Allambie Heights Public School RESPECT RESPONSIBILITY RESILIENCE

165 Allambie Road, Allambie Heights NSW 2100 P:9451 5440 F:9975 5046

E: allambieht-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au W: www.allambieht-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

The Grapevine

Term 4, Week 8 4 December 2018

Principal’s Message

Quality teachers making a difference Farewell to some of our staff – we will miss you! Sadly, at the end of the year we will farewell some of our staff as they take on new positions at other schools or embrace life out of full time teaching as they travel the world or continue with further study. I would like to congratulate Ellisha Conway on her appointment as classroom teacher at Lord Howe Island Community School for the next two years. Following her commitment of two years to the community of LHICS, she will be appointed to a permanent teaching position on the mid-north coast of NSW – a location closer to family and friends. Due to a restructure of school counsellor networks, Paula Brugger leaves us at the end of the year to work at Curl Curl North PS three days per week and in a role outside of the Department of Education the remaining two days per week. In 2019, we will welcome Martin Fraser as our school counsellor. Sophie Clisby and Ashley Gordon are also departing our school at the end of the year to continue study or to enjoy time travelling abroad. To our four departing staff, we thank you for your contributions to our school during your time with us and we wish you every success in your new ventures.

Allambie Bands in Concert Congratulations to all band members and our Band Conductor, Surrey Hodges, for their outstanding performances at our recent Allambie Bands in Concert evening on Friday 23 November 2018. It was an honour to be a part of the audience and celebrate with you an amazing year in our school bands. Congratulations to all students involved in the band for being such outstanding representatives of our school for all band events throughout 2018.

Allambie Presents… The next two weeks are ‘Concert Weeks’ for our school community. My thanks to all staff for their dedication in producing the 2018 concerts – a lot of time, effort and commitment by each and every staff member. I have no doubt all who attend the Kindergarten – year 2 and the year 3 – year 6 concerts will be blown away by the amazing talent of all students across the school who star in the grade or Stage based performances.

Semester 2 reports As the end of term 4 quickly approaches, staff have been extremely busy finalising Semester 2 reports for all students. Staff have worked tirelessly to ensure each and every report truly reflects the abilities of each student. My thanks to all staff for their commitment, time and energy in creating such detailed and meaningful reports for all students in their class. Semester 2 reports will be issued to all students on the afternoon of Tuesday 11 December 2018.

Your community school During our P and C AGM on Wednesday 21 November 2018, special thanks was given to our departing year 6 families who have been wonderful volunteers and contributors to our school over the past 7 plus years. I would also like to extend my thanks to these families for all their work during their time at Allambie Heights Public School and for the support they have provided during this involvement.

During 2018, our P and C has supported the school in so many ways. Through fundraising, approximately $45 000 was donated to our school to support the following programs and initiatives: Support of technology infrastructure across the school – IWB for the music room and a small bank of Chromebooks for

classrooms New home readers for students in year 1 and year 2 Support for the school’s extra-curricular dance program Appreciation of staff with a donation to the staff Christmas Party

In addition to the fundraising support detailed above, all families who have paid their voluntary general school contributions (DGR) have assisted our school through the Building Fund and the Library Fund. Every year, donations made to our Library Fund are used to purchase books, mobile technologies and resources for our Library, while donations to the Building Fund are used to support upgrading works across the school relating to classrooms - your support is greatly appreciated!

Our final meeting for 2018 saw all our executive positions vacated and a new P and C elected for 2019. My thanks to outgoing Vice Presidents – Amanda Fletcher and Julia Trout, for their contributions and commitment to these P and C executive roles over the past 12 months. It has been my pleasure to work closely with you and I look forward to continuing your supportive legacy with our incoming P and C executive.

Congratulations to our incoming 2019 P and C executive: President – Samantha Young Vice Presidents – Samantha Berryman and Brooke Jorey Secretary – Laura Terrey Treasurer – Kevin Buckley

I would also like to thank the other parents who accepted the many other roles that were filled on the evening. Our school is so lucky to have such dedicated parents to work in partnership with our teaching team.

Angela Helsloot Principal

Nurturing your child Allambie Heights Public School Parliament In 2018 we established the Allambie Heights Public School Student Parliament. This provides students with the opportunity to participate in decision making through the active involvement in a Parliament based on the Australian system of government.

Our student leaders are the Prime Minister and Ministers and each class from year 1-year 6 elect two classroom Members of Parliament. These Members of Parliament bring proposals from their class to debate at parliamentary sessions. On Friday 30 November 2018 we held our seventh and final School Parliament for the year. Our four fundraisers raised $3128 for different causes. Parliament have discussed and voted on many different issues and they have achieved a number of important improvements. These include: Mirrors and paper towel dispensers in the toilets Outdoor clocks (successfully proposed as a year 6 gift to the school - will be installed for 2019) Waste free lunch and a campaign to reduce rubbish at school Each class year 3 - year 6 have chosen the bell song World Vision fundraiser Crazy hair day Great Book Swap Sold Stewart House bouncy balls

I would like to thank all our Ministers and Members of Parliament for contributing to the success of our first year of Student Parliament. Allambie Heights Public School Parliament will resume in February 2019 when we will elect new Ministers and Members of Parliament.

Below is a link to the Filmpond we made about our student parliament https://www.filmpond.com/films?token=3d94b7ded73cd5de19faa55df90773d8

Sarah Swift Deputy Principal

Awards presented at week 6 assembly - Friday 23 November 2018:

Award Winners

Deputy Principal's Report

SILVER AWARD

Bianca B Vegas B Lachlan C Imogen D Lennon F Poppy G-M

Cameron G Stanley G Olivia H Sophie H Kai H Noah L

Zac L Lucy M Natalia M Jake M x2 Lauren M Anders M

Harley P Oscar S Jay T Lucinda T Joshua v d R

GOLD AWARD

Zara A Andy M Matilda T Liam W

Don’t forget to ‘like’ our official Facebook page - Allambie Heights Public School and the P and C’s official Facebook page - AHPS P&C. Both Facebook pages have been set up to showcase the many wonderful events and activities that take place across our school and to keep parents informed about school events they may have missed through our communication channels. Like both pages to keep up-to-date with your school!

A reminder that all volunteers across the school must provide the school office with a copy of their WWC prior to volunteering in our classrooms, canteen, uniform shop or on excursions. A volunteer WWC is free and covers parents and grandparents related to students in our school. Other volunteers in our school who are not related directly to our students – neighbours, grandfriends etc – complete an additional screening process with the Department of Education prior to being able to volunteer across the school.

Tuesday 4 December 2018 Year 6 to Year 7 public high school orientation day

Wednesday 5 December 2018 Last day to trade awards for 2018 9.10am Presentation Morning 9.30am—hall Year 3—Year 6 concert dress rehearsal

Thursday 6 December 2018 Year 3—Year 6 concert 6.00pm—hall

Friday 7 December 2018 Year 3—Year 6 concert 10.00am—hall Last assembly for 2018 2.00pm—hall

Sunday 9 December 2018 Allambie Carols Oval

Monday 10 December 2018 Kindy—Year 2 concert dress rehearsal

Tuesday 11 December 2018 Kindy—Year 2 concert 6.00pm—hall

Wednesday 12 December 2018 Kindy—Year 2 concert 10.00am—hall

Thursday 13 December 2018 School medal morning tea with Mrs Helsloot 11.10am - library Year 6 dinner dance Hall

Calendar

Admin News

ENEWS ABSENT NOTES The SchoolEnews app has a feature to send in absentee notes. We request that instead of phoning the school office to notify us your child is absent, please complete the absentee form on the SchoolEnews app under Digital Forms. This will save you sending a handwritten note or email to the classroom teacher explaining your child’s absence.

2018 AWARD TRADING The last day to trade Bronze, Silver and Gold awards is Wednesday 5 December 2018. Awards are due to the office by 9.10am on this day in order to receive awards at the final assembly on

Friday 7 December 2018.

2019 Swimming Carnival

Dance News

Monday 17 December 2018 Year 6 outing

Tuesday 18 December 2018 Talent Showcase 11.35am—12.55pm—Hall Year 6 parent afternoon tea 2.00pm—L block

Wednesday 19 December 2018 End of year excursion K—6 Last day of term 4

2019 Wednesday 30 January 2019 Year 1 to Year 6 students return for their first day

Wednesday 30 January 2019— Kindergarten Best Start Interviews (scheduled times as per parent sign up) Friday 1 February 2019

Monday 4 February 2019 Kindergarten students begin their first day

School student applications for 2019 opened on Monday 15 October 2018.

Students progressing to year 3 and year 7 do not need to re-apply if they: · are continuing at the same school · are residing at the same address · have not been sent an expiry notification from Transport for NSW.

Where a student meets the new distance eligibility, the system will automatically update their entitlement. If they do not meet the new eligibility, they will receive an expiry notification.

Students who have an entitlement approved under a medical condition which is due to expire will receive a notification advising them to re-apply. If students need to update their information or re-apply, they should go online to https://apps.transport.nsw.gov.au/ssts/updateDetails

Applications need to be submitted before 31 December 2018 to ensure student entitlements are updated and their current entitlement/card is not cancelled. If their application is submitted after 31 December 2018, the system will automatically cancel a card and a new one will need to be issued.

Students in the Opal network applying for a SSTS or Term Bus Pass entitlement for the first time will receive their card at their nominated postal address. Cards will be mailed out during December 2018 and January 2019.

School Opal card brochure: https://apps.transport.nsw.gov.au/ssts/assets/documents/OPAL022_3-New_School_Digital-WCAG.PDF

The 2019 School Swimming Carnival will be held at the Warringah Aquatic Centre on Tuesday 26 February 2019 from 9.30am – 2.30pm. The necessary information will go out in week 1 2019 when all swimmers will be required to pre enter the carnival through the school interviews website.

Megan Codling

Congratulations to all the children who auditioned for the 2019 Junior Dance Group. There were over 60 children trying out for the 24 available places. A group of 24 students have been chosen along with 6 reserves. All dancers are expected to attend every lunchtime rehearsal and be available for the last two weeks of term 2 to perform at Glen Street Theatre. There is also an eisteddfod on Saturday 25 May 2019, and another two with dates to be confirmed. If you cannot commit to these performances please advise Mrs Dewey as soon as possible.

Due to overbooking of the hall, the Senior Dance Group auditions will now take place in the hall at lunchtime on Tuesday 18 December 2018.

There will be a lesson and costume fee involved for both junior and senior dance groups. You will be invoiced for this amount in term 1 2019.

2019 School Bus Passes

2019 Calendar

PSSA

Library News

Borrowing from the library for 2018 has ceased. We need all items to be returned to the library now. Any students who currently have overdue items from earlier this year are asked to thoroughly search in all possible places for these items – at home, in their school bags and in their classrooms – and return them as soon as possible. If items are lost/misplaced a letter will be sent home and a replacement cost will be required.

A special reminder to year 6 students and any other students leaving Allambie Heights Public School at the end of this year, who need to return items before they leave us. All school items must be returned to the library by the end of week 9, Friday 14 December 2018. Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Premier’s Reading Challenge 2018 Congratulations to all those students who successfully completed the 2018 Premier’s Reading Challenge. Certificates of Participation will be given out in class this week and Gold Certificates will be presented to students who have completed the Challenge successfully and consecutively for four years. Unfortunately there has been a delay in many schools receiving their Gold Certificates from the PRC office and the certificates are yet to arrive. Congratulations to Gold Certificate recipients: Charlie A, Jett B, Miki B, Tai C, Josh C, Archie C, Emily F, Katherine H, Sophie H, Kaylee H, Maddie H, Fin P, Leron P, Charlie S, Polly S, Keira T and Matilda T. Well done AHPS students!

Elleni Christie Teacher-librarian

The summer PSSA season has now drawn to a close. Well done to our t-ball, softball, cricket and eagle tag teams on their participation, effort and sportsmanship.

Congratulations to the following Eagle Tag teams on their outstanding results this season: Senior Girls AH 1 – undefeated premiers Junior A AH3 – runners up Junior B AH5 – undefeated premiers Junior B AH6 – runners up

Congratulations to the following T-Ball teams on their outstanding results this season: A team – runners up B team – premiers

Thank you also to the teachers who coached teams and umpired each week.

Louisa Brown PSSA Coordinator

Senior Choir Well done to all of the Senior Choir for their commitment and amazing effort during rehearsals and performances. They’ve grown musically and work beautifully as a choir. They will perform at Presentation Day this Wednesday, at both of the year 3 - year 6 concerts this week and for the residents of Scalabrini Village next Friday. We wish our year 6 singers all the best and keep up the beautiful singing.

Allambie Singers What a wonderful and enthusiastic group of vocalists the Allambie Singers are - every Friday, on time and ready for rehearsals. Well done everyone and a fantastic performance at assembly. The Allambie Singers will entertain us again at both of the year 3 - year 6 and the Kindergarten - year 2 concerts this week and next week. A reminder that anyone in year 4 wishing to join the Senior Choir can audition at the beginning of term 1 next year.

K-2 Concert (finale song) All K-2 parents, a little heads up. At the end of the K-2 concerts, all of the students will perform their finale and there will be a tiny bit of audience participation (surprise song), where you will sing one word (pitching middle to high) - keep an eye out for the cue cards .. and you’ll be fine.

Recorder Ensemble Next year we will offer a Recorder Ensemble to any student in year 3 - year 6 that has experience on the recorder. If your child can play the keys G, B, C and D (high) on their recorder then they are eligible. There will be a limit to the number of students in the ensemble (numbers to be confirmed). So if we have too many students expressing interest in joining then we will need to hold an audition at the beginning of term 1. At this point, the recorder ensemble rehearsals may take place on Friday during lunch.

Jasmine Tan Music Teacher

Music News

Uniform Shop

Snack Shack News

This year the talent showcase will be held on Tuesday 18 December 2018 between recess and lunch (for students and staff only).

Any student who would like to showcase an item (individually or with their peers), need to inform their class teacher and prepare a short (1-2 min) item for auditions. Students are in charge of organising (and cutting) their own music. As in previous years, Kindergarten students are invited to participate if they are involved in an item with older children only.

PLEASE check for appropriateness of lyrics, including the songs your child will be dancing to for their Talent Showcase audition.

Jasmine Tan Music Teacher The uniform shop will be open this Thursday 6 December 2018 from 8:45am to 9:30am. If you cannot attend the shop, uniforms can be ordered online via Flexischools.

Online orders will be processed until Thursday 13 December 2018.

Any orders after this date will be processed when school returns on the Wednesday 30 January 2019. The uniform shop will be open on Wednesday 30 January 2019 and Friday 1 February 2019 from 8:40am to 9:30am.

Thanks Uniform Shop Committee 2019 VOLUNTEER ROSTER Our online signup link is ready for you to book your spot to help out for next year - term 1 2019.

CLICK HERE - http://signup.com/go/YDFJeHk

Even if you can only spare an hour over the recess or lunch for counter service, your help is greatly appreciated. As a bonus, your children love seeing you in the canteen. Please use the link above and choose a shift or more that suits you and lend a helping hand to our canteen staff Cindy, Mandy and Melanie.

We need volunteers to help keep the canteen stay open and running efficiently every day, especially Thursdays and Fridays... times can be flexible or even just over the counter help for 30 minutes. It would be nice to have 1 - 2 volunteers at each time slot so grab a friend. The canteen needs your help!

CANTEEN NEWS Our Frozen yogurts are extremely popular!!

We only have 2 more weeks of Flexischools ordering. Monday 17 December 2018 and Tuesday 18 December 2018 will be recess and lunch over the counter service only. There will be no Flexischools orders for these days.

There have been a few students wanting to buy lunch over the counter, however, we do not offer full lunches over the counter. Lunch orders are to be ordered online ONLY. We offer emergency lunches for those who have forgotten to bring lunch, which includes a sandwich and a piece of fruit for $5. You will receive a note from the canteen if this happens.

Please remember it is up to you to let us know if your child is absent if you have placed an online lunch order. Please call us before 10.00am on 9451 5440.

The canteen will be open for business on the first day back of term 1, Wednesday 30 January 2019. Please put your hand up to help. Whether it be 30 minutes for counter service or helping us with food prep.

Please keep an eye on the P&C Facebook page for updates from the canteen.

Thank you from the canteen team Cindy, Mandy and Mel

Talent Showcase