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Issue No: 3 20 February 2017

From the Principal Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Week 5! This week Ms Winn will be away at two conferences in Sydney. Today and tomorrow she will be attending an ‘Early Action for Success’ conference with Miss White and Mrs Cant. ‘Early Action for Success’ is a NSW Department of Education early years initiative which focuses on identifying individual levels of attainment in literacy and numeracy and then uses quality leadership and teaching to personalise individual student learning. For the remainder of the week Ms Winn will be at a Principal Induction Conference. However, she is certainly looking forward to being back with us next week. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate and thank Ms Winn on how wonderfully she has settled into her Principal role at GPS. It is an absolute delight to have her here and I know she is passionate about strengthening the many great programs already in place and supporting our students to be the absolute best that they can be! Assembly/Scripture Changes You may have heard that we will be moving our Assembly and Scripture times. In everything we do, we place student needs at the centre. We are always looking at new and innovative ways in which to maximise learning opportunities. Significant research supports teacher belief that morning sessions are prime learning times, when student engagement is usually at its highest. Moving Assembly and Scripture from the Friday mornings will allow an extra full morning a week for literacy learning. This change was overwhelmingly supported by our staff. Ms Winn spoke with the P & C at the evening meeting last Tuesday and received their support also. Scripture will now be held on a Friday during the middle session. Primary lessons will be held from 12.30 – 1.00pm and K – 2 lessons will be held from 1.00 - 1.30pm. Assembly will now be held at 2.15pm on Monday afternoons (commencing next Monday 27th February). There will be NO Assembly this Friday, 24th February.

We recognise that the change to Assembly may cause inconvenience for some families, however I am sure you will appreciate our reasons for doing so. Your support and understanding with this is very much appreciated. I would also like to acknowledge all of our fantastic Scripture teachers who have been most obliging in changing times. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Zone Swimming Carnival Congratulations to all of our talented students who represented Grahamstown PS at the Zone Swimming Carnival on Friday. Mrs Trembath was most impressed with how well our students swam, their behaviour during the day and the sportsmanship shown. Well done girls and boys!!! Read on further for some terrific results. Voluntary School Contribution For many years, students have benefited from additional financial resources provided through voluntary financial contributions from parents, carers and other citizens. With these contributions, schools can conduct additional programs and activities and purchase educational materials. All voluntary contributions directly support the educational programs provided by the school. For 2017 the voluntary school contribution is $20 per student. We appreciate your support with this.

Have a fantastic week and thank you again for your continued support of our beautiful school! Warm wishes, Kylie South

GPS News No 3 20 February 2017

Notes Home Yearly Permission Note- all Stages

Year 6 T-Shirt

Expression of Interest Stage 3

Parent Survey- all Stages

Mathletics

Events for

Term 1

Canteen News

Roster Tues 21 Feb: Rochelle Cooke Wed 22 Feb: Cathy Hedges Thurs 23 Feb: Janet Allen Fri 24 Feb: Sally Douglas Rosters are now ready to be picked up from the canteen. Thank you to those who have volunteered. New Price list will be sent home next week. Brekky bags – Dry Cereal 0.50 cents Spoons 5 Cents if not buying an ice-cream.

Zone Swimming Carnival

Congratulations to the following students who made it through to the Zone Swimming Carnival last Friday 17th February: Wilbur, Ellie, Isabelle, Rose, Ashlynn, Emerson, Macleay, Callen, Popi, Kiahlani, Charli, Michiko, Matilda, Breony, Chloe, Amelie, Bailey, Jake, Darcy, Charlie, Cooper, Sean, Nicholas, Riley, Zac, Liam, Chase, Denzel, Ethan, Tyler and Hayley. All students from GPS showed

great sportsmanship and gave each other encouragement throughout the day. A special congratulations goes to Emerson and Chase for placing 3rd in their events and Michiko, Matilda, Charli and Amalie for placing 3rd in the Girls Jnr Relay team.

Important Information

Regarding Parent

Volunteers in Schools With the start of the new school year, school principals will be building strong partnerships with new parents in providing services and activities for students.

All school Principals and parent volunteers in schools are reminded there are some legislative obligations attached to these roles, including for parent volunteers.

As with other state and territory models, the NSW Working With Children Check allows parents to volunteer in school and other activities that involve their own children without needing a Check.

The two exemptions from the Working With Children Check for parent volunteers are:

volunteering by a parent or close relative of a child in activities for the child’s school, early education service or other educational institution

volunteering by a parent or close relative, with a team, program or other activity in which the child usually participates or is a team member.

If the volunteering work fits either of these descriptions, the parent does not need to get a Working With Children Check.

However, this is not a blanket exemption for all parent volunteers. If the work is part of a formal mentoring program or involves intimate personal care of children with a disability, the parent volunteer must get a Check.

Applicants should allow four weeks to receive their Working With Children Check results.

As there is so much controversy around mentoring programs in schools, the Office of the Children’s Guardian has advised schools for all volunteers to have a working with children’s check. This check is free of charge. Brochures are available from the front office.

23rd Feb Stage 3 Open Night Irrawang High School

3rd March School Clean Up Australia Day

16th March Athletics Carnival

17th March National Ride to School Day

21st March Harmony Day

31st March Cross Country

GPS News No 3 20 February 2017

OFFICE NEWS Skoolbag – 195 downloads and counting Have you downloaded the Skoolbag app for your phone or mobile device yet? Messages and reminders are regularly sent to our parents through this handy, free app – available for both Apple and Android users. Absentee notes and some permission notes can also be sent to school using Skoolbag. Check out our website or contact the school for more information on how to download this app. Payments All payments are required to be handed into the office. Please place money and permission note in an envelope or zip locked bag with your child’s name and class noted on the front. If you don’t want to wait for your receipt please pop the envelope into the box at the front counter and the receipt will be sent to the classroom. Payments can also be made online. Parent Online Payment (POP) Parents can make online payments to the school for amounts owing for students, via a secure payment page hosted by Westpac. Payments can be made using either a Visa or MasterCard credit or debit card. The payment page is accessed from the front page of the school’s website by selecting $ Make a payment. Items that can be paid include voluntary school contributions, excursions, sales to students and creative and practical arts activities (these include drama and dance). There is also a category called Other. This is to cover items not covered in the previous headings. Other can be used to make a complete payment of a school invoice. When you access the $Make a payment you must enter:

the students name, and

class OR

the students name, and

date of birth. These details are entered each time you make a payment as student information is not held within the payment system. There is also the option to enter the Student Registration Number and Invoice number if you are aware of them. These are optional fields. This is a secure payment system hosted by Westpac to ensure that your credit/debit card details are captured in a secure manner. These details are not passed back to the school.

You have the ability to check and change any details of the payment before the payment is processed. Receipts can be emailed and/or printed. Details of the payments are sent daily to the school where they will be receipted against your child’s account. As a receipt has been issued from the payment page a further receipt will not be issued by the school. Please ensure the permission slip is sent to the school office with the receipt number noted either by our Skoolbag app or the permission note. Newsletter Just a reminder that our school newsletter is available via the Skoolbag app or our school website. If you download the Skoolbag app, you will receive a notification when the newsletter is available and we have a link to the newsletter via Facebook. Otherwise families will need to check the school website each Monday afternoon for the newsletter. A small number of printed copies of the weekly newsletter will be available from the office each week. Late Arrivals/Early Leavers School hours are from 9am to 3pm. If children arrive later than 9am, parents are requested to accompany them to the office to provide late arrival information to office staff. If children leave early for the day, parents are required to go to the office first and a slip is then given to the class teacher when children are collected from the classroom. Change of address/phone numbers If you have moved house recently or have a new mobile phone number or perhaps a new work phone number – please call into the office and we can update the details. Don’t forget to keep us updated with your nominated emergency contacts details too. Lost Property – It’s time to label school items You can use a permanent laundry marker to label clothes, hats and shoes, or sew or iron on personalised labels. Please regularly check your children’s school items to make sure that labels haven’t fallen off or faded with washing. If something doesn’t come home, please check the lost property baskets.

GPS News No 3 20 February 2017

PBL

Awards

Early Stage 1 Zaine, Logan, Isabella, Marshall & Arabella

Stage 1 David x 2, Grace, Chontay, Piper, Joshua, Lailah,

Sonny, Logan, Amelia, Dustin x 2 Jayda, Ivy, Kobi & Cruz

Stage2 Curtis, Olivia, Breanna, Chantelle, Melina, Mia, Ava, Evan, Lincoln, Cooper, Paige, Zac & Holly

Stage3 Brendan, Kaytlin, Brandan x 3, Jordan, Logan,

Jordan, Isis, Nicole, Aidan, Kaidee, Maiya, Mikayla, Chloe x3, Sara & Lilly

Gold Curtis, Libby, Bella, Stella, Logan, Lillie & Dakota

Badge Tia

Principal’s Award

Marshall KF, Chloe K/1H, Bailey 1/2B, Emily 3A, Haylee 4C, Wilbur 5M & Denzel 6R

Assembly

Awards

Term 1

Congratulations to all students

KF KC

Samuel Quade

Dylan Tara-Jai

Emmeline Benjamin

K/1H 1J Chelsea Kobi

Makayla Ella

Bhavya Jack

1/2B 2S Logan David

Cooper Zoe

Zak Brady

2/3D 3A Mia Kiahlani

Melina Hayley

Bailey Ciaran

4C 4B Shae Charlie

Lincoln Martika

Finlay Jack

5C 5M Blade Kyan

Emilia Kayla

Zack Nicholas

5/6T 6R Philip Tora

Jackson Lily

Michael Bailey

GPS News No 3 20 February 2017

GPS News No 3 20 February 2017

Piano Lessons Lakside

FREE first lesson for children aged 6-12 Scott’s Piano Lessons Currently accepting students of all ages and levels Bilmark Drive, Raymond Terrace Phone: 0402 203 091 Email: phillipiades67@icloud.com Experience: 30 years plus of teaching with great results Qualifications: AmusA, ATCL, Dip Mus Teaching (Syd Uni) Member of the NSW Music Teachers Association