Term 1 Week 2 Thursday 6 February 2020

What a great start to the new school year! This week we wel-

comed 70 kindergarten students and many new families to Old

Bar School. It was wonderful watching the ‘buddies’ gently guid-

ing their little charges from the hall to their classrooms to begin

the adventure of a lifetime. There were few tears – more from

parents than children – and at the end of the day, the smiles

were wide, bright and plentiful. And so the fun begins!

This week, as we welcomed new families to our school, we also

farewelled a long standing staff member. David Willey has re-

tired after twenty five years as a classroom teacher at Old Bar

School. At a special farewell morning tea on Monday, David re-

galed staff with stories of his time here, reminiscing about past

staff and students. David will be remembered for his involve-

ment in school sport and for his love of music and art. When

questioned about his retirement plans, David was quick to point

out the many projects his is working on that will fill his days. We

all wish him luck and good health in his well-deserved retire-

ment. Mrs Shayne Symonds is taking extended leave until the

end of the year.

Our current student enrolment stands at 519. We have 10 clas-

ses in the K – Year 2 section of the school and 11 classes in Year

3 to Year 6. I’m delighted that students and staff have settled so

quickly into teaching and learning for another year. The new

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Wednesday 12 February

Swimming Carnival Kinder Information Session 4pm P&C Meeting 7pm

Monday 17 February Leadership Induction Assembly 10am

Thursday 20 February Zone Swimming

Thursday 27 February Welcome Party 5:30-7:30pm

Friday 28 February OBPS Clean up Australia Day

Wednesday 11 March P&C AGM 6pm P&C General Meeting 7pm

Wednesday 18 March Harmony Day

Monday 23 to Thursday 26 March School Photos

Friday 3 April K-6 Cross Country

Wednesday 8 April ANZAC Assembly 10:30am

Thursday 9 April Easter Hat Parade Last Day of Term 1

Find us at: 22 David Street Old Bar NSW 2430 Ph: 02 6553 7248 Fax: 02 6553 3038 Email: oldbar-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Homepage: www.oldbar-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

“David will be remembered for his involvement in school

sport and for his love of music and art. We all wish him luck

and good health in his well-deserved retirement”

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT CONTINUED

classrooms are looking beautiful and the areas around the new building are being well utilised during

break times providing well shaded play spaces in the hot weather. We have had seven demountable

classrooms removed and are hopeful that the remaining two will be taken away in the next week –

weather permitting. Once all temporary buildings have been removed, the restoration of the play-

ground can begin. The concrete paths will be removed and new turf laid. It remains a work in progress

but each day we are closer to the end product. We are planning an official opening of V block during

Education Week in August. There will be opportunities for parents and community members to be in-

volved in this special event. Watch this space!

For the next two weeks, our kinder students finish their day at 2.30pm. We are happy for parents and

children to wait for older siblings to finish at 3.00pm but would ask that movement and noise be kept

to a minimum during this period. Please be mindful that students are still working in classrooms. Noise

created outside travels and causes disruption to the teaching and learning in the nearby rooms. This

applies to the area under the COLA and outside V block. Your consideration in this matter will be great-

ly appreciated.

So, we are off and running for another year. The teaching and support staff returned full of enthusiasm

and passion for the year ahead. Come with us! This is YOUR school. We need your support – we need

you to share this wonderful journey with us. Communicate – offer feedback – share your ideas and

stay connected. We are a team.

Deborah Scanes

“And now let us welcome the new year, full of things that never were”

Rainer Maria Rilke

SCHOOL CAPTAINS’ WELCOME

Hi there! We are Paige, Frazer, Marley and Murribi, and

we are your school captains for 2020. We feel really ex-

cited for the start of another awesome school year. We

love seeing the smiles on everybody’s faces - all happy

to be here at school.

We are looking forward to working with an amazing

team of leaders - Sara, Amelia, Mollie, Bonnie, Brock,

Noah, Nate and Evan. 2020 is going to be a great year for

Old Bar Public School!

We want all of the students to know that if you have any

excitement, worries or ideas in your day at school, you can always come and chat to us because we

want to make sure every student here has a voice.

WELCOME TO KINDERGARTEN 2020

Find us at: 22 David Street Old Bar NSW 2430 Ph: 02 6553 7248 Fax: 02 6553 3038 Email: oldbar-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Homepage: www.oldbar-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

This week we welcomed 70 new kindergarten

students to our school.

Most looked excited, some looked nervous but

they ALL looked ready for their next big adven-

ture in life!

They have settled into their school life beauti-

fully - we are so impressed.

Their Year 5 & 6 buddies have been looking out

for them all week - helping them with lunch and

recess, and showing them the ropes in the play-

ground - thanks buddies!

BIRTHDAY CAKES

We know that birthdays are exciting days for children, and students whose birthday falls

on a school day love to celebrate with their friends! However, due to allergy and hygiene

concerns, we are unable to accommodate birthday cakes in the classroom. If you would

like to do something for your child and their class to celebrate a special day, we have put

together some suggestions below for safe alternatives.

Thank you so much for your understanding.

SCHOOL PHOTOS

School photos will once again be taken by local pho-

tographer, Annette Hawkins, between Monday 23

and Thursday 26 March (Week 9). We hope to send

order form out to families during Week 6.

A schedule outlining which days various year groups

will be photographed will be provided in Week 8.

Find us at: 22 David Street Old Bar NSW 2430 Ph: 02 6553 7248 Fax: 02 6553 3038 Email: oldbar-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Homepage: www.oldbar-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

SWIMMING CARNIVAL

Our annual swimming carnival will be held on Wednesday 12 February at the Taree

Aquatic Centre.

The swimming carnival is for all students in Years 3-6. Year 2 students who turn 8 this

year and can competently swim 50 meters are welcome to participate.

It is vital that we receive all notes and payments for this activity by this Friday, 7 Febru-

ary. Please ensure that you have completed the competency section of the note. All par-

ticipants will be required to wear a wristband (provided by school) indicating their swim-

ming competency.

Either school uniform or sporting house colours may be worn to the carnival.

PARENT SPECTATORS:

For child protection reasons, the YMCA administration requires that:

All parent/carer spectators must sign in with the school before entering pool area All students remain in the grandstand when not swimming (not seated elsewhere

with parents - sorry!)

UNIFORM SHOP

CANTEEN

TERM 1 OPENING HOURS: The uniform shop opening hours in Term 1 of 2020 will be Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30-9:30am during school terms. PAYMENT: We have two options for payment: 1.Cash 2. Payment via Flexischools If you are paying with Flexischools, your order will be delivered to your child's classroom on the next uniform shop opening day. If you prefer to pick up personally during opening hours, this is fine. However, it would help so much if you could bring a printout or screenshot of your flexischools order. This will help expedite things if the uniform shop volunteers haven't yet had the chance to process the online orders. If a particularly large uniform order is required, we suggest coming in to the store to pick up so that students don't have to carry such a bulky and valuable package home. For more information about our uniforms, including price lists and size charts, vis-it https://oldbar-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/about-our-school/uniforms-.html

ONLINE ORDERING: We encourage parents to try our online ordering system by setting up an account on the flexischools website or app. To create an account, head to https://www.flexischools.com.au/. EXISTING FLEXISCHOOLS USERS: Can you please log in to Flexischools and update your children/s profiles to their 2020 classes? This will ensure that all recess and lunch orders are delivered to the correct rooms. If you are having trouble locating the lunch ordering function in the new version of the app, swipe left to right under the heading "food", and you should be able to see all of the options. VOLUNTEERS: We are always grateful to those parents, carers, grandparents and friends who give their time to help in the canteen. If you are able to offer even a small amount of time to help out, please contact the office, or drop in and see us at the canteen.

COMMUNITY NOTICES

CATHOLIC PARISHES OF TAREE

AND WINGHAM SACRAMENTS

OF INITIATION 2020:

Parents or Carers of children

turning 8 in 2020 or older who

would like their children to

make their Sacraments in 2020

are advised that the pro-

gramme will commence on

27th February 2020 with an IN-

TRODUCTION TO SACRAMENTS

session for parents. This will be

held on Thursday the 27th of

February at 7pm in the Re-

source Centre next to the Cath-

olic Church in Taree. Instruction

for the Sacraments of Baptism,

Reconciliation, Confirmation

and First Holy Communion will

proceed throughout the year

and children can make all or

some of the Sacraments during

this time.

Inquiries to Monica McMullen

65536271 OR 0402306819.

COMMUNITY NOTICES

2020 HOCKEY WITH TAREE WEST RAIDERS

LOOKING TO JOIN A SPORTING TEAM? WANT TO JOIN A FAMILY FRIENDLY CLUB?

WANT TO TRY SOMETHING NEW? TAREE WEST ARE LOOKING FOR YOU!

JUNIOR AND SENIOR PLAYERS ARE WELCOME

OUR FIRST REGISTRATION WILL BE ON THE 11TH OF FEBRUARY FROM 4.30PM

AT THE HOCKEY FIELDS COME AND SIGN ON OR HAVE A HIT

For more information contact, Ruth Sheather: 0427 563 295

Michelle Collier: 0427 602 270 Leanne Davy: 0435 225 900

or visit our Facebook page or

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Since 1934 the Australian Air League has been teaching young

boys and girls nationwide all about aviation, while helping them

develop important life skills like leadership, discipline, self confi-

dence and teamwork. When you join the league you will make

new friends and take part in fun and exciting activities, on the

ground and in the air.

The Australian Air League is running both a fun and educational

programme that is making fine citizens out of our young Austral-

ians.