DATE: Friday 1st February 2019 TERM 1 WEEK 1

KINGSWOOD SOUTH PUBLIC SCHOOL Address: 60-68 Smith St, Kingswood, NSW 2747

Phone: 02 4736 2408 Fax: 02 4736 6001 Email: kingswoods-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Principal: Sandra Martin

BELL TIMES

8:53 AM -SCHOOL STARTS

11:00AM - LUNCH

1:25PM - RECESS

2:45PM—SCHOOL ENDS

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE

Be Safe Be Respectful Be a Learner

Term 1 2019

Tuesday 29 January

Staff Development

Day

Wednesday 30 January

Students Return

Best Start

Thursday 31 January

Best Start

Friday 1 February

Best Start

PSSA Trials

Week 2

Monday 4 February

Best Start

Tuesday 5 February

Kindergarten Starts

Wednesday 6 February

P&C Meeting 7pm

Friday 8 February

PSSA Trials

Week 3

Tuesday 12 February

Swimming Carnival

Friday 15 February

PSSA begins

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

. Welcome back to Kingswood South PS and our first newsletter for 2019. Our school celebrates learning every day and our mission statement is, “Kingswood South Public School is dedicated to provide a quality ed-ucation that is inclusive for every student where the school values of Be Safe, Be a Learner and Be Respectful are paramount.” This year we welcome all of our new students beginning in Kindergarten and Preschool as well as new students who have arrived from other schools and hope you enjoy your time here at Kingswood South PS. Swimming Carnival

Information has already gone home about our school swimming carnival which will be on Tuesday the 12th February, 2019 at the Warragamba Swim-ming Pool. Any parents available to help on the day will be very appreciat-ed. PSSA Sport

PSSA Sport trials are on Friday 1st and 8th February and the competition begins on Friday 15th February, 2019. The district sport program is now in the mornings due to weather conditions. Please ensure your child is at school on time so that they don’t miss the bus for sport. We have teams competing in the following sports, T-ball, Softball and League Tag. High School Students

I ask that all high school students who come to school to pick up their younger brothers and sisters to wait outside the school until the bell rings unless accompanied by an adult. Unfortunately, I have had high school stu-dents making a nuisance of themselves in the school toilets and outside classrooms before our school day has finished. This ensures no disruption by high school students to our classes. I thank families in advance for com-plying to this request. School Media Communication

The school communicates through three media avenues. Our school web-site contains lots of information regarding events and information. Each week we will be updating the website with notes that we give out to the students regarding excursions etc. The school calendar will also be regularly updated so that parents can be aware of upcoming events at school.

We will continue to improve our methods of communication to parents throughout the year. Our school website address is www.kingswoods-p.school.nsw.edu.au We also have a school Face-book Page which is updated with information. If you are a Facebook user, ‘LIKE” our page it is Kingswood South PS. Our third form of communication is the Skoolbag App which can be uploaded for free by parents. If at any time you are not receiving notes from school, please con-tact the school office on 4736 2408 or see your child’s teacher. School Chaplain

Our school chaplain Mr Ben Gray is back again with us this year. The National School Chaplaincy Programme (NSCP) is a Commonwealth-funded initiative to support the emotional wellbeing of students and the school community through the provision of pastoral care. The New South Wales Government administers the Programme on behalf of the Commonwealth. If you wish your child to speak to him or if a parent would like to meet and speak with him about any problems or family issues you may need support with, you can contact him at school on 4736 2408 or come and see him at school on a Monday or Friday.

Attendance Regular school attendance is vitally important for students. We all want our children to learn as much as possible so they are ready for their future. Great school attendance also helps children build strong friendships as friends get to play together every day. Our school and regional target for attendance is 94%, which means on average no more than 2 days off a term, more than that will have your child fall below the expected rate. Of course, sickness may mean that a student has several days off in a row but once they are well again, they should be at school every day for the rest of the term. School exemptions used to be granted for family holidays however in 2018, this is no longer a val-id reason for school exemptions so I strongly encourage you to take family holidays during the school holiday periods. If you have an issue with attendance or would like some advice or support with this area, please don’t hesitate to make an appointment to speak with your child’s teacher. We are happy to work together to keep everyone’s attendance as high as possible. Sick Notes Sending a note when your child is sick has always been important however we have changed to a new software program which will only allow notes to be entered for the following 7 days after an absence. So all notes explaining an absence must be submitted within 7 days or they will be counted as ‘Unexplained’. P & C

Thank you to our hard working P & C for their efforts in organising uniforms at the beginning of this year. Thank you to Mrs Fry and the uniform committee for all of the extra days they have put into the uniform shop to ensure our new enrolments had a uniform to start the year. The Kingswood South P & C will hold their first meeting on the 6th February, 2019 in the school library. If you wish to come along to a meeting you are most welcome and it’s a great opportunity to become involved in your child’s school. Updating Family Contact Details

Each year we ask families to update medical and contact information. Thank you to all of the par-ents who have updated their information. If your contact details, address or phone numbers have changed could you please let the school office know ASAP. This ensures that in the case of an emergency we can contact parents immediately. Whole School Assembly

Our first whole school assembly will be held on Wednesday the 20th February, 2019. We hold our whole school assemblies each fortnight. At this assembly we will be inducting our 2019 Student Representative Council Members. Letters will be sent home to the parents to let you know that your child will be receiving an award or SRC badge. It will begin at 2pm and parents are invited to attend.

Finally, we welcome some new teachers to our school. Mrs Rogers is taking leave all of term 1 and Mrs Wakeham will be replacing her. Mrs Lysaght left at the end of last year, so Mrs Burke will be the relieving Assistant Principal for this term. Mrs Foster is replacing Mr Bell in the support unit and Mr Dale is in the library replacing Mrs Georgiou for this term. Regards Ms Sandra Martin Principal

P&C NEWS

The P & C wish to welcome students and families back for an exciting 2019 school year.

The first P & C meeting will be on Wednesday 6th of February, 7pm in the school Library. All Welcome

to attend.

Uniform shop hours are as follows:

First full week of school 8:30 am -9:15 am every day.

From the 11th February - Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8:30 am –9:15am

Every 2nd Wednesday before assembly at 1:30pm- 2pm.

The uniform shop is run by volunteers, all help is appreciated please see Donna Fry if you can assist.

School banking will commence on Thursday 7th February please fill out bank deposit slip and place

bank book in the tray provided in the school office. New bankers can open a bank account at Com-

monwealth bank prior to commencing banking any student who attends school is eligible to participate

in this program. Please see Debbie Witek for any banking enquiries.

Warmest regards

P&C committee