6 March 2023

Newsletter Articles

March PBL Focus

One person at a time in cubicles. Give others privacy. Leave area clean and tidy.

Be safe in the bathroom. Use the bathroom appropriately.

Catch Card Winners

This fortnight’s catch card winners are:

Emilia N & Charlotte X

Principal’s Message

Congratulations to Andrew and Finn

Congratulations to Andrew in Year 6 who recently represented SIPPS at the PSSA Zone tennis competition. Andrew has now been selected into the NSW PSSA Sydney North Tennis Team to represent the region at NSW PSSA Tennis Championships. He will travel to the regional NSW town of Albury to compete. We wish him every success. Go Andrew!

Over the weekend Finn in Year 5 competed in the State Combined Little Athletics Carnival at Dubbo. He competed in long jump, 100m, 80m hurdles, 800m, discus and shot put. Finn was the overall champion of the carnival. Sensational result and so much energy! Congratulations Finn.

NAPLAN 2023

The National Assessment Program: Literacy and Numeracy will commence in schools on 15th March 2023. The first assessment is Writing.

What is NAPLAN?

NAPLAN is a national literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. It is the only national assessment all Australian students have the opportunity to undertake.

As students’ progress through their school years, it’s important to check how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing and numeracy.

NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards and over time.

NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It doesn’t replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress.

If you would like further information or information in other languages, please click this link for support:

Our SIPPS class teachers have already contacted families of students who require learning adjustments. Should you believe your child requires adjustments, please contact a member of the school executive team for further support and advice regarding the NAPLAN protocols.

Parent and Teacher Interviews Weeks 9 and 10 Term 1

Parent / Teacher Interviews are scheduled for Weeks 9 and 10 of Term 1 (20/3 – 31/3). After feedback and survey information in 2021 and positive feedback in 2022, interviews will continue to be for a 15-minute time slot. As many of the timeslots teachers offer are outside their official work hours, teachers will identify times which meet their professional and personal commitments.

The SchoolZine app will be open to parents from 12:00pm on Thursday 9th March. Please take the time to make an appointment with your child’s teacher. Please schedule only one appointment per child. If there are two teachers job sharing, the teachers prepare and plan the information together. We understand that sometimes schedules do not align, and parents may need to request an appointment early in Term 2 if they cannot attend in the allocated times across these two weeks.

International Women’s Day 2023

Thank you to our P&C who are very keen to celebrate International Women’s Day within the school community. Our school leaders and P&C representatives will be providing purple ribbons to all students in recognition of the day and a celebration photo of our female students. Look out on Facebook for the photo.

School site enhancement 2023

Looking even better! Painting @ SIPPS:

By the end of Term 1 we anticipate the painting should be complete. We are currently in the midst of this painting schedule. Our senior classes have moved rooms over the last ten days and now our K-2 students will move classrooms in readiness to have their rooms painted.

Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE)

Students at SIPPS have started the year focussing on PDHPD topics which include safety, protective strategies, friendship and belonging. This assists students to settle into the school year and remember that we all need to be friendly, caring and keep our hands and feet to ourselves. We will commence our Anti-bullying lessons in the final weeks of the term.

Permissions

The DoE has updated their requirements for all schools to require written permission for students to access third party online applications. This note is being formulated and will require permission to access programs such as SoundWaves, Canva and Literacy Planet. Google, Mathletics, Wushka and MS Office 365 are core and approved applications provided by the Department, so are not required to have a separate permission. Please look out for the permission note this week.

Kind regards,
Caroline English

Key dates for your diaries

9/3/23 - 12:00pm SchoolZine - parents and carers to commence Parent -Teacher Interview bookings open.
15/3/23 - NAPLAN commences with the writing test for all students.
15/3 – 27/3/23 - NAPLAN assessment window
21/3/23 - Harmony Day – wear cultural dress or orange to celebrate Harmony Day.
24/3/23 - National Ride 2 School Day – Enjoy riding to school.
27/3 – 31/3/23 - Parent Teacher Interviews or PLASP meetings– SchoolZine bookings from Thursday 9/3/23.
6/4/23 - 2:15pm – 3pm Festive and Easter hat parade – more information to follow
15 – 17/5/23 - Stage 3 Camp
27/6/23 - SIPPS Athletics Carnival
28/6/23 - Semester 1 Reports home to parents and carers.
31/7 to 4/8/23 - Education Week
19/9/23 - SIPPS Spectacular
27/10/23 - Grandparents Day
6/12/23 - Presentation Day

New Flags

Our Stage 3 students and Leadership Team were honoured to receive our new school flags. Hon Paul Fletcher, Member for Bradfield, presented them to our school on Wednesday, 22 February 2023.

Assistant Principal

Naplan

NAPLAN is fast approaching, yr 3 & 5 students will begin with the Writing assessment on Wednesday 15th March. There are 4 assessments in total Writing, Reading, Language Conventions & Numeracy. If students are away on the day their assessment is held, a make-up test session will be made available. Students will be using their own headphones.

Whole School Assembly

On Wednesday 15th March we invite our parents and community to join us at our whole school assembly. Our 3-6 students will be receiving their ribbons from the swimming carnival and our 2023 Leaders will be taking their pledges. Gate 2 will be open at 2.15pm for a 2.20pm assembly start. Visitors are asked to please check-in using the QR code.

Information about curriculum reform for Parents and Carers

NSW education is going through a period of curriculum change and the first comprehensive reform of the NSW school curriculum in 3 decades is underway. Follow the link for information for parents and carers. Parents and carers: what you need to know about curriculum reform

K-2 Home Reading

All classes, K-2 have begun home reading. Home reading is an important part of becoming an independent reader. Home reading enables students to gain fluency and confidence and should be an enjoyable experience. To facilitate this, students will be working at a level lower than that of class instruction.

Home reading applies for students reading at level 24 or below. For students reading above level 25, local libraries are a wonderful place to find supplementary reading. It is also very important to continue to read to your child as often as possible. Sharing and discussion of picture or information books fosters a love of literature and develops knowledge of reading and book literacy.

K Ruby change home readers every day.
1/2 Jade change their books on Wednesdays and Fridays.
1/2 Amber change their books on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
However, if needed, students may change their books on any day.

Kindergarten

Guided Reading Groups in K Ruby

Guided reading groups have begun in K Ruby. This is an incredibly exciting time as students begin to see themselves as readers. They identify and say the sounds we have learnt and blend them to read words. Decodable readers ensure students have many opportunities to practise the sounds learnt in class and are successful when reading simple texts.

SRC News

On the 21st of March SIPPS will be celebrating Harmony Day, with students wearing orange or cultural clothing to school. On this day we celebrate inclusivity and cultural diversity in Australia.

On 24th of March, all students are encouraged to ride to school for National Ride to School Day.

SRC Team
Chloe, Haeun, Armaan, Erin

Band

Senior Band

The band is currently learning Abide With Me and Settlers March.

Abide With Me: I found a version on YouTube and played the piece to the children. It’s a slow piece and I know it’s challenging to play; however, it teaches air support and phrasing.

Learning to phrase in music is essential to creating emotion.

I have also given out Cantina Band – A new piece for 2023.

Band members should be practicing at least three times a week for 15 minutes.

All our beginners are now in the Senior band.

Junior Band

The Junior band has been working very hard on learning their first five notes. We have some wonderful beginners this year, some of the children have learnt Hot Cross Buns. Amazing progress!

Drummers should be counting out loud as they practice their pieces.

Flute players – remember to hold your flute correctly and practice with the head joint.

Kind regards,
Kate Habkouk – 0419 630 511
Kate @actionmusic.com.au

Administration Office

Online permission notes

The following permission notes are available online for signing:

• Third Party Software Consent
• C.A.R.E.S Stage 3 excursion
• Zone Swimming Carnival

Term fees

The whole school contribution and Term 1 fees will be emailed later this week. Please ensure you have a look at the note attached that explains the fees.

Have you downloaded The Parent Portal by School Bytes. This is a great place for you to see everything about your child. If you have child/ren at St Ives High School it is the same app for all of your children. You can select by child and see what notes need to be signed and what fees are outstanding and pay your fees.

Service NSW Back to School Vouchers.

St Ives Park PS is set up to take the $50 vouchers towards your excursion/incursion. The rules around the use of the vouchers are quite clear:

• The students name on the voucher, dictates who we need to allocate the $50 to for an excursion they are attending.
• We cannot take the voucher unless you have an excursion to apply it to.
• Vouchers cannot be used for Voluntary contributions.
• You will not receive change (ie, if the excursion costs $47 the school will only receive $47, the $3 is lost). We cannot put the balance into Fees in Advance.
• You will need to present your voucher to school for processing before paying your account. Multiple vouchers can be accepted, particularly if you are paying for a Camp.
• We will apply the voucher against the excursion. Any balance owing on the excursion can then be paid using the payment portal.

Please use the following link if you would like any further information on the vouchers:

P & C

Next P&C Meeting

Wed 15 March. 7:15pm in the Staff Room.

All are welcome. Come along and hear from the Principal, help set our fundraising priorities and plan social events for our school community. Have a say in your child’s school setting and be part of a wonderful community. We’d love to see some new faces join us.

Tennis Courts

The new access gate has been installed and a local business has funded two seats for parents to watch their children play. Planning is also underway to get the tennis courts open once again for public hire out of school hours. Watch this space.

Election BBQ and Cake Stall

BBQers, Bakers and democracy sausage voters. This is a fun community day and a great fundraiser for the P&C. Please sign up for a shift HERE and we’ll distribute cake boxes closer to the time. Save the date to come on down and buy some goodies while you vote.

Easter Hat Parade

Thu 6 Apr

Save the date. There will be an Easter Egg Raffle and Easter cookies for sale to enjoy for afternoon tea at the parade. More details coming soon. Tickets will be available on Qkr!.

Canteen

The canteen is open every Monday lunchtime. Please order via the Qkr! app. The Canteen is run by parent volunteers so we need all Monday shifts filled so we can operate. This is a great fun experience, please sign up for a shift or two here:

P&C Dates for your diaries

Helping Hands - OSHC

Community

Active Ku-ring-gai Program