TERM 3 WEEK 10 OATLEY WEST LANTERN - The school by the park 13.9.2021

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Here we are at the end of term 3. On be-half of everyone here at school, I sincere-ly thank you for your good wishes and support over the term while we have all dealt with stay at home orders and learn-ing from home. A great ‘shout out’ to our kids that have embraced their learning from home in the brave new world of ZOOM, Class Dojo and Teams. They have

been brave, steadfast, engaged and resilient in their learning. I know the past few months have not been easy on our kids and the family unit in general. I have been tracking closely the energy levels across the school where at times, we have all felt some lack of control, un-certainty and discomfort at the situation we find ourselves in. We have tried to normalise schooling as much as we could keeping close connection especially between the class and classroom teacher. The safety and wellbeing of your children remain our highest priority. Please continue to stay close and connected with your child’s teach-er, we are here to support you. If you didn’t get a chance to view last week, I encourage everyone to pour yourself a coffee, take a break and watch the Maggie Dent “Practical Parenting in a Pandemic” recording and her resources.

Webinar recording

https://youtu.be/Dl9S14pf80I

Maggie Dent resources

https://www.maggiedent.com/covidresources/

MR NASH’S CORNER

Friday 17th September Last Day Term 3 Tuesday 5th October First Day Term 4

School Values: Fairness/Integrity/Respect/Cooperation/

Excellence/Participation/Care & Responsibility!

Principal Nash continued

TERM 3 WEEK 10 OATLEY WEST LANTERN - The school by the park 13.9.2021

The NSW Government has announced we are continuing to operate at Level 4 Learning from Home. The current advice is that on 25 October 2021 we will return to school under Level 3 plus

settings depending on NSW Health conditions in our area. ‘Parents and carers in areas under stay at home rules must keep children – of all ag-es, across primary school and secondary school – at home unless they need to be at school. Schools and Out of School Hours Care (OOSHC) services are open for any child that needs it.’

Please keep up to date with the news, especially health reports during the holidays. I’ll keep you informed as soon as I hear any news about return to school for Oatley West. Special Religious Education (SRE)/Special Educa-tion in Ethics (SEE) is not currently permitted in schools across NSW while under the stay-at-home rules. Approved providers have modified their author-ised curriculum to enable students to learn from home. Parents/carers may wish to access the SRE and SEE resources through the portal entry points to lesson content below: Approved providers for All Faiths SRE (Islamic,

Jewish, Buddhist, Bahai, Hindu) Approved providers for Christian based faith SRE Primary Ethics for SEE

For more information or support on these re-sources, please contact the approved provider. Refer to the department’s COVID-19 Advice for families page for more information on school operations.

LATEST COVID-19 ADVICE Please visit the link below for the latest Covid-19 advice from the Department of Education.

https://education.nsw.gov.au/covid-19

Please note our new Before and After School Care providers are now operating at the school. They have been providing care throughout the lock down period and have some great activities planned throughout the vacation period starting next week. Please see the program further along in the newsletter.

NSW Government Creative Kids Program The N.S.W. Government is helping kids get crea-tive with the new Creative Kids program. Parents, guardians and carers can apply for a voucher with a value of up to $100 per calendar year for each student aged 4.5 to 18 years old en-rolled in school. The voucher may be used with a registered activi-ty provider for registration, participation and tui-tion costs for creative arts, speech, drama, dance, digital design, coding, and music lessons and ac-tivities. The voucher can be used at any time during the calendar year it was issued. To use the voucher, give the details to your regis-tered activity provider. The program runs year-round, so kids can get cre-ative at any time.

Eligibility If you’re a parent, carer or guardian, the student will be eligible if they are: • a NSW resident

• aged between 4.5 and 18 years

• enrolled in school (from Kindergarten to Year 12, including those who are home-schooled or enrolled in secondary school education at TAFE NSW) a current Medicare card holder. (Name on your card) You can apply for a voucher for each eligible stu-dent. If you are interested, use the attached link. https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/apply-creative-kids-voucher

WHOLE SCHOOL END OF TERM CELEBRATION This Friday it’s all happening: Crazy Hair Day/Whole School Fitness Challenge and Disco. Please help celebrate the end of term by having the whole family join in with the activities on Fri-day. See the note further along in the newsletter for the appropriate links.

Many thanks to all our families who are joining us and Oatley Bear in our virtual step challenge. We are tracking our steps to complete a virtual

trip around Australia. Thanks to Mrs Dimovska and the Wellbeing Team for organising this community event. Please see the Leader article at the following link: https://www.theleader.com.au/story/7422100/oatley-west-pupils-forge-tracks-around-australia-during-lockdown/?cs=1003 Please take care and stay safe. Enjoy the upcoming break. We are certainly look-ing forward to this downtime.

Kind regards,

Paul Nash

Principal

TERM 3 WEEK 10 OATLEY WEST LANTERN - The school by the park 13.9.2021

MESSAGE FROM MR FISHER

End of Term 3 message A big thank you to all the students, families and staff for your commitment to home learning this term. It has been a very challenging time but a big congratulations for the resilience shown by every-one. Can I encourage all students and families to enjoy the down time over the school holiday period by turning off or minimising the use devices and en-joying each other’s company. Where you can, use the opportunity to go outdoors to enjoy the won-derful warm spring weather. A massive thank you to Mrs Dimovska, Mrs Hatzistergos, Mr Smith, Mr Young and Miss Diwell for motivating the students, staff and the community this term. We have all really appreciat-ed the opportunity to engage in a range of fun and creative activities to keep everyone’s spirits high. The school Facebook page has never looked busier and more vibrant. I have really enjoyed seeing the students engage in the weekly fitness sessions, and other activities, including the Oatley Bear Virtual Walk, R U OK? Day, Book Week festivities, virtual assemblies, Education Week and the dress up style challenges via the school’s social media platforms. Have a great break everyone and see you all back on Tuesday 5th October as Monday the 4th of October is a public holiday. Tell Them From Me survey A reminder that the Parent Tell Them From Me sur-vey is currently open. This valuable feedback will assist the school to make practical improvements. Although participating in the survey is entirely vol-untary, your responses are very much appreciated. The survey will close on Friday October 8th. Oatley West PS thanks you in advance for your time. Survey link: https://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/survey/splash/owps2021 Kind regards Ryan Fisher Deputy Principal

Oatley West Virtual Community Step Challenge Don't worry if you've started the step challenge late or you're thinking about starting today. That's ok! Every step counts and we need YOU to get Oatley Bear safely around the coastline of Australia! Participating families need to com-plete the simple google form below by 6pm to-night. Walk with us! https://forms.gle/hsACAkGS3VW7WsS37

VIRTUAL COMMUNITY STEP CHALLENGE LIBRARY NEWS

TERM 3 WEEK 10 OATLEY WEST LANTERN - The school by the park 13.9.2021

The PRC has come to an end for this year. We would just like to thank again all the students who com-pleted the challenge. Sometimes finding time to read can be tricky when there is homework and ex-tra-curricular activities to participate in. We are very proud of each student who finished the PRC.

There are a few students who have begun the Chal-lenge and just need to have read a couple more books to complete it. Students who know they have read these books can contact Mrs Elms either through their Library Google Classroom for their class or Class Dojo. This needs to be done by Thurs-day, 16th of September.

Congratulations to the following students for com-pleting the Challenge:

Anthea L Heidi L Iva Q Blake B Daniel N Noah B Liam Q

Mrs Elms and Mrs Fitzpatrick

LIBRARY NEWS

TERM 3 WEEK 10 OATLEY WEST LANTERN - The school by the park 13.9.2021

We love reading at Oatley West! As you walk by our school, take a look at a sample of our students’

thoughts about ‘What does reading mean to me? ’

Take every opportunity that you can to read with your child, chat with them about the books they love to

read and nurture their love of reading. Enjoy the holidays!

Rita Fitzpatrick and Holly Elms

WELCOME TO

OATLEY WEST

THEIRCARE

September 2021 Week 8-9 Term 3

Opening Hours:

BSC: 7am – 9:30am

ASC: 2:15pm – 6:15pm

Holiday Care:

7am – 6:00pm

Oatley West Public School

Area Manager: Liana Wotton

Staff: Amy, Natalia, Ben, Alannah

Oatley West Centre Details:

Centre Mobile: 0459 955 954

Email: oatleywest@theircare.com.au

Customer Service:

Booking Enquires:

Please call 1300 072 410

Email: info@theircare.com.au

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING AT

THEIRCARE

WEEK 8: Book Week / Father’s Day

Activities:

• Bookmarks

• Gratitude Hands

• Origami

• Father’s Day cards

• Create your Game

• Create your own Comic book

Science: DIY Slime

WEEK 9: Love your Neighbour / Culture

Activities:

• Dot painting

• Write a letter to your friend

• Create your own ideal world

• Origami

• Hama Bead gifts

• World Continents

• Tissue paper Lanterns

SPRING HOLIDAY PROGRAM

THEME: MONSTER MAYHEM

Bookings are now open on the TheirCare website

for our upcoming Holiday Program which begins

on the 20th of September. Due to COVID-19

restrictions we were not able to include any

incursions or excursions in our program, but we

have some fun experiences planned which

include ‘Monster Themed Cooking’, ‘Magic of

Science’, ‘Rainbow Warrior Boot Camp’, ‘Mini

Olympics’, and many more activities and games. I

look forward to meeting you all over the holidays!

To take a closer look at our holiday program, click here or head to:

Theircare.com.au/holiday-programs/Oatley-west-public-school/

2022SCHOOLENROLMENTS

OATLEY WEST PUBLIC SCHOOL

Learning To LiveLiving To Learn

P 9580 5048 oatleywest-p.schools.nsw.gov.au

now open