pair of headphones at school for the duration of week 4.

General Information

Learning and support and 2021 school counsellor allocation at SIPPS

Department of Education schools offer support to families and students through their network of school counsellors. To access school counsellor support, an application must be completed which is provided to the principal or delegate and raised at the school Learning and Support team.

The DoE employed school counsellors have approved qualifications in psychology and school counselling, and a background of primary or secondary teaching. As a member of school Learning and Support Teams, school counsellors are involved in programs which enhance the wellbeing of all students in a school or year group. School counsellors work with students of all ages and their families, from pre-Kindergarten to Year 12, providing valuable individual or small group support, counselling and psychological assessment for students with specific needs.

Their daily work activities may include counselling students, assessing students' learning and behaviour, helping families make informed decisions about their child's education, identifying adjustments to support students' learning and liaising with external agencies regarding students' wellbeing.

The school counsellor caseload is determined by the learning and support team in conjunction with the principal in each school. The St Ives Park Public School allocation is 1.5 days per fortnight in 2021.

Celebrating Student Success

Inspiring & Nurturing
Successful Lifelong Learners

Cross Country

The cross country race was held on the school grounds last Friday 26 March.

Kindy and K/1 Turquoise

It was lovely to see so many parents at teacher interviews this week. Kindergarten have been settling nicely over the term, showing more comfort with the routine of their school day. Friendships are becoming stronger amongst the students and with their Year Six buddies.

In K-2 we are using a synthetic phonics program called Read Write Inc. This program runs each morning where the students learn new sounds and then learn to blend these sounds to form words. Each lesson involves "Fred" the frog working with the children as they learn to read and write. Fred can only speak in sounds and relies on students to blend these sounds to form words. The Kindergarten students love working and helping Fred as they learn to read. During our phonics lessons students learn to form letters correctly with the help of picture cue cards. Mrs Follows and Mrs Underhill are very impressed with how well students are already writing at this point in Kindergarten.

We had an engaging Harmony Day, discussing what Harmony Day means and completed some fun Harmony Day activities. We are looking forward to seeing Easter Hats for the parade on Thursday. K-2 also have a fun little surprise to share with you at the parade. Hope to see you there!

Regards

Kylie Follows
Relieving Assistant Principal

Harmony Day

All the SIPPS students and staff got into the spirit of Harmony Day by dressing up and participating in a range of activities. Students enjoyed making people chains, poetry, art work and writing activities based on exploring the themes of acceptance, belonging and diversity. Despite the weather it was a fun day for everyone.

We raised $220 for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

Insert Images
Harmony Day 1, 2 and 3

Art News - COLOUR, COLOUR, COLOUR!!!!!

The whole school has been learning about colour this term. This has our art room looking amazing, with colourful artwork on every wall. We have been focusing on colour theory, colour mixing, tint and tones of colour, with the colour wheel being our main focus.

Kindy - Kindy students have been looking at mixing primary colours to make secondary colours and have produced colour wheel ladybugs. Their bugs have been displayed on a wax resist grass background. This work has started to develop the students painting, cutting and gluing skills.

Stage 1 - Year 1 and 2 students have been mixing primary coloured oil pastels to create secondary colours. They created a colour wheel umbrella artwork which looks amazing displayed in the art classroom. They have moved onto creating a whole stage piece of artwork combining colour and pattern. This will be put up within the school and I will add a photo to the patter once it has been displayed. This work has been developing their understanding of colour, their blending and mixing skills, as well as their cutting skills.

Stage 2 - Year 3 and 4 students have been extending their colour theory knowledge by producing a 12 section colour wheel, mixing all the colours themselves from just the three primary colours, red, blue and yellow. They have done a fantastic job and they look wonderful displayed in the art classroom. They have then developed an understanding of complementary colours by displaying the opposite colours on their wheels.

Stage 3 - Year 5 and 6 students have also created a 12 colour section in a mandala style, which they traced and designed themselves. They have taken it a step further by adding tones and tints of their colours by adding black and white. They have mixed all their own colours from the three primary colours and the outcomes are amazing, it was a tricky piece of artwork to produce but they have risen to the challange!!

I think you will agree that all the artwork looks amazing. Well done to all the SIPPS students for a very successful term 1 in Art.

Yvonne Stone
Visual Art Teacher
St Ives Park Public School

Library

The 2021 Premier’s Reading Challenge is now underway. It has been terrific hearing the stories from students in Years 3-6 who have already made an eager start on their PRC quest.

PLEASE remember the PRC contributes to each student’s enjoyment of reading and exposes them to a wider variety of books. It is not a test. It is not a race. It is not used to academically compare or grade students.

Some points revisited:

K-2 Students: The PRC is completed at school as part of the K-2 Literacy program. There is no parental involvement required.

3-6 Students: All students have been shown how to enter a book onto the PRC website. The entry of books can be done on any device at school or home. Each student’s PRC login is the same DET username/password that they use when logging into any computers at school.

Please visit the PRC website with your child so they can show you their reading record and how to add/search for a book. It will help your child if you are familiar with navigating the website.

Students have been encouraged by their class teacher to keep a paper copy of all the books they read. They may choose to keep the list going during the year and add the books online at any time before 20 August 2021 when the PRC finishes.

Remember:

• For the 2021 PRC, students can add books they have read since September 1 2020.
• The 20 books that the students need to read can be read from anywhere: school, home, local library, bookshop.
• In the SIPPS library we have put PRC stickers on the spines of books so students can easily identify PRC books.
• Students can check the PRC website to see if a book they are reading is on the 2021 PRC.
• Students can check our Library catalogue (ORBIT) to see what books we have that are on the PRC lists- there are hundreds of titles.
• To access the SIPPS library catalogue (ORBIT) students need to login to the Student Portal. They have all been shown how to do this.
• Please email the school with any questions or problems you have.
• If your child is:
• reluctant to read
• reading voraciously
• fascinated with a particular genre
• looking for a new genre to try
• enjoying reading for pleasure
• not yet enjoying reading for pleasure
• never without a book
• never with a book
• reading widely
• not yet reading widely…
• ...the Premier’s Reading Challenge is just for them!

Virginia Allman
Teacher Librarian

Band

Junior Band

Congratulations to all the new beginners who have commenced on the musical journey. It takes time and practice to become good at a song and repetition is the key.

Please remind your child to practice the 5 note scale, and a nice soft tone. Hold the instrument correctly.

The band is mastering Hot Cross Buns for Tuesday's morning lines.

Senior Band

The Senior band has been working hard on playing as a group. We are currently learning the piece “ Remember the Anzacs “for the Assembly on the 26th April ( Term 2 Week 2 ).

The children should also be practicing at home – Star Wars , Feel it Still and Tuning warm ups.

I’ve commenced handing out duets for the Year 6 children who would like extra music challenges . We will be performing these morning assemblies throughout term 2 and 3. Our first duet will be the lonely Goatherd from the Sound of Music.

If you could like to join the program , we are still after more beginners, please call Kate on 0419630511.

Notes from the school office

Please label all of your child/children’s belongings such as lunch boxes, lids and containers, hats, jumpers and bags.

Please advise the office of any changes to your phone number, address and/or child’s medical condition as soon as possible.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact the school office on 02 91444085.

Schoolzine app – Please download the schoolzine app. The school uses this app for payment of fees, viewing of school newsletters, absentee notes, school alerts

Qkr! app – Please download the Qkr ! app – this app is used by the P & C for the ordering and payment of school uniform items and for Canteen ordering and payment of items.

Canteen

Canteen will start on Monday 26th February and there is a NEW Canteen menu

Uniform Shop

End Of Term 1

The uniform shop will open on next week Wednesday March 31 from 2 pm for parents to come in to purchase school uniform items. Online orders will be processed and distributed to the students on Thursday April 1.

Term 2

The uniform shop will open every second Friday starting in Week 2 from 8.30 am to 9.30 am approx.

If you are ordering online please have your uniform orders in by the Wednesday evening of even weeks ie Week 2, 4 etc of the school term.

Goods will be handed out to your child just before the end of school on the following friday afternoon. If you have any questions please call the school office or send an email to the uniform email address below.

School Uniform items can be purchased every week by using the QKr! App.

sippsuniform@gmail.com

Community