12 December 2022

Newsletter Articles

December PBL Focus

Be courteous and polite. Follow teacher instructions. Speak politely. Use an inside voice.

Catch Card Winners

This fortnight’s catch card winners are:

Principal’s Message

Presentation Day

Our final and most important assembly of the school year celebrated student achievements and accomplishments. It was a wonderful morning and showcased students learning across all areas of the curriculum. After several years of singing, performing and cohort restrictions, it was especially lovely to be able to celebrate the morning together as a whole school with our community.

A special thank you goes to Mrs Hayllar for exemplary organisation behind the scenes over many weeks to make the event such a memorable morning and success. Mrs Hayllar and Mr Duncan have collaborated to enhance the assembly lighting, sound and video quality throughout Term 4 which enabled all members of the school community to enjoy the Presentation Day assembly.

Thank you

Thank you to the P&C and all our parents, for the beautiful morning tea for staff last Thursday. It was exceptionally kind and greatly received by all our staff. A very generous and thoughtful gesture of kindness.

2023 School Leaders

At the Presentation assembly the 2023 Year 6 Leadership team were formally announced:

We welcome our new leaders into their roles and look forward to their leadership in 2023.

Year 6 Farewell dinner celebration

The Year 6 farewell and dinner celebration is scheduled for this evening. A special thank you in advance to the Year 5 team of parents led by Mrs Parsons and Mr Duncan who have been planning for many months to organise this event for the Year 6 students. We look forward to some 70s sparkles and fluro in St Ives this evening.

Exciting week ahead at SIPPS …

This is the final week of the 2022 school year for all SIPPS students. Some of the activities planned include:

Monday 12th December

Year 6 farewell at the St Ives Bowling Club organised by the SIPPS P&C for the students. Please remind your children they are in a public venue and their very best behaviour is expected.

Tuesday 13th December

Picnic and Party Day at school. All students may wear mufti to school with closed in shoes. Notes with specific details went home last week.

Wednesday 14th December

SIPPS Factor – annual talent show for students to self-nominate. Names must be on the list by Monday to present. (This is a school activity for students and staff.)

SRC has organised a Christmas and festive attire dress-up day. Students are able to wear festive attire with closed in shoes today. No donations are required.

Thursday 15th December

Students are expected to wear their full school uniform.

Friday 16th December 2:40pm

Farewell to Year 6 Archway

Students wear their school uniform to school.

Year 6 students who wish to participate in shirt signing must bring a separate item of uniform. No students will be signing uniform that is being worn.

Parents may assemble on the grass adjacent to the office block inside Gate 1 from 2:40pm to meet Year 6 students as they emerge from the archway. Any students from other grades who are leaving will follow the Year 6 students out the archway. Photos with friends can be taken on the lawn prior to students departing for holidays.

Fond Farewell…

I would like to wish Mrs Stephanie Took and Mrs Louise Underhill a happy year in 2023 as they move on from SIPPS. Mrs Took has been at SIPPS for many years in full time and part-time positions and Mrs Underhill has more recently joined SIPPS. Wishing both these ladies a successful and fulfilling 2023.

Share Our Space

This school will be open on weekends and public holidays only according to the Share Our Space guidelines. The outdoor facilities at the school will be open on the following weekends and public holidays during the school holidays:

Saturday 24 December 2022 to Tuesday 27 December 2023
Saturday 31 December 2022 to Monday 2 January 2023
Saturday 7 January and Sunday 8 January 2023
Saturday 14 January and Sunday 15 January 2023
Saturday 21 January and Sunday 22 January 2023

Please check the QR code on the Share Our Space sign to obtain up to date information.

Should you see people on site at other times, please contact the School Security Unit or local police to support the school. Thank you.

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season with family, friends and loved ones.

Looking forward to welcoming our students and community back in 2023!

2023 Dates for your diaries

27th Jan Staff return for Staff Development Day – no students
30th Jan Staff Development Day - no students
31st Jan Students in Years 1 – 6 return for 2023.

The students will return into their 2022 classes until classes for 2023 can be finalised. Information will be forwarded to families with these details in 2023.

31st Jan to 2nd Feb – Kindergarten 2023 students attend for their Best Start interviews
3rd Feb Kindergarten 2023 students commence their school year.
15th Feb P&C Meeting 7:15pm
21st Feb Parent Information Evening for all parents
27th – 31st March – Parent Teacher Interviews

Kind regards,
Caroline English

Term 4

12th December Year 6 Farewell
13th December Student Picnic / Party Day
15th December Student Talent Quest / SIPPS Factor
16th December final day for all students for 2022.

Did you know?

Ku-ring-gai Council Wild With Words Poetry Competition 2022

Congratulations to Fraser from year 4 who received the Highly Recommended award for his poem Daintree Rainforest.

Stage 1 Highlights

Stage One has enjoyed learning about persuasive writing this term. We were inspired by reading "The Day the Crayon's Quit" to imagine the life of a crayon and have written some letters of our own on behalf of these trusty kid’s tools.

Library

Library Books

Borrowing of library books from our SIPPS library has now ceased for the 2022 school year. It is time for all books to be returned. Reminder notices have been issued to assist families in locating overdue books. There are quite a few books still outstanding so we would appreciate it if you could check around at home and return any as soon as possible.

As always if there is ever a concern or query about a notice sent home, please let me know.

Virginia Allman
Teacher Librarian

Band

Junior and Senior Bands

What a wonderful year we have had in Band!

Learning classical themes, rock songs to movie themes. It's certainly been rewarding to be performing again.

Congratulations to all the Year 6 students on completing primary school band. Keep learning in high school and explore every musical opportunity you can.

One last photo for the year: Presentation Day 2023. The view from the back row of band.

Christmas music

This is my favourite website for free Christmas music:

Junior Band 2023

Enrolments are still available, so please complete the form and return it to the office.

Please check your email for confirmation of instrument for students that have been tested in the past two weeks.

Thank you

A massive thank you to Mrs Druce for being a fabulous band parent liaison this year. It’s been truly inspiring to have a parent to bounce ideas with for band.

David, Jacqui and I wish the whole school community a happy and safe Festive Season.

Kate Habkouk
Band Conveynor
Action Music
Mobile 0419 630 511

Notes from the school office

Term 1 Student Finance Flyer

Lost property

Due to the warmer weather, the lost property bins are overflowing with jackets and lunch boxes/bottles. You are most welcome to come in with your child of a morning to check it.

This may be a good time to also check that your child has their own jacket and hat, please return any items that do not belong to you to the office.

From the office

We wish you all a safe and happy holiday season. Good luck to all of our Year 6 students on the next part of their journey, we will miss you.

Mrs Faz & Mrs Littlewood

P & C

SIPPS P&C Wrap

What a fantastic year it has been. We were so happy to be back onsite to run all our social and fundraising events. It is so rewarding seeing our community come together at events such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Easter Hat Parade, School Disco and Camp Out.

The funds raised have gone towards improved services and facilities for your kids including newly refurbished bathrooms; water bottle refill stations; replaced canteen fridges and ovens; upgraded Hall sound and lighting; the year six farewell and an additional PSSA coach.

These events are thanks to the work of our P&C committee and volunteering parents, as are the wonderful Canteen and Uniform Shop services. We trust you have also enjoyed improved class parent communication, school enrolment marketing and social media updates. We are also excited to confirm that after many years of effort, the local school catchment boundaries will change next year, increasing SIPPS catchment area and helping to increase future enrolment numbers.

We must give enormous credit and thanks to our President Stewart Duncan who has led the majority of these initiatives and works tirelessly to support and improve the school, with the support of the rest of the P&C Committee. It is so rewarding to be a part of the P&C to support your child’s environment and development, whilst making close ties with other parents in the school.

We welcome all new members next year, please join us for our first meeting on 15 Feb.

Vacant Roles

We are still looking for a Deputy Uniform Shop Coordinator to support Tanya, a Deputy Canteen Manager to support Claire, and a Band Parent to help liaise between the Band and parents and provide support for performances. We’d also appreciate support with Grant applications which have been a vital source of additional income for our school. Please reach out to stivesparkpc@gmail.com if you can step into any of these roles or would like to find out more.

Uniform Shop

As you do your end of year clean out at home, please bring in any quality uniforms your kids have outgrown that we can sell second hand. Donations can be dropped to the school office any time.

Gingerbread Houses

Thank you to everyone who chose to purchase their Gingerbread house kits via the SIPPS P&C. This was the first time we have run this fundraiser. Our community successfully raised over $200 for the P&C fundraising kitty. Thank you all for your support.

Christmas Raffle

Thank you to everyone for supporting the Christmas Raffle this year. Special thanks to Jess for organising this. We trust our 3 winners drawn at Presentation Day are enjoying their goodies.

P&C Hall upgrade work

The P&C and school funded project to upgrade the school hall has now been completed. We have successfully installed new stage lights, new sound systems with additional microphones and a vision system which allows the school more control over presentations etc. The new system also allows for events to be live streamed. Thank you to everyone for their donations and support in fundraising throughout the year.

In addition to this P&C funded work, the school have also now established a Tech Crew which is made up of a small group of students who have shown an interest in the hall audio-visual systems. These students are now learning new skills and working as a great team.

P&C Thank You Morning Tea for staff

Thank you to everyone who contributed online to help the P&C show appreciation for the staff of SIPPS. We held a morning tea for the staff on Thursday 8th December and were able to say a special thank you to those staff who don’t have their own class.

2023 New Kindy Families Playdate. Sat 28 Jan, 4pm

An annual tradition, come along for this casual catch up at Athena Reserve Playground to meet other Kindy families before the first big day of school. Members of the P&C will be there, we look forward to meeting new (and existing) families.

First Day of Kindy – New Parent Connections Morning Tea
Fri 3 Feb, 9:15am

After your little one heads inside for their first day of Kindy, join us in the staff room to meet other Kindy parents and some of the P&C.

Next Meeting

Wed 15 Feb, 7:15pm, in the school library.

Community