16 May 2022

Newsletter Articles

May PBL Focus

Follow your teacher’s instructions. Speak politely and use an inside voice.

Principal’s Message

Mother’s Day Breakfast

On a glorious and sunny morning, our mothers and carers were pampered to a well deserved Mother’s Day breakfast, hosted by the SIPPS P&C. The beautifully packaged breakfast included fruit salad, yoghurt with museli, chocolate éclair, fruit muffin and a fruit juice to start the day for all our mums and carers.

Thank you to Mrs and Mr Powell for all the setting up on behalf of the SIPPS P&C. It was such a treat for all concerned and a wonderful SIPPS P&C occasion and opportunity for everyone to get together.

Kindergarten and new enrolment Information Evening

We welcome any current parents and new parents who have Kindergarten students commencing in 2023 to join staff on May 31st from 6:00 pm. We will share with our families the SIPPS difference and how we support student learning. Parents who are enrolling students are able to go to the school website to complete enrolments.

If parents know of any parents interested in joining SIPPS in 2023, please encourage them to make contact with the school office for further information and support.

Staying Covid Smart – More RATS for families coming home this week

We have finally received our allocation of ‘RATs’. These will be distributed via students later this week. We will send a SchoolZine App alert to advise families which day/s they will be arriving.

Under the current guidelines, as shared with families to commence Term 2, parents are required to email or call the school to formally inform SIPPS that their child is returning to school but is a close contact with someone in their family who has Covid-19. We are required by the DoE to record this information. Parents are kindly reminded to follow this procedure.

Current expectations in school remain as follows:

• Masks are not mandatory for staff, students or visiting parents unless they are close contacts.
• Students who are close contacts may return when they are not showing any signs of Covid-19 symptoms AND have returned a negative RAT test each day for 5 days. Please see email dated 26/4/22 for further details.
• Parents at SIPPS are welcome on site. Please listen for the 9:05 am bell and leave the grounds before gates are locked each morning.
• All staff and volunteers must be double vaccinated as per the Public Health Order which remains in place until May 15th, 2022. Schools are awaiting updates in this regard.

SIPPS Parents

SIPPS parents are welcome on site prior to the 9:05am school bell. You may escort your child/ren to their classroom or visit the school office to seek assistance. After school if you are collecting your child/ren from an activity you may enter the school grounds, however, you are not able to wait in the synthetic grass, play equipment or Hall COLA areas as these are utilised by the Helping Hands service each day.

Please make appointments to see your child’s class teacher for face to face meetings. All class teachers are still escorting classes to the gates each afternoon.

Thank you to our SIPPS families for all your support during the Covid-19 restricted access times.

Reporting to Parents

Teachers complete formal written reports to families twice per school year. Teachers are currently busy completing Semester 1 reports which will be issued to parents and carers on Wednesday 29th June, 2022.

Reporting to parents consists of Term 1 Parent/Teacher Interviews, written reports twice a year and further ongoing detail through requested interviews or meetings.

Reports are a summary of your child's progress for each semester. The majority of students are expected to achieve the sound level on school reports. Achievement is assessed and identified across the five bands which include:

Outstanding
High
Sound
Basic
Limited

Effort rating in 2022 on reports is reported in three levels.

While reports are written for parents and carers, please discuss with your child/ren their areas of strength and areas for future focus and revision as they move forward in their learning. Report time should not be an anxious time but a time for all involved in your child’s education to reflect on his/her progress and to set new and achievable goals for next term.

It is vital that all students know that there is always more to learn and that learning is a journey throughout their lives.

Successful, Lifelong Learners!

Dates for your diary

Term 2

18-20th May RATs will go home with students to families.
18th May – P&C Meeting in the school Library at 7:15pm. Enter via Gate 2.
20th May SIPPS classroom carpet cleaning will be undertaken.
3 – 12 May NAPLAN online 2022 for Years 3 and 5.
19th May New Enrolments School tour, 9:20am please meet at Gate 1.
24th May Zone Cross Country event at St Ives Showground
31st May Kindergarten Information Evening 6pm
6th June SIPPS School Photo day
10th June Action Music Band Eisteddford
13th June Public Holiday – no school
16th June Sydney North Cross Country
16th June SIPPS new enrolments and Kindergarten School Tour.
28th June School Athletics Carnival
1st July Pyjama Day

Kind regards
Caroline English

Assistant Principal’s Message

School Photos

Our school photo day is scheduled for Monday 6th June (week 7). Students will need to wear their full school winter uniform, with the correct colour socks and shoes.

NAPLAN 2022

Last week the yr 3 & 5 students completed their NAPLAN Writing and Reading tests. This week we have the final two tests scheduled for Monday and Wednesday. Please ensure your child has a working pair of headphones as these tests have an audio component.

ICAS Test Dates 2022

We are delighted to inform you that SIPPS will be participating in the world-renowned ICAS competitions again this year.

ICAS is an online academic competition that is designed to assess students’ higher order thinking and problem-solving skills. At SIPPS we offer ICAS tests in English, Mathematics, Science and Digital Technologies.

Families will need to register and pay fees for the tests on-line through a Parent Portal.

The tests are conducted before school, so students need to be at school by 7:45am on the morning of the tests. The tests take approximately 45-50 minutes to complete.

The dates for the tests at SIPPS are during weeks 4-7 of Term 3.

A letter has been sent home with details on how to purchase tests for your child. Please look out for this. You will need to send your order confirmation to school for our records no later than 18 July, 2022.

You can learn more about ICAS here:

We are proud to offer ICAS and look forward to some fantastic results later in the year. Please do not hesitate to contact the school office if you have any questions.

Kind regards,

Adrienne Reid
ICAS Coordinator / Learning and Support Teacher.

Art

Art lessons for stage 2 and 3 have all been about abstract Picasso inspired portraiture. All students have created a portraiture drawing, using a range of media such as oil pastels, coloured pencils, and black marker. Students then moved onto creating an abstract portrait using different materials.

3/4 Gold got to use clay, which is always very exciting!! They created a Picasso head in clay and are currently finishing these off with bright, eye-catching, colourful paint.

4/5 Emerald and 6 Aquamarine created a more abstract portrait and have followed this up with layered cardboard construction. The year 6 have enjoyed creating their abstract heads and using a wide range of media and materials. 4/5 Emerald have been learning about layering the cardboard and how to construct an outcome with cardboard, which can be tricky!!

These two classes will move on to clay later in the year. Examples of these projects will be on display later in the year at the annual SIPPS art exhibition in the St Ives Shopping Village.

Wellbeing

We are looking forward to seeing lots of people participating in National Walk to School Day on Friday 20th May. Join lots of children across Australia and make steps towards a healthier future, not only for their wellbeing, but also our environment. Council have kindly provided goodies for our students for this event.

Key messages from our Council

Walking together safely to and from school

Walking to school and back home again is a great way to:

• Spend quality time with your children and teach them safe pedestrian behaviours.
• Be active and healthy – walking to school helps your child get the 60 minutes of physical activity they need to stay healthy and helps them with their learning as well.
• Improve road safety around the school by decreasing traffic congestion.

Safety tips for walking to school

• Plan and practice your trip to school so you use pedestrian crossings where possible.
• Whenever crossing roads, talk to your children about when and why it is safe to cross the road. Explain why the place you have chosen is the safest place to cross.
• Talk with your children about being alert in the road environment.
• When walking, it is important to set a good example and reinforce road safety messages with your child.
• Young children can learn and practice safe pedestrian behaviours with you. This will help them to be safer pedestrians when they are old enough to travel alone.
• Be sure to always meet your child near the school gate and don’t call them from across the road.

Always hold your child’s hand

As pedestrians, children need your help to spot dangers such as vehicles coming out of driveways.

They can also be easily distracted and wander into traffic and are often too small to be seen by drivers. They may be unable to predict or identify dangers and tend to act impulsively.

• Until your child is at least 8 years old, hold their hand on the footpath, in the car park and when crossing the road.
• Up until at least 10 years old, supervise your child very closely, holding their hand when crossing the road.

Food Allergy Week 24-30 May 2020

SIPPS will be recognising Food Allergy Week by sharing important information with students and engaging in some awareness activities. Please read the social media toolkit below and spread awareness!

Sport

State Tennis Carnival

Congratulations to Andrew in Year 5 who represented SIPPS at the Sydney North Tennis Carnival. Wonderful news, the Sydney North Team came 3rd in the state carnival. Well done Andrew what a wonderful result!

Band

SENIOR BAND

The Senior band has been practicing extremely well for the upcoming City of Sydney Eisteddfod, on Friday 10th June 2022 at the Chatswood Concourse. Our band is contestant no 2 in the event.

The band is currently rehearsing

Caravan, Remember the Anzacs, Baby Sharp (New this week)

Last week’s Junior band was amazing. Teachers could recognize a Mozart melody from the Art room. (Twinkle Twinkle)

Next week we will be learning about quavers.

Notes from the school office

School photo day is Monday, 6 June. Order details are attached to the event on the school calendar. All orders are to be placed online – no cash is to be returned to school.

P & C

Mother’s Day Wrap

We trust our Mums and special family members enjoyed their Mother’s Day Stall gift - the kids were so excited to be able to choose their gift to take home. And what a gorgeous breakfast picnic hosted at the school! We can’t thank Jess Powell and her helpers enough for hosting this. Thank you also to Pui, Julia and Sangeetha for their help on the stall and Ian, Mani and Stewart at breakfast! It sure made for some beautiful social media snaps! We all felt very special, and it was so lovely to have the school community back onsite again. This is what makes SIPPS so unique and special. We raised $878 from the raffles and gifts which will go straight back to school supplies for our kids.

Federal Election – Sat 21 May

8am – 2pm (Set up from 7am)

We will be hosting our famous BBQ and Cake Stall once again. Our SIPPS Community always love getting behind this event. So, dust off your BBQ apron and dig out those cake tins.

How you can help:

1. Sign up for a BBQ and / or Cake stall shift HERE
2. Bake something sweet and deliver to Jess at 48 Flinders Avenue on Friday 20th May by 7pm, or drop baked goods off first thing Saturday morning directly to the stall. Please clearly label with description and ingredients. NO NUTS PLEASE. (We will distribute cake boxes in the week prior.)
3. Come along on Election Day and buy breaky, lunch and / or afternoon tea!

If you have questions you can contact Jess Powell on 0404194757 or jesupton@hotmail.com .

Thank you for contributing!

Dept of Education

Thank you to Stewart for arranging Susan Jeffery from the Department of Education to come in last week. This was a fantastic opportunity to provide feedback direct to the Department in three separate sessions - with the teachers, the SRC kids and with parents. We are working through a range of initiatives for our school, this was one avenue explored for growth and opportunity.

Kind donation

A very big thank you to Stewart Duncan and Coles in the St Ives Village who together funded this wheelchair for SIPPS to keep onsite, making it far easier to move students, teachers or visitors from anywhere at school to the office or sick bay area.

Uniform Shop

Purchase any uniform requirements via QKr! to be delivered straight to your child’s school bag. Download your handy Uniform Checklist below.

Canteen

Canteen is open on Mondays for lunch. Please order via QKr! There are still a few vacant volunteer slots. If you can do a shift one Monday from 10:30am - 1pm, please register your name HERE.   Remember that you need a current Working with Children Check to volunteer HERE

Share your stories

We would love to share more regular and varied stories of our kids’ passions and successes on the school’s Facebook channel. Please share photos and a short blurb of their achievements – fundraising, sporting, musical, artistic, and more. Send to stivesparkpc@gmail.com

Next P&C Meeting

Wed 18 May 2022, 7:15pm, in the school library.

Community

Sir Eric Woodward School

Urgent call for Assisted Travel School Officer

We have a paid part time position available on Assisted School Travel for a Travel Support Officer to work mornings and afternoons, 5 days a week on a travel run from Turramurra to St Ives.

Our school P&C operates this particular run and we would like to fill the vacancy as soon as possible.

If anyone is interested, please contact Georgina Moodie (SEWS P&C President) for more details 0418 217 098.