19 September 2022

Newsletter Articles

September PBL Focus

Go directly to class. Follow teacher instructions. Walk safely and sensibly.

Catch Card Winners

This fortnight’s catch card winners are:

Principal’s Message

Arrrr, pirates ahoy!

There were pirates as far as the eye could see today who joined the SIPPS pirate crew for a fun Monday on the last week of term 3.

SASS Recognition Week

Our SASS staff were delighted by staff and P&C recognising all their hard work at SIPPS. The Staff provided a lovely morning tea and the SIPPS P&C gifted them a lovely hamper! Thank you to Mrs Fazzolari and Mrs Littlewood for all that you do for our school each day in the office and all the organisation behind the scenes. Miss Ruby is here as our SLSO and is working with a range of classes across the school. Our school is being supported by Mr Willis and Mr Hewitt who are here one day per week keeping the grounds in order for our students. Mrs Fazzolari is soon to receive a special award from the Executive Director.

Inclusive Education Policy and New Curriculum Reform

Term 4 signals the implementation of the NSW Department of Education’s Inclusive Education Policy and the Student Behaviour Policy. Information will be provided to families through the newsletter, at P&C meetings and in additional forums.

The K-2 English and Mathematics Syllabus’ documents are due for implementation in Term 1 2023 in all NSW Public Schools. All staff are involved in this training and implementation process.

A final note

It has been a wonderful term with events and opportunities to gather as a community and celebrate families and learning.

Our P&C have again excelled in their organisation of activities which have included the student disco, Father’s Day stall and Father’s Day breakfast! Thank you to our P&C team under the leadership of Mr Stewart Duncan. I hope all our families are now preparing for Camp Out in Term 4!

Wonderful occasions to celebrate learning in Term 3 have included Education Week and opportunities for our families to visit classrooms. The Book Fair and book parade were well received with many parents, grandparents and guests in attendance. Our new Kinders and their families have been able to visit the school for school tours and the Teddy Bear’s Picnic as they transition to ‘big school’.

Our Stage 3 students were finally able to visit Canberra for their three day excursion which was a great experience and included enormous amounts of learning and opportunities for our students to demonstrate their learning too!

We conclude this term with the SIPPS Spectacular and look forward to welcoming our community for one last Term 3 event.

This term has flown by and we sincerely hope you have enjoyed all the events and activities. On behalf of the staff at SIPPS, I wish all our students and families an enjoyable holiday break and look forward to welcoming all students back on Monday 10th October.

Kind regards,
Caroline English

A note for your diary – Term 3

Thursday is a public holiday in remembrance of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Please remember that the school is closed on Thursday 22nd September 2022.

After the school holidays, students resume school on MONDAY 10th October, 2022. There is no Staff Development Day to start Term 4, 2022.

Final reminders:

SIPPS Spectacular Tuesday 20th September 2022, 6:30pm – get your tickets now.

Public Holiday: Thursday 22nd September 2022

24th September School Holidays commence

Term 4

22nd & 23rd October – SIPPS Family Camp Out

24th & 31st October - Kindergarten Orientation Days for parents and students

Parent Information Night – Term 4, Week 4 – Tuesday 1st November 6:30pm.

7th December Presentation Day 9:30 am

7th December Semester 2 Reports go home

13th December Student Picnic / Party Day

12th December Year 6 Farewell

15th December Student Talent Quest / SIPPS Factor

19th December final day for all students and staff for 2022.

Did you know?

Did you know … Mrs Fazzolari is receiving an award early next term which recognises her contribution to Public Education! I look forward to sharing more details with you next term.

Assistant Principals

Check-in Assessments for 3, 4, 5

In week 1 of term 4, Check-in assessments will begin for our year 3, 4, 5 students. Check-in assessment is a NSW Department of Education online literacy and numeracy assessment available to support schools to assess and monitor student learning. In preparation for these assessments, please ensure your child has a working set of headphones at school during weeks 1 & 2.

Parent Information Evening

In order to support our students in their learning, we would like to invite parents to our information evening on Tuesday, 1st November from 6.30-7.30pm. During this session there will be two short information sessions about the teaching and learning reforms in English and Mathematics. We want our parents to be part of their child’s learning journey and understand part of this is finding out about what happens in the classroom. Please come along to find out about some of the teaching strategies we use and some you may find easy to adopt at home.

Take Home Readers for the Holidays

If your child is reading below level 23, please ensure their Home Reading plastic envelope is at school each day and especially Friday this week, to ensure students have readers for the holidays.

A reminder that Home Readers need to be in plastic envelopes with their name clearly marked on it.

The holidays are a great time for readers of all levels and abilities to visit the local library to borrow and enjoy books.

COVID 19 2022 – Term 3 Updates

Covid Settings to start Term 3

This provides you with an overview of how the DoE is working with schools to continue to ensure schools remain COVID-safe throughout this term.

As we continue to prioritise student and staff learning and wellbeing while at school, our layered COVID-smart measures will continue for Term 3. These ‘baseline measures’ are aligned to the NSW Government’s general community settings and include:

• students staying home and getting tested if unwell, and only attending school when symptom free
• strongly encouraging mask-wearing for all staff and students, particularly in the first 4 weeks of term
• rapid antigen testing for symptomatic students and staff, and close contacts attending school to learn and work
• strongly encouraging COVID-19 vaccinations for students, staff and their families, including a booster shot (when eligible)
• strongly encouraging students, staff and their families to get a flu vaccination
• strict requirements for close contacts attending school - you must notify the school if your child is attending school as a close contact.
• good hygiene practices
• maximising natural ventilation
• boosted cleaning during the day, with particular attention given to high touch surface areas
• responding to local COVID-19 conditions when necessary, by working with the department’s Health, Safety and Staff Wellbeing team.

Continuing these baseline COVID-smart measures allows us to prioritise student and staff wellbeing while giving our learners a consistent and productive learning environment this term.

What’s new in Term 3?

As winter continues, our COVID-smart measures have been updated in consultation with NSW Health to provide appropriate protection to our school community.

• Vaccinations. The department has updated its policy regarding COVID-19 vaccination for employees following an independent risk assessment of school (and corporate) settings and consultation with unions and relevant stakeholders. While vaccination will no longer be a requirement for our staff from 1 August 2022, it is pleasing to see that a recent survey highlighted that more than 99% of the department’s active school-based workforce have had at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. We will continue to strongly encourage all our staff to keep up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations as a way of protecting themselves, students, and our school community.
• Boosted day cleaning. The department has made a slight change to its cleaning process. Cleaning of school sites will now be more concentrated during the day, with an increase in cleaning in school hours, and a subsequent reduction out of hours. Boosted day cleaning will continue to focus on high-touch areas and other hard surfaces, door handles, lockers, light switches and handrails in stairways and movement areas.

What’s continuing for Term 3?

• Masks. Masks are an effective way of minimising the transmission of respiratory viruses and infections, and protecting our community, especially those who are at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 and flu. We strongly encourage all students and staff wear a mask for the first 4 weeks of Term 3, particularly in indoor settings or when distancing is not possible.
• The latest NSW Health advice also recommends wearing a mask for people who have recovered from COVID-19 and recently completed their 7-day isolation period for an additional 3 days (from days 8 to 10 after receiving a positive COVID-19 result).
• Additionally, as outlined in the below section on close contacts, mask wearing is mandatory for staff and high school students returning to school as close contacts for 5 school days and strongly recommended for primary school students returning to school as close contacts for 5 school days.
• Rapid antigen tests (RATs). The department will send another round of RATs to our school early this term, which we will provide to you in the form of 1 multipack of 5 RAT kits per student. These RATs can be used as required for symptomatic testing, such as if your child is displaying even mild symptoms. Once these department-supplied RATs are exhausted, please continue to access store-purchased RATs which are now readily available in the community or PCR tests. Alternatively, let the school know that you need more and we will try and assist if possible. Additionally, our school will be maintaining a reserve stock of RATs onsite to support symptomatic testing in the event of an outbreak in our school community. Please also remember that positive RAT results must be registered with ServiceNSW, and students who test positive to COVID-19 must not attend school until their isolation period ends and they are symptom free.
• Close contacts. Students identified as close contacts remain able to attend
    O. school providing:
    O. they are symptom free,
  notify the school and
    O.vreturn a negative COVID-19 test result daily for 5 consecutive school days.
• Additionally, secondary students are required to wear a mask for 5 consecutive school days (except when eating/drinking or exercising). Primary students, while not required, are strongly encouraged to wear a mask for 5 consecutive school days (except when eating/drinking or exercising). Please note that students identified as close contacts are still unable to attend overnight excursions, including camps. Visitors identified as close contacts who are engaging directly with students are required to return a negative COVID-19 test result before attending our school and wear a mask.
• Responding to our local situation. We will continue to liaise with NSW Health and the department’s Health, Safety and Staff Wellbeing Case Management team to ensure our COVID-smart settings keep up with the latest developments. If local conditions require it, this may mean reintroducing temporary additional COVID-smart measures to act as a ‘circuit breaker’, including:
    O. mandating mask wearing for all staff and students in Year 7 and above (high school settings)
    O. mandating mask wearing for all staff (primary school settings)
    O. postponing or limiting non-essential activities like excursions, indoor assemblies and visitors to the school
    O. directing cohorts to learn remotely for short periods of time.
• Maximising natural ventilation. The department has reviewed environmental differences across NSW as part of their winter ventilation planning to ensure that local climatic conditions at each school are considered. The department will continue to provide local guidance to schools, including advice on maximising natural ventilation while balancing thermal comfort and the use of indoor and outdoor learning areas for school activities to support schools to adapt to local climate conditions throughout the winter months.
• Reducing the risk of illness this winter. Finally, it is important to note NSW Health’s advice to reduce our risk of not only COVID-19, but other illnesses that may affect our school at this time of year such as the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) , both of which can be serious in younger people. We can all protect our loved ones and our community by:
    O. staying home and getting tested if unwell or displaying any symptoms
    O. keeping up to date with our vaccinations – including the flu vaccine, which is available from your local GP, pharmacy or Aboriginal Medical Service now
      o. flu vaccines are free for all children aged 6 months to under 5 years, or for a small charge for those aged 5 years and older
    O. getting tested immediately for COVID-19 if you become symptomatic and isolating until you receive a negative result and are symptom free
    O. practicing good hand hygiene by washing regularly with soap and water
    O. taking a RAT before visiting vulnerable loved ones or going to large gatherings and events.

With these updated settings in place, we hope to have a happy and healthy Term 3.

Art

Art Exhibition News

The SIPPS 2022 Art Exhibition is currently on display at St Ives Shopping Village in the gallery space. As always, the student's artwork looks fantastic and whether they have work on display or not, every SIPPS student should be really proud of what they have created this year. From group paper plate projects, natural form prints, the well-loved clay outcomes to the amazing tonal drawings, it is all wonderful. Well done to all SIPPS students. It will be on display until this Saturday, 24th September, so if you haven't been to have a look, please make sure you check it out!!

Thank you.
Mrs Yvonne Stone
Art Teacher

Enter the NSW Children’s Week 2022 Art Competition

The Office of the Advocate for Children and Young People together with the NSW Children’s Week Council is inviting entries for the NSW Children’s Week 2022 Art Competition. The competition is open to all children and young people up to the age of 18 living in NSW. It’s not about being a good artist, it’s about finding inspiration and sharing your voice through art. Group entries are encouraged and allowed.

The NSW Children's Week 2022 Art Competition is open to all children and young people up to the age of 18 living in NSW. Children and young people can enter by creating an artwork to show how they are keeping safely connected with their family, friends and community during this time. Artworks can include drawings, paintings, photographs, digital illustrations or videos.

Nine winners (three winners for each age group: Under 5, 6-11, 12-18) will receive an award and prize. Entries close Friday 7 October 2022.

How to enter.

1. Find inspiration
2. Create an artwork based on one of the following prompts
     O. Draw yourself doing something fun at - e.g, dressing up in your favourite costume, eating your favourite food or playing with friends.
     O. Draw a picture of you doing something that keeps you feeling healthy and happy
3. Upload your artwork into the entry form at NSW Children's Week 2022 Art Competition

• Note: Your artwork must be your original work and needs to be created specifically for the NSW Children’s Week 2022 Art Competition.
• If you have any problems submitting your artwork please email acyp@acyp.nsw.gov.au or speak to Mrs Stone

Yvonne Stone
Art Teacher

Band

SIPPS Showcase

All students have been mastering the band music and the following students have taken on extra practice to master solo pieces and small ensemble pieces for the showcase.

1. The Avengers from the Avenger - Liam C and Lachlan P
2. Pink Panther – Olivia D
3. Over the Rainbow – Avnita M
4. Raiders March – Elizabeth B

They are so looking forward to performing at the showcase.

THANK YOU

A big thank you to Emmy for the new drum carpet. The new drum carpet will allow the drums to not slide on the floor in the hall.

Upcoming Events

31ST October 2023- late afternoon – The senior band is performing at the Wahroonga Food and Wine Festival.

Kate Habkouk
Band Conveynor
Action Music
Mobile 0419 630 511
kate@actionmusic.com.au

Notes from the school office

Term 3 Fees

Term 3 fees are now overdue. Please finalise your statement of account this week.

P & C

Canteen Upgrade

The P&C were recently successful winning a grant that had enabled us to upgrade the canteen oven and fridge. Thank you Stewart for your time to complete this grant, the canteen is very grateful!

SIPPS Spectacular

Tue 20 Sep starting from 6.30pm. Parent access via Gate 2 from 6pm.

$5 per adult spectator. Please purchase on Qkr! All proceeds go to the P&C.

Great to have this back on the calendar this year. Come and see what your children have been working hard on this term.

Camp Out

22-23 Oct

Bookings now open. If you don’t own your own camping gear, we suggest the school holidays is a great time to buy or borrow. If you aren’t into camping, there is also the option to just come to the evening activities.

Please purchase one ticket per family member on Qkr! and advise dietary requirements while you are paying.

Of course, we need parent helpers to hold such an event, please put your name down for a shift HERE  

Next P&C meeting

Wed 19 Oct 2022, 7:15pm. In the School Library

Helping Hands - OSHC

Vacation Care bookings are available, please click on the brochure below for details.

Community