Gloucester Public School Newsletter Opportunity - Innovation - Excellence

Find us at: 45 Hume Street, Gloucester 2422 Tel: 65581303 Fax: 65581655 www.gloucester-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

Term 1 Week 3 Tuesday 11th February 2020

Dates to Remember

13/02 Primary Swimming Carnival

21/02 Investiture Assembly &

Presentation of Swimming

Carnival Awards

20/02 Zone Swimming Carnival

Term 1 Assemblies

Week 4 21/02 House

Cpts/Investiture Assembly

Week 5 28/2 K-2 1.00pm

3-6 2.00pm

Week 10 03/04 K-2 1.00pm

3-6 2.00pm

Week 11 09/04 Expectation

Award Assemblies

Excursions

Stage 3 Canberra 24-27/8

P&C Meeting: 24th February

7.00pm

in the Library

Message from Mrs Wakefield – Another warm welcome back to all our students and families.

Safer Internet Day 2020 Today is Safer Internet Day at our school. Students will be participating in lessons this week on internet safety and engaging in conversations. I encourage you to talk about internet safety with your family. The theme this year is ‘Together for a better Internet’ and Australia’s eSafety Commissioner is encouraging parents/carers to mark the day by starting family conversations about online safety. There is a free parent/carer webinar this week. The webinar session will cover how to start the chat about harmful content, contact with stranger and cyberbullying. The webinar – ‘Helping Kids to Thrive Online’ will take place this week:

• Tomorrow – Wednesday 12th February 2020 at 8.00pm and

• Friday 14th February 2020 at 12.00pm

You can register for the webinar now at esafety.gov.au/parents/webinars

3-6 Swimming Carnival It was lovely to see the rain last Friday and over the weekend, however this postponed our annual swimming carnival. Rain is predicted this week; however, we will try our best to run a carnival. At this stage, the carnival will run this Thursday 13th February. If it rains on Thursday, a decision will be made regarding the carnival. Construction Work at our school Construction and painting work started over the Christmas holidays and will continue during Term 1 and over the Easter/April school holidays. At differing times, classes may have to move rooms to accommodate the painting and construction. Lessons will continue as normal. Please be patient and support our school during this period. Our school is benefiting from this much needed work. 2020 P&C Meetings I encourage you to join us at the P&C meetings in 2020. Our first meeting for 2020 is Monday 24th February at 7.00pm in the school library. The P&C work in close cooperation with myself, the students and staff to benefit our school as partners in the education process, discussing school policy, procedures, participating in events and activities, discussing curriculum and fundraising. Becoming a member allows you to support our school is numerous ways. The P&C has by-laws, a code of conduct, a constitution and many other policies to guide members. The Annual General Meeting for Gloucester Public School (GPS) P&C will be held on 23rd March 2020. As a member of our P&C at GPS, you agree to uphold the values of the school. All meetings are conducted in accordance with the rules and policies of the NSW P&C Association (Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations of NSW). If you have never joined the P&C, 2020 might be a great year to join. P&C Day 2020 – Celebrate all the great things that the P&C do for our school on 4th March 2020. A special day to recognise and celebrate our P&C Association’s contribution to public education. I would like to thank the P&C at our school for their support and commitment. We are blessed to have such a wonderful P&C at GPS. Leanne Wakefield, Principal

SMART PACKS & VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS 2020 Thank you to all those who have paid for their smart packs so far this year. Smart Packs are available for purchase at the office or online. The costs are as follows:

Kindergarten - $45.00 Years 1-6 - $40.00

These packs contain everything your child will require for the year; e.g., pens, pencils, glue sticks, exercise books, textbooks etc. We would appreciate it if you would make this payment a priority, if you are able to do so.

Voluntary school contributions will remain at $30.00 per child per year. These funds are used to assist the school to purchase items used in teaching and student welfare. Such items include expenses relating to each of the learning areas such as art supplies, equipment, sports gear, library books, take-home readers, paper, cost of photocopying and texts etc. Payment of these fees would be very much appreciated.

Please note that payment is by cash, cheque or online (Skoolbag). If you wish to make an online payment, the reference numbers are as follows: Smart Packs : 51624 Voluntary Contribution : 46001

Stage 3 Homework Begins Students have homework to complete this week and an information note was attached to the task. Parents and carers, please read through this note, discuss this with your child, then sign and return the

note to your class teacher with the homework task by Friday. Please don’t underestimate the value of listening to your child read aloud, even as independent and advanced readers. These oral reading opportunities really improve fluency and develop many positive skills in reading. Listening to them at the kitchen bench while cooking dinner is fine! Homework will be given every Monday and is due each Friday. If your child is unable to complete the homework, please send us a quick note so we know. Whilst we understand that homework time can be a challenge for many households, we value your patience, support and persistence in developing organisational skills and sound study habits as we work together to set your child up for success as they approach their transition to high school. Stage 3 Class Teachers School Banking School Banking for this week will be TOMORROW, 12th February due to a clash with the primary swimming carnival. Back to normal (Thursdays) from next week. Jane Richardson School Banking Coordinator

Maths Number Groups to start next week Stage 3 classes will move into number groups for the hour after recess each Monday and Tuesday, where we group students according to their abilities in working with number concepts.

This has been a highly successful program over the last few years, allowing us to target each child’s individual skills in number and support them in their maths development. Students are initially grouped according to results from a variety of assessment tasks and these groups are changeable to allow those students who are showing notable improvement or struggling with concepts to move to a more suitable group. We look forward to beginning next Monday 17th February. Your child may have a different teacher in Stage 3 during this time. Rod Maggs – Assistant Principal (Stage 3)

Sporting Schools Term 1 GPS has secured the funding for Sporting Schools program this term. It will run from Week 4 to Week 10, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A new note will be required for all students participating and these are available from the office. We are excited about this program and look forward to providing a healthy afternoon snack and teaching skills to assist your children to become active and more confident in their skills when taking part in sport. If you have any enquiries, please contact Mel Seale or Eve Green at school (65581303).

Class & Expectation Awards Week 2

KB: Roy Fisher, Kexin Young, Archie Baker (E), Kilanhi McEvoy. KM: Fletcher Compton, Aliyah Matri (E), Dakota Clark, Ryan Stanton. .

1/2B: Jarrah Baker, Krickett Jolliffe (E), Rosie Knudsen, 1/2C: Trey Oestmann (E), Isaac Burns, Gracie Tukuafu, Ella Gambrill Jasmyne Warner

1/2S: Laney Leu, Noah Leitch (E), Daisy Jennings, 3/4K: Charlie Bignell (E), Pharoah Genoli, Sienna Archer Ranieri. Sanderson, Liam Wamsley.

3/4L: Paddy Doolan, Taz Rumbel (E), Amos Tukuafu, 3/4S: Lily Rogers, Christopher Bolton, Grace Markham, Harrison Hodgess Chloe Campbell (E).

3/4W: Layla Collins, Ewan Sheely (E), Justin Boorer, 5/6B: Isabel Jeffreys (E), Logan Gambrill, Destiny Osland. Hayley Green-Crook, Riley Schafer.

5/6E: Kaitlin Perry (E), Mackenzie Hardy, Jaxson Galvin, 5/6G: Lacey Wall (E), Reannah Yates, Ale’andra Parks, Brodie Parish. Phineas Hester.

5/6M: Charlotte Todd (E), Troy McBride, Jazmin Murray, Connor Garnham.

Library 2020 A big welcome back to the library for Years 1-6 and a very special welcome to our new Kindy students. I have already had our first library lesson for our new Kindergarten students and it was lovely to see all the children so excited about borrowing a book from our school library. Your child requires a library bag to be able to borrow each week and we do have them available for purchase in the library for $2. Please see Mrs Macdonald before school Monday to Thursday to purchase these. If your child has a library bag and forgets it on their borrowing day we do have a limited amount of bags we can lend to the students however infants classes will be given priority to borrow these and from then on it will be on a first come, first served basis. These bags will need to be returned to the library the following week. Unfortunately, if your child doesn’t return their previously borrowed books they will not be able to borrow that week. Library books are a big investment for our school and we need to ensure that they are returned each week. It’s a really good idea to have a special spot in your child’s bedroom to keep the library books and that your child gets into the habit of returning them each week. I’m looking forward to a lovely year of reading and learning with your children in the library this year! Kim Macdonald Teacher Librarian

Oz Opera presents The Barber of Seville

Oz Opera is coming back to Gloucester Public School to

perform The Barber of Seville.

‘A serious case of love at first sight is a big problem for

Count Almaviva. Enter the resourceful barber named

Figaro, who cleverly solves everyone’s problems — for a

price. Secret letters, cunning disguises and all sorts of

confusion will delight young audiences as the boy gets the

girl and Figaro gets paid!

Rossini’s The Barber of Seville is one of the most popular

operas ever written. This travelling production will enthral

school students of all ages, complete with beautiful

costumes and engaging scenery.’

There will be two session times on Tuesday 31 March -

11:30am (infants) and 1:30pm (primary).

The cost is $8 per student and can be paid at the office/online or sent in with your child/ren. Permission notes

will be in next week’s newsetter.

This performance is a wonderful opportunity for our students so don’t miss out!

Susie McLeod

Oz Opera Coordinator

SRC 2020 GPS held our first Student Representative Council (SRC) meeting last Monday. The SRC is made up of Year 6 executive, school captains and vice captains, house captains and a representative from each primary classroom. Voting the executive into their roles was undertaken at our first meeting. They are as follows:

President: Georgia Ellis Vice President Blake Walker Secretary Mackenzie Hardy Treasurer Mitchell Davies

Congratulations to these students. Students who were voted in by their class members to be their representatives on the SRC are: Shyanne Henrickson (3/4L), Justin Boorer (3/4W), Xander Galvin (3/4S), Ivy Kellehear (3/4K), Makaylee Gooch (5/6G), Nylah Wisely (5/6M), Rahni Cardy (5/6E) and Albie Cameron (5/6B). The school captains and house captains include Marley Young, Sophie Lenehan, Mitchell Whitby, Nicholas Maggs, Jessica Higgins & William Wooster (Dobell), Andrew Fraser & Matilda Dillon (Bradman), Nikita Hobbins & Brody Taylor (Flynn) and Lachlan Sansom & Alicia Martin (Parkes). We are looking forward to an exciting year of fundraising and events with this dynamic committee. Eve Green and Emily Bosworth SRC

We were privileged to have a special visitor to our school last week. This Southern Boobook owl was sitting on the buddy bench when we arrived at school. He waited for a ‘buddy’ for about an hour and a half before finally flying away.