11 October 2021

Newsletter Articles

October PBL Focus

Value yourself and others. Be courteous and polite. Care for your environment.

Principal’s Message

End of Term 3 – Dance Fever Disco

Such a lovely way to end the term with so many of our SIPPS students joining with the teachers on the last Tuesday of Term 3 to Dance the wet afternoon away. Different dances and styles kept everyone on the go in the 45 minute session.

Welcome back to Term 4

Staff are excitedly looking forward to welcoming students back to learning in their classes. All students are expected to attend five days per week. Attendance will be marked as per DET policies and procedures from Monday 18th October for K-2 students and Monday 25th October for 3-6 students.

We look forward to welcoming our students back into school for face-to-face learning and will be following the Department of Education requirements. For further information, the roadmap for return can be found at:

Schools currently at Level 4 Learning From Home will move to Level 3+ as students return to school. We hope to move to Level 3 to be able to offer Kindergarten Orientation in a similar model to 2020, however we await direction on this matter.

The following information will assist you to understand the safe working principles for school sites as listed below.

Learning From Home continues for weeks 1 and 2. Minimal supervision continues on site.
Week 3 – 18th October at SIPPS our K-2 students return to school for Face-to-Face teaching.
Week 4 – 25th October all students return to school for Face-to-Face teaching.
All staff onsite are required to be vaccinated from the 18th October.

Cohorting 2021 – Important information for parents

As our younger students K-6 are the non-vaccinated members of our community, there are stronger restrictions in schools than in the general community as we move forward from October 18th. The aim is to keep students as safe as possible and schools operational with minimum impact should there be a COVID-19 positive case in the school. As families and community members mingle and participate in outings across Sydney, visiting shopping centres and restaurants as part of normal life, there will be increased exposure for children. Therefore, at school students will remain in their cohorts for learning and playing and have minimal opportunities to mix. This means that:

• Student cohorts will have separate play spaces and play times.
• Student cohorts must enter and exit each day through the designated gate
• I strongly recommend parents organise a meeting point with their children outside school grounds for when students exit school each day.
• I will advise the final cohort groups as soon as possible and any changes as we progress through the DoE Levels. Currently we are about to move to Level 3+.

School drop off and collection – Important 2021 changes!

Thank you to all our parents who have facilitated ‘kiss and drop’ this year. Your support is appreciated in keeping all staff and parents safe and healthy.

During drop off and collection of students, parents are required to practice social distancing from staff and from each other at the gates. This has been the practice during Covid 2020 and again in 2021.

Teachers will bring their classes to the gates each afternoon and K Rainbow and K/1 Turquoise will walk down to the gate from 3pm to enable some families to disperse prior to other classes exiting.

Delta is different and students are strictly to enter and exit only via their cohort specified gate. Siblings in different cohorts cannot enter together until further notice. Should we be able to change this planning I will inform the community.

• K-2 enter school grounds via Gate 1 at Acron Road gate closest to the Office, hang their bags up and then to the COLA.
• 3-4 enter school grounds via Gate 3 at Woodbury Road gate and bags away, then to the synthetic grass area for before school.
• 5-6 enter school grounds via Gate 2 at Acron Road gate adjacent to the hall, keep bags with them and will use the green grassed space adjacent to the hall

In the event of wet weather students will be directed to their classrooms by the staff member on their gate.

Please continue to ease congestion and ensure social distancing for adults by dropping children to school via the specified gates. For health and safety, parents are asked to meet their children at a specified spot around the external boundary of the school, depart promptly or remain in their car and ‘kiss and drop’ wherever possible.

Parents are reminded to use the pedestrian crossing to safely cross Acron Road when with your child. This will instill life long safe crossing habits for your child.

School activities – General Information for parents

Masks are mandatory for all adults and strongly recommended for students K-6.

Students will participate in their curriculum learning in their class and cohort.

Curriculum focus areas are mandated and include Literacy, Mathematics and a wellbeing focus.

Students must remain in their cohorts throughout the day, which means staggered breaks.

Some specific restrictions apply to singing, chanting, and sporting activities.

Assemblies, excursions and incursions are non-operational.

Library borrowing will not recommence. Literature lessons will occur in classrooms.

No face-to-face inter-school activities.

No in-school activities requiring volunteers.

Adult physical distancing is required.

Non-essential visitors (parents and carers) are not allowed on site without invitation and must be approved by the principal.

Information regarding end of year events will be provided once the DoE has released guidelines to schools.

P&C Uniform shop – online ordering only for uniform requirements. Please see the P&C or school website under P&C for ordering information.

Access to school site and visitors

There should be no visitors to school sites unless they are essential. Preference is to be given to virtual meetings, email and telephone contact options. Parents are again reminded to remain off site. Adults are required to socially distance in all settings in NSW.

New gate signs indicate that all non-essential visitors should not be on site. This includes parents, grandparents and carers. Please remember social distancing is for everyone’s health and wellbeing.

Our uniform shop will remain an online only ordering system until further notice. Please see school newsletter for how to order.

Contacting your child’s class teacher

Parents are able to contact teachers using either the school email, staff email or by leaving a telephone message for a teacher. Please be aware that staff have full time teaching loads and there is a 3 day turn around time for responses.

Reporting

Semester 2 reporting is currently being finalised. Reports will be issued to families on Wednesday 15th December, 2021. Reports are similar to Semester 1 2020. The reports are a simplified version of our SIPPS reports. These reports have been simplified in all schools as part of a State and Federal Education plan for this semester.

TTFM

Tell Them From Me is the DoE’s annual survey of students, parents and staff to ascertain the thoughts and perceptions of families and students at each school in NSW. There will be further information in the next newsletter regarding students and parents’ participation and the parent link. Please take the time to complete the survey.

Thank you

An enormous thank you to all our parents for your patience during the multiple changes in the return to school in Term 4, 2021. It has been a wonderful community response with so many people choosing to be vaccinated which enables our students to return to face-to-face learning and their peers.

It will be wonderful to have students in our school again and the SIPPS staff are looking forward to their staged return commencing next week!

Should there be further updates, I will provide these to our community. Stay safe and well and have fun when the restrictions ease tomorrow.

OC Testing

The dates for Opportunity Class testing have been changed in 2021. The current scheduled date is Wednesday 17th November and information specifically for these identified students will be provided as soon as it is confirmed by the Department.

Fencing at SIPPS

I am certain you would have noticed the progressive installation of the safety fencing at SIPPS over the last three weeks.

Please ensure that you child is entering the school via one of the three designated gates, Gates 1 to 3. Students are now safer as they cannot enter the school carpark. No parents or children are permitted to access the school grounds using the gate within the staff only carpark for safety reasons. Please do not walk through the car park.

Students arriving on time to school will be able to access the school grounds via Gates 2 and 3 until 9:10am. After this time students will need to use Gate 1. It is anticipated that the fencing will be completed soon. In the interim there is internal and external safety fencing in place as required by DoE asset management.

Stage Coach Program – Transition to St Ives High School 2022

This term over a two day period, students in Year 6 at SIPPS will be able to participate in an online version of the SIHS Stage Coach Program to experience one or two high school classes. This transition program has moved online due to the Covid restrictions in schools.

As we commence Week 2, I hope you are all well. The happy day when students can return to face to face learning at SIPPS is fast approaching. Looking forward to seeing many parents at the gates in the coming weeks.

Enjoy the new freedoms from today.
Kind regards,
Caroline English
Principal, St Ives Park Public School

Assistant Principal’s Message

Recently in our Instructional Leader sessions I have been working with teachers to reflect on our approach to building 'thinking classrooms' in Mathematics. Students can often describe themselves as 'not good at maths' or they may give up early when presented with an unfamiliar or abstract challenge. There are many aspects that influence how children learn and their learning stamina. Through building a culture of thinking, the students can develop their learning stamina and develop the skills to tackle abstract or complex tasks with confidence.

What does a ‘thinking classroom’ look like?

Students become good thinkers in an environment where they are encouraged to participate in challenging learning activities. They are able to consider perspectives of others, develop informed opinions, and effectively communicate their ideas with their teachers and peers. The most successful students in a thinking classroom are those who are comfortable taking risks in their learning and making mistakes. Mistakes provide the opportunity for learning and a chance to apply thinking skills. In a thinking classroom, the process and strategy is the core focus of the learning not the answer. Students are encouraged to provide reasoning and explanation to justify their responses.

There are many aspects to building a culture of thinking in the classroom that we have begun to reflect and examine in our setting. Through the use of research and reflection our teachers are further developing their knowledge and practice to promote a culture of thinking in their classrooms. Through the use of Numbertalks and problem solving, our teachers are already developing an environment where students feel challenged in their learning and are encouraged to share strategies in Mathematics. Teachers are looking forward to building the 'culture of thinking' in their classrooms upon the recommencement of face-to-face learning.

Mrs Hayllar
Instructional Leader / K-2 Assistant Principal

Inspiring & Nurturing Successful Lifelong Learners

Kindy Rainbow work samples

Kindergarten created some craft creatures of different sizes to explore, order and compare the lengths of their creatures. Olivia has shown her personal best in creating a variety of patterns for her creatures and has displayed them in order from shortest to longest.

K/1 Turquoise work samples

Our class has been reading and learning about dreamtime through The Rainbow Serpent. Olivia in Kindergarten (K/1T) followed the procedure to create this beautiful Rainbow Serpent. She had to read and follow each step carefully. She and her sister then videoed Olivia talking about how she completed this task. Well done Olivia your creation is amazing.

1/2 Emerald work samples

This is our Lego Challenge from Lachlan, in Year 2. Lachlan used his maths skills to complete Lego challenges to build things. During Learning from Home, Stage 1 has tried to see the maths in real life experiences. Lachlan showed us that we can use maths in real life! Awesome work Lachlan!

3/4 Purple work samples

In Art, Stage 2 were asked to imagine what they would see if they peered through a keyhole. This is Ira’s creation.

3/4 Yellow work samples

In Stage 2, students have been working hard this year to produce well-formed, neat cursive handwriting to attain their pen licence. Many students have already achieved this. This week we received some wonderfully presented handwriting in Google Classroom from the students of 3/4 Yellow. We are looking forward to handing out some more pen licences very soon.

5/6 Blue work samples

Stage 3 are studying informative texts this term. Students are preparing information to create a website about a mythical creature. This is the amazing creation Kalani has made.

5/6 Pink work samples

Stage 3 are learning about informative writing. We are creating our own fictitious creatures to write an informative website about them. This week students learnt about primary and secondary sources and also designed their creature, using labels and scale. Here is Chelsea's creature.

Library

The Premier’s Reading Challenge has finished for 2021.

Congratulations to all our SIPPS students who completed the PRC this year.

All K-2 students completed the PRC at school as part of our Library Program.

Students in Years 3-6 completed the PRC Challenge independently at school and at home as a voluntary addition to their learning.

This year completion rates were extremely pleasing with many students demonstrating great commitment to their learning and love of literature.

Year 3: 19 students
Year 4: 19 students
Year 5: 21 students
Year 6: 11 students

PRC completion certificates will arrive at the school at the end of this term and will be distributed to the students.

Virginia Allman
Teacher Librarian and PRC Coordinator.

General Information for families

Cyber safe families

The following resources are available to support families and their children in being responsible online users:

• Cyber safe families – an overview of cyber safety
• Technology and wellbeing – useful tips and tools
• Digital citizenship External link – a collection of articles and resources to maximise students’ use of technology.

Notes from the school office

Kindergarten 2022

Now is the time to let the office know if you have a child starting Kindergarten 2022.

We will print off a pre-filled enrolment form for you to complete and lodge. Information regarding Kindergarten 2022 will be shared with the community in the coming weeks.

If you know of anyone in our school catchment area who would like to enrol at St Ives Park Public School, please advise them that they are able to enrol online. Just visit the school’s website and look under the heading Enrolment.

All school tours are on hold during lockdown restrictions.

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

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 be closed until further notice.

Uniform Shop

P & C

Long Walk Home

In an average week, a person experiencing homelessness walks 28km to receive help, to find their next shelter or to look for a safe place to sleep. On 3rd October a group of SIPPS parents and students walked a 28km route to help raise funds and awareness for homelessness.

Organised by the Bennett family (Kindy and Y4) the group of SIPPS families started in Middle Harbour and walked through our beautiful bushland ending up at St Ives.

Congratulations to all involved and well done on achieving your goal.

If you wish to sponsor our SIPPS team it is not too late to here:

Thank you and farewell to our P&C Secretary

For the last 12 months Claire Anglim has been our outstanding Secretary on the P&C. Claire and her family have been a big part of the SIPPS community and responsible for organising the school disco in 2020 as well as assisting in the uniform shop, arranging Kindy welcome mornings and much more.

Claire and her family (Y5 and Y6) have relocated to Yorkshire in England. We will miss you all very much.

Claire’s departure does leave a gap in our small P&C executive group and we would very much like to hear from you if you would like to get involved, whether formally as Secretary, in the Uniform Shop or just ad-hoc when you can.

Uniform Shop – Urgent Volunteer Request

We are all excited about returning to school in the coming weeks and will likely find our kids have grown out of their uniforms. A reminder to place your orders and to appreciate this wonderful service we rely on. We would hate to lose this onsite service where uniforms are delivered to our kids’ bags and the profits go to our P&C. So, we desperately need a new Uniform Coordinator to take over in 2022. The current Coordinator would really like to handover all her knowledge and train her successor this year. Please do step up asap if you can Manage, Co-coordinate or assist in the uniform shop, or this service will likely have to be outsourced. Contact us to learn more stivesparkpc@gmail.com

Canteen and Tennis Courts

Currently closed until further notice due to Covid.

Next P&C Meeting:

When: 13 October 2021 @ 7.15pm
Where: Via Zoom at the link below
Meeting ID: 827 3435 8150

Everyone is welcome and we would love to see as many people as possible.

Getting involved in the P&C is a great way to meet new people and also to be part of our wonderful SIPPS community.

The P&C are currently looking for a President, a Secretary and also a Uniform Shop coordinator. These roles do not require a huge time commitment, it can be as little or as much as you can offer.

Community

Primary Ethics is proud to offer an alternative while ethics classes cannot be run in schools. For Term 4, we have prepared a brand-new series of Bites!

Bites! are our specially designed bite-sized lessons for students to chew over at home and practise their skills in close listening and ethical reasoning, based on material from our Department-approved curriculum.

Each week we will post a new ethical dilemma to our Bites! web page. Here is the link:

Bites for the K-2 age group are designed for students to tackle individually, assisted by an adult. Bites for Years 3-6 are designed for students to work on individually or with a family group. An adult learning supervisor may like to take part by helping to read the stories and questions and guiding students to think for themselves about the dilemma we pose. (Each Bite will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.)